Reading Capital With Comrades

Dive into the intricate world of commodities as explored through Marx's lens. Discover the fascinating concepts of use-value and exchange-value, revealing their complex interdependence. The discussion critiques bourgeois notions of autonomy, uncovering the social relations embedded in commodity exchange. Get insights into the fetishism of commodities and how it shapes human desires. Lastly, glimpse Marx's vision of a collective future, emphasizing solidarity over profit in the face of capitalism's contradictions.

We begin our study of Capital, vol. 1 by discussing what it means to read, study, and apply the book as comrades in the struggle for socialism in the U.S. today. We situate our reading within the struggle to not only popularize and give definition to socialism, but to establish Marxism as the guiding theory of struggles. Next, we cover some of the history and context of the book and finally examine the Prefaces and Afterwords by Marx and Engels, we introduce the form, content, methodology, and context of Capital, vol. 1, paying particular attention to Marx’s method of abstraction. Articles mentioned in the episode: Theory and revolution: Addressing the break of ideological continuity https://liberationschool.org/theory-and-revolution-addressing-the-break-of-ideological-continuity/ What is dialectical materialism? An introduction https://liberationschool.org/what-is-dialectical-materialism-an-introduction/ Contact us with questions or feedback at ReadingCapital@LiberationSchool.org