Socialist Legacy

This was the first session of a course for members and fellow travelers of the Socialist Party of Southern New Hampshire and the Socialist Party USA. It seeks to raise the question, "What is a socialist party?", by exploring how that question was answered historically. We will begin with a unit covering the major works of Karl Kautsky, the leading theorist of the Second International and intellectual successor of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels. The readings for this introductory session, "What is socialist politics?", were: - Karl Marx, Programme of the Parti Ouvrier (1880): https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/05/parti-ouvrier.htm - Socialist Party of America, 1904 Platform (1904): https://medium.com/@reidkane/socialist-party-of-america-platform-1904-d6da4cad879e - Eugene Debs, "Competition versus Cooperation" (1900): http://marxisthistory.org/history/usa/parties/spusa/1900/0929-debs-competitionvcooperation.pdf - George Herron, “Why I Am a Socialist” (1900): http://marxisthistory.org/history