Upcoming MEP Classes and Events
AI versus Labor: Luddism and Beyond
8 weekly sessions starting Oct 1. Is Artificial Intelligence (AI, sic) really the dire threat to the future of humanity as even some of its proponents claim, or is it a more mundane and familiar threat to working people who face loss of their livelihoods and/or further speed-up and alienation? The entire history of industrial capitalism is punctuated by recurring waves of automation to reduce labor costs and turnover time, each time provoking strong resistance by the affected workforce. This reading group will probe the history both of AI and computer technology specifically and of working-class resistance to capitalist automation in general.
Book Talk: On the History of Capitalist ‘Reforms’
Giampaolo Conte presents 'A History of Capitalist Transformation: A Critique of Liberal-Capitalist Reforms', just published by Routledge. Conte's historical research demonstrates that the chief purpose of such reforms has been to integrate semi-peripheral states into the capitalist world-economy.
Hegel’s ‘Science of Logic’ – An Epilogue and a Prologue
Hegel for Radicals resumes on October 19 with a nine-week course co-hosted by Alex Steinberg and Matthew Strauss. We will read and discuss the Introduction and Preliminary Concepts from Hegel’s Encyclopedia Logic, sometimes called “The Shorter Logic.” The material we will be discussing can stand alone as an Introduction to Hegel’s magnum opus, The Science of Logic. But for those who have already studied the Science of Logic with us this can serve as completion of the Circle of the dialectic.
Book Talk: Liberating Abortion
Regina Mahone presents Liberating Abortion, a galvanizing history recentering people of color to put forth a timely argument that we must liberate abortion for all. Mahone and co-author Renee Bracey Sherman illustrate the long racist history that brought us to this moment, uncover the hidden figures who laid the foundations that activists and storytellers are building on today, and explain how abortion has been and remains essential to the health of our communities.
Henri Lefebvre’s Critique of Everyday Life
An open-ended reading group on Henri Lefebvre’s Critique of Everyday Life - a major manifesto of humanist Marxism and a clarion call for revolutionary praxis through sustained critique of daily living. “Lefebvre pushed philosophy out into the streets,” the critic McKenzie Wark has written; his work has influenced fields as diverse as sociology, cultural studies, architecture and urban planning, as well as movements including the Situationist International and the activists of May 1968.
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MEP Programs
The Marxist Education Project (MEP) operates a unique radical adult education center with roots dating back forty-five years. Our classes, book release events, and panel discussions explore the roots of oppression and give voice to resistance and liberation. After years of in-person programs, we went online in 2020 at the advent of Covid. Our programs provide deep background on issues of class, race, gender, sexuality, and climate. We do this by teaching, reading literature together, and opening up lively, respectful debate.
We have offered close to 2000 individual events and class sessions since reorganizing in …. Mostly we serve a US and Canadian-based audience, and we have participants from throughout the world. Our formats range from classes with assigned readings and discussion questions to reading aloud together in the traditional working-class self-education manner to guest speaker talks and panel presentations with discussion.
As our name suggests, we define ourselves as a “Project” and not as a political organization–though it’s been a long, ongoing project. We see our purpose as Education, though education to support organizers, theorists, and teachers in the struggles they identify with. And we embrace Marxism as our framework, though it’s a Marxism enriched by the full range of liberation struggles since Marx.
Try us out on a class or reading group that interests you, then become part of our community, volunteer to teach, facilitate or organize events that fit and interest you.
About the MEP
The Marxist Education Project is a program of the Movement Education Project Group, Inc., (MEPG) which is registered in the state of New York as a private, nonprofit company and with the IRS as a tax-exempt 501(c)3.
The Marxist Education Project is managed by an Executive Committee responsible to the Board of Directors of MEPG.
The current members of the Executive Committee are David Worley (president), Fred Murphy (vice president), Lisa Maya Knauer, and Steve Backman
Marxist Education Project
388 Atlantic Avenue
Brooklyn, New York 11217-3651
You may contact us by email info@marxedproject.org or on Facebook
MEP’s legal standing, and financial support
The Marxist Education Project is a program of the Movement Education Project Group, Inc., (MEPG) which is registered as a private, nonprofit company in the State of New York. (Tax exemption under provisions of U.S. tax code 501.3c is pending.)
MEP is entirely independent of any other organization, party, publisher, or academic institution, and we welcome transparent interactions with people and organizations of goodwill for the advancement of common values.
While our main expenses now cover publicity, outreach, and communication with our community, we need your support for our plans for the coming period. We anticipate returning to in-person or hybrid events. We also want to respect the type of work involved in our programming. We would prefer to pay someone who needs the work and experience for operational support or as paid interns. We very much need to have the flexibility to selectively offer stipends to speakers and organizers which will help us diversify our programming.
We very much appreciate everyone who has purchased open passes to our events. This helps our budgeting and we also know you become avid participants in our events and classes. We will begin to transition this option to patreon.com which will enable us to offer more consisten communication with this part of ou community.
We remain committed to the policy of turning away no one. We believe in it and it is also part of the legacy left us by Michael Lardner. All events have a free ticket tier. Our ability to do this in turn depends on the generosity, loyalty and commitment of those of us able to become supporters and sustainers.
We thank everyone who takes part in our events.
MEP Privacy Policy
The Marxist Education Project (MEP) is a nonprofit organization incorporated in the state of New York. In order to conduct its educational activities, the MEP may request on enrollment forms and maintain on file some limited personal contact information. The MEP does not sell, trade, or otherwise share personal contact information with any outside party.
By registering for any course, one-time event, multi-session pass, or other MEP program, you grant the MEP and the instructor or moderator of the program permission to contact you with information relevant to that program. By registering, you also authorize the MEP to contact you from time to time with information about other MEP programs as well as general news about MEP activities.
You also agree not to contact or cause others to contact MEP instructors and moderators or other participants outside of the specific program or event activities without their permission. Complaints made to the MEP about unsolicited contact may result in your removal from MEP programs.
You may at any time opt out of further contact with the MEP (and/or any instructor or moderator) by sending an email to info@marxedproject.org requesting that the MEP remove your name from our contact lists. Please allow up to five (5) business days for us to remove your contact information.
The MEP routinely records all of its programs and events. These recordings are the property of the MEP, and may not be copied or modified without the MEP’s express permission.
In the case of multi-session courses of study, as a convenience to registered participants, MEP instructors or moderators may share the recordings of individual class sessions with the registered participants for purposes of review. These recordings are never posted for public viewing. You agree not to share these recordings with anyone outside the registered participants. Violation of this agreement may result in your removal from MEP programs.
In the case of public events such as one-off lectures, panel discussions, and book talks, the MEP reserves the right to post edited recordings on public media sites such as YouTube or Vimeo and on the MEP’s social media pages. If you choose to appear on video and/or offer spoken questions or comments, you grant the MEP permission for your interaction to appear in the posted recording.