Marxism Today, 20 Years Since Its "Collapse"
Felix Kreisel
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants welcome at individual sessions (series)
World capitalist order, established by the US at the end of World War II, has crashed and the United States is at the center of economic convulsions. Collapse of the Soviet Union and other so-called "socialist" states has exacerbated the rivalries among the advanced capitalist countries. The US is trying to reverse its long-term economic decline through frenetic military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere, and by exporting its crisis to competitors.
Web: http://wsws.org
Contact: x3-8625, fjk@mit.ed
Sponsor: Felix Kreisel, NW21-109, 617 253-8625, fjk@mit.edu
World Depression Made in America
Felix Kreisel
XX century was "American century" in the sense that the US was a dominant economic power, it underpinned world capitalism, stabilized and reinforced it. Today, the US acts as the most destabilizing element in the world economy and world capitalism has reached a critical turning point. Read: wsws.org
Tue Jan 4, 06-08:00pm, 6-120
From Tzar to Lenin - the Russian Revolution
Felix Kreisel
We shall look at the Russian Revolution of 1917 within the context of the international situation in the early 20th century. How did the revolution come about? What was the outlook and the program of the Bolsheviks? What alternative paths existed for Russia in 1917? Suggested reading: Trotsky's "History of the Russian Revolution" and "Permanent Revolution".
Tue Jan 11, 06-08:00pm, 6-120
Stalinism vs. Socialism
Felix Kreisel
We shall review the history of the Soviet state over its 74-year lifetime, examine its internal contradictions, great strides forward, huge victories and bitter defeats, Stalinist regime's crimes against its own people, and, ultimately, brilliant hopes dashed. We will look at the reasons for the collapse of the USSR and suggest its historic lessons. Suggested reading: Leon Trotsky's "The Revolution Betrayed".
Tue Jan 18, 06-08:00pm, 6-120
Capitalist Russia Today
Vladimir Volkov, WSWS reporter, St. Petersburg, Russia
What is the balance sheet of capitalist restoration in the former Soviet Union 19 years after its demise? While high oil and gas prices have propped up the regime and the energy export-oriented Russian economy, its overall health is fragile. We shall look at the trends in the economy and society, the ethnic wars and a drift to dictatorship in Russia and other successor states.
Tue Jan 25, 06-08:00pm, 6-120
Latest update: 10-Jan-2011
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