www.newsandletters.org
|
www.newsandletters.org
|
|
|
News and Letters Committees invites you to a series of discussions in Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area in California, Los Angeles, New York, and Detroit, MichiganDialectics of organization and philosophy in today's freedom struggles, Karl Marx, and Marxist-HumanismFrom Tunisia to Egypt, Yemen to Syria, Spain to Greece, new forms of organization have appeared in the world, posing challenges to the rulers, but also to Left groups and theoreticians. Struggles like that of workers in Wisconsin and the hunger strike of California prisoners show that these challenges are alive in the U.S. too. Without action by masses in motion, no revolution could take place, nor could there be any fundamental change in the direction the world is moving, dictated by capitalism. Yet spontaneous action by itself is not enough to accomplish social revolution and keep it continuing to the creation of a new human society. That is one reason why movements from below reach for a new relationship of theory and practice. Even where there is not a revolutionary or pre-revolutionary situation, as in the U.S. today, questions of organization arise. History has shown how retrogression follows movements that fall short of revolution, and revolutions that stop halfway, or are transformed into opposite. This series of classes explores the missing link: the inseparability of organization and the philosophy of total uprooting, of revolution in permanence, that is, Marx's philosophy of revolution. Each class revolves around one or two of the pieces in the forthcoming book of selected writings by Raya Dunayevskaya on Marx, as a way of letting these ideas and us as individuals be part of transforming the world. Marxism is in the life of the present moment. The passions for freedom and for philosophy are real forces to be reckoned with. Can class participants aided by the thought of Dunayevskaya digging into Marx be a catalyst in this period in upcoming demonstrations against the May 2012 NATO and G8 summits in Chicago, and events yet to be foreseen? Join us in the work on this new book as an integral part of the work of creating a new world. A series of four discussions1. New Stage of Production, New Stage of Cognition, New Kind of OrganizationIn recent years, attempts have been made to establish organizations that are revolutionary and yet break from the pitfalls of the "party to lead." Too often, working out the philosophical basis of organization has taken a back seat to declaring what one is against, such as vanguardism. This class focuses on two readings that take up the implications for organization of Hegel's Absolutes and the philosophic breakthrough at the heart of Marxist-Humanism, involving a new relationship of theory and practice. Readings: 2. Lenin's Philosophic and Organizational AmbivalenceLenin has become the focus of renewed interest, even including his What Is to Be Done? whose vanguardist organizational theory became the bible for Marxist-Leninists. Grasping the nature of both his achievements and his shortcomings is a crucial aspect of dialectics of organization and philosophy. Lenin's importance is seen above all in his return to Hegel's dialectic and, with it, his philosophic break and practicing of dialectics of revolution. This class explores what it meant for him to have reached such a high stage and still not prepared revolutionaries for Stalinism and the problem of what happens after revolution. Readings: 3. Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Marx: Spontaneity, Organization, PhilosophyRosa Luxemburg speaks to our time, having raised vital questions about organization, including its relationship to spontaneity and consciousness, and the nature of socialist democracy after the revolutionary conquest of power. These questions, brought to the forefront again with Arab Spring, became altogether new when Dunayevskaya took them up in relationship to how they had been approached by post-World War II movements, and in the context of the discovery of the new moments of Marx's last decade. Luxemburg's concept of organization is measured against Marx's, as integral to his philosophy of revolution, and against the dilemmas faced by revolutions today. This class focuses on pieces that address these questions and were part of Dunayevskaya's process of writing the book Rosa Luxemburg, Women's Liberation, and Marx's Philosophy of Revolution. Readings: 4. Organization, Philosophy, Marx's Last Decade, and Revolution TodayOrganization is salient among the problems of revolutions in this era of globalization, neoliberalism coexisting with state-capitalism, and self-emancipatory movements. This class takes up organization and philosophy in relation to Marx's new moments in his last decade and to revolutions and Subjects of revolution today. The readings take up the contradictory ideas and realities of the revolutions in "developing countries," the Black dimension, women's liberation, and sexuality and Gay and Lesbian liberation. Readings: Presenters in these classes are asked to work out creatively the relationship of readings to the current situation, politically, economically, and theoretically. In doing so, they should select at least one person being discussed today and have a battle of ideas with them. This will help us look at the readings concretely as we grapple with how to respond to alternatives. Some possible contrasting readings:Etienne Balibar, "The Philosophical Moment in Politics Determined by War: Lenin 1914-16" Chicago meetings will be held on Mondays at News & Letters Library 1. Monday, September 12, 6:30 PM Detroit meetings will be held on Sundays 1. Sunday, September 25 New York meetings will be held on Thursday evenings, 7 PM at Space on White, 81 White Street (S. of Canal between Broadway and Church; take subway to Canal Street stop). 1. Thursday, October 6, 7:00 PM To find dates, times and places for meetings in other areas contact Los Angeles: P.O. BOX 29194, Los Angeles, CA 90029
To obtain the readings, write the above address
or call: 312-431-8242
or email: arise@newsandletters.org All discussions are free and open. |
|
Home l News & Letters Newspaper l Back issues l News and Letters Committees l Raya Dunayevskaya l Contact us l Search l RSS
Published by News and Letters Committees
|
