2012 Midwestern Marxism Conference Schedule
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10:00-10:45am
Registration & Haymarket Book Fair
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11 :00am
Opening Plenary: Marxism, Crisis & Resistance
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12:00pm
Session 1: The Meaning of Marxism
Suggested Readings:
The Meaning of Marxism by Paul D'Amato (focus on Ch. 1-4)
Session 2: The Flint Sit-down Strikes & The Founding of the UAW
Suggested Readings:
Subterranean Fire by Sharon Smith, except available at: When Workers Occupied
Session 3: From Apartheid Schools to the New Jim Crow: Racism, USA
Suggested Readings:
Education and Capitalism edited by Jeff Bale & Sarah Knopp
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Poverty Pulls the Trigger by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Session 4: The Democrats: A Critical History
Suggested Readings:
The Democrats by Lance Selfa
What Do Socialists Say About Election 2012? by Lance Selfa
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1:30pm
Lunch break
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2:30pm
Session 1: Russia: A Case Study in Workers Power & Revolution
Suggested Readings:
Leon Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution by Amy Muldoon
80 Years Since the Russian Revolution by Ahmed Shawki
Session 2: Socialists & Trade Unions
Suggested Readings
Teamsters Rebellion - Farrell Dobbs
Marxism, Unions & Class Struggle by Sharon Smith
Session 3: Class, Race & the Civil Rights Movement
Suggested Readings:
Black Liberation and Socialism by Ahmed Shawki
Session 4: Education & Capitalism
Suggested Readings:
Education & Capitalism edited by Jeff Bale & Sarah Knopp
Is Education a Ticket Out of Poverty by Sarah Knopp
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4:00 pm
Session 1: Lenin's Theory of the Revolutionary Party
Suggested Readings:
The Myth of Lenin's Elitism by Paul D'Amato
Lenin and the Revolutionary Party by Paul Le Blanc
Session 2: Marxism & Women's Liberation
Suggested Readings:
Engels and the Origin of Women's Oppression by Sharon Smith
Session 3: Whose City? Labor, the 1%, and the Democratic Party Machine in Chicago
Suggested Readings:
Mayor Rahm Meets the People No More by Ben Joravsky
With 'Friends of Labor' Like These by Nicole Colson and Alan Maass
Session 4: Imperialism: Why Capitalism Creates War
Suggested Readings:
Obama, Imperialism & Capitalism by Phil Gasper
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6:00pm
Closing Plenary: Detroit, I Do Mind Dying - with author Marvin Surkin
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7:30pm
Dinner & Drinks: at the Celtic Knot (626 Church St. Evanston, IL 60201 - 2 blocks from the Davis stop on the Purple Line & All Ages [must be 21 to drink] )
Suggested readings are by no means required.
They are merely for your education and to add to your experience.



