Hey folks. There are two types of questions about reading Karl Marx that you ask frequently here on Thesis Eleven, and I think it's important for us to address this also in a video, not only on Instagram stories, not only on Tiktok and other social media. So I'll do something a bit more complete.
On the one hand, there are those who question whether it is really worth reading Marx, if it makes any sense, if this is still relevant today, and it is quite common to hear out there that this is an old theory, that it has already been outdated. But on the other hand, there are also those who have understood the importance of Marxism to think and change today's reality, but they have doubts about how to do that. So in today's video, I'll address a little bit of that.
Let's go! [Vignette] Subtitles by André Gavasso (Leia Marxistas) The main thing about the relevance of understanding Max today is that Marx was not simply describing issues from his time, as issues that only those who wanted to understand that very specific moment would actually find interesting. In fact, Max and Engels built an analysis method based on a deep understanding of the history of human societies and the conflicts throughout history.
And this method allows us to understand what happened before, how it influences today, the present time, and how today, the present time, influences tomorrow, which makes us also think about the future. This is dialectical and historical materialism and here on my glossary playlist, there's an "M" of historical materialism to help you understand this. In addition to the fact that in my second book, "If You Want to Change the World", I also talk more specifically about dialectics which is an explanation that requires a little more attention, more caution.
That's why there's still no video about it here on the channel, but maybe I'll make one someday. By reading Marx and Engels, we see that when they talk about the emergence of capitalism, it doesn't emerge like magic, "off you go! " and then they founded Capitalism and Capitalism came into existence.
No! Before this, they analyzed the changes in social classes formation. They analyzed how the bourgeoisie emerged as a class, who were its enemies, how this changed local relations and allowed the use of raw materials, how the bourgeoisie established itself, how it became hegemonic in some places and then spread throughout the world.
And then they relate this to the establishment of industries and new technologies that also speeded up the production process and how it all impacted the division of labor, the areas of specialization, and expectations of efficiency and productivity in the work environment, and with all that, of course, how this innovated the way of exploitation of the worker and nature in this other system, in the capitalist system. Even before Marx wrote the first volume of Capital these considerations already existed, they were being developed. Even before Marx and Engels fully developed the method of historical and dialectical materialism, Marx was already coming very close to coherent analyzes of production and exploitation.
Engels also did a fantastic job at that part. And then we will realize that, for example, in the case of Marx, in his theft of wood analysis, we could already notice a bit of this and it is something that is also present in excerpts from the Paris manuscripts. There's a path here that follows the line of thought and analysis which begins with them and continues until today.
And specifically about the manuscripts, I participated in a live with Dimitra Vulcana, who also has sign language interpretation by our best interpreter, on the channel Doutora Drg and then I recommend you to take a look. But some people will say: "Okay, they analyzed things very well in their time but, wow, the world has changed a lot. The world is completely different in many aspects today.
There is climate change, we are dealing with artificial intelligence, there are billions of more people on the planet than before, not to mention the fact that many revolutionary experiences were defeated or swallowed up by capitalism, and for some people, it means that it makes no sense to insist on Marxism and on this Marxist way of viewing life and reality. But it makes perfect sense. A long time ago I made a video in defense of Marxism.
It was about how, yes, Marxism still applies today, and I've also criticized the idea that there isn't much else to do, that we would have no alternative to capitalism. So there are these videos here, but it is always worth reinforcing it. Capitalism changes, but it is based on some contradictions that are constant due to the thirst for capital accumulation.
One point is that capitalism needs more and more resources and that is why it reduces nature as a whole to this issue of resources, managing the resources that we are going to use. In some cases, it does this quite aggressively, promoting destruction everywhere and in other cases, it does this with some moderation to avoid collapse and social chaos as well or even to take profitable advantage from themes related to environmental issues. The other issue is that for big billionaires to exist a majority of people need to earn very, very, very little for their work in day-to-day life.
This generates a contradiction. Even with the achievements of workers struggles around the world, struggles that achieve better wages, more rights in some places and that are not things that good governments gave to the workers, it is the result of struggle, yes, we know that this is not generalized. And the best wages, the best wages are still very far from the life of the big bourgeois.
And then in the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels already signal that the middle class, well, is always at constant risk of living like the proletarians and not as the bourgeoisie, although ideologically, the bourgeoisie tries to sell this idea to the middle class. And today's ecological crisis, actually only accentuates the contradictions of an expansionist economic system, a system that really wants infinite growth in a finite resource reality. This, of course, leads us to pay attention to the discussion of metabolic rift, which is a very strong discussion within Marxist ecology.
And, of course, you can watch several videos here in Thesis Eleven about this because it is part of the ongoing work of the Marxist ecology and ecosocialist discussions. The general issue is that Marxism, besides being relevant today, is a line of thought that explains very well, in fact, what is happening, and then whoever wants to study Marxism, really study it, they can't do that without going back to the fundamental texts. One of my roles here in Thesis Eleven - and they are several ones, I wonder - but one of my roles here in Thesis Eleven is to facilitate this path because I know that most of the working class does not have the time, energy, and conditions to read all that stuff.
Political training can actually occur in many ways, both watching some videos here but mainly in the collective organization, of course. But I know there are people who are really interested in studying it, so they can't avoid reading Marx directly. And then you may not feel comfortable doing this directly, but following the content here, you can prepare well, I hope so and some works don't even require that much preparation.
So let's go to the second part of our video today which is how to start reading Marx. I'm not going to give you a complete script here, a little reading formula because, in reality, I believe that each person who is studying has their needs, has their own interests and this will influence their path. Me, for example, with my research interests I read much more often, going back to volume 3 of Capital or Dialectics of Nature by Engels, than some texts that are a little more historical.
But apart from this "specialist" part, there are basics. And then in the basics, I continue recommending, yes, to start with the Communist Manifesto. Almost every basic question about the principles of communism is actually already answered there, for example, the difference between private ownership of the means of production and what actually turns out to be consumer goods, all that stuff I discuss in my videos about iPhone socialists.
Speaking of which, there's kind of a Manifesto draft which is The Principles of Communism by Engels, and there is a reading live party I did about this text on the other site a long time ago, that I made also available here on YouTube. After reading the Manifesto my suggestion to you is to read the economical and philosophical manuscripts of Paris. And it is important to read it carefully because, in fact, they are Marx's notes.
It is not a completed and edited book. It was not written that way. After that, I would tell you to immerse yourself a little more in Engels texts and read The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.
It is a book that will present an interesting historical and social overview, and it reminds us that the analysis to understand the bourgeoisie, to understand capitalism, it's not just what happens exactly inside the factory. Considering the Brazilian conjuncture, reading the 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte makes perfect sense, and by reading it you may understand why. But, guys, I recommend you recycling a little bit of your knowledge of the French conjuncture at the time, which is what I did the first time I read the "Brumaire".
And I think it is really possible if you spend an hour on Wikipedia writing down some names, right, writing a few lines on paper to be able to use it as a reference, to check it out sometimes and better understand this mapping of classes and the political tensions at the time, all which will make sense when you read the text. But there is a lot there that you can use to understand our reality today. So I recommended three works here.
After that, read the Theses on Feuerbach which are very, very short, and, of course, the Theses on Feuerbach include, of course, thesis eleven. So it is very short and, of course, you can read them before, but although they are short, there's a lot between the lines, it has a dense content, there are things behind it. And to understand each thesis, I think it's important to really know what kind of analysis Marx was really proposing from that.
I really believe that "Brumaire" is essential to understand how to make an analysis based on thesis eleven. And then preparing yourserlf this way makes sense when you read, for example, the German Ideology. But here we have a much more complicated text that asks for much more context, that is denser.
So for me, this is a text that only makes sense reading if right after it, you are going to read German Ideology and then start reading Capital. So if you are not going to read Capital yet I would suggest you as an alternative to leave the German Ideology for later and read Poverty of Philosophy which is a polemic between Marx and Proudhon, and then read the introduction in A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. And then, yes, if you want to read the entire book, it is also good.
It is, for example, a text that I find very interesting to discuss the issue of money. Then you may say: "But, Sabrina, it is very difficult to study these works alone, I need some guides. What do you think about guides and what do you think about these reading guides?
". So I was very lucky, I was able to start these studies in groups and the classroom, and that's why there are a whole bunch of people who organize joint reading groups to help people read these texts. So Dimitra does this, folks on Leia Marxitas also do this, and, of course, there is also our Discord server which is going strong.
That's right, Thesis Eleven has a Discord server. So you can show up there because there is always joint reading going on too. And, about reading guide books, I'm not particularly against them.
I actually even find them a little interesting. So like these Capital reading guides, people always ask me about Harvey's guide, but you always have to read it having in mind that guides also contain specific interpretations of the authors of these guides. So just because some guide says something, it doesn't mean that this is necessarily true.
The guide exists to help you, to help you pave the way, but it doesn't exist to tell you what is the only possible interpretation. So be careful with this so you don't end up reading in a very biased way. Okay?
Always question everything. And so I'll finish it here. Leave a comment.
Tell me what you've read by Max and Engels, what you want to read, what you think is complicated, right, what are your challenges, and I'll see you soon.
