This is the first book in the Series on Historical Materialism. This series aims for a collection of theoretical texts about the objective condition of the present, which is inevitably related to the analysis of past struggles and necessarily linked to the exploration of the horizons of future liberation. But what is the purpose of publishing these volumes in the middle of the intensifying crisis of imperialist capitalism and the terrible conflicts in the Middle East? The crisis of imperialist capitalism is not a new phenomenon. What has made the crushing burden of this crisis so terrifying for the masses and their struggles in recent decades is its doubling with another crisis: the theoretical crisis. The theoretical crisis, however, is neither random nor spontaneous. In addition to being based on objective historical developments, it is basically the product of continuous and organized theoretical violations and distortions that the ruling class and its ideologues have carried out throughout the history of the ideas and struggles of the masses.
"The old is dying and the new is unable to be born": For decades, this sentence by Gramsci has been true about the period of crisis, especially for our region, the Middle East. For decades, this sentence of Gramsci has been sparking in our minds with the periodic escalation of crises. But why does this "dying old" not end by itself? It doesn't lead to death, but at every step, it brings death upon the world of the masses. In the most recent steps of this old horror, we are witnessing genocide in Palestine, displacement and killing in Sudan, Haiti, and the revival of fascist and religious forces. It is true that "the old is dying and the new is unable to be born," but without revolutionary intervention, based on revolutionary theory, neither the old leads to death nor the new to birth. To summarize: without a revolutionary theory, a revolutionary movement cannot exist.
Shahrzad Mojab is Professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto. Professor Mojab has served as the Interim Principal of New College, and Director of Women and Gender Studies Institute. She is the past-President of the Canadian Association for the Studies of Adult Education. Her internationally recognized research explores the areas of educational policy studies, as well as race, gender, class, transnational feminism, and Marxist-feminism.
