Far from being a neutral force standing above society, Marxists understand that the state is a tool for the suppression of one class by another. In this talk from the recent Marxist Student Federation summer school, Fiona Lali discusses the origins of the state, and refutes the views of the reformists and anarchists on this question.
In this excerpt from the ‘New Course’ – which was the opening shot in the Left Opposition’s struggle against Stalinism – Trotsky takes up the question of the Leninist method of understanding the world. This advice retains its full relevance for communists today.
On this day 85 years ago, Leon Trotsky was brutally attacked by a Stalinist assassin. He died the following day. This short obituary summarises the breadth of Trotsky’s marvellous contributions to humanity: as a theoretician, as a journalist, and as a working-class fighter.
In this episode of Marxist Voice, Joe Russell discusses Marx’s completion of the Labour Theory of Value.