Marx Reading Group, 2009-2010

The Marx reading group enters its fourth year with a focus on revolutionary history. Combining this focus with Marxist analysis, we will look at various revolutions and communist insurrections that have shaken the course of recent history. We welcome anyone with an interest in politics, philosophy, history, critical theory and culture – whether undergraduate or postgraduate students, or members of staff. The texts for each session will be available in advance from the research office of the Department of Cultural Studies, Trent B4B, University of Nottingham. For more information write to Adity Singh at ajxas1@nottingham.ac.uk.

Join us for reading, discussion and socialising fortnightly on Thursdays 6-8 p.m. in Trent B4, University of Nottingham on the following dates:

01 Oct 2009 – Paris Commune I
15 Oct 2009 – Paris Commune II
29 Oct 2009 – English Revolution I
12 Nov 2009 – English Revolution II
26 Nov 2009 – French Revolution I
21 Jan 2010 – French Revolution II
04 Feb 2010 – Russian Revolution I
18 Feb 2010 – Russian Revolution II
04 Mar 2010 – Chinese Revolution I
18 Mar 2010 – Chinese Revolution II
06 May 2010 – Vietnamese Revolution (tbc)
20 May 2010 – Cuban Revolution I
03 Jun 2010 – Cuban Revolution II
17 Jun 2010 – Chinese Cultural Revolution (tbc)

The theme this year is Revolutions, and we start (on 1st October 2009) with the Paris Commune, focussing on Marx’s description/analysis in ‘The Civil War in France’. The specific readings for this session are online at marx.org and we will be looking at:

1. Karl Marx, The Civil War in France, ch.5, ch.6

2. Timeline of the Commune

(For further reading I highly recommend Lissagaray’s History of the Paris Commune of 1871, also available in the archive – beware, it is a whole book!)

This second session will widen the focus and discuss Marxist texts that both analyse Marx’s Civil War in France and the wider implications of the Commune.

The readings for the second week (15th October 2009) are in a folder in Trent B4B (and some of them can be found online at marx.org):

1. Engels’ Postscript to The Civil War in France
2. Selections from Lenin’s State and Revolution
3. Selections from Hal Draper’s Karl Marx’s Theory of Revolution, Vol II, III (photocopied sections in the folder)
4. (optional) Badiou’s essay on the Paris Commune (from Polemics): (photocopies in the folder)

Everyone is welcome and I hope to see many of you there!