The goal of the fifth session of Marxism 101 is to help participants think about the paths forward for radical political economy, historical analysis, and liberation struggle in the days and years ahead.
ASSIGNED MATERIALS
- An excerpt from Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Fredrick Engels, 1880
- Section 4 of “Five Reflections about 21st Century Socialism” By Marta Harnecker, 2012
- An excerpt from “Popular Movements Toward Socialism: Their Unity and Diversity” by Samir Amin, 2014
- “The Panthers Can’t Save Us Now” by Cedric Johnson, 2017
- ‘Communism is the Past, Freedom is the Future’ by US President Donald Trump, 2017
STUDY QUESTIONS
- What challenges and opportunities does the broad concept of “the future” pose for the authors of these pieces? What social forces are present and or in conflict in the emergence of these futures?
- How are the past and present articulated as part of the future in these pieces?
- Marx once wrote: “Communism is for us not a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality will have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from the premises now in existence.” In the selections you are studying, what movements are present? What does “abolishing the present state of things” look like? How are “conditions” described?
- As students of political economy and history, what sort of challenges and opportunities do you see moving forward toward a more liberated future? What sort of work (at what sort of scales) do you imagine will need to be taken up toward this future?
LESSON
Elsadig Elsheikh (Haas Institute), Cazembe Jackson (Freedom Road Socialist Organization), Charandev Singh (advocate and legal worker from Australia), Annelisa Luong (Chinese Progressive Association), and Liz Derias-Tyehimba (Greenlining Institute) discuss the future of anti-capitalist theory and practice.
SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS
On the future challenges unleashed by capitalism and it’s intertwined racism:
- “Talking Points on the Trump Disaster, the New Confederacy and the Left”
- Uber Gives Employees Raises, Continues to Exclude Drivers
- Hurricane Irma Unleashes the Forces of Privatization in Puerto Rico
On anti-capitalist projects taking on questions of land, governance, and justice:
- THE JACKSON PLAN: A STRUGGLE FOR SELF-DETERMINATION, PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY, AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE
- Build and Fight: The Program and Strategy of Cooperation Jackson
- Rustbelt Abolition Radio #7: The Movement for Transformative Justice
On past struggle that took on questions of self determination and local/regional applications and transformations of socialist projects:
And finally, here are a few pieces that specifically engage with the future of marxist think and doing, as well as the future of national liberation struggle: