Revolutions

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 1 of an ongoing study and focus group that will meet throughout the year. We will use 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.

In September we will begin by reviewing the French Revolution. The intention is to learn well the events that led to the end of the monarchy, the development of various factions that vied for power during the course of the Revolution, their programs, successes and the defeat of the left with the rise of a coherent right which paved the way for Bonaparte. While covering the French Revolution thoroughly we will also
carefully consider Slavoj Zizek’s introduction and guide to Robespierre’s Virtue and Terror.

From the French Revolution we will look at 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. As part of the 1968 commemoration ongoing at The Brecht Forum, we will jump ahead to look at the events of Paris during May of 1968.

All levels of participation are welcome and encouraged. One aim for this Fall is for all to have a comprehension of what took place between the storming of the Bastille to the rise of Bonaparte and the bourgeoisie in France and the lessons learned for all
future revolutionaries and what we can still learn from that time.

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?

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.

“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.