Matthew Strauss

It's an amusing thing to run across a professor of philosophy who urges socialists...not to read. Trust me, you claim, there's nothing there. This from someone who has not read what I have, or understood it. Ok, that's kind of useless. Not a very convincing argument though...

Hey, if you've got all the answers, great! You are welcome to them! It must feel nice to have it all worked out in advance, by experts even!

Marx said that in order to change the world, you have to understand it. Trying to change it while not reasoning it through well is just blindly stepping forward with no clear idea.

read yes. But Marxists are required to DO something with the information, processing what is happening today. How does one DO what Marx is doing in Capital, with the information today? Common sense or basic reason won't cut it. Knowing how to reason it through is what dialectical training imparts.

I get the feeling my reading Hegel to understand Marx better is threatening to you. Interesting...

You can argue that too, sure. But you'll sound like a priest before the reformation who insisted the Bible could only be read by other priests, not the congregation.

Hegel reorganized philosophy so that people could actually use it, apply it to the sciences. Marx's Capital is filled with its applied hallmarks, from the structure, the relationship between individual examples and universal categories. Marx says as much in the text.

short reply: Marxists need dialectical training, or their socialism is just received dogma, like a religion. You have to be able to reason through what happens today in order to know what to do as a socialist. Trying to apply Marx's writings like metaphor to current history is poor reasoning.

Never take the word of secondary sources when you can read it directly. Even Marx and Lenin in this case are secondary. Marxism leaves little room for dogma.

Having actually read Hegel and understood what he's doing, I can't agree. Go read Houlgate to get the gist, he's the best guide in.

Knowing Hegel makes it plainer, but readers don't need to know Hegel to read Capital, where Marx says quite plainly the connection between the working class and capital's structure is key. He shows his work to prove it there; he doesn't just say 'Marxism is right'; he does the math.

How can one talk about capitalism AS a system w/o the necessary organization of the information? Without that, you couldn't logically draw the conclusion that the working class was the lever. You could assert it, many did previously. But scientifically show it? That requires more than mere assurance

Systemization of information is the #1 contribution of Marx&Engels' work in making communism a scientific discourse. They learned it from Hegel. Don't trust any 'Marxist' work that claims 'system', 'whole', 'totality' is easily dismissed in favor of another criteria. I cannot stress this enough.

ICC court issues arrest warrant for Israeli war criminal Netanyahu The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Binyamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for “crimes against humanity and war crimes”.

ICC court issues arrest warrant for Israeli war criminal Netanyahu

👇Israel's leaders are war criminals—and so are their backers

socialistworker.co.uk/palestine-20...

Kollege Ingo Stützle vor die Foto-Linse gezwungen, direkt vor unserer Marx-Engels-Werke-Wand (noch viel breiter als hier)

Ingo Stützle, der bei uns die MEW-Edition betreut (und Fotos gern meidet), ist am Mi 20.11., 21:00 zu »Die Diktatur des Monetariats« bei Radio LORA München zu hören. Über Marx & Engels, Kapitalismuskritik und wie man als Marxist:in in die Zukunft geht: lora924.de/2024/11/11/m... — tune in 😘

Oh, the irony. 🤣

Meme with side by side pictures of Marco Rubio and RFK, Jr, labeled “Marco” and “Polio.”

Who made this? Ahahaha

MarxistArchaeologist - Twitch Co host of the Left Opposition Podcast https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/theleftop

If you want to watch us record live and join us in the chat, please follow us on Twitch!

twitch.tv/marxistarcha...

New Zealand’s parliament was interrupted by Maori politicians who performed a haka to protest against a vote on a contentious new bill affecting Indigenous Maori rights.

BREAKING: Trump names Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead Department of Government Efficiency (“DOGE”)

trump nominates man accused of sex trafficking, statutory rape, and sexually harassing one of his own white house aides to be the attorney general

Great to get such lovely response to the free screenings of NYE on YouTube. Glad you enjoyed. X

The cast of SCANDAL are doing a reunion & script reading to raise money to support WNC recovery from Hurricane Helene. You can join them and even take part yourself! Links below.
unitedwaync.org/scandalread
prizeo.com/scandal

Image of Antonio Gramsci on a red background with the text “The old world is dying away, and the new world struggles to come forth. Now is the time of monsters.”

It certainly is the time of monsters. Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will.