Dr Bruno Leipold

This course is available on the MA in Modern History and MSc in Political Theory. This course is freely available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. It does not require permission. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

How to apply: To apply for a place on this course, please submit a short statement of no more than 200 words via LfY. Your statement should outline your reasons for applying and explain how the course will support your academic and/or career goals. If applicable, you should also demonstrate how you meet any pre-requisites listed in the course guide. If the course is compulsory for your programme, no written statement is required.

Priority for places on Government (GV) courses will be given first to students for whom the course is compulsory. Where applicable, priority will then be given to students on the Department of Government programmes listed in the ‘Availability’ section of the course guide, followed by students on other programmes listed in that section. Students on all other programmes will be considered next, where a course is available as an outside option. You should ensure that you meet any pre-requisites listed in the course guide before applying. Places on capped courses cannot be guaranteed. Where a course is oversubscribed, places will be allocated based on programme priority and the written statement.

Deadline for applications: The deadline for applications is 12:00 noon on Friday 25 September 2026. You can expect to be informed of the outcome of your application by 12:00 noon on Monday 28 September 2026. Any places remaining after this date will be allocated based on priority and written statement - up until course selection closes.

For queries contact: gov.msc@lse.ac.uk.

This course is capped at 2 groups, and demand is typically very high. Priority is given to students on the MSc in Political Theory. Students on other courses are very welcome to apply, where course regulations permit, but places cannot be guaranteed.

Karl Marx believed that "the emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves" and that "the emancipation of the working class is that of all human beings without distinction of sex or race". These commitments have motivated generations of Marxists across the globe in their struggle against capitalist domination. In this course we explore the nature and complexity of these commitments in the face of capitalism’s continued resilience and ongoing resistance struggles against domination in all its forms. The course is divided into two parts: (1) a close textual study of Marx (and Engels’s) central writings; and (2) an examination of key themes in subsequent Marxist thought. The former will examine Marx’s early writings (‘On the Jewish Question’; Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts), his 1848 writings (Communist Manifesto, 18th Brumaire) and Capital, vol. 1. The latter half examines foundational debates amongst Marxists and Marxist critics around historical materialism, the state, class, gender and race.

10 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Winter Term.

Essay (1500 words).

One formative essay of 1,500 words, due in the WT.

Karl Marx, Selected Writings, 2nd ed. (2000); Karl Marx, Capital, vol. 1 (1976[1867]); G. A. Cohen, Karl Marx’s Theory of History (1978); Ellen Meiksins Wood, Democracy Against Capitalism: Renewing Historical Materialism (1995); Ralph Miliband, The State in Capitalist Society (1969); Erik Olin Wright, Classes (1985); EP Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (1963); Angela Davis, Women, Race, Class (1981);  Lise Vogel, Marxism and the Oppression of Women (1983); Nancy Fraser, Cannibal Capitalism (2023).

Essay (100%, 3000 words) in Spring Term Week 1.