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The effects of the capitalist crisis are being felt at every level of society. As reported in a Time
magazine article in April, this also includes the preservation of
historical sites. As the cash-strapped European states race to cut
public spending and slash budgets, the historical achievements of
mankind crumble under paltry allotments for cultural preservation.
We will deal with the tendency of the rate of profit to fall in a future article, but for now it is sufficient to observe that the views expressed in Anti-Dühring represent the standpoint of both Marx and Engels, which, despite all the efforts of the revisionists to misrepresent them, was identical.
The theory of evolution represented a major revolution in modern science, forever changing how we view the natural world and our place within it. In this article, we look at how the theory of evolution has been developed since Darwin’s time, and the insights offered by the philosophy of Marxism.
“What did Marx mean by the contradictions of capitalism?” asks Samuel Brittan, the right-wing economist writing in the Financial Times. “Basically, that the system produced an ever-expanding flow of goods and services, which an impoverished proletarianised population could not afford to buy. Some 20 years ago, following the crumbling of the Soviet system, this would have seemed outmoded. But it needs another look, following the increase in the concentration of wealth and income.”
I learned of the death of Arthur Deane
last Saturday, as I was on my way to the National Conference of
Socialist Appeal. It was a sad moment for me and brought back many
memories of my early days in the Trotskyist Movement.
Modern scientific research has
identified the major physiological, neurological, and genetic
differences between humans and our biological ancestors. In particular,
it has been found that the human brain is qualitatively different in
terms of the development of the parts of the brain that control abstract
reasoning, social behaviour, and manual abilities.
One of the great classics of Marxism
is the book by Frederick Engels entitled ‘The Origins of the Family,
Private Property and the State’. Engels applies the method of historical
materialism to this earliest period of pre-history to uncover the past.
As a contribution to International Women’s Day, we are republishing in
two parts an article by Mary Hansen and Rob Sewell which examines this
question.
Alan Woods contrasts the ideas and methods of Marxism with those of anarchism, focussing on questions like revolutionary leadership, spontaneity, and the state.
The crisis of capitalism is
accompanied by a crisis of bourgeois thought: philosophy, economics,
morality – all are in a state of ferment. In place of the earlier
optimism that stated confidently that capitalism had solved all its
problems, there is an all-pervading mood of gloom. Not so long ago,
Gordon Brown confidently proclaimed “the end of boom and bust”. After
the crash of 2008 he was forced to eat his words.
Five years ago today comrade Phil
Mitchinson passed away tragically at the age of 38. Phil was an
outstanding Marxist and a leader of the International Marxist Tendency.
He also edited the Socialist Appeal for a period.
“We are all Keynesians now.” So said Richard Nixon, the Republican and former President of the USA, in 1971. Forty years later, it seems that John Maynard Keynes is back in fashion, especially amongst the leaders of the British Labour movement. The reformist leaderships of the Labour Party and the trade unions cling to the Keynesian idea that the economy can simply be “stimulated” back in growing. But as the Marxists have explained before, the current economic crisis is not just part of some boom-and-slump, but is an organic crisis of capitalism, and growth cannot simply be created at will.
Whilst chatting with students at Worcester University, I was presented
with a flyer for a production of The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
that night in the university, an opportunity not to miss. However my
expectation of a theatrical interpretation of this socialist classic by
just two actors was very low but this was blown away as soon as the
performance began.