SIDSA and SIU YDSA Marxism School

Name: SIDSA and SIU YDSA Marxism School
Start: 2025-09-06T11:00:00-05:00
Location: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Schedule

Sat, 06 Sep, 2025 at 11:00 am

UTC-05:00

Location

Southern Illinois University Carbondale | Carbondale, IL

September 6 at SIU Student Center (ROOM TBA)
Join Southern Illinois DSA and SIU YDSA to discuss the ideas we need to change the world — around class struggle, socialist feminism, queer Marxism and anti-racism.
Note: Readings are suggestions. Everyone is welcome regardless of whether they are able to do the readings.
Session One: The Communist Manifesto (11am - 12:30pm)
All history is the history of class struggles. Workers have the power to overthrow capitalism and create a truly democratic and egalitarian society, as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels outlined in their pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto. Join us to discuss how their arguments apply to today’s world.
Suggested Reading: Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto (1848). More suggested readings on our website.
Lunch (12:30pm-1:30pm).
RSVP for lunch by emailing us at [email protected].
Session Two: Socialist Feminism and Queer Marxism (1:30pm-3pm)
Sexism and gender norms are as old as class society; although those “norms” changed dramatically over time and in different societies. Capitalism depends on heterosexism to make sure that working-class families — especially women — maintain current and future generations of workers. This privatized “social reproduction” of labor is key to capitalist profits and exploitation. Working-class liberation, women’s liberation, queer and trans liberation are bound together.
Suggested Reading: Tithi Bhattacharya, “What is Social Reproduction Theory?” (2013). More suggested readings on our website.
Break (3pm-3:30pm)
Session Three: Marxism and Black Liberation (3:30pm-5pm)
Capitalism and racism are intertwined — especially in the United States (a colonial-settler state founded on slavery and genocide). Racism was invented, in large part, to “justify” the slave trade, and continued after abolition to allow the capitalists to exploit Black and other non-white workers more than white workers, and to pit workers of different “races” against each other. Racism has also been central to the colonial and imperialist wars of countries like the United States. Ultimately, capitalism can’t be defeated without destroying racism, and racism can’t be defeated without destroying capitalism.
Suggested Reading: Keeanga Taylor, “Race, Class and Marxism” (2011). More suggested readings on our website.
September 7 at Carbondale Township Hall (217 E. Main Street, Carbondale, IL)
Dinner and Movie: Finally Got the News (5pm-7pm)
A classic documentary about the League of Revolutionary Black Workers — organizers of a rank-and-file struggle in the Detroit auto factories in the late 1960s against racism and capitalism. Dinner is a potluck. Bring something if you can but everyone is welcome!