Teaching Marx

We are in the midst of yet another global crisis in capitalism. In the UK we have the most right wing andideologically driven government since Thatcher; a ruthless cabal of millionaires intent on destroying thewelfare state. In the US President Obama whose initial record did not live up to the expectations of many onthe Left is increasingly driven by right-wing republicanism and other corporate interests. At the same timethere are developments in Latin America in particular Venezuela which are heralding the dawn of a newpolitics and recovering the voice of Marx but with a twenty-first century socialist focus thus giving hope tothe lives of millions of working people throughout the world. This is why the world media is intent ondiscrediting President Hugo Chávez; and insisting that ordinary people have to pay the cost of the crisis incapitalism. The Arab Spring and the Occupy movement also show signs of an anti-capitalist movement inembryo. In Greece perhaps more than anywhere else in Europe (even France) the austerity-stricken working-classes are pushing for real existingsocialism. It is therefore not surprising that the ruling class of Greece is increasingly supporting the neo-Nazi fascist Golden Dawn party threateningcivil war should they lose power as a class. Now is a prescient time to bring twenty-first century socialism to the educational institutions of the worldto teach Marx across the curriculum and across the globe.Through this volume our goal was to contribute to the literature by concretely demonstrating the practical implications of Marx's theory to curriculum.However while this book provides concrete examples of how Marx can and has informed a revolutionary critical education it is not intended to beprescriptive. That is the chapters should not be read as a how to guide but they should be taken as inspiration for new creative approaches toTeaching Marx and interpreting and posing The Socialist Challenge.