Socialism and the City: Capitalism, Urbanization, and the Collective Alternative (In-Person)

Capitalism and urbanization are inextricably linked. During the nineteenth century, industrial capitalism concentrated wealth and workers in urban centers of unprecedented size and complexity, creating the conditions not only for fabulous riches and gross inequality but for working-class political organization that took the form of a movement called socialism. Since that time, socialism and the city have been inseparable. From the Paris Commune to “Red Vienna” to the “sewer socialists” of 20th-century Milwaukee (and their 21st-century NYC legatees), urban socialists have managed to create, even if temporarily, localized alternatives to national, and global, systems of competition, private property, and the market. But why, in particular, have (at least some) cities proven generative sites of socialist organizing and politics? What is the relationship between capitalism, urbanization, and the body of ideas and practices we call “socialism”? And how can we evaluate the successes—and failures—of urban socialisms, as both purveyors of public goods and as incubators of broader-based socialist politics and power?

In this course, we will address the history and theory of municipal socialism, including its obstacles and contradictions, both in the US and abroad. Does capitalist urbanization itself foster an impulse to reorganize our lives in a collective and cooperative fashion? How should we define “socialism” and its variants, including “social democracy” and “democratic socialism”? What was the relationship of socialism to industrialization, the labor movement, feminism, and struggles for racial justice? What has been the fate of the various paths to socialism, whether insurrectionary or democratic? What has been the role of recurrent “red scares” in quashing momentum for alternatives to capitalism? What has been the role of international solidarity in bolstering movements at the scale of the city? How have socialist leaders at the municipal level oriented themselves in relation to pressures from national governments and the world market? What can we expect from contemporary municipal socialist movements, both in New York City and beyond? Readings are likely to include selections from Sheldon Stromquist, Vivan Gornick, Samuel Stein, David Harvey, Kristin Ross, Henri Lefebvre, Claus Offe, Adam Przeworki, Goran Therborn, Sheri Berman, and others.

Course Schedule

Tuesday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
July 07 — July 28, 2026
4 weeks

$335.00

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