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Announcing a new series of discussions beginning in March... 
 
THE DIALECTIC OF MARX'S C A P I T A L  AND TODAY'S GLOBAL CRISIS 
 
AT EACH NEW CRISIS POINT and period of transition, Marx's work has taken 
on new importance. This remains so today. The 150th anniversary of the 
Communist Manifesto has led to new discussions of Marx worldwide, with 
workers and intellectuals feeling a shock of recognition over the 
importance of Marx for understanding today's globalized capitalism. 
 
The economic meltdown in East Asia, Russia, and parts of Latin America and 
the possibility that it might spread to the entire world economy has 
likewise led to renewed interest in Marx's greatest theoretical work, 
Capital. However, many of these discussions have viewed Marx without 
regard for the dialectical philosophy and humanism which informed all of 
his work. 
 
This series of meetings takes a different approach, by exploring Capital 
in light of Hegel's dialectic and the freedom struggles of our time. We 
aim to speak to a new generation of thinkers and activists who are 
searching for an alternative to both "free market" capitalism and the 
state capitalism that once called itself Communism. Returning to Marx's 
Capital with eyes of Hegel's dialectic can open new doors to projecting a 
concept of a new, human society which is demanded by today's forces of 
liberation. 
 
THESE MEETING CENTER ON READINGS of select chapters of Capital, as well as 
writings on it by Raya Dunayevskaya, the founder of Marxist-Humanism in 
the U.S. The philosopher Louis Dupri once said of her, "I doubt whether any 
commentator since Jean Hyppolite has succeeded better in a Hegelian 
reading of Capital." To help explore the dialectical underpinnings of 
Capital, the readings also include her "Rough Notes on Hegel's Science of 
Logic," which are being published over four issues of News & Letters. 
 
Each meeting will consist of brief presentations followed by free and open 
discussion. No prior knowledge of Capital or the work of Marx and He gel 
is necessary. Admission is free. Copies of all reading material, as well as 
a list of supplemental readings by various thinkers on Capital, is 
available from News and Letters Committees. 
 
For a syllabus and a schedule of classes, contact the News and Letters 
Committee nearest to you (See below). 
 
CLASS 1        ////// 
 
THE ORIGIN OF CAPITAL: MARX'S RE-CREATION OF HEGEL'S DIALECTIC 
 
This meeting discusses the origin and development of Marx's Capital, and 
especially the impact of the Civil War in the U.S. and the struggle for a 
shorter working day upon the restructuring of his greatest theoretical 
work. We will explore how, instead of placing limits on what Marx called 
"the power of abstraction," his integrating of revolutionary subjects into 
his analysis of the law of motion of capitalism helped unchain the power 
of revolutionary thought itself. 
 
 
CLASS 2        ////// 
 
THE PHENOMENON OF CAPITALISM: THE COMMODITY-FORM 
 
This meeting focuses on the most difficult, controversial, and important 
chapter in Capital-"The Commodity." Of foremost importance, especially in 
light of today's high-tech, fully commodified society, is the section "The 
Fetishism of Commodities." The readings for this meeting can greatly aid 
comprehension of the fundamental phenomenon of capitalism which contains, 
in embryo, the whole of its contradictions. 
 
 
CLASS 3        ////// 
 
THE ESSENCE OF CAPITALISM (I): THE LABOR PROCESS 
 
This meeting focuses on the essence of capitalism- the labor process and 
on the production of what Marx called "absolute surplus value." We will 
explore such aspects of Capital as the chapter on "The Working Day," which 
is where Marx also discusses the conditions and struggles of working 
women. 
 
 
CLASS 4        ////// 
 
THE ESSENCE OF CAPITALISM (II): THE LABOR PROCESS AND THE TRANSFORMATION 
OF THE VALUE OF LABOR POWER INTO WAGES 
 
This meeting continues the focus on the essence of capitalism, the labor 
process, by exploring what Marx called "relative surplus value." It also 
takes up Marx's theory of wages, one of his three original contributions 
to the critique of political economy, along with the split in the concept 
of labor and the treatment of surplus value independently of profit. 
 
 
CLASS 5        ////// 
 
THE NOTION OF CAPITALISM: THE ABSOLUTE GENERAL LAW OF CAPITALIST 
ACCUMULATION 
 
This meeting focuses on the absolute general law of capitalist 
accumulation- the concentration and centralization of capital at one pole 
and the socialization of labor at the other, from which spring "new 
passions and new forces for the reconstruction of society." In exploring 
the "Absolute" of capitalist society, this meeting also has us return, on 
higher ground, to chapter 1 of Capital itself. 
 
 
CLASS 6        ////// 
 
THE LOGIC OF CAPITALIST CRISIS: OVERPRODUCTION, 'UNDERCONSUMPTION,' OR 
MARX'S CONCEPT OF THE TENDENTIAL FALL IN THE RATE OF PROFIT? 
 
This meeting focuses on the dialectic and humanism of Vols. II and III of 
Capital, which has long served as the arena of debate in the radical 
movement over the cause and consequences of capitalist crisis, the 
relation between capitalism and imperialism/racism, and the kinds of human 
relations needed to transcend class society. 
 
 
>>CHICAGO<< 
All classes on Sundays at 6:30 p.m. 
News & Letters Library, 59 E. Van Buren St., Room 707, Chicago Loop. 
Call  312 663 0839 
 
Class 1  March 14 
Class 2  March 28 
Class 3  April 11 
Class 4  April 18 
Class 5  May 2 
Class 6  May 16 
 
 
 
>>NEW YORK<< 
All classes on Sundays at 6:30 p.m. 133 West 4th St., parlor of Parish 
House of Washington Square Church, between Ave. of Americas (6th Ave.) and 
Wash. Sq. Park (near all trains) Call  212 663 3631 
 
Class 1  March 21 
Class 2  April 4 
Class 3  April 11 
Class 4  April 25 
Class 5  May 9 
Class 6  May 23 
 
>>SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA<< 
Call  510 658 1448 
 
>>DETROIT/FLINT<< 
Contact News & Letters, P.O. Box 27205, Detroit MI 48227 
 
>>MEMPHIS/MISSISSIPPI<< 
Contact News & Letters, 1910 Madison Ave, #59, Memphis, TN 38104 
 
>>LOS ANGELES<< 
Contact News & Letters, P.O. BOX 29194, Los Angeles, CA 90029 
 
 
News and Letters Committees / NEWS & LETTERS 
59 E. Van Buren Ave., Room 707, Chicago IL 60605, USA 
www.newsandletters.org 
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