Marxism and Education: Fragility, Crisis, Critique

Abstract

The article rests substantially on the work of John Holloway, especially his early articles in Common Sense: Journal of the Edinburgh Conference of Socialist Economists. On this foundation, it is argued that the importance of Marxism resides in its capacity to pinpoint fragilities and weaknesses in the constitution, development and rule of capital in contemporary society. The general view in this research is that capitalism - a crisisridden, flawed, restless, unforgiving and desperate form of society - needs to be put into the dustbin of history, so that we can do more of what we want to do, in a more secure social and physical environment that allows the fullest expression of our abilities and passions, our creative instincts and positive feelings for others and ourselves. And that is why we have to be committed to the termination and transcendence of capitalist society, including its educational forms as capitalist education. In this light, Marxist theory is exactly what we need. First, Marxism is the most fully developed theory adequate to the task of intellectually locating weaknesses in the rule of capital. It gives us the capacity to locate capital's fragilities however ferocious, aggressive and monolithic it appears. Secondly, Marxism is the most powerful theory of crisis we have today. Crisis in capitalism exposes fragilities in the existence and rule of capital. Thirdly, Marxism is not just a theory of critique, a way of critiquing or some kind of methodology, it is the relentless critique of ‘all that exists' in capitalist society. Therefore, Marxism becomes a radical science that intellectually disrupts and ruptures capitalist society, whilst simultaneously creating alternative social arrangements that seek foundations within non-capitalist social relations, and this is inclusive of educational formations.

Keywords

• marxism
• communism
• capitalism
• capital
• education
• fragility
• crisis
• critique