— platypus texas public fora Archive —

AUSTIN: "La Raza Unida Party returns: Public interview w/Dr. Ernesto Todd Mireles (8/11/25)  On August 11, 2025, Platypus Austin and San Antonio hosted a public interview with Ernesto Todd Mireles, longtime community organiser and current National Secretary of El Partido Nacional de La Raza Unida. Originally a major expression of Chicano political organisation in the 1960-70s, the party is now seeking renewed relevance. Dr. Mireles is a former professor of Ethnic Studies at Northern Arizona University and leads national membership efforts for the party. He is also a filmmaker, union and electoral organiser, and author of Insurgent Aztlán: The Liberating Power of Cultural Resistance, which received the 2020 International Latino Book Award for Best Political/Current Affairs. The discussion explored the meaning of La Raza Unida Party’s reappearance today, its implications for political constituencies on the Left, and the lessons to be drawn from its past successes and failures. 

SAN ANTONIO: "Bukharin and the Left: interview with Marco Strydom" (5/03/25):  On April 30, 2025, Platypus San Antonio hosted a public interview with Marco Strydom, a history graduate from Witwatersrand University, interested in world system theory and communist party states. They discussed the history and legacy of Nikolai Bukharin and the NEP, Deng Xiaoping and post-reform China, and their relevance for the 21st-century Left regarding the struggle for socialism.

AUSTIN: ""The Academy and the Left" (10/26/23): In 1967 Socialist Students Union (SDS) activist Rudi Dutschke coined the slogan the, "long march through the the institutions'', to refer to a strategy in which Leftists would subvert capitalist domination of society by entering institutions such as professions in order to establish the conditions for revolution. Nearly sixty years later, we've yet to see the fruits of this strategy, and yet, the Left has infiltrated itself into institutions as seen with perhaps the most acute expression of this -- the university.

This prompts the following questions:

How do we make sense of the academization of the Left and how does that affect both the university and even the Left itself today? How does being a Leftist influence one's way of being an educator? What does one do with a 'Leftist education'? What is the role of an educator for students interested in the Left? What is the role of intellectuals to the Left generally? What figures on the Left should we preserve and what figures should we discard the memory of and why? What is there to say about the student Left today in comparison to the student Left of the 80s-90s and 60s-70s? Does the struggle still live on? 

AUSTIN: "What is Marxism For?" (10/08/22)" The legacy and future of Marxism, both as a guiding theory and a political movement of human freedom, has questionable utility to our current political moment. While the relevance of the 19th century critique of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels continues to be felt, as evidenced by the continued return of the question of “socialism” in Leftist politics, the success of the Marxist project of human freedom feels far from certain or secure. The memory of 20th century communism, as well as more recent political movements carrying the banner of socialism, weighs heavily on any political movement that today attempts to attend to the task Marx outlined close to 200 years ago. In contemporary Leftist political action, Marxism has been invoked to justify supporting the candidacy of Bernie Sanders, Jeremy Corbyn, participating in the Black Lives Matter movement, resisting the Trump presidency and anti-fascism. It begs the question for us today, what is Marxism for the Left and what does it accomplish for contemporary Leftist politics?

What is the relevance of Marxism today? Is there a necessity to recover or return to Marxism and what would it mean to go beyond it? What is the point of leadership by Marxist intellectuals? Is that necessary? 

AUSTIN: """The Family and the Left" (10/08/22): In the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx famously quips that while the capitalists accuse socialism of destroying the family, it is actually capitalism itself that melts everything solid into air and “profanes the holy”. Marx and Friedrich Engels frequently returned to the bourgeois family as a target of their critique, exploring the history and mutability of a unit of social organization that is often taken as eternal. In their critique, Marx and Engels emphasized the bourgeois family as an integral part of the functioning of capitalism and a microcosm of the contradictions of bourgeois society. Later radical feminists, such as Juliet Mitchell and Shulamith Firestone, used Marx’s critique of the family as a starting point for advocating an overcoming of the traditional family structure in order to design more liberatory forms of human connection. Influenced by these critiques, Leftists of today cast a suspicious glance at the family, seemingly the origin of patriarchy, sexism, and heteronormativity. While Leftist attempts to deconstruct the family in practice continue to be limited and experimental, the conditions of capitalism make it increasingly difficult for workers to raise a child and maintain some semblance of familial connection through low wages, lack of social infrastructure and unpredictable changes in the labor market. Feminists decry the necessary bondage of the family unit, especially for women, and the undue burden society places on those who give birth. Socialists, amongst others, point out the limits of our freedom under capitalism, when so much of our “freedom to choose” regarding family planning in particular is dictated by economic austerity. At the extreme, anti-natalists say that the increasingly dire economic situation and global climate trends make it undesirable or even unethical to have a child. The recent overturning of Roe V. Wade in the US Supreme Court, adds fuel to the fire of the debate regarding abortion rights and family planning. Leftism today continues to grapple with the question of what the family means in our present historical moment and how liberation might take place either within or outside of its structure. 

What would it mean to overcome the family from a Leftist perspective? What would make overcoming the family desirable or undesirable in terms of human freedom? What is the relationship between the fight for women's freedom and the project of human emancipation?

 What responsibility do Leftists have to connect abortion rights to wider societal struggles and what would that mean? Does Marxism have anything to contribute to Leftist struggles today in regards to the family? 

AUSTIN: "Political Parties and the Left" (Nov 2, 2022): The Left has for over a generation -- for more than 40 years, since the crisis of 1973 -- placed its hopes in the Democratic and Labour Parties to reverse or slow neoliberal capitalism -- the move to trans-national trade agreements, the movement of capital and labor, and austerity. The post-2008 crisis of neoliberalism, despite phenomena such as SYRIZA, Occupy Wall Street, the Arab Spring and anti-austerity protests more generally, Bernie Sanders's candidacy, and Jeremy Corbyn's Labour leadership, has found expression on the avowed Right, through UKIP, Brexit, the U.K. Conservatives' move to "Red Toryism" and Donald Trump's election. The old neoliberal consensus is falling apart, and change is palpably in the air. Margaret Thatcher's infamous phrase "There Is No Alternative" has been proven wrong. What can the Left do to advance the struggle for socialism under such circumstances? Recent generations of marginalized radicals have been forced to grapple with an impossible choice: they must either submit to a “realistic” electoral compromise with the status quo, often in the form of “lesser evilism,” or they must vote for a third-party candidate, hoping that by making their platform public the winning party could be pushed leftward. Alternatively, out of exhaustion with this impasse, they may choose not to vote, advocating instead a principled abstention from electoral politics.

What lessons can the Left draw from the history of mass electoral parties for socialism to create more emancipatory choices in the future? How do we reimagine the role of electoral campaigns for Leftist politics today? Given that a significant number of working people in America have left the Democratic Party, what is possible?

HOUSTON: "What was the German Revolution of 1918-19?", (4/19/19)  On April 19th, 2019 the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a public forum on The German Revolution of 1918 to 1919, at the University of Houston. 

• “The conquest of the governmental power by an hitherto oppressed class, in other words, a political revolution, is accordingly the essential characteristic of social revolution in this narrow sense, in contrast with social reform.” - Karl Kautsky, member of the First Marxist International (“On the Social Revolution”, 1902) In 1918, a revolutionary moment gave rise to an opportunity for seizure of state power in Germany. This task was put on the table for a divided German Left that sought to bring about in political form the change that the masses were already demanding in practice. This posed the question of leadership directly—what does it mean to take power? What would revolution in a highly industrialized country entail, especially in relation to the Russian experience that polarized the German Left, and how might the Left of today be a legacy of such an unresolved moment in Left-centric history?

• How can we politically understand the relationship between reformism, reformists, and opportunism, alongside the ideas of Revolution: when we think of Russia 1917, Germany 1918, and the failed world socialist revolution on our present? How does the history of the German Revolution inform the 20th century and today about what is considered a ‘social’ revolution and what is considered a ‘political’ revolution? 

HOUSTON: "The German Revolution of 1918-1919" (March 28th, 2019)  An introductory workshop led by Danny J from the Platypus Affiliated Society Chapter in Houston (recorded March 28th, 2019), which examines the complex political dynamics of the German Revolution of 1918-1919. 

The discussion situates the German Revolution within a broader historical progression, referencing the French Revolution (1793) and the Spring of Nations (1848) to explain the development of modern democratic and revolutionary politics. The session analyzes the competing roles and motivations of key groups, including the SPD (Social Democratic Party), the USPD (Independent Social Democratic Party), and the Spartacus League (associated with Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht). A major theme is the emergence of workers' and soldiers' councils (soviets), which functioned as local democratic forms, and the differing strategies different socialist parties employed toward them. Danny explores how the 1917 Russian Revolution served as both an inspiration and a source of tension, influencing the tactical debates of German revolutionaries who often looked to Russian precedents while grappling with their own unique national conditions. The discussion addresses why the German Revolution failed, noting how this failure set the stage for later political developments, including the rise of Stalinism and Fascism

The workshop is part of a series intended to help participants understand these historical events beyond common misconceptions, preparing them for a subsequent panel discussion on the topic. 

HOUSTON: "What is the role of media for the Left?", (4/01/19)  "Fake news" and "alternative facts" became popular terms during the 2016 press. Snopes and PolitiFact notwithstanding, 2016 was not the first time in history that the news media has been criticized for playing a part in distracting, distorting, and misdirecting public political opinion. The Left has historically played a role in both agitating for political change and educating the oppressed classes about the ideology of dominant classes. The danger, however, is that in in opposing the current state of affairs, the Left may serve as an ideological screen for the next stage of capitalism.

• What is the role of agitation and propaganda for the Left today? How does it differ from the historical Left's use of agitation and propaganda?

• How should the Left approach free speech? How, if at all, does this differ from past Leftists?

• How has the Left's understanding of social responsibility and individual liberty been clarified or distorted?

• What new social media models, if any, hold promise for educating the Left and its movement at large, and how can these forms be seen as better and/or worse than forms found in the legacy media (newsprint, radio, and TV). 

HOUSTON: "Capital in History: Is Marxism Still Relevant?" teach-in, (9/13/19) On September 27, 2019, at the University of Houston, the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a teach-in led by Platypus member Michael W. on capital in history.

What is the development of freedom in human history from the Platypus perspective?

In the mid-19th century, Marx and Engels famously observed that a "specter was haunting Europe: the specter of Communism". 170 years later, it is Marxism itself that haunts us, while capitalism remains.

What does it mean that Marx and Marxism still appeal, while political movements for socialism are weak or non-existent? What were Marxism's original points concerning radical possibilities for freedom that might still speak to the present?

Is Marxism still relevant?

HOUSTON: "LGBTQA+ History: A Left Perspective" (10/11/19 teach-in)) Rohan argues that modern discourse often traps queer movements in "group racketeering" or identity-based silos, rather than focusing on broader emancipation. She highlights how movements like radical feminism and various queer rights advocacy groups have evolved, sometimes moving from radical anti-capitalist origins to protectionist or institutionalized positions. A central theme is the development of the bourgeois family unit. Rohan explains that the rise of wage labor fundamentally changed the structure of society, turning the family into a specific unit of production. This shift provided the context for both the rise of "family values" as a political tool and the emergence of modern queer identity as a byproduct of these changing social relations.

HOUSTON: ""The 2nd Amendment and the Left" (6/09/18)

Description:

Recent school shootings and the ever-recurring instances of police brutality pose acutely the question of gun control today. Should the Left take up the demand for gun control, and if so, how? If not, why not? How is gun control related to the struggle for socialism? 

HOUSTON: "50 Years of 1968" (3/22/18) For half a century, 1968 has represented a high-water mark of social and political transformation, a year of social upheaval that spanned the entire globe. Ushered in by a New Left that sought to distinguish itself from the Old Left that emerged in the 20s and 30s, the monumental events of 1968 set the tone for everything from protest politics to academic leftism. Today, with the U.S. entangled in a seemingly endless war in Asia and people calling for the impeachment of an unpopular president, with activists fighting in the streets and calling for liberation along the lines of race, gender, and sexuality, the Left’s every attempt to discover new methods and new ideas seems to invoke a memory of the political horizons of 1968. We can perhaps more than ever feel the urgency of the question: what lessons are to be drawn from the New Left as another generation undertakes the project of building a Left for the 21st century?

Panel Questions

1) Why did separatist politics (according to, e.g., race, gender, and sexuality, Black Power, feminism, gay liberation, etc.) become so salient in the 60s? What was common to the “movement” that transcended these diverse struggles for self-determination?

2) Why was a “new” Left needed? What were the tasks that the New Left inherited from the Old Left?

3) What was the relationship between the labor and students’ movements? Is a labor-student alliance needed today?

4) How was the U.S. role in the war in Vietnam understood in relation to other social and political issues? Did the shift from the Civil Rights Movement to the anti-war movement change the possibilities for progressive politics?

5) The New Left pinned many of its hopes on the alliance of the student Left and the labor unions. With right-to-work lawsuits like Janus vs AFSCME portending a potentially fatal crisis for American labor politics, what social forces do you foresee becoming instrumental for the future development of the Left? 

6) It is said that those of you participating in the 1960s movement(s) thought you could have changed the world. How was this change imagined? How did the efforts in the 1960's fail or succeed? 

HOUSTON: "The 1905 Russian Revolution" (May 24th, 2017)  On May 24th, 2017, the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted an introductory workshop on the 1905 Russian Revolution. By member Danny J. at the University of Houston.

HOUSTON: "Does Marxism Even Matter? Capital in History: a Platypus teach-in" (2016)  An introductory workshop by member Danny J. on the development of freedom in human history from the Platypus perspective.

In the mid-19th century, Marx and Engels famously observed that a "spectre was haunting Europe: the spectre of Communism". 170 years later, it is Marxism itself that haunts us, while capitalism remains.

What does it mean that Marx and Marxism still appeal, while political movements for socialism are weak or non-existent? What were Marxism's original points concerning radical possibilities for freedom that might still speak to the present?