Week of Events
Socialist Register 2022: Polarization and Socialism: The Direction Forward
Socialist Register 2022: Polarization and Socialism: The Direction Forward
VISHWAS SATGUR on Epidemiological Neoliberalism in South Africa
JAMES SCHNEIDER and HILARY WAINWRIGHT on Finding a Way Forward: Lessons from the Corbyn Project
ADOLPH REED, JR. and TOURE REED on “Race” and Racial Justice under Neoliberalism
SAM GINDIN on American Workers and the Left after Trump: Polarized Options
Socialist Register 2022 — Polarization and Socialism: The Direction Forward
Socialist Register 2022 — Polarization and Socialism: The Direction Forward
It is a truism that electoral politics and political identity in the USA and Europe today are polarized to a degree unknown since the 1930s. It is a commonplace among the pundits of the ruling class that somehow “both sides” must return to “moderate” common sense to avoid a violent rupture of our society. They seldom question the underlying causes of this polarization, let alone whether it is rooted in the very nature of late capitalism.
This is not the case with the contributors to the 58th volume of Socialist Register. From different perspectives, they ask us to think about the deep social contradictions exposed by increasing polarization of the most economically developed societies along lines of wealth, race, gender, nation-state, and region. Members of this class meet once each month for four months to discuss selected articles from SR 58 with editor Greg Albo, joined by various authors organized around the following themes on one Sunday a month from March 20 through May 115, 2022. The recording of the February 20 session is available by writing to info@marxedproject.org
From Science Fiction to Visionary Fiction: Learning from Octavia Butler
From Science Fiction to Visionary Fiction: Learning from Octavia Butler
Writing in the years of momentous change from 1971 to 2006, Octavia Butler embodied the emergence of "visionary fiction" as a new way to write, read and draw inspiration from science fiction. This spring, the Marxist Education Project's first literature reading group devoted to science fiction will read Kindred (1979) and Parable of the Sower (1993), both now graphic novels and soon film and streaming series. Fifteen years on since her passing, Butler's influence continues to grow. We will also read NK Jemisin’s Fifth Season (2015) and Martha Wells’ All Systems Red (2017) to explore some of Butler's lasting legacy. We will also make room to explore related short stories, graphic novels, essays, films, and more.
The Necessity of Social Control by István Mészáros
The Necessity of Social Control by István Mészáros
“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, moderated by Marcello Musto
The Marx Revival, moderated by Marcello Musto
The aim of “THE MARX REVIVIAL” is to reopen for discussion, in a critical and innovative manner, the classical themes of Marx’s thought, and to develop a deeper analysis of certain questions to which relatively little attention has been paid until now. It is hoped that the volume will therefore help to bring Marx closer both to those who think everything has already been written about his work and to a new generation of readers who have not yet been seriously confronted with his writings. — Marcello Musto, Preface to The Marx Revival
State Forms and Forming States: A 2-day presentation
State Forms and Forming States: A 2-day presentation
In a two-part presentation, the Yale Working Group on Globalization and Culture will share our collective research on states: states of governmentality, states of matter, states of being. States move through us, states congeal borders, states govern, states violate, states intervene, states organize abandonment, states let die. States also signal a condition of being–states of emergency, states of grace, states of matter, statelessness. What a sorry state you’re in!