by On January 7, we are starting a new series, looking at Marx and Marxism. We’ll be publishing reading materials before the sessions so that comrades can prepare.
1) January 7 2021
Is the Communist Manifesto still important for socialists today?
Presented by Mark Lewis. Recommended reading:
- The Communist Manifesto
- The intellectual life of the British working class, Jonathan Rose (Yale University Press, New Haven and London). A fascinating history of the ways that working people developed a culture of education from below. My favourite chapter = ‘The Welsh Miners Libraries’ (p.237).
- The adventures of the Communist Manifesto, Hal Draper (Centre for Socialist History).
- Democracy against capitalism, Ellen Meiksins Wood (Cambridge University Press)
- The Vote: How it was won and how it was undermined, Paul Foot (Bookmarks Publications)
- Beyond ‘Capital’: Marx’s Economy of the working class, Michael Lebowitz (Palgrave). Explores the “one-sidedness” of Marx’s unfinished Capital and argues that the side of the working class – its struggles withing capitalism, its culture, etc – was not sufficiently theorised by Marx (he died with the bulk of his plan for Capital not completed) and this has produced a narrow, economistic template by the left, including those who claim to stand in the tradition of Marx and his ideas.
- The transitional programme for socialist revolution, Leon Trotsky (Pathfinder Press).
2) January 14 2021
Marx and Engels – their background, their relationship
Presented by Kevin Bean. Recommended reading:
– V.I. Lenin: The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism
– Marx/Engels: The German Ideology (critique of the Hegelians and putting forward a materialist view allied with dialectics – the direct forerunner of the Communist Manifesto)
– Paul Lafargue: Reminiscences of Karl Marx
3) January 21 2021
What is a socialist society?
Presented by Hillel Ticktin
Background reading here: A society of abundance
4) January 28 2021
What’s so special about the working class? How should we organise?
Presented by Matthew Jones
5) February 4 2021
Why did Marx fight for ‘Democracy’? Isn’t that what the bourgeoisie does?
Presented by Kevin Bean
Background reading:
- Notes for a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, by Karl Marx (marxists.org) Notes for a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, by Karl Marx (marxists.org) Notes for a Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, by Karl Marx (marxists.org)v
- Communist Manifesto (Chapter 2) (marxists.org)
- Demands of the Communist Party in Germany (marxists.org)
- Marx and Engels in Neue Rheinische Zeitung June 1848 (marxists.org)
- Critique of the Gotha Programme– IV (marxists.org)
- Letters: Marx-Engels Correspondence 1884 (marxists.org)
- The Civil War in France [Abstract] (marxists.org)
- Programme of the French Worker’s Party (marxists.org)
- Letters: Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, Selected Correspondence 1884 (marxists.org)
6) February 11 2021
Marx & religion
Presented by Mark Lewis
Background reading:
- “Ideology and Superstructure in Historical Materialism”, Jakobowski:
- “Marxism and Religion”, David McLellan.
- “Marxism after Marx”, David McLellan – useful on existentialism.
7) February 18 2021
Marx & nature
Presented by Ollie Perkins and Kevin Bean
Background reading:
-> Reference sheet with relevant quotes here (Word doc)
- The Robbery of Nature: Capitalism and the Ecological Rift (J. B. Foster and B. Clark, 2020)
- Dialectics of nature (F. Engels, 1883)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1883/don/index.htm - The Part played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man (F. Engels, 1876)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1876/part-played-labour/index.htm - The Condition of the Working Class in England (F. Engels, 1845)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/condition-working-class/index.htm - Capital Vol.1 (K. Marx, 1887) – Don’t worry, these are all very short, a few pages at most:
-
- Chapter 15, section 10 (Machinery and Modern Industry, Modern industry and agriculture)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch15.htm#S10 - Chapter 26 (The Secret of Primitive Accumulation)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch26.htm - Chapter 27 (Expropriation of the Agricultural Population from the Land)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch27.htm - Chapter 29 (Genesis of the Capitalist Farmer)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch29.htm - Chapter 30 (Reaction of the Agricultural Revolution on Industry. Creation of the Home-Market for Industrial Capital)
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch30.htm
- Chapter 15, section 10 (Machinery and Modern Industry, Modern industry and agriculture)
8) February 25 2021
Marx and the nation
Presented by Kevin Bean
9) March 4 2021
Why is Marx’s ‘Capital’ still important?
Presented by Michael Roberts
- Michael Roberts blog: thenextrecession.wordpress.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Michael-Roberts-blog-925340197491022
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYM7I0m-I9EVB-5gaBqiqbg
- Debate between Michael Roberts and Chris Williamson on ‘Modern Monetary Theory’ is here
10) March 11 2021
Marxism and the Women’s question
Presented by Anne McShane and Ben Lewis
Background reading:
- Ben Lewis: The establishment of International Women’s Day (Ben’s work can be supported by becoming a patron – click here)
- Friedrich Engels: The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
- August Bebel: Women and Socialism
11) March 18
150 years since the Paris Commune – what did Marx have to say?
Presented by Kevin Bean
Background reading:
- Timeline of the Paris Commune (marxists.org)
- History of the Paris Commune (marxists.org)
- The Civil War in France (marxists.org)
- Lenin: Lessons of the Commune (marxists.org)
- The State and Revolution (marxists.org)
12) March 25 2021
Dialectics – what is that?
Presented by Chris Cassells
- Dialectics. Quantity and Quality, Anti-Duhring – Engels
- Dialectics. Negation of the Negation, Anti-Duhring – Engels
- Afterward to the Second German Edition, Capital Vol. 1 – Marx
- The ABC of Materialist Dialectics – Trotsky
- Logic: Dialectic and contradiction – Lawrence Wilde
12) April 1 2021
In the Enemy Camp: Socialists and parliamentarism
Presented by Kevin Bean
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EL5W0TIvTCyBvH-OYWR8ig (please note you might be registered already, as this is the continuation of our ‘Revolution!’ series)
