The Politics of Socialism

Catalog description

Is Socialism a political or fundamentally anti-political doctrine? Does it seek the realization of real democracy or the abolition of political life itself? Is it a theory of the organization of politics or of work? Does it require transforming work or abolishing it? What is the ‘social’ element in socialism anyhow? What is the relationship between socialism and communism? This course examines these and related themes through an examination of key historical and contemporary texts. We begin by laying out some of the historical development of socialist ideas from their origin around the moment of the French Revolution to their high point in the era of the Russian Revolution. Then we look at two sets of questions from contemporary authors: how should socialists think about the organization of work and what does socialism mean after the historic decline of Marxism.