[Marxism] Studying philosophy at the New School

[Kevin Lindemann and Cathy Campo]

Einde O'Callaghan wrote:
>
> I was at university in London in the mid-1970s and managed to get my
> B.Sc. in sociology by mainly attending courses that were explicitly
> Marxist in content and/or taught by Marxists....
>
> I sometimes think that the mid-1970s was the best time for studying if
> you wanted to gain a thorough grounding in Marxist theory

At my alma mater, Northern Illinois University (NIU), there were many open Marxists in the history
department then (Charles and Margaret George, Otto Olsen, Marvin Rosen, James Shirley, and others,
as well as scholars who did not identify as Marxists but who were strongly influenced by Marxism).
I'd say they set the tone for the department. In fact, at one point, in the '60s or '70s, the
department expressed an interest in hiring Herbert Aptheker, but the administration squelched
that.

Margaret George taught a course on the "History of Marxist Thought and Writing," and according to
NIU's catalog, a course with that title is still being taught today, although I don't know
anything about the orientation of the current instructor.

Most of the professors in the department were not Marxists, but the non-Marxists generally had a
respectful attitude towards Marxists and Marxist scholarship.

The political science department at NIU was something else entirely.  A former Trotskyist who
became a neo-con, Martin Diamond, helped set the tone for that department. I still remember the
23-year-old TA who taught the state- required class on the US Constitution when I was a freshman.
He told me that he had been a Marxist until he had seen the light under Diamond. He glommed unto
me--I think in part because he wanted to "save" me the way Diamond "saved" him and in part because
I was one of the students who paid enough attention to what he was saying to challenge him.

Thinking of those days brings back a lot of memories.

--Kevin