The literary critic and critical theorist Bruno Bosteels reads and discusses
Marx’s The Civil War in France with Voltairine de Cleyre’s “The Commune is Risen” (1912) and Plotino Rhodakanaty’s “The American Commune” (1877)
Wednesday, April 23, 2025
6:15 PM New York time (EDT, UTC/GMT -5)
Jerome Greene Annex, Columbia University, New York, 10027
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Few historical events or great defeats have inspired as much hope and inspiration, against all odds, as the Paris Commune of 1871. Voltairine de Cleyre’s “The Commune is Risen” (1912) and Plotino Rhodakanaty’s “The American Commune” (1877) are two brilliant illustrations of the lasting spirit of the Commune in the Americas. Marx’s address “The Civil War in France” is of course another standard-bearer. With Columbia University Professor Bruno Bosteels, we will be exploring these texts and their interrelations.
We turn next, at Marx 12/13, to the penultimate historical period of Marx’s life: the creation of the International Workingmen’s Association (1864–1876), the rise and fall of the Paris Commune (March-May 1871), Marx’s addresses to the IWA on the situation in Paris, and his famous essay The Civil War in France read to the General Council of the IWA just a few days after the collapse of the Paris Commune.
We are delighted to welcome to the seminar Bruno Bosteels, one of the world’s leading experts on Marx, to discuss The Civil War in France. Bruno Bosteels will put Marx’s writings on the Commune in conversation with Voltairine de Cleyre’s “The Commune is Risen” and Plotino Rhodakanaty’s “The American Commune,” as well as in relation to the second part of his book La comuna mexicana (The Mexican Commune).
Welcome to Marx 12/13!
