Skip to content

Starter Study Guide

Jump to bottom
Talan Saunders edited this page Dec 8, 2022 · 1 revision

Tags:

#UnderConstruction, #Import, #Socialism,#

*Notes:

*UNDER CONSTRUCTION please forgive me for any issues or imperfections

*Version:

V-0.1 2022-11-28 @DrEagleTalon

Socialism Starter Study Guide Resources and Discussion Questions

Introduction

'Socialism', in addition to being the name of the mode of production that follows and displaces capitalism, is an umbrella term. The r/socialism community encompasses many different strands within the socialist movement. While the different tendencies may agree on much, there are also perspectives, tactics and areas of emphasis that are in contradiction with oneanother. You will briefly encounter these debates within this starter pack.

Yet there is nothing to be lost by studying arguments you disagree with. In fact, important conclusions often crystallise in the heat of debate. This starter pack only aims to provide an introduction to socialism, and therefore only includes a brief glimpse, rather than an in-depth study, of how different socialist orientations emerge, diverge, clash, and intersect.

The following introductory videos and readings will dispel some common myths about socialism and introduce the basic terms and concepts that are necessary for understanding socialist literature. If you find you are having difficulty with these concepts, r/Socialism_101 is always available to answer your questions. Theory informs our positions, and history teaches us how to learn from the present. Above all, organize, and apply what you learn about the world in order to change it.

 

  1. Marxism 101 - Richard D. Wolff. (video)

  2. Crisis and Openings: Introduction to Marxism - Richard D. Wolff. (video)

  3. The ABCs of Socialism - Jacobin Magazine. (pamphlet) ^[or ^buy ^it ^here]

  4. Principles of Communism - Frederick Engels. (essay)

  5. Part I: 'Utopian Socialism' from Socialism: Utopian and Scientific - Frederick Engels. (essay) ^[audiobook]

 

Questions | View sample answers

1a. Briefly explain the difference between Marx's materialism and Hegel's idealism.

1b. What is capitalist exploitation? Why do capitalists hire workers?

2a. Complete this sentence: "Surplus value (profit) is the difference between wages and _________"

2b. What effect does a "labour surplus" (or in Marx's terms, the 'army of reserve labour') have on wages?

3a. What is the difference between the "welfare state" and socialism?

3b. What is the 'special role' of workers in capitalist society that places them at the centre of socialist theory and strategies?

4a. What makes someone proletarian? Is a doctor proletarian?

4b. Has there always been a working class? Why or why not?

5a. Why were the earliest socialists “Utopian”?

5b. In what way did Saint-Simon's conception of class differ from Engels’ idea of nobility, bourgeoisie and proletariat?

5c. Engels heaps praise on Saint-Simon, Fourier and Owen. What exactly does he credit each of them with having achieved?

Political Economy

 

  1. Capitalism and Surplus Value - Richard Wolff. (video clip)

  2. Value, Price and Profit - Karl Marx. (speech/essay)

  1. Estranged Labour - Karl Marx. (essay)
  1. Advanced and Applied Marxian Economics - Richard Wolff. ^[session ^2]

 

Questions | View sample answers

1. Why is it impossible to be paid "what you're worth", as Wolff puts it?

2a. What factors influence the rate of circulation of money?

2b. What ultimately determines the level of wages?

2c. What is the difference between value and price?

2d. What is meant by 'socially necessary labour time'?

2e. What is 'necessary' labour time? What makes it increase or decrease?

2f. How is the value of a service determined? How can 8 hours of service labour be worth more than the employer pays out in wages?

2g. In an unregulated labour market, with no trade unions, what would happen to wages?

2h. What do we mean by “Abolition of the Wages System”? How would people live without wages?

3a.“Political economy proceeds from the fact of private property. It does not explain it.” What does Marx mean by this?

3b. Why is it that a worker becomes poorer, the more wealth she produces?

3c. Why is a worker alienated, not just from the product of her labour, but from herself? And is this true of all workers?

3d. Why does emancipation of the working class mean “universal human emancipation”?

4a. Describe the relationship between industrial capitalists and 'money lending capital' (banks). Why is it crucial?

4b. How do banks undermine this relationship with industrial capital and what is the result?

4c. Explain how the creation of a surplus in domestic labour partially subsidises capitalists.

Philosophy

 

An introductory talk by John Molyneux offers an overview of the differences between bourgeois philosophy and Marxism, and briefly explains its applicability to working class struggle. In Chapter II of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, Engels gives a historical account of the development of Marx's dialectics (also referred to as "dialectical materialism" or "materialist dialectics"), and explains its relationship to its philosophical predecessors. A short section from Capital explains commodity fetishism and its implications for capitalist society, and selections from an essay by Thomas Weston explain two crucial components of materialist dialectics: the unity of opposites and contradiction.

r/Socialism does not necessarily endorse any organisations mentioned in the materials.

 

  1. An Introduction to Marxist Philosophy - John Molyneux. ^[0:0:0 ^to ^0:35:20 ^only] (video)

  2. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, Chapter II: 'Dialectics' (book chapter; 3072 words)

  1. Capital, Chapter 1, Section 4: 'The Fetishism of Commodities and the Secret Thereof' (book chapter; 4441 words)
  1. Selections from Introduction to Marxist Dialectics: The Unity of Opposites and Contradiction (essay; 3128 words)

 

Questions | View sample answers

1a. Why do the ruling/exploiting classes tend to believe that the world is a product of their ideas? Why would a "philosophy of the working class" need to view the world in material terms?

1b. Explain Molyneux's statement that "what is moral in class society is what serves the interests of the working class".

1c. "Marx's entire critique of capitalism collapses when you replace the working class with other groups such as 'the precariat' or 'the multitude'." Why is this the case?

2a. What is dialectics?

2b. What is the difference between the dialectics of the ancients and the dialectics of Hegel?

2c. What is the problem with the dialectics of Hegel?

2d. What did Engels mean when he said that modern materialism “no longer requires the assistance of that sort of philosophy which, queen-like, pretended to rule the remaining mob of sciences”?

3a. What does Marx mean by the “fetishism of commodities”?

3b. According to Hegel and Derrida, all social production entails “alienation”. Does Marx agree with Derrida and Hegel in this, and if not why not?

3c. In what sense is this crucial to understanding bourgeois ideology and individualism?

4. Under construction

The State and Private Property

 

  1. Selections On Private Property from 'Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts' - Karl Marx

  2. The State and Revolution, Chapter 1 - Vladimir Lenin

  3. On the State and Law from ‘Karl Marx: Selected Writings in Sociology and Social Philosophy’ - Karl Marx, ed. T. B. Bottomore and Maximilien Rubel

 

Questions | View sample answers

1. Under Construction

2a. What does Marx mean by the antithesis between property and lack of property being established by private property itself?

2b. What are the three forms of communism Marx enumerates?

2c. What does Marx mean by communism as the negation of negation through the intermediary of private property?

3a. Lenin says the function of the State is to “moderate” irreconcilable class antagonisms. Give some historical or contemporary examples of the state "moderating" these antagonisms.

3b. How does it follow that because the state arises out of class society, the destruction of the state apparatus is necessary?

3c. Why is a democratic republic with universal suffrage the best method of bourgeois rule? Best from whose point of view?

4a. Marx says that, in bourgeois society, “privilege has been replaced by right”. What does he mean by this?

4b. Explain Hegel’s analysis of land ownership as described by Marx. How does Marx refute it?

4c. Why was it possible for Quételet to predict crime rates in France accurately? How does this reveal the nature of punishment?

Theory of History

 

  1. Introduction to Historical Materialism [Part I] [Part II] - Marxism Today (videos) [00:17:40]

  2. Historical Materialism from ‘Socialism: Utopian and Scientific’ - Friedrich Engels Audiobook [00:54:12]

  3. Extracts from The German Ideology - Karl Marx. Audiobook [00:30:55]

 

Questions | View sample answers

  1. What is “the motor” of history?
  2. Are there stages in history? What determines them?
  3. What is the role of individuals in history?

GRSM and Women's Liberation

 

Questions

Racism and Nationalism

The articles for this study group aim to give firstly a general introduction to the concept of racism from a Marxist/socialist perspective. The articles by Kim and Bohmer draw upon examples in which racist ideologies manifest themselves and reveal how they relate to the broader class contradictions in society. Bohmer’s article places racism in an economic context by touching upon its relevance with regard to labour markets and employment. The last two articles by Miles and Balibar shed light on the tight relationship between racism and nationalism by providing historical analyses ranging from Nazism, Colonialism and the British Nationalist sentiment expressed by the Conservative Party under Thatcherism.

  1. Racism Today - Iggy Kim in Racism and Capitalism (2009)

  2. Marxist Theory of Racism and Racial Inequality - Peter Bohmer (1998)

  3. “Recent” Marxist theories of nationalism and the issue of racism - Robert Miles

  4. Race, Nation and Class, Chapter 3: Racism and Nationalism pp. 30-65 - Etienne Balibar

 

Questions |

1a. What does the author define as the aim of “The Ideology of Race”?

1b. How does racism enforce the timelessness of capitalism?

1c. In what way does racism “nurture” the more privileged workers of First World?

2a. What does the author claim to be the central insight of a Marxist analysis of racism?

2b. Relate the Marxist concept of “primitive accumulation of capital” to racism.

2c. From a U.S. perspective, briefly summarize the historical events that have led to post-slavery racism.

2d. Explain the capitalist “benefit” of racism in terms of managing labour and employment during general economic cycles.

2e. Adhering to the theory of Segmented Labour Markets, what are the 3 distinct labour markets and what is the consequence in terms of racism?

2f. What are the general shortcomings of class-based approaches to racism?

3a. Describe the two varying views on racism and nationalism that the author wishes to argue against.

3b. Name the three characteristics that racism and nationalism have in common.

3c. Why did the theorization of the “nation” lead to specific political projects in contrast to the theorization of the “race”?

3d. Describe “New Racism” and explain the critiques the author presents to this theory.

3e. What concluding remark does the author make on racism and nationalism in the context of the British Conservative Party on the Falkland Islands conflict and in general?

4a. According to the author, what are the advantages of a thesis which claims that racism is the determining condition of nationalism?

4b. The author reviews a couple of distinct racisms:

  • Theoretical vs. spontaneous racism
  • Internal vs. external racism
  • Auto-referential vs. hetero-referential racism
  • Institutional vs. Sociological racism
  • Eradicative (elimination) e.g. Nazism vs. oppressive (exploitation) e.g. Colonial Racism

4c. In reviewing these typologies of racism, what conclusion does the author draw for racism as a whole? (page 40)

4d. What are the consequences of viewing racism as a present social relation shaped by the past with regard to Anti-Semitism and Colonial racism?

4e. According to the author, what is the single dilemma confronting the concept of nationalism? (page 50)

4f. Explain why the connection between racism and nationalism requires the dialectics of the unity of opposites.

4g. How is racism constantly emerging out of nationalism and vice versa? (page 56)

Struggle and Reformism

 

Questions

The Revolutionary Party

 

Questions

Fascism

 

Questions

Revolutions

 

Questions

  1. Was October 1917 a coup or a revolution?
  2. What role does a revolutionary party play?

Art, Culture and Ideology

 

Questions |

[View sample answers]

 

More Resources

General

  • Communist Interventions Vol. 1: European Socialism and Communism
  • PDF, ePub, Mobi
  • Important texts are in bold

Political Economy

Philosophy and Morality

Property and the State

Theory of History

GRSM and Women's Liberation

Racism and Nationalism

Struggle and Reformism

The Revolutionary Party

Fascism

Revolutions

Further Study

Links

Go To our SubReddit!

Make sure follow all Rules and Guidelines of our SubReddit r/SocialismAndCommunism here as well.

Clone this wiki locally