Tag Archives: Theory

3. Economic laws

1604(This educational material has been prepared as part of the course “The Political Economy of Capitalism”)

3. Economic laws.

In society, as in nature, there are no isolated phenomena. All phenomena in the economic life of the society are interconnected and depend on one another.

For example, in the USSR the means of production – factories, plants, land – were the property of the whole people. Therefore, the relations between the people in the process of the production of material goods were characterised as relations of cooperation and mutual assistance. In turn, these relations conditioned the socialist character of the distribution of the results of production – in proportion to the labour invested in the common cause by each member of Soviet society.

It is a different matter under capitalism, where factories and plants are privately owned. Continue reading

2. Social production

2616679This educational material has been prepared as part of the course “The Political Economy of Capitalism”.

2. Social production.

We know that there are many different sciences. Some study nature – physics, biology, zoology, botany, etc. And others study human society – history, literature, etc.

Each of these sciences studies a particular aspect of society. There are many such sides. But the leading role in the life of society is played by the relations that arise between people in the process of production of material goods. Continue reading

25. The universal law of capitalist accumulation

Worker Working In Cement Industry Image(This educational material has been prepared as part of the course “The political economy of capitalism“)

25. The universal law of capitalist accumulation

The accumulation of capital means above all the growth of capitalists’ wealth. As capitalism develops, as production expands, so does the number of the working class. But capitalist production develops in a contradictory manner. On the one hand, there is a growing demand for labor, and on the other hand, there is a huge surplus of it in the form of an army of unemployed. What is the cause of this phenomenon? Continue reading

16. How surplus value is created

China-Coal-Energy-Coal-Mining(This educational material has been prepared as part of the course “The Political Economy of Capitalism”)

16. How surplus value is created.

So, the sale and purchase has been accomplished: the worker “voluntarily”, of their own free will, has sold their labor power, the capitalist has bought this commodity at the labour market in order to obtain surplus value in the process of consuming it. Continue reading

9. What is money and how did it originate?

ionianstriatedstater(The followng material has been prepared as part of the series “Political economy of capitalism. Basic course”)

9. What is money and how did it originate.

Before answering this question, let us remember Robinson Crusoe. All the things he saved after the shipwreck came in handy to him, all except… money. And how much effort he used to make to get it. And suddenly, when he found himself alone, the money had lost all value. “Unnecessary junk! – said Robinson of the coin. You’re not even worth bending over to pick you up off the floor.” Continue reading

Test your knowledge: Lesson 1 “Dialectical Materialism as the Worldview of the Working Class”

“Non-partyism is a bourgeois idea. Partyism is a socialist idea” (Lenin. Socialist Party and Non-Party Revolutionaryism. Collected works, 5th ed., vol. 12, p. 138).

The questions are designed in such a way that the first sentence of each question expresses the assignment, and the subsequent sentences specify it and are at the same time an approximate plan for answering the question. Questions written in italics and enclosed in parentheses are supplemental. Continue reading

Why is it important to master dialectical materialism?

A-CALL-TO-INACTION-The-battle-of-all-battles-to-stay-apart-together-4A communist needs dialectical materialism in order to understand correctly what is going on. Having mastered dialectics, he or she will not allow themselves to be confused by their enemies and will easily rebuff them, exposing the falsity and reactionary nature of their ideology. Dialectical materialism is a merciless shining sword that crushes to pieces all the arguments of obscurantists, reactionaries, hypocrites and slanderers. No tricks or sophistry can resist this sword. Continue reading