EMAR Seminar, no.2, on “Why is Marx still relevant to understand contemporary capitalist society? A Debate into 'Historical or Structural'?” happened on Friday, 29 April, in our usual venue at Finsbury Park Trust FinSpace.

Our speaker, Demet Parlak, gave an excellent talk on the origins of the debate among Marxists regarding the ‘historical’ and ‘structural’. Demet, a researcher from Marmara University currently a visiting scholar at SOAS, explained the controversy between E. P. Thompson (exemplified in The Poverty of Theory) and Perry Anderson during the late 1970s over the structural Marxism (of Louis Althusser), and summarised the use of history and theory in the politics of Marxist Left since then.

The session consisted of questions/ comments and discussion, participated by a lively audience. The discussion was centred on the question of how relevant Marxism is in the current struggles for global justice and liberation. The ideas and thoughts presented by the speaker were expanded further by the questions, and Demet explained more in her response to the questions and comments. At the end, an enthusiastic and constructive debate with the audience ensued.

If you want

to read the text summary of Demet Parlak’s seminar (on 96.04.2016) please click here...

to video (You Tube) https://youtu.be/HZoBp6WOe6w