Marx at 200

The year 2018 marks the 200th anniversary of Marx’s birth and the 170th anniversary of the Communist Manifesto. It also marks the 125th birth anniversary of Mao.

The said dates, especially Marx’s bicentennial, are increasing public interest in revisiting (and also debate on) Marxism and the history of the proletarian socialist revolution, in the wake of last year’s 100th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution and of Lenin’s two works on imperialism and state and revolution), the 150th anniversary of Das Kapital Vol. 1, and the 50th anniversary of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in 2016.

Such renewed interest and debate are fueled by the deepening crisis of global capitalism and the persistence of Marxist-led mass movements. Marx’s and Engels’ fundamental critique of capitalism and theses on scientific socialism have proven their extended validity further into the era of modern imperialism and world proletarian revolution.

Global capitalism has certainly evolved since the first issuance of the Communist Manifesto. But the basic tools of Marxist analysis have equally developed further and are able to explain more recent phenomena, making Marxism still very relevant. At the same time, new ideological challenges, distortions and attacks against Marxism have arisen in the past decades.

In this light, PRISM welcomes and monitors the initiatives and efforts of many revolutionary socialist and Left-progressive organizations, groups and individual personalities throughout the world in marking the 200th birth anniversary of the founder of Marxism, in upholding its legacy and continuing validity in the 21st century, and in using it as practical guide for today’s class struggles especially by workers and peasants.

PRISM will be particularly interested in helping produce and disseminate long-term education and propaganda materials on Marxism for mass activists especially of the working classes. #