Know Your Enemy

Liberation Schools and Marxist Pedagogy

Morning Comrades.

It was Huey P. Newton’s birthday last week and rather than getting sucked into the surface level nonsense of shared quote memes I wanted to dedicate a dispatch to a part of his work that sits close to home. Pedagogy.

Pedagogy is the term that refers to the method of how teachers teach, in theory and in practice. Pedagogy is formed by an educator's teaching beliefs and concerns the interplay between culture and different ways to learn. Many of us already know the ground breaking “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by Paulo Freire, ideas and concepts I wholly subscribe to and whilst reading of Newton’s speeches I came across a few lines that really hit home.

“Youths are passed through schools that don't teach. Then forced to search for jobs that don't exist and finally left stranded to stare at the glamorous lives advertised around them.”

Huey Newton’s critique of capitalist society encapsulates the systemic failures of education, labor, and culture under capitalism. His statement exposes how capitalism conditions young people for exploitation, denies them meaningful employment, and ultimately alienates them through consumerist fantasies. Further below we are going to approach Newton’s critique through three Marxist frameworks: traditional Marxism, modern Marxist approaches, and decolonial Marxism. Additionally, we will explore Marxist pedagogical solutions—such as critical pedagogy, polytechnic education, and liberation schools—as pathways toward revolutionary education that empowers rather than subjugates.

“Yes, I know my enemies
They're the teachers who taught me to fight me
Compromise, conformity
Assimilation, submission
Ignorance, hypocrisy
Brutality, the elite
All of which are American dreams.”

-Zack de la Rocha