Study courses

Notes and talking points on Engels' "Ludwig Feuerbach"

Engels wrote "Ludwig Feuerbach" in 1886. The circumstances were this. In Engels' and Marx's youth, "Hegelian views... most extensively penetrated the most diversified sciences and leavened even popular literature and the daily press..." in Germany. A philosophical writer having such influence was not a routine thing in history. It had never happened before, has never happened since. "Throughout the long history of human thought, philosophy rarely climbed such heights as in the few decades around the year 1800. Probably only the flowering of ancient philosophy in the Athens of Plato and...

AWL day schools 2008: globalisation, imperialism, political Islam, Israel-Palestine

Alliance for Workers’ Liberty Day schools 2008: Globalisation, imperialism, the Middle East (1) Saturday 4 October, 12 to 5, SOAS, Thornhaugh St, London WC1 Saturday 18 October, 12 to 5, Pennines Room, Sheffield University Student Union Political Islam Sunday 9 November, 12 to 5, SOAS, Thornhaugh St, London WC1 Sunday 9 November, 12 to 5, Dales Room, Sheffield University Student Union Globalisation, imperialism, the Middle East (2) Sunday 14 December, 12 to 5, SOAS, Thornhaugh St, London WC1 Sunday 14 December, 12 to 5, Dales Room, Sheffield University Student Union These details, and also the...

Capitalist crisis and workers' plan: London AWL study course, 2008

1: The general Marxist theory of capitalist crisis 2: Issues in the theory of crisis 3: Capitalism since 1980 4: Why banks go bust: the "credit crunch" 5: "Bankers' socialism" and workers' socialism 6: Workers' plan Reading: Excerpts from Marx at http://www.workersliberty.org/crisis Views from various Marxist economists on the current crisis at http://www.workersliberty.org/crisis2008 Coverage from Solidarity on the current crisis at http://www.workersliberty.org/crisis2007 Points for a workers' plan for the crisis: http://www.workersliberty.org/workersplan

Understanding Marx's Capital, a critique of political economy. Course index

To buy an abridged version of Capital and study guide, and browse wider resources, see here . This course covers Capital volume 1 in 11 weeks. The basic reading is either 'Capital' volume 1 itself, or Otto Ruhle's abridgement of 'Capital'. Whenever we have run the course, some people have read the whole of 'Capital', some just the abridgement. Those who read the whole book get more out of it, but those who just read the abridgement can keep up. The parts of Ruhle's abridgement correspond roughly, but not exactly, to Marx's chapters, so under each week below both the relevant parts of Ruhle and...

Marx on capitalist crisis

Notes from Brisbane Workers' Liberty study course (2000), edited and rearranged. Right-click here to download the notes as a Word document ; or read online, below. 1. Money versus commodities. Capital volume 1 chapter 3 section 2A, "The metamorphosis of commodities". In chapter 1 volume 3 of Capital volume 1, Marx argues that any society where most goods and services take the form of commodities must also single out one special commodity , money, as the general social approximation of average social labour. Money is a commodity, but it also stands apart from other commodities. This standing...

The AWL basic education programme. Glossary.

Glossary Wages, Price and Profit Adam Smith (1723-1790):Founder of theoretical economics. Hailed as a hero by the Thatcherites, though in fact his ideas were by no means in tune with theirs. He recognised that between employers and workers, the "interests are by no means the same", denounced the conspiracies of businessmen, and argued for higher wages. Physiocrats:18th century French writers who started to develop an economic theory. They regarded only farm labour as productive. Anti-Jacobin war: Britain's war against France after the French revolution. The Jacobins were the revolutionary...

The AWL basic education programme. The AWL, Trotskyism and the Marxist tradition: sections E1 to E8

The AWL, Trotskyism and the Marxist tradition: sections E1 to E8 E. The AWL, Trotskyism and the Marxist tradition E1. The Russian Revolution. Was it a real revolution, or just a coup, as conservatives claim? What made it different from other revolutions of the 20th century? How did it happen? 1917: how the workers made a revolution Hal Draper: An Eye-Witness Account of the Russian Revolution Also: a timeline . E2. The Stalinist counter-revolution in the USSR. How did the Russian revolution degenerate? Was Stalinism the continuation of Bolshevism, or its negation? 1917: how the workers made a...

AWL basic education programme. The state and revolution: sections D1 to D8

The state and revolution: sections D1 to D8 D. The state and revolution D1. The state is "the executive committee of the ruling class." Why is the present-day British state a capitalist state? How can the state represent the interests of the capitalist minority when everyone has the right to vote? Socialism and Democracy, Chapter 1: Direct action and democracy , Chapter 2: The appeal to history , Chapter 3: The scarecrow of Stalinism , and Chapter 4: Superstition or struggle? D2. Reform and revolution What is class struggle? How are reforms won? Can socialism come through Parliament? Can the...

AWL basic education programme. The revolutionary outlook: sections C1 to C6

The revolutionary outlook: sections C1 to C6 C. The revolutionary outlook 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 C2. Materialist dialectics Is history shaped by ideas or by material relations? What does "dialectics" mean? Does God exist? Socialism Utopian and Scientific section II Theses on Feuerbach C3. Women's liberation "The emancipation of the working class is also the emancipation of...

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