Coffee Break tomorrow, 5pm: democracy and Marxism (Think Coffee on 248 Mercer St)

[Pam Nogales]

Dear Platypus NYC and fellow travelers,

This e-mail is to remind everyone that tomorrow, May 29, Jeremy Cohan and James 

Vaughn will be hosting a special session of the weekly Platypus Coffee Break on 

democracy and Marxism.  We will discuss selections from Dick Howard's The Specter
of Democracy.  This coffee break/session is modeled after the first session of
the special two-week Platypus Affiliated Society reading group on Marx and
democracy that is taking place in Chicago and other locations.

See below for a list of the primary and supplemental readings for tomorrow's
coffee break/session.  All of these readings are available online at the
following site:

http://platypus1917.org/2012/05/14/platypus-summer-2012-democracy-and-marxism/

The coffee break/session will take place tomorrow (5/29) at Think Coffee on 248
Mercer St. (the usual NYU Platypus Coffee Break location).  It will begin at
5:00 PM and it will last as long as the participants do.

We look forward to discussing Dick Howard, democracy, and Marxism with everyone
at Think Coffee tomorrow at 5PM.

While we would encourage everyone to do the reading -- we welcome all who are interested

in the topic of democracy and Marxism. 


Readings for special coffee break/session on Marx and democracy

Primary reading:
• Dick Howard, selections from The Specter of Democracy (2002)

Supplemental readings:
+ Howard, “Philosophy by other means?” (2001) (original version of Chapter 13 of The Specter of Democracy)
+ Benjamin Constant, “The liberty of the ancients compared with that of the moderns” (1819)
+ Karl Marx, On Bruno Bauer’s The Jewish Question (1844)
+ Marx, Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875)
+ Chris Cutrone, “Lenin’s liberalism” and “Lenin’s politics” (2011)