Convened by Branden Rippey Downtown Newark on Orchard Street Using A People’s History of the World by Chris Harman, this course will study the broad trends in the history of our world, from early human civilization to today. We will complete the book during this term, covering events from 1750 through our present day. The ... Read more

This class is for all who desire to explore together the mysteries and fascinations of our universe. No prior knowledge of astrophysics or mathematics is required. Together we will get to the bottom of a number of concepts that are widely discussed but poorly understood.

We begin with the Chinese Revolution in 1930, after the nationalist party led by Chiang Kai Shek turned on the mass movement, slaughtered militant workers and peasants, and declared war on Communists. After the war, the struggle between the armies of Chiang Kai Shek and the Communists resumed, ending with Chiang's fleeing to Taiwan and the final victory of the Communist army in 1949.

This group will read over the next period a number of books on raising consciousness, organization and various methods and theories on how to develop a strong anti-capitalist movement.

Traven’s purpose in the Jungle Novels is to describe the conditions of a people who are ripe for change, and to trace the beginnings of how consciousness changes and sometimes leads to revolt.

This reading group will undertake a close reading (over 10 weeks) of Costas Lapavitsas and Makoto Itoh’s book Political Economy of Money and Finance. The book attempts to offer a systematic theoretical examination of money and finance by re-examining the classical foundations of political economy and the creator of money and assessing all of the important theoretical schools since then, including Marxist, Keynesian, post-Keynesian and monetarist thinkers.

This group will meet each Saturday to discuss Volume One of Capital. There will be a close reading of the text. All questions on each section will be addressed and the reading discussion leaders will be prepared to assist between sessions on areas that may be difficult to understand.