Subject: Class by Skype on Marx’s "Critique of the Gotha Program" as New Foundation for Organization From: mhi at marxisthumanistinitiative.org To: weiss_seth at hotmail.com Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 22:19:06 +0000
Class by Skype on Marx’s "Critique of the Gotha Program" as New Foundation for Organization
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Upcoming Class via Skype on
Marx’s Critique of the Gotha Program as New Foundation for Organization
MHI will hold a class series on “Marx’s Critique of the Gotha Program as New Foundation for Organization” on six Sundays, starting Nov. 2 and ending Dec. 7, 2014, from 4 to 6 p.m. New York City time. The discussions will be held via Skype (audio) so that people can attend from around the world. But attendance will be limited to what Skype can handle, so people wanting to participate should apply as soon as possible.
See the end of this announcement for how to apply to join the class.
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Although two socialist groups in Germany united in 1875 on the basis of the Gotha Program and formed an unprecedentedly large (25,000-member strong) party, Karl Marx vehemently opposed the program and the unification. He charged that the program was a theoretical regression—“a monstrous attack on the understanding that has spread among the mass of our party”–and that there should be no bargaining about principles. Although he recognized that “the mere fact of unification is satisfying to the workers,” he argued that “it is a mistake to believe that this momentary success is not bought too dearly.”
Why? Was Marx just being “sectarian”? Was he “pedantically” insisting on “abstruse theoretical minutiae” of no concern to real people and diverting from the immediate and important task of building a mass party? Or did his opposition stem from an entirely different concept of the role of a Marxist organization and how it should relate to mass movements and organizations? And did this different concept stem from an appreciation of the minds of oppressed people as a crucial revolutionary force and an appreciation of the consequent need to engage with them at the highest level, not the lowest?
These classes will study Marx’s Critique of the Gotha Program (and related writings that help illuminate it), not in general, but specifically as a new foundation for revolutionary organization. Although the Critique is almost 140 years old, we regard it as new because its ramifications for organization have not been appreciated or concretized. It has been treated as a critique of a particular tendency and particular doctrines, but not seriously studied as what Raya Dunayevskaya called “actual perspective for the whole movement.” In these classes, we intend to study it in that manner.
Can Marx’s philosophy of human liberation be made the actual foundation for practical political and organizational work? If so, how? What is the relationship between his overall philosophy and his particular criticisms of the Gotha Program—for example, its call for “fair distribution” of income, its call for state aid to form cooperatives, and its treatment of the state and income inequality as matters that are independent from capitalist production? Of course, these facets of the program remain quite prevalent. Is there a relationship between them and the failure to appreciate and concretize the new ground for organization laid by Marx?
The issues we will explore remain central to revolutionary thought and practice today. It seems that the divisions between theory and practice, and between philosophy and organization, have never been greater. We regularly observe desperate attempts to unite around the lowest common denominator, to “set the bar” low, to give lip-service to the different future everyone is supposedly “for” while actually organizing on a wholly different basis, to declare that the popularity of certain notions makes them true, to thwart the self-development of revolutionary ideas by declaring anything other than a bare, abstract “vision” to be each person’s own private business, and so on. We also observe the equally undialectical tendency to write off every step of real movement from below on the grounds that is not yet the full realization of Marx’s philosophy of human liberation, instead of engaging in the hard work of dismantling the barriers that are thwarting the movement’s self-development.
If you agree with us that there is a life-and-death imperative to unite theory and practice, and forge a new relationship between them, right now, then we invite you to apply to participate in this class series.
SEE THE FULL ARTICLE ON OUR WEBSITE FOR A LIST OF THE 6 CLASSES AND THE READINGS, A SPECIAL OFFER ON DUNAYEVSKAYA'S BOOKS, WHAT YOU NEED TO SKYPE, AND HOW THE CLASSES WILL OPERATE.
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Procedure to apply for class
To apply to join the class, write to MHI at mhi at marxisthumanistinitiative.org as soon as possible, and no later than Oct. 25. When you write, introduce yourself and say why you are interested in participating.
We will notify you on Oct. 26 whether you will be included. Be prepared to send us your Skype address at that time, and to make a donation of $30 toward our expenses at http://www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org/donate (if you can’t pay $30, you may pay less).
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For a description of this pamphlet
by Andrew Kliman, see video.
Available for purchase at Bluestockings
Books or order from MHI here.
Click image for trailer & information on showing this documentary film.
Marxist-Humanist Initiative
P.O. Box 414
Planetarium Station
New York, NY 10024
email: mhi at marxisthumanistinitiative.org
web: www.marxisthumanistinitiative.org
(888) 579-2245
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Marxist-Humanist Initiative · P.O. Box 414 · Planetarium Station · New York, NY 10024 · USA