Saturday, December 5th, 2020 at 3pm Want to spend your Covid-19 isolation sharpening your analytical senses and building your historical knowledge? Join the Education Committee for the inauguration of our Socialist Night School! This will include a lecture followed by a discussion informed by selected optional readings. Register here to participate in this and subsequent Socialist Night School online meetings.
At this session we will discuss socialist feminism. Socialists have often been ahead of the curve on women's rights (indeed, the Soviet Union was the first modern country to grant fully equal rights to men and women). What do socialism and feminism have to do with each other, and what does it mean to bring them together in a single idea? What is the role of household labor and othe 'women's work' in capitalism, and how does capitalism shape all our experiences of gender and sex?
Find the recommended readings below:
What is Socialist Feminism? by Barbra Ehrenreich
Producing and Reproducing: Capitalism's Dual Oppression of Women by Celeste Murillo
We Can’t Have a Feminist Future Without Abandoning the Family by Marie Solis
Saturday, November 28, 2020 at 3pm Want to spend your Covid-19 isolation sharpening your analytical senses and building your historical knowledge? Join the Education Committee for the inauguration of our Socialist Night School! This will include a lecture followed by a discussion informed by selected optional readings. Register here to participate in this and subsequent Socialist Night School online meetings.
For this Socialist Night School session we will be learning more about the history of the contruction of the modern idea of race, and how race reductionism and racial capitalism intersect with one another. Please see the recommended readings & videos below:
What is Racial Capitalism and Why Does It Matter? by Robin D.G. Kelley (Video)
From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation Excerpt from Ch 7 by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Marx, Race and Neoliberalism by Adolph Reed Jr
Beware the Race Reductionist by Brianha Joy Gray
Nov 14th, 2020 3-4:30pm Want to spend your Covid-19 isolation sharpening your analytical senses and building your historical knowledge? Join the Education Committee for the inauguration of our Socialist Night School! This will include a lecture followed by a discussion informed by selected optional readings. Register here to participate in this online meeting.
Our next session, on Nov 14th at 3pm, will conclude our three-session course on the history of socialism. This course will discuss the history of social democracy in the 20th century. This tradition produced some of the most humane societies the world has ever seen in Northern Europe, yet is often regarded as a failure by many on the Left. What are we talking about when we say 'social democracy'? How have 20th century social democrats understood their politics? What can democratic socialists in the 21st century learn from this experience?
Reading
"Why Socialists Should Fight for Structural Reforms" by Meagan Day (a refresher from our Socialist Strategy discussion)
"Cockblocked by Redistribution: A Pickup Artist in Denmark" by Katie JM Baker
"Beyond Social Democracy" by Ralph Milliband and Marcel Liebman
Watching
The Spirit of '45, feature length documentary by Ken Loach on the accomplishments of the British Labour Party after WWII
Extended Reading
Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism by Gøsta Esping-Andersen
The Struggle for Economic Democracy in Sweden by Gregg Olsen (hard to find; I have a copy to lend)
"The Coup in Chile" by Ralph Milliband
Extended Watching
A Very British Coup, a three-part BBC miniseries based on a novel of the same name by British Labour politician Chris Mullins about the election, and subsequent (what we would now call) deep state opposition to a hard left prime minister. Mullins, a member of the Socialist Campaign Group with Tony Benn and Jeremy Corbyn, based his novel on the very real consideration of a coup against Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson during the 1970s. Also Episode 2 and Episode 3.
_The Battle of Chile_ a documentary by Patricio Guzman about the coup against the elected Socialist President Salvador Allende. Also, Part 2 and Part 3.
Nov 7th, 2020 3-4:30pm Want to spend your Covid-19 isolation sharpening your analytical senses and building your historical knowledge? Join the Education Committee for the inauguration of our Socialist Night School! This will include a lecture followed by a discussion informed by selected optional readings. Register here to participate in this online meeting.
Our next session, on Nov 7th at 3pm, will continue our three-session course on the history of socialism. This course will discuss the history of communism in the 20th century.
Primary readings, in order (Don't worry, they're short)
The Principles of Communism, Frederick Engels (1847):
Economics and Politics in the Era of the Dictatorship of the Proletariat, V.I. Lenin (1919):
Toward a Critical Reassessment of Maoism, Khalil Hassan, (Freedom Road 2003)
What Maoism Actually Stood For, Max Elbaum (2004):
The Cuban Revolution and Marxist Theory, Mage, Wohlforth and Robertson (1960):
Extra readings to skim if you have time:
*Marxism-Leninism (long but definitely worth a skim):
*Socialism with Chinese Characteristics (skim):
*Communist Party USA (skim):
The World Revolution That Wasn't, Loren Balhorn (Jacobin 2019):
Oct 31st, 2020 3-4:30pm
Want to spend your Covid-19 isolation sharpening your analytical senses and building your historical knowledge? Join the Education Committee for the inauguration of our Socialist Night School! This will include a lecture followed by a discussion informed by selected optional readings. Register here to participate in this online meeting.
Our next session, on Oct 31st at 3pm (spoooooky), will open our three-session course on socialist history, beginning with the origins of modern socialism in the 19th century, the development of and conflicts between different strategies, and the crisis int he Socialist International caused by the First World War. The next two sessions will address the history of 20th Century Communism and the history of 20th Century Social Democracy.
Readings:(Choose ONE of the following) The Proud Tower (Chapter 8: The Socialists), by Barbara Tuchman: Narrative history of pre-war Europe aimed at a general audience, this book is a great introduction to the period. Written by a non-socialist. Free Download.
Forging Democracy (Part I: Making Democracy Social), by Geoff Eley (2002): Mainstream academic history of the European left 1850-2000. Author is left-sympathetic, being a member of Democracy for America and donating to Bernie Sanders and Mike Gravel. Free Download.
October 24th, 2020 3:00-4:30pm
Want to spend your Covid-19 isolation sharpening your analytical senses and building your historical knowledge? Join the Education Committee for the inauguration of our Socialist Night School! This will include a lecture followed by a discussion informed by selected optional readings. Register here to participate in this online meeting.
Our next session, on October 24 at 3pm, will address the question of socialist strategy. We know that the problem is capitalism. We know that the answer is socialism. But how do we get there? This is an open question, and within DSA we have lively and productive disagreements about the answers, but this presentation will survey the fundamental agreements and some of the most significant particular lines of thinking.
Readings:
Why Socialists Should Fight for Structural Reforms by Meagan Day
The Political Revolution Goes to Work by Jane Slaughter
Building a Mass Socialist Party by Sam Gindin
Picking up the Threads of Struggle (audio version and transcript) an interview with Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor by Dan Denvir
Saturday, October 10th, 2020 3:00pm-4:30pm
Want to study the history and theory behind the work we do in DSA with comrades, learn why socialism offers a unique hope for a better day, and build analytical skills to plot the revolution? Join the Education Committee for the Autumn session of our Socialist Night School! This will include a lecture followed by a discussion informed by selected optional readings. Register here to participate in this online meeting.
This lesson will be focused around defining democratic socialism, explaining its rise in popularity over the past four years, and dispelling common myths and misconceptions around democratic socialism.
Discussion Readings
Democratic Socialism, Explained by a Democratic Socialist by Meagan Day
Building Socialism from Below: Popular Power and the State by Ben Tarnoff
Struggle for Democratic Socialism (video) with Angela Davis
Saturday, October 3rd, 2020 3pm-4:30
Want to study the history and theory behind the work we do in DSA with comrades, learn why socialism offers a unique hope for a better day, and build analytical skills to plot the revolution?
Join the Education Committee for the Autumn session of our Socialist Night School! This will include a lecture followed by a discussion informed by selected optional readings. Register here to participate in this online meeting.
Our first session will address the question What is Capitalism? Democratic socialism is about fighting for a better world, but it is essential that we understand where we start from and the problems with our current society before we can fix them.
Readings
- "What is Capitalism" in Understanding Capitalism by Vivek Chibber pg 11-25
- “The Political Economy of Racism” (pg 1-3) from #blacklivesmatter to Black Liberation by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
- “Not in Labor” interview with Jenny Brown, by Liza Featherstone
Listenings
- “Marjorie” by Namoli Brennet (rest of the playlist optional, but good!)
- -Optional- “Yannis Varoufakis on the Economic Situation” on The Dig with Dan Denvir