November 2020
Realistic Metaphysics and the Materialist Conception of History
Marxism's central preoccupation has been that of *class* consciousness. Marx spoke of the working class’s need to transform itself from a class *in itself* (en sich) into a class *for itself* (für sich). After two decades of revolutionary defeats and counter-revolutionary triumphs Trotsky described the situation as “the crisis of proletarian leadership.”
But these were prescriptions, now plainly further from realization than ever. In describing the proletariat as the “universal class,” Marx projected that by establishing its dictatorship (ie., radical democracy) in the proximate interest of all its members, the proletariat begins the human historical project of complete transcendence of class society. The present crisis, however, demands that this concept of “universal” be deepened and enriched. The politics based on consciousness of proximate material interest must give way to the politics of a *planetary* consciousness. The final line of our anthem, “l’Internationale sera le genre humain,” should now be taken literally.
Find out more »Book Special: Marx Dead and Alive: Reading Capital in Precarious Times (with shipping)
This is for ordering the book only. We have another offer for Andy's talk, the book with the 4 session class that will begin on Monday, December 14, 2020.
Find out more »Marx Dead and Alive: Reading Capital in Precarious Times
In Marx, Dead and Alive—a book that begins and ends beside Marx’s recently violated London graveside—Merrifield makes a spirited case for a critical thinker who can still offer people a route toward personal and social authenticity.
Find out more »4 Event Pass: 3rd Edition
An exceptional offer for four events at prices where you can consider bringing along a friend—all brought together by the Capital Studies Group.
Find out more »Capital, Volume 1
Marx’s scientific presentation of the laws of motion of capitalist development begins by analyzing the fundamental or elemental form which wealth takes in our society, the commodity. Understanding this form leads us to the most basic law that grounds social reproduction in societies under the domination of capital, the law of value. Therefore, our first task will be to break through the appearance and reveal the social content of the commodity form. This begins the unraveling of the why and how of what we necessarily, under the domination and exploitation of capital, experience every day in our lives.
Find out more »Blood and Money
Even before capitalism arose – in a process Marx termed the “so-called primitive accumulation” – money and markets were implicated in the rise and fall of states and empires that conquered and enslaved vast numbers of human bodies. This group will address these histories and their persisting consequences.
THIS EVENT SOLD OUT ON SEPTEMBER 27 at 6 PM. Please write to info@marxedproject.org
The new offering of this course will begin on Monday, January 25, 1 pm to 3 pm New York City time
December 2020
Invention of the White Race
Allen had concluded by the mid 1960’s that white supremacism was the central obstacle to progressive movements in American life, past and present, yet the “white” race itself remained the most peculiar, contentious and generally misunderstood “identity,” blocking all efforts to achieve a just society. Accordingly, Allen spent the next 40 years in writing and primary research to discern when, where, how and why the Plantation Bourgeoisie invented this “white” race in colonial Virginia and Maryland
Find out more »Women Write Against Fascism
We will look at themes around resistance and collaboration. Beauvoir and Ginzburg write of the period occupation by the Nazis in Vichy France and the period of Mussolini's fascist dictatorship in Italy, while Jelinek's Wonderful Wonderful Times describes the lingering effects naziism had during the years of recovery from the fascist years in Austria in society and within a family.
Find out more »The Origins of Geopolitical Economy in Marx’s Remarks on Carey and Bastiat
In recent years, geopolitical economy has become a term for the properly historical-materialist analysis of international affairs that can successfully comprehend the evolution of the capitalist world order down to the contemporary age of multi-polarity by placing the nation-state as centrally in the analysis of capitalism as class. This interpretation is embedded in Karl Marx’s thinking, though not fully developed there. Perhaps its clearest expression can be found in his fragmentary comments on the “Yankee” mercantilist economist, Henry Carey, in the final pages of the “Grundrisse”.
Find out more »Trotsky in Tijuana: A new novel by Dan La Botz
Who was the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky? What did he believe and do? What was his legacy? Dan La Botz’s new novel. Trotsky in Tijuana, examines these questions in fiction.The novel’s premise is that Trotsky was not assassinated in August 1940 but survived and was relocated to Tijuana where he lived on until 1953 dying on the same day as his rival and political opponent Joseph Stalin.
Find out more »Opening presentation: A People’s Guide to Capitalism
Hadas Their will present on her new book which has been desribed as “a lively, accessible, and timely guide to capitalism for those who want to understand and dismantle the world of the 1%”.
Find out more »Presentation by Andy Merrifield, 4 Week Class special combined pricing
This photo is from one of the many days Marx signed in to the reading room at the British Library. Andy Merrifield visits for a presentation on Friday, November 27 and we of The MEP Capital Studies Group will present a four week reading and discussion series with a thorough reading of the book. This is the first of three series we are presenting with Authors, Reading Groups and books.
Find out more »January 2021
Corona/Climate/Crisis
The MEP is offering essential works by Rob Wallace and Andreas Malm with the Ecosocialist Study Group. Wallace and colleagues track the Covid-19 pandemic as it emerged out of the global circuits of capital and the peculiar scientific thinking that underpins capitalist rule. Malm takea a critical and urgent look at the politics demanded by the planetary scope of pandemics and global warming, the short time-frame for action, and the chronic emergency of increasingly frequent social-ecological disasters.
Find out more »Black Reconstruction in America by W.E.B. Du Bois
Black Reconstruction provides a basis for a much overdue revolution in US labor history. As Du Bois so eloquently and bluntly put in in 1935: “The South, after the war, presented the greatest opportunity for a real national labor movement which the nation ever saw or is likely to see again for many decades. Yet, the labor movement, with but few exceptions, never realized the situation. It never had the intelligence or knowledge, as a whole, to see in black slavery and Reconstruction, the kernel and meaning of the labor movement in the United States.”
Find out more »Considerations on Bolshevism Before Stalinism
We will consider questions such as: Were the Bolsheviks inherently authoritarian? What was 'democratic centralism'? Is the Bolshevik type organization necessary for revolutionary change? What exactly was the role of the Bolsheviks in the revolution? What were the Soviets? How did the soviets come into being? Did soviets represent a higher form of democracy?
Find out more »Capital, Volume 1, Part 2
Session 2 will complete the analysis of Part I: Commodities and Money, starting with Chapter 2: The Process of Exchange followed by the historical development of the money form in the circulation of commodities. This in turn leads to the Transformation of Money into Capital, positioning the reader to analyze the specific social relations of capitalist production (wage labor and owners of capital) in relation to the forces of production, the means of production.
Find out more »A People’s Guide to Capitalism
Despite the efforts of mainstream commentators to convince us otherwise, many are asking questions about why the capitalist system has produced such vast inequality and wanton disregard for its own environmental destruction. This book offers answers to exactly these questions on their own terms: in the form of a radical economic theory. The 14-week class which begins in early January will feature a close reading and discussion of the entire book with explication and references to additional materials related to this study.
Find out more »Blood and Money
The birth and development of capitalism since its origins in the fifteenth century is entirely bound up with the subordination of racialized peoples. Even before capitalism arose – in a process Marx termed the “so-called primitive accumulation” – money and markets were implicated in the rise and fall of states and empires that conquered and enslaved vast numbers of human bodies. This group will address these histories and their persisting consequences. We will read and discuss David McNally’s Blood and Money: War, Slavery, Finance, and Empire and Jairus Banaji’s The History of Commercial Capitalism among other works.
Find out more »