This webinar discusses the four articles published by Karl Marx between 1848 and 1850, in which we see the great theorist of revolution grapple for the first time with a revolution as it is unfolding. In these essays, Marx traces the emergence of the “bourgeois republic” and the nature of class struggle under capitalism, paying close attention to the actual and perceived interests of the middle class and the role of a constitution in class and democratic struggle. While some of his predictions were inaccurate, his insights provide a framework for thinking about the need for political independence of the working class and the role of class struggle as the fundamental motor of social change.