"It is not enough for theory to seek its practice; practice must also seek its theory"/ (Karl Marx, 1844 Manuscripts).
I am forming a class/study group in Karl Marx's critique of political economy for theoretically-inclined activists in the New York City area.
The group will meet once every two weeks from October until May 2005, and can of course continue thereafter if enough people want it to.
Its purpose will be to give conceptual tools from Marx's work to people interested in understanding and changing the world, tools which make sense of current world economic and political developments, shed light on current possible intervention, and clarify what a society beyond capitalism will look like.
Complete mastery of Marx's critique of political economy (and in particular the Grundrisse and Capital, including vol. 4, Theories of Surplus Value) is of course a long-term project beyond any 8-month class. Our goal will therefore be to focus on highlights and crucial turning points providing a foundation from which individuals can continue on their own.
One cannot understand the difference between Marx's critique of political economy and any "economics" without some grounding in the "dialectical" philosophical tradition from which he began. We will therefore look at some writings of Hegel and Feuerbach, as well as some of the "early" (1840's) writings of Marx, in which he evolved from philosophical radicalism and radical democracy to communism. We will then turn to the Grundrisse and Capital. (In so doing, we will see the emptiness of hide-bound assertions of a major break between an "early" and a "late" Marx.)
To avoid any excessively scholastic approach, we will complement the study of Marx with selected texts on the contemporary world economy that attempt to link Marx's theory to such phenomena as "globalization", international finance, Third World indebtedness, imperialism, de-industrialization of the old Western "core" (the U.S., Europe and even Japan), the emergence of the "new industrial countries" (and most recently China), and workers and peasants' struggles in these contexts.
Ideally, the group will have 12-15 members and will meet once every two weeks at a time and place agreeable to all participants. All are welcome, but initial preference will be given to young people from the "post-Seattle" wave of activism. Members of organized political groups (e.g. Trotskyist, Marxist-Leninist, anarchist) are also welcome, provided they are genuinely interested in engaging with Marx and do not attempt to manipulate the group for their own sectarian ends.
If you are interested in participating, send a short (minimum 3-4 paragraphs) statement about where you are coming from politically and your previous involvement (if any) with Marx.
I am a "sixties" intellectual/activist who has been studying Marx's work for over 35 years and who has been involved in radical movements as they have arisen. To see where I am coming from, check out the Break Their Haughty Power web site (http://home.earthlink.net/~lrgoldner). The articles most relevant to the study group are those posted since 2002, "Pause In the Crisis?", "Two Short Texts on Economic Crisis and War", "Once Again, on Fictitious Capital" and "Production or Reproduction?". For more background, check out "The Remaking of the American Working Class" (1999) and "Conjuncture: World Capitalism Since the Collapse of the Bretton Woods System" (1976).
Loren Goldner lrgoldner at yahoo.com