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Domza at NUMSA 2009, photo by Patrick Bond


What is Marxism relevant to? Who is it relevant to? For what purpose is it relevant?


Dear readers of ARS NOTORIA,

How wonderful that there are young students of Marx out there in the readership!

What is Marxism relevant to? Who is it relevant to? For what purpose is it relevant?

Is there even such a thing as Marxism? Marx didn't think so, and nor did Cyril Smith, who is quite usefully erudite on this question (see the Cyril Smith archive on Marxists Internet Archive).

The question "Marxism is as relevant today as it ever was" implies an a priori intentionality and a deliberate subjectivity. If it is a question you are asking then that is encouraging.

Marxism would not be relevant if history had ended, The Subject had died, and post-modernism continued to waive the rules of philosophy.

The first kind of reading list I can offer is the (currently) eight "Generic Courses" of the Communist University, which are linked from the home page of the Communist University e-mail distribution Google Group at:

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/communist-university/web/basics---index.

The CU has been going since 2003 and it has become more systematic as time has gone on. I am still refining these "Generic Courses", and also intend to complete two more. The last two will be one on "Capital" Volumes 2 & 3, and one on selected parts of Hegel.

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Marxism would not be relevant if history had ended, The Subject had died, and post-modernism continued to waive the rules of philosophy.
___________________________

Apart from the "basics", what you might consider looking at would be the one on Capital Volume 1, Lenin's State and Revolution, and the last set on Philosophy and Religion. It is in the realm of philosophy that you will have to find the answer to the question, in my opinion.

The way these "Generic Courses" are arranged is in three layers. There are my "Introductions" which for this purpose may be used as a quick outline or crib. They were originally my blogs, motivating form people to read and discuss the main texts, which are the next layer. The third layer is supplementary or additional texts.

The texts are short. Some come from books and many of the books come from the Marxists Internet Archive.

If you read the first of the first, which is about Paulo Freire and Tony Buzan, you will see that I don't recommend people reading stuff in literal order or alone. Reading should also be intentional and the way to learn is by discussion.
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The bottom line of Marxism is freedom. The general theory of freedom is humanism, and Marxism is the most developed humanism. It is the humanism of our times.
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There is a discussion forum for the Young Communist League of South Africa which is a good way to get a feeling of the relevance of Marxism to young black South Africans.

It's pretty vital to be able to handle lots of e-mail. I have mine set up to be sorted automatically into about 90 headings (using Gmail's "Labels"). This way I can prioritise my reading and read much more systematically, and also "mark as read" quite safely.

The bottom line of Marxism is freedom. The general theory of freedom is humanism, and Marxism is the most developed humanism. It is the humanism of our times.

If you visit the website and post me your email I can subscribe you to the Communist University e-mail list. And if you are younger I would like to subscribe you, with your permission, to the YCLSA discussion forum.

Then we can take it from there. Feel free to discuss.

Best,

VC

(I am the VC, a.k.a. Domza)
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Comments

DomzaNet said…
Photo taken by Patrick Bond, FYI.
Tuesday, 27 April, 2010
Philip Hall said…
Corrected it Dom. Thanks again. Thanks for your help with Natalie's dissertation.
Tuesday, 27 April, 2010
DomzaNet said…
Help! I didn't mean to change it! It was correct before. It's just a curious thing that this photo was taken by Patrick Bond. And FYI was to mean "for your information".
Tuesday, 27 April, 2010
Philip Hall said…
Oh. Consider it undone.
Tuesday, 27 April, 2010
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