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Public Meetings
Darwin and Marx

In this double Darwin anniversary
year – two hundred years since Charles Darwin’s birth and one hundred and fifty
years since the publication of On the Origin of the Species – we look at
the connection between Darwin and Karl Marx. When Marx read The Origin of
the Species he wrote “Darwin’s work is most important and suits my purpose
in that it provides a basis in natural science for the historical class
struggle.”
So impressed was Marx by Darwin’s
work that he sent an inscribed copy of the second edition of Das Kapital to
Darwin when it was published in 1873.
At Marx’s graveside his friend
Friedrich Engels declared, “Just as Darwin discovered the law of evolution in
organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of evolution in human history; he
discovered the simple fact, hitherto concealed by an overgrowth of ideology,
that humankind must first of all eat and drink, have shelter and clothing,
before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc.; and that therefore
the production of the immediate material means of life and consequently the
degree of economic development attained by a given people or during a given
epoch form the foundation upon which the state institutions, the legal
conceptions, the art and even the religious ideas of the people concerned have
been evolved, and in the light of which these things must therefore be
explained, instead of vice versa as had hitherto been the case.”
These two giants of science
defined the modern era and the full implication of their work is only just
beginning to become apparent today. Evolution has come into its own with the discovery
of DNA and despite opposition from religious fundamentalists has become an essential
part of our everyday lives and experience. Marx has long been dismissed as outmoded,
particularly since the collapse of the Soviet Union, but his work has taken on
a new relevance as the world financial system implodes and the economy descends
into an unparalleled depression.
This talk will examine the ideas
of both these seminal thinkers of our time, drawing out the common themes that
animate their work and exploring their significance for the present day. The speaker, Chris Talbot, writes for the World Socialist
Web Site on science, philosophy and contemporary politics.
Sheffield
Wednesday May 13 2009 — 7pm
St Matthews Meeting Rooms
Carver Street Sheffield S1 4FT |
Manchester
Friday, May 15, 7:30 p.m.
Meeting Room 1
Student Union
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PR |
London
Tuesday, May 19, 7 p.m.
Room Z129
St. Phillip’s North Block
London School of Economics
Sheffield Street
WC2A 2ES |
Brighton
Wednesday, May 20, 2 p.m.
Small meeting room
Bramber House Conference Centre
University of Sussex
Brighton
BN1 9QU |
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articles, arts and
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Mehring
Books is the foremost publisher of socialist books and pamphlets in the
English language. Our titles encompass contemporary political analysis,
history, culture and the arts, including works by Leon Trotsky and
other leading representatives of classical Marxism.

Order online.
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