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Marxism and the Fundamental The seven lectures presented here represent a milestone in the revival of classical Marxism in the international working class. They were delivered at the Socialist Equality Party International Summer School, held in Sydney, Australia from January 3 to 10, 1998, the first such international symposium organised by the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), the world Trotskyist movement. The central premise guiding these lectures is that an answer to the burning issues of the day -- growing social inequality, deepening economic crisis, the decline in the cultural level of society and the prevailing political paralysis in the workers' movement -- is bound up with examining and assimilating the great strategical lessons of the 20th century. Presented over eight days by leading members of the ICFI, as well as the Russian Marxist historian, Professor Vadim Rogovin, the lectures were not only the product of protracted theoretical work. They were exciting, insightful, original and thought-provoking. Each presentation highlighted the existence of an alternative to the great betrayals of Stalinism, social democracy and the nationalist movements: the struggle for genuine Marxism undertaken by Leon Trotsky and the Fourth International. We encourage all readers of the WSWS to e-mail your comments and questions to editor@wsws.org The lectures include:
The seven lectures presented are also available for purchase online in an attractive pamphlet format from www.mehring.com. |
The Significance and Implications of Globalisation By Nick Beams Full text of lecture [115KB] The globalisation of production has prepared a new period of social revolution. This is the inevitable outcome of the vast changes in the structure of world capitalist economy over the past two decades -- the culmination of processes stretching back over 200 years. The Aesthetic Component of Socialism By David Walsh Art expresses things about life, about people and about oneself that are not revealed in political or scientific thought. To become whole, human beings require the truth about the world, and themselves, that art offers. Castroism and the Politics of Petty-Bourgeois Nationalism By Bill Vann Did the political strategy advanced by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara provide a new road to socialism or did it turn out, as the ICFI warned 35 years ago, to be a blind alley and a trap for the working class? Marxism and the Reform and Revolution in the Epoch of
Imperialism Stalinism in Eastern Europe: the Rise
and Fall of the GDR |