Marxism taught through a wider tradition
Aronson recalled courses on Plato, Hegel, nineteenth-century social theory, empiricism, rationalism, Marxism and communism. For him, Marcuse joined Marxism to a much older tradition of reason and freedom. He remembered learning to read closely, criticize the world as it existed and think about alternatives. (pp.188–190) [2]
A surviving bibliography for Spring 1963 Politics171b makes the Marxist teaching more specific. It lists required Marx and Engels, Lenin, Soviet policy documents and a historical study of Marxism. It also includes critical accounts and rival Marxist traditions. The course's range gave students material with which to examine communist ideas and systems. (pp.2–8) [5]
The record comes through student William Leiss's later transcription. He warns that his notes mix his own reading of the discussion with statements by Marcuse and other students. They are evidence of a course and its materials, but should not be quoted as a word-for-word Marcuse lecture. (p.1) [5]