Revolution After Marx

Revolutionary consciousness today is moribund. Among countless examples, perhaps none is more striking than the fact that, with ever diminishing exceptions, there is increasingly little questioning of the fundamental givens of our social and political order. Instead, nearly all “serious” political claims begin by acknowledging and appeasing the alleged necessities of individual competition, capital accumulation, electoral politics, and, relatedly, the well-being of the nation-state.

In this course, we will interrogate the limits of prevailing left thought in order to challenge these and other givens. In so doing, we will conduct critical inquiries into everything from linear time and the state to gender relations and left institutions themselves.