(This educational material has been prepared as part of the course “The Political Economy of Capitalism”)

6. How the value of a commodity is determined.

We have established that the exchange value of a commodity is its ability to be exchanged for other commodities in a certain quantitative proportion. Let us suppose that a known quantity of a commodity, 20 kg of grain, is exchanged for a certain quantity of another commodity, 10 m of canvas. Naturally, the question arises: why exactly for 10, and not for 15 or for 5 m? What are the proportions of exchange based on? Continue reading →

(This educational material has been prepared as part of the course “The Political Economy of Capitalism”)

12. The Law of Value.

The law of value is the economic law of commodity production. Like any economic law, it is objective and does not depend on the will and consciousness of people. According to the law of value, the production and exchange of goods is carried out according to the socially necessary labor input. Continue reading →

Materialism and Idealism are opposite ways of understanding every issue.

Materialism and idealism are not two abstract theories about the nature of the world, of little concern to ordinary people engaged in practical activities. They are opposite ways of understanding every issue, and consequently they express different approaches to these issues in practice and lead to very different conclusions from practical activity. Continue reading →

Lesson 1: “Dialectical Materialism – the Worldview of the Working Class”.

Partisanship and Class Philosophy

Philosophy usually refers to our most general conception of the nature of the world and of humanity’s place and purpose in it, i.e., to our worldview.

Since all people have a worldview, it follows that all people also have their own philosophy, even if they have never learned to reason about it. Every person is influenced by certain philosophical views, even if he or she didn’t think them through and cannot formulate them clearly. Continue reading →

First of all, let me quote a few words about the essence of crises in capitalism: “Capitalist crises are crises of overproduction. A crisis shows itself first of all in the fact that commodities cannot be sold, since they have been produced in quantities greater than can be bought by the main consumers—the mass of the people—whose purchasing power is confined under capitalist relations of production within extremely narrow limits. “Surplus” goods encumber the warehouses. The capitalists curtail production and dismiss workers. Hundreds and thousands of enterprises are closed down. Unemployment increases sharply. A great number of petty producers are ruined, in both town and country. The lack of outlet for the goods produced leads to disorganisation of trade. Credit connections are broken. The capitalists experience an acute shortage of money for payments. The exchanges crash-the prices of shares, bonds and other securities fall headlong. A wave of bankruptcies of industrial, commercial and banking concerns sweeps forward.” (K. Ostrovitianov, “Political Economy,” 1954). Continue reading →

For those of our comrades who have already recognized the need to study Marxism-Leninism, there is often a choice as to how exactly approach the study of Marxist theory.

There are several ways one can do that. Continue reading →

Having met passive resistance from working people against “quarantine” and house arrest up until now, the fascists threaten us with emergency measures, i.e. implementing “the state of emergency” in big cities and in the whole country. Obviously, such regimen will allow the fascists to carry on the behest of the Tsar’s general Trepov who famously said “Do not spare bullets!”

Of course, it’s best to fight the fascist emergency with our own proletarian emergency, we have to respond to the fascist white terror by implementing red terror. But we’re not quite there yet. Continue reading →