Literacy on the Left

I have three sessions for various different groups on the subject of my book 'Literacy on the left' coming up. Within a framework of Marxist educational theory there are a number of dilemmas that my book will need to address and I may have to raise in these sessions. Tensions around base/superstructure models; the perspectives around the notions of relative autonomy and the tensions between literacy for autonomy and literacy for revolutionary change. All really spring from base/superstructure models. This, in a nutshell, is about Marx's view that the nature of society derives from the primary economic activity of that society and the productive relations there-in. It is who owns the means of production and the means of exchange that influences the way we carry on our lives, our relations with others and even how we think, our morality and the ethos we follow - this is what Marx called the base. The superstructure are the mechanisms that are constructed in society to perpetuate these relations in society - the media, schools, police, courts etc etc.

The question is: 'does this mean society has it all sewn up, or can we affect change by tinkering with the superstructure?' If I manage to introduce radical literacy practices in my classroom, will this have an impact on those children in the class or are the superstructures of society too strong? If I do want change, should I wait for the revolution that Marx predicted that will come anyway as the response to the contradictions of society - am I better off organising explicitly for this moment? Is literacy on the left a hopeless activity?