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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260611T190000
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DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
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LAST-MODIFIED:20260608T220825Z
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SUMMARY:The Aesthetics of Resistance: Art and Fascism in the 1930s
DESCRIPTION:Join ongoing weekly sessions of the MEP Literature Group as we read together The Aesthetics of Resistance\, the masterwork of German author Peter Weiss. This trilogy of historical novels opens in 1937 and details the interactions of the narrator and his peers and family with historical figures of the European left engaged in the fight against fascism. As the characters encounter each other clandestinely to discuss political questions\, they also discuss works of art and question how the art of the past can support their resistance to a horrific present: what can art suggest for a future they may not live to see? \nJust as Weiss’s characters rely upon group discussion\, readers of this trilogy have often formed reading groups to aid their understanding of the novelist’s ambitions. The MEP is joining this leftist tradition. We will read these challenging novels slowly and discuss themes such as strategy and tactics in the fight against fascism\, and the works of art that inspired the characters’ discussions. Familiarity with art history or with Europe in the 1930s is neither required nor expected. \nPublisher’s web pages for The Aesthetics of Resistance: Volume 1 / Volume 2 / Volume 3\nSecond-hand bookstores\, online resellers\, and public libraries may have copies of these books available. \nConvened by Jacqueline Cantwell and the MEP Literature Group. Jacqueline became involved with the MEP’s Literature Group because of her love of Victor Serge’s novels. Participating in an MEP reading group led by Serge translator Richard Greeman eight years ago\, Jacqueline found a community of readers eager to be challenged by the ambitions of international writers devoted to the creative potential of political fiction. Since the death of Michael Lardner\, who hosted and organized the Literature Group for so many years\, Jacqueline has taken the lead in furthering the group’s goals of exploring international fiction and encouraging thoughtful conversation.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/aesthetics-of-resistance/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Anti-fascism,Art and politics,Fall 25,Gender,Germany,historical materialism,History,Late Capital and Fascism,Literary Studies,Marx,Modernity,Multi-session Classes,Philosophy of History,Political Strategy,Radical Literature,Reading Group,Social Democracy,Socialism,Spring 2026,War,War Fiction,Winter 2026
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/WebImage2.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="MEP Literature Group":MAILTO:info@marxedproject.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260413T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260413T200000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250828T010345Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260429T193135Z
UID:10008362-1776105000-1776110400@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Marx's Capital\, Vol. II - On the Circulation of Capital
DESCRIPTION:In Volume I of Capital\, Marx analyzes the processes of capitalist production and accumulation and identifies the real sources of wealth: nature and the labor performed by working people. In Volume II\, The Process of Circulation of Capital\, he addresses the next big question: How can the reproduction of society as a whole take place\, if there is no conscious social planning that ensures that all needs are met\, in the necessary proportions\, such that life can persist and the capitalist relations of production be sustained? In this study group\, we will discover some answers\, but we will also learn of new contradictions and sources of crisis inherent to capitalist society. Marx ‘s analysis in Volume II lays the groundwork for his system-wide summation in Volume III\, The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole. \nWe welcome all who have a basic knowledge of Volume I of Capital to this study group. Participants read selections on their own each week and meet for clarifying discussions\, guided by experienced students of Marx from the MEP. For certain key and/or difficult sections\, we do line-by-line readings in class. \nFred Murphy facilitates this group. Fred has led several Capital study groups and numerous others on ecosocialism\, science and technology\, the history of capitalism\, and Latin American politics at the Marxist Education Project since 2015. He studied and taught historical sociology at the New School for Social Research.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/capital-vol2-shortcourse/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Accumulation of Capital,Capital Studies,Classes/Events,Crisis,Das Kapital,historical materialism,Marx,Marx's Capital,Marxist Method,Money,Multi-session Classes,Political Economy,Reading Group,Science and Method,Social Reproduction,Spring 2026
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ORGANIZER;CN="Capital Studies Group":MAILTO:info@marxedproject.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260228T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260228T173000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20260113T180141Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260429T145323Z
UID:10008386-1772294400-1772299800@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Social Reproduction Theory with Lisa Maya Knauer.
DESCRIPTION:This six-week reading group\, facilitated by Lisa Maya Knauer\, will focus on one of the germinal texts of social reproduction theory: Lise Vogel’s groundbreaking 1983 work\, Marxism and the Oppression of Women: Toward a Unitary Theory. Marx argued that capital accumulation depends not only upon the production of goods and the extraction of surplus value\, but also on the reproduction of capitalist social relations and above all of the class of people who have nothing to sell but their labor power. Social reproduction theory analyzes the processes whereby working classes and their conditions of life are sustained over time. Marx only sketched the concept in very broad terms\, but it was taken up and expanded upon by Marxist and radical feminists in the 1970s and 1980s. Vogel and others argued that women’s oppression under capitalism is linked to their role in social (as well as biological) reproduction. We will supplement Vogel’s classic work with some early writings by the Wages for Housework campaign and more recent scholarship\, including a newly published collection of Lise Vogel’s essays\, The Contested Domain. Some familiarity with Marxist and/or feminist theory is helpful but not essential. \nLisa Maya Knauer stumbled across the writings of the Wages for Housework campaign in the mid-1970s when she was a college student. A few years later\, she started reading Marx’s Capital at the MEP’s predecessor\, the School for Marxist Education. She is a co-founder of the MEP and has led our Capital Volume I reading groups for the past few years. In her day job\, she is a tenured radical at a public university. \nRegistration for this group is now closed. Contact info@marxedproject.org for more information.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/social-reproduction-theory-with-lisa-maya-knauer/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Capital Studies,Class and Gender,Fall 25,Gender,historical materialism,Intro to Marxism,Marxist Method,Multi-session Classes,Political Economy,Reading Group,Social Reproduction,Women
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260210T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260210T203000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20241002T191820Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260429T192740Z
UID:10008321-1770750000-1770755400@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Immigration and Chicano/Latin American Liberation: Repression & Resistance
DESCRIPTION:Tuesdays\, 7-9 pm ET\n \nJoin us for an overview study of the relationship between Mexican immigration and the United States: its colonial foundation\, vibrant new communities\, cyclical labor exploitation\, and state-sanctioned repression\, liberation struggles. The Chicano liberation movement emerged as a direct response to this\, and its legacy is critical to understanding immigration struggles today and modern nativist and fascist-aligned counter-responses. Convened by the MEP Political Strategy Study Group\, including Steve Backman\, Fred Murphy\, and new volunteers Camilo Pérez-Bustillo and others. \nOur primary reading is No One Is Illegal\, by Justin Akers Chacon and Mike Davis (Haymarket Books\, 2018 Updated Edition). We supplement this with additional recommended readings for which we will provide links or copies\, and\, based on initial discussion\, we may recommend a second book as “primary.” \nWe have planned for six weeks\, optionally extending to eight. Given the richness of the topics and based on interest\, we may plan for follow-on study in the spring. \nThis study continues the long-running “Historical Roots of American Fascism” series and takes it in a new direction. Our historical readings first focused on the 1830s and 1840s counter-revolution of Texan settlers against native peoples\, Mexico\, and people of Mexican origins with long traditions in the Southwest. This study brings our focus forward to the patterns of life and struggle in the twentieth century and twentieth-first century.  Using the lens of Chicano political traditions\, we expect it to provide insight on national conditions throughout the US. \nWe continue to have three points of reference:  \n\nSources\, strengths\, and strategies of recurring waves of popular struggle\, beginning with the theme of “Abolition Democracy” introduced by W.E.B. Du Bois and now embracing Chicano liberation and other traditions of struggle. \nEvolving forms of reaction and repression\, especially their roots in white supremacy and internal settler-colonialism in the Southwest and West. \nReflections on the present moment in the US\, framed by immigration and other pivotal struggles\, especially (though not limited to) in California and the Southwest. \n\nWe will make available a new syllabus while continuing to update our long-term bibliography of supplementary readings.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/historical-roots/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Classes/Events,Fall 25,Multi-session Classes,Reading Group
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/6995958763_1196704cab_w-1.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Political Strategy Study Group":MAILTO:info@marxedproject.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260208T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260208T173000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20251119T160315Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260202T145354Z
UID:10008383-1770566400-1770571800@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Marxist Psychology: Vygotsky’s Cultural-Historical Theory
DESCRIPTION:A six-week workshop with Carl Ratner\, in which we will seek to solve the riddle Marx posed in his first thesis on Feuerbach: “in contradistinction to materialism\, the active side [the subjective side of human behavior] was developed abstractly by idealism – which\, of course\, does not know real\, sensuous activity as such.” Exploring a materialist theory of subjectivity which does know sensuous activity\, we will see how historical materialism can be extended to reveal how it is compatible with psychology and how human psychology is itself a historical-materialist phenomenon. \nBridging political economy and psychology\, we will review Marx’s writings on the structure of social systems that encompass cultural emergents such as religion. As emphasized by Wendy Brown in her Foreword to the Reitter-North translation of Capital\, “Marx developed an understanding of political economy as the distinctive mode through which we build entire worlds through our singular cooperative powers—transforming nature\, elaborating divisions of labor and organizations of ownership\, producing wealth\, creating ways of life\, institutions\, social forms\, subjects\, and subjectivities… Capital brings into being not only particular kinds of markets\, technologies\, and industries\, but classes\, families\, and political structures; race and gender orders; relations with ‘nature’; new formations of space and time; and legal codes and conflicts.” \nTurning to the field of cultural psychology\, we will explore how cultural forms stimulate and organize human psychology. Here we will focus on the work of the Russian psychologist\, Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934)\, who formulated a “cultural-historical psychological theory.” Vygotsky was a dedicated Marxist who was active in efforts during the revolutionary period to develop socialist cultural institutions and social sciences. Vygotsky said\, “We must learn from Marx’s whole method how to build a science\, how to approach the investigation of the mind.” Read more… \nCarl Ratner went through college and graduate school in the 1960s. He was a professor of social psychology in the California State University system for 31 years. He adopted Vygotsky’s work when it was first translated in the 1980s\, writing extensively on Vygotsky and authoring the Preface to vol. 5 of his Collected Works. Ratner was one of the few followers of Vygotsky who emphasized his Marxist orientation and developed it. Ratner is the author of Macro Cultural Psychology: A Political Philosophy of Mind (Oxford\, 2012); his most recent book is Cultural Psychology\, Racism\, and Social Justice (Springer\, 2022). Carl has been active in the cooperative movement and served on the board of directors of California’s largest food coop in the 1970s and 80s. He lived in China from 1981-1983 and taught the first course on social psychology in Peking University since it had been banned after the Revolution. \nRegistration for this series is now closed.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/marxist-psychology-ratner/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Critical Theory,featured,historical materialism,Intro to Marxism,Marx,Marxist Method,Multi-session Classes,Philosophy,Political Economy,Psychology,Reading Group,Science and Method,Winter 2026
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260119T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260119T200000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20251025T173441Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260113T150139Z
UID:10008379-1768847400-1768852800@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Slavery and Capitalism: A Reading Group
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a nine-session reading group on David McNally’s recently published Slavery and Capitalism: A New Marxist History. McNally’s book presents a systematic Marxist account of the capitalist character of Atlantic slavery to support the provocative claim that enslaved labor in the plantation system is a form of capitalist commodity production. Weaving together history\, political economy\, and radical abolitionism\, McNally demonstrates that plantation slaves formed a modern working class and highlights the self-activity of enslaved people fighting for their freedom. He reframes their resistance as labor struggles over production and reproduction\, with significant implications for US and Atlantic history and for understanding the roots of racial capitalism. \nFacilitated by Fred Murphy. Over the past decade\, Fred has led numerous MEP study groups on political economy\, ecosocialism\, science and technology\, and Latin American politics. He studied and taught historical sociology at the New School for Social Research. \nEnrollment for this study group is now closed.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/slavery-and-capitalism-a-reading-group/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Accumulation of Capital,African American History,Anti-colonialism,British Imperialism,Capital Studies,Caribbean Studies,Civil War,Class,Classes/Events,Colonialism,Du Bois,Emancipation,Fall 25,historical materialism,History,Intro to Marxism,Marx,Marxist Method,Multi-session Classes,Political Economy,Race and Class,Slavery,Social Reproduction,US History
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/McNallyGroup_WebBanner.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251216T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251216T133000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20251023T193359Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251212T184309Z
UID:10008377-1765886400-1765891800@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Animals and Capitalism: Metabolic Labor
DESCRIPTION:Final session\, December 16 \nA study group on nonhuman animals’ relationship with capital as living\, breathing\, “commodified” beings. What differentiates nonhuman animals from non-living commodified objects is the way their metabolic and reproductive capacities are harnessed in production. A vibrant discourse is currently emerging around the question of nonhuman labor and the ways in which non-waged forms of labor contribute to value accumulation under capitalism. In this study group\, we will focus on how metabolic labor has been theorized in feminist studies and contemporary Marxist environmental and animal studies\, with a specific focus on the particular function of nonhuman animals for capitalism. We will consider how harnessing and enhancing the metabolic labor of nonhuman animals is connected to fields such as waste management\, biomedical research\, big data\, and the reproduction of the human labor force. \nConvened by Gizem Haspolat and Terike Haapoja. Gizem holds a PhD in Anthropology and specializes in critical animal studies\, animal geographies\, and human-nonhuman animal relations. In her dissertation research\, she explored live animal trade as a site that intensifies the translations between ‘animal’ and capital\, through an investigation of live cattle imports in Turkey. Her current research project examines the application of ‘smart’ technologies and artificial intelligence in industrial agricultural settings. Terike is a visual artist based in Berlin. Her interdisciplinary practice includes installations\, videos\, writings\, and collaborative projects that explore our relationship with the more-than-human world. Her current research on animal labor and multispecies anticapitalist struggle\, with an extensive open bibliography\, can be found on animalcapitalism.org.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/metabolic-labor/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Agribusiness,Animals and Capital,Capital Studies,Fall 25,featured,Labor Process,Marxisms,Multi-session Classes,Science and Technology,Social Reproduction
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/pigs-piglets.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251213T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251213T130000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250908T222248Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251212T184126Z
UID:10008374-1765623600-1765630800@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Hegel's Preface to the 'Phenomenology'
DESCRIPTION:(ends on December 13) \nThis eight-session course with Alex Steinberg concludes our ongoing studies of Hegel’s mysterious work\, The Phenomenology of Spirit. We will do a close reading of the Preface to the Phenomenology of Spirit\, a work that can be read on its own and is considered the most succinct and comprehensive statement of Hegel’s philosophy. \nThese sessions introduce what is living in Hegel for those who want to change the world. No prior experience with Hegel or attendance at previous classes is expected or required. Our goal is to make Hegel’s dialectic less mysterious as we go along and try to tease out the revolutionary implications in his thought and its significance for our time. \nThere are 3 acceptable translations of the Phenomenology of Spirit available:\nOne by A.V. Miller published by Oxford University Press\, another by Terry Pinkard from Cambridge University Press\, and another translation that includes only the Preface\, by Yirmiyahu Yovel from Princeton University Press with a detailed commentary. \nAlex Steinberg is an independent scholar. He has taught on topics such as the Philosophy of Heidegger and Nazism\, Marxism and Humanism\, and Hegel’s Philosophy of History at various alternative educational institutions and informally. He was a Conference Presenter at the First International Conference on Trotsky in Havana\, Cuba. Alex has been also involved with the governance of WBAI radio in New York and its parent organization\, Pacifica\, most recently as the Chair of the Pacifica National Board from 2019-2021.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/hegels-preface-to-the-phenomenology/
CATEGORIES:Classes/Events,Fall 25,Hegelianism,historical materialism,History,Marx and Hegel,Modernity,Multi-session Classes,Philosophy,Philosophy of History,Science and Method
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251208T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251208T183000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250903T160349Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251126T164400Z
UID:10008365-1765213200-1765218600@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Octavia Butler: ‘Positive Obsession’ and ‘Wild Seed’
DESCRIPTION:Alternate Mondays\, Next on December 8\, 5-6:30 pm ET \nWatch for new selections coming soon\, featuring Frankenstein and the Chicano Frankenstein. \nJoin us for a new appreciation of Octavia Butler\, beginning with Susana M. Morris’s pathbreaking new biography\, Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia Butler followed by Butler’s prophetic Wild Seed and other short selections. Offered by the Speculative and Visionary Fiction reading group. \nMorris’s just published biography blends commentary on Butler’s work and life against the social and political conditions she lived and wrote in. Butler developed her literary powers during the Reagan years while living a far from easy life.  As Dana A. Williams notes in her New York Times review\, “One of the biography’s most compelling themes is Butler’s sustained critique of American imperialism. From the scorched landscapes in Parable of the Sower to the uneasy alliances between humans and the Oankali (an “alien” race in the Xenogenesis series) to the entanglement of history and power in Kindred\, Butler’s fiction exposes the toll of empire (and its illusion of progress) on the body\, on the planet and on humanity.” \nWhether you have read a lot or a little of Butler’s fiction\, we encourage you to join with the MEP’s long-running reading group for a new introduction to Butler’s pivotal role in reshaping science\, visionary and speculative fiction\, helping inspire the emergence of Afro-Futurism\, and influencing a new generation of younger writers. We will accompany our reading of the biography with short selections from Butler’s fiction and other related materials. \nConvened by Steve Backman \n 
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/read-positive-obsession-the-life-and-times-of-octavia-e-butler/
CATEGORIES:American Literature,Class and Gender,Cultural Resistance,Dystopian literature,Fall 25,Literary Studies,Literature,Multi-session Classes,Radical Literature,Reading Group,Science Fiction,Speculative fiction,Visionary Fiction,Visionary Fiction,Women
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/butler-new.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251206T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251206T180000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250828T005014Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251130T213743Z
UID:10008361-1765036800-1765044000@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Marx's Capital\, Volume I - A Short Course on Capitalist Production
DESCRIPTION:A 12-session study group\, September 20 through December 13 \n\nHave you always wanted to study Marx’s Capital\, Vol 1\, and hesitated because of the time commitment to read the entire volume from start to finish? Join us for a 12-session study group covering key sections of the book. \nExperienced Capital study leader Lisa Maya Knauer will facilitate as we explore the relevance of Marx’s analysis to our current context. While we will go over the assigned material each week\, participants will read the material on their own in advance. This reading group is open to both Capital newbies and those who have read it previously but want a refresher. \n\nLisa Maya Knauer\, our facilitator\, has been involved with Marxist education in New York for her entire adult life\, and has taught a variety of classes at the MEP and its predecessors. Her current activist work focuses on immigrant workers’ rights and indigenous struggles for land and water. In her day job\, she is a tenured radical at a public university. \nEnrollment in this series is now closed – please watch for future sessions on Marx’s Capital.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/capital-short-course/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Capital Studies,Fall 25,historical materialism,History,Intro to Marxism,Labor Process,Marx,Marx's Capital,Marxist Method,Modernity,Multi-session Classes,Political Economy,Reading Group,Social Reproduction
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/capitalism.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Capital Studies Group":MAILTO:info@marxedproject.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20251124T183000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20251124T200000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20241119T143934Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251130T213549Z
UID:10008325-1764009000-1764014400@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Reading Marx's Capital\, Volume III
DESCRIPTION:Volume III of Capital – The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole – integrates and completes Marx’s analysis\, enabling us to understand and make sense of how the phenomena we see occurring on the surface of society are related to the underlying system of capitalism. It is essential to understanding the current moment of late capitalist/imperialist development\, in which we see the rise of rentier and finance capital and the commodification of debt; continuously rising prices that bring still more poverty and starvation; new technologies turned into means of extracting rents; the privatization of public spaces\, properties and institutions; and the list goes on. \nParticipants in this long-running study group have been closely reading and discussing Volume III\, using a hybrid approach to cover the entire book. For key chapters or sections\, we do a line-by-line reading with pauses for questions and commentary. Participants read other sections on their own\, along with occasional supplemental materials such as passages from Beverley Best’s highly praised companion to Volume III\, The Automatic Fetish. The series is nearing completion with study of Part Six on Ground-Rent.\nRegistration is now closed\, but please email info@marxedproject.org if you are interested in further Capital studies. \nFred Murphy facilitates this group. Since 2015 Fred has led numerous MEP study groups on ecosocialism\, science and technology\, the history of capitalism\, and Latin American politics. He studied and taught historical sociology at the New School for Social Research and reported from Latin America for several socialist publications.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/capital-volume-iii/
CATEGORIES:Accumulation of Capital,Capital Studies,Classes/Events,Crisis,Financialization,historical materialism,History,Marx,Marx's Capital,Marxist Method,Money,Multi-session Classes,Political Economy,Reading Group,Science and Method,Winter 25
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/capitalism-isnt-working-1536x864-1.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Capital Studies Group":MAILTO:info@marxedproject.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250929T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250929T183000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250725T190734Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250917T141011Z
UID:10008355-1759165200-1759170600@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Resisting Oppression: Reading Science Fiction Politically
DESCRIPTION:Next on Monday September 29\, 5:00 pm \nWe will begin Ryka Aoki’s\, Light From Uncommon Stars\, our third in a set of three novels of oppression and resistance perfect for times like these. We also read Woman on the Edge of Time and Rosewater\, each featuring protagonists living and struggling on the margins of their societies. Each comes to envision a better world for themselves and their communities. Each draws on usual strengths\, makes use of new technologies\, and finds unusual allies. \n\nRyka Aoki’s In Light from Uncommon Stars\, Katrina Nguyen\, a runaway teen\, trans violinist\, finds her life entangled with world-famous violin teacher Shizuka Satomi and Lan Tran\, retired starship captain\, interstellar war refugee\, mother of four\, and California donut shop entrepreneur. All three address the complexity of technology in oppressive societies\, alienation and true aliens\, choice and unfreedom in contemporary capitalist social orders. This is a story for our challenging political and social times\, a wild and fun read to challenge what it means to create political science fiction.\nIn Tade Thompson’s award-winning Rosewater\, government agent and former thief Kaaro contends with social and class contradictions in contemporary Nigerian society\, the government and alien powers for a positive\, freer future for the city of Rosewater and beyond. The first-person novel features mesmerizing collages of scenes and conversations\, mirroring perhaps the mysteries of the “Xenosphere” which frames the story. Join us to read this debut novel which won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.\nMarge Piercy’s classic Woman on the Edge of Time tells the story of Connie\, a working class Latina of the 1970s Los Angeles who envisions and pursues a utopian future from with involuntary institutionalization in the oppressive mental health system.\n\nBook covers for current reading list\nWritten in different eras of our modern times\, exploring different communities and peoples\, and ultimately defining radical reimagining in unique ways\, the three novels together will provide powerful reference points for our own dilemmas and choices. \nOur format: we meet every other Monday; we give each monthly selection two takes; we all share responsibilities for shaping the discussion on each work as literature\, each writer as a contributor to social change\, and each vision as a reflection of and an intervention in our aspirations for a better world.  Drop to read one novel that interests you with us\, stay and while if it suits you\, and always help shape our course. Our long term reading list. \nAlso watch for our next selection\, Susana Morris’ new biography of Octavia Butler. \nConvened by Steve Backman\, reading visionary fiction since introduced to the liberating power of Alice in Wonderland and Jules Verne at a very young age.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/resistance-to-oppression-reading-science-fiction-politically/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Africanfuturism,Classes/Events,Fall 25,featured,Literature,Multi-session Classes,Science Fiction,Visionary Fiction
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/ryka-aoki.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250828T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250828T210000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250711T161922Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250827T152254Z
UID:10008354-1756407600-1756414800@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Summer in France in the Shade of Noir
DESCRIPTION:The MEP Literature Group continues its tradition of easy summer reading focusing on the noir genre. Our two selections are both set in France and both deal with corruption in high places by right-wing politicians and corporations who manipulate inept investigators of low social standing and morals. \n\nCommand Performance\, by Jean Echenoz; translated by Mark Polizzotti (New York Review Books\, 2020).  A hapless unemployed flight attendant thinks he can solve his financial problems by becoming a private detective\, but he ends up in the employ of a fractious right-wing political party. Things do not go well.  Be prepared to discuss the entire book at our first session on August 6.\nCreation Lake\, by Rachel Kushner (Scribners\, 2024). Sadie Smith once worked as a government undercover operative within an environmental rights group. She got fired for entrapment and went to work in corporate espionage. Her summer assignment in France is to provoke an incident by an environmental rights group that will justify government action. Will Sadie’s honey trap tactics succeed? (August 13\, 20\, 24)\n\n\nConvened by Jacqueline Cantwell and the MEP Literature Group. Jacqueline became involved with the MEP’s Literature Group because of her love of Victor Serge’s novels. Participating in an MEP reading group led by Serge translator Richard Greeman eight years ago\, Jacqueline found a community of readers eager to be challenged by the ambitions of international writers devoted to the creative potential of political fiction. Since the death of Michael Lardner\, who hosted and organized the Literature Group for so many years\, Jacqueline has taken the lead in furthering the group’s goals of exploring international fiction and encouraging thoughtful conversation.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/shade-of-noir/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:_Seasons,Anti-capitalist Literature,Classes/Events,featured,France,Literary Studies,Literature,Multi-session Classes,Noir Fiction,Reading Group,Summer 25
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/noir-collage.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="MEP Literature Group":MAILTO:info@marxedproject.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250719T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250719T130000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250209T000040Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250714T133753Z
UID:10008334-1752922800-1752930000@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Hegel for Radicals: The Phenomenology of Spirit
DESCRIPTION:The MEP’s recurring Hegel for Radicals series introduces what is living in Hegel for those who want to change the world. Over 16 Saturdays\, beginning March 8\, we will read and discuss one of the most influential books of all time\, Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit. This massive retelling of humanity defies traditional divisions between history\, philosophy\, comedy\, and tragedy. As participants in Hegel’s Bacchanalian Revel we will step through such themes as \n\nThe Inverted World\nThe Dialectic of Master and Slave\nThe Cynical Bohemian\nThe Beautiful Soul\nFreedom and Terror\nSpirit Externalized as Nature and History\nThe Absolute\n\nThis journey provides a foundation for Hegel’s dialectic\, which is in turn a key to Marx’s Capital. \nWe recommend the translation by A.V. Miller of the Phenomenology of Spirit\, published by Oxford University Press and readily available as an inexpensive paperback. \nAlex Steinberg is an independent scholar and lifelong socialist who has taught classes in Marxist philosophy\, Hegel\, the dialectics of nature\, Heidegger\, and Nietzsche at the New Space for Pluralistic Anti-Capitalist Education\, The Brecht Forum\, the Marxist Education Project\, and other venues. Alex was a Conference Presenter at the First International Conference on Trotsky in Havana\, Cuba. In addition to his scholarly activities Alex has been involved with the governance of WBAI radio\, most recently as Chair of the Pacifica National Board from 2019 – 2021. \nRegistration for this study group is now closed.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/hegel-phenomenology/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Alienation,Critical Theory,French Revolution,Hegelianism,History,Marx and Hegel,Modernity,Multi-session Classes,Philosophy,Reading Group,Science and Method,Winter 25
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Hegel-Phen_WebImage_2x.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250714T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250714T183000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250707T135806Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250707T135806Z
UID:10008353-1752512400-1752517800@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Reading Science Fiction Politically: Severance by Ling Ma
DESCRIPTION:Next\, Monday July 14\, 5:00 pm \n  \nGet started with the Science and Visionary Fiction book group with our July Book Selection: Severance\, by Ling Ma.  Severance combines two things. It offers a satirical\, sardonic look at 21st century lives\, loves and labor as experienced by Candace Chen. Candace has both the classic dilemmas of a first generation immigrant and the here and now reality of a millennial New Yorker setting out in today’s world. \nInto this world comes Shen Fever\, which brings an apocalypse not unlike what Covid 19 might have been. Ling Ma published the book in 2018\, which makes its dystopian vision all the more remarkable.  Candace winds up in a group of like minded would-be survivors and the tale unfolds. \nThe novel does offer a brisk pace yet we mostly read it for the author’s eyes and ears on our current dilemmas as we struggle to survive. \n  \nFor more than three years\, the MEP Science and Visionary Fiction reading group has explored topics of oppression and resistance\, history and science\, capitalist and post-capitalist future\, human and nonhuman intelligence. We read with an overall commitment\, To build a better future\, we have to envision it first (adapted from Walidah Imarisha). Reading science\, speculative and visionary fiction\, discussing it together\, and reading it politically\, offers one tool for envisioning a future worth building. \nGive it a try for your summer reading: drop in\, stay for a while\, and contribute to lively\, present day-centered discussions. Everyone has something to contribute\, whether you read this sort of thing regularly or have hardly ever given it a second thought. Convened by Steve Backman. \n 
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/reading-science-fiction-politically-severance-by-ling-ma/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Africanfuturism,Classes/Events,featured,Literature,Multi-session Classes,Science Fiction,Visionary Fiction
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/2025-07-07_09-56-35.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250701T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250701T203000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250624T143442Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250926T163514Z
UID:10008352-1751396400-1751401800@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Book Talk: Brian Kwoba on Hubert Harrison
DESCRIPTION:A video of this July 1\, 2025\, event is available on the MEP’s YouTube channel. \nBrian Kwoba speaks on his newly published book Hubert Harrison: Forbidden Genius of Black Radicalism and Harrison’s prominent role in the early Socialist Party\, IWW\, and Black radicalism during the 1910s and 20s.  Brian’s visit forms part of our current study group on the Historical Roots of American Fascism. \nThe following excerpt from the Introduction to Kwoba’s book gives a taste of his new approach: \n“In the face of the superexploitation of working people by the likes of John D. Rockefeller\, Andrew Carnegie\, and J. P. Morgan—the capitalist robber barons of the Gilded Age—Harrison crystallized a secular Black revolutionary Socialist politics. In so doing\, he theorized the role of anti-Black racial oppression in preventing the emancipation of the working class from the wage slavery of industrial capitalism. \nIn contrast to the Eurocentric mass media and education systems\, Harrison’s spellbinding street-corner speaking\, commitment to grassroots empowerment\, fearless journalism\, and encyclopedic knowledge allowed him to crystallize a new and revolutionary model—what some called the “Outdoor University”—for free urban Black emancipatory education. It stood in stark contrast to both the industrial education symbolized by Booker T. and Margaret Murray Washington’s Tuskegee Institute and the “higher” elite education of the colleges and universities that were inaccessible to the masses of Black people. Perched atop a sidewalk stepladder at 135th Street and Seventh Avenue and addressing audiences large enough to block traffic\, Harrison spoke on subject matter ranging across such topics as African American art and popular culture\, sociology\, scientific racism\, English literature\, evolutionary biology\, theological criticism\, African history\, macroeconomics\, and global geopolitics. A. Philip Randolph aptly described this model of education as “one of the great intellectual forums in America.” \nIn the face of rampant racism in white society and President Woodrow Wilson’s decision to take the United States of America into World War I\, Harrison helped crystallize Harlem’s political “New Negro” movement. Calling for voting rights for Black men and Black women\, federal antilynching legislation\, armed self-defense\, and an end to Jim Crow racial oppression\, Harrison’s Liberty League of Negro-Americans cohered a pan-African and people-centered movement for Black self-empowerment. By recruiting and training an unknown Jamaican immigrant by the name of Marcus Garvey\, Harrison’s Liberty League catalyzed the emergence of the largest international organization of Black people in modern history. \nHarrison spoke out about injustices taking place all over the globe. Standing against European colonialism and the predatory imperial powers of the world\, Harrison crystallized a new form of radical internationalism in his groundbreaking theorization of the “Colored International.” As a revolutionary political alliance of colonized peoples in the Islamic world\, India\, the Caribbean\, Latin America\, Africa\, Europe\, and Asia\, the Colored International he envisioned would smash the giant triplets of capitalism\, imperialism\, and white racial domination. \nIn a city where white people put a Congolese man named Ota Benga on display in the Bronx Zoo\, Harrison self-identified as an “untamed\, untamable African” and crystallized a model of African consciousness for the Black diaspora based on his deep study of African history\, culture\, and politics. \nAfter a childhood upbringing steeped in the Anglican Church\, Harrison broke with Christianity and religion more generally. He would later emerge as the most prominent Black freethinker of his generation. As against the conservative dogmas of the church\, Harrison crystallized—for a new generation—a Black agnosticism grounded in modern science\, empirical evidence\, and rational explanation over religious dogma. As a militant “truth seeker\,” he demanded the taxation of church properties\, an end to prayers in school and courtroom Bible oaths\, and a complete separation of church and state. \nIn the face of federal government censorship\, repression\, and criminalization of sexuality—and widespread policing of sexual morality by the church—Harrison crystallized a Black free love politics. In that respect\, he emerged among the earliest of Black voices advocating for legalizing access to contraception\, offering public-facing courses in sex education\, and explicitly advancing a conception of love based on variety and freedom from compulsory monogamy and the Puritanical sex-negativity of US culture and society. \nAs a result of crystallizing so many political breakthroughs\, Harrison developed a kaleidoscopic radicalism that connected multiple worlds of counter-hegemonic knowledge. As Kirnon put it\, “Harrison was the first Negro who boldly preached racialism and all forms of radicalism in New York. He preached them continuously and consistently. He was the first Negro whose radicalism was comprehensive enough to include racialism\, science\, politics\, sociology and education in a thorough-going\, scientific manner.”… \nScholars of a particular figure or organization are often ideologically partisan toward it and therefore less comfortable remembering—let alone actually engaging with—forceful internal critics like Harrison. As Harrison once observed\, “Even savants are prone to forget that they do most of their thinking with their desires\, beliefs\, prejudices and subconscious urges\, which they then proceed to rationalize.”23 This explains\, in part\, why those who are partial to one or another ideological framework that Harrison criticized have so often run from him—whether consciously or subconsciously—like a rich person avoiding a beggar. His legacy has been forbidden precisely because it forces us to rethink fundamentally what we think we know—about everything from poverty\, war\, and racism\, to love\, sex\, and religion. \nAnd this is precisely why it is so revealing to study Hubert Henry Harrison. \nOn the one hand\, the most relevant historiographies—of Black Marxism\, Black freethinkers\, Garveyism\, Black sexual liberation\, and the New Negro “Renaissance”—have either marginalized or omitted him entirely. On the other hand\, Harrison played a groundbreaking role in the crystallization of each of these formations. Therefore\, putting him back into the picture opens multiple highly revealing angles of vision on the conjunctures both within and between them. \nRecovering Harrison’s legacy requires us to: reexamine the history of Black people in relation to the Socialist and Communist Parties; recover a forgotten strand of Black class-conscious\, anti-imperialist\, “colored” internationalism; reframe the spatial and intellectual possibilities for Black liberatory education in light of Harlem’s “Outdoor University”; rethink the genealogy of the Black secular and freethinking traditions; reappraise the origins and pitfalls of the global Garvey movement; reinterrogate the mythology of the “Harlem Renaissance”; excavate an onyx crystalline layer in the historical geology of free love politics. In short\, to reimagine the horizons of the Black radical tradition.”
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/kwoba_on_harrison/
LOCATION:Recording available on YouTube
CATEGORIES:Classes/Events,featured,Multi-session Classes,Reading Group,Summer 25,Video Available
ORGANIZER;CN="Political Strategy Study Group":MAILTO:info@marxedproject.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250630T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250630T183000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250313T184630Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250620T193944Z
UID:10008340-1751302800-1751308200@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Reading Death of the Author by Nigeria's Nnedi Okorafor
DESCRIPTION:Next\, Monday June 30\, 5:00 pm   \nAfricanfuturism is concerned with visions of the future\, is interested in technology\, leaves the earth\, skews optimistic\, is centered on and predominantly written by people of African descent (black people) and it is rooted first and foremost in Africa. It’s less concerned with “what could have been” and more concerned with “what is and can/will be”. It acknowledges\, grapples with and carries “what has been.”   —NNedi Okorafor  \nDip into the growing realm of Africanfuturism reading NNedi Okorafor’s most recent novel\, Death of the Author.  Her science fiction successful and highly popular today\, Okorafor here provides both an introduction to Nigerian science fiction for those that need it and a reflection on its cultural meaning for those who have read Binti\, others from Okorfor\, or other Nigerian- or African-inspired visionary and speculative fiction today. \nDeath of the Author centers on a Nigerian woman setting out to write science fiction\, perhaps like Okorafor herself years and many novels back. The novel explores Zelu’s dilemmas and doubts\, her relationship with family and community\, the world of publishing  in ways that may reflect Okorfor’s past. It also features a story within the story about intelligent robots in a futuristic African context.  The two stories blend together in unusual and unexpected ways\, and fit well with concerns of politically conscious readers of fiction and science fiction today. \n  \n  \nJuly Book Selection: Severance\, by Ling Ma.\nWatch this page for more information. \nFor more than three years\, the MEP Science and Visionary Fiction reading group has explored topics of oppression and resistance\, history and science\, capitalist and post-capitalist future\, human and nonhuman intelligence. We read with an overall commitment\, To build a better future\, we have to envision it first (adapted from Walidah Imarisha). Reading science\, speculative and visionary fiction\, discussing it together\, and reading it politically\, offers one tool for envisioning a future worth building. \nGive it a try for your summer reading: drop in\, stay for a while\, and contribute to lively\, present day-centered discussions. Everyone has something to contribute\, whether you read this sort of thing regularly or have hardly ever given it a second thought. Convened by Steve Backman \n 
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/reading-science-fiction-politically-summer-25/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Africanfuturism,Classes/Events,featured,Literature,Multi-session Classes,Science Fiction,Visionary Fiction
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/2025-05-30_12-17-26.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250523T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250523T203000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250415T151936Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250519T200718Z
UID:10008337-1748026800-1748032200@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Darkest Los Angeles
DESCRIPTION:Film Noir\, Greed\, and Corporate Graft in LaLa Land\nA five-session reading group with novelist and scholar Dennis Broe\, presented by the Institute for the Radical Imagination and co-sponsored by the MEP\, LA Progressive and People’s World\nOrson Welles once called Los Angeles “a bright\, guilty place\,” and that is as true today as it was in the 1940s when Welles coined this description. Dennis Broe leads a group reading of his five Los Angeles novels* set in the film-noir period of the late 1940s and early 1950s. The contradictions we will unearth in that postwar period\, the period of crime films that visually documented this seedy reality\, have never been resolved\, only continually papered over\, and so they resound today. We will look at five industries and moments in this period with a view toward explaining how the postwar period set the tone for what was to follow\, leading to the present era of a vast income disparity and frequent “natural\,” though totally avoidable\, disasters. \n*The novels – Left of Eden\, A Hello to Arms\, The Precinct with the Golden Arm\, The House That Buff Built\, and The Dark Ages – are detailed in this syllabus. They are available from various online booksellers. \nDennis Broe is a professor\, journalist and novelist whose books include: Film Noir\, American Workers and Postwar Hollywood; Class\, Crime and International Film Noir: Globalizing America’s Dark Art; and Cold War Expressionism: Perverting the Politics of Perception. He has taught at The Sorbonne and is the Parisian correspondent for Arts Express on The Pacifica Network. Dennis also writes for LA Progressive\, People’s World\, Crime Time\, Culture Matters\, the British daily Morning Star and Monthly Review Online. His series of five novels is continuing with his latest\, Pornocopia\, about the corporate takeover of Las Vegas and the porn industry. Dennis has also just launched a new podcast\, Culture and Barbarism\, with Toby Miller. \nRegister for this class series at the Institute for the Radical Imagination
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/darkest-los-angeles/
LOCATION:Institute for the Radical Imagination\, NY\, United States
CATEGORIES:Alienation,American Literature,Anti-fascism,Art and politics,Capital vs. Labor,Cultural Resistance,Film and television,History,Literature,Multi-session Classes,Noir Fiction,Race and Class,Radical Literature,Reading Group,Repression,Spring 25,Urbanism
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/darkestLA-image2.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250508T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250508T210000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250320T144411Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250530T154043Z
UID:10008341-1746730800-1746738000@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Exploring the Literature of Afro-Surrealism
DESCRIPTION:Thursdays\, 7-9 pm ET\,  beginning April 24 \nThis spring\, the MEP Literature Reading Group takes up novels loosely grouped as “Afro-Surrealism.” Borrowing from use by Amiri Baraka in the 1970s\, D. Scot Miller encouraged use of the term through his 2009 essay\, “Afrosurreal Manifesto.” Writers and artists in the African diaspora have now reclaimed the imaginative\, wondrous\, and contradictory aspects of Black life and artistic expression from the belittling slights of Western surrealists. We will read three novels contributing to this revival: \n\n Tram 83\, Fiston Mwanza Mujila\, on April 24 and May 1\nOreo\, by Fran Ross\, on May 8 and 22\nReady to Burst\, by Frankétienne\, May 29 and June 5\n\nConvened by Jacqueline Cantwell and the MEP Literature Reading Group. Jacqueline Cantwell became involved with the MEP’s Literature Group because of her love of Victor Serge’s  novels. Participating in an MEP reading group led by Serge translator Richard Greeman eight years ago\, Jacqueline found a community of readers eager to be challenged by the ambitions of international writers devoted to the creative potential of political fiction. Since the death of Michael Lardner\, who hosted and organized the Literature Group for so many years\, Jacqueline has taken the lead in furthering the group’s goals of exploring international fiction and encouraging thoughtful conversation. \nThe image used here accompanied the Fall 2013 publication of Miller’s essay in Black Camera\, based on artist and creative Sherese Francis’ 2012 illustration for Miller’s essay on Francis’ blog\, futuristically ancient. 
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/exploring-the-literature-of-afro-surrealism/
CATEGORIES:Africa,Classes/Events,Literary Studies,Literature,Multi-session Classes,Spring 25
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/2025-03-20_10-36-54.png
ORGANIZER;CN="MEP Literature Group":MAILTO:info@marxedproject.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250507T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250507T193000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250222T181717Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250501T145332Z
UID:10008335-1746640800-1746646200@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Karl Marx and Republicanism: Reading 'Citizen Marx'
DESCRIPTION:“… It is still not adequately appreciated that Marx’s principal political value was freedom\,\nrather than\, say\, equality or community.” Bruno Leipold\, Citizen Marx \nA five-session reading group\nWhat better time than the present moment to revisit Karl Marx’s commitment to the democratic republic as a necessary (if not sufficient) step on the path to human freedom? Over five weekly meetings we will read and discuss Bruno Leipold’s recently published Citizen Marx: Republicanism and the Formation of Karl Marx’s Social and Political Thought. As some of the most powerful capitalists in history are openly disavowing political democracy and calling for the unbridled rule of private wealth\, we revisit Karl Marx’s revolutionary republicanism and his ideas about political power and social classes. \nConvened by David Worley\, a member of the executive committee of the Marxist Education Project and a longtime associate of the Brecht Forum\, where he served a term as co-chair of the Board of Directors. David is a nonsectarian socialist\, active since the 1960s in support of a wide range of peace and social justice causes.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/citizen-marx-karl-marx-and-republicanism/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Anarchism,Capital vs. Labor,communism,England,France,History,Intro to Marxism,Marx,Multi-session Classes,Philosophy,Political Strategy,Reading Group,Republicanism,Revolutions,Social Democracy,Winter 25
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/WebImageCommuneCover.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250426T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250426T180000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250114T154813Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250420T133333Z
UID:10008330-1745683200-1745690400@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Marx's Capital Volume 1: A Short Course for Today
DESCRIPTION:A 12-session study group\, February 1 – April 26 \n\nHave you always wanted to study Marx’s Capital\, Vol 1\, and hesitated because of the time commitment to read the entire volume from start to finish? Join us for a 12-week study group covering key sections of the book. \nExperienced Capital study leader Lisa Maya Knauer will facilitate as we explore the relevance of Marx’s analysis to our current context. While we will go over the assigned material each week\, participants will read the material on their own in advance. This reading group is open to both Capital newbies and those who have read it previously but want a refresher. \n\nLisa Maya Knauer\, our facilitator\, has been involved with Marxist education in New York for her entire adult life\, and has taught a variety of classes at the MEP and its predecessors. Her current activist work focuses on immigrant workers’ rights and indigenous struggles for land and water. In her day job\, she is a tenured radical at a public university. \nThis group is approaching completion – please email info@marxedproject.org if you still wish to join.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/marxs-capital-volume-1-short-course-for-today/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Capital Studies,historical materialism,History,Intro to Marxism,Labor Process,Marx,Marx's Capital,Marxist Method,Modernity,Multi-session Classes,Political Economy,Reading Group,Social Reproduction,Winter 25
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://marxedproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/capitalism.jpg
ORGANIZER;CN="Capital Studies Group":MAILTO:info@marxedproject.org
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250326T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250326T203000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20250222T183359Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250327T152213Z
UID:10008336-1743012000-1743021000@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:'Citizen Marx' with author Bruno Leipold
DESCRIPTION:A video of this March 26\, 2025\, event is available on the MEP’s YouTube channel. \nAs some of the most powerful capitalists in history are openly disavowing political democracy and calling for the unbridled rule of private wealth\, now is a good time to revisit Karl Marx’s revolutionary republicanism and his ideas about political power and social classes. In his recently published Citizen Marx: Republicanism and the Formation of Karl Marx’s Social and Political Thought\, Bruno Leipold argues that Karl Marx’s thinking was deeply informed by republicanism. Challenging common depictions of Marx that downplay or ignore his commitment to politics\, democracy\, and freedom\, Leipold shows that Marx viewed democratic political institutions as crucial to overcoming the social unfreedom and domination of capitalism.  \nPlacing Marx’s republican communism in its historical context—but not consigning him to that context—Leipold traces Marx’s shifting relationship to republicanism across three broad periods. First\, Marx began his political life as a republican committed to a democratic republic in which citizens held active popular sovereignty. Second\, he transitioned to communism\, criticizing republicanism but incorporating the republican opposition to arbitrary power into his social critiques. He argued that although a democratic republic was not sufficient for emancipation\, it was necessary for it. Third\, spurred by the events of the Paris Commune of 1871\, he came to view popular control in representation and public administration as essential to the realization of communism. Leipold shows how Marx positioned his republican communism to displace both antipolitical socialism and anticommunist republicanism. One of Marx’s great contributions\, Leipold suggests\, was to place politics (and especially democratic politics) at the heart of socialism. \nBruno Leipold is a fellow in political theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science.\nHe is the coeditor of Radical Republicanism: Recovering the Tradition’s Popular Heritage.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/citizen-marx-bruno-leipold/
LOCATION:Recording available on YouTube
CATEGORIES:Anarchism,Capital vs. Labor,communism,England,featured,France,History,Intro to Marxism,Marx,Multi-session Classes,Philosophy,Political Strategy,Reading Group,Republicanism,Revolutions,Social Democracy,Winter 25
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250317T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250317T183000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20240909T151816Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250425T211852Z
UID:10008315-1742230800-1742236200@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Reading Science Fiction Politically: In Ascension
DESCRIPTION:March 17\, Mondays\, new season continuing every other Monday at 5:00 pm US ET \nThe long-running Science and Visionary Fiction book group next reads In Ascension by Martin MacInnes. Set against looming climate disaster\, MacInnes’s powerful story moves from the still-unexplored vastness of the ocean to the beckoning vastness of interstellar space. For politically-oriented fiction readers\, MacInnes provokes discussion of how social relations and contradictions shape and distort scientific discovery and research. The novel explores these themes from the vantage point of richly-drawn Dutch marine scientist Leigh Hasenbosch. \nJoin us March 3 for lively discussion on this 2024 Arthur C Clarke Award winner for 2024\, also long-listed for the 2023 Booker Prize. In Ascension offers a powerful opportunity for introspection and intentionality as we all explore our relationship to and our agency in the ongoing crisis around us. \nWe read this and all our selections mindful of our book group’s overall commitment\, To build a better future\, we have to envision it first (adapted from Walidah Imarisha). Reading science\, speculative and visionary fiction\, discussing it together\, and reading it politically\, offers one tool for envisioning a future worth building. This spring\, we will continue our explorations of diverse points of view of social conflict and resolution\, possible and imagined just worlds\, here on Earth and perhaps afar. \nWhether you have always read science fiction or never given it a second thought\, consider spending a season with the MEP Science and Visionary Fiction book group. \nAnd help us choose our spring list\, from among these and other titles under consideration: \n\n\nNK Jemisin\, The Stone Sky\nPaul Lynch\, Prophet Song (2023 Booker Prize)\nCory Doctorow\, the lost cause\nAnnalee Newitz\, The Terraformers\nNNedi Okorafor\, Death of the Author\nJeff VanderMeer\, Annihilation\n\n 
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/21268/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Classes/Events,Literature,Multi-session Classes,Science Fiction,Visionary Fiction
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250227T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250227T210000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20241219T121509Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250225T170329Z
UID:10008328-1740682800-1740690000@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Literature of Burundi – A poorly reported conflict
DESCRIPTION:Thursdays in February\, Starting February 6\, at 7:00 pm US ET \nIn February\, the Literature Reading Group will leave countries with extensive literature translated into English for Burundi\, an East African nation considered the poorest country in the world. Burundi has had only two novels translated into English. Both novels take as a backdrop the country’s history of tribal conflict between Tutsi and Hutu in the lives of two young boys. \nFebruary 6 – Baho! A Novel by Roland Rugero (Author)\, Christopher Schaefer (Translator). 91 pages  When Nyamuragi\, an adolescent mute\, attempts to ask a young woman in rural Burundi for directions to an appropriate place to relieve himself\, his gestures are mistaken as premeditation for rape. To the young woman’s community\, his fleeing confirms his guilt\, setting off a chain reaction of pursuit\, mob justice\, and Nyamuragi’s attempts at explanation. Young Burundian novelist Roland Rugero’s second novel Baho!\, the first Burundian novel to ever be translated into English\, explores the concepts of miscommunication and justice against the backdrop of war-torn Burundi’s beautiful green hillsides. \nFebruary 13 and 20 – Small Country by Gaël Faye (Author) 2019 192 pages\, Burundi\, 1992. For ten-year-old Gabriel\, life in his comfortable expatriate neighborhood of\nBujumbura with his French father\, Rwandan mother and little sister Ana\, is something close to paradise. \nThese are carefree days of laughter and adventure – sneaking Supermatch cigarettes and gorging on stolen mangoes – as he and his mischievous gang of friends transform their tiny cul-de-sac into their kingdom. \nBut dark clouds are gathering over this small country\, and soon their peaceful existence will shatter when Burundi\, and neighboring Rwanda\, are brutally hit by civil war and genocide.\nA novel of extraordinary power and beauty\, Small Country describes an end of innocence as seen through the eyes of a child caught in the maelstrom of history. Shot through with shadows and light\, tragedy and humor\, it is a stirring tribute not only to a dark chapter in Africa’s past\, but also to the bright days that preceded it. \nConvened by Jacqueline Cantwell\, who became involved with the MEP’s Literature Group because of her love of Victor Serge’s  novels. Participating in an MEP reading group led by Serge translator Richard Greeman seven years ago\, Jacqueline found a community of readers eager to be challenged by the ambitions of international writers devoted to the creative potential of political fiction. Since the death of Michael Lardner\, who hosted and organized the Literature Group for so many years\, Jacqueline has taken the lead in furthering the group’s goals of exploring international fiction and encouraging thoughtful conversation.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/literature-of-burundi-a-poorly-reported-conflict/
CATEGORIES:Classes/Events,Literary Studies,Multi-session Classes
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250205T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250205T153000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20240903T212329Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250221T170719Z
UID:10008312-1738764000-1738769400@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Henri Lefebvre’s Critique of Everyday Life
DESCRIPTION:Written in three volumes over thirty-five years\, Henri Lefebvre’s Critique of Everyday Life is 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. \nThe suggested text for this open-ended reading group is the three-volume Critique of Everyday Life\, available in paperback or e-book from Verso Books. No previous knowledge of Marxism or Henri Lefebvre’s work is required to participate. \nConvening this reading group\, Steve Knight has been involved as both a participant and reading group co-leader with the MEP since 2016. He is a former university literature and writing instructor\, and has also worked in finance. \nThe group will meet weekly on Wednesdays from 2-3:30pm US ET\, beginning February 5\, 2025. There is no fee for this online reading group – RSVP below if you wish to attend and we will send you the Zoom link. A suggested donation of $50 or whatever amount you can afford is welcome and appreciated.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/critique-everyday-life/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Classes/Events,Multi-session Classes
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250123T190000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250123T210000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20240906T111207Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250117T154154Z
UID:10008313-1737658800-1737666000@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Celebrating 75 Years of Palestinian Literature - Final Series
DESCRIPTION:Three weekly sessions on Thursdays at 7 pm US ET\, Starting January 9 \nThe MEP’s months-long reading of Palestinian literature concludes in January with a reading of the recently issued memoir My Palestine: An Impossible Exile by Mohammad Tarbush. This highly praised memoir written by a man born during the Nakba and who died after completing this work early in 2024 covers the events that have been themes throughout our readings. Mohammad Tarbush was a key part of the national movement and his life displays the struggles and turmoil of his people. \nReading Schedule:\nJan 9 -Introduction\, Preface\, Chapters 1-7\nJan 16 – Chapters 8-14\nJan 23 – Chapters 15 to End \nThe Marxist Education Project Literature Group will continue reading Palestinian literature this fall. We will use our grief over the daily news reports of death and suffering to develop an understanding of Palestinians as more than victims of the moment\, but as a nation with a lively and broad-themed cultural response to colonial oppression. \nYou can also check out last fall’s now-completed syllabus here. \nAnd preview our February series featuring two novels from Burundi \nConvened by Jacqueline Cantwell\, who became involved with the MEP’s Literature Group because of her love of Victor Serge’s  novels. Participating in an MEP reading group led by Serge translator Richard Greeman seven years ago\, Jacqueline found a community of readers eager to be challenged by the ambitions of international writers devoted to the creative potential of political fiction. Since the death of Michael Lardner\, who hosted and organized the Literature Group for so many years\, Jacqueline has taken the lead in furthering the group’s goals of exploring international fiction and encouraging thoughtful conversation. \n 
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/celebrating-75-years-of-palestinian-literature-new-series/
CATEGORIES:Literature,Multi-session Classes
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250119T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250119T123000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20240503T145434Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250114T174138Z
UID:10007985-1737284400-1737289800@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Reading Gramsci for Today's Movements
DESCRIPTION:Sundays at 11 am ET \nAn ongoing study group on the Prison Notebooks and other works of Antonio Gramsci. We explore Gramsci’s themes and concepts\, including state-civil society relations\, historical bloc\, hegemony\, spontaneity\, strategy and tactic\, and language. We follow Gramsci’s philological method\, addressing such areas as linguistics\, cinema\, critical theory\, literature\, journalism\, comics\, animation\, plastic arts\, mass media and Machiavellian political studies. We draw on Iran’s Woman\, Life\, Freedom movement and its documentary evidence\, along with other shared historical movements\, experiences and cultures in U.S.\, Iran and worldwide\, towards change and “What-ought-to-be.” \nNo prior knowledge of Gramsci is required. Session contributors lead the discussions on passages from Gramsci’s works and bring their own experiences\, philosophies and scholarship to our readings.  RSVP below if you wish to attend and we will send you the Zoom link. A suggested donation of $50 or whatever amount you can afford is welcome and appreciated. \n\nConvened by Piruz Alemi. Piruz has a PhD in Political Economy and an MFA in Documentary Film Making from City University of New York (CUNY). Piruz is an independent scholar-activist in Gramsci’s work and cultural studies\, with a focus on the common struggle of politics of race in the U.S. and gender segregation in Iran and the wider region.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/reading-gramsci-for-todays-movements-spring-2024/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Classes/Events,featured,Iran,Multi-session Classes,Political Strategy,Winter 25
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250104T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250104T173000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20241031T193950Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241222T171525Z
UID:10008324-1736006400-1736011800@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Marx Miniseries: The 'Resultate'
DESCRIPTION:Having completed a year-long study of Marx’s Capital\, volume 1\, the MEP’s Capital Studies Group is closely reading the chapter Marx omitted from the original book. Titled “Results of the Immediate Process of Production” and often referred to by the German Resultate\, this long chapter was published as an Appendix to the Penguin edition of Capital I. It can be read as a bridge between volumes 1 and 2 of Capital and presents a number of concepts in greater depth\, including the distinctions between productive and unproductive labor and between “formal” and “real” subsumption of labor to capital. \nFacilitated by Fred Murphy and Lisa Maya Knauer.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/marx-miniseries-the-resultate/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:_Seasons,Accumulation of Capital,Capital Studies,Capital vs. Labor,Das Kapital,Fall24,Intro to Marxism,Marx,Marx's Capital,Marxist Method,Multi-session Classes,Political Economy,Reading Group
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241214T110000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241214T130000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20240930T145524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241209T174911Z
UID:10008320-1734174000-1734181200@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:Hegel’s 'Science of Logic' - An Epilogue and a Prologue
DESCRIPTION:The MEP’s recurring series Hegel for Radicals introduces what is living in Hegel for those who want to change the world. We are reading the Introduction and Preliminary Concepts from Hegel’s Encyclopedia Logic\, sometimes called “The Shorter Logic.” The material we are 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. \nWe are reading from:\nG. W. F. Hegel\, The Encyclopaedia Logic\, also known as Part I of the Encyclopaedia of Philosophical Sciences\, translation by T. F. Geraets\, W. A. Suchting\, and H. S. Harris. Hackett Publishing Company\, 1991. \nAlex Steinberg is an independent scholar and lifelong socialist who has taught classes in Marxist philosophy\, Hegel\, the dialectics of nature\, Heidegger\, and Nietzsche at the New Space for Pluralistic Anti-Capitalist Education\, The Brecht Forum\, the Marxist Education Project\, and other venues. Alex was a Conference Presenter at the First International Conference on Trotsky in Havana\, Cuba. In addition to his scholarly activities Alex has been involved with the governance of WBAI radio\, most recently as Chair of the Pacifica National Board from 2019 – 2021. \nMatthew Strauss is an independent scholar and a revolutionary communist. He is affiliated with the Central Ohio Revolutionary Socialists (CORS) of Columbus\, Ohio\, and was a member for eleven years of the International Socialist Organization until its dissolution. \nRegistration for this group is now closed.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/hegels-science-of-logic-an-epilogue-and-a-prologue/
CATEGORIES:_Seasons,Classes/Events,Fall24,Hegelianism,historical materialism,Marx,Modernity,Multi-session Classes,Philosophy,Reading Group,Science and Method
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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20241126T130000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20241126T143000
DTSTAMP:20260613T025424
CREATED:20240829T205940Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250221T170750Z
UID:10008311-1732626000-1732631400@marxedproject.org
SUMMARY:AI versus Labor: Luddism and Beyond
DESCRIPTION:Weekly sessions on Tuesdays at 1 pm through December 2024 \nIs 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. In eight weekly sessions we will read\, discuss\, and critique two recent works: Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job\, by Gavin Mueller; and The Eye of the Master: A Social History of Artificial Intelligence\, by Matteo Pasquinelli. Both are available in paper and eBook format from the publisher\, Verso Books. Additional reading selections will be provided in PDF format. \nFacilitated by Fred Murphy. Fred has led numerous study groups on ecosocialism\, science and technology\, the history of capitalism\, and Latin American politics at the Marxist Education Project since 2015. He studied and taught historical sociology at the New School for Social Research. \nThere is no fee for this eight-week online reading group – RSVP below if you wish to attend and we will send you the Zoom link. A suggested donation of $50 or whatever amount you can afford is welcome and appreciated.
URL:https://marxedproject.org/event/ai-versus-labor-luddism-and-beyond/
LOCATION:Online Event – Zoom Meeting
CATEGORIES:Accumulation of Capital,Alienation,Artificial Intelligence AI,automation,Capital Studies,Capital vs. Labor,Class,Class and Gender,Fall24,featured,Gender,History,Labor History,Labor Process,Multi-session Classes,Political Economy,Precarity,Reading Group,Science and Technology,Solidarity,Women
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