Bodies as a site of class struggle?
Submitted by Joseph Kay on Mar 24 2012 20:15
This is a short blog prompted by recent events in Brighton, as well as wider discussions I’ve been having about the (possible) relationship of austerity to gendered violence and oppression.
The American Road to Capitalism: Studies in Class-Structure, Economic Development and Political Conflict, 1620–1877
Most US historians assume that capitalism either “came in the first ships” or was the inevitable result of the expansion of the market. Unable to analyze the dynamics of specific forms of social labour in the antebellum US, most historians of the US Civil War have privileged autonomous political and ideological factors, ignoring the deep social roots of the conflict. This book applies theoretical insights derived from the debates on the transition to capitalism in Europe to the historical literature on the US to produce a new analysis of the origins of capitalism in the US, and the social roots of the Civil War.
The English working class - Tom Nairn
Submitted by Red Marriott on Feb 14 2012 23:27
"The passage of the early English working class from revolt to political integration is often explained solely by Britain's ascendancy as the first major imperialist power. In this essay Nairn focuses upon the political culture which British workers inherited from the British bourgeois class and argues that this was a crucial element in its domestication. Taking as his starting point Edward Thompson's pioneering and influential work The making of the English working class he seeks to demonstrate that 'history from below' must be complemented by a 'history from above'."
Formation of the Egyptian working class - Joel Beinin
Submitted by wojtek on Feb 3 2012 17:25
Joel Beinin on the formation of the Egyptian working class and episodes of class struggle thereafter from Muhammed Ali's dynasty (1805-1849) through to the mid 20th century.
VIRAL/FERAL – Working class youth and the “social media revolution”
An article by Deterritorial Support Group on the emerging utilization of social media and its potential for working class youth.
Occupy the class war
A member of Wild Rose Collective writes about how Occupy's '99% vs 1%' rhetoric is problematic and who in reality in includes and excludes.
Class struggle and this thing called the Middle East - Melancholic Trogladytes
A collection of articles on varied aspects of class struggle, history and culture in the region.
Struggle changes people
Submitted by Nate on Jan 6 2012 05:27
This article discusses the idea that the experience of struggle and direct action transforms people.
Wobblies and Zapatistas: conversations on anarchism, Marxism and radical history
Andrej Grubacic is an anarchist from the Balkans. Staughton Lynd is a lifelong pacifist, influenced by Marxism. They meet in dialogue in an effort to bring together the anarchist and Marxist traditions, to discuss the writing of history by those who make it, and to remind us of the idea that "my country is the world." Encompassing a Left libertarian perspective and an emphatically activist standpoint, these conversations are meant to be read in the clubs and affinity groups of the new Movement.
Workers, the state, and struggle
Submitted by Nate on Dec 13 2011 20:30
Article about the state and ways that struggles by workers sometimes reinforce capitalism.
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