Three speakers from the Forum for Marxist-Humanist Thought said there needs to be a philosophy of revolution for real changes to occur in America.

Marna Colwater, an NIU student, spoke on the topics of philosophy and revolution. She said people in other countries have a theory of revolution which Americans don’t have.

“Those people see revolt as a way of life, as a theory of living,” Colwater said.

Another NIU student, Jim Fabris, was one of the speakers who addressed a crowd of about 20 people at the Wesley Foundation Tuesday night.

Fabris said capitalism is a form of economy that sells labor as a commodity. “In a capitalist economy, you become ‘thingified,'” he said.

NIU Associate Professor of Sociology Kevin Anderson spoke about the recent revolutions in Eastern Europe. He said a one-sided celebration of the events in Eastern Europe is dangerous.

“We shouldn’t be inclined to think that the revolutions over there indicates that things are good here,” Anderson said.

Fabris defined the form of communism the Soviet Union uses as state capitalism.

State capitalism is an economic system in which the government transforms human labor into a commodity the way industrialists do in American capitalism, he said.

“Karl Marx had a vision that transcended state capitalism and vulgar communism,” Fabris said. “Vulgar communism is when everything is taken away from everyone, and redistributed evenly,” he said.

Colwater said a coherent interpretation of communism could be found in the works of the writer Raya Dunayevskaya.

She quoted passages from Dunayevskaya’s book, “Philosophy and Revolution,” which she said is an interpretation of Marx that professes humanism and change.

Revolution is about “criticizing the established order and creating new forms in eliminating old forms,” Colwater said.

Anderson said a parallel can be drawn between current Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and Nikita Kruschev, a Soviet leader of the 1950s.

Kruschev was a radical reformer like Gorbachev who eventually used violence to supress revolution, he said.

“There’s a line that Kruschev drew that he wouldn’t step over. Nobody knows where that line is with Gorbachev, but they know it’s there,” Anderson said.

Fabris said Americans must have a philosophy of revolution so the Soviet situation is not repeated here.