Empire and social democracy

Summer 2014 teach-in

 June 14, 2014  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A discussion of the relation of Keynesianism, social-democratic politics and Marxism to the purported decline of the U.S. as global hegemonic state, beginning in the 1970s and continuing in “Left” discourse to the present held on June 14, 2014 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Teach-in led by Chris Cutrone. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Video Recording Description Taking advantage of the break in our primary reading group schedule, we will hold a discussion of the relation of Keynesianism, social-democratic politics and Marxism to the purported decline of the U. [Read More]
American empire  Empire  Milton Friedman  Michael Harrington  Friedrich Hayek  John Maynard Keynes  Keynesianism  Marxism  Social Democracy  Socialism 

Democratic Socialists of America

Differing Perspectives on the Left

 April 5, 2014  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A workshop with the Democratic Socialists of America (Joseph Schwartz (Temple University) and Bill Barclay) held on April 5, 2014, at the Sixth Platypus International Convention. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Every year at the Platypus International Convention, speakers from various perspectives are asked to bring their experience of the Left’s recent history to bear on today’s political possibilities and challenges as part of the “Differing Perspectives on the Left” workshop series. [Read More]
Platypus International Convention 2014  Democratic Socialists of America  Marxism  Platypus  Socialism 

150 Years after the First International

A Critical History

 April 5, 2014  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A panel held at the Sixth Annual Platypus International Convention on Saturday, April 5, 2014 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Panelists Jon Bekken (Anarcho-Syndicalist Review) James Heartfield (audacity.org) William Pelz (Elgin Community College) Description The First International (1864 - 1876), or International Workingmen’s Association, was founded in the long shadow of 1848, amidst Polish and Italian national liberation movements and the upheaval of the American Civil War. [Read More]
Platypus International Convention 2014  Anarchism  Mikhail Bakunin  First International  International Workingmen's Association  Karl Marx  Marxism  Socialism 

CPGB contra Lukács

 January 11, 2014  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A Platypus-wide teach-in on the CPGB’s campaign against Lukács and its stakes for Platypus as a project. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Description Held on Saturday January 11 1-4PM at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago 112 S. Michigan Ave. room 920 while simultaneously broadcast internationally via Livestream. Paul Demarty's historical chart of Lukács's influence on Platypus The preparatory readings for this event are as follows and can be found at: [Read More]
Communism  CPGB  Marxism  Socialism  Trotskyism 

Radical Interpretations of the Present Crisis, Chicago, 1

 December 3, 2012  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A panel event held at the University of Chicago on December 3, 2012. Video Recording Panelists Raymond Lotta Joe Persky David Ruccio David Scheickart Description The present moment is arguably one of unprecedented confusion on the Left. The emergence of many new theoretical perspectives on Marxism, anarchism, and the left generally seem rather than signs of a newfound vitality, the intellectual reflux of its final disintegration in history. [Read More]
Radical Interpretations of the Present Crisis  Crisis  Economic crisis  Marxism  Socialism 

Global Rut

Chris Cutrone on CrossTalk

 October 15, 2012  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Platypus Affiliated Society member Chris Cutrone on RT’s Crosstalk, hosted by Peter Lavelle, on the global economic crisis. “The IMF has released a report that predicts the hoped-for global economic growth is again endangered. Why is this happening? Why has the Great Recession come back so early? Did it ever end? Has austerity made things worse? And is there a way to avoid the ‘fiscal cliff’ issue in Washington? [Read More]
Austerity  Capitalism  Crisis  Crosstalk  Economic crisis  Great Recession  Martin Hennecke  Policy  Recession  RT  Seijiro Takeshita  Socialism  Stimulus 

The Birth of a Revolution?

Mary Gabriel interviewed by Spencer A. Leonard on "Love and Capital"

 February 28, 2012  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

On February 28, 2012, the radio program Radical Minds on WHPK-FM Chicago broadcast an interview with Mary Gabriel, the author of Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2011). The interview was conducted by Spencer A. Leonard of the Platypus Affiliated Society.

Audio Recording

Transcript in Platypus Review #47

Mary Gabriel  Communism  Karl Marx  Marxism  Radical Minds  Socialism 

Marx's Critique of Political Economy

Proletarian Socialism Continuing the Bourgeois Revolution?

 August 19, 2011  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

A presentation by Platypus member Spencer A. Leonard on August 19, 2011, at Communist University, which took place from August 17th to August 20, 2011, at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Video Recording

Audio Recording

Mike Macnair’s Critique of Platypus

Cutrone, “Capital in history” (2008)

Cutrone, “The Marxist hypothesis” (2010)

Bourgeois  Bourgeois revolution  Goldsmiths  Karl Marx  Marxism  Proletarian  Proletarian revolution  Proletarian socialism  Socialism 

Platypus 2011 President's report

The "Anti-Fascist" vs. "Anti-Imperialist" Left: Some Genealogies and Prospects

 May 1, 2011  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

Platypus President’s report by Chris Cutrone at the third annual Platypus Affiliated Society international convention, Chicago, May 1st, 2011. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Description The usual ways of categorizing various trends on the “Left” today have become less useful for distinguishing politically and indicating potential future developments. Trends have defied historical or expected trajectories – if these in fact ever applied properly – and so call for a new and different approach to sort out what we’re dealing with today and are likely to encounter going forward. [Read More]
Platypus International Convention 2011  Anti-fascism  Anti-imperialism  Anti-Stalinism  Authoritarian  Leftism  Liberal  Libertarian  Socialism  Stalinism 

The Legacy of Trotskyism

 April 30, 2011  |  The Platypus Affiliated Society

One of the plenary sessions held at the third annual Platypus Affiliated Society international convention, hosted by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from April 29–May 1st, 2011, set about exploring the legacy of Trotsky’s Marxism. Audio Recording Your browser does not support the audio element Transcript in Platypus Review #38 Panelists Mike Macnair, Communist Party of Great Britain (Oxford Univ. St. Hugh College) Bryan Palmer, Trent University [Read More]
Platypus International Convention 2011  Anti-Stalinism  Communism  Communist Party of Great Britain  CPGB  IBT  International Bolshevik Tendency  Leon Trotsky  Karl Marx  Marxism  Socialism  Stalinism  Trotskyism