Loren Goldner writes:

New York City Study Group on Marx

Beginning October, 2004

"It is not enough for theory to seek its practice;
practice must also seek its theory." — Karl Marx, 1844 Manuscripts

I am forming a class/study group in Karl Marx's
critique of political economy for
theoretically-inclined activists in the New York City
area.

The group will meet once every two weeks from October
until May 2005, and can of course continue thereafter
if enough people want it to.

Its purpose will be to give conceptual tools from
Marx's work to people interested in understanding and
changing the world, tools which make sense of current
world economic and political developments, shed light
on current possible intervention, and clarify what a
society beyond capitalism will look like.Complete mastery of Marx's critique of political
economy (and in particular the Grundrisse and Capital,
including vol. 4, Theories of Surplus Value) is of
course a long-term project beyond any 8-month class.
Our goal will therefore be to focus on highlights and
crucial turning points providing a foundation from
which individuals can continue on their own.

One cannot understand the difference between Marx's
critique of political economy and any "economics"
without some grounding in the "dialectical"
philosophical tradition from which he began. We will
therefore look at some writings of Hegel and
Feuerbach, as well as some of the "early" (1840's)
writings of Marx, in which he evolved from
philosophical radicalism and radical democracy to
communism. We will then turn to the Grundrisse and
Capital. (In so doing, we will see the emptiness of
hide-bound assertions of a major break between an
"early" and a "late" Marx.)

To avoid any excessively scholastic approach, we will
complement the study of
Marx with selected texts on the contemporary world
economy that attempt to link Marx's theory to such
phenomena as "globalization", international finance,
Third World indebtedness, imperialism,
de-industrialization of the old Western "core" (the
U.S., Europe and even Japan), the emergence of the
"new industrial countries" (and most recently China),
and workers and peasants' struggles in these contexts.

Ideally, the group will have 12-15 members and will
meet once every two weeks at a time and place
agreeable to all participants. All are welcome, but
initial preference will be given to young people from
the "post-Seattle" wave of activism. Members of
organized political groups (e.g. Trotskyist,
Marxist-Leninist, anarchist) are also welcome,
provided they are genuinely interested in engaging
with Marx and do not attempt to manipulate the group
for their own sectarian ends.

If you are interested in participating, send a short
(minimum 3-4 paragraphs) statement about where you are
coming from politically and your previous involvement
(if any) with Marx.

I am a "sixties" intellectual/activist who has been
studying Marx's work for over 35 years and who has
been involved in radical movements as they have
arisen. To see where I am coming from, check out the
Break Their Haughty Power web site,
here. The articles
most relevant to the study group are those posted
since 2002, "Pause In the Crisis?", "Two Short Texts
on Economic Crisis and War", "Once Again, on
Fictitious Capital" and "Production or Reproduction?".
For more background, check out "The Remaking of the
American Working Class" (1999) and "Conjuncture: World
Capitalism Since the Collapse of the Bretton Woods
System" (1976).