To paraphrase Karl Marx, the history of all hitherto existing political society is the history of revolution. Political revolutions have long been with us both historically as well as objects of interest in philosophy; across the globe, from the ancient world to the modern, we see instances of the kinds of violent contestations over power and legitimacy that we tend to call revolution. In this course we will study both the nature of political revolution as well as how political philosophers have dealt with its possibilities, including thinking about what the term itself connotes: does revolution have to be violent? Does it have to be just? Does it have to secure peace? What are the criteria on which we judge the success of revolution, as well as on which we decide whether certain events qualify as revolution in the first place? When are revolutions necessary? Finally, if revolution is not the answer to political problems, how else might transformation occur?
In order to analyze these themes and questions the course is divided along an interpretive fault line regarding the relationship between politics and revolution. On one hand we have political philosophy and philosophers who do their best to offer theories of the state and of institutions that ground stable and peaceful societies, the goals of which are to make revolution either unnecessary, impossible, or even inconceivable (Section I). On the other hand we have thinkers who offer more constructive conceptions of the possibilities and reasons for revolution, and who see it as a mode of politics that is sometimes necessary (Sections IV and V). Between these two general views we will read some texts written by revolutionaries as well as some analysis of different revolutions.
As we go through these texts keep in mind that we still live in an age of potential revolution, having witnessed several resistance movements across the globe of various kinds in the recent past. These include movements from both from the left and the right, such as Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring, Black Lives Matter, the Tea Party, and the Golden Dawn. We also live in the aftermath of revolutionary uprisings, from the American and French Revolutions, to the more recent examples of decolonization and the Civil Rights Movement. As we think about how to define revolution over the course of the semester we can also ask how we would evaluate all sorts of resistance movements that are happening in our own time.
Class Schedule:
W 1/18: Course introduction
Political Philosophy Against Revolution:
F 1/20: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Introduction, Chapter 6-8, 10-11 (P 33-54, 58-71)
M 1/23: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chapter 13-16 (P 82-110)
W 1/25: Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chapter 17-18, 21, 25 (P 111-122, 139-148, 168-175)
F 1/27: John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, Chapters II-III, IX-XI (P 4-13, 63-72)
M 1/30: John Locke, Second Treatise on Government, Chapter XII-XIV (P 73-85)
W 2/1: John Locke, Second Treatise on Government, Chapter XVII-XIX (P 98-120)
F 2/3: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, Book I (P 45-62)
M 2/6: Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, Book II (P 63-90)
W 2/8: Max Weber, “Politics as a Vocation” in The Vocation Lectures (P 32-63)
F 2/10: Max Weber, “Politics as a Vocation” in The Vocation Lectures (P 63-94)
Revolutionary Writings:
M 2/13: United States Declaration of Independence & Constitution
The Rights of Man and Citizen & The Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen
W 2/15: James Madison, Federalist Nos. 10 & 57 in The Federalist (P 40-46, 277-282)
F 2/17: Maximilien Robespierre, “On the Trial of the King”
“In Defence of the Committee of Public Safety and Against Briez”
“Of the Principles of Revolutionary Government” in Virtue and Terror (P 57-65, 73-79, 98-107)
“Justification of the Use of Terror”
M 2/20: Toussaint L’Ouverture, “Proclamation, 29 August 1793”
“Letter to the General Assembly from Biassou, Jean-François and Toussaint L’Ouverture, July 1792”
“Letter to Jean-François, 13 June 1795”
“Haitian Constitution of 1801, Titles 1-8” in The Haitian Revolution (P 1-2, 5-8, 16-17, 46-54)
Haitian Constitution of 1805, Articles 1-14
W 2/22: Fidel Castro, “The Second Declaration of Havana” in The Declarations of Havana (P 87-94, 117-120)
Analyzing Alternatives: Commune and Beyond:
F 2/24: Karl Marx, “The Civil War in France” in Selected Writings (P 302-314)
M 2/27: V.I. Lenin, “The State and Revolution – The Experience of the Paris Commune of 1871 – Marx’s Analysis” in The State and Revolution (P 33-51)
W 3/1: Kristin Ross, “Introduction” in May ’68 and Its Afterlives (P 1-18)
F 3/3: Georgy Katsiaficas, “Italian Autonomia” in The Subversion of Politics (P 17-43)
Masses, Classes, & Revolt:
M 3/6: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto in Selected Writings (P 158-186)
W 3/8: V.I. Lenin, “The Economic Basis for the Withering Away of the State” The State and Revolution (P 75-92)
F 3/10: Georges Sorel, “The Proletarian Strike, I-II” in Reflections on Violence (P 109-131)
Spring Break M 3/13 – F 3/17
M 3/20: Rosa Luxembourg, “The Interaction of the Political and the Economic Struggle” & “The Roll of the Mass Strike in the Revolution” in The Essential Rosa Luxembourg (P 140-150 and 161-168)
W 3/22: Rosa Luxembourg, “Conquest of Political Power” in The Essential Rosa Luxembourg (P 88-96)
F 3/24: W.E.B. Du Bois, “The General Strike” in Black Reconstruction In America, 1860-1880 (P 55-83)
M 3/27: Mikhail Bakunin, “Revolutionary Catechism”
Clarifying the Meanings and Stakes of Revolution:
W 3/29: Karl Marx, “On the Jewish Question” in Selected Writings (P 2-21)
F 3/31: Hannah Arendt, “The Meaning of Revolution” in On Revolution (P 11-48)
M 4/3: Sheldon Wolin, “What Revolutionary Action Means Today” in Fugitive Democracy (P 368-378)
W 4/5: Jacques Rancière, “Ten These on Politics” in Contemporary Marxist Theory (P 555-571)
F 4/7: Benjamin Arditi, “Talkin’ ‘bout a Revolution” in Politics on the Edges of Liberalism (P 107-118)
Violence and Insurrection:
M 4/10: Emma Goldman, “The Psychology of Political Violence” in Anarchism and Other Essays (P 79-108)
W 4/12: Frantz Fanon, “On Violence” in The Wretched of the Earth (P 1-31)
F 4/14: Frantz Fanon, “On Violence” in The Wretched of the Earth (P 31-52)
M 4/17: Frantz Fanon, “On National Culture” in The Wretched of the Earth (P 145-170)
W 4/19: Amílcar Cabral, “Political Resistance” in Resistance and Decolonization (P 75-89)
F 4/21: Amílcar Cabral, “Armed Resistance” in Resistance and Decolonization (P 139-155)
M 4/24: Malcolm X, “The Ballot or the Bullet” (Cleveland version)
W 4/26: The Invisible Committee, The Coming Insurrection (P 9-72)
F 4/28: The Invisible Committee, The Coming Insurrection (P 73-132)
M 5/1: Wrap-up via Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter From Birmingham Jail”