7.\u00a0 Tuesday, February 4<\/strong><\/p>\n Discussion<\/em>: \u00a0With V. I. Lenin\u2019s help, Marxism becomes a party in revolutionary Russia. We will discuss his challenging, foundational document How is Lenin\u2019s image of revolution different from the one you find in the\u00a0Communist Manifesto<\/em>? Or the same? \u00a0Why might you have found Lenin\u2019s argument appealing in turn-of-the-century \u00a0Russia? \u00a0\u00a0As you read Lenin, I would also you to refer back to our readings from another founder, the Apostle Paul. \u00a0Paul founded a revolutionary church. \u00a0Lenin founded a revolutionary party.\u00a0 Some issues that we have not yet covered in Paul\u2019s letters\u00a0 will be relevant to this discussion.\u00a0 Finally, ask yourself why Lenin\u2019s tract might be applicable to political and social organizations in the contemporary world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 8.\u00a0 Thursday, \u00a0February 6<\/strong><\/p>\n Leninism: \u00a0Part II \u00a0Discussion<\/em>:\u00a0 Great Writing, Persuasive Criticism<\/p>\n I love George Orwell. \u00a0Thus, I assign his writings, especially the two below, again and again. Seven decades after his death, Orwell continues to provide us with fresh insight into the study politics . \u00a0He aldso teaches us a lot about great writing. \u00a0His works are deceptively easy to read, but most people cannot write with the fluid style that he exemplifies. I wish I could!\u00a0 Still, I want you to try to emulate his example.<\/p>\n Readings from\u00a0George Orwell<\/a>:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n 10. Thursday,\u00a0 February 13<\/strong><\/p>\n Stalin, the Formation of the Soviet Union, and the Declaration of Socialism: Part I<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI congratulate the Magnitogorsk workers and executive staff on their first important victory. Forward, comrades, to new victories!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0J. Stalin<\/strong>\u00a0(Pravda<\/em>, May 19, 1931)<\/p>\n In this section, we discuss the views of an American participant in Stalin\u2019s \u201cheroic\u201d construction of socialism. \u00a0It is possible to view this period as a second Russian Revolution.<\/p>\n John Scott,\u00a0Behind the Urals:\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>READ (read the introduction by Stephen Kotkin and at least parts 1-5.<\/p>\n 11. Tuesday, February 18<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n We begin to sense from Scott\u2019s account that something is going wrong the ideal image of building Soviet socialism. \u00a0What are the symptoms of this dysfunction and why are they occurring?<\/p>\n 12. Thursday, February 20<\/strong><\/p>\n Film:\u00a0 \u201cCircus\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 (1936): \u00a0We will\u00a0watch this intriguing (and bizarre) depiction of life under Stalinism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n We’ll watch this video in class.\u00a0 No need to watch it beforehand.\u00a0 I still need to figure out how to reduce it to 75 minutes.<\/p>\n Watch in class<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 13.\u00a0 Tuesday, February 25<\/strong><\/p>\n The Origins of Alternative Communists Paths in China and Cuba:\u00a0 Maoism and fidelismo<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Discussion<\/em>:\u00a0 Today, we consider two paths to revolution that differ from Leninism in striking waysm, those enunciated by Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro. Although there are significant differences between these two paths–they occur at different times; Castro\u00a0 did not commit to Marxism until after he came to power–there are also notable similarities.\u00a0 Compare both of the readings with Marx’s\u00a0 and Lenin’s images of revolution.\u00a0 Also, note the differences in rhetorical style?\u00a0 Do you see any similarities with populist rhetoric today?<\/p>\n NOTE: Please leave your technology at home. This includes electronic devices of any kind, such as laptops, Kindles, i-Pads, I-phones, video cameras, video games, dog fences, or other personal digital devices.<\/p>\n My class is a no-tweet zone. Some things are just not dignified!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The communist dream came to fruition in the 20th century. \u00a0Yet the revolutions that brought its enthusiasts to power did not take place under the circumstances that Marx and Engels predicted. \u00a0If Marx and Engels were wrong, how to we account for the fact that so many people were entranced by this dream, indeed, ecstatic … Continue reading “Revolutionary Ecstasy”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-16","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16"}],"version-history":[{"count":52,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16\/revisions\/333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2020\/files\/2020\/01\/BEL34-768x1024.jpg\")
about the communist party,\u201cWhat is to be Done?\u201d \u00a0Lenin wrote his essay for his times (1902). \u00a0Thus he mentions lots of parties. \u00a0It\u2019s enough for you to focus on two of them, the so-called \u201ceconomists\u201d and the Social Democrats; as you can see in my book, there are different kinds of Social Democrats.<\/p>\n\n
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\nDiscussion<\/em>: \u00a0Lenin goes beyond the world of fighting for power\u00a0to imagine a communist future. \u00a0State and Revolution<\/em>\u00a0represents a provocative contrast with\u00a0What is to be Done? \u00a0In 1917<\/em>, Lenin was trying \u00a0to prepare\u00a0his followers psychologically for\u00a0the next stage of the revolution. \u00a0As you read these excerpts, ask yourself about Lenin\u2019s images of politics after the revolution: \u00a0one corresponds to the overthrow of the old state machinery and its replacement with a new\u00a0form of state organization\u00a0(\u201csocialism\u201d);\u00a0the other is the final stage of human history (\u201ccommunism\u201d). \u00a0Both periods show up in\u00a0The Communist Manifesto<\/em>, but in much more ambiguous ways. \u00a0How does one go from the first period to the second?<\/p>\n\n
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\n9.\u00a0 Tuesday, February 11<\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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\nFIRST ESSAY ASSIGNMENT<\/strong>: \u00a0Your essay question is HERE<\/a><\/p>\n![\""Circus"](\"http:\/\/blogs.nd.edu\/communist-dream-2014\/files\/2014\/08\/Circus_poster1-300x234.jpg\")
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