This three-minute spoken word performance employs a first-person narrative to embody the key ideas of Marxian political economy in a deeply personal and evocative manner. Told as a recollection of lived experiences, beginning with the line “I was born between two sewing machines,” the poem transforms the theoretical concepts into tangible human emotions and imagery. The rhythmic sound of the machines, the glimmer of shop windows, and the endless ledgers of profit and loss all form a sensory bridge to the Marxian ideas of surplus value, alienation, ideology, and historical materialism (Bianchi, 2010). Through this aesthetic approach, the poem captures how economic systems shape individual identities and social relations.

The desperate emotional undertone of the performance opens a space for the audience to engage critically and empathetically. It exposes the contradictions of capitalist production. That is, how labour is both the source of value and yet devalued in pursuit of profit (Amariglio & Ruccio, 2017). The piece also highlights the dynamics of class struggle, as it draws attention to the invisible structures that define who works, who profits, and who remains unseen. 

In the end, the poem becomes an act of resistance, as it reveals the hidden distributional logic behind everyday exchanges, and it invites the audience to imagine alternative forms of social and economic organization. Its melodic despair is not only a lament but also a call for collective awareness and transformation, using emotion as a medium through which critique becomes possible and liberation begins.

Access and download this resource: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12dTnPGK3UznQFNeLx2gF9ww0KGTS4cTh?usp=drive_link 

References:

Amariglio, J. & Ruccio, D. F. (2017). Epistemology. In: Routledge Handbook of Marxian Economics (pp. 14-28). Routledge.

- Bianchi, R. V. (2010). Tourism, capitalism and Marxist political economy. In: Political Economy of Tourism (pp.17-37). London: Routledge.

Resource designers: Kunle, Liv, Nopparut & Minke

To explore Marxian Political Economy in a bodily-kinesthetic way, this piece used students in a form of marionettes. The composition demonstrated ‘’that social reality is mediated by ideology and governed by general underlying structures that can be revealed by humans’’ (Ormond, 2025). The puppeteer's strings represent the social reality (the ideology and general underlying structures) and the marionettes represent workers. In the story line of this silent marionette show, the workers’ generate profit, as shown with the euro coin. The euro is passed on until distributed in a capitalist way. The workers create an overflow of wealth (surplus) which is then distributed or divided unequally among the different classes. With a class separation, the surplus is mostly going to the higher class. The bourgeoisie (higher class) is barely shown in the video, only to collect the money for the work mostly done by the marionettes. This to emphasize the unfair distribution amongst workers and the upper class. In the piece, this ideological structure was not immediately visible to the marionette ‘’workers’’. It was only when one tried to deviate from the structure that they felt stuck in the system and could somewhat notice the strings attaching them to societal structure. This showed the workers' state of class consciousness after critical reflection. In other words, the piece shows how the marionette ‘’workers’’ are being exploited.

Access the video: https://youtube.com/shorts/_SZecG4qyyM?si=zk_CMHmkd5gv5PcB 

Resource designers: Komang, Wiske and Luuk

Here we'd like to reflect on an illustration that's quite famous in Marxian Political Economy, within the thinking of Historical Materialism. We see the economy as the base of society, shaped by human labour. Social reality is mediated by ideology and governed by general underlying structures that can be visualized into a pyramid, but these ideological structures are not immediately visible to us in real life. In Marxian Political Economy, class is an entry point of studying the world. Through critical reflections on oppressive structures, humans can gain consciousness of and power over the overdetermined reality that is processed through oppressive structures. This is called 'class consciousness'. By being class-conscious, the proletariat can resist the power structures and emancipate itself. After looking at these two societal pyramids, we invite you to draw a society that makes sense to you, what would your world look like, and who would be standing where (Pappas, 2022)? 

Access and download the resource: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Dz_Url3XSpNu5RPMLu9mvaNE1EUtKj2Y?usp=drive_link 

References:

Pappas, P. (2022, February 8). Pyramid of capitalist system. The Forgotten Files. https://forgottenfiles.substack.com/p/pyramid-of-capitalist-system-1911 

Resource designers: Magor Szász-Bencsik, Nadia de Bell, Yusuke Mizusawa, Willemijn Smits

This game uses physical movement to reveal the disguised power and inequality within capitalist society. Two players play under the instructions of "capital representatives": one is secretly designated as the "friend," receiving easy instructions and easily winning; the other, representing the laborer, who is physically exhausted but required to perform difficult movements, destined for failure. The capitalist producer of the game, even rigs the game, by changing the course of the game. 

However, the laborer does not see this; they are so embedded in the capitalist ideology that they don’t see how the game is not possible to win. People with a distance to the game (the observers) have more insight into the way it functions, and therefore are able to see how it is an unfair game. The bonuses ultimately return to the hands of the capitalist representatives, symbolizing the circulation of profit among the elite class.

The game uses physical experience to interpret core concepts of Marxian Political Economy, including commodification, alienation, and ideology. Workers' efforts are transformed into profit, through a process where the fruits of labor have been commodified. The appearance of "fair competition" conceals institutional exploitation and rule manipulation. In this case, the oppressed laborer is not able to see reality accurately, since a false consciousness exists among the working class. Through the tension, imbalance, and fatigue of the body, the audience feels structural inequality and prompts some thoughts: "When the rules are set by those in power, does fairness still exist?" and "Whose body bears the price of victory?"

Access and download the resource: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Pu5NMs1OU3oTXq4kTSJKIl0LIAuzii-g?usp=drive_link 

Resource designers: Harvin Chaggar, Jiayi Dong, Nadine Waalkens, Suze Westra

“Enjoy Your Holiday” is an examination of the flow of tourist money when travelling, exploring airlines, airports and accommodation through a 7-day holiday in Bali. We hope to bring awareness to the reality that money flows in complex and unequal distributions, and while we hope we support local communities, sometimes the opposite occurs.

Under Marxian Political Economy, this inequality can be attributed to class struggle, in which classes, groups based on similar ownership of private property and capital, conflict with one another (Milios, 2000). Under a capitalist mode of production, working classes are exploited for their value of labour (commodification), and surplus and private property are accumulated by ruling classes (Drainville, 1994). These dynamics continue to proliferate modern society through hegemony, or the dominant ideology(ies), that is embedded in economic and social infrastructure and enforces continued leadership of the ruling class (Drainville, 1994).

However, we also acknowledge the profound complexity of modern capitalism and the tourism sector that cannot accurately be depicted in brochures. We challenge readers to question existing dichotomies between ruling and working class in tourism and consider the cause and effect that often-contradictory ideologies can have.

For example, the role of tourists is fluid, being exploited for revenue-generating taxes by both airlines and airports alike, but also generating market demand and ideologies of what a Bali holiday should be. Tourism has given many Balinese work opportunities with higher salaries, but this work exists in an ecosystem that commodifies hospitality culture and prefers more highly educated, fluent English-speaking workers. Capital accumulation and monopolisation has become so extreme that companies such as KLM and Marriott are able to politically lobby for or against certain governmental proposals, calling into question whether acts such as sustainable fuel or the promotion of local products are significant changes or simply a reflection of the hegemony of capital and market control.

Access and download this resource:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g6DIPxRbzh1BOSSJ5s-eVMd5nmSKx9s_/view?usp=sharing 

References:

Drainville, A. C. (1994). International political economy in the age of open Marxism. Review of International Political Economy, 1(1), 105–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692299408434270

Milios, J. (2000). Social Classes in Classical and Marxist Political Economy. The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 59(2), 283–302. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3487906

The theoretical approach of Marxian political economy is based on the class struggle Karl Marx describes between the capitalist and the working class. The capitalist is always aiming for as much gain as possible, by exploitation of the working class. Researchers using this lens mostly investigate struggles for power and distribution of the fruits of labour.

The game of tug-of-war very clearly explains the struggle for the fruits of labour by the different classes. The game is played with two teams: the capitalist and the working class. The capitalist team is a very small group of very strong players. They line up at one side of the rope. The team of workers is much bigger but consists of weaker individual  players. They line up at the other end of the rope.  Normally, for tug-of-war, the flag on the rope starts in the middle, but as this specific game represents capitalism and labour, the flag starts at the capitalist side. This illustrates them having the power literally in their hands. The goal of the working class is to start a revolution: to literally pull the power their way. We demonstrate this in a stop-motion film, with one person on the side of the power (Tim, the capitalist) and three people on the side of the working class (Daniëlle, Rey and Ayla).

Access and download this resource: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZOhCtrq-d-P-owYbIuE6dHvpEtPUEKzp/view?usp=drive_link 

Resource designers: Daniëlle Schuijt, Tim ten Brinke, Reihane Sadeghazde & Ayla Brouwers

Charlie Chaplin is well known for making social and political statements in his comedic movies. The opening sequence of his movie “Modern Times”, which was released in 1936, is a great example of this. In it, Chaplin critiques modern society in a similar manner to scholars of Marxian Political Economy.

The most notable example of this is displayed in the first scene, where a herd of sheep slowly transitions into a group of factory workers. This visual representation shows how the factory workers are acting like sheep: blinded by their ideology, they are alienated from their means of production. The workers seem to accept their role without the need for physical oppression. This is a clear example of hegemony.

The following scenes, which show how the president of the factory keeps on increasing the speed of production, show the capitalist mode of production, in which the capitalist tries to gain even more surplus from the factory workers. This becomes even more evident in the eating-machine scene, in which Chaplin is a test subject for a feeding machine designed to allow workers to eat while continuing to work on the assembly line. This feeding machine could also be interpreted as that factory workers 'consume' whatever ideology the capitalist class gives the factory workers.

Through these scenes, Chaplin tried to show people how they are exploited and should  become class conscious. He hoped the general public would think more critically and therefore emancipate themselves  from this inequality. This clearly aligns with  the methodology of Marxian Political Economy. In addition, the examples above show that factory  workers' social reality is shaped by ideology and that, through critical thinking, the underlying “truth” can be revealed. This fits the ontology of Marxian Political Economy.

Reference: 

• Chaplin, C. (1936). Modern Times. United Artists.

Access this resource: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uY6ItxyNGgA&t=284s&pp=ygUcY2hhcmxpZSBjaGFwbGluI 

Resource designers: Age, Pinelopi & Viva

“The Sound of Capital” transforms Marxian Political Economy into an immersive auditory journey, capturing the essence of labor exploitation and class struggle through sound. This project explores the key concepts of Marx’s critique of capitalism, using everyday noises to symbolize the cyclical nature of labor, profit, alienation, and resistance.

The experience begins with the sounds of a particular kind  of workplace, representing the daily toil of workers. It is followed by the sound of money and cash registers. This represents the capitalist’s profits. This sound conveys Marx’s idea of surplus value that the capitalist class extracts as profit derived from the worker’s labor, enriching only  the few.

Next, an alienated sound can be heard, as two notes are alienating more and more from each other. It represents the phase in which workers are disconnected both from the product of their work and the creative process, trapped in monotonous routines that serve capitalist interests.

The sound of protest captures the awakening of the working class to their exploitation and uniting to challenge the capitalist system. The audio builds in intensity, mirroring the historical conflicts between labor and capital. After this protest, an explosion can be heard, symbolizing the collapse of capitalism and the potential rise of a new system. This transition represents the overthrow of the ruling class and the dawn of a more just society where workers reclaim control over their labor.

Access and download this resource: 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oXN2pIao2nLf5SvZeJweGzVILDQ8UHnW?usp=drive_link 

Resource designers: Manon Pasman & Anna de Moor