Chicago Teachers Strategize on How to Indoctrinate Kids with Marxism

Teachers Fill Marxism Conference 

to Map Future Indoctrination of School Kids

by Da Tagliare

In September, the Chicago Teachers Union went on strike, shutting down the Windy City’s schools for 10 days.  Many of those same teachers were in attendance on Nov. 10 at the Midwest Marxism Conference ( Conference schedule: chicagosocialists.org * )held at Northwestern University in Chicago.

The topics of the conference were:

• Marxism, Crisis & Resistance
• The Meaning of Marxism
• The Flint Sit-down Strikes & The Founding of the UAW
• From Apartheid Schools to the New Jim Crow: Racism, USA
• The Democrats: A Critical History
• Russia: A Case Study in Workers Power & Revolution
• Socialists & Trade Unions
• Class, Race & the Civil Rights movement
• Education & Capitalism
• Lenin’s Theory of the Revolutionary Party
• Marxism & Women’s Liberation
• Whose City? Labor, the 1%, and the Democratic Party Machine in Chicago
• Imperialism: Why Capitalism Creates War
• Detroit, I Do Mind Dying

Among some of the speakers at the conference was Jesse Sharkey, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union. Another speaker who kicked off the conference was Becca Barnes, a Chicago teacher, who refers to American capitalists as capitalistic vampires. Barnes told the crowd:

“The struggle here in the United States has entered a new phase. Nowhere have we pointed the way forward more clearly than here in Chicago with the teacher’s union strike.”

Read more: godfatherpolitics.com

* Conference Schedule

 10:00-10:45am

Registration & Haymarket Book Fair

 11 :00am

Opening Plenary: Marxism, Crisis & Resistance

 12:00pm

Session 1: The Meaning of Marxism
Suggested Readings:
The Meaning of Marxism by Paul D'Amato (focus on Ch. 1-4)

Session 2: The Flint Sit-down Strikes & The Founding of the UAW
Suggested Readings:
Subterranean Fire by Sharon Smith, except available at: When Workers Occupied

Session 3: From Apartheid Schools to the New Jim Crow: Racism, USA
Suggested Readings:
Education and Capitalism edited by Jeff Bale & Sarah Knopp
The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander
Poverty Pulls the Trigger by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor

Session 4: The Democrats: A Critical History
Suggested Readings:
The Democrats by Lance Selfa
What Do Socialists Say About Election 2012? by Lance Selfa

 1:30pm

Lunch break

 2:30pm

Session 1: Russia: A Case Study in Workers Power & Revolution
Suggested Readings:
Leon Trotsky's History of the Russian Revolution by Amy Muldoon
80 Years Since the Russian Revolution by Ahmed Shawki

Session 2: Socialists & Trade Unions
Suggested Readings
Teamsters Rebellion - Farrell Dobbs
Marxism, Unions & Class Struggle by Sharon Smith

Session 3: Class, Race & the Civil Rights Movement
Suggested Readings:
Black Liberation and Socialism by Ahmed Shawki

Session 4: Education & Capitalism
Suggested Readings:
Education & Capitalism edited by Jeff Bale & Sarah Knopp
Is Education a Ticket Out of Poverty by Sarah Knopp

 4:00 pm

Session 1: Lenin's Theory of the Revolutionary Party
Suggested Readings:
The Myth of Lenin's Elitism by Paul D'Amato
Lenin and the Revolutionary Party by Paul Le Blanc

Session 2: Marxism & Women's Liberation
Suggested Readings:
Engels and the Origin of Women's Oppression by Sharon Smith

Session 3: Whose City? Labor, the 1%, and the Democratic Party Machine in Chicago
Suggested Readings:
Mayor Rahm Meets the People No More by Ben Joravsky
With 'Friends of Labor' Like These by Nicole Colson and Alan Maass

Session 4: Imperialism: Why Capitalism Creates War
Suggested Readings:
Obama, Imperialism & Capitalism by Phil Gasper

 6:00pm

Closing Plenary: Detroit, I Do Mind Dying - with author Marvin Surkin

 7:30pm

Dinner & Drinks:...