Introduction to Revolutionary Socialism, A Study Group
First Session : What Is Socialism?
Revolutionary Socialism, An Introduction:
https://medium.com/@sleigh1917/revolutionary-socialism-an-introduction-aee313a586d1
Why the Working Class, Hal Draper:
https://socialistworker.org/2012/09/14/why-the-working-class
Where Does Profit Come from? What is Exploitation?:
Supplementary Readings:
Socialism Needs Democracy, Democracy Needs Socialism:
https://firebrand.red/2023/06/socialism-needs-democracy/
Socialists and Rank and File Strategy:
Socialists and the rank-and-file strategy
Study/Discussion Questions:
1. What do people commonly mean when they think of “socialism” today? How are you coming to understand it, based on these articles?
2. How do we know the state isn’t just a neutral arbiter between the capitalists & the working class?
3. What is state capitalism?
4. How do we get from “here” to “there”? Why does winning seats in the bourgeois state come up short?
5. What other institutions can/do the working class turn to?
6. Why is socialism the “self-emancipation of the working class”? Why is the working class the force that can bring about socialism?
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Second Session: How Do Marxists Fight Oppression?
Marxism and Oppression:
https://isreview.org/sites/default/files/pdf/09-marxism-oppression/index.pdf
Lessons of the new Black Freedom Struggle:
https://socialistworker.org/2016/02/17/lessons-for-the-new-black-freedom-struggle
Supplementary Articles:
Native Liberation : https://isj.org.uk/turtle-island/
Study/Discussion Questions:
1. What are some examples you can think of that show the alienation and division within the working class? What are some counter-examples?
2. Why is the working class “the one class in society with a material interest in challenging all forms of oppression”?
3. How does the working class get divided under capitalism? What stands in the way of the members of the working class recognizing their common interests and uniting?
4. How are systems of oppression, such as white supremacy and patriarchy, related to the system of exploitation (capitalism)?
5. What is the author’s critique of privilege theory?
6. Why do some members of the working class accept reactionary ideas, even if these ideas contradict their material interests? How can this dynamic be overcome?
7. What is class struggle, and how does participating in the struggle lead to greater consciousness by the working class?
8. Why is revolutionary organization so important for the class struggle?
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Third Session : Revolution
Firebrand articles on Electoralism:
Chile 1973, Was Victory Possible:
https://www.leftvoice.org/chile-73-was-victory-possible/
Supplementary Readings:
What Kind of Abolitionism?,
Study/Discussion Questions:
Why is revolution necessary to bring about socialism?
1. What is revolution?
2. What have been the results of attempts to use reform to achieve socialism?
3. What is the attitude of Marxists toward elections?
4. Why do Marxists oppose support to Democratic Party candidates?
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Fourth Session : Internationalism
Firebrand Articles on Palestine:
Marxism and Nationalism:
https://medium.com/@sleigh1917/notes-on-marxism-and-nationalism-b7849b63aa9a
The Path to Socialism Requires Border Abolition:
Supplementary readings:
Lenin and Bukharin on Imperialism:
Study/Discussion Questions:
1. Why did Lenin support the Right of Nations to Self-Determination?
2. Why do Marxists have a different attitude to the nationalism of the oppressed compared to the nationalism of the oppressor?
3. Does any support for nationalism contradict internationalism?
4. What are the internationalist obligations of workers in imperialist countries?
5.Why do Marxist oppose immigration controls and borders?
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Fifth Session: Why We Need A Revolutionary Party
What Is A Vanguard Party?:
https://socialistworker.org/2012/07/20/what-is-a-vanguard-party
In Defense of Revolutionary Organization, Firebrand.Red
https://firebrand.red/2023/06/in-defense-of-revolutionary-organization/
Party and Class, Chris Harman
https://www.marxists.org/archive/harman/1968/xx/partyclass.htm
Study/Discussion Questions:
1. What’s the social democratic view of the relationship between party and class?
2. How were Rosa Luxemburg’s ideas different from the ideas of social democrats like Kautsky? How does she relate the “conservative” role a party can play to the “spontaneity” of the masses?
3. How are Trotsky’s ideas similar to Luxemburg’s? What are his arguments in support of his distrust of centralized organization?
4. How do Lenin and Gramsci’s thought acknowledge the problems identified by Luxemberg and Trotsky but also move beyond them? What is the role of the party in relation to the working class?
5. How is the Bolshevik (Leninist) conception of the party distinct from the social democratic and Stalinist conceptions?
6. Why is it undesirable for the Leninist party to become the state after capitalism is overthrown? What is the role of the party to the masses during revolution?
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Sixth Session : SRS/ Firebrand Political Tradition
Firebrand Points of Unity:
Firebrand and The Revolutionary Left:
Supplementary Readings:
The Two Souls of Socialism, Hal Draper :
https://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1966/twosouls/
Should Socialist Groups Unite?
https://medium.com/@sleigh1917/should-socialist-groups-unite-0e0ca34d0c37
Study/Discussion Questions
1. What is the difference between Socialism from Below and Socialism from Above?
2. Why are Stalinism and Social Democracy examples of Socialism from Above?
3. What is Ultra-Leftism?
4. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Trotskyism ?
5. What should be the basis of unity among Marxists?
