Fall 2007
Winter 2007 Marx's Capital, Volume I Andrew Kliman Thursdays, Feb. 15 – May 24, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. (No Class March 22) Tuition: $150 – $180, sliding scale
Dialectics, the Algebra of Revolution: An Examination of Hegel's Logic Tuesdays, Feb. 27 – May 8, 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. (no class April 3) Tuition: $120 – $150, sliding scale
Fighting Suppression of Dissent: Another Left is Possible Andrea Fishman, Joshua Howard, Anne Jaclard, Andrew Kliman, and Seth G. Weiss Alternate Tuesdays, March 13 – April 24, 6:00 – 7:30 P.M. Tuition: $45 – $60, sliding scale
Fall 2006
Reason in History: Hegel and Marx Reply to their Post-Rational Critics Alex Steinberg 8 Sessions Tuesdays: 7:30 – 9:00 p.m., Oct. 24 – Dec. 12 Tuition: $90 – $115, sliding scale
Prefigurative Politics: Workers Self-Management from Argentina to the Balkans 8 Sessions: Tuesdays, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m., Oct. 24 – Dec. 12
Fighting Suppression of Dissent: Another Left is Possible Andrea Fishman, Joshua Howard, Anne Jaclard, Andrew Kliman, and Seth G. Weiss Alternate Thursdays, Nov. 2 – Dec. 14, 7:00-9:00 p.m. Tuition: $45 – $60, sliding scale
Foucault and the Iranian RevolutionA talk by Kevin B. AndersonWednesday, October 25 at 7:00 p.m. Suggested Donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale
Spring 2006 Classes
Darwin and the Left Alex Steinberg Tuesdays, 7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. 7 sessions: March 28 – May 16 Tuition: $90 - $115, sliding scale
We will explore the work of Charles Darwin in the context of today's culture wars, including the “Intelligent Design” controversy. This will not be simply another class demonstrating how evolution is correct and creationism is wrong and reactionary, but a critical examination from a Left perspective of Darwin and his legacy.
We will undertake a reading of Darwin, focusing on the theoretical and historical background of his Origin of the Species, and move on to an examination of some of the current discussion of Darwinism and its philosophical and political implications in the contemporary world. We will also explore the corrections to Darwin offered by Stephen Jay Gould and others whom we can identify as Left Darwinists.
For this series, we will primarily draw upon an excellent and inexpensive anthology, the Norton Critical Edition of Darwin, which includes much of the text of Origin of the Species and many other primary works and critical commentaries.
Alex Steinberg taught a course on Hegel’s Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit last Fall at the New SPACE. Steinberg is facilitator of a philosophy and literature discussion group in Brooklyn and author of several essays, including "The Case of Martin Heidegger." He has also served as a member of the WBAI Local Station Board (2004) and as Chairperson of the WBAI LSB Programming Committee.
Marx's Capital, Volume III Andrew Kliman Wednesdays, 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. 8 sessions: March 15 – May 17 (No class March 22 and April 12) Tuition: $100 – $120, sliding scale (This is the second semester of a two-semester course on Volumes II and III. If you did not attend the first semester on Volume II, please consult with the instructor at Andrew_Kliman@msn.com before registering for the second semester.)
Volume III of Marx’s Capital endeavors to show that real-world phenomena do not contradict, but are “forms of appearance” of, the “essential” relations and categories developed in Volume I. We will concentrate on the appearance of surplus-value as profit; the distribution of surplus-value within the capitalist class; Marx’s law of the tendential fall in the rate of profit and crisis theory; and his argument that capitalism’s production relations (not only its relations of income and wealth distribution) are historically specific and transitory. We will also critically examine critics’ persistent efforts to prove that Marx’s account of the transformation of values into production prices, and his theory of the falling rate of profit, are internally inconsistent.
In our study of Volume III, we will emphasize how a rigorous theoretical understanding of the capital relation can aid ongoing challenges to global capitalism. Registered students will have access to a draft of a study guide and commentary on both Volumes II and III – which includes weekly study suggestions and questions – that the instructor is currently writing. Use of the Penguin or Vintage edition of Volume III, translated by David Fernbach, is strongly suggested.
Andrew Kliman has taught courses on Volume I and Volume II of Marx's Capital and John Holloway’s John Holloway’s Change the World Without Taking Power at the New SPACE. A professor of economics at Pace University, he has published extensively on Capital, crisis theory, and value theory. Co-editor of The New Value Controversy and the Foundations of Economics (2004), he has recently finished a book that reclaims Capital from the myth of internal inconsistency. Many of Kliman's writings are available at his website: http://akliman.squarespace.com.
From Dada To Anthropofferjism Erika Biddle Alternate Tuesdays, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 6 Sessions: January 31, February 28, March 14, 28, April 4 and 18 Tuition: $75 - $100, Sliding Scale (The instructor is permitting late registration for this course. Tuition will be prorated to the number of remaining sessions.)
Dada spoke of the violence of everyday life, of disrupting and destructing history; this destruction is a desire to change the world. Dada was a movement that obliterated its memory but left traces of influence that are visible in the practices of aesthetic revolutionaries throughout the 20th century and today. In this course, we will explore both the Dadaist movement, birthed in Zurich midst the horrors of World War I, and its traces of influence in anti-capitalist artists' groups and cultural projects that exist outside of "the art world" and the apparatus of the state.
We will survey the work of the Lettrists and Situationists; Gustav Metzger’s theories on auto-destructive/auto-creative art; the LPA (London Psychogeographic Association); Neoism & the Neoist Alliance; Situ-inspired projects; Surrealism in Chicago; "culture jamming" projects; and the "tactical media" and "technologies of resistance" of groups like RtMark and the Critical Art Ensemble.
Erika Biddle is an artist, editor and writer living in New York City. A founding member of Artists in Dialogue, which is committed to the co-articulation of art and politics, she also works with the radical book publisher Autonomedia. Her video work has been shown in such venues as White Box, Capsule Gallery, Artists’ Space, Diorama Arts Center, the Cinema Nouvelle Generation Film Festival, Guestroom, and the DUMBO Short Film and Video Festival.
Spring 2006 Talks
Time for a Radical Party? A talk by Stanley Aronowitz Thursday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m. Suggested Donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale
The Left is fragmented into a large number of single issue movements around solidarity, against the Iraq war, and in community organizations, and others who either try to push the Democratic Party to the Left or work in small organizations that often call themselves parties or projects. The United States does not have a radical political formation dedicated to linking the movements and addressing broad national and global questions. Aronowitz will argue that such a formation is especially vital in this period of growing authoritarianism, the lack of a visible opposition, the decline of the labor movement and absence of alternatives to capitalist domination. This talk will outline the problem, discuss a specific proposal and make suggestions about how to achieve it. Global Balkans: Revolutions in the Balkans and Eastern Europe A talk by Andrej Grubacic Thursday, March 16 at 7:00 p.m. Suggested Donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale
The Iraqi Freedom Congress & Iraq’s Civil Resistance A talk by Houzan MahmoudTuesday, March 21 at 7:00 p.m. Suggested Donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale
International Solidarity with Iraq’s Freedom Struggles A Film Screening & Discussion with Bill Weinberg Thursday, April 6 at 7:00 p.m Suggested donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale
The Wholesale Criminalization of Immigrant Communities: Mass Detentions, Torture and Exile A talk by Jeannette Gabriel Thursday, April 20 at 7:00 p.m. Suggested donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale
Human Trafficking and Modern-Day Slavery in New York City Human trafficking, often referred to as "sex trafficking" or “modern-day slavery,” is the worst form of labor abuse existing in NYC today. The workers who fall prey to traffickers are not only women, but also men, children and transgendered people. Many were victimized while trying to emigrate to the U.S. to find work, lacking any options in their own countries. They are then forced into a variety of jobs under threats of violence, and frequently suffer actual violence. Survivors of trafficking face continuing problems when they try to leave their situations.
Most of the stories we see in the media about trafficked workers are ill-informed at best, and created for dramatic effect at worst, rather than representing the issues truthfully. What kinds of jobs are being done by trafficked people? Who is benefiting? Why does it often look like feminists and Republicans are on the same side of the issue? What does this form of exploitation and struggle mean for social justice and labor movements? We will also discuss concrete actions that individuals and groups can take to combat human trafficking and to aid its survivors.
Winter 2006 Classes The Spirit of UtopiaAlex SteinbergWednesdays, 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.8 sessions: January 25 - March 15Tuition: $90 - $115, sliding scale
Oscar Wilde famously said, "a map of the world without Utopia on it is not worth looking at.” Does Wilde’s impulse still have resonance in a culture that rejects the possibility of a better society, let alone a perfected one? How can we still envision a Golden Age or a New Jerusalem at a time when the utopian imagination is being indicted for everything from Nazism to Stalinism and fundamentalist-inspired terror?
We will reflect on the classics as well as contemporary sources of utopian literature and politics in an attempt to answer these questions. We will consider ancient and medieval discussions of a Golden age and an Ideal City, how these were transformed into visions of bounty and cooperation in the age of Enlightenment, and the further evolution of utopian ideas into the political movements for socialism in the 19th century. We will also look at the growth of utopian communities in the United States such as Oneida and Brook Farm and their ideals of open sexuality and communal living arrangements. We will look especially at the confluence and conflict between Marxism and Utopianism. How and why did the scientific, socialist, anarchist and feminist visions of utopia in the early part of the 20th century give way to dystopian literature and politics? We will also consider the last great Utopian movement of recent times, the 1960’s student rebellion and counter culture and its aftermath.
Alex Steinberg taught a course on Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spiritlast Fall at the New SPACE. Steinberg holds an MA in Philosophy from the New School for Social Research; he left the PhD program after participating in the student takeover of the New School following the Kent State massacre in 1970. Steinberg is facilitator of a philosophy and literature discussion group in Brooklyn and author of several essays, including "The Case of Martin Heidegger" and "From Alienation to Revolution: A Defense of Marx's Theory of Alienation". He has also served as a member of the WBAI Local Station Board (2004) and as Chairperson of the WBAI LSB Programming Committee. Marx's Capital, Volumes II and III Andrew Kliman Wednesdays, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. 15 sessions: January 25 - May 17 (except for March 22 and April 12) Tuition: $150 - $180, sliding scale (Vol. II only: $75 - $100; Vol. III only: $100 - $120)
If you’ve read Volume I of Capital and want to know how the book turns out, this is the course for you! In this 15-week course, we will emphasize how a rigorous theoretical understanding of the capital relation can aid ongoing challenges to global capitalism.
Volumes II and III of Capital complement and complete the analysis begun in Volume I. Volume II situates Volume I’s analysis of the immediate process of capitalist production within the circulation and reproduction processes. Volume III endeavors to show that real-world phenomena do not contradict, but are “forms of appearance” of, the “essential” relations and categories developed in Volume I.
We will begin with a 6-week survey of Volume II, focusing on the circuits of capital, the concept of productive labor, and the reproduction schemes. In connection with the latter, we will also discuss the debate over underconsumptionism, from Luxemburg to Hardt & Negri. The remaining 9 weeks, devoted to Volume III, will concentrate on the appearance of surplus-value as profit; the distribution of surplus-value within the capitalist class; Marx’s law of the tendential fall in the rate of profit and crisis theory; and his argument that capitalism’s production relations (not only its relations of income and wealth distribution) are historically specific and transitory. We will also critically examine critics’ persistent efforts to prove that Marx’s account of the transformation of values into production prices, and his theory of the falling rate of profit, are internally inconsistent.
Registered students will have access to a draft of a study guide and commentary on Volumes II and III – which includes weekly study suggestions and questions – that the instructor is currently writing. Use of the Penguin or Vintage edition of Volumes II and III, translated by David Fernbach, is strongly suggested.
Andrew Kliman has taught courses on Capital, Volume I and John Holloway’s Change the World Without Taking Power at the New SPACE. A professor of economics at Pace University, he has published extensively on Capital, crisis theory, and value theory. Co-editor of The New Value Controversy and the Foundations of Economics (2004), he has recently finished a book that reclaims Capital from the myth of internal inconsistency. Many of Kliman's writings are available at his website: http://akliman.squarespace.com. Erich Fromm’s Encounter with Marx and FreudCharles Herr Tuesdays, 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. 6 Sessions: January 31 - March 7 Tuition: $75 - $100, sliding scale
In the 1930’s, Erich Fromm, as a member of the Frankfurt School, was one of the first to try to integrate insights from Marx and Freud. His writings analyzing the psychological roots of authoritarian socio-political systems, such as fascism and Nazism, remain seminal. In this course, we will explore the contemporary relevance of Fromm’s ideas for understanding fundamentalist movements and systems. We will also explore his concepts of social character and the social unconscious; that is, how social structures may mold people to "want to do" what they "have to do" and how strivings for freedom may become largely unconscious – and yet continue to exist. A central question will be: How can these concepts contribute to understanding current social realities and to efforts to create social conditions that support the full development of, as Marx put it in 1844, "a really individual communal being" for whom "the greatest wealth" is "the other person"?
Readings will include Fromm’s classic work, Escape from Freedom, and Beyond the Chains of Illusion: My Encounter with Marx and Freud. Charles Herr, a graduate of the William Alanson White Institute’s Program in Psychoanalysis, is a clinical psychologist and interpersonal psychoanalyst. He has life-long interests in the work of Erich Fromm, the humanism of Marx, and the radical transformation of society. He is also involved in studying the work of Raya Dunayevskaya, Paulo Freire, Eugene Gendlin and Marshall Rosenberg.From Dada To AnthropofferjismErika BiddleAlternate Tuesdays, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.6 Sessions: January 31, February 14, 28, March 14, 28 and April 4 Tuition: $75 - $100, Sliding Scale
Dada spoke of the violence of everyday life, of disrupting and destructing history; this destruction is a desire to change the world. Dada was a movement that obliterated its memory, but left traces of influence that are visible in the practices of aesthetic revolutionaries throughout the 20th century and today. In this course, we will explore both the Dadaist movement, birthed in Zurich midst the horrors of World War I, and its traces of influence in anti-capitalist artists' groups and cultural projects that exist outside of "the art world" and the apparatus of the state. We will survey the work of the Lettrists and Situationists; Gustav Metzger’s theories on auto-destructive/auto-creative art; the LPA (London Psychogeographic Association); Neoism & the Neoist Alliance; Situ-inspired projects; Surrealism in Chicago; "culture jamming" projects; and the "tactical media" and "technologies of resistance" of groups like RtMark and the Critical Art Ensemble.
Erika Biddle is an artist, editor and writer living in New York City. A founding member of Artists in Dialogue, which is committed to the co-articulation of art and politics, she also works with the radical book publisher Autonomedia. Her video work has been shown in such venues as White Box, Capsule Gallery, Artists Space, Diorama Arts Center, the Cinema Nouvelle Generation Film Festival, Guestroom, and the DUMBO Short Film and Video Festival.
Winter 2006 Talks The East Asian Class Struggle in World Perspective A talk by Loren Goldner Tuesday, January 24 at 7:00 p.m. Suggested Donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale
According to a New York Times article of December 2004, there were 74,000 riots in China in that year. The Chinese countryside, and the floating population of 100 million peasants driven off the land to seek work in the cities, is a powder keg, and the Chinese state is using every means at its disposal to keep the outbursts local, so far with success.
This talk will present a perspective on the recent development of class struggle in East Asia, focusing on South Korea (the country with which the speaker is most familiar) and China, with passing reference to Japan (where little open struggle has taken place in recent years). In both South Korea and China (countries obviously at very different stages of development) the working class has lately been very much on the defensive. In China, in spite of a capitalist boom extending back to the “market socialist” turn of 1978, the industrial working class has lost 22 million jobs in the past decade. In South Korea, after the explosive strikes of the late 1980’s, the working class has been rolled back, above all since the Asia crisis and IMF bailout of 1997-1998. Today, casualized workers make up more than 50% of the work force, and, at this writing, the Korean parliament is pushing through a new labor law to extend casualization even further. The gap between the declining minority of well-organized, well-paid workers with “permanent” contracts (for now) and the majority of casualized temps is almost as dramatic, for strategy and tactics, as the confrontation of the class as a whole with capital and the state.
These developments are closely intertwined with geopolitical realities of world import. The U.S. is widely perceived as a declining power in Asia, and has been using every tool at its disposal to keep the region off balance, from the Taiwan question to confrontation with North Korea to the growing nationalisms in China, Korea and Japan. These simmering class and geopolitical contradictions have to be seen in the context of the larger “great game” in Eurasia, which sees a U.S. strategy aimed at the control of the perimeters of Russia and China, from the Baltic to Japan, and of which the biggest stakes are the possible emergence of an independent East Asian economic powerhouse capable of throwing off U.S. influence. While the recent ASEAN conference in Malaysia, to which the U.S. was pointedly not invited, was a symbolic gesture and East Asia is still far from overcoming national antagonisms, virtually every thread of the contemporary world situation passes through the class struggle there. The region, led by China, may well be to the world revolution of the 2lst century what Russia was to the 20th.
Loren Goldner is a writer and activist living in New York City. He spent the fall of 2005 in South Korea preparing a short history of the Korean working class since the 1980's. Goldner's work is available at the Break Their Haughty Power web site: http://home.earthlink.net/~lrgoldner.
Fall 2005 Classes Reading John Holloway’s Change the World Without Taking Power Andrew Kliman Wednesdays, 6pm -- 7:30pm 6 Sessions: Oct. 5 & 19, Nov. 2, 16 & 30, Dec. 14 Tuition: $75 -- $100, sliding scale
Revolution has frequently been identified with the capturing of state power. This notion is now discredited. But the idea of revolution itself will also be discredited unless a different concept of revolution that can replace it is worked out concretely. In Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today (Pluto, 2002), John Holloway argues that genuine revolution cannot be a process of capturing power – not even in order to abolish state power and other relations of domination. Power must be dissolved.
Banking and Investments Howard F. Seligman Tuesdays, 6pm -- 7:30pm
This course will explore banking, investment, and financial markets. We will begin with an introduction to financial accounting and discounted cash flow in order to construct a toolkit for further analysis. Howard F. Seligman taught a course on taxation and finance last Spring at the New SPACE. He has been a self employed financial and tax consultant since 1984. Howard's practice specializes in the arts and entertainment fields, and he serves as the treasurer to more than fifteen arts and cultural organizations. Howard has taught accounting and finance at The Pratt Institute. His hobbies include playing Howie Solo, a singer and stand up comedian who can host your local fundraising event. He is currently researching a book on the history of the Jewish gangster in America. A Reading Of Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit Alex Steinberg 12 Sessions, beginning October 4 Tuition: $150 -- $180, sliding scale "The True is the Bacchanalian revel in which no member is not drunk." Preface to the Phenomenology of Spirit
It has been said that one cannot understand much of what has transpired in terms of art, culture, politics or philosophy in the last 200 years without having read Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit. For good reason, many have considered this work to be the culmination of the Western philosophical tradition that began in ancient Greece.
Fall 2005 Talks The Politics of the Anti-War Movement A talk by Bill WeinbergWednesday, September 21 at 7:30 p.m.Suggested Donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale
Hard-left elements of the anti-war movement affirm the abstract right of the Iraqi people to resist the occupation, but fail to grapple with the realities of Iraq's actually-existing armed resistance. The more moderate elements dodge the question entirely. Yet there is an active left opposition in Iraq that opposes the occupation, the regime it protects, and the jihadi and Baathist "resistance" alike. It is this besieged opposition, under threat of assassination and persecution, which is fighting to keep alive elementary freedoms for women, leading labor struggles against Halliburton and other US contractors, and demanding a secular future for Iraq. For all the incessant factional splits in the US anti-war movement, providing this real, progressive Iraqi resistance concrete solidarity is not even on the agenda. How can we build an effective anti-war movement which is based on principles of international solidarity, and loan a voice to our natural allies in Iraq? Join us in a discussion with award-winning journalist Bill Weinberg. The Ecosocialist Vision A talk byJoel Kovel Wednesday, November 2 at 7:30pm Suggested Donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale
We are presently undergoing a profound crisis in the relations between humanity and nature -- the outcome of which will determine the shape of the future. It is quite clear, although near-universally denied, that this "ecological crisis" is primarily being driven by the force of capital accumulation. It is also clear that this objectively redefines the mission of radical-left politics, inasmuch as capital is both profoundly ecodestructive and unable to correct itself. Hence a new socialism is needed -- an ecosocialism that combines "red" and "green" political agendas. To do this, however, a new sense of vision is required, one capable of imagining the contours of such a socialist world despite the failings of twentieth century socialism and the hegemonic power of capitalism. Joel Kovel is presently Editor-in-Chief of Capitalism Nature Socialism and Professor of Social Studies at Bard College. He is the author of nine books, the most recent being The Enemy Of Nature (Zed, 2002). He ran for US Senate from NY in 1998 on the Green Party line, and for the Green Party Presidential nomination in 2000. The People's Pension: The Anarchist Origins of Social Security and Today's Battle Over Its Future A talk by Eric Laursen Wednesday, November 16 at 7:30 pm Suggested Donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale
One of the hottest US domestic political debates today is over the future of Social Security. The crown jewel of the New Deal, Social Security is the basic old-age income protection program for elderly and disabled American workers. It's also the most successful anti-poverty program in US history, and has always been overwhelmingly popular. Eric Laursen is an independent journalist, activist and anarchist living in New York City. He has written for a wide variety of publications including Practical Anarchy, the Village Voice, In These Times, The New Formulation, The Nation, Institutional Investor, the AICPA Journal of Accountancy, and the forthcoming issue of Perspectives on Anarchist Theory. He has worked with the NYC Direct Action Network, the International Solidarity Movement, NoRNC Coalition, and other activist networks and alliances. Laursen is currently completing a history of the Social Security privatization wars. Modern Crisis Theory: Why a dynamic understanding of today's crises is critical for organizing a progressive movement and vision of an alternative society A talk by Roz Bologh and Len Mell Wednesday, November 30 at 7:30 p.m. Suggested Donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale Is it important to have a theory of crisis? Is it necessary to have a theory of the development of social reason? Is it important to have a theory of the evolution of society? Is it necessary to have a theory of how society undergoes maturational crises? Roz Bologh is professor of sociology at the College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center, CUNY. She is the author of Dialectical Phenomenolgy: Marx’s Method, Love or Greatness: Max Weber and Masculine Thinking, A Feminist Inquiry, as well as numerous articles. She is the vice chair and grievance counselor at the College of Staten Island Chapter of the Professional Staff Congress (PSC) CUNY. Len Mell is a student of Dr. Bologh and has been a tenant organizer in Brooklyn. He has co-authored several articles with Professor Bologh, including “The Spectre of Financial Crisis and the Failure of the Left.” Summer 2005 Classes Taxation and Finance Howard F. Seligman Tuesdays, 7:45pm - 9:45pm 8 sessions, beginning May 3rd Tuition: $88 – $115, sliding scale
The course will begin with a brief tutorial on conventional accounting, bookkeeping and financial theory. This will involve some hands on practical training, although the main emphasis will be on the history of the evolution of the theory from its original conception to the current methodologies. This will be followed by an examination of basic economics (price theory) and its use and abuse of (accounting/finance) statistics. Again, the history of the theory from its roots in philosophy and the social sciences to its current state of being applied mathematical models will be scrutinized. We will then survey the U.S. Income Tax System beginning with its history and moving on to its current state (of change) today. The focus will be on the behavioral implications of changes in the tax code and alternate systems being used in other countries (and being proposed by Congress today.) Applying the building blocks of finance and taxation, we will then look at the American financial markets and the culture of the corporation. Particular attention will be paid to 'Wall Street' and the 'entertainment industry' due to their growing influence in our everyday lives via the 'information society.' Emphasis will be placed on economic and non-economic forces that drive the markets and facilitate manipulation by the use of abstract numerical concepts. Finally, the natural symbiosis of private industry and governments will be the subject of specific anecdotes and case studies. No requirements other than potential enthusiasm/interest. Howard F. Seligman has been a self employed financial and tax consultant since 1984. Howard’s practice specializes in the arts and entertainment fields, and he serves as the treasurer to more than fifteen arts and cultural organizations. Howard has taught accounting and finance at The Pratt Institute. His hobbies include playing Howie Solo, a singer and stand up comedian who can host your local fundraising event. He is currently researching a book on the history of the Jewish gangster in America. Spring 2005 Classes Art Life Alan W. Moore Saturdays, 12 - 2pm 8 Sessions, beginning April 2 Tuition: $88 – $115, sliding scale Single Session: $15
The name of this class reflects the commitment that artists make to creative life. We will examine how this commitment is extended to creative social change. Weekly meetings will consist of discussion of readings and websites, and presentations of online art information, illustrated books, art work and action, and guests. We may possibly visit sites.
Working together, we will try to come to an understanding of the roots of political work in the arts; evaluate aesthetic and critical positions relevant to that work; evaluate the creative and resistant potential of different artists’ and art groups’ artistic practices; research, review and annotate a list of activist, political, and interventionist artists' sites and works.
Alan Moore was active in the artists’ groups Colab and ABC No Rio in the 1980s. He edited ABC No Rio: Story of a Lower East Side Art Gallery with Marc Miller in 1985. His doctoral thesis (Graduate Center, City University of New York 2000) concerned New York City artists’ organizations between 1969 and 1984. Recent work includes: “Political Economy as Subject and Form in Modern Art” for the fall 2004 issue of Review of Radical Political Economics and “Being There: The Tribeca Neighborhood of Franklin Furnace” (with Debra Wacks) for a forthcoming issue of The Drama Review.
Single Sessions: $15
Single session participants are welcome, but must bear in mind that they are visiting a working group. This class may have off site meetings. If you wish to attend single sessions, please contact us.
Immigrant Workers' History in the United States, 1877 to the Present Jeannette Gabriel Thursdays, 6:00 - 7:30pm April 7 - May 19
This class will study the impact that immigrant workers have had on the history of the American working class. We will analyze six historical moments when immigrant workers have made significant contributions to workers rights. We will study the ways in which the community-workplace model, which immigrant workers have embraced more readily than craft or industrial unionism, has promoted women's activism. This course will examine how immigrant workers have been a central radicalizing force throughout recent labor history. Jeannette Gabriel is an activist and student of American working class history at the CUNY Graduate Center. She currently organizes with immigrant workers in New Jersey around issues of worker and civil rights. She has been fighting against illegal detention and torture of immigrants since 9/11. Her primary research focus is on feminist and radical currents within worker and unemployment movements.
Finance Capital, Fictitious Capital, and U.S. Economic Decline Loren Goldner Tuesdays, 7:40 – 9:40 pm March 1 – April 12 Tuition: $88 – $115, sliding scale
This course will attempt to explain the current situation of the U.S., the “lone superpower,” which has net $3 trillion in foreign indebtedness (30% of GDP) and roughly $35 trillion in total internal indebtedness (Federal, state, municipal, corporate, personal), or over 3 times GDP. Since the 1960s, the U.S. has obliged its foreign creditors (Europe, OPEC, Asia) to recycle their surplus dollars to support this creaking edifice of debt, while American capital downsizes and ships production overseas. The rest of the world produces, the U.S. consumes. Manufacture now employs a mere 13% of the American work force. We will examine how this situation came about, who are the “winners and losers” of such an arrangement, and above all its impact on the material degradation of life for 80% of the U.S. population. Finally, we will discuss ways in which a potential radical left can raise these questions in a politically meaningful way. The main required readings for the course will be Michael Hudson’s book Super-Imperialism: The Strategy of American Empire (1972; reissued 2002), and excerpts from the middle sections of Volume III of Marx’s Capital. To get a better idea of where the instructor is coming from, check out the Break Their Haughty Power website at http://home.earthlink.net/~lrgoldner, in particular the post-2001 articles. Loren Goldner is a writer and activist living in New York City.
Marx's Capital, Volume I Andrew Kliman Tuesdays, 6:00 – 7:30pm March 1 – June 14 Tuition: $150 – $180, sliding scale
This 15-week course is devoted to Volume I of Karl Marx's Capital: A critique of political economy. Marx analyzes the capital relation as a process of "self-expanding value." Throughout the course, we will stress the relevance of this concept to the contemporary expansionism of the capitalist system and the new movements against global capitalism. The specific character of Marx's critique of capital, and its differences from others' critiques, will also be highlighted.
We will go through most of the text fairly carefully, but proceed quickly through some lengthy discussions of factual material -- on struggles over the length of the workday, "machinofacture," and the historical origins of the capitalist system -- in order to have more time to devote to more difficult portions of the work. The instructor will provide study questions to assist students as they work through the text. Students are strongly encouraged to obtain the Penguin (or Vintage) edition of Capital, since this is what will be cited in class. (The Penguin and Vintage editions are identical in terms of translation and page numbers.)
Andrew Kliman, a professor of economics at Pace University, has published extensively on Marx’s Capital, crisis theory, and value theory — topics that he also teaches regularly. Co-editor of The New Value Controversy and the Foundations of Economics (2004), he is currently finishing a book that reclaims Capital from the myth of internal inconsistency, and is also working on a book-length study guide to Volumes II and III of that work.
Spring 2005 Talks
Behind the Continuing Disaster in Acheh, Indonesia: Facts, Politics and Theory A talk by Reyza Zain and Anne Jaclard Wednesday March 16, 7:00pm Suggested Donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale
Reyza Zain and Anne Jaclard will discuss how the Indonesian and U.S. governments are using tsunami relief aid for political purposes, the political-economic roots of the disaster, and the future of the Achenese people’s struggle for self-determination. Questions they will explore include: Are the Achenese people part of the Indonesian nation? What is the relationship between mass movements for self-determination and human rights campaigns? How is ecological degradation bound up with military repression? Was the massive death toll a result of a “natural” disaster, or was it a preventable by-product of capitalism? What can be done to change the U.S. left’s limited interest in Acheh? Reyza Zain is a member of Acheh Center, an association of Achenese refugees in the U.S. He was an activist in the peaceful student movement for self-determination that flowered after the end of the dictatorship in Indonesia, but was then severely repressed. He was forced to flee Acheh for his life. Anne Jaclard is a feminist and Marxist-Humanist who has been active for seven years in solidarity work with grassroots civil society movements in Acheh. She writes on revolutionary movements and theory for the newspaper News & Letters. Zain and Jaclard are working to provide direct, immediate aid and financial support to the victims of the disaster. The contributions they collect go directly to grassroots organizations that get relief aid into Acheh quickly, without needing the cooperation of the Indonesian government or military. Please send checks made out to Acheh Center to: Acheh Center, USA, P.O. Box 6296, Harrisburg, PA 17112. Tel. (717) 343-1598, email: achehcenter@yahoo.com Background on the Tsunami and Acheh
The Marxist Critique of Ideology: What it Is, How It Works, and Why It's Important - Especially Now (it's all about alienation, fetishism, dialectics and class struggle) A talk by Bertell Ollman Wednesday April 27, 7pm Suggested Donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale
Bertell Ollman is a professor in the Department of Politics at New York University. He has published a dozen books on Marxist theory and socialism, the most recent of which is Dance of The Dialectic: Steps in Marx's Method. For his writings see: www.dialecticalmarxism.com.
Fighting For Reforms Without Becoming Reformist A talk by Robin Hahnel Wednesday May 25, 7pm Suggested Donation: $7 - $10, sliding scale
A discussion with Robin Hahnel, based on his new book, Economic Justice and Democracy (Routledge). Robin Hahnel has been active in many social movements and organizations over the past forty years, most recently with the Southern Maryland Greens and Green Party USA. He is Professor of Economics at American University and co-creator with Michael Albert of the radical alternative to capitalism "participatory economics."
|