Latest from MarxistEconomics.com

[Faceless]

Hello Comrades,
recently the MarxistEconomics.com website was officially launched recently to help develop the next generation of marxist economists and to more generally spread marxist economic ideas and counter the ideologies of bourgeois economists. The site will be updated with new courses and study guides. The next course will be a reading course to help comrades study Capital. Sign up now!

MarxistEconomics.com has been set up by supporters of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT). Information on our views and activities can be found on the website In Defence of Marxism at: http://www.marxist.com

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. Quiet 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.

[Antonio Balmer]

Economics are key. Every Marxist should try to grasp Marxist economics in order to understand the anatomy of capitalism and know what is required of socialism. I mean the production of wealth and organization of the producers etc. Studying Marxist econ like the labor theory of value and the works is great because those tools expose the exploitation that runs this society. If we can grasp these concepts we can pass them on. They are so valuable. They shatter Bourgeois ideological notions of "individual freedom" in the "free market". Workers produce all the wealth of our world, but the ruling class gets the fruits of the labor because they own the means of production. www.marxisteconomics.com is a great resource for students at all levels. For beginners there is a great section laying out basic economic concepts. For more advanced students there are study guides for Marx's Capital. I would urge students of Marxism at all levels to take time to visit the site. Also if there are any comrades who dig youtube, there is a well-read young marxist economist who produces excellent videos all about Capitalism and its inner-workings. Check out the channel of brendanmcooney. Or search kapitalism101. It's another great resource.

[Joshua Purcell]

Not sure how many here are aware of this, but the best resource I have found up to this point on Marx's Capital can be found at the following website:

http://davidharvey.org/reading-capital/

This site contains links to recordings of Professor Harvey's lectures on volume 1 of Capital by Marx. Harvey has done research on the other two volumes but I don't know if he has a lecture series on them (and the associated recordings). These recordings go over the concepts of each chapter in a very straight-forward manner, and the format makes it easy to use wherever you are (in the car, at work, home, etc.). Professor Harvey gives reading assignments to his class, so if you haven't read Capital before (or need to refresh what is going to be covered in the upcoming lecture) then it would be best to do so, but honestly it isn't needed to understand the lectures because the concepts are fleshed out very well during the lecture. I highly recommend listening to these recordings.

Aside from that, I'm reading Alan Woods book title Reformism or Revolution which has multiple chapters on economics. Needless to say there is much overlap between what is covered in this book and the above recordings, and what is good about this is you see the same concepts being described but also being applied in different ways and being compared to different modern events. Professor Harvey seems to bring up the New York fiscal crises of the mid to late 1970s many times (among other events of course), but Woods mainly focuses on Latin American events since the book is also a rebuttal of an economic professor who focuses on Latin American issues. I recommend buying the book, but you may also read it online at the following location:

http://www.marxist.com/reformism-or-revolution.htm