Revolutions
Part 2. The Haitian Revolution
WORKSHOP & STUDY GROUP
Part II- 12 SESSIONS
A compelling series has been issued by Verso Books titled Revolutions. It is a series concerning works that “took center-stage during a period of revolution, incendiary words that roused populations to insurrection. Major contemporary radical writers introduce each book, discovering that the words still have the power to inspire, to provoke and maybe to ignite new revolutions....”
This is part 2 of an ongoing study and focus group that will meet throughout the year. You can join anytime!
The group is using some of the books from the Verso Revolutions series and more, including Hobsbawm’s Age of Revolution, Rude’s The French Revolution, James’ Black Jacobins, Marx’s Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte and The Civil War in France.
From September through January, the class has focused on the French Revolution. In February, beginning with a screening of Pontecorvo's classic film, Burn,the group shifts its attention to the Haitian Revolution as the first of numerous anti-colonial movements, before returning to Europe to look at the events of 1848 and careful consideration of The Paris Commune of 1871.
These studies are meant to continue and to cover more of the core texts from the Verso series as well as other significant moments in our history from around the globe including movements in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
All levels of participation are welcome and encouraged. Some of the many questions to be considered include: What is the role of participating in reforms by revolutionaries and revolutionary groups? What is revolutionary leadership? Once in power, what is necessary to protect the gains of the revolution? How do we decide as individuals or as a revolutionary party that a revolutionary opportunity has arrived? How well are we prepared to act if a revolutionary moment arrives in an unpredictable manner? How do we form and break strategic alliances at any time during revolutionary struggles?
“The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it.”
Marx, Theses on Feuerbach
Michael Lardner was an early member of the committee that founded The New York Marxist School, involved with numerous studies and promotions following earlier years of
migrant labor, urban housing and graphic arts worker organizing.
Sliding scale: $95-$125
Free for Brecht Forum Subscribers
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