London AWL Thursday discussions, 17 January to 13 March 2008
Second series in a basic introduction to the AWL's ideas. Every Thursday evening (except when there is a London AWL forum, usually the third Thursday of the month), from 18:00 downstairs at the Camera Cafe, 44 Museum St, London WC1.
THURSDAY 17 JANUARY. A7. Why capitalism produces crises and unemployment.
"A gallop of industry, commercial credit and speculation finally, after breakneck leaps, ends where it began - in the ditch of a crisis... The overwork of some becomes the condition for the idleness of others."
Socialism Utopian and Scientific section III.
B. How Class Struggle Changes the World
THURSDAY 31 JANUARY. B1. Capitalism is only one stage in history, shaped by class struggle.
Where does capitalism come from? What other social and economic forms have there been in history? Why is capitalism only a transitory stage of development?
Communist Manifesto sections I and III.
THURSDAY 7 FEBRUARY. B2. Stalinism is not a form of socialism, but the opposite of socialism.
Working-class socialism versus "state socialism".
The Lies Against Socialism Answered, from We Stand For Workers' Liberty
"What Marx and Lenin meant by socialism" by Karl Kautsky.
THURSDAY 14 FEBRUARY. B3. Why must we build a revolutionary party?
What is special about the revolutionary party, as compared to other political parties?
Why must we build a revolutionary party? from We Stand For Workers' Liberty
THURSDAY 28 FEBRUARY. B4. Why trade-union work is central for us.
Why does the working class organise in trade unions? Why is trade-union work central for revolutionaries, even when the trade unions are conservative? What do we do in the trade unions?
Three excerpts from Marx on trade unions
Reading from AWL dayschool on trade unions and socialism
THURSDAY 6 MARCH. B5. Independent working-class political representation, transforming the labour movement, and the Labour Party
Reading from AWL dayschool on Marxists and the Labour Party
THURSDAY 13 MARCH. C1. Militant or sympathiser?
What does being a revolutionary involve, as a choice about your aims in life? Why is it worthwhile? Why do revolutionaries "drop out"? Why should they remain committed?
How revolutionaries are formed, by Leon Trotsky