“I must say the tasks confronting the youth . . . might be summed up in a single word: learn.”—V. I. Lenin
The CYM places the greatest emphasis on education and learning. If we are to be revolutionaries we must be guided by revolutionary theory. Through study, discussion, experience and practice, socialist philosophy remains a guiding light to millions of workers and students worldwide.
Connolly Youth runs education classes and courses in both the Dublin and Belfast offices.
To find out more or to attend, contact
or
.
WCSP leaflet
This course is designed to give the reader and activist a basic understanding of the many parts and components of what makes up socialist philosophy.
It serves as an introduction to Marxism and as an introduction to some of the many great revolutionary socialists we can learn from. In addition to this, as the Irish struggle and conditions are particular to our island the course contains some basic Irish history and some of the issues that face Irish socialists.
Education
Pedagogy of the Oppressed Paulo Freire
Freedom
Liberty: A Study in Bourgeois Illusion—Christopher Caudwell
Inaugural Address of the International Workingmen’s Association—Marx
Political theory
Communist Manifesto–Marx and Engels
The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism—Lenin
Philosophy
Socialism, Utopian and Scientific—Engels
“
Socialism and Darwinism”—Daphne Liddle (February 2009)
Political economy
Introduction to Marxism—Emile Burns
Wage Labour and Capital—Marx
Imperialism
Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism—Lenin
US Imperialism, Europe and the Middle East—Samir Amin
Socialism and nationalism
Socialism and Nationalism—James Connolly
Self-Determination Summed Up—Lenin
United Irishmen, 1798
“Remember 1798”—Communist Party of Ireland
Labour in Irish History—James Connolly
Irish Freedom
The Reconquest of Ireland—James Connolly
Women and class
Women: Caste, Class or Oppressed Sex?—Evelyn Reed
Lenin on the Women’s Question—Clara Zetkin
The state
The State and Revolution—Lenin
The texts attached may be summaries or chapters and so may not contain the full text as written by the author.
Course 2 is planned to give the reader a further introduction to Marxism but also to concentrate on tactical questions and issues.
It also introduces some more contemporary writers who have developed the classics from their time and place to now. This is a practice we must continually engage in.
Education
The Murder Machine—P. H. Pearse
Marxist philosophy
The Marxist Doctrine—Lenin
Class struggle
The Time for Armed Struggle—William Pomeroy
Political and Military Forces in Revolutionary War—Le Duan
Women and class
“Only in conjunction with the proletarian women will socialism be victorious”—Clara Zetkin
Socialism and nationalism
Rethinking National Marxism—David Lloyd
Imperialism
Empire of Barbarism—Foster and Clarke
The texts attached may be summaries or chapters and so may not contain the full text as written by the author.
Class 1: Marxist analysis of imperialism
Suggested reading: Lenin,
Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916), chap. 7.
Class 2: Connolly on imperialism and freedom
Suggested reading: Connolly, “
Socialism and nationalism” (1897).
Class 3: Anti-imperialist struggle
Suggested reading: Kwame Nkrumah, “
African socialism revisited” (1967).
Class 4: The nature of imperialism today
Suggested reading: Foster and Clarke, “
Empire of barbarism,” from
Monthly Review (2004).
Class 5: The European Union: an imperialist entity
Suggested reading: policy statements by the
Communist Party of Ireland and the
Communist Party of Greece.
The texts attached may be summaries or chapters and so may not contain the full text as written by the author.
Below are more articles, some historical and some contemporary
They cover a wide variety of topics. Please send us anything you have written or have found useful to build this page into an educational resource for all.
Philosophy
International
Socialism
- “Socialism Today”—speech by Sitaram Yechury, member of the Political Bureau, Communist Party of India (M), at a panel discussion in the World Social Forum, Mumbai, 17 January 2004; reprinted from Socialism Today (Mumbai), no. 3 (2004).
- “Socialism or barbarism: Can the world afford capitalism any longer?” (2006)—Paul O’Connell
- “The collapse of the USSR” (2004)—Gareth Murphy
- Principles of Communism—V. I. Lenin
- Interview with Hans Heinz Holz, German communist philosopher (October 2007)
- Interview with Ricardo Alarcón (president of the Cuban National Assembly)
- Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848)—Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
- What is to be done?—V. I. Lenin
- Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (1916)—V. I. Lenin
- The State and Revolution (1917)—V. I. Lenin
- “Cuba is a Socialist Nation” (1961)—Fidel Castro
- Not Yet, Emmet (2009)—Reprint by CYM of the famous pamphlet by Peadar O’Donnell, first published in 1985
- Resistance (2009)—Reprint by CYM of a pamphlet published by Irish Freedom Press in 1957
- The Language Movement: A Movement Astray (2009)—English translation by Seosamh Ó Díochan of Gluaiseacht na Gaeilge: Gluaiseacht ar Strae (1971), reprint by CYM of a pamphlet first published in 1975
Environment
- Paul M. Sweezy, “Capitalism and the Environment” (1989)
- John Bellamy Foster, interviewed by Dennis Soron, “Ecology, Capitalism, and the Socialization of Nature” (2004)
- John Bellamy Foster, “Peak Oil and Energy Imperialism” (2005)
- Minqi Li, “Climate change, limits to growth and the imperative of socialism” (2008)
- John Bellamy Foster, Brett Clark, and Richard York, “The Moment of Truth—An Introduction” (2008)
- Fred Magdoff, “The Political Economy and Ecology of Biofuels” (2008)
Women
