Marxist Method
Karl Marx’s Writings on Alienation: A discussion with Marcello Musto and Michael Hardt
On-Line via Zoom You will receive Zoom link by email before the event., NYThe event marks the publication of “Karl Marx’s on Alienation,” edited by Marcello Musto. This is an essential volume. The introduction written by Marcello provides a guide to the concept of alienation prior to Marx, Marx's essential thought and writings over three periods of his working life. This brief quote from Volume Three of CAPITAL is one of many presented and discussed: “The realm of freedom really begins only where labor determined by necessity and external expediency ends; it lies by its very nature beyond the sphere of material production proper. Just as the savage must wrestle with nature to satisfy his needs, to maintain and reproduce his life, so must civilized man, and he must do so in all forms of society and under all possible modes of production. This realm of natural necessity expands with his development, because his needs do too; but the productive forces to satisfy these expand at the same time. Freedom, in this sphere, can consist only in this, that socialized man, the associated producers, govern the human metabolism with nature in a rational way, bringing it under their collective control instead of being dominated by it as a blind power; accomplishing it with the least expenditure of energy and in conditions most worthy and appropriate for their human nature. But this always remains a realm of necessity. The true realm of freedom, the development of human powers as an end in itself, begins beyond it, though it can only flourish with this realm of necessity as its basis. The reduction of the working day is the basic prerequisite.” —Karl Marx
Come join Michael Hardt and Marcello Musto as they discuss with each other and those present from this essential volume for study—and practice.
Part One of Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks
Online: Zoom link will be provided to registered participantsThese seminars are accessible to people at all levels of familiarity with Gramsci’s work, including those just beginning their studies of Gramsci. This first session will be followed by consecutive sessions.
The Hard Right and the Political Parties of Capital
2nd in the Socialist Register 58 Series: Old Polarizations, New Contradictions: The Crisis of Centrism
BILL FLETCHER on Trump and the Danger of Right-wing Populism in the US
SAMIR GANDESHA on Identity Crisis: The Politics of False Concreteness
INGAR SOLTY on Market Polarization Means Political Polarization
Marx and Spinoza: Connections and Provocations
On-Line via Zoom You will receive Zoom link by email before the event., NYReaders of contemporary theory will perhaps not be surprised to see the name Spinoza paired with that of Marx. Ever since Louis Althusser argued that he, and his cowriters of Reading Capital, were Spinozists rather than structuralists, there has been an increased inquiry into the points of connection between Marx and Spinoza. It might even be possible to say that what the Hegel/Marx connection was to a previous generation, animating the writings of Adorno, Sartre, Lukacs, etc. the Marx/Spinoza connection is to a current collection of philosophers ranging from Althusser, and the members of his circle such as Étienne Balibar and Pierre Macherey, to Antonio Negri, Frédéric Lordon, Warren Montag, and Hasana Sharp.
Part One of Antonio Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks
Online: Zoom link will be provided to registered participantsThese seminars are accessible to people at all levels of familiarity with Gramsci’s work, including those just beginning their studies of Gramsci. This first session will be followed by consecutive sessions.
The Necessity of Social Control by István Mészáros
On-Line via Zoom You will receive Zoom link by email before the event., NY“We are living in a time of unprecedented historical crisis, which affects all forms of the capital system, not just capitalism. It is easy to understand, then, that the only thing that could produce a viable solution to the contradictions that we have to face would be a radical socialist alternative to capital’s mode of social metabolic control.” István Mészáros
The Marx Revival: John Bellamy Foster and Marcello Musto
On-Line via Zoom You will receive Zoom link by email before the event., NYThe Marx Revival: Key Concepts and New Interpretations
A focus on Ecology with John Bellamy Foster and a presentation on Communism with Marcello Musto.
“Scornful neglect and intemperate hostility, haughty dismissal and marginal course adoption, selective co-optation and selective bowdlerization: these are some of the strategies of establishment intellectuals over the years in response to the challenger of the thinker born 204 years ago in Trier. Yet, here we are near the beginning of the third decade of the 21st century, and it sometimes seems that Karl Marx’s ideas have never been as topical, or as commanding of respect and interest, as they are today.” —Marcello Musto, from the Preface, The Marx Revival
The Necessity of Social Control by István Mészáros
On-Line via Zoom You will receive Zoom link by email before the event., NY“We are living in a time of unprecedented historical crisis, which affects all forms of the capital system, not just capitalism. It is easy to understand, then, that the only thing that could produce a viable solution to the contradictions that we have to face would be a radical socialist alternative to capital’s mode of social metabolic control.” István Mészáros
The Necessity of Social Control by István Mészáros
On-Line via Zoom You will receive Zoom link by email before the event., NY“We are living in a time of unprecedented historical crisis, which affects all forms of the capital system, not just capitalism. It is easy to understand, then, that the only thing that could produce a viable solution to the contradictions that we have to face would be a radical socialist alternative to capital’s mode of social metabolic control.” István Mészáros
A close reading of Karl Marx’s Writings on Alienation
On-Line via Zoom You will receive Zoom link by email before the event., NYIn this anthology Marcello Musto focuses in on Marx’s later economic works, in which his thoughts on alienation were elaborated rather differently than in his philosophical manuscripts. Additionally, the writings collated in this volume are unique in their presentation of not only Marx’s critique of capitalism, but also his suggestions about communist society. This wide-ranging collection of Marx’s ideas on alienation provides an important critical tool both for understanding the past and for building a critique of contemporary society.
The Necessity of Social Control by István Mészáros
On-Line via Zoom You will receive Zoom link by email before the event., NY“We are living in a time of unprecedented historical crisis, which affects all forms of the capital system, not just capitalism. It is easy to understand, then, that the only thing that could produce a viable solution to the contradictions that we have to face would be a radical socialist alternative to capital’s mode of social metabolic control.” István Mészáros
Six Month Pass through November 30, 2022
Online: Zoom link will be provided to registered participantsWe are now offering a six month pass for the prices of the previous 4 month passes. If you are paying for yourself and any additional person, you are now able to have two people attend all events, classes or film showings (post-pandemic) that The MEP offers.
A close reading of Karl Marx’s Writings on Alienation
On-Line via Zoom You will receive Zoom link by email before the event., NYIn this anthology Marcello Musto focuses in on Marx’s later economic works, in which his thoughts on alienation were elaborated rather differently than in his philosophical manuscripts. Additionally, the writings collated in this volume are unique in their presentation of not only Marx’s critique of capitalism, but also his suggestions about communist society. This wide-ranging collection of Marx’s ideas on alienation provides an important critical tool both for understanding the past and for building a critique of contemporary society.
The Necessity of Social Control by István Mészáros
On-Line via Zoom You will receive Zoom link by email before the event., NY“We are living in a time of unprecedented historical crisis, which affects all forms of the capital system, not just capitalism. It is easy to understand, then, that the only thing that could produce a viable solution to the contradictions that we have to face would be a radical socialist alternative to capital’s mode of social metabolic control.” István Mészáros
Six Month Pass through November 30, 2022
Online: Zoom link will be provided to registered participantsWe are now offering a six month pass for the prices of the previous 4 month passes. If you are paying for yourself and any additional person, you are now able to have two people attend all events, classes or film showings (post-pandemic) that The MEP offers.