Date: Fri, 9 Jan 1998 14:33:18 -0500 Subject: M-TH: FWD: Virtual Conference: Communist Manifesto From: "ORIONTEC" <oriontec-AT-prodigy.net> Reply-To: cm150-l-AT-mtu.edu I posted the following announcement on PSN, AHS and a few other lists some time ago. I think the participants of this list will also be interested in this virtual conference. Please forward the post to any other discussion group or individual who may be interested. Progressive Sociologists' Network is organizing a virtual conference on the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Communist Manifesto. The Manifesto, the most widely read and defining single text in the history of modern socialism, was first published on February 26, 1848. "League of the Just" was a secret political organization formed in 1836 by German radical workers living in Paris. At its London Congress in 1847,the organization changed its name to "Communist League." The Manifesto was the political document of the newly renamed organization. There are some disagreements among scholars about who was assigned to write the Manifesto. According to David Riazanov, one of the most prominent Marx scholars among the Bolsheviks and the former director of the Marx-Engels Institute in Moscow, Marx was commissioned to write the document, "although 'other professions of faith', one of them drafted by Engels, had been presented to the Congress." On the other hand, according to some other sources, both Marx and Engels were assigned to write the Manifesto. Whatever the case was, (and the names of both Marx and Engels appeared as authors in the final version ), the primary authorship of the Manifesto can probably be attributed to Marx. In Engels' own phrase, "the fundamental proposition which forms its nucleus belongs to Marx." The draft prepared by Engels is preserved under the title "Principles of Communism." "The Principles" is compiled in the appendixes of "The Communist Manifesto", edited by David Riazanov ( the first English translation of the Riazanov edition in the United States was published in 1930 by Russell & Russell). Riazanov was also responsible for editing Marx's unpublished writings, including the 1844 manuscripts. Like many other revolutionary scholars and activists, Riazanov died in Stalin's purges. The purpose of the virtual conference is to stimulate dialogues on the contemporary theoretical and practical relevance of the Manifesto. We encourages papers and commentaries on a broad range of issues, from a multiplicity of vantage points within the general terrain of progressive sociology. Examples of some possible issues that may be explored in the papers and commentaries are - a. The theoretical and practical relevance of the Manifesto in today's global capitalist context. b. Analyses of and debates on specific discursive concepts in the Manifesto, such as "the centrality of class struggle" or "the state being a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoise." c. How the readings of the Manifesto may transgress the conventional Marxist boundaries and intrude upon deconstructionist and other post- marxist spaces. Derrida's play with the word "spectre" in Marx's text in his *Spectre of Marx* can probably seen as one example. d. Whether the Manifesto can be located in any specific moment of the development of Marx's thought. e. How can the Manifesto be compared/contrasted with the "Principles of Communism" authored by Engels. The length and organization of the conference will depend on the number of submissions; if we get several good papers, we could have several virtual seminars with the author online to discuss the paper with participants. The papers will be available on line so people can read them way ahead of the date the papers will be discussed. Furthermore, the papers will be submitted to be considered for publication in Critical Sociology. Depending on the number of papers, we could have a symposium or a special issue. Send your papers to Gimenez-AT-csf.colorado.edu and Mkarim-AT-moses.culver.edu. We will announce the web page for the conference soon. Manjur Karim >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< << C.E.Masterson oriontec-AT-pridigy.net --- from list marxism-thaxis-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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