Hi there! So tell us, does the following contrast make any kind of impression on you?
Lenin's Fake Passport . . .
vs.
Bill Gates's mugshot
Well, you have reached the embryonic website of the Marxist List. We have been in existence only since February 13, 2000, and are really just getting things off the ground, although as of this writing our listserv has 54 members and is growing. For now this site will only be a pointer to the shell of a website that ONElist, our listserv host, provides for lists resident there. In the future (hopefully the near future!) we will be updating this website to make it more informative, useful, and -- we dare say -- visually attractive.
On the subject of the contrast above, if you answered something like: "I, too, would be willing to go through a lot of stuff, like engaging in strenuous polemics, occasionally living in exile, and even faking a passport as in photograph #1, if only for the pleasure of seeing the result pictured in photograph #2 -- that is, locking up the monopoly capitalists," well, in that case, you've definitely come to the right place. But even if that wasn't your answer, you're quite welcome to join in on the fun. Below is a more serious description of the Marxist List's purposes.
This list is based on the proposition that the Marxist tools of class and power analysis are essential to understanding and changing the world. Participants will be encouraged to formulate Marxist analyses of contemporary events in a creative fashion, in emulation of quality socialist publications such as Monthly Review, Socialist Register, and New Left Review. Additionally, participants will be encouraged to provide concrete examples of how Marxist analysis has informed and continues to inform their practical activism.
The list will be moderated, and under no circumstances will racism, sexism, heterosexism, xenophobia, sectarianism, or chauvinism of any kind be tolerated. Anyone interested in Marxism is welcome, including members of organized Marxist groups of any size as well as non-Marxist leftists, but please do not join the listserv expecting to aggressively push a "line" or to engage in a pointless back-and-forth! In keeping with Marx's own principle of "ruthless criticism of all that exists," this list will also reject the idea that "the enemy of our enemy is our friend"-- we will stand for partisanship with honesty.
In other words, put your thinking caps on, for we intend to get serious. A major hope is for this list to draw in younger people who are attracted to Marxism but who have not yet been gobbled up by either a sect or world-weary apathy. Naturally, the guidance of those with more experience is also welcome, so long as they respect the political growth and contributions of younger participants.
