Platypus NH

04/15/2024

The second volume is out now! Highly recommend you pre-order now. Cutrone’s “theoretical” writings are absolutely essential if you think it’s important to re-open the questions raised by historical Marxism/Marxists.

Save yourself (and generations of humanity) from terminal miseducation!

09/14/2023

Since I’m not good at remembering to update this Facebook account, please check our website for reading group texts, upcoming events, and more:

Who are we? We are a student organization at UNH (Durham) dedicated to open-endedly exploring the history of the Left through our weekly reading group, campus activities (panel discussions and teach-ins) and social events ("pizza nights").

06/11/2023

Summer Reading group on “Marxism and Politics” starts tomorrow!

Date/time: Mondays, June 12 - July 24, 4:00-6:30 pm.

05/25/2023

We’ll also be starting two new Reading groups over the summer.

1)

One is the 4-week-long “short course,” which barely requires any reading (approximately 10 pages per week).

The best way to learn “what Marxism was” is to explore the deep questions it raised in history.

Here’s the short course syllabus:
https://platypus1917.org/2012/01/24/short-course-in-platypus-syllabus/

Join the discussion remotely on Fridays, 3-5pm on the following dates: 6/2, 6/9, 6/16, 6/20.

Https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4848267900

2)

We’ll also have more narrowly focused reading group about “Marxism and Politics”

Syllabus:
https://platypus1917.org/2023/05/21/summer-2023-marxism-and-politics/

This one starts the 2nd week of June but dates and times have not been decided yet. Also remote. Message this account with any questions.

All reading groups are open discussions. We’ll keep the discussion on topic, but you don’t have to “agree” to be welcome!

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05/25/2023

We have two more primary-syllabus reading group meetings: tonight and next week. Both focus on Adorno’s reflections on Marxism. Since the UNH academic semester is over we’ll be meeting on Zoom: Https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4848267900

Here is are the readings for tonight, May 25th - 6:00pm - 8:30pm

+ Capital in history timeline and chart of terms
https://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/cutrone_capitalinhistorytimeline052019.pdf
+ Benjamin on history chart of terms
https://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/cutrone_benjaminhistorychart051819b.pdf
• Theodor Adorno, “Reflections on Class Theory” (1942)
https://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/readings/adorno_classtheory1942.pdf
• Adorno, “Imaginative Excesses” (1944–47)
https://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/readings/adorno_imaginativeexcesses.pdf
+ Adorno, letter to Benjamin on "The Work of Art..." essay and intellectuals and the proletariat (1936)
https://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/adornotobenjamin_03181936.pdf
+ Being and becoming (freedom in transformation) / immanent dialectical critique chart of terms
https://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/cutrone_beingbecomingimmanentcritique102217.pdf
+ Adorno, Dedication, "Bequest", "Warning: Not to be Misused" and "Finale", Minima Moralia
(1944–47)
https://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/adorno_minimamoraliabook_bequest.pdf
+ Horkheimer and Adorno, "Discussion about Theory and Praxis" (AKA "Towards a New Manifesto?") [PDF] [Deutsch] (1956)
https://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/horkheimeradorno_newmanifesto_NLR65_2010press.pdf

02/20/2023

The 15th Annual International Convention of the Platypus Affiliated Society will take place Thursday, March 30th, 2023 through Saturday, April 1st in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Many panels, interviews, workshops, and social events are being planned, so stay tuned for updates! Most are free and open to the public. Come one, come all!

12/02/2022

Platypus Review #152 (December) is now available online and is coming soon in print near you!

Featuring:
-The quintessence of Marxism: A popular presentation, by Karl Korsch
-We were orphans: An interview with Enzo Traverso, by Noah Spore
-Popular Front radicalism: A review of Adolph Reed, Jr.’s The South, by John Garvey
-Shadowboxing? A review of Vivek Chibber’s The Class Matrix, by Russell Jacoby
-Confronting capitalism: An interview with Vivek Chibber, by D. L. Jacobs

We encourage you to formulate your own reactions/responses to these articles and submit them for publication in a future issue of the Platypus Review, as part of our mission to host the conversation on the Left.

https://platypus1917.org/category/pr/issue-152/

11/28/2022

Let’s schedule some video screenings as winter break approaches and/or during winter break. Which of the following would you be interested in?

Fall of Eagles (1974) episodes: ("The Last Tsar,") "Absolute Beginners," ("Dearest Nicky," "The Appointment,") "The Secret War," and "End Game"
• 37 Days (2014): ([Episode 1] [Episode 2]) [Episode 3]
• Rosa Luxemburg (1986)
• Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States (2012) Prequel Episodes A (1900-20) and B (1920-40)
• Reds (1981)

11/28/2022

Update on the Platypus International Convention 2023:

Dates are set! The convention will be taking place from Friday, March 31st until Sunday, April 2nd in Chicago.

You do not need to be a member to attend: all are welcome.

For those who cannot afford housing, there will be opportunities to stay with local members in Chicago, or we could perhaps work something out as a group.

I’ll post more details as they emerge. keep that weekend free!

11/23/2022

Traces of different colors: An interview with Peter E. Gordon
https://platypus1917.org/2022/11/01/traces-of-different-colors-an-interview-with-peter-e-gordon/

Platypus Review #151 (published online now)!

On February 17, 2022, Platypus Affiliated Society member Soren Whited interviewed Peter E. Gordon, Amabel B. James Professor of History and an affiliate of the Departments of Philosophy and German at Harvard University, author of Adorno and Existence (2016), the forthcoming A Precarious Happiness: A...