Working people across Britain are fighting back against austerity, war, repression and exploitation. The challenge now is to unite those struggles, says Communist Party of Britain assistant general secretary JOHNNIE HUNTER
“WHY is it still called ‘Marxism’? We don’t call evolutionary theory ‘Darwinism’ any more!”
A good question and the comparison with Darwin is appropriate. Darwin undertook a systematic and rigorous analysis of the evolution of the natural world and Marx did the same for the development and dynamics of human society. Each caused a revolution in its field.
But why do we still call it Marxism? There are a number of elements in the answer.
Class struggle is the motor of history but the direction and detail of change at any time and place is the outcome of many factors, suggests the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School
Humans are part of the ‘animal kingdom’ – and of nature in general – but also distinct from it and labour (work) is part of what makes us unique, declared Engels. His insights 150 years ago into how our species came to be and how we differ from the rest of nature, are as important today as they were then, says the MARX MEMORIAL LIBRARY
Nature as well as society works dialectically, asserts the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School
The selection, analysis and interpretation of historical ‘facts’ always takes place within a paradigm, a model of how the world works. That’s why history is always a battleground, declares the Marx Memorial Library


