Karl Marx was born 205 years ago today, on May 05, 1818. Friedrich Engels published this biography of Marx in 1869, while Marx was still alive [1]. In 1868, Engels submitted an earlier version to Die Gartenlaube, a magazine focusing on teaching history in accessible...
The history of the “Communist Manifesto”
Travel with The People's Forum through a time machine to when the Communist Manifesto was written! You will learn about the political and economic forces that made writing the Manifesto not only possible, but necessary. This text created international and timeless...
The Communist Manifesto: A working-class guide to changing the world
Editor's note: We're republishing this article, originally posted in 2008, in advance of the 175th anniversary of the publication of the Manifesto of the Communist Party in celebration of Red Books Day. The Communist Manifesto stands among the most well-read books of...
Value, price, and inflation: Immediate and structural causes
Introduction Every working person is keenly aware that prices are up. Nasty surprises and disbelief keep turning up at the register. People are being forced to forgo even the most minor and seemingly harmless comfort purchases, adding to the accumulation of the...
Marx’s writings on Asia: A sober assessment
Introduction Throughout most of recorded history, Asia has been the wealthiest region in the world. The riches of Asia attracted people from around the Old World, as exemplified by the travels of figures like the Venetian Marco Polo or the North African Ibn Battuta,...
Studying society for the working class: Marx’s first preface to “Capital”
Introduction In the preface to the first edition of volume one of Capital, dated July 25, 1867, Marx introduces the book’s “ultimate aim": “to lay bare the economic law of motion of modern society” [1]. Looking back 155 years later, it’s clear the book not only...
The root causes of the attacks on reproductive rights: A Marxist analysis
Editor's introduction: Women’s History Month is a time to recommit ourselves to the unfinished struggle for women’s liberation, and this year it is even more crucial than ever. The conservative leaning Supreme Court is considering gutting or even overturning Roe v....
Clarifying the struggle for socialism: Webinar on Marx’s “Capital”
Editor's introduction: The following webinar, originally held on March 26, 2022, features several Liberation School comrades who were involved with our Reading Capital with Comrades podcast and other activities. The webinar was organized by the International Manifesto...
Clarifying and inspiring revolution for 130 years: Marx’s “Critique of the Gotha Programme”
Karl Marx never intended to spell out what the communist future would look like or how we would get there. His writing that comes closest to doing this is a short letter he wrote in 1875, given the title Critique of the Gotha Programme. Published 130 years ago—in...