Karl Marx had a keen interest in developments in the U.S. “His revolutionary optimism spilled across the Atlantic” writes Vijay Prashad. “He followed the Civil War closely, hoping that it would trigger a social revolution” says Prashad. Both he and Frederick Engels developed a keen understanding of the political and economic aspects of the struggle to consolidate the U.S. nation in the midst of efforts to tear the country apart at its seams.
These issues are chronicled in a webinar led by Andrew Zimmerman who recently edited a new edition of the Civil War in the United States. In the webinar Zimmerman emphases the importance of these writings for thinking about race, class, and revolution today. The American Civil War so profoundly shaped Marx and Engels’s understanding of social revolution and international politics that it marks a watershed in the history of communism as much as it does in the history of the United States.
The webinar is a must see for students of class, race and black liberation in the U.S.
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The Communist Party USA is a working class organization founded in 1919 in Chicago, IL.
The Communist Party stands for the interests of the American working class and the American people. It stands for our interests in both the present and the future. Solidarity with workers of other countries is also part of our work. We work in coalition with the labor movement, the peace movement, the student movement, organizations fighting for equality and social justice, the environmental movement, immigrants rights groups and the health care for all campaign.
But to win a better life for working families, we believe that we must go further. We believe that the American people can replace capitalism with a system that puts people before profit — socialism.
We are rooted in our country's revolutionary history and its struggles for democracy. We call for "Bill of Rights" socialism, guaranteeing full individual freedoms.
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