Reading Together: Karl Marx, Political Writings Volume III. The First International and After
May 22-23, 2026 - ongoing
Reading Together: Karl Marx, Political Writings Volume III. The First International and After
The group Reading Together invites all interested to join the online collective reading of Karl Marx’s 3rd volume of the anthology Political Writings (edited by David Fernbach in 1973 and 2010). The group meets weekly, usually in the morning between 8 – 11 am CET and consensually decide the days of the following meeting from week to week. Reading Together is led by 1+1 from Iasi, Romania and Social Center ZaČin from Belgrade, Serbia.
The introduction to Political Writings, Volume III. The First International and After is structured in several subsections such as The International Working Men’s Association, German Social-Democracy, England and Ireland, The Paris Commune, Marx and Bakunin, The Problem of Reformism, Poland and Russia. We will later delve into the writings of Marx and Engels regarding these topics.
Reading Together is a group committed to a thorough and long term educational process. We are not associated with any political organisation nor do we aim at accomplishing any project goals or requirements. Previous knowledge of Marxism or political affiliation is not a prerequisite for joining us.
In our reading group, we apply the “close reading” approach. This means that we read paragraph by paragraph, taking turns in reading, and we return to the sections that need further explanation. We are an international group and our online sessions are held in English. It is important to mention that this form of education requires patience, engagement and dedication.
During the meetings, the connection to the text is especially important for us (hence reading together) because the text is our temporary “political constitution”. While working with the text, we aim to base our discussion as little as possible on anything else that is not in the text under scrutiny.
Besides concentrating on the text, we also touch on a wide range of topics concerning daily politics and we politicise personal issues in order to tackle together the problems imposed by today’s capitalism. With this in mind, we build the group on the grounds of committed and critical camaraderie.
The sessions are recorded so that participants can refer back to them or listen if they cannot attend a particular session.
Our next session on Political Writings Volume III is scheduled for May 22 and May 23, 2026.
Contact us at contact@unuplusunu.org
The group meets weekly and is led by 1+1 from Iasi, Romania and Social Center ZaČin from Belgrade, Serbia.
Participation is free. For inquiries related to the reading group please email us to contact@unuplusunu.org.
Previous reading groups:
Reading Together: Articles on the North American Civil War (Jan 3 - May 11, 2026)
Reading Together: Articles on Britain by Karl Marx (May 8, 2025– January 6, 2026)
Reading Together: The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (December 5, 2024 – May 8, 2025)
Reading Together: The Political Writings by Karl Marx (June 7, 2024- December 5, 2024)
Reading Together: Manifesto of the Communist Party (November 2023 – June 7, 2024)
–Reading Together: The Russian Revolution, 2023
– Reading Together: State and Revolution, 2023
– Reading Together: Leninism or Marxism, 2023
– Reading Group: Ways of Organisation, 2023
– Reading Together about Reform and Revolution, 2023
– Reading Together about Legality and Illegality, 2023
– Reading Together about Historical Materialism, 2023
– About Reading as Production of Debate, 2021
– Realism and Reality in Workers’ Environment, 2021
