Part 1: Understanding Capitalism
Capitalism promises prosperity while millions fight to keep a roof overhead. To replace it, we first have to understand how it actually works. This section walks through the basic mechanics of exploitation, profit, and crisis so we can expose the system and organize to defeat it.
Study these texts with fellow workers. Tie every idea back to the struggles we face across Missouri and Kansas: wage theft, high rents, farm bankruptcies, shuttered factories, and underfunded public services. Understanding capitalism is the first step toward building socialist power.
Key Ideas to Watch For
- How labor creates value and why workers receive less than they produce.
- The source of capitalist profit and why crises show up again and again.
- Why socialism is not charity but the organized rule of the working class.
Wage-Labor and Capital (Karl Marx)
Marx explains where wages come from and why capitalists must squeeze workers to survive. Use this text to unpack every paycheck and show why the boss needs your labor more than you need the boss.
- Chapters II-IV break down labor-power, surplus value, and exploitation.
- Compare Marx's examples to current fights over minimum wage and gig work.
MP3 · approx. 2.2 MB
Read PDFValue, Price, and Profit (Karl Marx)
This pamphlet shows why wages stall while the cost of living keeps climbing. Marx exposes profit as unpaid labor and arms organizers with the science to answer reformist arguments.
- Focus on Marx's debate with Weston for a toolkit against boss propaganda.
- Apply the argument to today's union drives and contract fights.
MP3 · approx. 2.6 MB
Read PDFThe Communist Manifesto (Marx & Engels)
The manifesto traces the rise of the working class and the inevitability of socialist revolution. Use it to root every campaign in a broader vision for power.
- Section I explains historical materialism in plain language.
- Section II describes the political tasks communists still shoulder today.
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (V. I. Lenin)
Lenin explains how monopoly capital, finance, and war shape modern capitalism. This study helps us connect local struggles to global exploitation and anti-imperialist solidarity.
- Study Chapters VII and VIII to see how imperialism impacts workers across our district.
- Link the analysis to today's fights against militarism and austerity.
Ready to dig deeper? Continue to Part 2 or contact CPUSA to ask about local political education.