“Marxism: A History of Theory and Practice.”

UH 4000 Marxism: A History of Theory and Practice Fall, 2014 MWF 1:25-2:20 Evan Osborne Office Hours: MW 2:30-3:20 OBA This is a course about Marxism/communism, the most consequential ideology of the twentieth century. I am an economist by training, but as I have gotten older I have become very interested in history, and especially the history of ideas. And so this course will be both an introduction to Marxist economic thought and the history of political power exercised in the name of that thought.

Learning Outcomes At the end of the course, I hope that you will know what communism was about - what did Marx and his acolytes think, what phenomena occurred during the process of implementing communist governments, and why did it have the appeal it did.

In addition, this course, like all UH 400 courses, is an Integrated Writing course. The expected outcomes, according to http://www.wright.edu/writing-across-thecurriculum/requirements, are: Wright State students will be able to produce writing that ⦁

Demonstrates their understanding of course content,

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Is appropriate for the audience and purpose of a particular writing task,

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Demonstrates the degree of mastery of disciplinary writing conventions appropriate to the course (including documentation conventions), and

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Shows competency in standard edited American English.

Assessment There is one midterm exam, on Wednesday, Oct. 15. There will be a final exam held at the scheduled time, on Monday, Dec. 8, 12:30-2:30. The exams are essay, and will cover readings and lectures. In addition, there will be a term paper. In it, you are to select a country that underwent communist rule. Describe how it became communist. Describe the theory of communist leaders there about how to implement communism, what actually happened in the country (not just political policies, but their effects). If applicable, describe the country's exit from communism and post-communist fate, and speculate on why things turned out well or not. ("Post-communist" means the Communist Party, if it still exists, no longer has a monopoly on political power.) Basically, give me a thorough history lesson on the communist experience in your country. Permissible countries are:

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Any of the republics that made up the Soviet Union and are now separate (11 in all) China Mongolia North Korea Poland Romania Hungary Bulgaria East Germany Czechoslovakia (now two countries) Yugoslavia (now 4 countries) Albania Vietnam Laos Cambodia Cuba

The paper is due on the last day of class, Friday, December 5. It will be graded both on evidence of mastery of course content and on the Integrated Writing criteria listed above. 75% of the paper grade will be thoroughness and 25% proper use of English. You are free to turn in as many rough drafts as you like, and if so all usage errors will be corrected.

The overall grade is calculated in one of two ways: If the midterm score is higher than the final-exam score, the midterm is worth 20% of your grade and the final 40%. If not, the midterm does not count and the final is worth 60%. The term paper is worth 40% regardless.

Sequence (note: Readings with links can be accessed online¸ usually at many locations.

Readings without links can be accessed through Pilot.) ⦁

Communism’s Backdrop ⦁

The intellectual seeds: social “science," the Enlightenment and the state of political economy when Karl Marx was writing.

Reading: Maximilien Robespierre, “Principles of Political Morality,” http://www.marxists.org/history/france/revolution/robespierre/1794/politicalmorality.htm

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The social context: the Industrial Revolution Readings 2

Karl Marx, Capital, Ch. 15, Section 3 William Blake, “The New Jerusalem” (available free online) II. Communism: the theory Readings Karl Marx, Capital, Chs. 26-33 Marx and Friedrich Engels, The Communist Manifesto (Preface, Secs. 1-4), https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ III. Communism in practice: the Soviet Union through Stalin Readings: Yinghong Cheng, Creating the New Man: From Enlightenment Ideals to Socialist Reality (pp. 8-37) Paul Johnson, Modern Times: The World from the Twenties to the Nineties (pp.

49-94, 261-276, 299-308) Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago (abridged version), Chs. 1-2 ⦁ ⦁ ⦁ ⦁ ⦁ ⦁

The Russian Revolutions Stalin and Trotsky Collectivization Romantic Western sympathy The Holodomor The Great Terror and the Great Patriotic War

IV. Communism in practice: China ⦁ ⦁ ⦁

The Communist Party before and during World War II The Revolution and the Party’s revenge on the “enemies of the people” The Great Leap Forward and the great famine it brought Reading Jisheng Wang, Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine 1958-1962, pp. 1-56, 68-86

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The Cultural Revolution Readings Johnson, pp. 542-559 Howard French, "Hearts Still Scarred, Forty Years After China’s Upheaval,” The New York Times, June 10, 2006

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“Socialism With Chinese Characteristics” 3

V. Communism in practice: Cold-War communism ⦁

The History: De-Stalinization, the Brezhnev Doctrine Nikita Khruschev, “On the Cult of Personality” (excerpts), http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1956khrushchev-secret1.html

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The Economics

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Communist life and times Readings Interview about and excerpt from Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking (Anya von Bremzen, New York: Crown, 2013) Interview: http://www.npr.org/books/titles/223091720/mastering-the-art-ofsoviet-cooking-a-memoir-of-food-and-longing?tab=excerpt#excerpt Book excerpt: http://www.npr.org/books/titles/223091720/mastering-the-artof-soviet-cooking-a-memoir-of-food-and-longing?tab=excerpt#excerpt S. Kazalaraska, “Fashioning Fashion in Socialist Bulgaria,” Centre for Advanced Study Sofia Working Paper Series, 6, 2014, 1-25.

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The end of the Soviet empire

VI. Communism in practice: other catastrophes ⦁ ⦁ ⦁

Southeast Asia North Korea Cuba

VII. Post-communism ⦁ ⦁

In Europe and Russia In East Asia

VII. Communism and the Alternatives ⦁ ⦁ ⦁

Social Democracy Post-communist communism "Capitalism," the good society and the nature of man Readings: William Bernstein, The Birth of Plenty Introduction, Ch. 1 “Research Shows Just How Much People Hate a Winner, 4

http://www.unisci.com/stories/20021/0213025.htm “Socialists are Cheaters, Says New Study,” http://reason.com/blog/2014/07/22/socialists-are-cheaters-says-new-study Ronald Bailey, “Burn the Rich,” http://reason.com/archives/2002/06/19/burnthe-rich Deirdre McCloskey, Bourgeois Dignity (Chs. 1-3)

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