English
2005 SEP/WSWS Summer School

The Socialist Equality Party (US) and the World Socialist Web Site held a summer school entitled “Marxism and the Historical Foundations of the Fourth International” from August 14 to August 20, 2005, in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

During the course of the week, participants in the school heard nine lectures on important theoretical and historical problems of the twentieth century. One theme centered on the significance of po st-modernism, the Frankfurt school and various forms of anti-Marxism. The lectures encompassed a broad range of interrelated topics, including the origins of the First World War, the rise of fascism in Germany, the origins and counter-revolutionary character of Stalinism in the Soviet Union, Leon Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution, and an examination of problems of art and culture in the Soviet Union. (See “Socialist Equality Party and WSWS hold summer school in US”)

Marxism, the October Revolution and the Historical Foundations of the Fourth International

Download a PDF document containing all nine lectures in US Letter format or A4 format.

Lecture one: The Russian Revolution and the unresolved historical problems of the 20th century
Download in PDF
Lecture two: Marxism versus revisionism on the eve of the twentieth century
Download in PDF
Lecture three: The origins of Bolshevism and What Is To Be Done?
Download in PDF
Lecture four: Marxism, history and the science of perspective
Download in PDF
Lecture five: World War I: The breakdown of capitalism
Download in PDF
Lecture six: Socialism in one country or permanent revolution
Download in PDF
Lecture seven: Marxism, art and the Soviet debate over "proletarian culture"
Download in PDF
Lecture eight: The 1920s—the road to depression and fascism
Download in PDF
Lecture nine: The rise of fascism in Germany and the collapse of the Communist International
Download in PDF