Socialism 201, Session 2: Marx’s Economic Theory

Date: May 14th

NYC-DSA's Citywide Political Education Committee is proud to present another round of Socialism 201.

Please join the Citywide Political Education Committee for the second session of Socialism 201 on Thursday, May 14, 7:00 – 9:00 pm, at the Brandworkers Office in LIC!

This course is open to everyone. There is no need to have attended the prior session or Socialism 101. There is no “required” reading. We will examine the ideas set out in the recommended readings, and if you have time, we encourage you to read them to get more out of the class discussion. However, everyone is welcome, and regardless of your familiarity with the readings you will find the discussion useful and illuminating.

This is session 2, examining the nuts and bolts of Marx’s analysis of capitalism, and the reading packet can be found here. Approaching Marx’s economic writings can feel daunting, given the length of Capital, Vol 1 (to say nothing of Vol 2 and 3!), and the unfamiliar terminology. Fortunately, Marx wrote several shorter pamphlets that present his analysis of capitalism in a more condensed and accessible way. We will read excerpts from “Wage Labour and Capital” that provide the skeleton key to Marx’s economic theory.

Objectives:

– Build a shared understanding about concepts like value, the nature of the commodity, surplus value, exploitation, and the origin of profit.
– Understand why Marx argues labor is the sole source of profit.
– Develop insight into how the everyday world of prices and wages obscures and ‘inverts’ the actual character of the underlying class relations
– Learn what it means for prices and wages to create a misrecognition of the real nature of the social world and our everyday lives.