PoliEdPod 6: Marx and the American Civil War

Class Unity

If Marxism is a theory of history grounded in economics, how should Americans understand our own history from a Marxist perspective? What can the critique of political economy tell us about the major events of American life from the Revolution to the World Wars to today? What are the class dynamics animating the most crucial event of American military history, the Civil War?

In preparation for our Fall 2023 Capital Reading Group, members of CU’s PoliEd Committee got together for a one-day discussion of Karl Marx’s writings on the American Civil War. Join them in this episode of PoliEdPod, as they discuss two brief articles written early in the War in 1861: ‘The North American Civil War’ and ‘The Civil War in the United States.’ They also discuss some of Marx’s statements on the political-economic function of racism.

Both essays are available HERE.