The line of inquiry of this seminar returns to the notion of the "communist hypothesis" from an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist perspective. From this double-perspective, we reconsider the Idea of communism in relation to questions of transition, political organization, and revolution. The course begins with readings in contemporary debates on Communism, the Party, "critical theory," and revisits Marx and Engels' Communist Manfesto. In the second part, we investigate the notion of transition through a Marxist theory of capitalist crisis and a theory of stages of capitalist development. Here, we focus on the works of Marx, Lenin, and Uno Kozo. Finally, we explore questions of communism in the context of "modern" Asia and address specific problems of transition, imperialism, "militarism," and fascism.