Subjects Archives: Marxism

Toward a method of critical inquiry.

Most accounts of commodity fetishism stop at the definition: under capitalism, relations between people appear as relations between things.

The Indian economy at present is in the grip of a serious crisis, manifested above all in a sharp fall of the rupee and an acceleration of inflation.

Economic growth alone cannot secure genuine sovereignty in Asia; a regional platform for coordination remains a vital material necessity to safeguard the region against imperialism and neocolonialism.

The Stammheim trials and Germany’s ideological justice.

China’s tourism problem emerged from sudden prosperity. Ours emerges from sudden prosperity filtered through a society shaped by hierarchy, scarcity, low trust, and an intensely transactional relationship with status.

A counter revolution is consolidating itself in the Americas—firing drones and missiles at farmers and fishermen, plotting internal destabilization campaigns against insubordinate governments, and manufacturing lies and fever dreams about some bullshit they’re calling narcoterrorism. This new-old tactic is a hybridization of the War on Terror and the War on Drugs, developed to justify warfare […]

On historical interpretation, the false equivocation of academic revisionism & politically motivated negationism, and the need to reclaim terminology.

On the centenary of her birth, JOHN GREEN celebrates the life—and politics—of Marilyn Monroe.

CounterSpin interview with Karma Chávez on academic freedom.

We believe that it is not international observers, but the Chavista grassroots—the people who have sustained this revolutionary process for twenty-seven years, who buried their dead and resisted sanctions and destabilization, and who are still, slowly and stubbornly, building communes—who should carry the most weight.

The screaming about “tax grabs”, “death taxes”, “class war” and “communism” from the sorry brigade of start-up shysters, investors, small businesses, big capitalists, right-wing journos and politicians is an absolute festival of reaction.

Anybody who’s ever leafed through Finnegans Wake will quickly recognize that we’re not dealing here with a standard novel, just as anybody leafing through Marx’s Capital will know we’re not dealing with standard economics.

Welcome to the sixth entry in the Marx in Moments series. These are three-minute reads examining key Marxist concepts in a clear and accessible way. This week, we focus on so-called primitive accumulation — Marx’s account of the violence that made capitalism possible, and the reason he insisted on those first two words.

The local media have fanned the misconception that these are anti-Jewish protests, meant to intimidate Jewish worshippers attending synagogue, when in fact they are pro-Palestine protests against illegal land sales that are strategically held inside a house of worship.

Western accounts portray the Stasi as an agent of repression, but behind the stereotype, many East German security officers saw themselves as defenders of an anti-fascist socialist project under constant attack from the West, argues NICK WRIGHT.

While the capitalist system rewards short-term cycles, building a dignified future is a slow task that requires disciplined organisation and an enduring struggle to bring forth the social forces of a new world.

Metabolic Rifts: Capitalism’s Assault on the Earth System.

Millions of people across the world still view the Cuban Revolution as a symbol of sovereignty, resistance and international solidarity.

“Integrating earth sciences and life sciences is not an external addition to Marxism, but rather a deepening of its own materialist method.”