This week is beginning our discussion of the Marxist Tradition. Marx and Engels theorize the source of the State as irreconcilable class antagonisms -- that is a class struggle between Capitalists and the Working Class. Lenin builds on the basic structure of Marx and Engels's argument by developing an abstract theory of the Capitalist State and Capitalist Democracy. For Lenin, the Capitalist State and Capitalist Democracy is full of contradictions -- on the one hand, Capitalist Democracy is the best shell to contain Capitalism, and on the other hand, it has the potential to unfurl and deepen class struggle -- thus ushering in an era of Revolution. For Lenin, the Capitalist State cannot be reformed -- it must be smashed. We currently live in an era of deepening class tension and struggle (rising inequality in many forms); State and Society seem locked in perpetual crisis. Read the following articles and think about how Lenin's theory would explain it? Given our reading of Lenin and the contradictions of Capitalist Democracy, how might Lenin interpret the politics of 2021?
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/opinion/democrats-senate-reconciliation.html (链接到外部网站。)
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/04/us/politics/biden-stimulus-senate-vote.html (链接到外部网站。)
https://www.npr.org/2021/02/16/968460116/what-is-i… (链接到外部网站。