Excerpts from the Classics

The quotations in this section begin begin with Engels making an assessment of the theoretical contributions of Marx and Lenin making such an assessment of Marx and Engels. Then in chronological order quotations are presented from the three about the role of theory and its relation to practice.

Quotations in this section deal with the theory of the nature and role of objective processes in social development, starting with a section on "Historical Materialism" which applies the philosophy and methodology of dialectical materialism to society. Then objective processes in the economy of capitalism are dealt with in the section titled "Political Economy of Capitalism."

The sequence of quotations followed is similar to that of a Marxist political economy textbook and of Marx's "Capital"; itself. It begins with abstracting and analyzing the simplest form of capitalist economic relations, the commodity.

Marx and Engels discuss why capitalism leads to socialism and how socialism resolves the contradictions of capitalism. They also distinguish between utopian and scientific socialism and discuss the distinction between the first socialist transitional phase and the communist phase itself.

This section is organized in a sequence similar to a textbook on dialectical materialism. After discussing the nature and role of philosophy, the quotations focus on materialism and the basic conflict with philosophical idealism, then on the nature of dialectics, the three laws of dialectics and some categories (less important laws), and finally the theory of knowledge, the nature of knowledge and how to gain knowledge.

The quotations in this section deal with the subjective side, human activity, the theory of socialist revolution, what policies, activities, issues of struggle, forms of struggle and organizations are required to win progress and socialism. Such policies are treated as needing to be and "scientifically based and artfully applied."

Given the nature of weaponry today, the struggle for peace is one of the most important, one of the struggles through which tactics brings to life a strategic policy.

This section begins with Engels and Lenin discussing the role of the state and democracy, as a form of the state and its class characteristics. Lenin then discusses the importance of democracy and the fight for it under capitalism.

This section and its subsections deal with the objective position in society and therefore the potential role of, various class and social forces in the struggle for progress and socialism.

This subpart of National Oppression presents just a couple quotations from Lenin applying his general theory to the African American people, showing he followed the question and considered it important, his attitude toward the oppression and its solution.

This section deals with the necessity of a special role for Communists and a Communist Party, according to Marx and Engels in "The Communist Manifesto" and Lenin in "What Is To Be Done."