This is an anti-capitalist blog looking at contemporary popular culture and news through the lens of Marxist theory. Probably some boring poems n shit too.
Because it increasingly seems like the core is indeed crumbling, a common theme of the blog will be the decline of the Western Empire and the possible end to its economic and cultural hegemony.
Despite years of extremely well funded anti-communist propaganda, Marx’s work remains extremely influential and highly relevant. It extends far beyond realm of political ideologies and revolutionary movements. Many people influenced by the work of Marx utilize his theories in categorizing and understanding the world as a pure academic act. His work remains significant (and should be viewed as increasingly so) in fields like philosophy, sociology, economics, geography, literary and film criticism, etc. That said, the most important thing to me about Marx’s work is that he believed in the potential for humans to build a better world, and during his life he was not only an academic but a political activist.
Obviously many people, arguing in bad faith (including your racist uncle), decry as Marxism any cultural development or progressive political movement they simply don’t approve of (also see here). These people often equate leftism and liberalism. They are not the same. Many people don’t understand the very basics of what Marxist theory is and what Marxists may believe simply because it’s not discussed honestly in schools. For most of us in the Global North, it’s likely that your only engagement with Marxism was possibly reading an assigned section of the Communist Manifesto in high school or in a philosophy 101 course (and then, if you are in the US, your teacher likely regurgitated some horseshoe theory bullshit and put a History Channel documentary).
Not being an academic or expert myself, I hope to make this stuff pretty accessible. I’m no genius, and I’m not going to pretend to be one, so if I can understand these concepts and engage with them, so can you. I intend to embed lots of links to articles and short videos explaining and introducing basic Marxist concepts within these articles. My hope is that I can write clearly enough that if you don’t know much about Marxism, and the many schools of thought that emerged from it, you will be able to quickly understand the terms as you read through these posts by utilizing the links. However, my aim is not to create a comprehensive introduction to Marxism as I don’t think I’m up to that task. This blog is largely a way for me to continue my own education. As I continue to read theoretical texts, listen to podcasts, consume the news, etc. I’ll be posting here.
If you are totally new to leftism (<–please click on this link if you believe that anyone currently in the Democratic Party is a leftist) and/or Marxism, a few helpful links and book recommendations are below. But, as I mentioned above, my hope is that you’ll be able to understand my posts without being an “advanced” Marxist (I mean, I’m not, and that whole concept is asinine, classist, and pretentious as hell anyway). If you want to understand Marxism, obviously it is probably best to read what Marx wrote himself, but admittedly, it’s not always the most accessible text. Engels was a bit more clear and straightforward in his writings but if you’re not accustomed to 19th century writing there are references and phrases that can be confusing. Nevertheless, Marxism at this point does not just consist of what Marx and Engels wrote, as it now has a very rich history of people continuing to develop, engage with, and critique his work, such as the thinkers of the Frankfurt School.
Anyway, what follows is not an exhaustive and comprehensive list of Marxist theory, merely some recommended sources.
Basics of Marxism and Marxist Economic Theory
- Fundamentals of Marxism—RevLeft Radio/Red Menace (podcast)
- Red Menace and RevLeft Radio have great content, highly recommended
- A People’s Guide to Capitalism–Hadas Thier (book, highly recommended)
- The Principles of Communism–Engels
- An Intro to Marxian Economics–Richard Wolff (YouTube)
- Reading Marx’s Capital—David Harvey (video series)
- An Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory–Ernest Mandel
Essential Continuing Theory
- Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism–V.I. Lenin
- Also check out the Red Menace episode about the text
- The PSL has an excellent collection of writings relating Lenin’s text to the present
- The State and Revolution–V.I. Lenin
- Red Menace episode about the text
Contemporary Theory and History
- Capitalist Realism: is there no alternative?–Mark Fisher (pdf)
- Blackshirts and Reds–Michael Parenti (pdf)
Films
- Marx Reloaded—Jason Barker
- Prolekult–Prolekult is a Marxist film, writing and culture platform based in Birmingham, England. The purpose of the project is to provide high-quality film content looking at world politics, culture and economics from a Marxist perspective. They are fantastic and these are their full-length documentaries:
- Modern Times–Charlie Chaplin
A Marxist blog about the increasingly failing systems that Capital uses to control and manage the empire.
A blog about the interests of a reasonably sane autodidact.
Questions, hot-takes, and wild speculations.
In this crumbling core 