Welcome to our online center for Marxist and progressive learning!
In addition to courses you can take for free in your own time, alone or with a group, we also offer live courses via video conferencing. Contact: carld717@gmail.com.
Top Video Courses
BILL FLETCHER JR: RACE AND LABOR. Fletcher enlightens us with some little known history of how racism has been used since Europeans first came to the western world to control the working class. This analysis illuminates precisely why Capitalism cannot exist without racism. Contrary to what many may think, the concept of “white” which did not previously exist was invented for this purpose, and did not necessarily refer to skin color. The first Africans were brought over as indentured servants and became chattel slaves only later as the American caste system evolved. 80 minutes.- Covid, Capitalism & Ecology
Mike Davis and Rob Wallace, each of whom has new books out on this subject, are the two leading left wing writers on the issue of the pandemic in the world. 90 minutes
- Lee Smolin - How Can Space and Time be the Same Thing? What does it mean for space and time to be the same thing? Not related to each other, but literally two descriptions of precisely the same entity: "spacetime"? One cannot understand existence without understanding spacetime. Lee Smolin is an American theoretical physicist, a researcher at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, and an adjunct professor of physics at the University of Waterloo. 9 minute discussion starter.
- Eric Hobsbawm: The Consolations of History In this 80 minute video, Anthony Wilks traces the connections between the events of Eric Hobsbawm’s life and the history he told, from his teenage years in Germany and his communist membership, to the jazz clubs of 1950s Soho and the makings of New Labour, taking in Italian bandits, Peruvian peasant movements and the development of nationalism in the modern world, with help from the assiduous observations of MI5.
- TALKIN' SOCIALISM SHOW:The Biden Harris Economic Program, and other stuff on our minds. From the Red Caboose studio in Harpers Ferry, WV Today's panel: John Case, JB Christensen, James Boyd, Tina Shannon, Carl Davidson, Scott Marshall, Doc Aldis. YouTube video, about an hour. Changes every Friday.
- LABOR HISTORY CLASSES. In six videos, raanging from 10 to 20 minutewa each. Use singly or in batches.
- Capital, All Three Volumes? Let the best teacher today, David Harvey, take you though it, chapter by chapter.
- 10 Documentaries for Teaching African American History since 1865. These documentaries focus on African American history since 1865. They are short (2 hours or less), accessible, emotionally powerful for viewers, and not overly specialized in their focus. Students can stream, either through Netflix, YouTube, or the educational film database Kanopy, which also includes film transcripts
- David Schweickart: What’s Wrong with Capitalism? One-hour video lecture. SCHWEICKART is Professor of Philosophy at Loyola University Chicago. He holds Ph.D's in mathematics and philosophy. He is the author of After Capitalism (Rowman and Littlefield, 2002). His primary focus has been on developing and defending, as both economically viable and ethically desirable, a socialist alternative to capitalism, which he calls Economic Democracy.
- CHAVEZ EXPLAINS GRAMSCI TO THE POOR. Amazing 8-minute video with Chavez explaining crisis politics to everyone.Good discussion starter,
- JERRY HARRIS, GLOBAL CAPITALISM AND THE CRISIS OF DEMOCRACY. 75 minute presentation of the author's new book, with Q&A, covering the history of the interconnected development of democracy with economic systems of the centuries, and the role of democracy in anti-capitalist strategy. Excellent for study groups reading the book.
- THE PRECARIAT, THE NEW YOUNG & DANGEROUS CLASS An 11 minute discussion starter. Author Guy Standing points in this interview the emergence of a new class structure that starts when neoliberals took control over the economy and politics back in the 80s and it´s consolidated with the actual global crisis. The common element of this new class is its rejection of neo-liberalism and social democracy and is becoming aware that it is a class for itself, favoring the emergence of new political forces like Podemos, SYRIZA and Left Ecology and Freedom in Italy. Guy Standing is an economist, professor at the University of London and founder / co-president of the Basic Income Earth Network.
- THE WORKING CLASS TODAY. David Harvey explain that organizing workers today might better be done by urban neighborhoods than factories. 20 minutes.
Top Course Outlines and Materials
- WHAT REALLY HAPPENED DURING THE 'DAYS OF RAGE'? We all know about the Weathermen breaking windows. But what about the concurrent 'Rainbow Coalition' action of some 10,000 that included SDS RYM2, along with the Panthers and Young Lords? This article rescues the full story.
- System Change: A Basic Primer to the Solidarity Economy Alternatives to capitalism are gaining adherents. Here we look at different systems or models of socialism, capitalism, and solidarity economy. By Emily Kawano and Julie Matthaei
- RACIALIZED CAPITALISM DEBATE. The Hidden Stakes of the 1619 Controversy, an essay of the New York Times controversy over Black history, by David Waldstreicher in the Boston Review. Great discussion starter for many studies.
- THE MAKING OF THE RUST BELT WORKING CLASS. From the 1700s until today, using the book 'Ramp Hollow' and the methods of Gramsci and Marx. Slide show in four parts by Carl Davidson.
- GREEN NEW DEAL: Carl Davidson' New Slide presentation on what caused the crisis, what we need to deal with it, and how to get it. Excellent for people who are just learning about the topic. Article to go with the slides HERE.
- How Feminism Became Capitalism's Handmaiden - And How to Reclaim It Marxist philosopher Nancy Fraser explains how s movement that started out as a critique of capitalist exploitation ended up contributing key ideas to its latest neoliberal phase
- ORGANIZING WORKERS TODAY. 25 articles written for Labor Day 2018 on unions, workers, and how 21st century conditions present new challenges. Writers include Peter Drier, Sarah Jaffe and Bill Fletcher, Jr. among others.
- CLARA ZEITIN ON THE RISE OF FASCISM. Written in 1923 when she as active in the Comintern.
- INTERVIEW WITH BILL GALLEGOS. By Ellly Leary and Anne Lewis in Monthly Review, the discussion gives a good account of how Marxism Merged with the Latino movement, through the experience of one of its leaders, who today is also making similar connects in Climate Change battles.
- FOR MARXISTS DOING ELECTORAL WORK, studying Poulantzas is a big help. We have a free book by him in the books section. But check out 'Calibrating the Capitalist State in the Neoliberal Era' by Colin Jenkins of the Hampton Institute to get you started.
- ORGANIC INTELLECTUALS. Slide Show on Teaching and Organizing--Gramsci, Arizmendi and Ella Baker. By Carl Davidson.
- INSTRUMENTS FOR DOING POLITICS. A powerful new pamphlet by Marta Harnecker for studying strategy and tactics, and doing revolutionary work in non-revolutionary conditions to change the correlation of forces.
PROGRESS FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR DOESN’T COME AT WHITE FOLKS’ EXPENSE A conversation with Heather C. McGhee's book, 'The Sum of Us,' about the zero-sum thinking that has long dominated American attitudes to race and wealth—and how to organize to secure public goods for everyone.
Karl Marx's ideas are a common touchstone for many people working for change. His historical materialism, his many contributions to political economy and class analysis, all continue to serve his core values--the self-emancipation of the working class and a vision of a classless society.
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