Posts under ‘Uncategorized’

The following is reprinted from Cliopatria.  This is an historians’ blog, hence Bray’s question as to what possible futures these news items suggest for historians. But the question is obviously much broader. The world has changed in fundamental ways over the past 30 years, and is changing rapidly now through the mechanism of the world [...]

Welcome, and glad you’ve found your way here. As we say under the About tab, this is a space dedicated to theoretical explorations aiming toward an emancipatory politics. We welcome submissions of essays, reviews, notice of interesting items from elsewhere, and all comments which fall within the range and purpose of the site. We look [...]

The following panel discussion, which took place at Columbia University earlier this year (March 11, 2009), was convened under the question, Is Marxism Relevant Today? The panelists are on the whole concentrating upon Marx’s political economy. The speakers are Duncan Foley, author of Understanding Capital: Marx’s Economic Theory; David Harvey, author of many books in [...]

Welcome, and glad you’ve found your way here. As we say under the About tab, this is a space dedicated to theoretical explorations aiming toward an emancipatory politics. Although this is a new site, some of the posts below are of a little earlier vintage; they’ve been transferred here from our sister site, Kasama. We [...]

This is the third and final part of this series. The author writes: The Revolutionary Communist Party describes Bob Avakian’s latest essay, Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy, as an “unsparing critique of the history…of American society.” Having “engaged” Away With All Gods! six months ago, I’d like to respond to this seriously as well. by Pavel [...]

Is human history directionally oriented? Does it point toward the overcoming of class society? This is one question — a contentious one — raised in the following, the third and final part of this essay written for Kasama. The first two parts are here and here. Why historical materialism matters, 3 by Eddy Laing Economic [...]

How did classes arise in human history? This is the chief topic of the following essay by Eddy Laing, the second in a three-part series written for Kasama. Part 1 appears here. Why historical materialism matters, 2 by Eddy Laing The Core of Culture is the Mode of Production Every human society, regardless of its [...]

We all probably know that one of Marx and Engels’ great accomplishments is often said to be the creation of something called historical materialism, or in their own phrase, “the materialist conception of history.” What is this conception? What is the particularity of this approach to history, and how is it connected to revolutionary change? [...]