Marxism

This panel is inspired by the bicentennial of Karl Marx’s birth on May 5, 1818. On June 30, 2018, the NY Times published a column headlined: “The Millennial Socialists Are Coming.” Is “the spectre of communism [still] haunting” America and the world 200 years after Marx was born? Panelists representing different leftist parties and perspectives will tackle these questions and more. Speakers will explain their conceptions of what Marxism is and explore whether Marxism is still relevant 170 years after Marx and Engels wrote The Communist Manifesto. Is Marxism a Stalinist police state with a command economy and gulags? Or is Marxism a utopian pie-in-the-sky fantasy of a classless society? Is this just an outdated philosophy from 1848 that is no longer relevant in the 21st century? Or is Marxism a participatory, direct democracy of the workers, by the workers and for the workers? Is Marxism applicable in 2018? Come the revolution, how will Marxism impact on economics? Race? Gender? Class? Militarism? Endless war? Can Marxism solve inequality across the board and create an egalitarian social system? Is Marxism a workers’ paradise, “an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all,” where the golden rule is “from each according to their abilities to each according to their needs”?

As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx?s birth this year, it is important to view his critique of capitalism in light of contemporary debates and currents of radical thought, the better to connect theory to practice. This panel will link Marx to the critical theory and socialist humanist schools of thought, emphasizing the timeliness of his revolutionary critique of capitalism as a system of domination, exploitation, and alienation that is rooted in class and gender as well as class oppression. We will also discuss how to overcome the economic, political, and cultural domination of capitalism, at a time when the evolution of that system in the Trump era has placed our very survival in question.

In this acclaimed film about Karl Marx, Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro) traces the early years of Marx’s life as a young philosopher and revolutionary. Centered on the burgeoning friendship between Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, the film details Marx’s experiences with political repression during his years in Paris, Brussels, and London. Join us for a free screening of The Young Karl Marx (2017, 118 minutes) and reflect on the dilemmas as well as promises of an international socialist movement, then and now.

ecent years have witnessed new studies on the impact of capital’s drive to augment value and profit at the same time as figures in postcolonial studies, critical race theory, and intersectionality have explored the social, psychological, and cultural dimensions of anti-black racism. While both currents have made vital contributions, they have tended to assume different or even opposed trajectories, as reflected in some reverting to "class first" analyses while others focus on issues of identity abstracted from class relations and the logic of capital accumulation. This panel will explore the potential for anti-racist and anti-colonial struggles to posit an emancipatory alternative to capitalism, by re-examining what Fanon called the "new humanism" that is integral to anti-racist struggles. Panelists: A. Shahid Stover, "Decolonization is a Humanism"; Marilyn Nissim-Sabat, "Wright, Fanon, and Marx on Humanism: What’s Decolonial About it?"; Peter Hudis, "Racism and the Logic of Capital"; Anna Stetsenko, "Political Imagination and Transformative Agency: Developing Revolutionary Praxis with a Radical Activist Agenda"

Originating in a struggle inside Socialist Alternative for the basic Marxist principle of the political independence of the working class, the Class Struggle Education League (based in the New Hampshire/Massachusetts area) has been working closely with the Internationalist Group/League for the Fourth International. Fusing our forces on the basis of the genuine Trotskyist program is an example of revolutionary regroupment that can help others dissatisfied with reformism and centrism find a path towards building a revolutionary workers party here and internationally.

The Party of the European Left (EL) is a political party at the European level which was formed in 2004. Member and observer parties of the EL are socialist, communist, red green and other democratic left parties. At the moment (February 2018), the EL has 38 Member parties, Observers and Partners from 25 different countries. “United for a left alternative in Europe” We refer to the values and traditions of socialism, communism and the labour movement, of feminism, the feminist movement and gender equality, of the environmental movement and sustainable development, of peace and international solidarity, of human rights, humanism and antifascism, of progressive and liberal thinking, both nationally and internationally”. Manifesto of the Party of the European Left, 2004 How can we reaffirm even more in a stronger way these traditions and values in the current European situation and also worldwide? How can we promote another way of doing politics starting from the people and not the profit?

Considering the ongoing shift and crisis of political landscape in the U.S.A. but also in Europe, that is deepening and radicalizing persistently, the emergence of new political subjects now seems more inevitable than ever before. Alternative, counter political or counter-establishment movements are constantly appearing in a move to reorganize the way politics is done and communicated. These new political bodies demand change: new political and social agenda, sharp and immediate measures against inequalities, social injustice, the fraud economics of Wall street and the dictatorship of the banks, climate change, the constant state of war and the resulting politics of fear, supervision, exceptional authorities, escalating violence etc. This is something that we do understand very clearly in Europe and we have to face together on both shores of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a political and historical duty of the European Left in this unprecedented situation to hold out hand, start communicating and building an alliance with the American leftist parties, movements and organizations. That is a crucial point of the global struggle and the globalization of resistance. Together we are stronger, therefore communication and cooperation with our American and Canadian partners is of utmost importance at the moment. How to find the best fields of cooperation and exchange the most effective experiences between the North American Left forces and the European Left?

People often talk about love and revolution as though their relationship was self-evident. In this session, movement-based thinkers, authors, and organizers will explore the connection in greater depth. If it's true, as Che proclaimed, that "the true revolutionary is guided by great feelings of love," it is necessary to devise a clear understanding of those feelings and their implications. Join AK Thompson (Co-Editor of Spontaneous Combustion: The Eros Effect and Global Revolution [SUNY Press, 2017]), Kazembe Balagun (Staff Person, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, New York), and Kelli Korducki (Author of Hard To Do: The Suprising, Feminist History of Breaking Up [Coach House Books, 2018]) as we get to the heart of the matter.

This panel will discuss the renewed Jewish Left, especially its focus on Diasporic Jewish renewal, action and materialism.

The entire left is struggling towards a coherent electoral strategy. On the one hand, many committed activists continue to feel they must vote for 'progressive' Democrats. On the other, a huge segment of newly radicalized fighters for social change have become totally disillusioned from electoral politics altogether. Perhaps there is a third way. Hear different perspectives from activists who have run or are running electoral campaigns independent of the Democrats and join a discussion on how the movement can make a definite break with the parties of big business.