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<div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bostonsocialism.org/2012/04/april-11-19-revolutionary-ideas-of-karl.html"><b><span style="font-size:24.0pt;">The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx</span></b></a></div>
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<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal"><i>I am referring to
ruthless criticism of all that exists, ruthless both in the sense of not being
afraid of the results…and being just as little afraid of conflict with the
powers that be. </i></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal">—<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/letters/43_09.htm"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1333906762_0">Karl
Marx</span></a></div>
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<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal">Marx dedicated his life to the struggle for a world free
from all forms of domination and exploitation. This world would have a single
governing principle: “from each according to their ability, to each according
to their need.”</div>
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<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal">But he wasn’t a dreamer. What separated him from previous
philosophers and socialists was that his ideas had practical application in the
struggles of workers. He spent his days studying the world in which he lived to
better understand its internal contradictions and equip all those who would
challenge it with tools for understanding and transforming it. Instead of
looking for a wealthy benefactor to build socialism out of the goodness of his
heart, Marx saw in the working class the ability to collectively overthrow
capitalism and replace it with socialism. “The philosophers have merely
interpreted the world,” he wrote. “The point, however, is to change it.”</div>
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<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal">Marx believed, on the one hand, that oppressive systems
necessarily produce resistance from the oppressed, and on the other, that the
outcome of that resistance is not predetermined. In his own lifetime, the
central question was: what kind of society will replace dictatorships the world
over? Consistently, Marx argued that that “democracy,” for the working class,
isn’t just about the ballot box, it’s about direct control over all aspects of
how a society runs, not delegation of that responsibility to a wealthy elite.</div>
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<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal">Today, as right wingers declare war on women and the Supreme
Court okays strip searches in any and all police detentions, we see the
outrageous consequence of a deeply bigoted and backwards society in the murders
of Trayvon Martin and Shaima Alawadi. Our so-called representatives would
prefer that we consider these incidents unfortunate and isolated, but too many
people find too much that is familiar and predictable in them.</div>
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<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal">As millions of people begin to identify and fight against injustice
today, we need to go through a similar process to that which Marx went through.
We need to identify how deep the problems go, because that can help us identify
how deep the solutions must go and reject quick fixes offered up by politicians
who want as little to change as possible.</div>
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<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal">Join us for a discussion with Ashley Smith of Karl Marx’s
revolutionary ideas as part of a national tour supporting the reissue of <i><a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/The-Revolutionary-Ideas-of-Karl-Marx">The
Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx<span style="font-style:normal;"> by Alex
Callinicos</span></a></i>. </div>
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<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal">As often and emphatically as the ruling class declares him
irrelevant, just as often are his ideas being rediscovered.</div>
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<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;" align="center"> </div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4"><b>Four Opportunities</b></font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4"> </font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4"><b>Wednesday, April 11</b></font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">9:00pm</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">Harvard University</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">Science Center, room 112</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4"> </font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4"><b>Thursday, April 12</b></font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">7:00pm</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">Jamaica Plain</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">Haymarket People’s
Fund</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">42 Seaverns Avenue</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">Orange Line to Green
Street</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4"> </font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4"><b>Thursday, April 19</b></font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">3:30pm</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">UMass</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">Campus Center</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">3rd Floor Ballroom C</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4"> </font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4"><b>Thursday, April 19</b></font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">7:00pm</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">Dorchester</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">Codman Health Center,
Basement</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">637 Washington St.</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4">Red Line to Shawmut</font></div>
<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><font size="4"> </font></div>
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<div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">Hosted by the Boston International
Socialist Organization</div><div class="yiv100716468MsoNormal" style="text-align:center;" align="center"><a href="http://www.bostonsocialism.org/2012/04/april-11-19-revolutionary-ideas-of-karl.html">http://www.bostonsocialism.org/2012/04/april-11-19-revolutionary-ideas-of-karl.html</a><br></div>
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