THE DIALECTIC OF MARX'S C A P I T A L AND TODAY'S GLOBAL CRISIS
AT EACH NEW CRISIS POINT and period of transition, Marx's work has taken on new importance. This remains so today. The 150th anniversary of the Communist Manifesto has led to new discussions of Marx worldwide, with workers and intellectuals feeling a shock of recognition over the importance of Marx for understanding today's globalized capitalism.
The economic meltdown in East Asia, Russia, and parts of Latin America and the possibility that it might spread to the entire world economy has likewise led to renewed interest in Marx's greatest theoretical work, Capital. However, many of these discussions have viewed Marx without regard for the dialectical philosophy and humanism which informed all of his work.
This series of meetings takes a different approach, by exploring Capital in light of Hegel's dialectic and the freedom struggles of our time. We aim to speak to a new generation of thinkers and activists who are searching for an alternative to both "free market" capitalism and the state-capitalism that once called itself Communism. Returning to Marx's Capital with eyes of Hegel's dialectic can open new doors to projecting a concept of a new, human society which is demanded by today's forces of liberation.
THESE MEETING CENTER ON READINGS of select chapters of Capital, as well as writings on it by Raya Dunayevskaya, the founder of Marxist-Humanism in the U.S. The philosopher Louis Dupré once said of her, "I doubt whether any commentator since Jean Hyppolite has succeeded better in a Hegelian reading of Capital." To help explore the dialectical underpinnings of Capital, the readings also include her "Rough Notes on Hegel's Science of Logic," which are being published over four issues of News & Letters.
Each meeting will consist of brief presentations followed by free and open discussion. No prior knowledge of Capital or the work of Marx and He gel is necessary. Admission is free. Copies of all reading material, as well as a list of supplemental readings by various thinkers on Capital, is available from News and Letters Committees.
For a syllabus and a schedule of classes, contact the News and Letters Committee nearest to you (See below).
CLASS 1 //////
THE ORIGIN OF CAPITAL: MARX'S RE-CREATION OF HEGEL'S DIALECTIC
This meeting discusses the origin and development of Marx's Capital, and especially the impact of the Civil War in the U.S. and the struggle for a shorter working day upon the restructuring of his greatest theoretical work. We will explore how, instead of placing limits on what Marx called "the power of abstraction," his integrating of revolutionary subjects into his analysis of the law of motion of capitalism helped unchain the power of revolutionary thought itself.
CLASS 2 //////
THE PHENOMENON OF CAPITALISM: THE COMMODITY-FORM
This meeting focuses on the most difficult, controversial, and important chapter in Capital-"The Commodity." Of foremost importance, especially in light of today's high-tech, fully commodified society, is the section "The Fetishism of Commodities." The readings for this meeting can greatly aid comprehension of the fundamental phenomenon of capitalism which contains, in embryo, the whole of its contradictions.
CLASS 3 //////
THE ESSENCE OF CAPITALISM (I): THE LABOR PROCESS
This meeting focuses on the essence of capitalism- the labor process and on the production of what Marx called "absolute surplus value." We will explore such aspects of Capital as the chapter on "The Working Day," which is where Marx also discusses the conditions and struggles of working women.
CLASS 4 //////
THE ESSENCE OF CAPITALISM (II): THE LABOR PROCESS AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE VALUE OF LABOR POWER INTO WAGES
This meeting continues the focus on the essence of capitalism, the labor process, by exploring what Marx called "relative surplus value." It also takes up Marx's theory of wages, one of his three original contributions to the critique of political economy, along with the split in the concept of labor and the treatment of surplus value independently of profit.
CLASS 5 //////
THE NOTION OF CAPITALISM: THE ABSOLUTE GENERAL LAW OF CAPITALIST ACCUMULATION
This meeting focuses on the absolute general law of capitalist accumulation- the concentration and centralization of capital at one pole and the socialization of labor at the other, from which spring "new passions and new forces for the reconstruction of society." In exploring the "Absolute" of capitalist society, this meeting also has us return, on higher ground, to chapter 1 of Capital itself.
CLASS 6 //////
THE LOGIC OF CAPITALIST CRISIS: OVERPRODUCTION, 'UNDERCONSUMPTION,' OR MARX'S CONCEPT OF THE TENDENTIAL FALL IN THE RATE OF PROFIT?
This meeting focuses on the dialectic and humanism of Vols. II and III of Capital, which has long served as the arena of debate in the radical movement over the cause and consequences of capitalist crisis, the relation between capitalism and imperialism/racism, and the kinds of human relations needed to transcend class society.
>>CHICAGO<<
All classes on Sundays at 6:30 p.m.
News & Letters Library, 59 E. Van Buren St., Room 707, Chicago Loop.
Call 312 663 0839
Class 1 March 14 Class 2 March 28 Class 3 April 11 Class 4 April 18 Class 5 May 2 Class 6 May 16
>>NEW YORK<<
All classes on Sundays at 6:30 p.m.
133 West 4th St., parlor of Parish House of Washington Square
Church,
between Ave. of Americas (6th Ave.) and Wash. Sq. Park (near all
trains)
Call 212 663 3631
Class 1 March 21 Class 2 April 4 Class 3 April 11 Class 4 April 25 Class 5 May 9 Class 6 May 23
>>SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA<<
Call 510 658 1448
>>DETROIT/FLINT<<
Contact News & Letters, P.O. Box 27205, Detroit MI 48227
>>MEMPHIS/MISSISSIPPI<<
Contact News & Letters, 1910 Madison Ave, #59, Memphis, TN 38104
>>LOS ANGELES<<
Contact News & Letters, P.O. BOX 29194, Los Angeles, CA 90029
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"Human Power Is Its Own End."--Karl Marx
News and Letters Committees / NEWS & LETTERS
59 E. Van Buren Ave., Room 707, Chicago IL 60605, USA
www.newsandletters.org