Basic Marxism, Concepts of Historical Materialism
Introduction to the dialectical and materialist concept of history
Introduction
- Marxism between past and future
- On materialist dialectics
- The problem of “historical materialism”
1.Dialectics : from Hegel to living Marxism
- a.Hegel : dialectics and history
- b.Engels and Marx, critics of Hegelian dialectics of history
- c.Marxist traditions
- i.“Diamat”
- ii.Negative dialectics
2.Some problems of “historical materialism”
- a.The Introduction to A Contribution to the critique of political economy
- b.The material basis : nature and economy
- c.Social classes and the complexity of social formations
- i.Class struggle
- ii.Gender
- iii.On “Races” and nationalities
- d.The State and Power
- i.About State Power
- ii.Micro- power
- e.Ideology
- i. “Conscience as a reflection” and “utopian conscience”
- ii.Capitalism as seduction
In order not to conclude
Readings
- A few fragments from Hegel on the importance of method
- Excerpt from Karl Marx, Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy (1859) – in Marx and Engels Selected Works, Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1969
- Excerpt from Engels to C. Schmidt (October 27, 1890)in Marx and Engels Selected Works, Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1970
- Excerpt from Friedrich Engels, 'The part played by labour in the transition from ape to man' – in Engels, Dialectics of Nature, Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1954
- Excerpt from Fréderique Vinteuil, 'Marxism and feminism' (translated from Critique Communiste, spécial Marx, 1983)
- Excerpts from Michel Foucault, 'On power' (1976) — translated from Foucault, Dits et écrits 1954-1988, Paris: Gallimard, 1994
- Francisco Louça, 'Tides of change: culture in historical perspective' (IVP no. 322, June 2000)