Marx Matters
For more than 160 years, socialists have looked to the Marxist tradition for a theoretical understanding of society, an analysis of capitalism and its crises, and the vision of society anew on the basis of democracy, equality and freedom. Collected here are SocialistWorker.org articles that elaborate the principles of the Marxist tradition and how socialists can use those principles as a guide for changing society. Read these articles to teach yourself Marxism.
A series of articles by SocialistWorker.org columnist Paul D'Amato that look in detail at the "Where We Stand" statement of the International Socialist Organization. Click here for a full list of articles.
: Todd Chretien In a world of war and crisis, the need for fundamental change has never seemed more urgent. But what choices do we have to make a new future?
Leela Yellesetty looks at what the Marxist tradition has said about the vision of socialism--and what the experience of past struggles tells us about getting there.
There's a misconception that Marxists believe history follows a predetermined course as a result of economic laws, which human beings can't affect.
Marxists reject the idea that history is made by charismatic "great men." But that doesn't mean they view individuals as cogs in the machine.
Karl Marx's critique of capitalism seems prophetic today, but his economic analysis can't be separated from his vision of a revolutionary new society.
: Alan Maass The right's complaints about greed are confined to people with little who try to organize for more. But greed in the boardrooms--that's a different story.
If war is a product of human culture and history, rather than the result of some immutable nature, then it can be changed or done away with.
: Ian Angus and Simon Butler As the global population reaches 7 billion, it's time to throw out the idea that there are "too many people"--and focus on the real causes of environmental destruction.
: Dan Russell We're told that we can't tax the rich because they "create jobs." But capitalists only make investments when it's profitable, not when society needs it.
Capitalism depends for its survival on divisions created in the working class, so the struggle for a new society must challenge those divisions.
Marxism is almost universally--and wrongly--identified with the idea of state ownership of the economy, and, by extension, with strengthening the state.
: Elizabeth Schulte The right's uproar about Barack Obama and socialism raises the question: Are elections a more practical and peaceful way to get a socialist society.
: Paul D'Amato Marxists don’t believe that socialism can be achieved through the ballot box. But that doesn’t mean we should have nothing to do with elections.
: Alan Maass Socialist organizations have played an important role in the great revolutionary struggles of the past. But they can't be formed out of nothing overnight.
: Ahmed Shawki A leading member of ISO discusses what kind of organization socialists need to be effective in the fight against the system.
: Eric Ruder For decades, the world has been presented with two models of "existing socialism," even though neither has lived up to socialism's promise of human liberation.
: Tithi Bhattacharya Socialists oppose the violence of the ruling class because they use it to impose class rule. But what about when violence comes from the oppressed?
: Eric Ruder One frequent objection to socialism is the belief that any effort by workers to democratically control society invariably ends in dictatorship.
: Alan Maass After years on the margins, even among the left, the ideas of socialism are being revived as a consequence of the profound crisis of capitalism.
: Alan Maass Marx's view of the world is built around the centrality of the struggle between exploiter and exploited--ultimately over whether society will go forward or not.
: Jen Roesch For the working class to create a socialist society, it must achieve unity in its ranks--and that means championing all struggles against oppression.
: Elizabeth Schulte Karl Marx and Frederick Engels insisted that the working class would need its own organization to achieve a new society.
: Lee Sustar When mainstream economists start citing capitalism's greatest critic, you know the crisis of the free market is severe.
: Gary Lapon The term "exploitation" conjures images of sweatshops, but Marxists have a broader understanding that applies to the whole working class.
Todd Chretien's columns are an accompaniment to the writings of Marx and Engels, explaining the ideas and historical references you'll find. Click here for a full list of articles. Here are the latest few:
My experience as a teenager, and I suspect that of many socialists, was that as I first became aware of the world's injustices, I found my way to anarchism first.
In the struggle to get to a future society, some forms of organization must mirror what we are fighting against, rather than what we are fighting for.
Any honest look at the life of the Russian revolutionary Lenin quickly puts to rest the idea that he wanted an elite to seize power and impose socialism.
: Shaun Harkin From his role in the Russian 1917 Revolution to his battle against Stalinism, Leon Trotsky made an immense contribution to the revolutionary tradition.
: Duncan Hallas Duncan Hallas' The Comintern offers a history of the Third International, founded with the aim of turning Russia's revolution into a worldwide one.
SocialistWorker.org writers introduce 10 of the most important writings by leading figures in the revolutionary socialist tradition.
: Phil Gasper The regimes of Eastern Europe that collapsed 20 years after a series of mass rebellions were the opposite of what we mean by socialism.
: Dennis Kosuth China's Tiananmen Square revolt challenged a government that claimed to stand for socialism, but in reality ruled over an exploitative and oppressive system.
: Dennis Kosuth What you think about the Tiananmen uprising 20 years ago goes to the heart of what you think about socialism today.
: Sam Farber A veteran socialist talks about the meaning of the Cuban government's announcement that it will lay off 500,000 workers from state jobs next year.
: Lance Selfa Racism as we understand it today did not always exist. It came into being as a consequence of the African slave trade and the rise of capitalism.
: Paul D'Amato The best fighters for socialism have always recognized that the struggle for Black liberation and socialism must go hand-in-hand.
: Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor For Marxists, there is an inseparable link between racism and capitalism--and therefore a commitment to fighting racism as part of the struggle for socialism.
: Elizabeth Schulte A united working-class struggle that upends the current system of exploitation and oppression can bring about true liberation.
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