Winter 2008 Advance Course Information

This information effective for winter 2008. Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.

Community Studies

[CMMU 142]

142 Introduction to Marxism

Note: This syllabus from winter 2003, but a close approximation of the syllabus that will be used winter 2008. Lecure Schedule dates listed at the end of the syllabus may not be accurate.

Instructor: Mike Rotkin
Office: 203 College 8
Phone: 459-4601 (office); 423-4209 (home, call till midnight)
E-mail: openup@ucsc.edu

Course Description

A. People's backgrounds, interests, and conception of Marxism

B. Structure of the class, projects, or work groups, expectations, etc.

"Leading a Discussion for Class" (in Reader)
"Some Comments and Ideas on Group Dynamics and Facilitating Discussions" (in Reader)
"Combat Liberalism" (in Reader)
Paulo Freire, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" (in Reader)

C. Recommended:

David McLellan, "The Life of Karl Marx" (in Reader)
Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 1
Priscilla Robertson, Revolutions of 1848 (on Reserve)

A. Lecture on Hegel and Feuerbach

Recommended:
Howard Sherman, "Dialectics as a Method" (in Reader)
Richard Lichtman, "Notes on the Dialectic in Hegel and Marx" (in Reader)
John Judis, "The Personal and the Political" (on Reserve)

B. [The material under II.B. is broken up into logical little chunks for reading and to assign responsibility for facilitating discussions. Start by reading: "Notes on Reading the Theses on Feuerback" (in Reader)]

1) Theses on Feuerbach I through IV in K.M. pp. 171-2. (4 different people)
2) "Introduction to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right," in K.M. pp. 71-2 (up to "... the following exposition.") Read this in relationship to the 4th Thesis on Feuerbach.
3) Theses on Feuerbach V through VIII and XI in K.M. pp. 172-3. (5 diff. people)
4) "Historical Materialism" (in Reader). Don't discuss this unless people have questions, but read it as preparation for the German Ideology readings.
5) Preface to the German Ideology in K.M. pp. 175-6 and (the following section originally followed the three dots on p. 176 and was excerpted by McLellan, but we should read it, so it is in the Reader):
"Feuerbach: Opposition of the Materialistic and Idealistic Outlook"
6) p. 176 ("The Premises of the Materialist Method") to p. 177 ("The relations of the different nations ...")
7) from where 6) ends to p. 177 ("The various stages of development ..."
8) from where 7) ends to the bottom of p. 180 ("The fact is, therefore …"). (Remember in leading this discussion to get out the basic idea of the relationship between ownership and the division of labor and not get lost in details about each of the three "stages" Marx and Engels are discussing.)
9) from where 8) ends to the double space in the page on p. 181.
10) Read to prepare for the following section, but do not discuss in class: O'Connor, "The Need for Production and the Production of Needs" (in the Reader).
11) from where 9) ends (on p. 181) to the break in the page on p. 184.

Recommended:
The Capitalist System, Chapter 2, (on Reserve)
K.M., pp. 187-192 (up to "The ideas of the ruling class …") and other selections from Part II
Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 11, 12, 13, & 14

A. Alienation and Labor" (in Reader)
Mandel, "The Causes of Alienation" (in Reader)
Alienated Labor in K.M., pp. 85-95
Barbara Garson, All the Livelong Day

B. The German Ideology in K.M., pp. 184-7 and 196-8

"On Free Human Production" (in Reader)

Recommended:
Andre Gorz, selection from Critique of Economic Reason (on Reserve)
Andre Gorz, Strategy for Labor, Chapters 1 and 2 (on Reserve)
The rest of Chapter 4 in The Capitalist System (on Reserve)
The rest of Mandel and Novack, The Marxist Theory of Alienation (on Reserve)

IV. Strongly Recommended for an overview of capitalism as a system (not for class discussion)

A. "The Capitalist Mode of Production" & "The Essence of Capitalism" (in Reader)
B. "The Historical Tendency of Capitalist Accumulation" in K.M., pp. 523-5.

A. Marx's Capital for Beginners (in Reader)
Capital I, Chapter 1, sections 1 and 2 in K.M., pp. 458-467
B. "How Capitalism is Mystified" (in Reader)
Capital I, Chapter 1, section 4, in K.M., pp. 472-480.
C. Amin, "In Praise of Socialism" and Response I (in Reader)

Recommended:
Balbus, "Marxism and Domination" (on Reserve)

A. Paul Sweezy, "Surplus Value and Capitalism" (in Reader)
Capital I, Chapter 4, in K.M., pp. 482-488
B. "Wage Labor and Capital" in K.M., pp. 273-293
Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 7

Recommended:
The Capitalist System, Chapter 3 (on Reserve)
Capital I, Chapters 6 and 7 in K.M., pp. 488-508
The Capitalist System, Chapters 9, and 10 (on Reserve)
Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 8
Other selections from Part IV of K.M.

A. The Communist Manifesto in K.M., pp. 245-271 (esp. parts 1 and 2)
"Introduction to the Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right," in K.M., pp. 78 (1st new paragraph)-82
Lipset and Bendix, "Karl Marx's Theory of Social Classes" (in Reader)
Classes, in K.M., pp. 544-5

B. Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 6
Rotkin, "Expanding the Proletariat" (in Reader)
Michael Lind, "To Have and Have Not" (in Reader)
"Racism" (in Reader)
"Male Dominance" (in Reader)

C. Highly Recommended:

David Smith, "The Myth of the Middle Class" (in Reader)
"Capital Accumulation and the Capitalist Class" (in Reader)
"The Labor Process and the Working Class" (in Reader)
"Class and Inequality" (in Reader)
Almaguer, "Class, Race, and Chicano Oppression" (in Reader)
Hartman, "Patriarchy and Capitalism" (in Reader)
Hartman, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism" (in Reader)

D. Also Recommended:

Gintis, "The New Working Class and Revolutionary Youth" from Socialist Revolution #3 (on Reserve)
Omi and Winant, "Race in the U.S.," in Socialist Review #71 (on Reserve)
Eisenstein, "Capitalist Patriarchy and Socialist Feminism" (on Reserve)
Pat Walker, ed., Between Labor and Capital (on Reserve)
Mike Rotkin, "Marx's View of Social Class" (on Reserve)
The Capitalist System, Chapters 3, 4, 6, 7, & 8 (on Reserve).
Braverman, "The Structure of the Working Class and Its Reserve Armies"
(on Reserve)

A. The German Ideology in K.M., p. 192 ("The ideas of the Ruling Class …" to end of paragraph)
Gitlin, "The Whole World is Watching" (in Reader)
Michael Parenti, Selections from Power and the Powerless (in Reader)

Recommended:
Richard Lichtman in Socialist Revolution #23 (on Reserve)
Douglas Kellner in Socialist Review #45 (on Reserve)
Daniel Ben-Horin on TV in Socialist Review #35 (Xerox on Reserve)
Herbert Marcuse, One Dimensional Man (on Reserve)

A. Jennifer Nedelsky, Private Property & the Limits of American Constitutionalism (in Reader)
A Reading Guide to "On the Jewish Question" by Mike Rotkin (in Reader)
"On the Jewish Question" in K.M., pp. 46-64 (stop at p.64!)
"Theses on Feuerbach" IX and X in K.M., p. 173

Recommended:
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (on Reserve)
Milton Freedman, Capitalism and Freedom (on Reserve)
The rest of Nedelsky, Private Property and the Limits of American Constitutionalism

A. "Class Conflict and the State (in Reader)
Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 9

B. Recommended:

Richard Barnet, "Lords of the Global Economy" (in Reader)
V.I. Lenin, State and Revolution (on Reserve)
The Eighteenth Brumaire and The Civil War in France in K.M., pp. 329-354
Poulantzas, "The State and the Transition to Socialism" (Xerox on Reserve)
Fred Block in Socialist Revolution #33 (Xerox on Reserve)
Boris Frankel, "The State of the State" (a Xerox on Reserve)
Santiago Carrillo, Eurocommunism and the State (on Reserve)
G. William Domhoff, The Power Elite and the State (on Reserve)
G. William Domhoff, Who Rules America, (Third Edition), Mayfield 1998 (on Reserve)
Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 10

A. Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Chapter 15
Mike Rotkin, "A Three-Part Strategy for Democratic Socialism"(in Reader)
"Waste and Irrationality" (in Reader)

B. Recommended:

"From Capitalism to Socialism" (in Reader)
"Economic Crises" (Xerox on Reserve)
Socialist Visions, edited by Sholom (on Reserve)
"The World After Communism" (Xerox on Reserve)
"The Future of Socialism" (Xerox on Reserve)
Andre Gorz, selections from Critique of Economic Reason (on Reserve)
James O'Connor, "Preservation First! Toward a Political Economy of a Good
Society." (Xerox on Reserve)
Andre Gorz, Paths to Paradise, The Liberation from Work, Pluto Press, 1985
(Xerox on Reserve)
An Anthology of Western Marxism edited by Gottlieb (on Reserve)
Marxism Essential Writings edited by McLellan (on Reserve)
Socialist Review, Vol. 95/3&4 "Explorations in Post Modern Marxism" (on
Reserve)
James O'Connor, Natural Causes: Essays in Ecological Marxism, Guilford Press, 1998 (on Reserve)

A. The following should be purchased for the course (available at Bay Tree on campus & at Slug Books)

1) David McLellan, Karl Marx, Selected Writings, Oxford U. Press, 1977 (referred to as K.M. throughout the syllabus) Note: if you have the First Edition of Karl Marx: Selected Writings, see Mike for a special syllabus and reading guides.
2) Barbara Garson, All the Livelong Day, Penguin Books, 1994.
3) Howard Sherman, Reinventing Marxism, Johns Hopkins U. Press, 1995
4) A Reader for the course sold at Slug Books

B. All Reserve readings are located in McHenry Library at the Reserve Desk. If you would like to purchase your own copy of readings from Socialist Review or Socialist Revolution, see Mike Rotkin.

The above reading list is tentative. We will probably make changes during the quarter and hope that you will suggest appropriate changes as well. Even if you do not have a particular reading to recommen, but have a topic-passion-concern-interest that you want to have discussed, mention it and maybe someone else in the class can suggest a good reading.

Some of the topics, particularly toward the end of the quarter, have a lot of recommended reading that is in the Reader. This is so the students facilitating the discussions may select alternative or additional readings for their sections and have them easily accessible to all class members. Remember that starting with the section on Alienation, student facilitators will often need to select, from among a variety of readings, which ones will actually be read by everyone and discussed in class. Your section facilitators (and/or Mike Rotkin) will help guide you in this process, but choices must me made! If you assign too much reading and don't focus, there is always the danger that students in your section will be discouraged and tend to read nothing. Think about creative ways to bring insights from the recommended readings into class discussion as well.

The last 10 to 15 minutes of each section meeting will be devoted to criticism/ self-criticism. We will have a longer evaluation session after the fifth and tenth weeks. But please do not wait until the end of the quarter to give each other and the instructor constructive criticism and support. The course will be better if that can be shared regularly.

This course will not work if you approach it passively. The readings are difficult and require energy and a critical approach. The discussions will not be carried by the discussion leaders alone and will work best when people bring in their thoughts and experiences. Small study groups to go over the readings before class are highly encouraged (if not necessary!). An 8–15 page paper is required (the topic of which will be discussed in class). Active class participation is the most important requirement of this course.

Lecture Schedule (subject to change) in Room 75 Soc. Sci. 2, 2–3:45pm

Th Jan 3: Introduction to the Course/Section Selection
T Jan 8: Hegel and Feuerbach/Dialectical Materialism
Th Jan 10: Film: The History Book
T Jan 15: The French Revolutions of 1789
Th Jan 17: The French Revolution of 1848/The Paris Commune
T Jan 22: Commodities/Marxist Economics
Th Jan 24: Optional Film
T Jan 29: Social Classes
Th Jan 31: Optional Film
T Feb 5: Social Democracy
Th Feb 7: Optional Film
T Feb 12: No Lecture/Advising Day
Th Feb14: Optional Film
T Feb 19: Ideological Hegemony
Th Feb 21: Optional Film
T Feb 26: The Russian Revolution
Th Feb 28: Optional Film
T Mar 5: The State
Th Mar 7: Optional Film
T Mar12: Contradictions/Socialist Strategy
Th Mar 14: Optional Film