Starting Date: Sunday, December 1st at 2 pm CST / 3 pm EST

Register for the course by clicking HERE, then hit ‘join group’.

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Populism is a sort of political ideology that emphasizes the interests of the majority of “people” against the domination of a minority elite. Political economy is the study of how uneven ownership of society’s assets divides society into different classes (master and slave, employer and employee, creditor and debtor), as well as how those classes relate to one another to determine the course of history and politics. In this course, we will study populist movements and politics throughout history, their analyses of class structure, and the economic agenda’s by which they sought to challenge the class structure and win power and wealth for the people. We will begin with a reading of passages from the bible espousing a populist message, followed by populist writings of the nineteenth and twentieth century, and conclude with a historical analysis of populism in antiquity and what it would mean to revive that classical message today, such as debt cancellation. We will read famous writings and speeches by Brian, Long, Veblen, Debs, Luxemburg, Michael Hudson and passages from the Bible.

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Week 1. Introduction

• Michael Hudson: “He Died for Our Debts Not Our Sins” (2017)
• Michael Hudson, “Bronze Age Redux” (2018)
• Hudson, Michael: Goodhart, Charles A. E. (2018): “Could/should Jubilee debt cancellations be reintroduced today? If not, what alternative measures of debt relief and redistribution might be possible?” (pp. 2-17).
• [Optional] Michael Hudson: “When Debts Become Unpayable, They Should be Forgiven” (2021, Jacobin)

Week 2. Populist political economy in the ancient world and the Bible

• Matthew 6:9–13, 18, 21
• Luke 4, 6, 11
• Leviticus 25
• Deuteronomy 15
• Isaiah 61
• 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:2–17, Deuteronomy 5:6–21, Exodus 34:11–26)

Week 3. Modern populist political economy I

• Omaha Program: Populist Party Platform (1892)
• William Jennings Brian: Cross of Gold Speech (1896)
• Huey Long:
  • Share Our Wealth (1934)
  • On Differences Between Democrats and Republicans (1932)
  • On American Imperialism (1934)

Week 4. Modern populist political economy II

• Eugene V. Debbs: “Statement to the Court” (1918)
• Rosa Luxemburg: “To the Proletarians of All Countries” (1918). 
• Thorstein Veblen:
  • “Bolshevism is a Menace to Whom?” (1918/1919)
  • “Review of John Maynard Keynes: Economic Consequences of the Peace” (1920)

Optional / Interesting / Recommended:

• Michael Hudson: Forgive Them Their Debts (2018)
• Michael Hudson: “The Archaeology of Money” (2004)
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt:
  • “Address at Madison Square Garden, New York City” (1936).
  • “Message to Congress on Curbing Monopolies” (1938)
• James Folsom: Christmas Day Speech (1949).
• Martin Luther King Jr.: “Beyond Vietnam Speech” (1967).