Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Course 131A is generally requisite to 131B. Designed for juniors/seniors. Introduction to Marxist philosophy and method; conception of historical stages; competing Marxist analyses of transition from feudalism to capitalist economy via reading "Capital"; theory of politics and state in relationship to historical interpretation of 19th-century European revolutions; capitalist crises. P/NP or letter grading.