Communist manifesto is one of the most important texts written in modern history. In the last year we celebrated 170 years from its publication. It however stood somewhat in the shadow of Karl Marx and his anniversary. According to Yanis Varoufakis, the anniversary of manifesto calls for us to re-examine the ideas of Marx and Engels in the light of the present crisis of capitalism as a model for global development. Is the legacy of manifesto “Liberty, happiness, autonomy, individuality, spirituality, self-guided development“, as Varoufakis argues, or it laid the foundations to modern dictatorship? The manifesto had been both admired as criticized from different perspective, conservative, anarchist, feminist, anti-colonial etc. The one-day conference will aim to discuss the historical context of its creation, its impact in central Europe, its legacy in post-communism and its validity and limits for understanding the contemporary capitalism.
Programm
Panel 1: 12:30-14:00: Communist manifesto today
Michael Hauser, philosopher, Czech Academy of Sciences (Prague), The Rebirth of the Spectre of Communism
Norbert Trenkle, philosopher, Krisis-Group(Nürnberg, Germany):The other Marx. Why the Communist Manifesto is obsolete
Ľubica Kobová, philosopher, Charles University (Prague), The political subjects of The Communist and socialist feminist manifestoes
Panel 2: 14:30 - 16:30: Manifesto and its place within Marxism
Gregor Ritschel, political scientist, University Halle and der Saale (Germany), Marx, the Manifesto and Benthams Philosophy
Martin Brabec, philosopher and sociologist, Czech Academy of Sciences (Prague), Political marxism about the Communist manifesto
Juraj Halas, philosopher, Comenius University (Bratislava), Manifesto versus Das Kapital: Differences in the theory of capitalism
Panel 3: 17:00 - 19:00: Manifesto and the labour movement before 1914
Monika Woźniak, philosopher, Universita Warsaw, In the Vanguard of Revolutionary Action: First Russian Editions of the “Communist Manifesto”
Jakub Beneš, historian, University of Birmingham (UK), The Place of Marx's Manifesto in the Vernacular Socialism of fin-de-siecle Czech and German Workers
Jan Galandauer, historian, Manifesto and the Czech social democracy before 1914
Stanislav Holubec, historian,Czech Academy of Sciences (Prague),Manifesto as the Central European Place of memory
Simultaneous interpretation into Czech and English will be available. The refreshments will be provided.