International Communist Study Group

Greetings friends and comrades.

Thank you to everyone who attended on Sunday. For our next meeting we will discuss Mao Zedong's classic text 'On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People'. This should be an exciting meeting comrades. We hope to see you all there. Please feel free to invite friends who you think will be interested in attending. The meeting will take place on Sunday 11th April at 06:30PM UK time, 07:30PM Netherlands time, and 12:30 US time.

Just copy and past the links below to access the text and the Zoom meeting.

Mao's 'On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People' https://www.marxists.org/.../select.../volume-5/mswv5_58.htm

Zoom Invite link - https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81691785495...

Meeting ID - 816 9178 5495
Passcode - 469992

Comradely
Joe

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One of the most important Trotskyist organisations was the US Socialist Workers Party, which played a leading role in the Fourth International. Many of their internal party meetings, political education seminars, and speeches were recorded. The Encylopedia of Trotskyism has done a brilliant job of making these recordings available. Even if you're not a Trotskyist, it is worth listening to some of these excellent recordings. One can hear a great level of passion and commitment to socialist revolution, and a fairly high level of theoretical consistency. We recommend the SWP's 4 hour debate on the nature of Yugoslavia, the lectures of Tom Kerry, and the thoughtful seminars of Theodore Edwards. All of it is available here:

https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/audio/index.htm

Holt Labor Library Collection Audio Index George Breitman    Peter Camejo    James P. Cannon    Bob Chester    Farrell Dobbs    Theodore Edwards [Edmond Kovacs]    Fred Feldman    Gerry Foley    Joseph Hansen    Asher Harer    Tom Kerry    Robert Langston    Ernest Mandel    George Novack    Larry T...

Omdat wij het over Mao gaan hebben bij onze volgende bijeenkomst raden we dit artikel van Alex de Jong aan. Het is een recensie over een nieuw boek over het Maoisme.

https://www.sap-rood.org/de-tegenstrijdige-erfenis-van-het-maoisme/

De tegenstrijdige erfenis van het maoïsme Vijftig jaar geleden, tijdens de Culturele Revolutie was een afgelegen Chinese regio, het district Dao in de provincie Hunan, het toneel van bruut geweld. In enkele weken tijd werden duizenden mensen vermoord. De meesten werden doodgeknuppeld waarna hun lichamen in rivieren gegooid werden. Ondertuss...

One of the finest works on the Marxist theory of the state is Göran Therborn's 'What Does the Ruling Class Do When It Rules'. In this unknown masterpiece, Therborn engages in a kind of comparative analysis of state systems in feudal, capitalist, and socialist countries. This is one of the few books that seriously examines the state structure of the USSR, the GDR, and other Eastern European socialist states. Building on the experience of the Chinese and Cuban revolutions, Therborn argues that the best form of state organisation under socialism is a system of cadres. Cadres are connected to the masses through participation in productive labour, mass organisations, and residence in proletarian neighbourhoods. Our group plans to study this work in the future.

https://www.versobooks.com/books/292-what-does-the-ruling-class-do-when-it-rules

In this short documentary made in 1972, Belgian Marxist Ernest Mandel discusses his views on capitalism, working class organisation, Stalinism, and the socialist future. For the members of the ICSG, Mandel remains one of the finest Marxist writers from whom much can be learned. We plan to conduct a thorough study of his work in the coming months.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoMli8VQTAU

Ernest Mandel Speaks! A Man Called Ernest Mandel (1972) Ernest Mandel Speaks! A Man Called Ernest Mandel (1972) an interview with Frans Buyens with English subtitles. Revolutionary Marxist and leading intellectual...

We want to organise a small group meeting of 5-7 people on Zoom to read a longer book rather than an article. This would be spread over a few meetings and could be combined with text discussion on Discord. Some suggestions are:

Trotsky: a Study in the Dynamic of His Thought-- Ernest Mandel

What Does the Ruling Class Do When It Rules- Goran Therborn

State, Power, and Socialism--Nikos Poulantzas

Intellectual and Manual Labour- Alfred Sohn-Rethel

The Theory of Monopoly Capital- John Bellamy Foster

If there is a book length work you would like to discuss, you can make suggestions in the comments.

Als je morgen deel wilt nemen in de vergadering van de ICSG kan je Trotski ook in het Nederlands lezen. Hier is de tekst die we morgen gaan bespreken. De meeting is Engelstalig, maar je mag rustig Nederlands spreken en dan vertalen wij naar het Engels. Wij hopen iedereen morgen te zien.

https://www.marxists.org/nederlands/trotski/1929/1929permanente_revolutie.htm

Leon Trotski (1929): Wat is de permanente revolutie? Basisstellingen Nederlandstalige elektronische uitgave van Leon Trotski (1929): Wat is de permanente revolutie? Basisstellingen.

The ICSG promotes the study of Marxist texts and communist history. We prefer an open approach to Marxism, which involves principles derived from Marx and Lenin, but is open to a variety of traditions. In the past, we have studied the New Communist Movement in Britain and the United States, the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Marxism in Israel-Palestine, and the history of socialism in the USSR and the GDR.

Ideologically, we prefer to study a wide variety of texts while adhering to the core teachings of Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, and Mao. In the past, we have conducted studies of the work of Poulantzas, John Smith, and Althusser. Our goal is make Marxism a living tradition that inspires radical political action rather than a hollow dogma. We also plan to study socialist feminist works by Maria Mies, Angela Davis, and Kirsten Ghodsee in the near future.