This new website is now operational. Set up by
supporters of the International Marxist Tendency, it is intended as a service
and an educational tool for the entire labour movement.
The website sets out Courses, Information and Resources.
You work through the Courses, which are really at the
heart of the educational project. At present there are two Courses – ‘Basic
Concepts and Ideas’ and ‘Looking at Value.’ More are promised. There are
hotlinks to definitions within the Courses.
There are already signs of interaction and questioning
among the first users. There is a section. ‘Latest posts.’ Feedback is
welcomed.
There are classic texts handy. There are links to sites
many of our supporters may be unaware of – statistical websites for instance.
So MarxistEconomics.com can be used as an integrated tool for research.
Several features will be of immediate interest. Under
the ‘Individual Topics’ there are links to useful articles grouped by subject.
There is no doubt the amount of material posted will
grow and improve in content. We welcome this website as an important
contribution to education in Marxism
Here is what they say about themselves:
The MarxistEconomics.com website has been designed to
provide courses, information and resources to promote the study of Marxist
economics (more correctly called ‘Marxist political economy’). We therefore
welcome the input by all those seeking to learn about Marxist economics and who
wish to contribute to its promotion, wider understanding and development.
Everyone in today’s society is constantly bombarded with the
ideas of capitalist economics (also known as orthodox economics and
neo-classical economics). We are indoctrinated with ideas that accept this
particular economic understanding. These ideas are everywhere around us: in
newspapers, TV programmes, Hollywood movies, and the very language that we
use.
It is rarely that you hear about Marxist economics, you will
for example, not find it in the school curriculum of countries around the
world; in the UK’s Advanced Level economic qualification, US High School
Diplomas or the International Baccalaureate. Nor is it seriously studied at
undergraduate level.
But this is not because Marxist economics has no validity in
terms of understanding economic systems and society. Quite the contrary, we
would argue that it is the ideas of the pro-capitalist neo-classical economics
which often rest on mysticism basing itself on self-defined truisms.
Marxist political economy, as a subject, is part of a wider
body of ideas generally known as Marxism with which it forms an integrated
whole. It was originally developed by Karl Marx as a means of understanding how
capitalist society worked. But both in its origins and in today’s society it
cannot be separated from political ideas and an understanding of capitalism as
a society of exploitation, which is also an arena of class struggles.
