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Hope you are all well. For this week I think it is important to revisit the theorist Ralph Miliband. There is a recurrent problem amongst Marxists. Because of the wealth of analysis and debate following and based on Marx's works, his concepts and ideas can be so stretched and manipulated that it can be difficult to separate Marx's thought from traditions that followed. Most contentious is Marx's concept of the state, which was a study he intended to undertake after completing Capital. Sadly, it never occurred leaving us to need to tease through his other writings to understand his analysis. Ralph Miliband focused on this study & the work attached below is in my opinion fundamental in teasing out a modern theory of the state from Marx's work. I also wanted to included recent TMBS guest Bill Fletcher Jr.'s piece in Monthly Review, as well as a talk by Leo Panitch for Jacobin on Ralph Miliband. 

All The Best, 

David Griscom 

Reading: 

Marx And The State  Ralph Miliband, 1965 

Race Is About More Than Discrimination Bill Fletcher Jr., 2020  

Watching: 

Leo Panitch On Ralph Miliband, 2020