Comrades and Friends:
Progressive Sociologists' Network is happy to announce the
beginning of a virtual seminar to celebrate the 150th anniversary of
the publication of the Manifesto of the Communist Party.
The "Manifesto", the most widely read and defining single text in the
history of modern socialism, was first published in February, 1848.
"League of the Just" was a secret political organization formed in
1836 by the radical German artisans and 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.
While the names of both Marx and Engels appeared as co-authors, the
primary authorship of the Manifesto should be attributed to
Marx. In Engels' own phrase, "the fundamental proposition which
forms its nucleus belongs to Marx." But then again, the concept of
authorship itself needs to be problematized. Like any other text,
the Manifesto makes sense within the context of a historically
embedded intertexuality. As Robert Beamish, one of the authors
participating in our virtual seminar has pointed out "The manifesto
was ultimately a collective effort of people who were trying to
understand the prevailing social conditions so they could change
them... while the document was drafted in its final form by Karl Marx,
and the final credit for its organization and rhetorical style is due
to him, the content and message of the Manifesto were really the
product of an extended, intense, but open debate among committed
communist-internationalists as they sought to define their programme
nad understand the world they wanted to change."
The purpose of the virtual seminar is to stimulate dialogues
on the contemporary theoretical and practical relevance of the Manifesto.
We encourages commentaries on the papers included in the seminar, as
well as other related issues from a multiplicity of vantage points
within the general terrain of progressive scholarship and activism.
We have three papers so far:
Rob Beamish, The Making of the Manifesto*
A. Gunder Frank, ReOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age
Charles Ostenle, Manifesto for Praxis Societies and for a Global
Democratic and Socialist Political Economy
Date: Marc 4 - March 12
Format: To participate in the conference send mail to
in the message proper write
sub psn-seminars firstname lastname
Location: You can find the conference papers at
http://csf.colorado.edu/psn/seminars
or you can send mail to LISTPROC@csf.colorado.edu and in the message
proper write:
get psn-seminars beamish
get psn-seminars ostenle
get psn-seminars gunderfrank