Why does Society have Politics? (4/5/2025 panel) скачать в хорошем качестве

Why does Society have Politics? (4/5/2025 panel)

Panel Discussion at the 2025 International Platypus Convention, Chicago, IL Saturday, April 5 1pm — 3pm Douglas Lain (Sublation Media), Bill Ayers (Activist), Alex Higgins (Prometheus Journal), Dave McKerracher (Theory Underground) In the wake of DSA, Momentum, Syriza, Podemos and other neo-social democratic formations, two seemingly opposed turns have taken shape on the Left against electoralism: a turn to “civil society organizing” and to “the party.” The obvious reference point uniting these are the mass socialist parties of the pre-war Second International, which were based in society and had an electoral arm. The failure of this International occasioned the travails and regroupments of the Left in the 20th century. If the 2015 neo social-democratic moment revealed that Lenin was a Kautskyian, this turn to “society” and through it to the “party” may prompt us now to ask in what way Kautsky was liberal. This panel takes a step back and asks: what is society, or civil society, terms which Marx used interchangeably? Why does society have party politics? What was Marx’s critique of liberal parties and socialist parties, and more broadly of liberalism and of socialism? Does Marx have a critique of democracy? What is the legacy of progressivism and the New Left social movements? Have feminism and anti-racism been fully co-opted by the Democratic party, or do they still have emancipatory purchase? How will civil-social organising differ in Trump’s second term as opposed to his first? Most basically, where does society come from, what is it, and why is its crisis political? What is society and politics for the Left? _________________________________ Curious to learn more about Platypus? E-mail [email protected] to be connected with a chapter in your area. The Platypus Affiliated Society organizes reading groups, public fora, research, and journalism focused on problems and tasks inherited from the "Old" (1920s-30s), "New" (1960s-70s), and post-political (1980s-90s) Left, for the possibilities of emancipatory politics today. http://www.platypus1917.org