Socialism of the Twenty-First Century International Internet Institute
Dear colleagues and friends,
We are currently seeking to establish a project to be called the Socialism
of the Twenty-First Century International Internet Institute. While we are
aware that you are heavily burdened with academic work and other
commitments, we ask you to lend your attention to this initiative.
In Russia and other “former socialist” countries, socialist scholars are
working to develop the ideas of creative Marxism. Although many of these
scholars have impressive theoretical backgrounds, they are almost totally
isolated from world developments in socialist theory. At the same time,
socialist scholars in other countries have very little information about the
studies undertaken by both Soviet and post-Soviet creative Marxists.
As our experience of dialogue with scholars from more than twenty countries
around the world has shown, bridging this gap is of key importance both for
us and for our colleagues abroad. Expanding the dialogue is an especially
important task in the post-Soviet countries, where it can help to increase
interest in Marxism as a serious international current of thought, and not
as a “relic of Stalinism”.
In recent times, favorable conditions have emerged for solving this problem.
In the last ten to fifteen years, the scholars who are initiating this
project have given lectures, presentations and reports at hundreds of
conferences, round tables and seminars in more than twenty countries. The
gatherings we have addressed include the World and European Social Forums,
the World Congress of Philosophy, the Socialist Scholars Conference in the
US, and the International Meeting on the 150th Anniversary of the Communist
Manifesto in Paris. In Russian academic circles, Marxism is attracting more
and more attention; each year, dozens of articles on questions of Marxism
are published in Moscow, along with some ten to twenty books.
We now have the possibility of obtaining most of the funding for the
proposed project from Russian sponsors.
From the beginning, the project will be undertaken in at least two
languages, Russian and English (we are hopeful that our Latin American
comrades will add Spanish). The project will aim at the wide dissemination
of information not only in the post-Soviet countries, but throughout the
world.
A brief description of the goals, forms and expected results of our work is
provided below, along with anticipated sources of funding for the
institute’s activities.
In Russia, the founders of the institute will include scholars who are
prominent members of the country’s intellectual community, and who are known
to one degree or another in the West. Also being invited to participate in
launching the project are people from a range of countries who are known as
representatives of various currents of social thought. They include such
individuals as:
M. Hardt (US – agreement received)
M. Haug (Germany)
F. Houtart (Belgium – agreement received)
D. Kotz (US – agreement received)
T. Krausz (Hungary – agreement received)
I. Meszaros (Hungary/UK)
M. Löwy (France – agreement received)
A. Negri (Italy)
B. Ollman (US – agreement received)
I. Wallerstein (US – agreement received)
and many others.
Some of these people have already given their preliminary agreement, and we
hope that others, including you, will now indicate their support. The
project was presented in the seminars at the European Social Forum in Athens
on May 4-7, 2006, and final decisions are to be made by August 31. We would
therefore appreciate receiving an answer from you by August 25, 2006.
All questions and requests for additional information can be addressed to
Alexander Buzgalin or Andrey Kolganov (+7-495-299-7739;
alternativy@tochka.ru). Some of our publications are available here.
