Education for socialist-republicans

Karl Marx

I’m involved in the little collective behind Redline blog.  While a chunk of what Redline produces uses specifically New Zealand examples, because that’s where it’s based, it also runs educational material that is relevant to anti-capitalists everywhere.  Below are a few pieces.

What is Marxism?

What is exploitation?

How capitalism works – and why it doesn’t

4,000 words on Capital

Karl Korsch on “tremendous and enduring” impact of Marx’s Capital (1932)

Marx’s critique of classical political economy

Capital, the working class and Marx’s critique of political economy

Capital and the state

How capitalist ideology works

Pilling’s Marx’s Capital: philosophy, dialectics and political economy

How capitalism under-develops the world

The political economy of low-wage labour 

See also the document from éirígí:
From socialism alone can the salvation of Ireland come

The evidence versus yet more Ann Matthews’ smears of Constance Markievicz

I’ve stuck up several pieces so far which indicate how Ann Matthews is pursuing a vendetta against Constance Markievicz, one which plays fast and loose with facts.

Here’s yet another place where what Matthews dishes up is at best highly questionable and, in fact to put it bluntly, most likely untrue.

For instance, Matthews’ Renegades asserts that Markievicz did very little in Liberty Hall during the lockout other than flounce around making a show of herself.

Well, here is some testimony from Louie Bennett, a leading figure in the Irish labour movement for many years.  Bennett was a suffragist wh0 got involved with the radical end of the labour movement at the time of the 1913 lockout and subsequently played a leading role in the militant Irish Women Workers Union.  Here she is talking about how she secretly started going to Liberty Hall during the lockout:

“At that time I belonged to the respectable middle class and I did not dare admit to my home circle that I had run with the crowd to hear Jim Larkin, and crept like a culprit into Liberty Hall to see Madame Markievicz in a big overall, with sleeves rolled up, presiding over a cauldron of stew, surrounded by a crowd of gaunt women and children carrying bowls and cans.”  (Bennett talked to R.M. Fox about her life and this provided the basis for his 1958 book on her, Louie Bennett: her life and times, p42).

This suggests Markievicz worked hard in the soup kitchen and was not some dilettante who only appeared when photos were being taken, as suggested by O’Casey and picked up by Matthews.

Moreover, Matthews is highly selective about providing context.  If she wants to

Protest the water tax with the anti-capitalist bloc

From éirígí:

A Chara,

Just under two years ago, on October 11th 2014, up to 100,000 people took to the streets of Dublin in opposition to the introduction of a regressive domestic Water Tax. Since then hundreds of thousands more people have joined the anti-Water Tax movement. Countless protests, the mass boycott of Irish Water and widespread opposition to water meter installations have forced the temporary suspension of the Water Tax – but it has not yet been defeated.

This Saturday will see thousands of people taking to the streets of Dublin once again to demand the permanent abolition of this unjust tax. There is little doubt that the Fine Gael-led government will be paying close attention to the turnout on Saturday. A big turnout will leave Enda Kenny and his cronies in no doubt that opposition to the Water Tax remains as strong as ever.

Éirígí is therefore asking you to attend the Right 2 Water protest on Saturday if you possibly can.
We are also asking you to encourage your family, friends, neighbours and workmates to also attend. Together we can secure the first victory in the battle to end the