Liberation Audio: Recent Episodes
Liberation Audio
Socialist news and analysis from the front lines of struggle. Project of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
A popular coal-miner’s riddle from the 1930s summarizes one of capitalism’s most visible and absurd contradictions. After a daughter asks her father why their home is so cold, he tells her they don’t have any money to purchase coal. He explains they don’t have money because he lost his job at the coal mine. When the daughter asks why he lost his job, the father answers: “Because we produced too much coal”.For a contemporary example, how many of us have, through a religious institution, school, mutual aid organization, or other community group, participated in a clothing drive, soliciting gently-used clothing to give to those in need? How many of us need to borrow (or bargain-shop for) nice clothes for job interviews or court appearances? One would think the world is short on clothing. The truth is that the majority of the garments we produce go to landfills instead of other workers. In 2018, 60 percent of 100 billion clothing items were trashed. Despite the immense data-tracking technologies, even garment specialists don’t know how many clothes we produce each year, according to a 2024 article in The Guardian. Based on accessible information, however, “between 80bn and 150bn garments are made” annually, and 10 – 40 percent (or up to 60 billion clothing items) aren’t sold.A November 2024 study by United Way NCA provides a more contemporary and data-based illustration of the inhumanity of capitalist overproduction. Analyzing data from the U.S. Census and the Department of Housing & Urban Development, they found “there are currently 28 vacant homes for every one person experiencing homelessness in the U.S.”.There are countless other examples, some more dramatic than others, that show the absurdity of the capitalist system through one of its fundamental contradictions: overproduction. Generally speaking, overproduction occurs when too much is produced compared to how much can be sold at a profit.Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/overproduction/
The eighth installment in Liberation School’s series of previously untranslated works by Thomas Sankara is published on the day Sankara was born in 1949. We would like to thank Bruno Jaffré and the editorial team of ThomasSankara.net for letting us translate and publish these works and the following interview dated September 20, 1985.The text is from an interview with Thomas Sankara conducted by a graduate student, which results in, as Jaffré notes in his introduction, a unique style of dialogue. It was originally published in French under the title provided by the student, “At the dawn of the third year of the revolution, the birth of a new society.”Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/thomas-sankara-assesses-year-3-of-the-revolution/
Every year, Pew Research publishes a study on the U.S. population’s political priorities. Their 2024 report shows that, like the previous years, “no single issue stands out after the economy,” with almost 75 percent of respondents rating it the main goal for the next administration, a rate “considerably larger” than any other policy. Yet when we see pundits discuss “the economy” on the news, they speak an obscuring language.The economy is an abstraction, in that there is no such “thing” as the economy. What we call “the economy” is, in reality, the ways that humans produce, distribute, exchange, and consume products or services. In this sense, “the economy” has a history as long as humanity. Yet there are different ways of organizing the economy. Unlike what we’re taught, the capitalist economy is a relatively recent phenomenon and is neither the final, just, most effective, nor possible form of organizing what, how, and why we produce.The introductory article to this series ended with one of the most foundational of the contradictions of capitalism: between use value and exchange value. Understanding this one contradiction goes a long way in helping understand the antagonism between those of us who live by working and the few of them who live by making us work. The conflict between use value and exchange value is an expression of the struggle between classes.This entry explains some aspects of the contradiction between use value and exchange value, how they help us better understand the world around us, and some ways we can wield that understanding to explain the exploitation humans, all living creatures, and the Earth suffer from, which is necessary for eliminating the root cause of that suffering.Read the original article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/use-value-exchange-value/
Hearing or reading about the “contradictions of capitalism” in an article or at a rally might be intimidating, like a foreign language or a term only a certain group can understand. While the contradictions of capitalism are complicated, working and oppressed people can easily understand them for the simple reason that we all live with and negotiate any number of contradictions every day. The contradictions we deal with that are the most confining, that most constrain our capacities and that keep us oppressed are specifically the contradictions of capitalism.On any given day, we find abundant evidence that makes it clear that the capitalist system doesn’t work in practice. Examining the contradictions of capitalism and demonstrating how they are inherent in the system, proves that capitalism doesn’t even work in theory. Understanding capitalist contradictions heightens our agitation and accelerates political consciousness by cutting through capitalist ideology and the various excuses of capitalists, politicians, and their media. Knowing capitalist contradictions better informs our tactics and strategies in any given struggle and serves as a bridge to socialist reconstruction in the U.S.Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/capitalist-contradictions-and-revolutionary-struggle-an-introduction/
According to the United Nations Population Fund’s 2009 report, 2008 was the first time in history that over 50 percent of the world’s population resided in cities instead of rural areas. Because of the different ways countries define cities, others date the qualitative shift to as recently as 2021. Regardless, across the spectrum it’s undisputed we now live in an “urban age” and, as such, transforming the relationship between cities and the natural world is essential for climate change adaptation and mitigation. The international capitalist institutions like the World Bank that are increasingly taking up the issue of cities and climate change can’t explain the various factors behind urbanization nor can they pose real solutions to its impact on or relationship to climate catastrophes. Cities consume 78 percent of the world’s energy resources and produce 60 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a 2022 UN Habitat report. Under the capitalist model, urban planning lacks a holistic approach, leaving human well being and ecological needs as an afterthought, which will continue to have a degenerative effect on the environment and global climate.Marx and Engels lived during a time in which capitalist urbanization was a nascent phenomenon concentrated mostly in some European cities, like Manchester, the English city about which Friedrich Engels wrote his first and classic book, The Condition of the Working Class in England. Engels demonstrates how the “great town” of Manchester, the first major manufacturing center in England, was great only for capitalist profits. The concentration of capital required for the invention and adoption of machinery outproduced independent handicraft and agricultural production, forcing both into the industrial proletariat of the city. There, they had to work for the capitalists, whose wages were so low they could, if they were lucky, live in overcrowded houses and neighborhoods just outside the city limits. Because the city was produced chaotically for capitalist profits, no attention was given to accompanying environmental impacts. As the masses were driven from their land into the urban factories, the ancestral ties to the land and ecological knowledge of how to live sustainably on that land was lost.Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/capitalist-urbanization-sponge-cities/
Note: Following the original publication of this article, Alex Saab was extradited to Miami on October 16th 2021, and remains in prison awaiting an appeal.On March 18, The Cape Verde Supreme Court approved the extradition of Venezuelan government envoy Alex Saab to the United States. Saab was en route to Iran to secure food and medicine deals for Venezuelan public programs last year when he was arrested in Cape Verde, at the request of the U.S. government under Donald Trump. He has been imprisoned in Cape Verde since June 2020. Saab is appealing the extradition.The arrest of Saab is part of the U.S. government’s larger attack on Venezuela’s CLAP (Local Committees for Supply and Production) food distribution program. It is also a blatant violation of national sovereignty spanning several continents as the U.S. demands the right to arrest anyone, anywhere, for pursuing economic development free of U.S. dictates.Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/extradition-of-alex-saab-u-s-takes-effort-to-starve-venezuelans-to-new-lows/
Despite its association with sovereign nations involved in wartime alliances, the term “ally” has become influential in activist circles on the US left. Attention to debates over what it means to be an ally reveal the limits of the politics of allyship. They also provide an opportunity to reflect on the difference between allies and comrades. Allyship is anchored in liberal politics. People committed to revolutionary politics need to be comrades.Over the last decade, there have been intense discussions on social media and among community organizers who can be an ally. Generally, allies are understood to be privileged people who want to do something about oppression. They may not consider themselves survivors or victims, but they want to help. So allies can be straight people who stand up for LGBTQ people, white people who support Black and brown people, men who defend women, and so on. I have yet to see the term used for rich people involved in working-class struggle. Allies don’t want to imagine themselves as homophobic, racist, or sexist. They see themselves as the good guys, part of the solution.As is frequently emphasized in debates around allyship, claiming to be an ally does not make one an ally. Allyship requires time and effort. People have to work at it. Much of the written and video work on allyship is thus instructional, often appearing as a how-to guide or a list of pointers—how to be an ally, the dos and don’ts of allyship, and so on. The instructions for being a good ally are mini lifestyle manuals, techniques for navigating (but not demolishing) settings of privilege and oppression. Individuals can learn what not to say and what not to do. They can feel engaged without any organized political struggle at all. The “politics” in these allyship how-tos consists of interpersonal interactions, individual feelings, and mediated affects.The pieces on how to be a good ally that circulate online (as blog posts, videos, editorials, and course handouts) address the viewer or reader as an individual with a privileged identity who wants to operate in solidarity with the marginalized and oppressed. This potential ally is positioned as wanting to know what they can do right now, on their own, and in their everyday lives to combat racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression. The ally’s field of operation is often imagined as social media (in knowing the right way to respond to racist or homophobic remarks on Twitter, for example); as charitable contribution (in donating to and setting up GoFundMe campaigns); as professional interaction (in hiring the marginalized and promoting the oppressed); as conversations at one’s school or university (in knowing what not to say); and, sometimes, as street-level protests (in not dominating someone else’s event). Even more often, the ally’s own individual attitude and behavior is what is targeted. The how-to guide instructs allies on how to feel, think, and act if they want to consider themselves as people who are on the side of the oppressed. Their awareness is what needs to change.Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/from-allies-to-comrades/
Liu Liangmo’s story is as remarkable as it is unknown. An anti-imperialist, pro-Communist Christian, with a significant relationship to the Black Liberation Movement and the Indian Freedom Struggle, Liu lived in the U.S. as a diplomat after participating in the ongoing Chinese revolution. He wrote a column for the prominent Black newspaper. The Pittsburgh Courier, before returning to his home country and attaining a fairly high-ranking position there. His story offers notable insight into the history of pre- and post-revolutionary China and its approach to the Black freedom movement in the U.S. It also reveals much about the turbulent “Second Popular Front” era in China, during which time Communist forces obtained broader legitimacy. This has largely been erased from U.S. political and historical consciousness, which helps explain Liu’s relative marginality.
Most radical movements since the late 1960s have rightly critiqued the legacy of the Popular Front for blurring the lines between reform and revolution and, by extension, capitalism and communism. They see the Popular Front as an opportunist approach to building unity where radical ideas and the independent working-class program were subordinated to maintain legitimacy among left-liberal reform currents.
What is lost in such sweeping generalizations are the unusual concrete circumstances and strategic conundrums that Communist forces faced worldwide in this moment, especially among the struggles of oppressed peoples against colonialism and fascism. Liu Liangmo’s story provides an opportunity to critically examine this period anew. His Courier columns covered a wide breadth of “popular front” political activities and the relationships expressed in those writings speak to both the strengths and the weakness of Communist political activity during World War II. On the one hand, there was unprecedented vitality and significance to Communist-led interventions while, on the other hand, there was a lack of strategic clarity that forestalled a larger political breakthrough. Using Liu’s columns as a foundation, we can address this moment and draw important international parallels.
Read the full story here: https://www.liberationschool.org/liu-liangmo-pt-2/
Liu Liangmo (1909-1988) was a prominent Chinese anti-imperialist, religious leader and, from 1942-1945, columnist for the Pittsburgh Courier—at that time the nation’s widest circulating Black newspaper. Liu’s columns (and actions as an organizer) were a significant part of efforts by progressive Chinese people, on the mainland and in the diaspora, to build alliances with the Black Liberation movement as part of a broader effort to shape the post-war world.
His words linked the causes of ending colonialism, imperialism, and race discrimination—from the Yangtze to the Ganges to the Mississippi—mirroring the words and actions of millions of others involved in similarly-minded struggles around the world, including Liu’s favorite U.S. singer: Paul Robeson.
Liu’s columns represent the efforts of Communist and aligned currents to turn the allied effort in the favor of the exploited and the oppressed. This was counteracted in the so-called “Cold War,” as imperialist forces worked to make the world “safe for capitalism” in the wake of the World War II.
His columns and activities offer interesting insight into the struggle within the “Second United Front” in China between the Nationalist Kuomintang and the Communists during the Second World War and their differing approaches to the post-war world: whether China should be an anti-colonial vanguard or seek inclusion in the imperialist “great power” club. The “Nationalist” Chinese government’s chose the latter, heavily impacting their approach to racism in the US.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/liu-liangmo-pt-1/
In commemorating Black August, we commemorate the struggle of those who have fought before us and faced violent repercussions from the state. We uplift the revolutionary history of the Black working class and its fundamental position in forging and leading the struggle for liberation for all. And we recommit ourselves to the struggle for Black Liberation and for the freedom of all political prisoners.
When I think of political prisoners, and when I think of those who have relentlessly committed themselves to Black Liberation, I always think of Assata Shakur.
From Assata’s story, we are able to learn what it means to be motivated by a deep love for the people and the struggle for freedom—and what it means to embody a determined and unbreakable spirit in the face of crackdowns and government repression designed to stifle and destroy the movement. Account after account from Assata’s comrades and fellow revolutionaries describe Assata as a light, a positive spirit who remained disciplined and committed to the struggle despite incredible hardships.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/assata-shakur-the-making-of-a-revolutionary-woman/
In early 1956, construction was almost complete on what the Japanese authorities and general public thought was going to be a battery factory in what is now known as West Tokyo, but what at the time was farmland. When the “factory” was finished on April 10 of that year, however, a banner outside the perimeters announced that it was the new home of Korea University, which was previously a series of shacks attached to Tokyo First Korean High School.
This episode is part of the much longer and widely unknown anti-colonial struggle of Koreans in Japan, a struggle with implications and lessons for the whole world. It’s a struggle that, just like the Korean struggle more broadly, has been systematically isolated. As such, it’s a struggle that needs more international solidarity, particularly from those of us in the U.S. Yet it’s also a struggle that can provide hope and inspiration for all people fighting against colonialism and imperialism.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/the-chongryon-movement-the-struggle-of-koreans-in-japan/
Our understanding of the state lies at the heart of our struggle to create a new society and fundamentally eliminate the oppression, exploitation, war, and environmental destruction characteristic of capitalism. In a socialist state, people collectively manage society, including what we produce, how much we produce, and the conditions of our work, to meet the needs of the people and the planet. Under capitalism, the state is organized to maintain the capitalist system and the dictatorship of a tiny group of capitalists over the rest of us through the use (or threat) of violent force and a range of institutions that present capitalism as “common sense.” The primary function of the capitalist state is to protect itself, which means it manages contradictions within the capitalist class and between their class and the working class.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/marxist-state-theory-intro/
The Cuban people voted by supermajority on Sept. 25 to approve the Families Code, a revolutionary law that modernizes, recognizes and legalizes all manifestations of families in Cuba.
The previous 1975 Family Code was revolutionary for its time, but needed a major updating with almost 50 years of growth in social consciousness worldwide and in Cuba. The new Families Code broadens the family model to be fully inclusive. It includes the right to same sex marriage, expanded rights of adoption, allows surrogacy births, more protection for seniors and grandparents’ rights, stronger protections against domestic violence and explicit expansion of the rights of children.
Composed of 471 articles and 117 pages, the hefty code details the fullest inclusion of every Cuban’s family as one sees fit, and “defends equality, non-discrimination, dignity and respect for diversity.”
Of 6,251,786 eligible voters, 74.01% turned out to vote. Of these, a supermajority of 66.89% approved the Families Code.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/supermajority-of-cubans-vote-for-revolutionary-families-code/
How do the actual people in charge of corporations manage to remain protected from the consequences of the countless crimes they commit year after year? How is it that when CEOs make clear and obvious decisions that habitually violate every existing worker-won regulation, from the Clean Air Act to the Civil Rights Act, with very few exceptions, they charge the corporation—the “artificial” or “unnatural” person—instead of the CEO—the actual, “natural person” who made those decisions?
The legal grounds that corporations have the same protections and rights as “natural persons” is commonly justified by the 1886 Supreme Court ruling in Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company. As we’ll see, the Court’s decision in the case didn’t establish any precedent for corporate personhood, nor did the Court make any ruling on it. To the extent that the Supreme Court even debated “artificial,” “corporate,” and other kinds of personhood, they did so to facilitate the transition from “free competition” to monopoly capitalism in the country.
In this article, we explore the Santa Clara case before turning to debates within the institutions of power in the U.S. over the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. These debates can only be understood if situated within their historical, political, and economic context: the transition to monopoly capital in the U.S. To conclude, we explore the case’s destructive legacy, or the way it was illegitimately used to set precedent for the growth of monopoly capital.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/corporate-personhood-monopoly-capital-and-the-precedent-that-wasnt-the-1866-santa-clara-case/
By the early 1970s, the global revolutionary tide of socialist and national liberation struggles was at its apex, and the tide was washing over the U.S., with expanding and increasingly militant social movements and political organizations. The beginning of “neoliberalism” was a domestic aspect of the coming global counterrevolution, which devastated the world for decades.This article tells the story of how the right wing of the capitalist class came to drive a new set of reactionary Supreme Court rulings, government policies, and ideological battles against democracy and the basic democratic rights our class won and that the right wing soon started rolling back. A key figure in this anti-democratic turn was Lewis F. Powell Jr., a tobacco company executive turned Supreme Court Justice. In the transition between the two roles, he wrote his infamous “Powell Memo.”In hindsight, the private memorandum Lewis F. Powell Jr. sent to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on August 23, 1971—known as the “Powell Memo”—in many ways represents the inaugural moment in this counteroffensive. Titled, “Attack on American Free Enterprise System,” the Memo clearly expressed the sharpness of the class struggle at that time and encapsulated the capitalist class’ fear that they were losing the battles of ideas and the world. It undoubtedly laid the groundwork for some key components of U.S. imperialism’s new offensive against the global revolutionary upsurge that characterized the immediate post-World War II environment, an offensive that is still with us today.Read the full article here:
In an article published this year for International Women’s Day, Maddie Dery summarizes the various experiences of the women’s liberation movement since the early 20th century: “The history of International Women’s Day teaches us that when we fight, we win”. This spirit, which threads through the historic struggle for women’s liberation and socialism, is easily identified in the revolutionary origins, legacies, and futures of International Women’s Day. At Liberation School, we want to end March—which, since 1987, the U.S. recognizes as “Women’s History Month”—and pull that red thread by publishing Claudia Jones’ historic 1950 speech at an International Women’s Day rally, which was also published in Political Affairs, the monthly journal of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). Jones’ speech rooted the contemporary moment of the class struggle in the long history of the fight for Black liberation, women’s emancipation, peace, and socialism, linking together fighters from Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth to Mother Jones and Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, from Lucy Stone and Ida B Wells to Williana Burroughs and Clara Zetkin.Born in Trinidad in 1915, Claudia Jones moved to New York City eight years later. She is one of the most significant revolutionary theorists and organizers of the 20th century. After joining the Communist Party in 1936 through the struggle to free the Scottsboro Boys, she rapidly developed as an organizer and intellectual and within two years was the associate editor of the CPUSA’s Weekly Review and after another two years was the lead editor.Pushing the Party to prioritize struggles against male and national chauvinism, in the late 1940s Jones theorized the “super-exploitation” of Black working-class women through their structural location in U.S. society. In one 1949 article, she wrote that “the Negro woman, who combines in her status the worker, the Negro, and the woman, is the vital link to… heightened political consciousness”. For Jones, the heightened oppression of Black women workers and their historic roles as leaders and organizers of their communities made Black women’s participation and leadership essential to the communist and progressive struggle.Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/claudia-jones-1950-iwd-speech/
Every working person is keenly aware that prices are up. Nasty surprises and disbelief keep turning up at the register. People are being forced to forgo even the most minor and seemingly harmless comfort purchases, adding to the accumulation of the indignities necessary for survival under capitalism.Even worse, the alleged culprits can seem abstract and hard to pin down, like “the supply chain.” Some try to blame good things like higher wages, and others point to enraging levels of straight-up corporate greed. There is a debate raging about which factors cause inflation, with one other “cause” thrown in: government spending.The various explanations serve more as ideological markers than as actual explanations. They all have the virtue of having some “solution” that Congress or the White House can or should pursue immediately.Our indignation at the daily web of injustices we are forced to navigate reflects the contradiction between capitalism and humanity. Inflation reflects the dynamics of a system based on exploitation. Ultimately, there is no long-term solution to inflation or other ills of capitalism without replacing the system. Without such systematic change, all “immediate” solutions produce new cul-de-sacs for the working class.Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/value-price-and-inflation-immediate-and-structural-causes/
In a recent book on the ongoing relevance of Walter Rodney’s work, Karim F. Hirji notes that, “as with scores of progressive intellectuals and activists of the past, the prevailing ideology functions to relegate Rodney into the deepest, almost unreachable, ravines of memory. A person who was widely known is now a nonentity, a stranger to the youth in Africa and the Caribbean” and the U.S. Rodney’s theoretical and practical contributions to the socialist movement warrant an ongoing engagement with his life story and major texts.Rodney’s most recent, posthumously-published text, The Russian Revolution: A View from the Third World, offers an important perspective on the time period in which it was written and the internal position of the author. Rodney’s family worked with Robin Kelley in taking Walter’s extensive lecture notes on the Russian revolutionary era and forming them into a complete manuscript.This essay, which complements our new study guide on The Russian Revolution, offers a brief overview of Rodney’s background historical context. Highlighting aspects of Rodney’s individual life demonstrates that his commitments were not just the result of his own individual experiences and conclusions, but were part of and emerged from the revolutionary crisis ripping through the world at the time. To better comprehend A View from the Third World, we turn to Groundings with My Brothers, which Rodney produced as a relatively new professor in Jamaica. In that book, Rodney reflects on the dialectical pedagogy he developed to make his academic labor part of the global movement against capitalist imperialism, which he also called the white power structure.Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/walter-rodney-a-peoples-professor/
The Party for Socialism and Liberation is built on two essential premises. One is revolutionary Marxist theory and analysis on all issues affecting humanity and the environment we live in, especially the most pressing issues facing workers and oppressed peoples.We strive through our literature, newspaper, social media, video, agitational leaflets, and more, to popularize and communicate to our class the truth behind the capitalists’ lies and the urgent need for socialism.But theory and politics would mean nothing without struggle. That is the other essential premise of our organization. Action is the key to progress, the only way to defeat right-wing policies and win rights, and ultimately to achieve the liberation of humanity through socialism.Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/party-action-building-peoples-movements-streets/
We are in a period where the world’s poor and working people are waging heroic struggles against imperialist war and exploitation.Millions of people poured into the streets in the last few years to prevent Bush and Cheney’s rush to war against Iraq, only to find that this imperialist war had the backing of both political parties of U.S. imperialism, of the big business media, of the corporations and the banks.The protests were huge—the biggest anti-war demonstrations ever. The anti-war movement spanned the globe. It was an historic demonstration of unity by the people of all continents uniting against U.S. imperialism.Yet the war machine pushed ahead. Today, tens of thousands of Iraqis are dead. Thousands of GIs, workers in uniform, have been killed or wounded, with more being sent to their deaths daily. Politicians of all stripes promise “endless war” — and it is only because of the fierce Iraqi resistance to the Pentagon occupation that has slowed, but not stopped, the plans for the next war for empire.Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/founding-statement-of-the-party-for-socialism-and-liberation/
In 2013, five unelected judges gutted the right to vote for tens of millions of African Americans and others. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Shelby v. Holder overturned a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) that prevented voter suppression. That provision—outlined in Section 4(b) of the Act—required state and local governments with a documented history of racism to submit any changes to their electoral laws for pre-approval by a federal agency. A single court case, heard in in a room where no cameras are allowed, stole from millions a landmark protection of the fundamental right to a vote.Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/shelby-county-v-holder-how-the-supreme-court-attacked-black-voting-rights/
Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, was mercilessly beaten to death earlier this month during a traffic stop by five Memphis Police Department officers. In a few hours, the video of his murder will be released to the public. Righteous outrage is already boiling across the country, and the Party for Socialism and Liberation will be joining thousands in the streets tonight to demand justice. Only mass action can revive the movement against police terror, and to end that terror ultimately requires a revolution — a change in who holds power in this country.Tyre Nichols was a beloved father of a 4-year-old son who grew up in Sacramento, California, and moved to Memphis in 2020. Tyre “was a beautiful soul and he touched everyone,” his mother remembered at a press conference, and had a passion for photography. That he was pulled over in what seemed to be a simple traffic stop and then brutally beaten for three minutes while completely defenseless is testament to the utter inhumanity of the police in this country. Read the full statement here: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-justice-for-tyre-nichols-take-to-the-streets/
Contrary to the mythology we learn in school, the founding fathers feared and hated the concept of democracy—which they derisively referred to as “tyranny of the majority.” The constitution that they wrote reflects this, and seeks to restrict and prohibit involvement of the masses of people in key areas of decision making. The following article, originally written in 2008, reviews the true history of the constitution and its role in the political life of the country.The ruling class of today—the political and social successors to the “founding fathers”—continues to have a fundamental disdain for popular participation in government. The right wing of the elite is engaged in an all-out offensive against basic democratic rights and democracy itself. This offensive relies heavily on the Supreme Court and the legal doctrine of constitutional “originalism”. Originalism means that the only rights and policies that are protected are ones that are explicitly laid out in the constitution, conforming with the “original” intentions of the founders. As the article explores, this was a thoroughly anti-democratic set up that sought to guarantee the power and wealth of the elite.Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/class-character-of-the-u-s-constitution/
Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the U.S. and other imperialist countries have repeatedly declared that history is over, meaning that humanity cannot transcend the capitalist system, which is elevated as the pinnacle of human development. As Margaret Thatcher claimed “there is no alternative” to capitalism, and the best we can hope for is a kinder, gentler, and more “humane” form of it. According to the capitalist class, the fall of the Soviet Union demonstrated that “socialism doesn’t work” and socialist revolution is foolhardy, so we shouldn’t preoccupy ourselves with fighting for it.Despite this prognosis, socialist revolution is very much on the table in the U.S. and all over the world. As we are facing multiple existential crises for humanity and the planet, socialist revolution is not just possible, but an absolute necessity to ensure our collective future.Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/what-is-socialist-revolution/
The corporate media is on a nonstop campaign asserting that the U.S. electorate is turning to the right and rejecting progressive policies. It is clear that if Republicans win back either the House or Senate, this message will be amplified a thousand times over. But this narrative is completely fraudulent. In the working class especially, there is a widespread rejection of corporate power, an embrace of core progressive policies and a desire to fight. Whether or not that sentiment is fully reflected in the midterm outcome — and there are various factors suppressing it — there is no reason for any socialist to adopt the false picture of the working class provided by the corporate media.
The contest between the two ruling-class parties for control of Congress is entering its final stretch. The midterm election is now less than three weeks away, with Republicans hoping to take control of one or both houses of the legislature. The outcome will have a major impact on the trajectory of U.S. politics in the coming years, potentially hobbling the already-unpopular Biden administration, deepening gridlock and turmoil at the summits of elite politics, and setting the stage for an even fiercer confrontation in 2024.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-the-right-wings-program-is-deeply-unpopular-so-why-are-the-elections-so-close/
In the preface to the first edition of volume one of Capital, dated July 25, 1867, Marx introduces the book’s “ultimate aim”: “to lay bare the economic law of motion of modern society”. Looking back 155 years later, it’s clear the book not only accomplished that aim but continues to do so today.
In a few short pages, Marx introduces the method he used to study and present his research into the dynamics of capitalism, explains the reasons why he focused on England, distinguishes between modes of production and social formations (and by doing so refutes any accusations of his theory of history as progressing linearly through successive stages), identifies the capacities he’s assuming of the reader, affirms he’s interested in critiquing the structures of capital and not the individuals within it, and explains that the main function of the book is to help our class intervene in the constantly changing capitalist system.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/marxs-first-preface-to-capital/
The following interview, facilitated by Derek Ford, took place via e-mail during June and July in preparation for Black August, when progressive organizers and activists deepen our study of and commitment to the Black struggle in the U.S. and the anti-colonial and anti-imperialist class struggles worldwide. During this time, we wanted to provide a unique and accessible resource on Walter Rodney, the revolutionary Guyanese organizer, theorist, pedagogue, political economist, and what many call a “guerrilla intellectual.” Liberation School recently republished Rodney’s essay on George Jackson here (https://www2.liberationschool.org/walter-rodney-on-george-jackson/).
Read the interview here: https://www.liberationschool.org/walter-rodneys-revolutionary-praxis-devyn-springer-interview/
This is the first English translation of this interview and the opening installment in a Liberation School series of previously untranslated work by Thomas Sankara. This translation series is the result of a collaboration with ThomasSankara.net, an online platform dedicated to archiving work on and by the great African revolutionary. We would like to express our gratitude to Bruno Jaffré for allowing us to establish this collaboration and providing us with the right to translate this material into English for the first time.
Thomas Sankara (1949-1987), who is sometimes referred to as the “African Che Guevara,” was the Marxist-Leninist leader of the Burkinabé Revolution from 1983 until his assassination in 1987, which is finally being investigated. Sankara made major contributions to the anti-imperialist and anti-colonial struggle, the defense of national self-determination, the construction of socialist internationalism, women’s liberation, the fight against capitalist-driven environmental destruction, and many other significant fronts of global class struggle.
The text below was originally published in L’Humanité, a newspaper with strong historical ties to the French Communist Party, before being republished on ThomasSankara.net.
Read the article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/sankara-we-didnt-import-our-revolution/
During the summer of 2020, tens of millions of people took to the streets to participate in the largest uprising in this country’s history. From the smallest towns to the biggest cities, working people across races, genders and ages joined together to demand justice for all victims of police terror.
The national spotlight was primarily on Black victims of police terror like George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and many more. But the righteous anger did not only stem from Black people. The rebellion of Black people brought millions of working class people from every racial background in the streets, shaking the racist foundation of this country. And when a racist, sexist, anti-Asian massacre in Atlanta took the lives of 8 of our working-class siblings, it wasn’t just Asian people in the streets. The crowds, standing shoulder to shoulder with each other in the face of racist hate were multinational.
The solidarity demonstrated throughout the summer of 2020 and beyond remains an undeniably powerful force, that achieved concessions previously thought to be impossible. For many, the heated struggle in the streets demonstrated not only the possibility, but the necessity of solidarity in fighting for our liberation. For the ruling class — which benefits from keeping our class divided — that solidarity was a threat to the status quo. The ruling class has long attempted to thwart working-class solidarity by pitting racial groups against one another, a history that includes dividing Black and Asian people.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/afro-asian-multi-national-unity/
Cities across the U.S. are rapidly transforming. “Gentrification-style” luxury developments are replacing neighborhood landmarks and low-income housing. Sky-high rents are pushing poor residents increasingly further from city centers. These trends are symptoms of gentrification, the process by which poor and working-class people are driven out of their communities due to an influx of capitalist investment in their neighborhoods.
Gentrification is not always defined in these terms. Some cite cultural explanations, from the kind and number of amenities (like coffee shops, bike lanes, etc.) developed in an urban neighborhood to changing social norms around “lifestyle choices” (like not having children), defining gentrification as a result of individual consumer preferences. Or they might define it as the result of collective consumption patterns, which happens in arguments about “gay gentrification.” Some define gentrification as a process of white people moving to Black neighborhoods and pushing long-term Black residents out of major urban centers such as Washington D.C., Chicago, and Philadelphia. Still others merely accept that gentrification is a “natural” and unavoidable phenomenon. In general, these groups view gentrification as a short-term problem to be corrected by policy tweaks, such as reforming residential zoning laws, or “better” individual choices.
Instead of individual or even policy choices, Marxists understand gentrification as a process that is fundamentally caused by the laws of capitalism—as part and parcel of its regular cycle of capital accumulation—coupled with racism and other forms of oppression. In this article, we explain the underlying forces that produce gentrification by turning to Marx and Engels before covering more recent research and organizing around the topic. At the end, we discuss the practical implications of a revolutionary understanding of gentrification.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/gentrification-a-revolutionary-understanding/
Following the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v Wade, many tens of thousands of people have taken to the street in protest — some for the first time. Now the question is: What’s next? What can be done?
Biden has within his power many different executive authorities that would provide abortion access in all 50 states. But it will require a big struggle to make it happen. With trigger laws pending to go into effect it is essential that the movement make these demands now!
Watch the webinar online: https://youtu.be/6CkqE_hfL-A
The past, as they say, is never truly past. In recent months, Soviet nationality policy, a topic many thought consigned to academic backwaters and communist happy hours, has been thrust into the forefront of public conversation. The war raging in Ukraine has brought to the forefront questions about the borders, languages, and ethnicities of the country. How did they get that way, who is responsible, and how do these questions impact the causes and consequences of the current crisis?
The conversation, however, has been something of a battle of dueling nationalisms. In response to far-right Ukrainian nationalism, Russian President Vladimir Putin has spun his own nationalist views, blaming the Bolsheviks for setting the stage for tensions between Russia and Ukraine today.
Taking the two sets of critiques, one might be led to believe that the Soviet Union was some sort of venal, brutal empire that held the just aspirations of its various nationalities and ethnicities captive, manipulating “national borders” to generate fake nations and false national consciousness.
The truth is far from the stories told by both the Ukrainian nationalists and Putin. The Soviet Union was the most advanced attempt at addressing national oppression, racism and discrimination at a country-wide level. Among many other things, the USSR was the first nation to engage in widespread affirmative action at levels no country before or since has reached.
The Soviets took hundreds of nationalities and brought them under one governmental authority that took on economic backwardness and cultural repression to open up a liberatory future for peoples who had spent centuries under the yoke of the Tsars’ imperial ambitions.
In fact, the depth of the tragedy afflicting Eastern Europe right now can only be fully understood in light of the decades-long Soviet effort to put an end to national antagonism and forge a future based on the unity of working and poor people for their collective benefit and that of humanity.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/nations-and-soviets-the-national-question-in-the-ussr/
Women’s History Month is a time to recommit ourselves to the unfinished struggle for women’s liberation, and this year it is even more crucial than ever. The conservative leaning Supreme Court is considering gutting or even overturning Roe v. Wade, which would roll back women’s hard-won and fundamental right to abortion. The current attacks on abortion rights are the culmination of decades of reactionary organizing to establish extreme reproductive control by challenging birth control access, criminalizing miscarriage, undoing the right to abortion, and promoting abstinence-only sex (mis)education.
This article offers a Marxist analysis of why abortion rights are in peril today, and how the historical attempt to limit and control reproductive freedom stretches back to the very beginnings of class society. This article was originally published in the Autumn 2019 issue of Breaking the Chains magazine, titled “Not a Moral Issue.”
Read the article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/marxist-analysis-attacks-reproductive-rights/
The overthrow of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War restructured global imperialism and all of world politics. Without an understanding of the internal logic of imperialism, some hoped that now there would be a “peace dividend,” a period after the Cold War where the United States and its junior partners would have no reason to initiate more wars and invasions. The illusion was that the lone superpower would not be threatened by any potential rival, and therefore peace and calm would rein.
In the quarter-century since the overthrow of the Soviet Union, the United States has in fact been engaged in constant war, and now has a bipartisan military outlook based on “permanent war.” It continues to operate over 900 military bases in more than 100 countries in every region of the world.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/the-unipolar-era-of-imperialism/
On Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin undertook what he referred to as a “special military operation…to de-militarise and de-Nazify Ukraine.” Western bourgeois media immediately decried these stated goals, regularly repeating that the allegations of Nazism in Ukraine are nothing more than Russian “fake news.” Former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Michael McFaul, went so far as to flatly state that “there are no Nazis in the Ukraine.” Similar claims resound throughout the mass media’s echo chambers, and the fact that the current president of Ukraine is Jewish is often short-sightedly presented as the only “proof” necessary.
Disputing the existence of Nazis and fascists in Ukraine serves the purpose of constructing a twisted but simplistic narrative loosely based on WWII: Putin is an evil, Hitler-like figure intent on attacking the freedom-loving Ukrainian government and its innocent supporters. The goal of such a narrative is to foster blind and unquestioning support for the Zelenskyy government, NATO and the imperialist Western powers. A “humanitarian” war, meaning a brutal NATO intervention that would likely spark WWIII, is thereby presented as a viable option. In this context, any attempt to provide a sober and concrete analysis of the actual history of Nazism in the region runs the risk of being disingenuously labeled and dismissed as “pro-Putin” because it does not support this war-mongering narrative.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/nazis-in-ukraine-seeing-through-the-fog-of-the-information-war/
On May 11, the U.S. Senate voted down the Women’s Health Protection Act, 49-51. The WHPA would have made abortion legal, eliminating the role of the Supreme Court on the issue of abortion and nullifying the pending Supreme Court decision, the draft copy of which has already been leaked to the media.
The Democratic Party leadership is responsible for this catastrophe because they refused to forcefully defend abortion rights and women’s rights over the past two decades. It was not a priority for them. They only gave lip service for abortion rights to get votes. Millions of women are now losing control over their own bodies. It’s not just Joe Manchin to blame. The Democratic leadership has only seen abortion rights as a bargaining chip in bourgeois, capitalist politics.
Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, has insisted that support for abortion rights should not be a “litmus test” for Democratic candidates. In recent days she even went to Texas to support the campaign of Henry Cuellar, who is opposed to abortion rights, against a more progressive challenger who supports abortion rights.
This clearly indicates that the Democratic Party leadership doesn’t give a damn about abortion rights. They are playing politics and using the issue of abortion to fundraise and mobilize voters for the midterm elections, while failing to preserve the fundamental right to abortion. This is not the first time this has happened.
In 2009 and 2010, the Democrats did not have a razor thin majority in the Senate, but a huge majority. Fifty-nine Senators were Democrats, and one Independent voted with the Democratic caucus. In that same Congressional term, the Democrats had a vast majority in the House of Representatives, and they had just elected Barack Obama as president, who enjoyed immense popularity in his first two years. Then too, the Democrats could have adopted legislation like the Women’s Health Protection Act that would have enshrined abortion rights forever.
On May 14, there will be large-scale protests in support of abortion rights initiated by Planned Parenthood. In addition to supporting abortion rights in general, the message of the May 14 organizers will be focused on voting for the Democratic Party in the upcoming midterm elections. This is a smokescreen and shield for the Democratic Party’s role in the destruction of abortion rights. While Planned Parenthood is running interference for the Democratic Party’s insidious role in allowing abortions rights to be destroyed, there is no reason to focus a political attack on any other organization than the Democratic Party itself. Planned Parenthood provides many critically needed medical services, not only abortion and birth control but important preventative care as well as transition care for transgender people; the organization is under attack by right-wing anti-abortion forces around the country.
Campaigning for the Democratic Party must be understood as a losing strategy. In fact it is a fraudulent exercise. Recent history clearly demonstrates that even when the Democratic Party controls all branches of government, they have not cared enough about abortion rights to ensure that abortion rights legislation becomes the law of the land. We have to make this clear in our conversations at the May 14 actions.
A militant mass movement in defense of abortion rights will be launched. This movement needs to expose the failure of the Democratic Party to adequately mount a defense of abortion rights. In fact, the Democratic Party must be held responsible for the catastrophe that is being imposed on women, girls and every person who needs access to safe, legal abortion.
The Supreme court has declared war against women and our basic rights to control our own bodies. Now is the time to fight back. Millions of people going into the streets would make it clear that without justice there can be no peace.
A heroic individual has leaked to the public the decision by the Supreme Court to end abortion rights by overturning the Roe v Wade decision, and the later Casey decision.
Read the full statement here: https://www.liberationnews.org/supreme-court-declares-war-on-women-and-abortion-rights-take-to-the-streets/
Brian Becker gives a virtual lecture on the importance of V.I. Lenin's State and Revolution, and how important it is to understand and maintain the revolutionary nature of Marxist theory and practice.
Brian is a founding member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition, and a host on The Socialist Program with Brian Becker (https://soundcloud.com/thesocialistprogram).
You can watch the original video of the presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6gpqM5Lfbs&ab_channel=LiberationNews
Karl Marx wrote to Lincoln in 1864 that he was sure that the “American anti-slavery war” would initiate a “new era of ascendancy” for the working classes for the “rescue…and reconstruction of a social world”. The Black historian Lerone Bennett, writing 100 years later, called Reconstruction, “the most improbable social revolution in American history”.
Clothed in the rhetoric and incubated within the structure of “American Democracy,” it was nonetheless crushed, drowned in blood, for being far too radical for the actual “American democracy.” While allowing for profit to be made, Reconstruction governments made a claim on the proceeds of commerce for the general welfare. While not shunning wage labor, they demanded fairness in compensation and contracts. Reconstruction demanded the posse and the lynch mob be replaced with juries and the rule of law. This all occurred during a time when the newly minted “great fortunes” brooked no social contract, sought only to degrade labor, and were determined to meet popular discontent with the rope and the gun where the courts or the stuffed ballot box wouldn’t suffice.
The defeat of Reconstruction was the precondition for the ascension of U.S. imperialism. The relevant democratic Reconstruction legislation was seen by elites as “class legislation” and as antithetical to the elites’ needs. The proletarian base of Reconstruction made it into a dangerous potential base for communism, especially as ruling-class fears flared in the wake of the Paris Commune, where the workers of Paris briefly seized power in 1871. The distinguished service of Blacks at all levels of government undermined the gradations of bigotry essential to class construction in the United States.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/reconstruction-in-america/
Richard Becker speaks at the Party for Socialism and Liberation's forum "Crisis in Ukraine & Anti-war Analysis", discussing the latest events in Europe, and the roots of the crisis.
The Biden administration announced a major escalation in its sanctions against Russia yesterday with a ban on the import of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal to the United States. A White House press statement said that the United States made this decision “in close consultation with our allies and partners around the world” and with bipartisan consensus. This move from the U.S. government fuels the flames of global tensions to the benefit of giant energy and military corporations, making the prospect of lasting peace in Ukraine even more remote.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/embargo-on-russian-oil-gives-gift-to-energy-corporations-deals-blow-to-hopes-for-peace/
The war in Ukraine is ushering in a new period of heightened danger in world politics and the threat of a global conflict that would devastate humanity. Socialists and people who want peace need to recognize that the entire U.S. foreign policy and military establishment is now organized around “great power conflict” against Russia and China as the defining strategy for decades to come. It is essential to recognize that Russia, China and other countries are not being targeted fundamentally because of human rights, or this or that military action, but because they no longer accept the U.S.-dominated world order.
We must stand in opposition to this new Cold War-style period of confrontation. This major power conflict is not in the interests of the great mass of people, in the United States or worldwide. The logic of it will only produce severe economic pain, climate disaster and ultimately catastrophic war. The working class has no interest in being dragged into such a conflict in the name of preserving the dominance of Wall Street and the Pentagon.
In the run-up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and ever since, the corporate media in the United States has been working overtime to spread misinformation and confusion. They hope that inundating people with non-stop anti-Russian content will manufacture the consent necessary not just for a short-term military escalation in Eastern Europe, but so as to sign people up for a whole new Cold War. Against this, the Party for Socialism and Liberation is advancing five basic points that can serve to unite those who oppose U.S. imperialism and support peace.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/the-working-class-must-reject-the-new-cold-war-5-points-of-unity/
Originally from Chicago, Ill, George L. Jackson grew up in California. In 1961, a young Jackson convicted of armed robbery for allegedly stealing $70 from a gas station. Outrageously, Jackson was sentenced to one year to life, despite assurances from his attorney of a favorable deal if he plead guilty.
Jackson would experience the racist injustice of the U.S. system at the height of the global liberation movements of the era, which couldn’t help but bleed into the rapidly expanding U.S. prison system. Jackson’s political radicalization and activism did not occur until he was imprisoned, which was not uncommon. In A People’s History of the United States, Howard Zinn comments that, “there had always been political prisoners—people sent to jail for belonging to radical movements, for opposing war. But now a new kind of political prisoner appeared, the person convicted of an ordinary crime, who, in prison, became awakened politically”
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/george-jackson-blood-in-my-eye/
La operación militar rusa en Ucrania pone de manifiesto que el mundo ha llegado a una peligrosa bifurcación. Es de vital importancia que la gente en Estados Unidos, la que obtiene gran parte de la información de los medios de comunicación burgueses que funcionan como una cámara de eco del gobierno, sepa que la crisis actual es el subproducto de un largo esfuerzo del Estado estadounidense para establecer una dominación absoluta en toda Europa. Su política tiene como objetivo socavar la seguridad de Rusia, rodeándola de misiles avanzados que pueden alcanzar objetivos rusos en menos de 10 minutos.
Durante los últimos tres meses, el gobierno ruso ha solicitado que se negocien los problemas de seguridad y, al mismo tiempo, ha desplegado tropas en las fronteras entre Rusia y Ucrania, y entre Ucrania y Bielorrusia. Putin anunció que Rusia intervendría militarmente en Ucrania después de que Estados Unidos y la OTAN rechazaron sus exigencias fundamentales: que Ucrania no se incorporara a la OTAN y que su territorio, que comparte una frontera de 1.200 millas con Rusia, no se utilice como base para misiles avanzados apuntando a Rusia.
En esencia, Putin y Rusia exigían que Ucrania fuera un país neutral, sin nunca ser un miembro de la OTAN. Fue precisamente a través del territorio de Ucrania que Rusia enfrentó la invasión nazi de la Segunda Guerra Mundial y otras anteriores de potencias occidentales. En la Segunda Guerra Mundial, cuando Ucrania y Rusia eran un solo país (la Unión Soviética), más de 27 millones de personas murieron resistiendo la invasión nazi.
En este momento crítico, es imperativo que el gobierno de Estados Unidos cambie su postura imprudente y provocadora de cercar a Rusia y expandir implacablemente la OTAN hacia el oriente. Desde la disolución de la Unión Soviética en 1991, Estados Unidos ha intentado incorporar a casi todos los antiguos aliados europeos soviéticos/rusos a la OTAN, la que es una alianza militar ofensiva.
Tras ver rechazadas todas sus demandas por parte de Estados Unidos y la OTAN, el gobierno ruso decidió invadir Ucrania. A partir de este momento, se están llevando a cabo importantes operaciones militares. El gobierno ruso ha dicho que no ocupará Ucrania, pero que pretende llevar a cabo la “desmilitarización” y “desnazificación” del país. No está claro qué significan realmente estos términos. En algunos segmentos del Estado ucraniano, en particular la policía y el ejército, existe una considerable influencia nazi. En la vida política de Ucrania, el poder de los grupos fascistas ha disminuido considerablemente en los últimos años y no ejercen influencia decisiva dentro de la administración del presidente Zelenskyy.
Estados Unidos y las potencias europeas han prometido imponer un régimen de sanciones totales a Rusia, aislando al país de la economía mundial y apuntando a sus industrias más vitales. Biden ha anunciado hoy una primera tanda de sanciones. Estas sanciones se dirigen a algunos de los mayores bancos y empresas de Rusia y están especialmente dirigidas a limitar su capacidad para acceder a las divisas y a los mercados de alta tecnología. Ya se han impuesto una serie de sanciones desde 2014, con la incorporación de Crimea a Rusia tras el golpe de Estado respaldado por Estados Unidos en Kiev. Es probable que sigan más medidas. En conjunto, los acontecimientos de los dos últimos días constituyen una ruptura profunda e histórica del orden geopolítico existente y tendrán consecuencias en cascada durante los próximos años.
Lea la declaración completa: https://www.liberationnews.org/declaracion-del-psl-sobre-la-intervencion-militar-de-rusia-en-ucrania/
The crisis in Ukraine dramatically escalated over the course of the last week, culminating in yesterday’s recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics by Russia and the subsequent deployment of Russian troops into these areas. The United States and European powers are now rolling out sanctions targeting Russia, including Germany’s suspension of the critical NordStream 2 gas pipeline. The sanctions announced so far by the Biden administration in particular targets the financial sector, sanctioning two major Russian banks and prohibiting people and institutions in the United States from buying Russian government debt. These same states continue to threaten unleashing “unprecedented” sanctions in the event of a further escalation, which would aim to cut the country off from the world economy and cause tremendous suffering among ordinary Russians. Many ruling-class figures in the United States are even demanding that such sanctions be imposed now preemptively.
An emergency session of the United Nations Security Council was held last night, where the United States and its allies condemned Russia and the Russian representative defended its actions. The representative from China stated, “All parties concerned must exercise restraint and avoid any action that may fuel tensions. We welcome and encourage every effort towards a diplomatic solution and call on all parties concerned to continue dialogue and consultation and seek reasonable solutions to address each other’s concerns on the basis of equality and mutual respect.” India, which has a close relationship with Russia, also issued essentially a neutral statement at the security council. The governments of Syria and Nicaragua have supported Russia’s move.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-nato-expansion-must-end-to-guarantee-peace-in-ukraine/
The Russian military operation in Ukraine highlights that the world has reached a dangerous fork in the road. It is critically important for people in the United States, who are receiving the bulk of their information from the capitalist media that functions as an echo chamber for the U.S. government, to know that the current crisis is the byproduct of a long effort by the United States to establish absolute domination throughout Europe. The U.S. policy is aimed at undermining Russia’s security by surrounding it with advanced missiles that can reach their Russian targets in less than 10 minutes.
For the last three months, the Russian government simultaneously called for negotiations about their security concerns while at the same time amassing troops at the Russia-Ukraine border and at the border of Ukraine and Belarus. Putin announced that Russia would militarily intervene in Ukraine after the United States and NATO rejected their fundamental demands that Ukraine not be incorporated into NATO and that Ukraine, which shares a 1,200-mile border with Russia, not be used as a staging ground for advanced missiles that target Russia.
In essence, Putin and Russia were demanding that Ukraine be a neutral country and never a member of NATO. It was precisely through the territory of Ukraine that Russia was subjected to the Nazi invasion of World War Two and earlier invasions by western powers. In World War Two, when Ukraine and Russia were one country (the Soviet Union), more than 27 million people died resisting the Nazi invasion of their homelands.
At this critical moment, it is imperative that the U.S. government change its reckless, provocative stance of encircling Russia and relentlessly expanding NATO eastward. Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the United States has attempted to incorporate almost every former Soviet/Russian European ally into NATO, which is an offensive military alliance.
After having all of its demands rejected by the United States and NATO, the Russian government decided to invade Ukraine. As of this moment, major military operations are underway. The Russian government said it will not occupy Ukraine but that it intends to carry out the “demilitarization” and “de-Nazification” of the country. It is unclear what these terms actually mean. In some segments of the Ukrainian state – particularly the police and military – there is considerable Nazi influence. In the political life of Ukraine, the power of fascist groups has waned considerably in recent years and they do not exercise decisive influence inside of the administration of President Zelenskyy.
The United States and European powers have vowed to impose a total sanctions regime on Russia, cutting the country off from the world economy and targeting its most vital industries. An initial volley of sanctions was announced by Biden today. These target some of the largest banks and corporations in Russia and are especially aimed at limiting Russia’s ability to access foreign currency and high tech markets. A series of sanctions have already been imposed since 2014, with Russia’s incorporation of Crimea after the U.S.-backed coup in Kiev. More measures are likely to follow. Taken together, the events of the last two days constitute a profound and historic rupture in the existing geopolitical order and will have cascading consequences for years to come.
Read the full statement: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-on-russias-military-intervention-in-ukraine/
From its beginning, the so-called “Freedom Convoy” in Canada has been a vehicle for the far right to promote their views and press their reactionary demands. Despite being labeled the “trucker protest” by the corporate media, it does not represent the interests of workers in the trucking industry or otherwise.
Its leadership from the beginning included far-right political figures and former police and security state employees. If met, its main demand — to end vaccine mandates — wouldn’t improve workers’ lives, but would instead do the exact opposite by sending them back to the job in the “new normal” with less health and safety protections.
Some online pundits influential with socialists and progressives have muddied the waters and are praising the protest as some kind of workers’ uprising against the bosses. The Party for Socialism and Liberation opposes the far-right convoy and the broader anti-vaccine movement that imperils the lives of working people.
A major police operation began in the early morning of Feb. 18 in Ottawa after weeks of extremely lenient or even openly supportive treatment by police officers that gave the convoy crucial room to grow. This reactionary movement has long since spread beyond Ottawa and may now have the capacity to persist despite the police action. In fact, it has become a worldwide phenomenon inspiring similar actions in France, Belgium and the United States.
The Teamsters union in Canada represents 55,000 drivers including 15,000 long-haul truckers. Ninety percent of them are vaccinated. The head of the Teamsters in Canada released a statement titled “The Real Enemy for Truckers is Covid-19,” in which he argued that “the despicable display of hate lead by the political Right and shamefully encouraged by elected conservative politicians does not reflect the values of Teamsters Canada, nor the vast majority of our members, and in fact has served to delegitimize the real concerns of most truck drivers today.”
Read the full statement: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-why-workers-should-oppose-the-far-right-canadian-trucker-convoy/
When the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed in October 1949, the country’s economy was in a shambles, devastated by decades of war and ravaged by inflation triggered by global forces beyond local control. The Communist Party of China and the new revolutionary government faced tremendous challenges in restoring order to rural and urban areas, securing the country’s territory from foreign influence or invasion, and establishing conditions of stability and security within which the people could pursue their livelihoods. The new leadership was dedicated to the long-term goal of developing China into a modern, industrialized, socialist economy, but had to undertake that endeavor in a context of institutional limitations, complex social conditions, and an uncertain geopolitical environment. The CPC had a membership of around 1,000,000 and faced the prospect of guiding the governance and advancing the economy of a population of more than 450,000,000.
Seventy years later, China was the second largest economy in the world, had eliminated absolute poverty among its people, and was re-emerging as a significant participant in global economic and political affairs. With nearly 1.4 billion people—and more than half of them living in modern cities, with life expectancy more than double that in 1949, and with education and public health provision at high level global standards—China achieved what the Party characterized as a “moderately prosperous society,” the initial stage of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/ten-crises-wen-tiejun/
In November 2016, shortly after the election of Donald Trump, U.S. diplomats in Cuba began to complain about hearing strange noises and experiencing various symptoms including nausea, headaches and hearing loss. Those noises were ultimately shown to have been common crickets. But the U.S. government’s claim that its diplomats had been “attacked” (at first by sonic weapons and later by microwave weapons) and were suffering “Havana syndrome” not only persisted, but expanded in the years that followed to include more than one thousand diplomats and CIA agents in countries around the world.
Now, more than five years after the initial claims of this “syndrome” emerged in Havana, and numerous articles in the press suggesting that Cuba, Russia, or China was responsible for these “attacks,” the CIA has finally admitted there has never been any proof that any of this was true. As the headline in the NBC News article which broke the story reads, “CIA says ‘Havana Syndrome’ not result of sustained campaign by hostile power.” The U.S. government hasn’t completely abandoned the story, still claiming that “In about two dozen cases, the agency cannot rule out foreign involvement.” But the New York Times spelled out what that statement really means: “The idea that Russia, China or Cuba was responsible for attacking hundreds of diplomats around the world was never backed up by any evidence that the Biden administration could unearth.”
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/havana-syndrome-claims-exposedby-the-cia/
Although Marx himself only mentioned the “base” and “superstructure” in (by my count) two of his works, the base-superstructure “problem” remains a source of serious contention for Marxists, our sympathizers, and our critics. Despite its outsized role in Marxist debates, the model can, when contextualized and understood in its nuances, be quite useful for analyzing capitalist society and organizing for socialism [1].
Marx explicitly introduces the distinction between the base and superstructure in the preface to his 1859 A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy. In the preface, Marx builds on his previous work with Engels, The German Ideology, writing:
“In the social production of their existence, humans inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness. The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness” [2].
The base of society—which is also translated as “infrastructure”—includes the relations of production and the productive forces. Productive forces name labor-power, instruments or tools used by workers, and the materials workers transform in the production process. The relations of production entail the social organization of production and reproduction, or how the re/production of life is structured. It’s important to emphasize that the base isn’t just the forces of production but production relations, which are not only economic but social.
The superstructure comprises the political-legal system of the state and consciousness—or ideology—in general, which manifests in culture and art, religion and spirituality, ethics and philosophy, etc. The superstructure emerges from the totality of the relations of production. Political activity and intellectual processes and products are conditioned by the mode of production (the relations and forces of production). And as we’ll see below, elements of the superstructure in turn impact the base.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/base-superstructure-introduction/
The contemporary political economy of the People’s Republic of China, the nature of the Chinese system, has been the subject of much discussion and debate in mainstream academic, media, and political circles, as well as on the left. Since the end of the 1970s, China has pursued policies of “reform and opening” to develop its economy, a process that has resulted in the massive growth of production, China’s emergence as a major player in global trade, and the lifting of around 800 million people out of poverty, while at the same time generating serious problems of inequality, corruption, and environmental stress. At the heart of this project has been the decision by the Communist Party, originally under the guidance of Deng Xiaoping, then carrying on through successive changes of leadership, to use the mechanisms of the marketplace to develop the productive economy. How should this situation be characterized? Is it capitalism, state capitalism, market socialism
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/beyond-the-sprouts-of-capitalism-understanding-chinas-contemporary-socialist-project/
The Biden administration, Pentagon and NATO allies are conducting a dangerous and reckless campaign against Russia — one that has the potential to turn into a catastrophe for the people of the United States, Russia, Ukraine and the world. The aim is to strengthen the U.S. position as the dominant world superpower, a thoroughly bipartisan goal. In recent months, Russia has been the object of intense media demonization designed to win over the U.S. public to support this campaign.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation condemns the anti-Russia campaign and calls for an end to the imperialist NATO alliance.
Read the full statement here: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-no-war-on-russia-abolish-nato/
Workers across the country are wondering with increasing desperation: Will the COVID crisis ever end? Two years after the first case of the virus was detected, society is becoming increasingly, bitterly divided over how to address this crucial question. All the while the death toll continues to mount.
The situation is not hopeless. Although right wing demagogues have slowed the vaccination process and intensified the spread of the virus by sowing doubt about the most basic public health measures, it is still possible to end the pandemic.
We can look at other countries for examples of why this is true. Socialist countries like China and Cuba have successfully contained COVID, despite huge difficulties. Even though it was the country where the virus struck first, China prevented its uncontrolled spread through a massive, centralized public health response that included guaranteeing workers the necessities of life like food and shelter. Adjusted for population size, the death toll in the United States is approximately 850 times higher than in China.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/a-socialist-plan-to-defeat-covid-19/
Editorial Collective Note: This is a new introduction to alienation that replaces our earlier introduction written in 2006. It’s part of our renovation and expansion of our “Fundamentals of Marxism” series and other articles on Marxist theory and the class struggle.
Offering a brief introduction to Marx’s theory of alienation is not a straightforward task. This is due, in part, to conflicting interpretations of key aspects of Marx’s project directly related to alienation, the timing of the publication of Marx’s early manuscripts where the theory is articulated, and the political contexts in which it was taken up. Central to any theory of alienation are questions of the nature of existence, which are often posed this way: Is there a natural or timeless essence from which the human could be alienated? While this question has preoccupied many academics, our most important task is to consider the impact of debates around alienation on our practical, day-to-day organizing.
In this article, we introduce Marx’s writing on alienation as they appear in the Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, before discussing the historical context of their publication. We then chart the development of Marx’s thought from the manuscripts to his later work that is grounded in dialectical and historical materialism. Marx’s early works conceive “human nature” as an essential and ahistorical condition from which capital alienates workers, while, as we show, his later work focuses on capital’s process of abstraction and conceives of the human as a process of production, and therefore as dynamic and contingent on the mode of production.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationschool.org/13-what-is-alienation-html/
As the Omicron variant causes record levels of infection in the United States, the end of the pandemic seems as far away as ever. But far from preparing a robust response to defeat the virus, the Biden administration is preparing to surrender and encourage the public to “learn to live with” COVID indefinitely.
When the Party for Socialism and Liberation pointed out the fact that China has in fact succeeded at virtually eliminating deaths from the virus, we were attacked by far-right pundits like Ben Shapiro – who took the position that such a feat is essentially impossible and asserted that China’s achievement was just a massive falsification.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/yes-there-really-were-only-two-covid-deaths-in-mainland-china-in-2021-heres-how-they-did-it/
Environmentalists have long stressed limits to human interaction with nature. It’s commonly argued that transgressing “natural limits” caused the environmental crises we face today. While this sentiment might direct our attention to the severity and scale of destabilizing contradictions in our relationship with nature, its underlying analysis is unable to grasp and overcome the root cause of these contradictions: capitalist production. A deeper and more critical understanding of society’s relation to nature under capitalism is needed.
This article introduces Marxist conceptions of the relationship between capitalism and nature. It begins by examining the words “nature” and “production” and the different meanings and functions those terms serve, before turning to two different Marxist approaches to capitalism and nature: the metabolic rift and the production of nature. At the end, we emphasize how and why such approaches must inform organizing for environmental justice.
Read the full article here: https://liberationschool.org/marxism-and-nature/
El Partido por el Socialismo y la Liberación se une a millones de personas en todo el país para expresar nuestra completa indignación por la absolución de Kyle Rittenhouse de todos los cargos. Una vez más, el sistema judicial de Estados Unidos ha funcionado para proteger a un asesino racista, que salió a las calles de Kenosha el 25 de agosto de 2020 para hacerle guerra a la gente que protestaba por los disparos de la policía a Jacob Blake, un hombre negro de 29 años. El veredicto es un exasperante recordatorio de la naturaleza fundamentalmente supremacista blanca del sistema legal capitalista de Estados Unidos.
La absolución de Rittenhouse tiene ramificaciones tremendamente peligrosas. En efecto, otorga una licencia para matar a los vigilantes de la derecha, que ahora se sentirán aún más facultados para aterrorizar a la gente en nombre de la “ley y el orden”. Existe una larga y mortífera tradición de violencia de tipo miliciano de extrema derecha en Estados Unidos, y esta amenaza ha recibido ahora un enorme impulso por parte del Estado.
El tribunal canguro presidido por el juez Bruce Schroeder fue una vergüenza, y aumentó en gran medida las posibilidades de que Rittenhouse fuera absuelto por el jurado, compuesto casi todo de personas blancas. El proceso estuvo amañado desde el principio, y se volvió más y más absurdo con cada día que pasaba.
Lea el artículo completo: https://www.liberationnews.org/declaracion-del-psl-la-absolucion-de-rittenhouse-otorga-a-los-vigilantes-racistas-una-licencia-para-matar/
Después de pasar semanas llevando a cabo negociaciones en la trastienda con el senador Joe Manchin, la senadora Krysten Sinema y otros demócratas de derechas en el Congreso sobre el presupuesto del programa social, el gobierno de Biden anunció ayer un “marco” que abandona algunos de los elementos más importantes de la propuesta original. Como parte de la capitulación de la administración ante los derechistas, ha acordado recortar a la mitad la asignación total a los programas sociales: de 3,5 billones de dólares a 1,75 billones.
La vergonzosa rendición de Biden se debe al enfoque fundamental que adoptó en esta lucha. En lugar de tratar de presionar lo más posible a los defensores de la derecha dentro de su propio partido, Biden sólo expresó la más leve de las críticas. Biden comentó en un acto público en Baltimore la semana pasada: “Joe [Manchin] no es un mal tipo. Es un amigo”. Y Biden efectivamente trató a Manchin como un amigo, accediendo a sus demandas de recortar del presupuesto una amplia gama de programas que habrían proporcionado un gran alivio a los trabajadores.
Esto incluye la eliminación completa de las bajas familiares y por enfermedad pagadas. Estados Unidos es el único país rico del mundo que no garantiza este tipo de permisos, que inicialmente se habrían fijado en 12 semanas. La gratuidad de los colegios comunitarios también ha sido totalmente eliminada en el nuevo marco de Biden. El Programa de Rendimiento de Electricidad Limpia, quizás el componente climático más crucial de la propuesta original, ha sido eliminado para complacer a los capitalistas de la industria del carbón que matan el planeta. El CEPP (en inglés) habría invertido 150.000 millones de dólares para facilitar la transición a una economía neutra en carbono.
Lea el artículo completo aquí: https://www.liberationnews.org/los-democratas-de-derecha-recortan-el-presupuesto-del-programa-social-despues-de-que-biden-se-niegue-a-luchar/
The Russian revolution marked the beginning of a new period in human history. It was the first time that the oppressed were able to come to power – to take power and hold onto power. It truly had a transforming effect on the world.
In this part of this series, we will lay the basis for later discussing what was to become the most famous split in political history: what is known as the Trotsky-Stalin split. We have to keep in mind that these names do not represent just individuals, but political groupings and political strata. This part is on the early years of the revolution, after the revolutionary seizure of power in 1917.
Read the full article here: https://liberationschool.org/early-years-of-the-russian-revolution/
The Party for Socialism and Liberation joins with millions of people across the country in expressing our complete outrage at the acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse on all charges. Once again, the U.S. court system has functioned to protect a racist murderer, who went out into the streets of Kenosha on August 25, 2020 to wage war on people protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man. The verdict is an infuriating reminder of the fundamentally white supremacist nature of the capitalist legal system in the United States.
The acquittal of Rittenhouse has tremendously dangerous ramifications. It effectively hands a license to kill to right wing vigilantes, who will now feel even more empowered to terrorize people in the name of “law and order”. There is a long and deadly tradition of far right militia-type violence in the United States, and this threat has now been given a huge boost by the state.
The kangaroo court presided over by Judge Bruce Schroeder was a disgrace, and greatly enhanced Rittenhouse’s chances of acquittal by the nearly all-white jury. The process was rigged from the start, and grew more and more absurd with each passing day.
Read the full statement here: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-rittenhouse-acquittal-hands-racist-vigilantes-a-license-to-kill/
The capitalist class and its well-paid intellectuals and pundits continue to argue that the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 means that socialism and communism are impossible.
A stereotyped and negative image of the Soviet Union and socialism has been relentlessly fed to the people of the United States ever since the Russian Revolution, which took place in 1917.
It is extremely rare for the establishment to mention any of the truly remarkable achievements of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the full name of the Soviet federation of 15 republics, and the other countries that subsequently set out to build socialism.
The triumph of the Russian Revolution nearly a century ago was truly a world-historic event. It was the first time in history that the working class was able to seize and hold power, and to reorganize the economy and society on a socialist basis. It proved that the oppressed, with their own leadership and their own party, could create a new reality.
In the suffering of the Global South, the brutality of capitalism lies bare. In a footnote toward the end of Capital, Marx wrote that the colonized subject reveals “what the bourgeois makes of itself and of the labourer, wherever it can, without restraint, model the world after its own image”. The forms of primary accumulation he articulates there were in their most naked form in the colonies. Contrary to liberal and academic misreadings, Marx paid great attention to the relationship between colonialism and capitalism. Marx came to argue that colonialism was the backbone of capitalism, and that anti-colonial movements could even be the key to global capitalism’s overthrow. This is why anti-colonial struggles have long been guided to victory by Marxist theory.
Read the full article here: https://liberationschool.org/09-what-is-imperialism-html/
The Bolsheviks were relatively weak in the countryside among the peasantry. They had always been in the cities; they spent most of their existence underground and going out into the country had been hard for them. They were mainly a workers’ party, but the peasants made up a huge majority of the population. The SRs (Socialist Revolutionaries) were the main party in the countryside. The relationship between the peasants (farmers and agricultural workers) to the workers in the cities was a key issue.
Based on an analysis, for a long time, the Bolsheviks distinguished between the rich peasants, called “kulaks” in Russian, the middle peasants, the poor peasants and agricultural laborers. The kulaks employed labor, exploited labor and owned large plots of land. The middle peasants owned land and basically had enough to live on. And the poor peasants, the majority, lived on plots of land inherited from feudalism that were too small to live on. They were constantly going under, starving to death, had their children starve and lived in destitute. Agricultural laborers were a growing sector in the countryside. They were poor peasants who had lost their land altogether and were really proletarians in the countryside. The Bolsheviks distinguished between these different layers and their strategy was to fight the kulaks, neutralize the middle strata, and win over the poor peasants and agricultural laborers.
Even though they were not supposed to be the peasant party, the Bolsheviks were the only ones who, all through the revolution, from the beginning, openly supported the peasants’ seizing the big estates without compensation. Even the SRs took a position against the land seizures, stating that they would have to wait until there is a constituent assembly, draw up the proper legislation and assure the land owners of how much they would be compensated. The Bolshevik stated that it was the right of the poor peasants to take the land, the big estates. But the SR leadership, while claiming to represent all the peasants, really represented the interests of the better off layers – the capitalist farmers and aspiring capitalist farmers.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/milestones-in-communist-history-the-october-revolution/3/
On April 3, 1917, Lenin, Zinoviev and other leaders arrived in a sealed car on a train. The German government allowed them to return to Russia across Germany and through German-held territory because it hoped that they would take Russia out of the war and relieve the pressure on Germany – that was explicitly the German government’s reason.
E. H. Carr, an English historian wrote a tremendous 14-volume history of the Bolshevik Revolution. Here is how Carr describes the scene of Lenin’s return:
Alexander Kollontai produced a bouquet which Lenin carried awkwardly: and the party proceeded to the former imperial waiting room. Here, Lenin was officially welcomed by Chkheidze, the president of the Petrograd soviet, who, in a few carefully chosen words, expressed his hopes for ‘a closing of the ranks of democracy’ in defense of ‘our revolution.’
Lenin, turning vaguely away from the official party towards the assembled crowds outside, addressed them as ‘dear comrades, soldiers, sailors and workers,’ greeted in their persons ‘the victorious Russian revolution,’ declared that the ‘robber imperialist war’ was the beginning of civil war all over Europe, and concluded:‘Any day, if not today or tomorrow, the crash of the whole of European imperialism may come. The Russian revolution, made by you, has begun it and opened a new epoch. Hail the worldwide socialist revolution.’
As Sukhanov notes, it was not a reply to Chkheidze. It did not even fit ‘the context’ of the Russian revolution as understood by all without exception who had witnessed it or taken part in it.’ Lenin had spoken; and his first words had been not of the bourgeois, but of the socialist, revolution.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/milestones-in-communist-history-the-october-revolution/2/
The Russian Revolution is a vast subject. An exhaustive analysis of it is beyond the scope of this writing. But below, some of the key points will be highlighted.
The Russian Revolution took place in the background of World War I, a war between imperialist powers over control of territories and colonies. The war caused a split in the international socialist movement. Right up to the outbreak of the war, the parties of the Second International had vowed to fight against the war once it started. Socialist parties had pledged to oppose sending workers of the warring countries to kill each other and die for their respective bourgeoisies, the capitalist class.
But when the war started, nearly all of these parties collapsed in the face of the war hysteria in their respective countries and ended up supporting the war. Only the Bolshevik party, one of the socialist parties in Russia, and a small party in Serbia took a strong position against the war. The five Bolshevik members of the Duma, Russia’s parliament, were sent into exile in Serbia for their position. The Bolsheviks were forced to go completely underground, and faced a new period of isolation and persecution when the war started.
Rather than capitulating to the war hysteria, the Bolsheviks called for “revolutionary defeatism.” Their position was that the workers of every belligerent country should call for the defeat of their own ruling class. They called for socialist agitators in the armies to encourage fraternization between the soldiers of warring sides to discuss their common interest in ending the war and stopping killing each other.
Lenin also called for turning the imperialist war into a civil war; in other words to turn this imperialist war between nations into a war between classes and against the capitalists. These positions were considered quite bold, to put it mildly, even by other anti-war socialists, or internationalists as they were known. Lenin was considered to be the extreme of the extreme at the time.
Over the following two and a half years, millions of soldiers and civilians died in the bloodiest and most destructive war in history up to that point. The Russian Empire suffered huge casualties. Its army was made up mainly of peasants, as was the population as a whole – nearly 90% peasants. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers died in single battles. Famines and epidemics spread.
On Feb. 23, 1917 (on the old calendar still used in Russia), March 8 on the modern calendar, International Women’s Day, a strike of woman textile workers in Petrograd was called. Petrograd, later named Leningrad and today called St. Petersburg, was the capital and the center of industry. The strike spread like wildfire. The war years of death, disease and deprivation for the workers and peasants, while the czar, the nobility and the rising bourgeoisie lived in almost indescribable luxury, now brought forth an explosion of revolutionary anger that was unstoppable. It was a spontaneous uprising – no organization or party had planned or organized it. But it was strongly influenced by decades of revolutionary work and experiences, especially the experience of the working class in the 1905-06 revolution.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/milestones-in-communist-history-the-october-revolution/
As the Party for Socialism and Liberation, we condemn in the harshest terms the brutal military coup that took place on October 25 in Sudan and the subsequent repression and arrests by the Sudanese military forces.
We stand in full solidarity with the people of Sudan and the Sudanese Communist Party (SCP) in their resistance against the coup.
We fully support the call by the SCP and the Sudanese Professional Association for a political strike and for the people to take to the streets in civil disobedience to stand against this power grab by the military forces opposed to the movement for change that began in 2018.
This coup is a desperate effort to stop the process of transition of power to the people of Sudan and their legitimate representatives. We are confident that the mass protest movement which SCP is a crucial part of will emerge victorious against this reactionary coup.
Long live the people of Sudan and their resistance!
Long live the Sudanese Communist Party
Hundreds of thousands of people in Sudan are in the streets courageously resisting the coup staged by the military on Monday. The country’s top armed forces leader Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan announced the take over and declared a state of emergency. As part of the coup, soldiers arrested Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and other high ranking civilian officials, and it was revealed today that Hamdok was being held captive at al-Burhan’s personal residence.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/sudan-massive-resistance-defends-december-revolution-vs-military-coup/
Three years before the 1969 Stonewall Uprising that galvanized a generation of LGBTQ activists, and more than a decade before Harvey Milk led the fight against the Briggs Initiative as San Francisco’s first gay city supervisor, a group of trans women and drag queens revolted against bigoted police violence in San Francisco’s heavily oppressed Tenderloin district. These courageous fighters turned the tables on their oppressors and ushered in a new wave of class-conscious organizing by queer youth, especially from working class and oppressed communities.
Although it was almost forgotten, the uprising at Compton’s Cafeteria is part of our revolutionary history, demonstrating that militant resistance is nothing new. The uprising reminds us that our struggles today both build on our ancestors’ fights and shape those to come.
Read the full article here: https://liberationschool.org/compton-cafeteria-riot/
Toward the end of our earlier introduction to surplus value, the heart and motor of the class struggle, we wrote that:
“The rate of surplus value for the capitalist is the rate of exploitation for the worker. By merely prolonging the working day, the capitalist accrues more (absolute) surplus value. Increasing the working day from eight to 10 hours results in two more hours of surplus value for the capitalist and of exploitation for the worker”.
For any working period—whether it be a day, an hour, or five minutes—part of the period is “necessary labor” and another part is “surplus labor.” The former is when the worker produces the value of their own wage, and the latter is when the worker produces surplus value for the capitalist. The ratio between the two is the rate of surplus value for the capitalist and the rate of exploitation for the worker.
Absolute surplus value, Marx says, is “produced by prolongation of the working-day” [2]. In other words, if the ratio between necessary and surplus labor is fixed, then prolonging the working day will result in more surplus value for the capitalist and a greater degree of exploitation for the worker.
Capital’s entire reason for being is to produce surplus value, to increase the exploitation of the working class. As a result, there’s a logical impulse for each capitalist to extend the working day as much as possible. Yet not only might this produce problems for capitalism as a whole (in that it could exhaust the supply of labor-power available), but the working class fights back against exploitation, and at times is able to force limits to the length of the working day.
What happens, then, when political legislation limits the working day to, say, eight hours? This is obviously a limit to capitalist accumulation. For capital, however, “every limit appears as a barrier to be overcome”. Relative surplus value is capital’s strategy for overcoming this limit.
Read the full article here: https://liberationschool.org/relative-surplus-value-the-class-struggle-intensifies/
As this statement was being prepared, a Texas state judge issued a stay temporarily blocking an anti-abortion group from enforcing SB 8 against Planned Parenthood, giving some relief to health care providers and abortion rights advocates.
The Supreme Court put its stamp of approval on the Texas Senate Bill 8 and demonstrated its unwillingness to protect the rights of women late Wednesday evening when they voted 5 to 4 allowing the Texas “heartbeat bill” to go into effect. Purposefully written with obfuscatory procedures and language designed to circumvent Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court relinquished its duty to uphold the legal right to abortion by allowing this bill to go into effect in the state of Texas.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-block-senate-bill-8-legalize-and-expand-abortion-access-now/
In the battle against COVID-19, Cuba has been a country of firsts. It is the only country in all Latin America to produce its own vaccines.
Cuba has sent more than 5,000 doctors to help treat COVID patients in 57 brigades to 40 countries around the world since the pandemic began. No other country has come close.
Now, in a major new development, babies and children two years old and up will be massively vaccinated starting in 10 days. Cuba is the first country in the world to vaccinate babies and children under 12.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/cuba-the-first-country-in-the-world-to-vaccinate-children-under-12/
How the U.S. destroyed Afghanistan
Past and present U.S. officials are blaming each other for their defeat in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the corporate media are portraying the brutal 20-year occupation as a humanitarian mission, an attempt to modernize the country. Learn why the Taliban are themselves the direct result of U.S. intervention in Afghanistan and why this is a failed imperialist project.
Why we need a revolutionary party
In the U.S., we live in a system based on oppression and exploitation. Through struggle, we can make some improvements. But only a revolution can end this oppression. Hear why a revolution is only possible when led by a militant, class-conscious revolutionary party.
All revolutionary processes are educational. From organizing meetings and study groups to writing protest speeches and propaganda before the revolutionary moment to creating new revolutionary educational and cultural institutions and training teachers and specialists after the seizure of power, revolution is educational through and through. Yet exactly what kind of educational operations does revolution entail, and how can we understand and practice them?
It is precisely these questions that Paulo Freire addressed in his classic work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
One hundred years after his birth in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, Freire’s name is widely recognized and, relatively speaking, so too is his canonical text. Yet the book is referenced or discussed more than it is deeply engaged. This is particularly evident when Freire’s work is severed from its revolutionary Marxist orientation [1].
While it’s often taken as an abstract guide-book for how to teach, Pedagogy of the Oppressed is really a theoretical reflection on his own experiences teaching peasants how to read and write, a theory he extends to revolutionary movements, leadership, and organization. After spending 70 days in prison for “treachery” [teaching poor peasants to read and write], he was exiled from Brazil following the military junta in 1964. He eventually settled in Chile, which is where he wrote Pedagogy of the Oppressed. The book has been targeted by the right wing in the U.S. (it is currently banned from public schools in Arizona). It addresses the educational components of revolutionary movements and, as such, it is littered with references to Marx, Lenin, Fanon, and others. Specifically, the book is concerned with how the revolutionary leadership pushes the struggle forward, or how it teaches and learns from the masses in struggle.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/paulo-freire-and-revolutionary-leadership/
The planet is experiencing multiple environmental crises: biodiversity loss, deforestation, increased rates of pandemics, chemical pollution, soil depletion, water contamination and shortages, runaway non-renewable energy consumption, and climate change. “Degrowth” is an environmental ideology that arose as a political response to these compounding crises. Degrowth was originally termed by André Gorz in 1972. Gorz argued that global environmental balance, which is predicated upon non-growth (or “degrowth”), is not compatible with the capitalist system, which requires “accumulation for the sake of accumulation” [1]. Degrowth, according to Gorz, is thus a challenge to capitalism itself.
Degrowth has become increasingly popular among many environmentalists and leftists. There are some who even call themselves “degrowth communists” [2]. Thus, it’s important to have a clear understanding of exactly what degrowth is and whether it has the potential to advance or hold back the class struggle.
Jason Hickel, a prominent proponent of degrowth, defines it like this: “The objective of degrowth is to scale down the material and energy throughput of the global economy, focusing on high-income nations with high levels of per-capita consumption” [3]. The degrowth perspective asks why society is so obsessed with “growth” (measured by Gross Domestic Product) and seeks to deconstruct the entire “ideology of growth.” The “ideology of growth” is used by the capitalist class to argue that more and more growth is needed to overcome poverty and to create jobs. This is bourgeois ideology in the sense that capitalism relies upon and produces the artificial scarcity to which we’re subjected.
The reality is that, in developed capitalist countries like U.S., there is an overabundance of material wealth and that scarcity is socially produced by the capitalist market and private ownership. Degrowth is correct on the point that if wealth were redistributed then there would indeed be abundance. However, even though proponents of degrowth are well intentioned and truly want to solve environmental crises, the political-economic methods and solutions that degrowth calls for actually work against creating the critical mass necessary to make a socialist revolution here in the U.S. I address each of these below by showing how 1) degrowth reproduces Malthusian ideas about so-called “natural limits;” 2) it’s anti-modern and anti-technological orientation lacks a class perspective; and 3) there are key practical issues with deploying degrowth ideas in the class struggle itself.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/degrowth-a-politics-for-which-class/
The U.S. war in Afghanistan began not 20, but more than 40 years ago. Except for the towering arrogance of the leaders in Washington, it could have ended in November 2001 when the Taliban offered to surrender.
The earlier phase, which lasted from 1979 to 1989, is excluded from nearly any mention by the mainstream capitalist media today. But without understanding what happened back then, it is impossible to comprehend the current catastrophic situation for the people of that country.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/the-u-s-empire-in-afghanistan-a-40-year-catastrophe/
Originally posted on RedsInEd.org
At the instigation of deep-pocketed conservatives, nine states have adopted bans on Critical Race Theory education, and similar bills are being considered in 26 others. While the language in these bills is often vague, the intent is clear: to silence a truthful presentation of the role of racism in U.S. history and institutions. But teachers are fighting back through their unions.
What is Critical Race Theory?
Critical Race Theory is a practice of asking questions about racism in order to analyze and understand it. One of its main features is the concept that race is a social construct. Today the term “Critical Race Theory” is being used by the right wing as a catch-all for any anti-racist, anti-bigotry, culturally-responsive or ethinic studies-based curricula. In reality, CRT was developed decades ago by legal academics and later by academics in education and other fields to assess and understand structural racism in society and how it manifests in laws, policies and phenomena.
CRT is typically studied at the undergraduate and graduate levels — and is rarely part of K-12 curricula — although it can inform the teaching and practice of educators for whom CRT research was part of their training. Right-wing attempts to censor the study and use of CRT-informed teaching seek to maintain the status quo. These bans would inhibit an educator’s ability to identify, analyze, and implement solutions to deep inequities in education, and would prevent their students’ development of these same skills.
Read the full statement: https://www.liberationnews.org/reds-in-ed-statement-on-attacks-on-critical-race-theory/
Marxist ideology is one of the most potent weapons the working and oppressed classes have, a weapon that our class can and has used to not only win reforms but to build revolutionary societies where the people, and not profits, are in control. As the PSL identified at our 3rd Party Congress in 2016, one of our primary tasks is to mend the “break in ideological continuity” that emerged after the overthrow of the Soviet Union by reestablishing “the theory of revolutionary Marxism and the entire vision of workers’ power” as a dominant guiding pole in people’s struggles [1]. To correct for the ideological break, it’s helpful to have a concrete understanding of ideology and the different forms it takes. Although the word ideology is used frequently, it’s commonly used in a pejorative sense to refer to something that’s not factual, that’s unscientific, or that’s devoid of substance. It’s also used by those hostile to socialism to present a distorted view of Marxism. What exactly is ideology? What is the difference between bourgeois and Marxist ideology? What significance does this have for organizing today? To address these questions and help repair the break in the ideological continuity of revolutionary socialism in U.S. social movements, this article outlines Marx’s understanding of ideology. It traces his historical-materialist approach to investigating the relationship between ideas, material reality, and modes of production through several of his works. This allows us to take in the theory’s nuances about life and consciousness, as well as to draw out examples that are still relevant and applicable today. In particular, we focus on the theory of commodity fetishism and the function of the wage in producing the bourgeois ideological conception of the atomized individual. Proposing a move from “true/false” to “correct/incorrect,” the end of the article returns to the importance of popularizing and promoting Marxist ideology to understand and transform the world today, as revolutionaries have done throughout the socialist struggle to break the chains of exploitation and oppression.
Read the full article: www.liberationschool.org/what-is-ideology
The full story of the struggle to end chattel slavery in the U.S. has yet to be fully told. History books have always minimized the struggle of enslaved people, who from the beginning in 1619 in North America, fought slavery at every turn, rebelling, escaping, fighting for the right to fight. Some 180,000 enlisted in the Union army and suffered among the highest casualties in a war where high casualty rates were considered proof of bravery.
The role of white working-class people in the struggle against slavery has also been left out of history books, buried beneath an avalanche of lies, distortions and slander. The ruling class is terrified of multinational solidarity, particularly in the working class. Their history is meant to show that such solidarity is not today, nor ever, possible. The truth is hidden.
“Labor in the white skin can never free itself as long as labor in the black skin is branded.” — Karl Marx, Capital
Read the full article here: https://liberationschool.org/abolitionist-solidarity-in-the-struggle-against-slavery/
July 26 marked the 68th anniversary of the dawn raid on the Moncada Barracks led by Fidel Castro that sparked the revolutionary movement that would triumph six years later in 1959. Due to COVID-19, mass demonstrations were canceled but the celebrations of the National Day of Rebellion continued nonetheless. Cuban leaders and youth performed voluntary work in the countryside, as a part of a tradition that stretches back to the early days of the revolution. Voluntary work is part of a collective effort by the conscious working class to combat the worst elements of the blockade and set a positive example for society. Trade unions, cultural collectives, women’s movements, and other socialist-led organizations demonstrated and came out with statements in support of the Cuban revolution on this auspicious anniversary.
After the 1952 coup carried out by dictator Fulgencio Batitsta, many young Cubans were ready to take up arms against the hated puppet of the U.S. empire. The assault was foiled and revolutionaries fled into the rugged Sierra Maestra as they were hunted down by the soldiers of Batista, blood dripping from their hands after torturing and murdering captured revolutionaries.
Fidel relates in his autobiography My Life how he survived the slaughter by revealing his identity to a Black officer. Impressed by Fidel’s bravery and resolve, the officer held back his soldiers whispering to them, “You can’t kill ideas.” The ideas of Moncada will never die. The ideas of national self determination, freedom from colonialism and a life with dignity remain firmly anchored in millions of Cubans who have demonstrated in recent weeks to express support for their revolution and sovereignty against a multi-pronged war carried out by the United States.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/cubans-come-out-july-26-defend-revolution-vs-multi-pronged-yanqui-assault/
“In contradistinction to German fascism, which acts under anti-constitutional slogans, American fascism tries to portray itself as the custodian of the constitution and ‘American democracy.’” – Georgi Dimitrov
Six months ago, on January 6, 2021, a racist mob, incited by outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump, stormed the U.S. Capitol in a chaotic attempt to prevent the congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election results, a necessary step before the inauguration of Joe Biden.
The assault on the Capitol was led by militarized fascist groups composed of many current or former military and police.[1] Some of the leaders of the organizations involved, such as Proud Boys Enrique Tarrio and Joseph Biggs, had direct ties to U.S. intelligence agencies, having served as FBI informants.[2] Only one fifth of Capitol Police were on duty that day, and they were unprepared and underequipped, even though the U.S. national security state had advance knowledge of the plot. A Senate investigation concluded that there was a multi-teared security “failure” on January 6th that involved not only Capitol Police but also the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, among other agencies: Capitol Police were seen opening barricades and fraternizing with fascists, there were delays in deploying the National Guard, restrictions on reinforcements came from on high (implicating Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy, amongst others), DHS agents on standby were not deployed, etc.[3]
Much is still unknown about what was actually going on behind the spectacular scenes of the storming the Capitol. The fact that the bourgeois media ran an expansive faith-in-government campaign in its wake, and Senate Republicans blocked plans for a bipartisan governmental commission to investigate it, has only contributed to the obscurity surrounding this event. Essential questions remain: Although there are clear signs of governmental involvement, how deep and wide was the conspiracy? Which precise factions of the capitalist ruling class backed the organizations behind the assault on the Capitol, and to what extent was it “astroturfed” by them (meaning discretely funded to create the illusion of a grassroots movement from below)?[4] What was the exact ratio and relationship between state agents and the para-state—i.e. vigilante—actors involved?[5] Was this solely an organic conflict between the Trump and Biden camps, or was something more at play? It is important to note in this regard that the PR campaign that ushered Biden into office as the “savior of our democracy” has empowered his administration to break countless campaign promises and use the storming of the Capitol as a pretext for pushing for increased securitization, surveillance and the criminalization of dissent (which have always been used to target the Left).
Whereas serious and rigorous investigations will need to take place in order to resolve these questions, a scantly known fascist plot to seize control of the U.S. government in the 1930s sheds important light on the history of homegrown fascism and the clandestine machinations of the bourgeoisie. Although there are significant differences between these two events, and facile analogies should be avoided in the name of precise materialist analysis, knowledge of the details of the earlier plot can help us better understand the relationship between bourgeois democracy and fascist movements in the U.S. settler colony.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/fascist-plots-in-the-u-s-contemporary-lessons-from-the-1934-business-plot/
“Hammer and Hoe,” a 1990 book written by historian Robin D.G. Kelley, chronicles the development of a communist movement in Alabama during the Great Depression. It highlights the struggles communists faced in organizing a sharecroppers’ union and building mass campaigns to free people accused of crimes in political frame-ups like the Scottsboro Boys.
Kelley emphasizes how communism was able to synthesize with Southern Black culture. He sheds light on the unique homegrown resistance that granted Southern Blacks the ability to place their fight in the context of the anti-imperialist struggle for the first time. Kelley recounts the rise of Southern youth movements that ultimately gave birth to the student sit-ins and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/communism-and-black-resistance-in-the-1930s-south/
Editor’s note: The following article was written by Walter Rodney for a 1971 issue of Maji Maji, the quarterly journal of the youth wing of the Tanganyika African National Union. The speech is held at the Robert W. Woodruff Library in Atlanta, Georgia, under the supervision of the Walter Rodney Foundation. The text here is from History is a Weapon with a few additional copyedits.
To most readers in this continent, starved of authentic information by the imperialist news agencies, the name of George Jackson is either unfamiliar or just a name. The powers that be in the United States put forward the official version that George Jackson was a dangerous criminal kept in maximum security in America’s toughest jails and still capable of killing a guard at Soledad Prison. They say that he himself was killed attempting escape this year in August. Official versions given by the United States of everything from the Bay of Pigs in Cuba to the Bay of Tonkin in Vietnam have the common characteristic of standing truth on its head. George Jackson was jailed ostensibly for stealing 70 dollars. He was given a sentence of one year to life because he was Black, and he was kept incarcerated for years under the most dehumanizing conditions because he discovered that Blackness need not be a badge of servility but rather could be a banner for uncompromising revolutionary struggle. He was murdered because he was doing too much to pass this attitude on to fellow prisoners. George Jackson was political prisoner and a Black freedom fighter. He died at the hands of the enemy.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/walter-rodney-on-george-jackson/
Ask any teacher in any setting, and they’ll tell you there’s no “formula” or “recipe” for education. Despite what corporate charter movements assert—like Teach for America’s “I do, you do, we do” rote learning—teaching is always dependent on relationships, trust, respect, and a host of other elements—and all of these can change day to day. Teaching on a Monday after a big fight broke out at a weekend party is different than teaching on a Wednesday when things have settled down a bit. Teaching in a pandemic is markedly different from teaching before one. These are just a few examples of the limitless and unpredictable forces that shape the educational experience.
As any communist organizer knows, Marxist pedagogy is not a matter of merely explaining or convincing, of coming up with the right wording, question, presentation, speech, or reading. These are educational tactics rather than pedagogies, which refer to specific ways, modes, or logics of education. Marxist pedagogy is contingent on a multitude of factors: the dominant political ideology at the time (is it intensely anti-communist or more open?), the consciousness of students as individuals or a collective (are they coming from a liberal issue-based organization or a strand of the movement?), the autonomy we’re allowed in particular settings (is it an after school club at a public/private school, community meeting, or a Party office?). And of course, there are other factors like different skills, personalities, time commitments, and relations between amongst teachers and students.
Read the full article here: https://liberationschool.org/marx-pedagogies-research-and-presentation/
The economic reality of the United States today is one of vast inequality in wealth and living standards. At present, 31.1 million households do not have enough food to eat in an average year. Housing within the means of average Americans is increasingly scarce, forcing people, including families, to live on the streets. Even for those who are insured, medical care involves ever-increasing costs for routine and critical care.
This suffering is not evenly distributed among the working class. Almost half of all Black children today grow up in poverty, compared to 15 percent of white children. The Indigenous nations that predated the United States, their land stolen and most of their population slaughtered, have had only small tracts of land returned to them, where incomes are markedly lower than the rest of the nation, and acquiring medical care and other basic needs is a struggle for many.
This is notable in itself, but it stands in stark contrast to the lifestyles of a privileged few. With the exception of the 2008 financial crisis, the country’s GDP has grown every single year for many decades. Worker productivity has skyrocketed, yet the value created did not accrue to working people suffering in intense poverty. So where has all that value gone?
Wealth accrued to a very small number of people in the United States while the many go without. Of the richest ten families on the planet today, half are U.S. citizens. Of the ten wealthiest individuals on the planet today, seven are U.S. citizens. The three people at the top of this list have a net worth as equal to that of the poorer 50% of the country combined.
The United States is only one among many nations in which this state of affairs can be seen: widespread, profound lack, among more than plenty concentrated in the hands of few. The situation replicates itself on a global scale as well: the pervasive lack of basic needs for the many in the United States stands in the shadow of an ever more pervasive lack of basic needs endured by workers in South America, Africa, or many parts of Asia. This is reflected in the fact that eight people alone hold as much wealth as the poorer 50% of the entire world combined.
The phenomenon of plenty for the few, and little for the many, is representative of an economic arrangement that spans nearly the entire globe. That economic arrangement is Capitalism.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/02-what-is-capitalism-html/
Illustration by: Andrew Nance
To the surprise of many, the Republic of Cuba finished the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games with 15 medals. Their seven gold, three silver and five bronze medals place them 14th in the world. This is remarkable given the impact of the U.S.-imposed blockade and the size of Cuba’s population.
Of the countries that won more medals than Cuba, only New Zealand has a smaller population. Cuba ranked second in Latin America behind Brazil, which has a population of 211 million compared to Cuba’s 11.33 million.
Cuban athletes won a medal for about every 755,333 people in Cuba. The United States, with 113 medals total, received one medal for about every 2,904,425 people in the United States.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/cubas-big-wins-at-olympics-due-to-its-revolution/
This article is the third in a series of articles on the situation in Cuba recently written by Manolo De Los Santos and Vijay Prashad.
On July 22, US President Joe Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris released a “fact sheet” on US “measures” against Cuba. The release from the White House said that Cuba was a “top priority for the Biden-Harris administration.” On March 9, Biden’s Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “A Cuba policy shift is not currently among President Biden’s top priorities.” On July 12, NBC News reporter Kelly O’Donnell asked Psaki if Biden had reassessed his priorities regarding Cuba after the protests on the island the previous day. “In terms of where it ranks in a priority order,” Psaki replied, “I’m not in a position to offer that, but I can tell you that we will be closely engaged.”
Not a priority, closely engaged, top priority: matters have moved rapidly from March 9 to July 22. What moved the Biden-Harris administration to focus so quickly on Cuba? On the morning of July 11, some people in Cuba—notably in the town of San Antonio de los Baños—took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the social and economic problems created by the US-imposed blockade and by the global pandemic. The reaction to these events in Havana and in Washington, D.C., is instructive: Cuba’s President Miguel Díaz-Canel heard the news of the protests, got into a car, and drove the 40 miles to San Antonio de los Baños, where he met with the people; while in Washington, Biden used the protest to call for the overthrow of the Cuban government. US government-funded nongovernmental organizations and Cuban American groups hastened to take advantage of the frenzy, excited by the possibility of regime change in Cuba.
On the evening of July 11, tens of thousands of Cubans rallied across Cuba to defend their revolutionary process. Since that Sunday evening, Cuba has been calm.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/let-cuba-live-the-movement-standing-up-to-bidens-maximum-pressure-campaign/
In this presentation, a PSL member outlines the Party's position on the upcoming Governor recall election in California.
We explain why we should vote against this undemocratic right-wing power grab, expound on the reactionary policies of frontrunner Larry Elder, and why voting NO on the recall is better for the working class, even though we do not support Gavin Newsom or his policies.
Read a party statement here: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-on-california-recall-election/
The unopposed entrance of Taliban forces into Kabul marks the bitter conclusion of a 20-year year military adventure by U.S. imperialism that senselessly inflicted death and suffering on an enormous scale. The fact that the U.S.-backed Afghan government surrendered without a fight is the clearest indication that it was nothing more than an extension of U.S. imperialist power. The stark reality showed itself: either the U.S. imperialist occupation that began 20 years ago would be sustained literally forever, or this government would collapse upon the exit of U.S. military forces. The Taliban coming to power in the mid-1990s was the consequence of the CIA war against the socialist government of Afghanistan that had come to power in 1978 during the Saur Revolution. The U.S. was perfectly willing to do business with the Taliban prior to September 11 in spite of their odious policies including their prohibition on the education of girls. The hope and promise of the earlier socialist period was crushed by U.S. intervention and the later collapse of the Soviet Union. Since then, the people of Afghanistan have lived under one reactionary government after another.
The complete and almost instantaneous military and political collapse of the Afghan government has led to a situation where the Taliban is presiding over the panicked evacuation of its opponents from inside the capital city. Since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, hundreds of thousands of Afghans died, millions were forced to flee their homes, tens of thousands of working class enlisted soldiers from the United States were killed or injured — and in the end the political situation in the country is returning to a situation where the Taliban dominates the country.
Read the full statement: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-u-s-backed-afghan-government-surrenders-to-the-taliban/
Approximately 400 years ago, in August 1619, enslaved Africans touched foot in the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States for the first time. The centuries since have seen the development of a racial system more violent, extractive, and deeply entrenched than any other in human history. Yet where there is oppression, there is also resistance. Since 1619, Black radicals and revolutionaries have taken bold collective action in pursuit of their freedom, threatening the fragile foundations of exploitation upon which the United States is built. These heroic struggles have won tremendous victories, but they have also produced martyrs—heroes who have been imprisoned and killed because of their efforts to transform society.
“Black August” is honored every year to commemorate the fallen freedom fighters of the Black Liberation Movement, to call for the release of political prisoners in the United States, to condemn the oppressive conditions of U.S. prisons, and to emphasize the continued importance of the Black Liberation struggle. Observers of Black August commit to higher levels of discipline throughout the month. This can include fasting from food and drink, frequent physical exercise and political study, and engagement in political struggle. In short, the principles of Black August are: “study, fast, train, fight.”
Read the full article here: https://liberationschool.org/study-fast-train-fight-the-roots-of-black-august/
Editor's note: Central to our ideology is the idea that in order to understand and prepare for the class struggle in the U.S. we must first take the global situation into account, understanding that the interconnectedness of global and national politics is primary and dialectical, constantly changing and bursting with contradictions. In this document we assert this thesis and undertake an examination of the global class struggle as it has ebbed and flowed from 1945 until the present. We look at the upsurge of socialist and national liberation struggles from 1945-1979 and their impact on the class struggle in all countries, before turning to the era of counterrevolution that we find ourselves in today. We conclude with a few remarks on moving from counterrevolution to revival, which we believe are particularly important given the election of Donald Trump.
The following was initially written as an internal document to facilitate discussion within our party as we headed into our 2nd Party Congress in 2013. As such, it does not account for the changes in the global situation that have taken place since then. The historical arguments and the general theses put forward, however, regarding the primacy of the international situation, the periodization of the global class struggle, and the relationship between global and national politics still hold.
When Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848 they and the other young revolutionaries in Europe (Marx was 29 and Engels was 27) believed that continental Europe was on the verge of revolution. The revolution would of necessity be directed against the monarchist regimes of the old ruling classes. They anticipated that both the proletariat and the liberal bourgeois democratic forces would be in the streets and at the barricades. They were not wrong.
Our first class starts by examining various definitions of fascism in order to foreground how it has functioned historically as a concept-in-class-struggle, while also emphasizing the importance of a dialectical approach. This will allow us to situate fascism within the deep history of capitalism and its imperialist expansion. We then analyze how the Italian fascists and the Nazis rose to power within the constitutional parameters of bourgeois democracy--by receiving abundant funding from big industrial domestic and international capital--to run populist electoral campaigns and whip up certain sectors of the population around an ultra-nationalist and colonial program. Since every capitalist country had fascist movements in the wake of the Great Depression, we also examine what happened to these movements in the cases when they fully consolidated state power. Finally, we discuss how an internationalist, materialist perspective can help us make sense of the capitalist ruling class’s decisions to favor hegemony or repression in specific instances, and what this concretely means for fascist political practices and their visibility as such.
Course materials: Daniel Guérin, Fascism and big business https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/guerin/1938/10/fascism.htm José Carlos Mariátegui, “Biologia del fascismo” https://www.marxists.org/espanol/mariateg/1925/escena/01.htm Aimé Césaire, Discourse on colonialism, trans. J. Pinkham (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2007), 35-46.
Our final class is an opportunity to synthesize the wide-ranging themes addressed, with a particular focus on the current state of U.S. politics and the global fight against fascism. We consider what lessons organizers can learn from the history of communist struggles against fascism, both within the U.S. and internationally. We also examine the contemporary moment, and in particular the election of Biden-Harris, as well as the persistence of Trumpism, in light of the historical relationship between liberalism and fascism. Finally, we explore what we can do to develop the power and organizational frameworks necessary to stand strong against fascism, while also continuing to advance our collective agenda of socialism and liberation.
Class materials: The Socialist Program with Brian Becker, “In the news roundtable: The role of the racist mob in American politics” https://soundcloud.com/thesocialistprogram/in-the-news-the-role-of-the-racist-mob-in-american-politics Glen Ford, “Democratic fascists prepare to drop the hammer” https://www.blackagendareport.com/democratic-fascists-prepare-drop-hammer
For this class, we focus specifically on the relationship between fascism and the U.S.’s racist police state. How has fascism functioned in the U.S., and how has the Empire contributed to its growth internationally? What were the forces operative behind the so-called Business Plot in 1934, a planned fascist seizure of state power, and what light does this shed on the present moment? What lessons can we as organizers learn from projects like the CIA’s Operation Gladio, which established an international network of Nazis and fascists, who committed acts of terrorism that were then blamed on communists? How does all of this history relate to the current state of American politics and the events of January 6, 2021?
Class materials: George Seldes, Facts and fascism (New York: In Fact, 1943), 11-15; 68-79; 277-286. Gabriel Rockhill, “Fascist plots in the U.S.: Contemporary lessons from the 1934 “Business Plot” https://liberationschool.org/fascist-plots-in-the-u-s-contemporary-lessons-from-the-1934-business-plot/ Sarah Churchwell, “American fascism: It has happened here” https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2020/06/22/american-fascism-it-has-happened-here/
This class looks at some of the important communist responses to fascism and explores how communists have organized on the ground to fight and win against fascists. We begin with interwar Europe and international debates in communist party organizing but also discuss how Marxist-Leninists like the Black Panther Party understood fascism in the U.S. This provides us with some useful perspectives on various tactics, their relative successes and failures, and what this means for the present moment.
Class materials: Clara Zetkin, “Resolution on fascism” (adopted on June 23, 1923 by the Third Enlarged Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International) https://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/1923/06/fascism-report-comintern.htm Georgi Dimitrov, “Unity of the working class against fascism” https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/dimitrov/works/1935/unity.htm The Black Panther, May 31, 1969 on “Fascism in America” https://www.marxists.org/history//usa/pubs/black-panther/03n06-may%2031%201969.pdf
The United States, a country with a $20 trillion economy, is waging a full-scale economic war against an island whose economy equals half of one percent of that — Cuba. The war has been going on for 60 years. It began shortly after the 1959 revolution to punish Cuba for taking control of corporations owned by rich capitalists in the United States who had brutally exploited the Cuban people for decades.
Supporters of the Cuban revolution call this economic war a blockade, not an “embargo” like the corporate media. That is because the U.S. government is not only preventing its own citizens and businesses from trading with Cuba, it also prohibits trade with foreign entities that also do business with Cuba. In essence, the United States makes companies choose between doing business in the United States’ $20 trillion economy or in Cuba. Here are six ways that this cruel blockade profoundly impacts the lives of the Cuban people.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/six-ways-the-cruel-u-s-blockade-makes-cubans-suffer/
Cuba, like every other country on the planet, is struggling with the impact of COVID-19. This small island of 11 million people has created five vaccine candidates and sent its medical workers through the Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade to heal people around the world. Meanwhile, the United States hardens a cruel and illegal blockade of the island, a medieval siege that has been in place for six decades. In April 2020, seven United Nations special rapporteurs wrote an open letter to the United States government about the blockade. “In the pandemic emergency,” they wrote, “the lack of will of the US government to suspend sanctions may lead to a higher risk of such suffering in Cuba and other countries targeted by its sanctions.” The special rapporteurs noted the “risks to the right to life, health and other critical rights of the most vulnerable sections of the Cuban population.”
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/the-united-states-tries-to-take-advantage-of-the-price-cubans-are-paying-for-the-blockade-and-the-pandemic/
Reposted from People’s Dispatch. This article was produced by Globetrotter.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel spoke to the Cuban people today — Sunday, July 11 — at 4:00 p.m. Eastern, after going to the site of one of several protests that took place in Cuba today. This unprecedented series of events are the result of the growing difficulties the people are experiencing by the double blow created by the increasingly severe U.S. blockade and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite being in control of infections for many months, cases have been growing in recent weeks and days. Because the Cuban government is necessarily prioritizing medicines and health care for thousands of COVID-positive patients, shortages are being experienced by the rest of the population. Electrical energy is scarce because of the blockade, and what little is available is being directed to facilities for COVID patients. As a result, blackouts are happening in parts of the country, adding to the people’s difficulties. The United States is taking advantage of the situation by heavily financing counter-revolutionary groups that are part of the protests and trying to foment opposition. And yet, this is at a time when Cuba’s famed biotechnology industry has created five vaccines to vaccinate its population, the real hope for saving lives. This speech provides crucial context and information being covered up by the corporate media in the United States.
We in the Party for Socialism and Liberation stand with the Cuban Revolution and the heroic people who have resisted U.S. imperialism for more than 60 years. Down with the U.S. blockade!
The following is an unofficial translation of President Díaz-Canel’s words, from CubaDebate.cu
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/cuban-president-diaz-canel-revolutionaries-to-the-streets/
The Party for Socialism and Liberation stands in full solidarity with the Cuban Revolution, its government and people in the struggle against the latest sinister counter-revolutionary efforts of U.S. imperialism.
The sixty year old blockade and hundreds of sanctions imposed under the Trump Administration have caused grave shortages of food, medicines, electricity and other necessities of life. The shortages have greatly exacerbated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the island.
No working person in the United States should be fooled – this is the latest manifestation of an imperialist war to destroy Cuban independence and socialism. U.S. hands off Cuba!
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-u-s-imperialism-seeks-counter-revolution-in-cuba/
The notion that the rich are rich because they’re frugal, smart, entrepreneurial, and hardworking, and that the poor are poor because they’re wasteful, lazy, stupid, and irresponsible is widespread. This is the ideology of meritocracy: that success or failure in life is up to the individual’s choices. The ideology takes on different forms, such as the idea that Black liberation is achieved through “Black buying power,” as Jared Ball’s recent book puts it. Whatever form it takes, this ideology serves the purpose of blaming the poor for their poverty and the oppressed for their oppression. The capitalist system that produces both is totally absolved.
What’s interesting is that although this notion is widely accepted, it is easily disproved. Who, after all, thinks Donald Trump gained his wealth by employing his intelligence? It’s obvious that his wealth has nothing to do with his own individual personality, characteristics or merits. On the other end, who doesn’t know smart and creative people—maybe even with advanced degrees—who are either working low-waged jobs or are unemployed?
Marx was the first to discover and articulate the specific source of inequality under capitalism: surplus value. In a letter he wrote to Engels the year he published the first volume of Capital, Marx said that “the treatment of surplus-value regardless of its particular forms as profit, interest, ground rent, etc.” was one of the “best points” made in the book. But there are a few necessary steps to take before we can really grasp surplus value, which is the real motor of class struggle.
Read the full article here: https://liberationschool.org/03-what-is-surplus-value-html/
Gentrification is the systematic process of displacing poor people from a community and replacing them with more affluent people, all in the interest of profit. It has become a primary local policy of the representatives of the ruling class and is clearly carried out by the state. While it is clearly a policy, it is also an outcome of the capitalist approach to housing and development. Profit is king. People’s livelihoods and well-being are not considerations.
A serious socialist program for housing must unequivocally reject the idea that gentrification is a process caused primarily by an influx of white wealthier people and fancy coffee shops. They more serve as symbols that gentrification won. By the time wealthy people and coffee shops show up, the behind-the-scenes work for gentrification has already taken place. We should begin to correctly frame gentrification as a violent function of the capitalist model. A clear political alternative that can unify working-class people of all nationalities and keep housing affordable and safe for all is the answer.
Read the full article here: https://www.breakingthechainsmag.org/not-just-rich-people-and-cafes-toward-a-socialist-understanding-of-gentrification/
In the early hours of July 7, Haitian president-turned-dictator Jovenel Moïse was assassinated at his home in Port-au-Prince. While many details of the assassination remain unclear, the political vacuum in Haiti will likely result in a fierce struggle over the direction of the nation in the coming weeks.
The Biden administration’s initial reactions to the assassination disturbingly indicate that the U.S. government is considering deepening their intervention in Haiti, which could possibly involve a military intervention. Biden’s official statement pledges that the United States “stand[s] ready to assist”. The spokesman for the State Department ominously said that the United States is “prepared to receive additional requests from Haitian authorities”.
A new U.S. occupation of Haiti, or any type of meddling in the country’s sovereign affairs, would be a disaster. For over a century the U.S. military has helped corporations plunder Haiti, carrying out invasions, supporting coups and menacing anyone who fights for the freedom and independence of the country. Even if they use humanitarian language, the goal of any U.S. intervention remains the same.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/haiti-no-to-u-s-intervention-in-wake-of-jovenel-moise-assassination/
July 1, 2021 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. Celebrations throughout China and commemorations worldwide are taking place today in recognition of the Party's leadership and its incredible legacy. It's worthwhile for socialists to reflect on this legacy and, in particular, the contemporary state of China's political economy. On November 9, 2013 Xi Jinping gave a talk at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in which he discussed the characteristic features of China’s economy after more than two decades of “reform and opening.” He recalled that at the 14th National Congress of the CPC, in 1992, the Party had re-dedicated itself to the goal of “establishing a socialist market economy, allowing the market to play a basic role in allocating resources under state macro control.” He went on to assert that, by 2013, a socialist market economy had been “basically established” but also observed that “there are still many problems.” This assessment of the situation, which remains essentially applicable to China today, reflects the complexity of China’s historical path since Liberation in 1949.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/the-cpc-100-years-on-understanding-chinas-contemporary-political-economy/
The following is an edited version of an internal document initially written in late 2015 and formed part of the basis for party-wide discussions in the Party for Socialism and Liberation in early 2016. The document examines the new possibilities and difficulties posed by the proliferation of social media from the perspective of the Leninist party. Ben Becker evaluates the resulting qualitative shifts in mass communication, obstacles to vertical organization, the individualizing tendencies of social media, and other tensions between social media and democratic centralist organizations. It analyzes this latter question by comparing social media with the original “collective organizer” for Leninists: the party newspaper. The final section of the article articulates the new security issues raised by social media. Because there are few works that address this issue in a systematic and action-oriented way, we publish it here as a resource for newer party comrades and others in the struggle as they grapple with the (often frustrating) realities of organizing in such an online environment.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/social-media-and-democratic-centralism-opportunities-and-challenges/
Ahn Hak-sop was an officer in the Korean People’s Army of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea) during the Korean War. In 1952, he was captured by the United States and its proxy forces while on his way to a meeting in the southern part of Korea. He served decades as an unconverted political prisoner before finally winning release in 1995. Today, he is still active as a peace and reunification activist in the Republic of Korea (ROK, or South Korea). Liberation School interviewed Mr. Ahn in November 2019 at a peace church in the Civilian Control Zone just south of the 38th parallel that divides the Korean peninsula.
On May 25, 2020, 44-year-old white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on 46-year-old unarmed Black man George Floyd’s neck for nine minutes and 29 seconds, sadistically murdering him. Floyd was accused of using a counterfeit 20 dollar bill at a local convenience store in the middle of a pandemic that left tens of millions of Americans out of work and deeper in poverty. Floyd was a victim of the capitalist system, one of the tens of millions who were out of employment. The deadly encounter between Floyd and Chauvin was captured on video by community members and went viral shortly thereafter.
The next day, the Black working-class communities of Minneapolis led thousands of people of all nationalities demanding justice and accountability, inspiring a nationwide protest movement against racism and police brutality that brought an estimated 35 million people into the streets in righteous and militant indignation. Solidarity protests were held in 60 countries all over the world from Palestine to Haiti to South Korea and more. As brutal force and thousands upon thousands of arrests were employed to repress the movement, the racist underbelly of so-called U.S. democracy was on display to the entire world.
One year since these rebellions began, many reforms have been passed and changes made to combat racism. Politicians and corporations have pivoted to allay the rage of the masses of people across the country sick and tired of racist police terror and the entire system of capitalism with its disgusting inequality. All across the country organizers, activists and progressive groups have demanded radical change, with some raising the slogan “defund the police” and “abolish the police” — representing a marked shift in the struggle for justice.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/how-justice-for-george-floyd-shook-the-ruling-class-to-the-core/
In the final class, we draw from the historical context of the first three classes to explore why the PSL understands the struggle for Black liberation to be a national liberation struggle. We analyze the relationship between this struggle liberation and the struggle for power today.
In class 3, students learn about how the key Black communist figures and organizations of the 20th century shaped the struggle against racism, the labor movement and the overall revolutionary struggle in the U.S. We also cover how the U.S. government repressed Black communists and attempted to divert the Black liberation movement away from its revolutionary tradition.
The first class examines how the development of each class in early American society (enslaved Africans, Southern planters, Northern industrialists, Western free soilers, and more) was largely defined by its relationship to the Slavocracy. Conflicts between these various classes, particularly the northern capitalists and Southern planters, led to a Civil War that shook the social, political and economic foundations of the country.
The second class covers the post-Civil War efforts to reconstitute Southern society on a new basis. We focus on Reconstruction, America’s “unfinished revolution” and the Southern populist movement to learn about the pursuit of Black political power and multinational working class solidarity in action.
Within two months in a town, in Muong Thanh Valley of northwest Vietnam, anti-imperialist Vietnamese fighters besieged and defeated over 16,000 French colonial troops and spelled the downfall of the French empire. Dien Bien Phu was one of the greatest victories of the oppressed in all of history and inspired revolutionaries and progressives around the world. We cannot understate this victory and we cannot understate the central role women played.
Women have always been in the struggle in Vietnam and often were at the forefront in the resistance against the French that culminated in Dien Bie Phu. Without the central and leading role of women, the fight for national liberation against the French would not have been victorious.
Read the full article here: https://www.breakingthechainsmag.org/the-legacy-of-vietnamese-women-in-the-national-resistance-struggle/
Part 2 of the Program of the Party for Socialism and Liberation
In order to guarantee the interests of working and poor people who make up the vast majority of the United States, a new revolutionary government run by and for the workers and poor will be established. The present capitalist government—the role of which has been to defend the big-business system of exploitation by a web of hundreds of measures, legal and illegal, and has been accessible only to the super-rich elite—will be abolished.
Read the full program here: https://liberationschool.org/program-of-the-party-for-socialism-and-liberation/
Part 1 of the Program of the Party for Socialism and Liberation:
The Party for Socialism and Liberation exists to carry out the struggle for socialism inside the United States, the center of world capitalism and imperialism. The PSL stands in solidarity with our sisters and brothers around the world who are resisting capitalist exploitation and imperialist domination.
The need for the socialist reorganization of society becomes more apparent and urgent with each passing day. While a tiny part of the population grows ever richer, tens of millions of workers here in the United States and billions of workers around the world sink deeper into poverty. Monumental advances in science and technology, which could have uplifted the many, instead have mainly enriched the few.
Read the full program here: https://liberationschool.org/program-of-the-party-for-socialism-and-liberation
Frederick Engels is best known for his theoretical and political work he undertook alongside his lifelong comrade, Karl Marx. Yet Engels made other important contributions to the workers’ movement of his time and ever since. During a moment in which millions of workers in the U.S. have been thrown out of work as a result of the intersection of the Covid-19 pandemic and an overdue capitalist economic crisis, Engels’ 1872 pamphlet, “The Housing Question,” bears particular import. While there have been important developments in capitalist housing markets, like Collateralized Debt Obligations and subprime mortgages, that Engels couldn’t predict, the pamphlet is still crucial to understanding struggles over housing today.
Read the full article here: https://liberationschool.org/engels-capitalism-and-housing/
Israel presents itself as a “homeland for all Jews” that welcomes and provides safe haven to all Jewish people. The ironically-named Law of Return, passed on July 5, 1950, declared that all Jewish people had the right to come to live in Israel. But does Israel actually accept all Jewish people? Of course this law is inherently racist towards the Palestinian people, whose land was stolen to create the state of Israel. And it is also clear that the Zionist political movement has a particular history of anti-Black racism.
This helps us understand not only the contradictions within pro-Israel ideology, but also the deep connections between the Black struggle for freedom and the Palestinian struggle.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/israels-long-history-of-anti-black-racism/
The Paris Commune took place 150 years ago this year in France. It was one of the most earth-shaking events in history up to that point, and it’s one that continues to have an impact even today.
Marx said about it a few years afterwards that it was the most slandered event in human history, but what happened later was that it was pushed out of the picture almost altogether—especially, of course, in this country. Marx wrote extensively about it at the time, and there’s a pamphlet called The Civil War in France, made up of speeches that Marx gave during the time of the Paris Commune to the General Council, the leadership body of the First International. The third and main address is, I believe, one of the most brilliant, most impassioned and most bitterly satirical writings about politics that’s ever been written. In it you see Karl Marx in the midst of an all-out life and death struggle. The pamphlet is not very long, and it’s definitely worth reading or rereading.
The Paris Commune was the first, although short-lived, workers’ state, workers’ republic. During its short life, which lasted only 72 days before it was brutally murdered by the so-called democratic bourgeoisie of France, it had so many experiences and such rich experiences and lessons that 50 years later the Bolshevik Party—Lenin and all of the Bolshevik Party—carefully studied the Paris Commune. Not only did they study it, they based the Soviet form of government on the Paris Commune. And then, 50 years after that, in 1969, when a new constitution of China was written, they cited the Paris Commune as being the example of the form of government they wanted to have. That’s how influential this 72-day-long Commune was in history. And that’s not all; there are many other examples.
Based on the experience of the Commune, Marx and Engels felt that they had to make what was their only correction to the Communist Manifesto. They said that “the working class cannot simply lay hold of the ready-made state machinery and wield it for its own purposes.” Instead, they said, the old state would have to be broken up, would have to be shattered and replaced by a completely new form; that is, that the workers could not use the state that the capitalists used.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/vive-la-commune-the-paris-commune-150-years-later/
In response to the mobilization of tens of thousands of Palestinians defending the right to live in the Palestinian neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah in East Jerusalem and worship at the Al-Aqsa mosque, Israel has unleashed murderous actions all across occupied Palestine. Al-Aqsa is an iconic national symbol of the Palestinian people and one of the holiest sites in Islam. It has been repeatedly targeted by Zionist extremists who want to take it over.
The latest escalation by Israel are air strikes May 10 in the Gaza Strip that have so far killed over 20 civilians. The Israeli government indicated it is prepared for a drawn out military campaign against the Palestinian people. Earlier in the day, a brutal raid into Al-Aqsa left more than 300 Palestinians wounded, with 250 suffering injuries serious enough to require hospital treatment.
Hamas, the Palestinian organization administering the government in Gaza, issued an ultimatum to Israel to stop the assault on Al Aqsa and the eviction campaign in Sheikh Jarrah. After another round of attacks on Palestinian worshipers by Israel, Hamas launched dozens of rockets into Jerusalem, forcing the evacuation of the Israeli Knesset. The corporate media in the United States is pushing the line that the Israeli airstrikes were an act of self-defense. But what they were “retaliating” against was in fact proportionate retaliation by Palestinian fighters to the terrible crime at the Al-Aqsa mosque.
This comes on top of a ratcheted-up campaign by the Israeli government to remove Palestinians from Palestine. Ultra-right Zionist forces rampaged through Sheikh Jarrah and other parts of East Jerusalem, attacking Palestinians while chanting “Death to the Arabs” under the protection of Israeli police and military.
Coinciding with the month of Ramadan, Israeli police closed access to the Damascus Gate plaza, a gathering site near the mosque used during Ramadan. This provocation rightfully enraged Palestinian worshipers and led to clashes between worshipers and Zionist police forces. On May 7, in another major act of repression, approximately 200 people were injured and 90 sent to the hospital.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/tear-gas-bullets-bombs-israel-unleashes-massive-assault-on-palestinians/
Despite the ceasefire agreement on May 20, Israel carried out a campaign of mass arrests called “Operation Law and Order” today and yesterday to take revenge on those who heroically participated in the popular uprising that occurred over the course of the country’s 11-day long massacre of Palestinians. The aim of the operation was to arrest Palestinians living within the 1948 borders of Israel who shocked the Israeli ruling establishment by participating with such intensity in the resistance. Palestinians inside the 1948 borders make up about 20% of Israel’s population. Over 500 were targeted for arrest by the operation.
In contrast, even with a mountain of evidence showing far-right Israeli mobs brutalizing and attacking Palestinians and their homes, none were arrested or charged for their crimes — further evidence of legal apartheid in Israel. A statement from the Israeli government on Sunday stated that thousands of police officers “will operate with high intensity and a comprehensive deployment against anyone involved in the violent incidents.” But what it really meant was arrests exclusively for Palestinians who participated in righteous protest, and none for Israelis who were part of these lynch mobs.
Israel has always sought to divide the Palestinian people, and is ill-equipped to fight on every front at once. Terrified and taken off guard by the mass uprising within its 1948 borders, Israel is desperately taking measures to prevent such an event from recurring.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/israeli-cops-take-revenge-on-palestinian-protesters-with-operation-law-and-order/
Thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and cities inside the 1948 borders of Israel on May 21 to celebrate the ceasefire following 11 days of fighting between Palestinian and Israeli forces. No such celebrations were reported among the Israeli population. Extreme right-wing politicians condemned the government of Benjamin Netanyahu for entering into the agreement, and vowed to now oppose his re-election as prime minister.
The victory came at the cost of more than 240 lives of Palestinians inside Gaza, often referred to as the world’s largest open air prison, victims of 11 days of relentless bombing by U.S.-supplied warplanes and artillery. Gaza has no air defenses. Twelve people inside Israel were reported killed by rockets fired from Gaza. Nearly 2,000 people were wounded in Gaza and over 100 inside Israel. Massive destruction was once again inflicted on Gaza’s already acutely inadequate housing and infrastructure, and much less but still significant damage in southern and central Israel.
A few hours after the ceasefire, Israeli police attacked Palestinians celebrating at the Al-Aqsa mosque in East Jerusalem and arrested at least 16.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/94952-2/
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
Much of the historical material in this article can be found in the book, Palestine, Israel and the U.S. Empire, by Richard Becker. (PSL Publications, 2009)
https://store.pslweb.org/Palestine-Israel-and-the-US-Empire_p_10.html
As Israeli leaders and the Trump regime grotesquely celebrated the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem on the 70th anniversary of Israel’s declaration of independence, May 14, just 40 miles away Israeli troops were massacring unarmed Palestinians trapped inside Gaza. At least 61 Palestinians were killed, and more than 2,700 wounded, over a thousand shot by snipers firing military grade ammunition against unarmed protestors who were demanding an end to their isolation and the right to return to their homeland.
There was a bitter historical irony in the juxtaposition of these events
Most of the two million residents of Gaza are refugees and their descendants (who also have refugee status), driven from other parts of Palestine in 1948. Altogether, more than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled in 1948-49 to make way for the creation of the Israeli state. Another 300,000 were driven out after the Six Day War in 1967. Today, there are seven million registered Palestinians refugees, many still living in 59 refugee camps in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, the West Bank and Gaza. None have ever been allowed to return to their stolen homes, farms and shops, in blatant violation of their rights.
For many decades, Israeli leaders and their American apologists maintained the fiction that the Palestinians who left did so at the urging of their leaders. Even if that had been the case, it would have in no way invalidated their right of return, an inalienable right under international law.
But it was not the case. As has been irrefutably documented by numerous Israeli as well as Palestinian historians, mass ethnic cleansing was carried out by means of massacre and other forms of terror. It could not have accomplished otherwise.
The Israeli colonial state was not, of course, the only one that employed terror and massacre to subjugate the indigenous population. All of the colonizers utilized such tactics, including the United States, Britain, France, Belgium, Japan, Netherlands, Italy, etc., to establish their empires.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/massacres-were-indispensable-to-creation-of-the-israeli-state/
Suffused with anti-Semitism themselves, many in the U.S. ruling class in the 1930s viewed Nazi Germany as a weapon against their main enemy of the time—the Soviet Union.
A number of U.S. capitalists regarded Nazi Germany as having an ideal business climate. The Nazis had smashed the powerful German labor unions and had fused German corporations closely with the state.
Among those who shared Nazi sympathies and business connections were Henry Ford, Joseph Kennedy Sr. (father of John, Robert and Ted Kennedy), and Prescott Bush (father and grandfather of U.S. presidents).
"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
The aim of the Zionists to dispossess Palestinians of their land and rights was no mystery to the Palestinian population. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s there were numerous uprisings against British colonialism and Zionist settlements, the most famous and protracted of which was the 1936-1939 revolt.
In 1936, Palestinians launched a general strike that lasted six months—the longest general strike in history. The strike was followed by a guerrilla war that lasted nearly three and a half years. It was mainly based in the countryside among poor peasants. The war tied down a large part of the British army. It was not until September 1939—the same month that World War II began in Europe—that the British finally succeeded in crushing the rebellion by brute force.
Both the justice of the Palestinian resistance and colonial nature of Zionism had been admitted in the midst of the revolt by none other than the central Zionist leader, Ben-Gurion:
"In our political argument abroad we minimize Arab opposition to us. But let us not ignore the truth among ourselves. … A people which fights against the usurpation of its land will not tire so easily."
"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G
Though it had its own distinct roots, Zionism shared some of the characteristics of the reactionary European movements. It fiercely opposed the anti-colonial and genuine national liberation movements.
The Zionists, while aiming to create a Jewish nation-state, did not seek to acquire territory in Eastern Europe where most of the European Jewish population was concentrated and most violently repressed. Instead, the Zionists offered to make themselves available to be transported as settlers to any number of places in the colonized continents of Asia, Africa and Latin America, before settling on Palestine.
Political Zionism was thus a unique form of narrow nationalism. Lacking its own indigenous land base, it could only hope to succeed as an extension of European colonialism. Unlike any genuine national liberation movement, Zionism was always completely dependent on imperialist sponsorship.
"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Zionism represented a small minority among Jewish people. It was mainly a movement of the middle class, with support from a few wealthy sponsors, particularly the Rothschild oil and banking interests.
Jewish workers and intellectuals of that time played a vital role in the socialist, communist and other progressive movements in Europe and the United States. They fought for equality rather than separation. Prior to World War II, political Zionism was widely regarded as a reactionary nationalist and dangerous ideology in progressive circles, Jewish and non-Jewish alike.
"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G
But does the pro-Israel lobby—or Israel itself through the lobby—control and direct U.S. policy in the Middle East?
To put it another way, does the tail wag the dog?
Is it really conceivable that a small, dependent country could call the shots for the most powerful empire in the history of the world?
The answer to all of these questions is no.
Israel is part of the U.S. global empire, not the other way around.
"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker. E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G
While Palestine was still nominally under Ottoman rule, Britain’s foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, sent a letter to Lord Rothschild, a member of the British House of Lords and one of the world’s richest men.
The infamous Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917, reads: Dear Lord Rothschild:
I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet: “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of the Zionist Federation.
Yours sincerely Arthur James Balfour
Underlining the colonialist character of the note is the phrase: “nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine.”
The “existing non-Jewish communities”—the Palestinian Arabs—went unnamed, despite comprising 92 percent of the population at the time.
While national rights were emphasized for the tiny settler minority, no mention was made of the same rights for the indigenous majority.
"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker E-book: www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was born September 12, 1924 in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau, one of Portugal’s African colonies. On January 20, 1973–48 years ago today–Cabral was murdered by fascist Portuguese assassins just months before the national liberation movement in which he played a central role won the independence of Guinea-Bissau.
This particular struggle was waged for the liberation of not just one country–Guinea-Bissau, where the fighting took place–but also for another geographically-separate region, the archipelago Cape Verde. Cabral and the other leaders of the movement understood that they were fighting in a larger anti-colonial struggle and global class war and, as such, that their immediate enemies were not only the colonial governments of particular countries, but Portuguese colonialism in general. For 500 years, Portuguese colonialism was built upon the slave trade and the systematic pillaging of its African colonies: Mozambique, Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome e Principe, Angola, and Cape Verde.
Despite the worldwide focus on the struggle in Vietnam at the time, the inspiring dynamism of the campaign waged in Guinea-Bissau–together with the figure of Cabral–captured international attention. In the introduction to an early collection of Cabral’s writings and speeches, Basil Davidson (1979) describes Cabral as someone who expressed a genuine “enduring interest in everyone and everything that came his way”
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/amilcar-cabral-liberator-theorist-educator/
There is, in fact, an irreconcilable conflict in the Middle East, but it is not one between different peoples or faiths. It is instead the struggle between imperialism, Israel and the dependent Arab regimes on the one hand and the oppressed peoples of this oil-rich and strategic region fighting for liberation and progress on the other.
At the very heart of this conflict is Palestine. The Palestinian struggle is a struggle against Western colonialism. It has been this way from the beginning, more than a century ago.
As is the case with all conflicts and world events, what is going on today in Palestine and the Middle East can only be understood in its historical context.
"Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker E-book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094YL965G
Devastation in Iraq exposes U.S. imperialism's lies.
https://www.breakingthechainsmag.org/
In his first speech to a joint session of Congress on April 28, Joe Biden made the calculation that he needed to directly address the needs of the working class. “20 million Americans lost their jobs in the pandemic – working- and middle-class Americans. At the same time, the roughly 650 billionaires in America saw their net worth increase by more than $1 trillion,” Biden noted, “[T]rickle-down economics has never worked. It’s time to grow the economy from the bottom up and middle-out”. Biden went on to highlight several specific reforms he supported that would have far-reaching implications for the lives of countless millions of working people.
Reminiscent of Cold War-era Democratic presidents, he couched this program in explicitly imperialist terms, cynically attempting to win favor for his policy of confrontation with China — a potentially catastrophic course of action that is already doing great harm to workers in the United States, China and the rest of the world. But what is unique about this speech is that the most powerful bourgeois politician used this most prominent of platforms to speak directly to the interests of workers as a class and propose a raft of progressive measures with real substance to address the issues of class and racial inequality. Understanding why this happened is of crucial importance to those who want to win these immediate reforms and socialists who envision an entirely new type of society.
This decision was not made out of the kindness of Joe Biden’s heart. Biden has been a loyal servant of big business his entire career — supporting anti-worker “free” trade agreements, deregulating the big banks and financial institutions, and helping eviscerate the social safety net.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/biden-uses-first-major-address-to-lay-out-program-for-the-working-class/
May 4 marks the anniversary of a seminal moment in modern Chinese history. In 1919, the “May 4 movement” broke out — a youth-led uprising against the country’s domination by foreign colonial powers. In the following piece written in 2008, Fidel Castro reflects on this and other milestones in China’s long struggle for independence. The following reflection was published over a two-day period in the Cuban newspaper Granma.
When the First World War broke out in 1914, China joined the allies. As recompense, China was promised that the German concessions in the province of Shandong would be returned at war’s end. After the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which President Woodrow Wilson imposed on friends and foes alike, the German colonies were transferred to Japan, a more powerful allied than China.
Thousands of students gathered in Tiananmen Square on May 4, 1919 to protest this move. The first triumphant nationalist movement in China was born there. Called the “May 4th Movement”, it brought the petite and national bourgeoisie and the workers and peasants under one coalition.
The founding of the Kuomintang or National People’s Party had consolidated the nationalist currents that emerged at the close of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. It was headed by Dr. Sun Yatsen, a progressive intellectual and revolutionary heavily influenced by the October Revolution, with which he strengthened his party’s ties.
The Chinese Communist Party was founded at a congress held from July 23 to August 5, 1921. Lenin sent representatives of the International to that Congress.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/08-03-31-reflections-fidel-chinese-victo-html/
We are excited to announce ‘Reading Capital With Comrades’—a new 12-part podcast series teaching volume 1 of Karl Marx's Capital. Listen now on Spotify, Soundcloud & more!
Marx published the first volume of Capital in 1867 after pouring over a decade of his life into writing it and another decade researching political economy. The book is more than an endurance challenge or a purely intellectual milestone. As "Reading Capital with Comrades" demonstrates, understanding the theoretical basis of Marxism is a crucial component for organizers and revolutionaries who want to move beyond isolated struggles. Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolution.
PSL organizer Sasha Murphy speaks on Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdict, a result only thanks to mass uprising, and what's next for the movement against police terror!
One thing is unambiguously clear: Derek Chauvin being found guilty is the result of a historic popular uprising. Chauvin’s brutal murder of George Floyd ignited a massive resistance from Minneapolis’ Third Precinct into the smallest towns and biggest cities in the United States.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation was proud to participate in this historic movement that brought millions into the streets, many for the first time. New leaders emerged and are now in the struggle for the long haul.
“Justice for George!” was screamed in Trafalgar Square and painted on walls in Port-au-Prince. One Senator was alarmed enough to call for the Army to be sent into the streets and the Mayor of Chicago pulled up the drawbridges to save Trump Tower. The verdict was an offering from a shaken establishment.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/guilty-peoples-uprising-wins-justice-for-george-floyd/
To General of the Army and First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Raúl Castro Ruz;
To President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and to all delegates of the Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba:
On behalf of the Party for Socialism and Liberation in the United States, we send you revolutionary greetings and solidarity on the occasion of the VIII Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba. We salute your congress as you begin your deliberations on the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of the Socialist Character of the Cuban Revolution, April 16. The words Fidel Castro pronounced on April 16 will never cease to inspire us and all revolutionaries, when he declared, “That is what they cannot pardon of us, that we are here under their noses and that we have made a Socialist Revolution under the very nose of the United States!”
Read the full text here: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-greetings-to-pcc-viii-congress/
History is always political – many of us here are familiar with this concept. However, the lessons taught in school leave out the important context, reducing history to just a mere list of dates, people, and isolated events.
As Marx once said “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” Understanding the progression of society and the social forces at play situates these seemingly isolated points into synchronization. This is the very tool that connected my experience as a second generation Chinese American to the communist struggle. It is this that taught me that racism against Chinese people from the moment the first Chinese worker stepped foot on this country is a story familiar to all of us today. Analyzing this history is critical as we continue the fight for immigrant and worker rights. I, myself, come from a family of migrant workers: My great-great grandfather was a migrant worker in Australia until he died on the boat on his fourth trip back to China; my great grandfather immigrated to Peru to find work, and my parents immigrated here to the U.S.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/the-legacy-of-the-chinese-exclusion-act-of-1882/
After the deaths of Marx and Engels, socialists began taking up the important task of summarizing their work for popularization. In 1919, for example, Georg Lukács, the Hungarian Marxist, argued that the essence of Marx’s project is not the correctness or incorrectness of his many theses, but rather, his dialectical method. Stressing the significance of Marx’s method Lukács notes that it is a “weapon” of the proletariat and “an instrument of war” (1919/1971, 224). Marx never wrote a text on dialectics or even used the term “dialectical materialism,” and so articulating Marx’s dialectic was left to Engels and those who followed. There are, as a result, a great many debates about what exactly dialectical materialism is. There has also been a tendency to oversimplify dialectical materialism into a mechanical and deterministic dogma.
This article outlines Marx’s method, dialectical materialism, a theory and manner of understanding change. It is a theory that grasps how many of the competing social forces driving the movement of society are often hidden or mystified, and that gives us a way of uncovering them. It is a method that understands that unveiling social forces must be done in such a way as to foster class-for-self-consciousness within the working class as a revolutionary force. Toward these ends this article introduces the major components of dialectical materialism, including the negation of the negation, sublation, the unity of opposites, and the transformation of quantity into quality.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/what-is-dialectical-materialism-an-introduction/
Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General and renowned international human rights attorney who stood against U.S. military aggression worldwide, died peacefully April 9 at his home in New York City, surrounded by close family. He was 93 years old.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/ramsey-clark/
Gloria La Riva speaks on Radio Havana Cuba regarding the blockade against the Cuban people, and the caravans in 60 US cities that drove in solidarity with the caravans in Cuba demanding the lifting of the embargo that the US has inflicted upon Cuba for over half a century.
As anti-Asian violence and sentiment spikes nationwide, a string of violent assaults and robberies on elderly Asians in the Bay Area are fueling outrage. Video from two separate, unprovoked attacks in Oakland and San Francisco, which left one dead and three others injured, was shared widely.
This prompted widespread condemnation and a range of responses from local figures. Authorities, news stations, and even celebrities have cynically sought to manipulate the fact that the attackers in these incidents were Black to drive a wedge between the two communities that are both under attack by the white supremacist system that dominates this country. These demagogues are criticizing those who want to defund the police, calling for increased policing, and framing the problem as one solvable by lengthy prison sentences or more mainstream media coverage. Notably, a pair of Asian actors offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of one attacker.
By contrast, activists throughout the Bay Area have shown their solidarity by rallying to denounce the attacks, organizing rapidly to accompany elders in Chinatown. They reject anti-Black narratives, such as the illusion that police can be part of the solution.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/bay-area-elites-attempt-to-divide-and-conquer-in-aftermath-of-violence-against-asian-residents/
On March 2, the Alabama State Senate passed a bill intended to prevent transgender youth from accessing any gender-affirming care. The bill, absurdly titled the “Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act,” bans puberty blockers and hormone therapies for transgender youth. This vital medical care alleviates the psychological and physical harm caused by going through puberty on hormones incongruent with one’s gender.
Doctors, pharmacists, and other medical professionals who continue to provide this necessary trans-affirming health care to minors would face up to 10 years in prison. The bill also requires school counselors to “out” students who talk about gender dysphoria by reporting any conversations to their parents. An equivalent bill is now working its way through the state’s House of Representatives.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/alabama-senate-votes-to-criminalize-healthcare-for-trans-youth/
Bolivian coup leader and former self-proclaimed president Jeanine Áñez was arrested on March 13 in the department of Beni. She was found hiding in a box to avoid detection from authorities. On March 15, Áñez made her first appearance in front of a judge via video. She was officially charged with sedition, terrorism and conspiracy due to her involvement in the November 2019 U.S.-backed coup to oust Bolivia’s democratically elected and first Indigenous president — Evo Morales of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) party.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/blood-drenched-bolivian-coup-leader-in-prison/
Powerful protests are sweeping through Haiti in response to U.S.-backed President Jovenel Moïse’s refusal to step down at the end of his constitutionally-bound presidential term. Hear how conditions are ripe for revolt in Haiti and what role the U.S. is playing in thwarting the Haitian people's desire for independence.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation recently held a forum on International Women's Day, as well as the ongoing struggle in Haiti.
International Women's Day, March 8, is a day of global celebration of the economic, political, and social achievements of women and a reminder of the ongoing struggle for women’s rights. In this clip you will hear a presentation regarding socialist feminism as the true path to women's liberation, as well as a review of some of the immediate gains that revolutionary socialist feminists have won historically.
On Tuesday, March 16 at around 5:00 p.m., three spas staffed by Asian workers in the Atlanta area were the targets of a racist and sexist mass shooting. Eight people were killed, seven of whom were women, and six of the women were Asian. The shooter, a 21 year old white male, admitted to this heinous crime shortly after he was arrested later that night. Atlanta residents and Asian Americans across the country are horrified by this egregious act of terror.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation extends heart-felt condolences and solidarity to all the victims and families of this despicable massacre. Anti-Asian and anti-women bigotry is a symptom of the capitalist and imperialist system. Unity and justice requires a commitment to fighting for a new system.
As of this writing, local authorities and mainstream media refuse to label this as a hate crime. Four of the victims were of Korean descent, and according to a South Korean news site Chosun, the shooter was heard saying “I’m going to kill all Asians”.
The alarming rise of white supremacy and fascism cannot be overstated. Nearly three out of every four mass shootings can be linked back to right wing extremism. Contrary to the misleading trope of Asian-Black conflict, community organizers have rejected this attempt to divide Black and Asian communities. We understand that the inextricable link between white supremacy, patriarchy, racism and the war drive is the root cause of this violent atrocity.
Read the full statement: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-massacre-in-atlanta-racist-sexist-terrorism-and-the-capitalist-system/
Editor’s note: 8 people were murdered in the Atlanta area the the night of March 16 when a white supremacist carried out a series of terrorist attacks targeting spas staffed by Asian workers. The Party for Socialism and Liberation expresses our deepest sympathy and solidarity to the loved ones of those who lost their lives in these horrific massacres. The following article was originally published March 7, and analyzes the roots of the wave of anti-Asian hate sweeping the country.
“Imperialism is the root cause of racism. It is the ideology which upholds colonial rule and exploitation. It is the ideology which breeds fascism, rightly condemned by the civilized people of the world” — Claudia Jones
Over the past year, we have seen an alarming surge in racist violence directed toward Asian Americans. A United Nations report identified more than 1,800 racist incidents against Asian Americans over an 8 week period from March to May 2020. These attacks have included denial of access to public spaces, verbal harassment, physical assault, vandalism, and in several cases even murder. Moreover, these incidents have targeted the elderly and most vulnerable. This wave of attacks has caused panic and confusion among Asian Americans and forces us to question: What is motivating these cruel and cowardly assaults? Are they purely an organic and spontaneous response to current events?
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/why-are-hate-crimes-against-asian-americans-on-the-rise/
Working-class and oppressed women are bearing the brunt of the combined COVID and economic crises in the United States. December’s jobs numbers produced shocking headlines throughout the mainstream media. CNN’s headline read: “The US economy lost 140,000 jobs in December. All of them were held by women.” A separate Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, which received much less mainstream coverage, indicates that nearly all the December jobs were lost by Black and Latina women.
Read the full article: https://www.breakingthechainsmag.org/140000-jobs-lost-in-december-all-women/
The following is the second of a two-part article based on a talk the author gave at The People’s Forum in July 2020. This second part focuses on Kollontai’s writing on the family and love. Part one covers Kollontai’s struggle for proletarian feminism against bourgeois feminism as well as her struggle to center gender equality within the party’s platform.
Alexandra Kollontai’s approach to political struggle was grounded in historical materialism, the Marxist approach to history. She didn’t see the status of women, the structure of the family, or even love as somehow natural or given, as unchanging over time. On the contrary, they changed with the mode of production.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/kollontai-socialism-and-feminism-part-two/
Mayor London Breed and the city of San Francisco have sued the San Francisco Unified School District on the basis of lacking a "concrete" plan for returning to in-person learning, claiming negligence of students' education. In fact, it is the city that hasn’t provided the necessary resources for a safe school reopening. More outrageously, the city has failed to protect our most impacted students and families, many of them Black and Latino. It's clear the blame is not on teachers, unions, students, or families -- the blame is on the government and capitalist system that cannot guarantee schools meeting the needs of working class families. Join a panel of Bay Area educators to hear about the struggle to make our schools and communities truly safe during this pandemic.
This is an excerpt from Gloria La Riva's discussion of her recent experiences being caught in the winter storms that have been devastating much of Texas, leaving many without shelter, water or electricity.
She has started a GoFundMe to raise money to help some of the people she met while in a temporary shelter get back on their feet. Please read and give if you can: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-my-texas-shelter-friends-rebuild-their-lives?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=m_pd+share-sheet
This week, Mississippi is experiencing unprecedented freezing conditions resulting from ice storms that blasted through the U.S. South. In addition to being unaccustomed to the freezing rain, ice, and snow, thousands of Mississippians suffering rolling blackouts and power outages, unheated homes and water shutoffs, have been left to fend for themselves.
Starting Feb 15, at least 250,000 Mississippians have lost power at some point during the week; counties in the southwest to east central Mississippi are primarily impacted. About 110,000 people were still without power on Feb. 19 in the morning. Almost all of the residents of the state’s capital city, Jackson, are without water. City officials have reported lacking the necessary chemicals to treat the water, and that the distribution system is overwhelmed.
Many of those impacted are trapped in their homes, unable to travel to replenish supplies, as most Mississippians do not have experience driving on ice-covered roads. As in other impacted states, in Mississippi too there are reports of buildings flooding from frozen water pipes bursting.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/snowstorm-capitalism-disaster-for-more-than-100k-in-mississippi/
The decade of the 1950s is known for the dramatic rise of reactionary politics, especially the virulent anti-communism of the McCarthy era. Amidst and against this period of great reaction emerged the civil rights struggle, initially spearheaded in the southern United States.
Witnessing the Brown v. Board of Education decision, the lynching of Emmett Till and the resistance of Rosa Parks, the Black community was enlivened, enraged and galvanized into collective action. The boycott that followed Parks’ courageous stand began as a protest against police mistreatment, but soon transformed into an all-out denunciation of segregation.
The Communist Manifesto stands among the most well-read books of all time. One hundred sixty years after it was first published, it has been reprinted hundreds of times in most of the world’s languages. It has been praised, slandered, banned and distorted.
Certainly more than any other political pamphlet, the Communist Manifesto has stood the test of time. It is studied in schools, colleges, workplaces, activist study groups and underground discussion groups all over the world.
The reason that the Communist Manifesto remains such an inspiration for revolutionary change is that it is not just the musings of social reformers, philosophers or political wannabes. It is a working class guide for changing the world.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/the-communist-manifesto-a-working-class-guide-to-changing-the-world/
The closing days of January shook Wall Street with a struggle between powerful stock market players and amateur investors that left investment firms reeling with billions in losses.
On one side were hedge funds that had bet big on stock prices dropping for the video game store chain GameStop and other companies. On the other, a large number of small investors coordinating on online platforms such as Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum to buy shares and encouraging others to do the same.
These hedge funds were blindsided as prices quickly shot up in a matter of days fueled by amateur investors flooding the market with small purchases of GameStop shares. As of Jan. 29, investors who had bet against GameStop had racked up $19 billion in losses with the company’s stock price up some 1,800 percent since the beginning of the year.
What happened, and what can working-class people learn from it?
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/what-does-the-gamestop-stock-frenzy-tell-us-about-capitalism/
A winter storm of historic proportions is causing critical infrastructure failures across the state of Texas, with another winter storm approaching tonight. The full weight of the devastation isn’t yet known, but initial reports from across the state are showing disturbing patterns. Four million or more Texans are without power. Outages that were initially called “rolling outages” are now lasting several days. The private non-profit corporation that oversees the electric grid is now admitting that they are “unable to predict” when conditions will stabilize. Millions of people are stranded in unheated homes, with no power and no way to move safely to shelter, in temperatures that are currently colder than parts of Alaska and Siberia.
City, state, and private entities alike are deflecting blame, claiming that there was nothing they could have done. “You can’t predict the weather” and “We all need to conserve energy” are common refrains. But the weather was absolutely predictable, and experts and activists alike have been warning that Texas is in danger of exactly this kind of complete infrastructure collapse. However, major cities such as Austin, Houston, and Dallas have all found ways to keep empty office buildings and corporate HQs in their gentrified downtown areas lit. This week, Texans are facing a man-made, capitalism-crafted catastrophe that has left the whole state feeling quite literally powerless.
Liberation News gathered reporting and analysis of this crisis from writers from across the state.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/texas-infrastructure-nears-complete-collapse-as-capitalist-neglect-meets-climate-change-driven-winter-storms/
President Biden signed a package of 17 executive orders immediately following his inauguration on Wednesday. The orders are a mixed bag — some have very little substance and are primarily symbolic, but others deal with measures that have significant effects on people’s lives. As socialists and other fighters for the working class develop our assessment of the new administration as it takes shape, it is important to understand why Biden made this his first major political act after assuming office. Is this a sign that the Biden administration will aggressively pursue progressive policies?
Many of the orders deal with the Coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic fallout. They suggest for the first time that there will be a coherent, federally-directed strategy to tackle the virus. Whether or not this strategy is an effective one that takes into consideration the needs of poor and working people is still an open question. The federal eviction moratorium is now extended through the end of March. The pause on student loan payments has been extended through September, although this falls short of the demand for Biden to use his executive authority to cancel student debt.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation joins with progressive organizations and media around the world in demanding that the Indian government cease its repression of leading media outlet Newsclick. Newsclick is read and watched by millions every day and is facing persecution for the key role it plays providing independent coverage of people’s movements, especially the massive farmers’ struggle that poses an existential threat to the far right government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Police raided Newsclick’s headquarters in New Delhi yesterday, and also targeted the personal homes of their staff. The obvious intent of the government was for the raids to have a chilling effect not only on Newsclick but on all independent media organizations that dare to tell the truth about the struggle of poor and working people.
Thirty years ago, the socialist government of Romania was overthrown in a military coup d’etat.
Industrialization had transformed the lives of millions of Romanians during the country’s socialist period. But the later years were marked by strict rationing and frequent shortages as the government sought to pay off its foreign debt. Romanian people hoped that their lives would improve after 1989. But life today is much worse than even the most economically-deprived times of the 1980s. A 2010 poll revealed that 63 percent of Romanians say that life was better under socialism.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/romania-30-years/
Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara was born December 21, 1949 in Upper Volta (today Burkina Faso), which, at the time, was a West African French colony. Sankara, a fierce enemy of the global system of neocolonial, imperialist capitalism (as well as all forms of bigotry and oppression), was assassinated on October 15, 1987, just four years after the people lifted him up as the president of their new revolutionary nation-state.
Like other influential socialists of the twentieth century Sankara’s life and anti-colonial and decolonial legacy continue to inspire anti-imperialist and Pan-African youth movements across Africa and beyond. A charismatic yet notably humble figure, Sankara is often referred to as the Ché Guevara of Africa [1]. Sankara is considered to have been one of the world’s most notable pan-African socialist revolutionaries.
However, unlike most of his peers Sankara wrote no major works for revolutionaries to study and learn from. What is available is a handful of speeches laying out the basic contours of his radical analysis and non-dogmatic revolutionary vision crafted for a popular audience. Sankara’s major contributions today are not only the historical example he set and the part he payed in the liberation of his own country and others, but also to the way he primarily expressed his political practice pedagogically.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/thomas-sankara-71-years-later/
More than any other revolution before the 1917 Russian Revolution, the French Revolution of 1789 inspired people across the globe to look beyond the societies in which they lived and see the possibility for social change.
Of course, the rights guaranteed after the French Revolution were bourgeois democratic rights. The French Revolution secured the political rule of the capitalist class. It cleared the way for the capitalist economy to develop freely, overpowering the restrictions of the feudal regime with its big landowning estates.
Nevertheless, later revolutionists including Karl Marx, Frederick Engels and many others studied carefully the many lessons of the French Revolution. Like any great social upheaval, all the social classes sought to influence the course of the revolution, even though the great social changes ultimately replaced one form of exploitation with another.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/ch-4-how-the-french-democratic-revolution-was-won/
On the day before his inauguration, President-elect Joe Biden announced that he would propose that comprehensive legalization be proposed in Congress for undocumented immigrants. To explain this important issue, longtime Los Angeles-based immigrant rights leader and attorney Juan José Gutiérrez was interviewed by Gloria La Riva on January 20.
2020 was a year of unprecedented crisis and mass movement. The impact of the pandemic, and massive loss of jobs, income, health care, housing and education has been greatly worsened by the capitalist system. The racist police murders of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor and so many others were met with the most massive wave of sustained protest in U.S. history.
Now, with tens of millions faced with foreclosure and eviction, and the criminal failure of the government to provide needed relief, it is clear that the only means of achieving real justice in 2021 will be by building a powerful, grassroots people’s movement.
Feat. Nathalie Hrizi, public school teacher and union organizer.
This talk was recorded live on Jan 4, 2021.
All revolutionary politics are predicated on revolutionary optimism: the belief, rooted in experiences in the struggle, that workers and the oppressed can and will win. Yet revolutionary optimism doesn’t just apply to the masses as a whole. Revolutionary organizers believe not just in the potential of the masses as a whole, but as individuals as well.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/comrades-made-not-born/
What was Trump trying to accomplish on Jan. 6 by organizing a massive march on the Capitol just as Congress was preparing to certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory? Trump was desperate to overturn the election outcome. He lost the popular vote by more than 7 million but only narrowly lost several battleground states, which allowed Biden to win the electoral college. Trump’s team had filed hundreds of lawsuits at the federal and state level to overturn the election outcome in those states. Every one of those lawsuits has failed even though many of them were heard by conservative and right-wing justices, including the Supreme Court.
Trump’s main fear in losing the White House was that his immunity from criminal charges and other legal actions that he thought were likely to be brought against him and his family at the state level would be removed. Trump fears that once having left the White House he and his family would be subject to criminal prosecutions for financial crimes, fraud and the like similar to the offenses that Paul Manafort was convicted of and for which he is now in prison. The Trump Organization, like many corporate entities especially in the real estate industry, is being investigated for a litany of financial crimes over the course of its existence that Trump and his family is potentially liable for. Trump is (arguably) able to pardon himself for federal crimes before leaving office, but not for state crimes.
The Jan. 6 march was alternatively billed as a “March to Save America” or a “March for Trump” and Trump was hoping to delay or stop the certification process. There can be no other explanation for why he called this particular protest, this particular action, this particular rally and march in the middle of the day and in the middle of a work week and just two hours prior to the certification vote in Congress.
Contesting the election result — and asserting his win — also allowed him to retain control of the Republican Party in a way that a loss would not and provided him with a significant fundraising opportunity and slush fund. But it turned out to not just be a ploy. He spent the days up until Jan. 6 browbeating Pence, who presides over the certification process, to overturn the election results.
Was this a coup attempt? This was an attempt to overturn the 2020 election outcome at the moment Congress was in session to certify the election results, as is mandated by federal law. The election took place on Nov. 3rd. Biden won the popular vote by more than 7 million. He won the electoral college vote by 306-232. The Electoral College vote was certified on December 14, 2020. Congress was in session on January 6, 2021 to formally certify that Biden won the election so that he could be inaugurated, in accordance with federal law, on January 20, 2021.
The violent takeover of the Capitol Building was designed to stop the election certification. Congress was dispersed. The president of the Senate, Mike Pence, was rushed out of the Senate Chamber and into hiding just moments before he would have been captured by a violent mob that was chanting “Hang Mike Pence, Hang Mike Pence.” This prevented the certification of the election outcome. Only after the mob was cleared from the Capitol Building was Congress able to reconvene to do this. While the Congress was dispersed and in hiding Trump made calls to members of the Congress to pressure them to help stop the certification. More than half the Republicans in the House of Representatives voted no on the certification when Congress was eventually able to reconvene later that night.
Listen to this special recorded forum on what is -- and isn't -- in the stimulus bill. Recorded live on 9 Jan 2021.
On April 30, 2005, Vietnam celebrated the 30th anniversary of liberation and reunification after a war that itself lasted more than 30 years. In Ho Chi Minh City—formerly known as Saigon—and all over the country, mass events saluted the millions who fought and died to free their country from foreign domination.
How did the Vietnamese Revolution emerge victorious? How did the national liberation movement in a relatively small country manage to defeat not one but two of the major imperialist powers—France and the United States?
In many respects, Vietnam’s triumph stands among the most remarkable feats in human history. It required a fierce determination and willingness to sacrifice on the part of millions of people. It involved economic and military support from the Soviet Union, China and other socialist countries, as well as solidarity from a worldwide movement.
The most fundamental and irreplaceable element, though, was the existence of a highly organized revolutionary party, deeply rooted in the oppressed classes of Vietnamese society both in the north and south. That party was the Vietnam Workers Party, today known as the Communist Party of Vietnam.
The party was led by a dedicated group of revolutionaries, many of whom had organized together, fought together and been imprisoned together in the struggle against French colonialism between 1930 and 1954. The primary leader of the party from its formation in 1930 until his death in 1969 was the renowned Ho Chi Minh. Other outstanding leaders included Truong Chinh, Le Duan, Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap, Pham Van Dong, Nguyen Thi Binh and Le Duc Tho. The fact that the party possessed a truly collective leadership was proved by the fact that the victory over U.S. imperialism came six years after its principal leader’s death.
The Party was the central organizer of the Vietnamese struggle in every sphere of activity. It led the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) in the north since the liberation of that part of the country from French domination in 1954. It also led the National Liberation Front (NLF) and its People’s Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF) in the south.
After 1954, the Workers Party became the ruling party in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, north of the 17th parallel, in what was supposed to be a temporary division of the country. In the south, the party continued to lead the revolutionary movement against the United States and its newly installed puppet regime under Ngo Dinh Diem.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/how-vietnam-defeated-u-s-imperialism/
On Jan. 1, the 62nd anniversary of Cuba’s revolutionary victory, the government is implementing a sweeping economic policy with reorganization of the monetary system to promote more efficiency and greater production. It comes at a crucial time when the U.S. blockade and the impacts of COVID-19 are creating deeper difficulties for the Cuban people.
Cuba’s socialist system enabled the people and government to weather the storm of 2020 and save lives in a way that U.S. capitalism could not and did not do. The most telling example is Cuba’s unified effort to overcome COVID. Only 145 people have died from the virus, just 1.2 percent of the per capita COVID death rate in the United States. And Cuba’s outstanding internationalist medical workers went to dozens of countries to help beleaguered peoples in their crisis.
The “Economic Ordering Task,” approved by the National Assembly of People’s Power with 110 resolutions and detailed in 1,021 pages, was published on Dec. 10 in Cuba’s Official Gazette. Its general outline was presented in the media weeks preceding its publication.
The central feature of the monetary overhaul is the elimination of the dual-currency model that has been active for years.
The plan includes a significant and much-needed increase for all state workers’ incomes and retirees’ pensions. At the same time, it establishes higher retail and wholesale prices, including for goods, services and utility rates, due to devaluation of the peso and as a truer reflection of costs to ensure financial stability.
A return to one sole currency and unified exchange rate of the Cuban national peso will favor national production like agriculture over imports, especially since imports will become more expensive. But certain imports like fuel for electricity and transport cannot be replaced with sufficient national production. Therefore, the increase in electricity rates for the public.
The complexity of the plan — in the midst of constant recalculations of the damage done to the economy by the blockade — requires a careful balance between raising salaries and prices without causing inflation, and motivating the workforce with higher salaries, to then generate enough production, wealth and development. It is a greater challenge with the lack of spare parts and raw materials.
The plan offers favorable terms to foreign investors, like majority participation in tourism, biotechnology and wholesale trade, but not in mining and public service.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/cuba-welcomes-2021-in-victory-introduces-new-monetary-policy/
Statement by the Party for Socialism and Liberation
The paralysis that gripped the U.S. capitalist establishment in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Trump-instigated, fascist-led assault on the U.S. Congress and the continuing threats from armed fascist organizations came to an abrupt halt on Jan. 12 with the public letter sent to all members of the U.S. military signed by the eight generals who comprise the Pentagon’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The statement read: “The violent riot in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021 was a direct assault on the U.S. Congress, the Capitol Building and our constitutional process … [and was the result of] sedition and insurrection.”
The letter sent to more than 1.3 million members of the armed forces by the Pentagon top brass is a clear sign that they are worried that military forces were being drawn into or participated in the seditious conspiracy. This letter comes after the extraordinary Jan. 3 statement from all ten living Secretaries of Defense warning the officials in the Pentagon to not allow the military to be used to alter the 2020 election outcome.
Also on Jan. 12, leaders of the Republican Party began to defect from Trump. Rep. Liz Cheney, the 3rd ranking House Republican, announced that she would vote for impeachment and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell let it be known to the media that he thought Trump had committed impeachable offenses. This constitutes the first real break within the Republican leadership against Trump. Cheney said, “The President of the United States summoned the mob and lit the flame of this attack,” adding, “There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of his oath of office and to the Constitution.” House Republican Rep. John Katko, the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, said, “To allow the president of the United States to incite this attack without consequences is a direct threat to the future of our democracy.”
Also on Jan. 12, the FBI organized the first press conference where Acting United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin declared they had initiated “a significant international counterintelligence or counterterrorism operation” whose “only marching orders from me are to build seditious and conspiracy charges”. Sherwin announced that 70 had already been charged, charges against 100 more people were being prepared, and noted “That number, I suspect, is going to grow into the hundreds”. Steven D’Antuono, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office, stated, “The brutality the American people watched with shock and disbelief on the 6th will not be tolerated by the FBI,” adding that “The FBI has a long memory and a broad reach”.
Powerful tech companies have also come together to ban Trump from using social media platforms on the basis that he used these same networks to incite a violent assault against the seat of government. Trump is banned from Twitter, Facebook and now YouTube as well as many others.
On the same day, a large number of capitalist corporations, banks and other institutions took action to break from any association with Trump or his family-owned company. Deutsche Bank, which has been Trump’s primary lender for decades, announced their decision not to do business with Trump or his company in the future. The Trump Organization owes Deutsche Bank more than $400 million. The PGA said it would no longer hold the PGA Championship at Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey which had been set for May 2022. Universities stripped Trump of honorary degrees. Shopify, the company that serves e-commerce sites, closed to online stores tied to Trump. The online payment platform Stripe will no longer process payments for Trump’s campaign website.
Read the full statement here: https://www.liberationnews.org/the-paralysis-ends-trump-fascism-and-the-capitalist-state/
On January 1, 1916, just about 10 years before Mussolini’s fascist regime imprisoned him, Italian communist Antonio Gramsci published a short article in Avanti! (Forward!)–the Italian Socialist Party’s (PSI) daily newspaper–about why he “hates” New Year’s Day. Gramsci thought it was a forced celebration and said he “would like every hour of my life to be new.” Gramsci connected this desire with socialism, writing, “I await socialism for this reason too.”
This short article gets circulated on the left every year, which is much less frequently than his key political contributions get thrown around. Indeed, Gramsci’s political writings have a long and contested life. Struggles over the legacy of Gramsci began before his body was cold. An original thinker, Gramsci made substantial contributions to Marxist theory–from inside the Marxist movement–including the concepts of hegemony and the organic intellectual.
More than simply an theorist, then, Gramsci was an active participant in the class struggles of his time. As a member and crucial figure within first the PSI (which he joined in 1913) and, later, as a leader of the Communist Party of Italy (PCI), Gramsci helped spur the occupation of factories in Turin, founded the PCI at Livorno, and represented the Italian section of the Communist International at several of its key meetings in the 1920s.
Capture by the fascist government of Mussolini put an end to his concrete involvement in the class struggle, but not to his theoretical contributions. The latter were especially concerning for the fascist government in the political showtrial, during which the state prosecutor said that, “For 20 years we must stop this brain from functioning.” Clearly the fascist prosecutors and judges understood that an idea can be a weapon for liberation as much as a rifle.
What was eventually published as the Prison Notebooks, scribbled in the incredibly desperate conditions of a fascist prison cell, are a testament to Gramsci’s strength of will. On April 27, 1937, that strength of will gave out. Gramsci died in prison; his Prison Notebooks unpublished, unfinished, and incomplete.
The incomplete nature of the Prison Notebooks represents a major problem for would-be scholars of Gramsci as well as revolutionaries looking to his work. As notebooks, they’re a compilation of essays–many of which are fragmentary–rather than a systematically developed line of thought. Moreover, Gramsci used deliberately difficult and non-Marxist terminology for the purpose of evading prison censors. All the troubles of translation and interpretation are exemplified in the confused application of Gramsci’s writing in practice. One of the great contradictions of Gramsci is that his thought has been consistently used to justify a rejection of revolutionary class struggle, despite having struggled in life so ferociously against reformist opportunism and ultra-left voluntarism as a long time member of the Communist Party.
This article is not an attempt to wrestle with the long legacy of debates over interpretations of Gramsci–some of which are more academic and others of which have had serious political consequences–but rather to serve as an introduction to Gramsci’s life, historical context, and key ideas for a new emerging layer of “organic intellectuals.” We’ll focus in particular on Gramsci’s involvement in the revolutionary struggles of Italy in order to situate two of his key concepts: hegemony and the organic intellectual. We begin, then, with the the historical context that informed these concepts.
Read the full article here: https://liberationschool.org/antonio-gramsci/
2020 was a year of unprecedented crisis and mass movement. The impact of the pandemic, and massive loss of jobs, income, health care, housing and education has been greatly worsened by the capitalist system. The racist police murders of George Floyd, Breanna Taylor and so many others were met with the most massive wave of sustained protest in U.S. history. Now, with tens of millions faced with foreclosure and eviction, and the criminal failure of the government to provide needed relief, it is clear that the only means of achieving real justice in 2021 will be by building a powerful, grassroots people’s movement.
Feat. Dr. Monica Gandhi, Infectious disease doctor & Professor, U.C. San Francisco. Dr. Gandhi has been a widely heard progressive voice in the national and local media on the pandemic.
Listen to Gloria La Riva in this special recorded forum on the fascist insurrection Trump incited against Congress. Recorded live on 9 Jan 2021.
Today, a fascist mob — called to action by Donald Trump and acting in obvious collusion with elements of the Capitol Police, the Department of Defense, and possibly other armed forces — stormed the U.S. Capitol building and dispersed Congress. Trump himself spoke at today’s main protest rally outside the White House as part of his campaign to desperately hang on to power. The extreme right wing that assaulted the Capitol today is united above all by the figure of Trump. Shortly before the mob marched on the Capitol he declared, “You’ll never take back the country with weakness. You have to show strength.” Trump more than anything else wants to avoid criminal prosecution once out of office, and retain his political control of the Republican Party.
The heavily armed Capitol Police put up almost no resistance as the fascists pushed over barriers, smashed windows and invaded the chamber of the Senate. One woman was shot and killed inside the Capitol Building. But at the end of the mayhem, after they had accomplished their goal, the mob was calmly escorted out of the building instead of being arrested. If an action remotely like the pro-Trump mob’s dispersal of Congress had been attempted by anti-racist protesters this summer, for instance, they would have undoubtedly been met with deadly and overwhelming force.
Today’s events could not possibly have transpired without some level of cooperation between the fascists and the police. It is inconceivable that the police were not monitoring the communications of the pro-Trump protesters traveling to D.C. and that they were simply unaware that there was any possibility that an assault on the Capitol Building was being discussed.
Read the full statement: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-trump-incites-fascist-insurrection-against-congress-what-comes-next/
Silvia Federici’s Caliban and the Witch is a classic work of anti-capitalist feminism. The book examines capitalism’s investment in sexism and racism, showing how the consolidation of the capitalist system depended on the subjugation of women, the enslavement of black and indigenous people, and the exploitation of the colonies. Federici demonstrates that unpaid labor–especially that of women confined to the domestic sphere and of enslaved workers–is a necessary support for waged labor.
Under capitalism, this productive capacity is oriented toward profit, the accumulation of capital in the hands of the capitalists, and divisions within the working class are intensified to serve these needs. Under socialism, workers’ creative and productive capacities will be oriented toward meeting the needs of the people and the planet so that all may flourish.
Williana Burroughs was a dynamic and dedicated communist in Depression-era Harlem. Bringing her radical politics into the struggles Black Harlemites faced, and vice versa, Burroughs helped establish trust between the Communist Party and the community. And she fought so that her own comrades would amplify the voices of Black working-class women.
Born Williana Jones in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1882, “Liane” grew up in poverty. Her mother, formerly enslaved and recently widowed, moved the family to New York City when Williana was still a young child. Williana’s mother found a job as a live-in domestic worker, but like many women in her position, she was forced to make hard concessions to keep that job. No children were allowed, so Williana and her siblings wound up spending several years in an orphanage, with occasional visits from their mother.
Throughout the years, Burroughs proved to be a top student, and in 1903 graduated from Hunter College (then New York City Normal College) with teaching credentials. She became politicized through teaching classes of mostly impoverished Black and immigrant students, and was eventually recruited into the communist wing of of the New York City Teachers Union. It was here that Burroughs began to develop radical organizing skills.
She joined the Communist Party in 1926, where she worked on issues ranging from housing to labor, writing for various communist and Black publications. At the time, Burroughs and other Black women communists felt that the Party was not placing the importance it should on organizing Black women. Together, they demanded a greater voice within the Party and greater attention to their struggles in Harlem and nationwide. From this initiative to recognize the specific oppressions Black women faced under capitalism, Burroughs, along with her comrades, built movements addressing the needs of Harlem’s most oppressed.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/williana-burroughs-communist-housing-organizer/
Anyone who aspires to be a real communist or to understand the theory of modern communism must study Lenin’s pamphlet The State and Revolution.
Lenin was able to nearly finish this monumental contribution to Marxism and revolution while on the run, living underground and hiding from the police from August to October 1917, just before the insurrection that seized power.
The State and Revolution has been published in practically every written language. It is considered the veritable manifesto for the Russian Revolution. However, the book played no role in the revolution itself given that it was not published until after the workers had seized power in October/November 1917.
The final version was written following the victorious October insurrection. If Lenin had written the book only as a guide to action for the revolution, it would have been unnecessary for him to devote so much time to finishing the book in the two months after the revolution. After all, at this time he and the other leading Bolsheviks were also confronted with the consuming crises and immediate life-and-death challenges facing the new government. The book’s primary objective was not simply to serve as a guide to action for the unfolding events. Nor was it to describe what form a future socialist state would take. The book and its contents were written to re-establish the original revolutionary teachings of Marx on the need to smash and destroy the existing state power rather than using its parliamentary apparatus as the path to achieving socialism.
The book’s primary objective was to rescue Marxism from its devolution into a doctrine of reform, to restore Marxism as a doctrine of revolution.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/the-state-and-revolution-changed-history/
The 2020 election broke the record for the most ballots cast and is set to be one of the largest percentage turnouts of eligible voters recorded. The massive vote total produced all sorts of contradictory results. In Florida, Trump won alongside a $15/hr minimum wage ballot measure. In California, Democrats won a thumping victory even while referendums for workers rights and rent control went down by large margins. Legal weed triumphed in “deep blue” New Jersey and “dark red” South Dakota. The Movement for Black Lives and QAnon have supporters in the incoming Congressional freshman class while Arizona, but not Illinois, voted to tax the rich.
The record participation — and record cost — seems totally incongruous to the main battle. President-elect Biden campaigned principally on character and competence rather than any particular policy. Biden infamously assured wealthy donors “nothing would fundamentally change.” He sold access to campaign policy advisors, trumpeted Wall Street support for his economic plan and constantly promoted cooperation with the right-wing. All this was packaged as a return to the “pre-Trump status quo.”
Ultimately, the election boiled down to a referendum on Trump and his program. But the results defy oversimplified narratives. A variety of journalists in the corporate media are attempting their own crude type of “class analysis,” trying to draw out larger political truths about the U.S. working class based on the results. These should be viewed with skepticism. Their analysis is skewed not only by their own individual class biases but distorted fundamentally by the main choices on offer in the election.
Put simply, no working class program was on the ballot when it came to the two main ruling class parties, while both presented themselves as better for working class households. Additionally, the corporate media uses totally flawed definitions of class and their reporting, as a rule, omits large sections of the poor and working people who did not vote.
With all that being said, there still is value for socialists in studying the election results and identifying significant trends within them. A few preliminary conclusions are: the “middle classes” continue to play a decisive role in electoral outcomes, national oppression retains a deep significance in U.S. politics, and the much-discussed “white working class” is not the homogeneous political subject that the corporate media asserts.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/what-can-we-learn-from-the-results-of-the-2020-election/
“Are we on the eve of Bolshevism?" December 2018 marked the 100-year anniversary of the slaughter of striking typographers and workers of Bucharest, Romania. More than 15,000 men, women and children — workers from all factories –– filled the streets on Dec. 13, 1918 in solidarity with the typographers. Their demands: an 8-hour work day, a living wage and recognition of the workers’ union.
Everywhere that class society has existed, people have organized and fought back. Romania has a rich history of struggle by socialists and unionists; a shining example of which is the struggle of the Typographers’ Revolt. Their dedication and sacrifices continue to inspire and teach us to this day.
Long live the revolutionaries of December 13! Long live the struggle for socialism!
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/typographers-revolt-the-day-bucharest-stood-still/
Music: Corul Radio - 13 decembrie 1918, cântec revoluționar (1960)
The corporate-owned media reports frequently about environmental problems in China, from air pollution in Beijing to toxins in the soil and the water. These stories ultimately function as propaganda in order to present China as a unique environmental calamity–part of a multi-pronged effort to demonize the country and especially the Chinese Communist Party (CPC).
As socialists, we know that the great environmental perils we face today are generated by the capitalist system. That’s why we organize to create a world based on meeting the needs of the Earth and all of its inhabitants.
There are serious environmental problems in China, yet questions about their origins and nature, as well as China’s efforts to acknowledge and confront them are rarely, if ever, explored in the U.S. media. It’s important that we answer these questions not only to defend China from the growing threat of U.S. imperialism, but also because those answers can help provide real world solutions and models for addressing the catastrophe of climate change globally.
There’s a lot of complexity to this, and so we have to grasp the different historical, political, and economic factors that have been at play since the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/chinas-environment-beyond-the-propaganda/
A mound of bricks and twisted steel are all that remains of the Harriet Tubman House. The historic community hub for Black and working-class Bostonians in the South End neighborhood was demolished in November to make way for luxury condos.
The Harriet Tubman House was a fixture in Black Boston since 1908 and in its most recent location since 1975. In 1904, six Black women — including one of Tubman’s friends Julia O. Henson — rented the first Harriet Tubman House at 37 Holyoke Street in the South End to provide shelter to other Black women who recently moved from the South.
Since then the Tubman House served as a refuge for its community by offering services such as job training programs, adult education, senior programs, child care, art exhibitions and much more. Every day, neighbors gathered in the lobby to socialize, read the news and relax in a safe, welcoming environment. The Harriet Tubman House also housed six nonprofits that served the local community — all of which are now displaced from the neighborhood due to the sale and demolition.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/historic-harriet-tubman-house-demolished-in-bostons-south-end-to-make-way-for-luxury-condos/
On Sunday, Dec. 6, the Venezuelan people will vote to elect the new deputies of the National Assembly. This election is enormously important for the Bolivarian Revolution. The progressive forces are mobilizing nationwide to win back the assembly from right-wing politicians who won the majority in December 2015.
It is not a contest between one political party and another. It is the struggle for the very survival of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution against a brutal U.S. economic war and coup plots. U.S. imperialism has captured the nation’s enormous resources and wealth and severely blockaded the country for years now.
Regaining the National Assembly is one immediate goal for the revolutionary government, to restore control of the country’s resources, reestablish legislative legitimacy, and help to overcome the economic hardships the U.S. blockade has caused in the population.
To combat the U.S. economic war, a new strategy was unveiled on Sept. 29 by President Nicolás Maduro, called the “Anti-Blockade Constitutional Law for National Development and Guarantee of Human Rights,” or anti-blockade law for short.
It was approved in a session of the National Constituent Assembly (ANC by its Spanish initials) on Oct. 8. The ANC has served as an interim legislative body after the right-wing-led National Assembly was declared in contempt for illegal election practices and other violations.
The siege by the U.S., Canada and its European allies against Venezuela includes the U.S. seizure of CITGO and other Venezuelan properties, the withholding of the country’s gold and money reserves by Britain and Portugal, and a severe sanctions regime.
They have cut off its ability to import spare parts and critical chemicals for the oil and mining industries, particularly imports from the U.S., with its dominance in oil technology.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/venezuelas-anti-blockade-law-and-the-dec-6-elections/
On December 6, Venezuela will hold parliamentary elections to choose new deputies for the National Assembly, the country’s legislature. With heightened U.S. attacks in Venezuela, including a tightening economic blockade, the elections are of great consequence to the future of the country.
In the last legislative election held in 2015, the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) lost a majority of seats in the National Assembly to a coalition of right-wing parties called the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD). This shift allowed the opposition to heighten its efforts to destabilize Venezuela and promote U.S. intervention.
Central to this destabilization campaign has been the claim that the country’s democratic processes are fraudulent, and that the elected president Nicolás Maduro is a “dictator”. However, ever since the Bolivarian Revolution began, after the election of Hugo Chavez as president in 1998, Venezuela has strictly adhered to constitutional principles and a fair and transparent electoral process.
Venezuela’s electoral authority — the National Electoral Council (CNE) — is one of five co-equal branches of the country’s government. It presides over one of the most technologically advanced and transparent electoral systems in the world. Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter famously remarked “[…] of the 92 elections that we’ve monitored, I would say the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world.”
Venezuela has an electronic voting system where an individual’s ID card and fingerprints are used to determine their identity to prevent double voting. The system then prints a paper ballot confirmation that can be verified by the voter and placed in the ballot box. The voter then signs and leaves a physical fingerprint in a record book at the center they are voting at. This makes any attempt of fraud during elections extremely difficult.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/why-venezuelas-dec-6-election-is-legitimate/
The Party for Socialism and Liberation expresses our deepest solidarity in response to the Greek state’s violent and extreme repression of the peaceful protest organized by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) on the 47th anniversary of the historic Athens Polytechnic Student’s Uprising that took place on Nov. 17, 1973, against the military dictatorship established in June of the same year.
The uprising began as a strike and protest on Nov. 14, but it soon drew masses of workers and disaffected elements of society. On Nov. 17, the uprising was drowned in blood as tanks crushed through the protests and as police were killed dozens of protesters — including a five year-old boy — and arrested hundreds more. Despite the repression and initial defeat, the uprising contributed to the struggle against the dictatorship.
Nov. 17 is now an officially recognized educational holiday in Greece during which schools and universities are closed except to accommodate commemorations of the martyrs. Nonetheless, this year the KKE’s peaceful demonstration was met by intimidation, repression, and the arrest of dozens of protesters.
Read the full statement here: https://www.liberationnews.org/statement-by-the-party-for-socialism-and-liberation-in-solidarity-with-the-cp-of-greece-kke/
Leninism became fully recognized as an extension of Marxism after the success of the Russian Revolution in 1917. Throughout the world, the mass socialist parties and working class anarchist trends went through major political convulsions. New revolutionary parties, seeking to base themselves on the political and organizational lessons learned from the Bolshevik victory, were created in country after country as the left-wing socialists and anarchists split from established socialist parties and organizations to form communist parties.
But the arrival of Leninism or Bolshevism as a distinctive international extension of Marxism, in direct opposition to the accepted Marxism of the Second International, actually took shape not at the time of revolutionary victory in 1917. Rather, it happened in a period of deepest reaction: at the very start of World War I. In 1914, V.I. Lenin broke openly with “official” socialism and Marxism, declaring that the leaders of the mass socialist parties who supported their own governments at the outbreak of the war were traitors to the working class and agents of the bourgeoisie inside the working-class movement.
Listen to this PSL forum in which comrade Monica talks about legendary Puerto Rican nationalist Lolita Lebrón as well as the struggles for Puerto Rican independence, movements in the Puerto Rican diaspora, and women's liberation.
In the last few decades, technological developments–particularly concerning automation–have transformed the economy in such a profound way that many are comparing this era to the Industrial Revolution. Some capitalist economists downplay the resulting loss of jobs, while others predict that such job loss is only temporary and will work itself out through the marketplace over time, similar to previous technological revolutions. In both cases, they seem to forget the permanent unemployed produced by the Industrial Revolution, underestimate the potential impact of modern automation technology, and disregard the irrationality and anarchic nature of capitalist development. In many ways, the current “automation revolution” is similar to the introduction of machines in the Industrial Revolution, which radically changed capitalist societies by amplifying inequality, creating a permanent unemployed class that Marxists call the industrial reserve army, and intensified colonialism. Today’s automation revolution will similarly transform the landscape of labor, as robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning make the automation of vast swaths of complex jobs possible.
What we want to do is provide comrades with some background on Marx’s analysis of technological changes within capitalism and use these to contextualize some of today’s transformations.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/a-marxist-approach-to-technology/
Donald Trump will not be president as of 12:00 p.m. January 20 and he knows it. All the centers of ruling class institutional power know that Trump’s assertions that he still has a path to victory are complete nonsense. The Republican Party establishment also knows this to be the case but none of the leaders of the party want to directly contradict Trump because he is profoundly popular with Republican voters. Trump does not have a strategy or a plan. Each day brings another effort by him to dominate the news cycle. Trump asserted that a voting machine system had “deleted 2.7 million Trump votes nationwide” but within hours his own Department of Homeland Security distributed a statement declaring that claim to be false although they did not mention Trump by name.
Trump is playing games. He’s also raising a lot of money. Trump is a con man and he is engaged in another con. He’s asking his supporters to donate money for the “legal defense” of the election process under the moniker “Stop the Steal.” In the fine print though, the part that almost no one reads, it turns out that the first $5,000 of any donation goes to Trump’s personal leadership PAC which is nothing other than a private slush fund. Millions of dollars have already been raised from the unsuspecting hordes of Trump fans.
On the other side, pro-Democratic Party non-profit organizations are also raising millions of dollars to “protect the election results” and sending alarming messages about Trump’s “coup d’etat.” Of course, Trump would be perfectly happy to carry out a coup to remain in office. Otherwise, he and his children will face multiple criminal prosecutions and civil lawsuits for their financial crimes once he returns to civilian life. Many of these prosecutions and civil actions will be carried out at the state level by Democratic Party District Attorneys and state Attorneys General. Once a civilian, Trump will lose all immunities if and when he is prosecuted for financial crimes at the state level. Trump is certainly not above an illegal seizure of power to maintain his position but he lacks the support from within the capitalist establishment necessary to engage in such a far-reaching gambit. Thus, Trump is engaged in a giant farce.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-trump-and-biden-whats-actually-happening/
This article was originally published on Liberation News in Oct 2019.
There is a new race for resources: the ocean floor.
Seabed exploration, a precursor to mining, is underway in remote parts of the Pacific Ocean as corporations and nation-states attempt to catalog the underwater resources.
Highly sought-after metals such as cobalt and nickel are used to manufacture electric cars, drones, and other electronics. As land-based supplies dwindle, corporations fervently seek ways to exploit the vast untapped reserves of the oceans. The Clarion Clipperton Zone in the Pacific Ocean is one area that could soon be transformed by mining. About twice the size of Alaska, this region holds an estimated 1.8 times more nickel and 3.4 times more cobalt than all land-based reserves combined.
Changes could happen quickly. The International Seabed Authority plans to release the terms of exploitation by 2020 for this entirely new industry. Yet, precious little is known about the largest ecosystem on Earth. Less than 0.05 percent of the ocean has been mapped at a detailed level.
Read the full article, published in 2019: https://www.liberationnews.org/deep-sea-mining/
More than 70 million people voted to oust Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election. This was not a vote for Joe Biden, a truly uninspiring candidate who only became the nominee when the Democratic Party ruling class establishment united to stop Bernie Sanders from getting the nomination in early March. Nor did the historic voter turnout for Biden signify support for his pro-Wall Street, pro-war positions and his role as an architect of the current system of policing and mass incarceration.
In the last few minutes, the major corporate-owned media networks all announced that Joe Biden had sufficient electoral college votes to become the next president of the United States.
It is noteworthy that Fox News, which has been so vociferously cheerleading for Donald Trump during the last four years, also called the election for Biden and dramatically changed the tone of its coverage to be very supportive of Biden and the campaign he ran.
Donald Trump insists that he will fight on. He argues that he is the true winner of the election and the only reason that he might not be president is because of widespread election fraud. This is not true and as more and more of the mail-in vote arrived in Pennsylvania, Georgia and other states it became crystal clear that Trump in fact had lost the electoral college vote in a very narrow contest that almost exactly replicates the narrow outcome in 2016 but with the margins reversed.
Trump broke the cardinal rule of U.S. capitalist politics when he denounced the election system as a fraud. Maintaining the image of a peaceful transfer of power between the two ruling class parties for more than a century has been considered a core element of American capitalist governance. The peaceful transfer of power bestows legitimacy upon the system. Every system requires either undiluted brute violence that is routinely dispensed on oppressed classes, or it relies on its legitimacy with a sector of the population which is then, of course, supplemented by the threat of violence and state coercion. “Democracy” is the preferred form of class rule because achieving legitimacy with a significant sector of the working class and intermediate strata makes the system easier to maintain. It avoids the tension and conflict which makes class rule more complicated and unstable.
After last night’s indecisive result, a massive effort is underway by the Trump campaign and Republican Party apparatus to prevent hundreds of thousands if not millions of votes from being counted. This effort has a clear racist character — hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots concentrated in cities with majority or near-majority Black populations have yet to be tabulated, and the final outcome of the election hangs in the balance.
The struggle for the right to vote has historically been a central feature of the movement for Black freedom in the United States. The ongoing effort at large-scale voter disenfranchisement recalls the tactics of paramilitary and judicial repression used to enforce Jim Crow apartheid. Many other oppressed people also face the prospect of mass disenfranchisement by the reactionary court system, including the right-wing supermajority on the U.S. Supreme Court. Specifically, this is taking the form of court challenges in Michigan and Pennsylvania with the goal of stopping the vote count and ultimately disqualifying large numbers of mail-in ballots on bogus pretexts.
Members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation are in the streets today resisting this racist voter suppression campaign. Our placards and banners tonight will read “Stop Trump’s Racist Voter Suppression!” and “Stop the War on Black America!”
We understand that the political crisis is dynamically evolving, and it is of the utmost importance to be tactically flexible and prepared to adapt to rapidly changing circumstances.
The PSL’s branches have for weeks been preparing materials, banners and signs that were aimed at building a mass working-class movement to fight for the very reforms that Biden said he would veto: Medicare for all, defunding the police and the Pentagon, the cancellation of rents and debts, and so on. From day one of any incoming Biden administration, the essential thing is to launch a politically independent movement that will not wait in vain for the corporate-controlled Democratic Party to deliver progressive change. That is largely what happened when the Democrats controlled the White House and the Congress in 2009.
For today, however, we will keep those banners and signs on hold. The fundamental issue of this moment is the Republican Party’s attempted disenfranchisement of large numbers of working-class and Black voters. If Biden were to consolidate his victory in the coming days — as it appears he may if he can hold on to Michigan and Wisconsin, and squeak through in Arizona and Nevada — it would be essential to immediately prepare a struggle against that administration’s neoliberal program and Biden’s life-long program of imperialist war and intervention.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/trump-goes-all-in-on-racist-voter-disenfranchisement-after-indecisive-election-night/
Concluding a five year-long trial, a Greek court ruled today that the fascist outfit Golden Dawn was operating as a criminal organization and its leaders were therefore guilty of functioning as organized crime bosses. This could be a fatal blow to what was until recently perhaps the most institutionally powerful openly Nazi organization in the world. Until last year they had 18 members in the Greek parliament, and at their height opinion polls showed that one-in-ten Greeks intended to vote for Golden Dawn.
There were several components of the marathon legal battle. The central incident was the brutal murder of Pavlos Fyssas, an anti-fascist rapper who was stabbed to death by Golden Dawn members in 2013. The attempted murder of an immigrant worker in 2012 and a violent assault targeting communist labor organizers in 2013 were also under consideration in the proceedings.
The court found that this type of violent, criminal activity was directed from the top leadership of Golden Dawn. They could now face anywhere between 5 and 15 year prison sentences.
The court’s ruling after an excruciatingly long wait is a victory for the mass anti-fascist movement in Greece that has deep roots in the country’s working class. Tens of thousands rallied outside the courthouse in Athens as well as the second largest city Thessaloniki on the day of the decision.
Establishment politicians in Greece cynically tried to portray the ruling as a victory for the status quo. Former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras said for instance, “Today, democracy and our national and European values have been vindicated.” But it was Samaras himself, politicians like him and the European Union that created the conditions that led to the rise of Golden Dawn in the first place.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/nazis-dealt-major-blow-in-greece/
After multiple delays in presidential elections, Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) presidential candidate and ex-Minister of Economy Luis Arce Catacora was elected by over 52 percent of the popular vote according to preliminary estimates. The crushing victory for MAS deepened as the party won a majority of seats in both chambers of the legislature.
MAS is the party of Evo Morales, the democratically-elected president who was overthrown in a U.S.-backed police and military coup last year. Morales, a prominent union leader, was the first Indigenous president in Bolivia’s history. His administration ushered in a process of deep progressive change called the Democratic and Cultural Revolution that empowered the country’s working class and Indigenous majority. Last night Morales declared triumphantly, “We’ve recovered our democracy.”
Leonardo Flores, an international election observer, spoke with Liberation News about the mood in the country, “Last night’s results led to tears of joy, but also tears of sorrow in remembering all the lives lost over this past year and all the damage done by this fascist coup regime. But overwhelmingly the mood is one of jubilation and relief. La Paz is incredibly calm this morning.”
The Bolivian people stood up to vote for sovereignty and regain their democracy. This is a humiliating blow to the far-right regime of coup-installed president Jeanine Áñez and is being celebrated by the left across Latin America.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/weve-recovered-our-democracy-bolivian-coup-regime-humiliated-as-socialist-wins-landslide-election/
Intense fighting that broke out on Sunday between Armenia and Azerbaijan has left scores dead and hundreds wounded as the two neighboring states teeter on the brink of all-out war. At issue is the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave surrounded and claimed by Azerbaijan but de-facto controlled by forces representing the region’s Armenian majority.
Armed clashes were registered on the morning of September 27. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan blame the other side for initiating hostilities, but within hours battles were taking place involving artillery, airpower and ground forces. The two countries’ governments have both declared martial law.
All-out war between the two sides has not been seen since 1994, when an internationally-brokered ceasefire ended years of fighting that left tens of thousands dead. But fears are mounting that warfare on this scale could resume. Members of the Minsk Group — the guarantor states led by Russia, France and the United States that is tasked with monitoring the 1994 ceasefire — are attempting to mediate.
The conflict is made more complex by a number of geopolitical factors. The chauvinistic, ultra right wing government of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan views Armenia as an enemy state, a position held by successive Turkish capitalist governments with roots in the genocide against Armenians initiated by the Ottoman Empire in 1915. Turkey is a member of the imperialist NATO military alliance, and uses its diplomatic and military weight to support Azerbaijan. Israel is also a top supplier of weaponry to the government of Azerbaijan.
Armenia, on the other hand, maintains a key alliance with Russia. Although it was conceived as a bloc to combat the Soviet Union, NATO has maintained its hostile posture towards Russia even after the dissolution of the USSR.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/why-are-azerbaijan-and-armenia-on-the-brink-of-war/
These are excerpts from Gloria La Riva's answers at the Third 2020 Open Presidential Debate. Listen to Gloria elucidate the PSL's socialist platform in comparison with other third parties. Topics include abolishing the supreme court and anti-democratic electoral systems, the limits of reforms like UBI and breaking up big companies like Facebook, and most of all, the necessity for a new system that replaces the fundamentally and undeniably broken system of capitalism.
For more information visit: https://www.lariva2020.org
Listen to analyses by the Party for Socialism and Liberation on the 2020 presidential debates!
You can read the articles here.
https://www.liberationnews.org/trump-and-biden-agree-u-s-empire-should-reign-supreme/
https://www.liberationnews.org/two-mockeries-of-democracy-instead-of-one-biden-and-trump-town-halls-replace-debate/
https://www.liberationnews.org/harris-vs-pence-debate-no-real-choice-under-capitalist-democracy/
Find out more about the La Riva 2020 Presidential campaign: https://www.lariva2020.org
A vivid, flourishing, and diverse musical life developed in the Soviet Union. This vibrant culture was built by professional and amateur artists from among and across its many different nationalities, and spanned styles and genres from classical forms like ballets and orchestras to popular forms like rock and jazz music. Amateur workplace ensembles were promoted to engage workers actively in performances as members of bands, orchestras, and choirs. Debates raged about the path Soviet music should take moving forward. Yet much of this culture remains either shut off or misconstrued to Western audiences–not by its Soviet creators, but by Western scholars, music directors, historians, and performers who have misinterpreted the cultural contributions of Soviet workers through the anti-communist prism of the Cold War.
American composer Aaron Copland, in his speech to the 1949 Cultural and Scientific Conference for World Peace held at the New York Waldorf-Astoria hotel, expressed his concern that the Cold War that he and Soviet composers already saw emerging in the wake of World War II would lead to a lack of musical exchange between the two sides of the conflict to the detriment of artists in both countries:
“One can never tell in advance what will stimulate the imagination of an artist. If a brilliant new composing talent emerges from Tajikistan we all want to hear what his music is like. If a bright new composing star rises out of the Kentucky Mountain area we think the Russian people should know what his music is like” [1].
With the end of the war and of the celebration of music by allied Soviet composers like Dmitri Shostakovich, the anti-communist consensus of the West shifted along the fault lines of the global class war, anchored at the workers’ side by the Soviet Union and on the imperialist side by the United States. The imperialist side cast Soviet music as—to the exclusion of minority nationalities in the Soviet Union—Russian, propagandistic, and written simply to please dimwitted bureaucrats who directed art policy from the halls of government, detached from and above the heads of the artists involved in the day-to-day creation of Soviet art.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/re-examining-soviet-music-and-socialism/
Anti-government protests in Belarus continue in the wake of the Aug 9 presidential election. Economic decline, coronavirus mismanagement and the government’s response to the protests have driven many Belarusians into the streets, including youth and industrial workers.
Although the protests’ stated target is Lukashenko, the real political aims of the leadership of the opposition is to bring Belarus into the U.S. and European Union sphere of influence.
The opposition’s self-appointed leaders openly call for privatization and foreign interference – policies that would immiserate the working class and relegate Belarus again to foreign domination.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/whats-behind-the-crisis-in-belarus/
Lillian House, one of the Denver anti-racist activists recently arrested, and, after a mass struggle, released on bail, writes about how and why sexual abuse runs rampant in the U.S. "justice" system.
Read the full article, originally published in Breaking the Chains: https://liberationschool.org/sanctuaries-of-sexual-abuse/
Author and climate researcher Tina Landis speaks on the recent wildfires that have continually burned through the West Coast and why efforts by a capitalist government fall short of what is needed to fight the causes and effects of climate change and catastrophe.
Also, Tina narrates the preface from her new book, "Climate Solutions Beyond Capitalism"
Purchase "Climate Solutions Beyond Capitalism" here: http://store.pslweb.org/Climate-Solutions-Beyond-Capitalism_p_69.html
Tonight’s debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was testament to how little choice voters truly have in this so-called democracy. Gloria La Riva and Sunil Freeman are running in the presidential election to give voters a real alternative -- one that stands for the rights of the working class and in opposition to war, racism and the destruction of the environment. On these existential issues of our time and so many others, Trump and Biden have more in common than they pretend. Neither have a program to meet the scale of these crises — and under either one, they will only deepen.
One major theme of the debate was taxes, with Joe Biden posturing as the champion of “the middle class” by favorably comparing his own personal tax payments with Trump’s. Of course it is an outrage that someone as fabulously wealthy as Donald Trump paid virtually nothing in taxes for years. But it is also a common practice among the elite that rules this country.
Notably, one of the key ways that the ultra-rich and their corporations evade taxes is by setting up a shell headquarters in Delaware, a state with no corporate income tax. Joe Biden served as the Senator from Delaware for 36 years, becoming by far the most powerful man in the state’s politics. During these decades, Biden was silent on the issue. Couple that with his record of voting to gut social programs, embracing anti-worker free trade agreements and shielding the big banks from accountability for the 2008 financial crash -- Biden’s sudden change of heart about tax evasion by the wealthy is a display of utter hypocrisy and cannot be taken seriously.
We condemn Donald Trump’s racist attacks on the Black Lives Matter movement and his attempts to portray the righteous uprising as mindless violence and rioting. Gloria La Riva, Sunil Freeman and the entire PSL have been in the streets all summer as proud participants in the movement. But we cannot forget Joe Biden’s record either. Biden was a principal architect of mass incarceration through his authorship of the draconian 1994 crime bill, which he justified with rhetoric demonizing Black youth. Biden launched his political career as an avowed opponent of school desegregation and has repeatedly, publicly praised Senators who were among the most notorious defenders of Jim Crow apartheid -- Strom Thurmond, James Eastland and Herman Talmadge.
Neither candidate is willing to even consider the type of dramatic action that needs to be taken to tackle the Coronavirus pandemic and associated economic crisis. The PSL’s La Riva/Freeman campaign demands the immediate cancellation of rent and mortgage payments with no accumulation of debt, full replacement of all unemployed workers’ incomes, free healthcare for all and international cooperation to develop a vaccine.
The Gloria La Riva/Sunil Freeman ticket stands for a new system — socialism — where the working class and oppressed hold economic and political power, and the needs of the people and the planet are planned for and guaranteed.
Find out more: https://www.lariva2020.org/
Eliza Lucero, Joel Northam and Lillian House have been released from jail after having been incarcerated for a full week in hazardous and degrading conditions. This is a major victory for the nationwide movement that has developed to fight back against the frame-up on serious felony charges of Denver-area organizers leading the fight against racist police brutality.
Over the past seven days, thousands of people have signed the petition, participated in solidarity rallies across the country, added their name to the open letter of support, and made generous donations to their defense.
Authorities grossly violated their legal rights by refusing to bring the three activists up for a bail hearing. But they were finally forced to relent under major legal and political pressure, and now all three are out on bail.
Eliza, Joel and Lillian, along with Russell Ruch, still face outrageously false felony charges that could result in years-long imprisonment. And the cops who ruthlessly murdered Elijah McClain have not been brought to justice. We will continue the fight!
Here is what you can do to help:
Sign on to the solidarity statement: https://www.pslweb.org/denverorgsolidarity
Sign the petition to drop all the charges!: https://www.pslweb.org/dropthecharges
Donate to the legal and political support campaign for the arrested organizers: https://www.pslweb.org/donate4denver
Democrats in the Senate announced September 17 a massive spending bill aimed at stepping up U.S. hostility towards China to the tune of $350 billion. Introduced by leading imperialist war hawks Chuck Schumer and Bob Menendez, the legislation is intended to shore up U.S. dominance in strategic sectors of the world economy through huge government subsidies, as well as bolstering ongoing efforts to politically destabilize China.
The centerpiece of the Democrats’ proposal is a $300 billion fund to subsidize science and technology development. This in all likelihood will mean a massive payday for some of the biggest tech firms in the country. An additional $16 billion is earmarked just for the semiconductor industry, a field where Chinese firms play a particularly prominent role.
Strengthening these industries is one of the core goals of the Pentagon’s “Great Power Competition” doctrine, which identifies all-out confrontation with China (and Russia) as the overarching goal guiding U.S. military and foreign policy in the 21st century. U.S. aggression against China is constrained by the fact that U.S. corporations’ supply chains tend to be heavily dependent on China’s manufacturing sector. These subsidies aim to break down this key roadblock on the path to war. While semiconductors and other high-tech goods are of course valuable to the civilian economy, they are also crucial to the U.S. military’s efforts to maintain a technological edge over the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/senate-democrats-want-350-billion-to-prepare-for-war-with-china/
Donate to the organizers’ legal and political defense fund: https://www.pslweb.org/donate4denver
Sign the petition demanding that all charges be dropped against the organizers: https://www.pslweb.org/dropthecharges
The following is a report from Ryan Hamby, a Party for Socialism and Liberation member and the long-time partner of Lillian House, one of the four PSL organizers who were rounded up and thrown in jail with multiple bogus felony charges. They were targeted for their leadership in the anti-racist movement in the Denver area, especially the struggle for justice for Elijah McClain. Three of them have been in jail without a bond hearing since they were arrested on Thursday, September 17. Other organizers and protesters across Colorado have been arrested in recent weeks as well.
Please make an urgently-needed donation to support their defense effort.
The unjustly incarcerated Denver-area organizers are being subjected to terrible conditions while locked up. Some of what they are facing is just the horrible conditions of most jails — Lillian House knows this well, having just written an article exposing the conditions that women face in prison for the latest issue of Breaking the Chains. Some of it is certainly the incompetence of a rotten and incompetant bureaucracy. But without a doubt, in a situation so political, much of what they are experiencing is punitive.
Another one of the arrested organizers, Joel Northam, is in a pod with seven to eight other men for 23 hours and 20 minutes a day. Although there have been positive COVID cases in the nearby pods, Joel has been given only one face mask since he was arrested. Joel has had phone calls with us and with his family cut off before his time ran out without warning or explanation. He tells us that he has watched many men come and go as they receive bond hearings while he remains incarcerated.
The targeted activists have been inside since Thursday, meaning that they have been held without being able to post bond, or even have a hearing before a judge, for six days. This is a violation of the 14th Amendment, which is supposed to protect the right to due process.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/jailed-denver-anti-racist-leaders-subjected-to-dangerous-and-degrading-conditions-in-custody/
We are deeply appreciative of the many solidarity statements we have received from around the country and the world. The statement below comes from movements and member organizations of the International Peoples’ Assembly, which is active across Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. If your organization would like to offer a statement, please send it to info@pslweb.org. We will be collecting and posting more statements soon. Individuals can also sign the petition demanding freedom for the arrested organizers here and make a donation to provide support for their case here.
Statement in Solidarity with the Political Prisoners of the Anti-Racist Struggle in the USA! The movements and member organizations of the International Peoples’ Assembly make an international call for solidarity with the political prisoners of Denver, USA, arrested on September 17, for leading in the massive anti-racist protest movement that has taken to the streets demanding justice for George Floyd, Elijah McClain and other victims of racist police brutality in the United States.
In complex and repressive operation, four members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) who have organized large Black Lives Matter protests have been arrested: Russell Ruch, Lillian House, Joel Northam and Eliza Lucero. They are still in jail, except for one person. All four face multiple felony charges and many misdemeanours (including the bizarre and ridiculous charge of “kidnapping”), which can sentence them to many years in prison.
Read the full statement and signatories: https://www.liberationnews.org/movements-in-africa-asia-latin-america-and-europe-send-solidarity-to-denver-anti-racist-organizers/
Today, on September 17th, in Denver, Colorado, law enforcement units arrested several lead organizers of the mass anti-racist protest movement that has been on the streets demanding justice for Elijah McClain and other victims of police brutality. This morning, Russell Ruch was arrested while in a parking lot at a Home Depot. An hour later, five police cars surrounded and arrested Lillian House while she was driving. This afternoon, S.W.A.T. teams arrived at Joel Northam’s home and arrested him. As we are writing, we have just learned that Eliza Lucero has also been arrested. All four are members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. There may be others who have been arrested.
They are facing multiple serious felony charges and many misdemeanors including the bizarre and ludicrous charge of “kidnapping,” all because they have organized large Black Lives Matter protests. This is a major political attack on the whole movement and the PSL. We will mount a mass campaign to defeat these phony charges and win their freedom.
Read the full statement: https://www.liberationnews.org/police-arrest-anti-racist-organizers/
Sign the petition to drop all the charges: https://www.pslweb.org/dropthecharges
Donate to their legal aid and support campaign: https://www.pslweb.org/donate4denver
Urgent!
On Sep 17 Denver police arrested several anti-racist organizers, 4 of which are members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Support their legal aid and support campaign: http://www.pslweb.org/donate4denver
Sign the petition to drop all charges: http://www.pslweb.org/dropthecharges
Urgent!
On Sep 17 Denver police arrested several anti-racist organizers, 4 of which are members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Support their legal aid and support campaign: http://www.pslweb.org/donate4denver
Sign the petition to drop all charges: http://www.pslweb.org/dropthecharges
Urgent!
On Sep 17 Denver police arrested several anti-racist organizers, 4 of which are members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Support their legal aid and support campaign: http://www.pslweb.org/donate4denver
Sign the petition to drop all charges: http://www.pslweb.org/dropthecharges
Urgent!
On Sep 17 Denver police arrested several anti-racist organizers, 4 of which are members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Support their legal aid and support campaign: http://www.pslweb.org/donate4denver
Sign the petition to drop all charges: http://www.pslweb.org/dropthecharges
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo used his platform at the annual foreign ministers’ summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on September 10 to bash China and stir up trouble in a region 8,000 miles away from his office in Washington, D.C. Pompeo urged the members of ASEAN, a 10-nation regional cooperation bloc founded in 1967, to “Reconsider business dealing with the very state-owned companies that bully ASEAN coastal states in the South China Sea.”
By “bully[ing] ASEAN coastal states”, Pompeo was referring to competing territorial claims by China and its neighbors to the waters of the South China Sea. The Chinese government and publicly-owned Chinese companies have constructed facilities in these disputed areas in recent years, as have other countries involved in the disputes.
This is not a new strategy for Washington — by inflaming this hot-button issue, the Secretary of State hopes to isolate China diplomatically and economically in order to preserve U.S. dominance in East Asia and beyond. Liberation News spoke with K.J. Noh, a peace activist and scholar on the geopolitics of Asia, about Pompeo’s actions at the summit and their significance.
On the issue of construction in contested territory, Noh explained, “China is not unique regarding construction or claims in the South China Sea. Five out of six of the claimants to the South China Sea have built facilities on contested Islands, including airstrips and other military facilities. The contested claims to the South China Sea among the various nations themselves bisect, tri-sect, quadri-sect — they are simply not just about China.”
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/in-latest-us-move-vs-china-pompeo-stirs-up-division-in-southeast-asia/
A popular uprising against police violence has broken out across Colombia following the shockingly brutal murder of Javier Ordóñez in Bogotá on September 8. In footage taken by witnesses that quickly spread and outraged the nation, Ordóñez was pinned to the ground and shocked over and over with a taser. Ordóñez, who was unarmed, repeatedly begged the officers to stop but the police showed no mercy. He was eventually taken into custody and beaten further before dying in the early hours of September 9.
Since the killing, large protests have taken place every night. While the uprising began in Bogotá, the capital city, the movement quickly spread to other major population centers to become a truly nationwide phenomenon.
Police responded to the demonstrations with deadly repression. At least 7 protesters have been confirmed killed by police, and more than 200 have been injured. The cops’ violence was so over the top that their actions were even denounced by the mayor of Bogotá, who remarked that by shooting live ammunition into crowds the police “disobeyed express and public instructions from the Mayor’s Office, so who do they obey? Justice, action and reform are urgently needed!”
People have fought back with militant action. 17 police outposts were burned down on Wednesday night alone, and 194 cops were reportedly injured. The revolt poses a serious challenge to the rule of President Ivan Duque, who represents a far-right current in Colombian politics connected with the country’s notorious death squads and supported by the United States.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/colombia-erupts-in-struggle-against-police-murder/
“We the inmates of Attica Prison, have grown to recognize beyond the shadow of a doubt, that because of our posture as prisoners and branded characters as alleged criminals, the administration and prison employees no longer consider or respect us as human beings, but rather as domesticated animals selected to do their bidding in slave labor and furnished as a personal whipping dog for their sadistic, psychopathic hate. We, the inmates of Attica Prison, say to you, the sincere people of society, the prison system of which your courts have rendered unto is without question the authoritative fangs of a coward in power.”—”The Attica Liberation Faction Manifesto of Demands and Anti-Depression Platform,” July 2, 1971 The 1971 Attica prison uprising was a class conscious effort to tear down the curtain of silence and draw national attention to one of the most ostracized and exploited sectors of society—the millions of working class women and men forced to endure stark living conditions, as well as physical and sexual abuse behind bars.
On Sept. 9, 1971, almost 1,500 inmates in Cell Block D took over the Attica Correctional Facility several months after having formally submitted a 27-point manifesto to the prison administration and the media.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/attica-the-making-and-significance-of-a-heroic-prison-uprising/
Louise Thompson Patterson was a key figure in the U.S. communist movement and the Harlem Renaissance. In this video, she speaks about her introduction to Marxism and her radicalization. This interview was conducted over three decades ago and the audio files have been digitized as part of NYU Tamiment Library’s invaluable Oral History of the American Left project. Liberation School has been transcribing and publishing interviews from this collection not as an endorsement of all the statements expressed in them, but to help a new generation of organizers and revolutionaries gain access to the experiences, lessons and perspectives of prior generations of U.S. communists. While much has been written in academic circles about the role of communists in the Black freedom struggle, this history is systematically omitted in history textbooks and rarer still do we get to hear from the Black radicals themselves.
Read the full transcription: https://liberationschool.org/louise-patterson-on-her-introduction-to-marxism-and-radicalization/
The following is the first of a two-part article based on a talk the author gave at the People’s Forum in July 2020. This first part focuses on Kollontai’s struggle for proletarian feminism against bourgeois feminism as well as her struggle to center gender equality within the party’s platform. Part two focuses on her writings on the family, love, and communism.
The Russian communist revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai lived from 1872 to 1952. Prior to the 1917 revolution, she was an active speaker, writer, and organizer in the socialist women workers’ movement in Russia and Europe. Kollontai was the first woman to be a cabinet official: she was people’s commissar for welfare in the first Bolshevik government after the October revolution. She also founded the new government’s “women’s department” (Zhenotdel), and was one of the first women to hold an official diplomatic post. More exciting than these official responsibilities were Kollontai’s revolutionary work and writing, which focused not only on the relation between the struggle for gender equality and socialism, but also the general role of love and solidarity in struggle. Attention to these can help us clarify our analyses and sharpen our politics today.
A Marxist committed to organizing women workers, Kollontai argued that women’s subordination was anchored in economic conditions; that is, in the conditions of “the production and reproduction of immediate life,” to use Frederick Engels’ formulation [1]. These conditions involve how both human existence is produced and reproduced and how the means of existence—food, clothing, shelter, tools, and so on—are secured and arranged. Women’s position in the economy—which includes the sexual division of labor in the family—determines women’s position in society. The repercussion is that women’s liberation depends on the elimination of capitalism, of class society and exploitation, and the communist rearrangement of production and life.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/kollontai-socialism-and-feminism-part-one/
Over a hundred years ago, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in Tennessee in a nail-biting vote. After decades of organizing, the question of universal suffrage in the United States lay in the hands of 96 legislators, all men and all white, who filed into the room wearing red and yellow roses to indicate how they planned to vote, yellow for suffrage and red against. Twice that day on August 18, 1920, the lawmakers attempted to table the motion and failed, the vote to table tied each time. In a roll call vote, Harry T. Burn threw down his red rose and voted for the 19th Amendment. The Speaker of the House followed suit, in what became a futile machination to later undo the vote. Burn credited his vote to a letter from his mother who had been motivated to write to him when Burn’s mentor gave a particularly racist and sexist speech denouncing the 19th Amendment.
The amendment went into effect on August 26, 1920, which is now celebrated as Women’s Equality Day. The hotly contested amendment reads, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”
Contrary to what most of us learned in school, and continue to learn in school, the struggle for women’s suffrage in the United States was a fierce campaign that involved tens of thousands of diverse women who organized, took militant political action and repeatedly challenged the status quo. In a recent conversation with historians specializing in this movement, historian and curator Kate Clarke Lemay described the suffrage movement: “Women staged one of the longest social reform movements in the history of the United States. This is not a boring history of nagging spinsters; it is a badass history of revolution staged by political geniuses. I think that because they were women, people have hesitated to credit them as such.”
It literally took hundreds of years for women to win the right to vote in the United States. That struggle was deep and multi-faceted and rife with contradictions that reflected the divisions of class and national oppression that characterize women as a group. The movement for suffrage was not homogenous.
The movement faced deep opposition. It was also rich in militant action, organizing tactics and the building of political power for disenfranchised groups. There are many books, especially coming out this year, that detail the rich and varied history of the suffrage movement. There is a ton of eye-opening historical digging into the suffrage movement that has been shared, particularly in the last few months, for the centennial this year.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/100-years-of-universal-suffrage-a-history-of-struggle/
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Aug. 23 to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake, which had occurred just hours prior. With emotions strong and tensions high, conditions were exacerbated further by excessive police force directed at protesters, including the use of tear gas and pepper balls. Liberation News was on the scene to talk to those on the front lines in the rebellion against police brutality. The police and rightwing violence our reporters witnessed was a harbinger of the racist killings to come perpetrated by Kyle Rittenhouse.
While the immediate anger against racist police terror was palpable to all, a local medic and activist working on the ground emphasized that the roots of Kenosha’s unrest go far deeper than the brutal attempted murder of Jacob Blake. By and large, Kenosha mirrors the plight of working class and Black communities across the Midwest and the nation as a whole. Straddled between Milwaukee to its north and Chicago to its south, Kenosha’s Black community bears the twin scars of deindustrialization and segregation. The disparity between white and Black families is seen by both the police and local racists out of uniform as “ghetto-like,” he told Liberation News.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/on-the-ground-with-kenosha-protesters-we-want-justice/
The catchy rhythmic beat of Washington, D.C.’s home-grown Go-Go music was cranked up loud outside U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s home in a protest against actions that weaken the post office. The August 23 protest was one of many around the country over the last several weeks as people come together to defend crucial delivery of mail.
The U.S. post office, a target of privatization efforts for years, has been under a renewed attack by the Trump administration as the country heads into a contentious election with charges of fraud, voter suppression, and deliberate sabotage flying.
The president selected DeJoy, a major Republican fundraiser with no Postal Service experience, as the new Postmaster General in spite of DeJoy’s having been on the Board of Directors of XPO Logistics, a large company that does business with USPS and other government agencies. DeJoy was allowed to keep $30 million or more in XPO stock while serving as postmaster general.
DeJoy’s deep ties to private firms that could compete against the post office raised obvious concerns. This might have just been another all-too-frequent type of conflict of interest, similar to Trump’s owning private businesses. It received much more attention when DeJoy instituted organizational changes that appear designed to slow delivery and weaken the post office. This, combined with Trump’s repeated rants against mail-in voting, could easily create an electoral crisis as many people try to avoid crowded polling places during the pandemic.
DeJoy moved quickly after taking office on June 15. Twenty-three executives were either reassigned to new positions or removed, strengthening his power in the organization while also erasing the important institutional memory that workers with decades of experience bring to the organization. He also eliminated overtime work, ordering that any excess undelivered mail should simply be held for later delivery. This, along with removal of on-street mailboxes and mail sorting machines from several post offices has brought charges that the Trump administration is attempting to sabotage the election.
While media attention has focused on threats related to the upcoming election, DeJoy’s actions are part of a longer history of efforts to weaken the post office and realign it to work more as a for-profit business rather than a crucial public service. The ultimate aim, which Trump has called for, is to privatize the agency.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/workers-communities-rise-to-defend-the-postal-service/
With talks between Democrats and the White house having collapsed, lawmakers have been unable and unwilling to extend the national eviction moratorium, supplemental unemployment relief, and CARES Act money that has helped families scrape by through the pandemic and recession. As Portland, the biggest city in Oregon, heads towards its third month of nightly protests against racist police brutality, its residents stand on the brink of a devastating eviction crisis.
Even before the pandemic hit, Portland was one of the most rent-burdened cities in the United States, with almost half of renters spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing. While Oregon has an eviction moratorium in place until the end of September, its residents who decide to take advantage of it have only until March 2021 to pay back all past-due rent. At the end of next month, all tenants are expected to pay rent or face eviction.
The moratorium is merely a bandaid for the larger problem, given that many Portlanders cannot afford their rent following mass layoffs and unemployment caused by the pandemic situation, and do not know how soon they will be able to get back to work. As calculated in June, Oregon’s unemployment rate was a staggering 11.2 percent, while the 1.43 million unemployment claims the week of July 19 are up from the earlier 1.3 million the week of July 5. The Oregon Housing Alliance has pointed to recent research showing that one in five renters in Oregon don’t feel confident they will be able to pay next month’s rent.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/eviction-crisis-looms-in-portland-or/
Marxist theory cannot sustain itself. If relegated to academia, it will lose its revolutionary vitality. Elementary Marxist conceptions, elementary in the sense that they were accepted by advanced working-class forces throughout the world for many decades, are now virtually unknown. The link or legacy of Marxist theory has been snapped, broken, and a new generation of activists and fighters are unfamiliar with the core features of the theory.
According to Lenin, the success of Bolshevism was premised on two features: (1) the assimilation of Marxist theory as the “granite foundation” and (2) that the party and its cadres “went through fifteen years of practical history (1903-17) unequalled anywhere in the world in its wealth of experience.” (from “Left-Wing” Communist, an Infantile Disorder, quoted more extensively below)
We cannot snap our fingers and create the varied succession of different forms of the movement, such as was experienced by the Bolsheviks during those 15 years. The stages and circumstances of struggle are created not by a vanguard organization, but by objective conditions outside of the control of any political organization. Our comrades are going through different experiences. They are learning. They are not simply involved in agitation or propaganda, but are in fact accumulating critically necessary organizational experiences and skills. But the period we have been living through inside the United States does not approximate the intensity that the Bolsheviks experienced between 1903 and 1917. Again, that is outside the control of any organization.
What is in our control is our capacity to review, learn, and comprehensively understand and promote Marxist theory as it applies to the struggles that are taking place inside the United States and around the world. Many people underestimate the central significance of theory or think that the questions of theory should be left in the hands of a small number of people, but in the Leninist conception, and according to the organizational principles of Leninism, the role played by theory is central.
Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolution.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/theory-and-revolution-addressing-the-break-of-ideological-continuity/
In this forum in Los Angeles from 2019, we examine the intertwined nature of racism, capitalism, and the prison industrial complex; how the prison system itself is the manifestation and continuation of both class and race divides that have played out through US history.
In the context of the current mass uprising, political history has held a special significance this year. Juneteenth, the celebration of the last enslaved Africans’ emancipation – was also a painful reminder to Black America that we are still oppressed! Now, Black August, the celebration of Black revolutionary struggle even in the face of brutal imprisonment, is a reminder of a long tradition which continues today.
As the country faces crisis after crisis–an economic one, on top of a war against Black America all against the backdrop of a global pandemic–a small minority of the rich elite continues to profit off this misery, generating over $308 billion since the start of March. The pandemic itself reveals the deep legacy of the U.S. war on Black people, who are dying at roughly double the rate of whites, at the same time that 20 states deploy the modern-day slavery system in U.S. prisons to make hand sanitizer and masks.
And the fruits of this labor taste even more bitter, considering that the origins of this very same class wealth was obtained through slavery, redlining, Jim Crow segregation and outright theft. If it were not for stolen Black labor there would be no rich elite in America: this country is built off the backs of workers and oppressed people, and especially off the super-exploitation of the Black nation.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/revolutionary-black-resistance-has-a-long-tradition/
The Democratic National Convention proves exactly how far right the Democrat Party continues to move. It was also an exercise in cowardly fear in the face of Trump’s open redbaiting and Muslim baiting. That was the stated reason that the party’s most popular liberal member of the House, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, received just 90 seconds to speak. That’s precisely why the Biden team joined in Trump’s condemnation of Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour after she spoke as an invited guest on a panel discussion at the convention. That’s why Republican billionaires, militarists and anti-abortion politicians were given major roles.
The top priority of the “convention” as organized by Biden and his team was not putting forward a program to meet the urgent needs of the people, but instead how Trump and operatives would respond to it. In a very real sense, the script of the Democrats’ convention was dictated by the White House.
Ample time was provided to disgruntled present or former Republicans like former Secretary of State and head of the military, Colin Powell, ex-mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg, and former governor of Ohio, John Kasich. A video, glorifying the late Sen. John McCain and his relationship with presidential nominee Joe Biden, was highlighted. All of the above were supporters of the Iraq, Afghanistan and other wars, massive military budgets, U.S. bases around the world and sanctions against poor countries. Kasich is an all-round reactionary, especially known for his opposition to women’s right to abortion.
By contrast, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (also known as AOC), the most popular young Democratic elected official in the country, was granted just 90 seconds to second the nomination of Sen. Bernie Sanders, itself a formality. AOC is a very dynamic speaker with a huge following among young people and people of color, sectors of the Democrat’s “base” which must be mobilized if the Democrats hope to win in November.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/democratic-convention-shaped-by-trump-white-house/
Editor’s note: The following is part of an internal document circulated by the Central Committee of the PSL in advance of our 3rd Party Congress in 2016. Here, we focus on ways that communist organizations have historically grown in strength, size, and influence—direct recruitment and organizational mergers. While there are important new openings, there are contradictory tendencies impacting the possibility of such growth. On the one hand, the neoliberal stage of capitalism clearly offers no future for workers and oppressed people. On the international stage, the uncontested hegemony of U.S. imperialism is fracturing at the seams. On the other hand, the era of global counterrevolution exerts a heavy force on the consciousness of the mass movement. The tasks that we have to face are thus both organizational and theoretical.
As we prepare for the Third Party Congress, we need to reflect upon the past decade and the key lessons learned, and sum up the principal needs that confront those who are committed to the task of reviving socialism. While books upon books could be written on such a review, here we will focus on some of the most pertinent parts of an evaluation as we chart a path forward for advancing the struggle for communism.
The objective situation is very favorable for the revival of socialism. The U.S. capitalist class has been waging a war against the rights and living standards of a big part of the working population for several decades. The relative privileges for a huge part of the working population have been destroyed. U.S. imperialism globally has been and will continue to be diminished. The contradictions within and among the ruling class itself are ever more obvious.
The subjective situation has also improved measurably. It is now clear that there can be the popularization of socialist ideas. Popularization has been our focus now since our last Party congress in 2013. At that time, we emphasized the popularization component because we believed that popularization of socialism through the depopularization of capitalism was a prerequisite to reach a mass audience in such an anti-communist country. We also said that the anti-communist fog was lifting and it was now possible to do this.
The Bernie Sanders campaign, even if the electoral effort is doomed, has made a major contribution in creating the atmosphere for the popularization of socialism. We need to thoroughly examine all of our organizational possibilities to reach the maximum potential in taking next steps for popularization, going beyond attracting people to socialism, to having people self-identify as socialists. Even without our efforts, this process is going to continue. The logic and inevitability of this process is located within the real-life dynamics of existing monopoly capitalism.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/reviving-the-communist-movement-building-organization-in-2016/
In June, Black Lives Matter in Shoreline, Washington, held an unprecedented march and rally in the small suburban city just north of Seattle. Some 5,000 people marched in the streets led by Black youth organizers. One of these organizers is 13-year old Kailyn Jordan. This middle school student was recently threatened with lynching for her advocacy work in the community. Black Lives Matter Shoreline is organizing a rally and march at Paramount Park on July 25 to support Boo and to say that a Black life matters in Shoreline.
Liberation News had the opportunity to speak with Shoreline organizers Darnesha and Mikayla Weary, a mother-daughter team.
The Wearys described the incident that has spurred the upcoming protest. As an organizer, Kailyn Jordan “did some education” with a white neighbor who had a Blue Lives Matter flag. She had a conversation with the neighbor about why that flag was hurtful and the neighbor removed it. However, another white neighbor became enraged by this, threatened Jordan, called her a racist slur, tried to run her over and threatened her with lynching.
Another neighbor walking by stepped in to support Kailyn and helped her to get home. But Kailyn and her mother were distraught by this experience.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/shoreline-wa-13-yr-old-black-organizer-threatened-with-lynching-community-to-march-in-support/
The story of the housing crisis in the Treasure Valley has once again risen sharply in pitch, spurred on by the unremitting COVID-19 pandemic. The Treasure Valley – also known as the Boise Metropolitan Area – comprises nearly 40 percent of Idaho’s total population and is home to more than 730,000 people. Approximately 42 percent of them are renters. Now, these renters are facing an onslaught of evictions, housing shortages, and houselessness.
The Treasure Valley was already in a uniquely fervent housing crisis. It is one of the fastest-growing areas in the nation, and each year the housing inventory lags farther behind the booming demand. At the same time, real estate investors have been sinking their fangs into the valley’s hot market, crowding-out local homebuyers and keeping renters from ownership.
As a result of the steepening demand for rental units, profit-hungry landlords are able to be highly selective about tenants, and at what price. Monthly rent for all types of property in the valley are at an all-time high, continuing to rise through this historic pandemic. And though the cost of living here is lower than other metro areas, Idaho’s wages are among the lowest nationally, making rent a significant burden for working class tenants across the valley.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/eviction-wave-looms-in-idahos-treasure-valley/
The world looked on in shock as a massive explosion ripped through the Beirut port on Aug. 4 killing hundreds, wounding thousands and displacing hundreds of thousands. This comes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and just months after the Lebanese economy collapsed, leaving half the population in poverty. The UN is now warning of a humanitarian crisis.
What the people of Lebanon need now is solidarity and an immediate and massive aid effort, proportionate to the damage done, and given to all without political strings.
But where the people see humanitarian crisis, imperialism sees opportunity. Just as billionaires in the U.S. saw the COVID-19 pandemic as a chance to make ever more profits, the U.S. government sees suffering in Lebanon as an opportunity to manipulate this terrible tragedy to increase its own leverage in the country at the expense of Lebanese sovereignty and to the advantage of Israel.
On Aug 4, 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded on Beirut’s port. The blast, so powerful it was heard and felt in Cyprus, left a 141-foot-deep crater. The death toll so far is 200, including Syrian nationals who worked at the port; 6,000 have been injured, and 300,000 made homeless by the blast.
The explosion demolished some of the wealthiest, mostly Christian neighborhoods in Achrafieh, along with three hospitals. It blasted out windows and doors throughout the city. It destroyed the entire country’s grain supply, stored nearby and closed the Beirut port, which is so necessary for Lebanon’s economic survival.
Gross government negligence
The highly combustible ammonium nitrate, which can be used for fertilizer or explosives, had been stored at the port for more than six years, since it was unloaded from a disabled cargo ship. Numerous officials at the port, in in the trade, finance and other ministries, in the judicial system and elsewhere knew of the situation, yet none sought a solution for disposing of this highly flammable substance. This gross and criminal neglect has enraged the Lebanese people not only against the government, but against the whole ruling establishment.
Even before the horrific explosion wreaked so much devastation, Lebanon was in crisis. For years, under Lebanon’s sectarian and patronage-based political system, the one percent looted the government’s coffers while adhering to an IMF plan charging workers and the poor ever-higher taxes. This economic Ponzi scheme fell apart in October, after the government had became so dysfunctional that it couldn’t even provide 24-hour electricity, tap water or pick up the garbage. The collapse of the economy sunk into poverty fully half the population, including Syrian and Palestinian refugees. Even before the explosion, millions were jobless, with some reduced to stealing food to feed their children, and borrowing from banks to pay rent.
Enraged protests
It is no wonder that after the explosion the reaction of the Lebanese people was pure rage at the government and the political elite that ran it as their private fund. Furious demonstrators have poured into Martyrs Square daily since Aug. 8, sometimes 10,000 strong, fighting pitched battles when police tried to disperse or contain them.
The day after the blasts, a popular WhatsApp message was in wide circulation: “Today, we mourn. Tomorrow, we clean. The day after, we hang them.” Many from all political spectrums were seen in demonstrations holding nooses. The protests had a level of anger against the government and the country’s leaders not seen before in Lebanon.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/disaster-in-lebanon-seen-as-opportunity-by-u-s-israel/
On July 19, Frank Gaglianese, an elected at-large member of the city council of Geneva, New York, said that he wished that he “could have got a gun and shot the squares on my computer screen and killed everybody” who participated in a recent virtual forum on police accountability. Gaglianese made his remarks at a Back the Blue Ride and Rally event at the Finger Lakes Welcome Center in Geneva’s Lakefront Park. In addition to expressing a desire to shoot those advocating for police accountability, he referred to them “as little squawkers who think their voice is being heard … it’s not.” His remarks were live-streamed.
Hosted by a local college, the online forum had over 80 participants including young Black organizers of the People’s Peaceful Protest, who have been demonstrating near daily since the killing of George Floyd. Also participating in the forum were a diverse cross-section of college faculty, students, and community members as well as leaders from the local NAACP.
Despite calls for his immediate resignation, the councilor remains in office.
The dialectics of organizing against the police in a small city
Following a mass uprising in nearby Rochester, NY, Geneva city officials issued panicked messages on May 31 warning residents of upcoming “looting and destructive behavior” and advising them to stay home. Multiple downtown businesses, having only recently reopened after closure because of the pandemic, were boarded up. Armed owners sat out front. Scores of people nevertheless gathered in front of the police station for the first of what would become months of peaceful protests demanding justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, and calling on the community not to forget Corey Jackson, who was shot and killed by a Geneva police officer in May 2011.
Over the next months, protesters marched nightly throughout the city’s various neighborhoods, making it clear that Black people should be free to walk anywhere, anytime without having to fear for their lives. The nightly processions also energized city residents: parents brought their children out to the sidewalks to cheer and join in the chants.
Not everyone supported the PPP. On June 2, a tractor-trailer driver aggressively threatened to run over protesters in the streets. Later, the same truck drove through the protest dangerously and recklessly. Police, who were clearly visible down the block during both incidents, failed to respond to a 9-11 call reporting the near-miss. The PPP adapted by increasing the number and discipline of street marshals who use their cars and bodies to block traffic while the marchers chant and demonstrate in the street.
By the end of June, the People’s Peaceful Protest had prepared a set of resolutions that would create a framework for police accountability. The centerpiece was a community-controlled accountability board with subpoena and disciplinary powers modeled after legislation long fought for and recently implemented in Rochester (aspects of which are still in the courts).
At the same time, right-wing opponents of police accountability trolled activists’ social media, using disinformation as their key tactic, photo-shopping and misrepresenting photos and posts. Following Trump’s script, they attached a “Marxist” label to BLM, and actively worked to discredit local organizers. They consistently demeaned and disparaged the only socialist on city council, Party for Socialism and Liberation member Laura Salamendra.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/movement-in-geneva-ny-continues-daily-protests-despite-threats-repression/
August 6 and 9 mark the anniversaries of the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Numerous historical and personal accounts will emerge in the press, recounting the destructiveness, inhumanity, and long-term misery created by the two U.S. bombs.
Nuclear weaponry, as an indiscriminate killing force responsible for unspeakable atrocities, is truly weaponry of a different type. Many accounts will attribute the horrific bombings to the cruel pragmatism of U.S. generals, or the ignorance of White House decision makers. Some will defend the bombs as an unfortunate example of military expedience. Ultimately—we will be reminded—the bombs compelled an immediate Japanese surrender and achieved the victory over fascism.
But these explanations only scratch at the surface. While it is true that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were murderous, terrible and cruel crimes, they are best understood not as the end of World War II, but as the beginning of a new war and an altogether new historical era. What some refer to as the “Cold War,” in fact began with nuclear incineration and massive human casualties. The bombs directly targeted Japan, but politically took aim at the Soviet Union, the worldwide communist movement and those colonized people fighting for national liberation.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/u-s-dropped-nuclear-bombs-hiroshima-nagasaki/
On July 22 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered the latest blast of aggressive rhetoric against China in a speech at the Nixon Library in California. Pompeo openly called for regime change in China, saying that “if we don’t change China, China will change us.” In almost hysterical language Pompeo made it clear that the U.S. ruling corporate and political elites are terrified of China’s socialist development and its emergence as an independent country with its own interests and capabilities.
Pompeo’s choice of the Nixon Library as the venue for his speech was no accident. In a maneuver to isolate the Soviet Union, former President Richard Nixon pursued a “thaw” in relations with China beginning in the early 1970s that led to the integration of China into the global market. Pompeo cast his speech in historic terms — the Trump administration was reversing the fundamental policy set into motion by Nixon nearly five decades prior and instead turning to unmitigated hostility. “President Nixon once said he feared he had created a Frankenstein by opening the world to the CCP [Chinese Communist Party]. And here we are.” Pompeo said, invoking crude, demonizing imagery.
He characterized China as a country of oppression, with no freedom of expression or human rights. In Pompeo’s presentation, it is a place so steeped in the evil domination of the Communist Party that only an American-led campaign to end the current system and bring Western “freedom and democracy” to the country will save the Chinese people from their fate.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/pompeo-trump-unleash-new-phase-of-aggression-vs-china/
Cooking meals, accessing healthcare, doing the laundry, caring for children and the elderly, and taking out the trash are daily activities. We rarely think of them as having much social, economic, or political significance. But they do. In our society much of this work is often ascribed to women and also devalued. This hides the fact that all this work is necessary for the reproduction of society, of social relations, of people.
Social reproduction clearly concerns the biological reproduction of children, most of whom will become workers. But one does not have to bear or care for children to engage in social reproduction activities. Every person either engages in social reproduction or pays someone else to do reproductive work each and every day.
In general terms, there are two main classes in capitalist society: those who own and control the means of production (the capitalists) and those who sell their labor power to survive (the workers). Capitalism is constructed around a basic relationship of exploitation. The capitalists profit from the exploitation of workers. Social reproduction deals with the question of how those workers and capitalists are reproduced and maintained.
A social reproduction framework helps us to remember that when we talk about class struggle, we must be concerned not only with the relation of workers and owners at the point of production, but also with the social relations that make and remake those workers and owners. Put another way, social reproduction activities are essential to the maintenance of capitalism, even as capitalist modes of exploitation and domination work to render this work invisible.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/social-reproduction-a-theoretical-framework-with-organizing-potential/
In this 2019 forum in NYC, Comrade Sasha Murphy speaks on the tremendous, inspiring legacy of Chairman Fred Hampton of the Chicago Black Panther Party.
This forum concentrates specifically what we learn and continue in the tradition of being revolutionary socialists. Moving forward the concepts of giving power to the people, loving the people, and being for the people.
In this speech from a 2018 PSL forum in Washington DC, Central Committee member Eugene Puryear speaks on, in context of the downplaying of White Supremacist terrorism, the efforts of US political establishment to paint Black radical movements as extremist and terroristic.
Specifically, Eugene concentrates on historical periods BEFORE the Civil Rights movement from slavery and colonialism to the end of WWII showing that Radicalism is an integral part of Black history and has always been legitimate and justified.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden recently announced a $2 trillion climate plan to be implemented over four years if he wins the presidential seat. The plan promises a 100 percent clean energy economy by 2050. A more moderate version of U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal proposal, the plan eliminates more progressive goals, such as universal healthcare and job guarantees. The Biden plan would need approval by the Senate and House, which after the coming election may or may not be controlled by the Democrats.
Biden’s plan comes as the Trump administration continues to roll back environmental regulations that protect public health and the ecosystem — nearly 100 so far since he took office. While the Trump regime is particularly aggressive in its pro-business, anti-people/planet policies, are we really to believe that Biden is going to lead the charge toward meaningful climate action?
The main focus of the plan is to reinstate Obama-era programs like the Clean Power Plan and fuel efficiency standards with a commitment to clean energy research and development and rejoining the Paris Agreement. These Obama-era policies fell far short of what is needed to reduce the U.S. contribution of greenhouse gas emissions to levels that will avert a runaway scenario.
When you look at what Biden means by “clean energy,” he does not mean solar and wind energy, but is instead referring to nuclear and carbon capture technologies. Nuclear energy has the 3rd highest lifecycle emissions after scrubbed coal-fired plants and natural gas. This is not to mention the catastrophic risk of nuclear reactor failure and waste disposal. And carbon capture technologies actually create more emissions from building the facilities than those facilities can capture.
While campaigning, Biden made it clear that he will not end his support for fracking and recently hired Heather Zichal to help mold his climate plan. Zichal served on the board of the natural gas company Cheniere Energy from 2014 to 2018 — hardly an environmentalist position.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/bidens-climate-plan-tactic-to-win-sanders-supporters-or-something-more/
Buy the book "Climate Solutions Beyond Capitalism" http://store.pslweb.org/Climate-Solutions-Beyond-Capitalism_p_69.html
Some people are hailing the recent Supreme Court ruling on so-called “faithless electors” as a victory for democracy. However, we should be acutely aware that the Electoral College is actually a firewall against democracy.
The case came from Washington state in 2016 when four electors were fined $1,000 each for refusing to cast their votes for Hillary Clinton who had won the state’s popular vote. The four electors cast their votes for Colin Powell rather than Hillary Clinton in a last ditch attempt to get Republican electors to break from voting for Donald Trump. Washington State then fined them $1,000 under a new state law that requires electors to abide by the popular vote.
The intended goal of the suit was not to escape the $1,000 fine. The scope was larger. The plaintiffs were hoping to settle a 230 year old question: Are electors independent, or can a state force them to follow the popular vote of their state? Their desired outcome was for the court to rule that electors could vote their conscience, bringing into question the entire validity of the Electoral College. Another stated outcome they desired was that the conversation created around such a ruling would lead to “a popular uprising to change the Constitution, ditch the Electoral College and embrace the national popular vote.” (Seattle Times)
The history of the Electoral College begins with the history of the United States, or the “American experiment.” In the bourgeois revolution that shook off the yoke of British rule, the colonial settlers set out to form a new type of state without a monarch.
Originally they envisioned a ‘league of friendship” between the 13 colonies and thus formed the Articles of Confederation that created a weak central government. However, class antagonisms would soon arise from the agrarian population against the state governments dominated by the merchant classes in the north. One stark example was the debt crisis that occurred in Massachusetts which would lead to an open rebellion.
Shay’s Rebellion revealed some of the flaws of the Articles of Confederation. The new U.S. bourgeoisie sought to remedy these flaws and to take advantage of what they saw as the “blank slate” of the North American continent. The landed, capitalist and slave-owner elite convened in 1787 to debate a new form of government; one that would protect their ruling class interests.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/the-electoral-college-protecting-the-rich-from-democracy-since-1787/
Una profunda rebelión contra el racismo ha estado conmoviendo a los Estados Unidos durante un mes. Millones de personas han salido a las calles en todas partes del país, sacudiendo la opinión pública. Instituciones de élite, individuos y marcas corporativas están luchando para ofrecer sacrificios simbólicos en el altar de la justicia racial, con la esperanza de poder librarse de la justificada ira en las calles.
Al mismo tiempo, la policía está atacando sin motivo a manifestantes y continúa asesinando afroamericanos, burlándose de todas las declaraciones “oficiales” de “antirracismo”.
Oculto en este hecho está la lección más importante: el sistema capitalista otorga concesiones solo en defensa de su propia estabilidad. Ninguno de los espeluznantes hechos racistas eran desconocidos o indocumentados antes del asesinato de George Floyd. Lo único que ha cambiado es que la gente está dispuesta a incendiar edificios y enfrentarse a las brigadas antidisturbios que disparan con intención a mutilar.
La estabilidad no ha sido restaurada. Multitudes masivas continúan saliendo a las calles; los sindicatos están tomando medidas de huelga por la Liberación Negra; y, en una importante instancia cultural, se presentó a un comunista negro como the hero.
Varios intentos de extinguir las llamas de la resistencia, a través de la fuerza o la adulación, han tenido el efecto contrario. Para las autoridades, esto plantea la pregunta de qué sacará a la gente de las calles. Mientras tanto, los que están en las calles lidian con lo que se necesita para hacer cambios sustantivos y lo que incluso constituiría un “cambio real”.
Hay muchas rebeliones, menos revoluciones. Las rebeliones generalmente se asocian con una batalla de causa justa, las revoluciones con ganarla. Recordamos muchas rebeliones de esclavos en todo el continente americano, pero solo una revolución de esclavos. Celebramos el heroísmo de Nat Turner y Dessalines por igual, pero reconocemos que sus logros son de diferentes órdenes.
Las rebeliones expresan la incapacidad del sistema actual para resolver sus propias contradicciones utilizando el marco político existente. Las revoluciones resuelven esas contradicciones: un nuevo marco, un nuevo sistema.
Lea el artículo completo: https://www.liberationnews.org/de-rebelion-a-revolucion/
For 63 days, every possible attempt to derail a people’s movement in defense of Black lives has been made against protesters in Portland, Oregon. Every red-baiting, reactionary talking point has been deployed. On the ground, the Portland Police Bureau, the National Guard and three different types of federal paramilitary police have attempted to crush dissent. They claim it is about “law and order,” about protecting federal property from “violent anarchists.” Protesters see it for what it really is: repression. Repression of not only of 1st amendment right to peacefully assemble, but of the right of recourse against a racist government that does not serve the people, and finally, repression of a deepening movement.
The protests have ebbed and flowed. There have been internal disputes and setbacks, but the largest crowds ever appeared night after night in the days following the attack on Donavan Labella, shot in the face and permanently brain damaged by a federal rubber bullet. Contingents of protesters–mothers, fathers, veterans, healthcare and culinary workers, teachers, and more–have shown up en masse to join in the call to stop the war on Black America, and to assert the right to protest. To varying degrees, protesters arrive ready to defend themselves from impact munitions and CS gas, donning gear like goggles, helmets, gas masks, gloves, and carrying homemade shields and battery operated leaf blowers.
Some national media outlets have tried and failed to smear these largely non-Black groups of protesters as ‘privileged’ people co-opting a Black movement. Meanwhile in the streets, signs carried by white members of ‘the wall of moms’ read: “Wall of Moms is not the story. Black people dying is the story.” Another sign reads, “REST IN PEACE QUANICE/KILLED BY PDX POLICE,” referencing the 2017 killing of a 17-year old Black child named Quanice Hayes, whose killer still serves in the PPB. These small examples represent an attempt to build trust between an increasingly race-and-class conscious white population and the Black communities of Portland. Two months of protest cannot undo this state’s history (and present) of white supremacy, but this is a beginning.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/portland-anti-racist-protesters-undeterred-by-repression/
Slogans play a key role in all political activities, whether they be local demonstrations, pickets, strikes, or mass movements. While the fact that slogans are short might make it seem as though they’re of minor importance or a mere matter of semantics, the fact is that slogans can be decisive factors in individual and more protracted political struggles, for movements for reform and revolution.
Slogans aren’t just words that we put on banners and placards. They are tools to orient and guide political activity–including mass outreach–to unite different sectors of the movement, to educate people by helping them reach their own conclusions, and to educate the Party by revealing the consciousness of the people.
As crystallizations of complex situations and ideas, slogans distill political theory and strategy into concise formulas; they can’t say everything. Because struggles are dynamic, they have to be re-evaluated constantly. A slogan could be correct one day and incorrect the next.
All of this means that slogans can have real, material consequences. They can advance a struggle or move it backwards, alienate people or draw them in, communicate the truth or deceive.
Whether a slogan is correct or not isn’t an abstract question, but a concrete one. A slogan can be theoretically correct, in that it communicates a political truth, yet still be practically incorrect because it doesn’t relate this truth to the specific conditions of struggle at that time.
Slogans have to be accessible to the broad masses of people, not only in terms of wording but in terms of the content establishing a point of contact with people’s consciousness. This doesn’t mean that they cater to the “lowest common denominator,” but that they speak to the broadest possible segments of the movement. In other words, Marxists don’t create slogans for ourselves and other Marxists, but for the masses. They’re teaching tools.
Like all propaganda, slogans have different scales. They might be specific to one struggle in one town or city at one moment, or they might have national and international relevance. Some slogans take the form of demands, while others take the form of statements.
The purpose of this article is to flesh out the above elements and functions of slogans, and to illustrate the critical roles they assume during concrete struggles. This is illustrated most clearly in the twists and turns of the revolutionary struggle in Russia as it unfolded in 1917. In the final sections, we give some more contemporary examples and then walk through some guiding questions to aid in the formulation of slogans.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/formulating-slogans/
On July 3, the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, signed into law the Anti-Terrorism Bill of 2020, commonly known as the “Anti-Terrorism Law.” The bill, which broadens the definition of terrorism, takes effect July 18.
Historical context
The National Democratic movement in the Philippines has waged a struggle for liberation and democracy against three basic problems: imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. It is the primary mass movement in the Philippines.
The Philippines has been in a state of revolution since the late 1960s and early 1970s with the beginning of a protracted people’s war. The re-founded Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, have been fighting a civil war non-stop since 1969 for the liberation of the Filipino people. The Communist base of power has grown each year, and the NPA now has a presence in a majority of the provinces of the Philippines.
As this war developed, groups like Kabataang Makabayan (Patriotic Youth), an organization of youths and students, and MAKIBAKA (Struggle), a militant women’s rights group, organized mass protests, from January to March 1970, against then-President Ferdinand Marcos, who sought to consolidate his power by implementing martial law. The series of mass actions, known as the First Quarter Storm, saw millions of Filipinos take to the streets to challenge the dictatorship. These groups were later forced to go underground during martial law but continued their resistance against Marcos. While they were unafraid of the word “communist,” the legal implications meant death.
The protracted people’s war continued and alliances developed, including between the NPA and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, as the revolution increased in strength. However, in 1991, in the southern island of Mindanao, a faction split from the MILF called the Abu Sayyaf, an Islamic separatist group that engaged in bombings, extortion, drug trafficking, and assassination. In 2014, the group swore allegiance to ISIS. In 2016, the Philippine government bombed the city of Marawi, displacing thousands of people. Duterte implemented martial law throughout the island as a means to combat ISIS but, more insidiously, to stifle the revolutionary movement where its forces were most consolidated.
In the past two years, overseas Filipinos in the United States have fought tirelessly for the liberation of the homeland. Due to their efforts, the United Nations published a report on Human Rights in the Philippines and more than 300 people mobilized in Washington, D.C., to condemn Duterte’s crimes and war on the people. An episode of NBC’s Superstore had an entire plot line revolving around Duterte’s “War on Drugs,” exposing its violence.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/philippine-president-duterte-signs-anti-terrorism-bill-into-law/
The name Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) is commonplace in the field of education. Ask any teacher or professor of education about Vygotsky and chances are they will at least recall the name from their child development or educational psychology classes. His theories are still foundational to even mainstream education but, as is the case with so many revolutionaries, they have been stripped of their Marxist foundations. One result is that the revolutionary potential of Vygotsky’s theories have remained largely unknown not only inside schools and teacher education programs, but also inside social movements.
This article introduces Vygotsky’s theories on educational psychology and human development, contextualizes them within the transition from Czarist Russia to the Soviet Union, draws out the main elements of his work that have utility for revolutionary organizers, and provides concrete illustrations of their utility.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/vygotskys-revolutionary-educational-psychology/
This short piece is about Cuba's renowned Henry Reeve Brigades, the famous "Cuban Doctors" that travel around the world helping in the world's worst disasters and pandemics.
In this piece, we talk briefly about the history of the brigades, their importance today, and how they are a product of a revolutionary socialist state and society.
We are releasing this on the anniversary of 26 de Julio so that we remember why revolution is both possible AND necessary, so we may be inspired to change our world, and take power for the people!
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/the-henry-reeve-brigades-and-the-fruits-of-revolution/
Yesterday, the United States surpassed 140,000 COVID-19 deaths. More than 3.7 million people in the U.S. are known to have fallen ill, by far the largest number of cases in the world.
The Trump administration’s monumentally criminal refusal to wage effective war on the virus has caused needless suffering for millions. Tens of millions of people are being driven to economic ruin, with unemployment, no health care, and mass evictions looming.
But the pandemic’s disastrous results in the U.S. were not inevitable.
Socialist Cuba is proof
Today, July 20, 13 of Cuba’s 15 provinces — minus Havana and nearby Mayabeque — will move to the third phase of reopening. In the last 28 days, two full incubation periods, the 13 provinces plus the Isle of Youth have had zero incidence of COVID.
Phase three means that all commercial and productive activity can resume, with food establishments, stores, and services able to open. Masks are still required in public, and mass events like the Carnivals that normally take place in July in Cuba are suspended.
Although Havana is still in phase one, the incidence of new COVID cases is extremely low. There was only one new positive case in all of Cuba yesterday. There have been a total of 2,446 positive cases since COVID-19 first appeared in the island, with 87 people who have died. Cuba’s population is 11.2 million.
How has Cuba been able to flatten the curve?
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/cuba-flattens-the-covid-19-curve/
Usually we share narrated articles from our newspaper, but today we want to let you know of an important day of action. This Saturday, July 25, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and other organizations from across the country are taking to the streets to demand “Stop Evictions and Foreclosures, Cancel the Rents & End Racist Police Terror!”
We will adhere to physical distancing guidelines and wear facemasks. Everything to make sure we’re safe as possible
But we have to get out in these streets. Just think about it. More than 50 million people have lost their jobs. 30 percent of home buyers missed their June housing payments. And at least 20 million tenants could not pay their rent.
A wave of evictions and foreclosures is starting to sweep the country. The number of homeless is growing. People are being evicted from their homes while being told to “stay home” in the middle of a surging COVID-19 pandemic. You can’t tell people to stay home and then kick them out for not being able to pay with money they can’t make for work that they can’t do!
But instead of providing real, needed relief, the government is unleashing police: to evict people from their homes, to harass the homeless and to continue to carry out routine acts of violence and brutality in Black, Latino and Indigenous communities.
Since the brutal May 25 police murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police department millions of people have participated in thousands of demonstrations in every state to demand an end to racist police terror and the immediate defunding of police departments. This national revolt against racism is taking place within the context of the unfolding economic depression.
That is why, on July 25 we will be taking to the streets to demand a “Stop to Evictions and Foreclosures, Cancel the Rents & End Racist Police Terror!” JOIN US! Find an action in your city at: CancelTheRents.org
https://www.canceltherents.org/
This essay examines the theory and practice of the Leninist party from the time of Lenin until today. We turn to Lenin’s key writings and to the history of Bolshevism and the international communist movement to delineate the distinctiveness of the Leninist party. Throughout we pay careful attention to the differences between Lenin’s time and ours.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/the-leninist-party-in-history-and-the-present/
PSL organizer Kameron Hurt talks about George Jackson, his revolutionary life, his imprisonment, the historic events around his life, and what we can still learn today from this monumental figure in the Black radical tradition.
The current period is the most favorable for socialists in the United States in decades. Against the backdrop of the Great Recession, waves of activity around the Occupy Movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Bernie Sanders campaign have produced a profound radicalization in political attitudes across society. Socialism is viewed favorably by close to half of the population and a substantial section of young people are sympathetic towards communism and Marxism.
The key challenge facing revolutionaries in this moment is how to convert this explosion in pro-socialist consciousness into an organized force in society. While this includes the rapidly-expanding ranks of new cadre who are dedicating their lives to the cause of socialist revolution, a real organized force in society will draw its strength from the tens of millions of people who suffer the profound injustices of the capitalist system and are searching for an alternative. This base, or potential base, for the socialist movement can be found primarily amongst the 140 million poor people in this country.
As communists and other radicals across the country grapple with this question, the concept of dual power has rightfully become a topic of considerable interest and debate. However, the working definition of dual power used by organizations and individuals is often so broad and general that it renders the term practically useless. As such, it is important to disentangle the concepts and history bound up in these discussions in order to think clearly about the way forward for those fighting for revolutionary change.
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/dual-power-and-revolution/
12 points on the U.S. state and the necessity of revolution
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The Party for Socialism and Liberation stands for the overthrow, dismantling and complete replacement of the core institutions of the capitalist state, which are the “special bodies of armed men,” namely the police, prisons, military and courts. This core of the capitalist state cannot be reformed into a neutral body. It must be abolished by means of a revolution.
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The centrality of these violent institutions in capitalist governance is reflected in their gargantuan scale. Combined, the state institutions far outpace any other part of government spending. The sprawling U.S. prison system is the largest in the world, accounting for 25 percent of the world’s prisoners with only 5 percent of the world’s population. It includes 1,833 state prisons, 110 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,134 local jails, 218 immigration detention facilities, as well as military prisons, civil commitment centers, state psychiatric hospitals, and other institutions. There are more than 790,000 armed officers across local, state and federal police agencies. The U.S. military is one of the largest employers in the world and even in “peacetime” the United States maintains more than 2 million active-duty service members. The National Guard numbers around 450,000.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/how-will-the-police-be-abolished-a-marxist-perspective/
In an exciting development for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, on July 2 the PSL was officially designated by the New Mexico Secretary of State as a qualified political party in the state of New Mexico. This despite the onerous requirement of signature gathering, made even tougher in time of the pandemic.
Now, when New Mexicans register to vote or update their registration, they can make their party affiliation the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Also, when they go to the polls in November, New Mexicans will be able to vote for a grassroots socialist presidential campaign!
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-gains-ballot-status-in-new-mexico/
PSL organizer Kerbie Joseph reminds us that Black Liberation icons like the Panthers were deeply connected to the struggle for socialism, a fact that is often (purposefully) erased.
This PSL public forum from 2019 reviews the now-debunked Russiagate hysteria and how it connects to the tradition of anti-communism in the US to propagate US imperialism. This topic is still relevant today as not only do the establishment liberals still use Russia scapegoating, but now scapegoat other countries as well, namely China.
The following solidarity statement was issued by the International Relations Department of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP)
Dear comrades,
On behalf of the Communist Party of Turkey, we express our heartfelt support for the working people of the United States who took to the streets protesting the brutal murder of George Floyd by racist policemen. In the past weeks, people’s anger has already grown because of the devastating social effects of the pandemic. The Trump administration’s failure in containing the spread of the disease and its outcomes has deepened the vast social inequalities in the United States, marked by unemployment, poverty and homelessness.
The Party for Socialism and Liberation is struggling at the forefront of the manifestations. With their creative efforts and efficient campaigns, comrades of the PSL reveal the bonds between racism and exploitation, which is as we all know in its essence a problem of labour. We are witnessing how powerful the working people can become, when they are united and organized against the dominant classes, regardless of which bourgeois party they are represented by.
Communists in Turkey are and will remain in solidarity with communists of the USA and with the great struggle of the working people there, aiming for justice for Floyd and equality for all.
With comradely greetings, Communist Party of Turkey International Relations
https://www.liberationnews.org/communist-party-of-turkey-justice-for-george-floyd-solidarity-with-the-uprising/
For the 70th anniversary of the official beginning of the Korean War, Liberation School interviewed the People’s Democracy Party, a revolutionary workers’ party in South Korea, to get their perspective on the war and the prospects for peace. The voices of the South Korean left are excluded from mainstream and even many progressive media outlets, and it’s crucial that the U.S. peace movement hear first-hand the ideas and activities of organizers on the Korean peninsula.
The PDP was formed in November 2016, although its founders were active in previous political parties and struggles. They are fighting for national independence, which they view as a prerequisite for building a people’s democratic regime and achieving reunification. Their program calls for a “re-appropriation welfare policy,” which is distinct from a “taxation welfare policy” pushed by social democrats. They are organizing to re-appropriate “the corrupted property of forces against people,” including the Chaebols (large family-controlled capitalist enterprises), foreign capital, and all foreign military basis. They would use this wealth to “resolve the issue of unemployment and precarious workers, realize in practice the policy of free and common education, medical service, and inhabitation, and write off debts for farmers and families.” The “PDP has presented the strict and scientific program for resolving the problems in Corea as specifying the withdrawal of all foreign military personnel and for federated reunification.”
Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/korean-war-70-years/
On the evening of July 3, thousands of community members in Aurora, Colorado, gathered to demand justice for Elijah McClain and to call on the Aurora Police Department to immediately fire the officers involved in his killing. Protesters also demanded murder charges for the killers.
The action was organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the Frontline Party for Revolutionary Action, organizers who have been in the fight for justice for Elijah McClain since he was attacked and then died in August of 2019, and who led the organized takeover of Interstate Highway 225 by three thousand people the Saturday before.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/thousands-march-for-elijah-mcclain-massive-community-blockade-of-police-station-ensues-in-aurora-co/
Journalists in the mainstream Western media often show surprise even as they report on governments in the Global South navigating the COVID-19 pandemic with relative success compared to the chaos in the U.S. and UK. But the success story that they narrate is typically one of individual leadership or culture, as if individuals and cultures are not embedded in political spaces. This article is about Kerala, a state in the southern part of India that elected the world’s second democratically elected communist government in 1957. Kerala is currently governed by the Left Democratic Front led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Kerala has rightfully received many accolades in the past few months for its relative success in handling the pandemic. K.K. Shailaja, lovingly addressed as Shailaja Teacher, is minister of health and social welfare in Kerala. Many news outlets have called Shailaja Teacher the ”rock star health minister“ and “corona slayer“ for her leadership in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. This communist woman’s press conferences will not get the same kind of adulation that Andrew Cuomo receives even though the New York governor did not take the pandemic seriously enough during the critical period at the beginning of the outbreak. But for those who understand Malayalam (the regional language of Kerala), Shailaja Teacher and her team’s press conferences exude confidence and trust among Kerala’s citizens.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/how-a-communist-led-government-in-kerala-responded-to-the-covid-19-pandemic/
It’s probably safe to say the year 2020 has been unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes, even for people who marched against Jim Crow segregation and the U.S. war on Vietnam . We’re witnessing – and part of – a militant, multinational uprising in cities around the world. The police lynching of George Floyd and so many before him may have been triggering event, but fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly fueled the fire.
Tens of millions of people are out of work in this country, with no clear future, and government ineptitude or indifference is exposed for all to see. “American exceptionalism” has taken on a new meaning as European countries ban travelers from the U.S. in order to safeguard their own people. The whole world is watching as people die and “the greatest country on earth” appears paralyzed in the grip of a pandemic it should have seen coming.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/what-do-6-months-of-pandemic-tell-about-usa/
In a country as wealthy as the U.S., you would think ensuring that students have access to quality education and services would not be an issue. You would think that in a country as wealthy as ours, it would be a priority that students and their families remain in good health and have access to health care, as well as mental health care during a global pandemic. You would think that national COVID-19 testing would be required before opening up the doors of schools to students, educators, and staff.
In this country, the people expect these basic public health needs to be met considering the wealth we have generated. Instead, our reality is we continue to see our public schools defunded, and the funds invested into a brutal, repressive, militarized police force whose purpose is to exercise lethal force on all, irrespective of age, race, gender, or supposed criminality. To reverse this inequity, we should defund the police – not our public education system.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/defund-the-police-not-education/
A profound rebellion against racism has been sweeping the country for a month. Millions have taken to the streets in every part of the country, shaking public opinion. Elite institutions, individuals and corporate brands are scrambling to offer symbolic sacrifices at the altar of racial justice in the hopes they will be spared from the righteous wrath in the streets.
At the same time the police are wantonly attacking protestors and continuing to murder Black people, making a mockery of all the “official” declarations of “anti-racism.”
Hidden in just this fact is the most important lesson: The capitalist system grants concessions only in defense of its own stability. None of the grisly facts of racism was unknown or undocumented prior to the assasination of George Floyd. The only thing that has changed is people are willing to burn down buildings and confront the “shoot-to-maim” riot brigades.
Stability has not been restored. Massive crowds continue to come out into the streets; unions are taking strike action for Black Liberation; and a big cultural moment featured a Black Communist as the hero.
Various attempts to extinguish the flames of resistance–through force or flattery–have had the opposite effect. For the authorities this begs the question of what will get people out of the streets? Those in the streets meanwhile grapple with what it takes to make substantive changes and what would even constitute “real change.”
There are many rebellions, fewer revolutions. Rebellions are usually associated with fighting the good fight, revolutions with winning it. We remember many slave rebellions across the Americas, but only one slave revolution. We celebrate the heroism of Nat Turner and Dessalines equally but recognize that their achievements are of different orders.
Rebellions express the inability of the current system to resolve its own contradictions using the existing political framework. Revolutions resolve those contradictions: a new framework, a new system.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/from-rebellion-to-revolution/
Since the murder of George Floyd on May 26, protests in Minneapolis have ignited a global uprising not only in major cities across the United States and globally, but also in small towns from coast to coast. These small towns — some that have not seen any kind of protest in years or even decades —have become activated, now mobilizing to hold marches, vigils, sit-ins and other forms of direct action. Some of these protests, though small and peaceful, have also been harassed and brutalized by the police. Some were called by Black organizers in majority white towns, many were organized by teenagers and students, some brought out dozens while others brought out thousands — but all of them demonstrate the power of this growing movement.
Liberation News reporters have been on the ground in both the big cities and the small towns across the United States, finding a history of police terror and violence in all of them and getting the people’s side of the story.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/small-towns-across-the-united-states-see-unprecedented-protests/
On June 3, the main tenants’ advocacy group in the small city of Ithaca, New York secured a key legislative victory in their fight to cancel rent payments due during the pandemic. The Ithaca Tenants’ Union submitted a resolution to the Ithaca city council which would have the city request that the New York State Department of Health grant the city the power to forgive all outstanding rent payments accumulated since March. The proposal passed six to four, and the next day the city sent an official letter to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the Department of Health asking for the authority to forgive rent and urging the pursuit of mortgage payment cancellations on the state level. This development makes Ithaca the first city in the country to formally request the power to cancel rents due during the coronavirus pandemic.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/ithaca-tenants-win-major-canceltherents-victory/
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union shut down 29 west coast ports on June 19 in remembrance of George Floyd and to mark Juneteenth. All along 2,000 miles of coastline, in 29 ports from Seattle to San Diego, not one container was loaded or unloaded.
The ILWU has a long history of anti-racist and international solidarity. It shut down these ports in 1968 after the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. Union members refused to unload a ship from apartheid South Africa. The union shut the ports to oppose the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and earlier this month, held an 8-minute work stoppage to demand for justice for George Floyd.
This tradition of solidarity came from a historic union struggle in 1934, when dock workers struck for 83 days, culminating in a 4-day general strike in San Francisco. Building anti-racist solidarity was key to their win, and to ending some of the worst working conditions in the country.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/anti-racist-solidarity-brought-victory-for-all-dock-workers-in-1934-san-francisco-general-strike/
On June 15, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that LGBTQ workers were protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In a 6-3 ruling, representing the majority, Justice Gorsuch wrote, “An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law.”
The majority ruled that the protection against discrimination based on sex by the CRA applies to queer folks. The ruling, while welcomed by the queer and progressive communities, was surprising given the conservative nature of the current court.
While the political leanings of the individual justices who sit on the Court are not irrelevant, the ruling reveals that court decisions are based more on the social relations in society at a given moment than on personal views of the justices or the “purity” of the law.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/fearing-a-greater-rebellion-supreme-court-rules-for-protection-of-lgbtq-workers/
Since the lynching of George Floyd on May 25, cities and towns across the United States and internationally have erupted in righteous anger at a government and police force that has never once removed their knee from the neck of Black people. Mainstream media and politicians continue to intentionally misreport the facts to instill doubt in this movement, but Party for Socialism and Liberation members were on the ground across the country reporting for Liberation News, and witnessed a much different story. While this article reports on the protests in New England, these cities and towns are not unique — there is no where in the United States that is free from the epidemic of police terror.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/who-are-the-real-terrorists-mainstream-media-misreports-uprisings-across-new-england/
SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE IN THE US AGAINST THE RACIST THUGGERY OF THE CAPITALIST STATE!
The cause of the mass uprising in the United States against the brutal execution of George Floyd is the cause of the international working class. We, as the Socialist Revolutionary Workers’ Party, join the clarion call being made by the revolutionary peoples’ camp in the United States in their cries for ‘Justice for Floyd!’.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/statement-south-african-solidarity-with-mass-uprising-in-the-us/
During a pandemic and a national uprising against racist terror the Trump administration handed down another devastating blow: the Department of Health and Human Services announced it had completed revisions to the Affordable Care Act removing anti-discrimination protections for women and LGBTQ people in healthcare.
June 12 was a brutal day for the LGBTQ community. People learned of the brutal murders of two Black trans women – Dominique “Rem’Mie” Fells of Philadelphia and Riah Milton of Liberty Township, Ohio – even as we continue to fight for justice for Tony McDade, a Black trans man killed by police in Tallahassee, Florida, last month. It was also the fourth anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting, when a gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 others at a gay club in in Orlando, Florida, in 2016.
Then, in the evening, the DHHS announced it had finalized long-anticipated changes to Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, removing language that protected women and LGBTQ people from discrimination in healthcare.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/trump-administration-rolls-back-lgbtq-and-womens-healthcare-protections/
PSL Member Cathy speaks on being a teacher in Queens, and the unique challenges facing her borough during the COVID19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis.
PSL has public livestreams every week! Follow us at http://www.facebook.com/pslweb
PSL Member Graciela speaks on being a teacher in the Bronx, and the state of her borough during the COVID19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis.
PSL has public livestreams every week! Follow us at http://www.facebook.com/pslweb
On Sunday June 7, an armed man attempted to drive a car into the crowd at the intersection of 11th and Pine. Protesters chased the car and tried to erect a barricade but what saved countless lives was the heroism of a young Black man named Daniel Gregory who reached into the open window of the car and grabbed the driver, who shot Gregory in the arm. Gregory was treated on the scene by street medics and taken to the hospital; he has since been released. The gunman exited his car, brandishing his weapon and surrendered to the police at the barricades; he was taken into custody without so much as a scratch on his body.
Not surprisingly, tensions on the line with cops increased; despite the Mayor’s promise, teargas was again deployed that night.
The next day, protesters continued to face off and then, at one point, they just pushed through the barricade and entered into the zone in front of the police station. The police withdrew from the area and began evacuating the precinct building.
Thus came into being what has become to be known as the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone or CHAZ.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/whats-the-chaz-about-in-seattle/
Hungary’s racist, homophobic, transphobic right-wing government has continued its efforts to divide the Hungarian working class by depriving transgender and intersex people of their right to legally change their genders. Across the capitalist world, LGBTQ rights have become a major target of attack by reactionaries, making it more imperative than ever that the working class rally in their defense.
On May 19, the Hungarian Parliament passed a new omnibus bill that bans transgender or intersex people from legally changing their gender, just the latest attack by far-right forces aiming to firmly cement the rule of the capitalist class.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/far-right-hungarian-government-launches-new-assault-on-trans-rights/
June 4, 1977 marked the start of the Humboldt Park Uprising, in the predominantly working-class, Puerto Rican neighborhood on the West side of Chicago. Following a day of festivals at the Puerto Rican Day Parade, in which more than 3,000 people were in the park, a group of 100 police officers entered the park claiming violence was breaking out. As the police arrested one person suspected of violence, the picnickers tried to intervene on their behalf. Police officers began attacking everyone in the park, including families and children. They began firing shots as well.
Read the full article:
PSL Member Kaleigh speaks on violence against women, its many manifestations, and its deep roots in capitalist society.
PSL has public livestreams every week! Follow us at http://www.facebook.com/pslweb
PSL Member Claudia speaks about the continuing fight for reproductive rights during the pandemic.
PSL has public livestreams every week! Follow us at http://www.facebook.com/pslweb
This week’s class covers the first 30 years of the People’s Republic, the period of the initial construction of socialism and the struggle between two lines. After liberation in 1949, China set about stabilizing the economy and establishing new governmental institutions. Land Reform and the 1950 Marriage Law began a process of social and economic transformation, including agricultural collectivization and urban industrialization. The Great Leap Forward was a high tide of this process, but was undermined by bureaucratic abuses within the CCP. The Soviet Union, which had aided China in the 1950s, withdrew that aid in 1959 as the Sino-Soviet Split intensified. Efforts at Party reform in the early 1960s left Chairman Mao frustrated with the Party’s alienation from the masses, and the Cultural Revolution was aimed at encouraging mass oversight of the Party. Prolonged and complex struggles within the Party remained unresolved until the death of Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong in 1976, after which Deng Xiaoping emerged as the leader of the Party, now focused on a developmental model using market mechanisms to advance the productive economy.
Class page: https://liberationschool.org/china-class-3/
This week’s class covers the first 30 years of the People’s Republic, the period of the initial construction of socialism and the struggle between two lines. After liberation in 1949, China set about stabilizing the economy and establishing new governmental institutions. Land Reform and the 1950 Marriage Law began a process of social and economic transformation, including agricultural collectivization and urban industrialization. The Great Leap Forward was a high tide of this process, but was undermined by bureaucratic abuses within the CCP. The Soviet Union, which had aided China in the 1950s, withdrew that aid in 1959 as the Sino-Soviet Split intensified. Efforts at Party reform in the early 1960s left Chairman Mao frustrated with the Party’s alienation from the masses, and the Cultural Revolution was aimed at encouraging mass oversight of the Party. Prolonged and complex struggles within the Party remained unresolved until the death of Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong in 1976, after which Deng Xiaoping emerged as the leader of the Party, now focused on a developmental model using market mechanisms to advance the productive economy.
Class page: https://liberationschool.org/china-class-3/
On May 19, workers at the meat processing plant, Quality Sausage Co. in Dallas, Texas gathered to protest the company’s mismanagement of a COVID-19 outbreak. The company did not follow CDC safety standards, resulting in three deaths and 63 infections. This company is one of many in Dallas and across the state of Texas that exemplifies the unsafe conditions food industry workers face nationwide.
Quality Sausage closed for two weeks on April 24 following the death of Mathias Martinez. The next day Hugo Dominguez, a forklift operator, also died of COVID-19. The plant reopened on May 8, and Bertha Cervantez died a few days afterward. Hugo Dominguez’s wife, Blanca Parra, is now speaking out and filing a wrongful death lawsuit against Quality Sausage.
“The virus was the gun that killed him but Quality Sausage was the hand that pulled the trigger,” Parra said. “We are asking for justice because the company, and the people who made the decision to continue… putting people at risk need to be held accountable.”
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/pandemic-reveals-worker-exploitation-in-texas-meatpacking-industry/
Across the country protests against racist police violence have only grown stronger in the face of brutal efforts to crush the uprising. A clear turning point was seen in Washington, D.C. as as protesters’ determination escalated sharply after June 1 when Donald Trump decided to violently remove peaceful demonstrators so he could pose with a Bible in front of St. John’s Church near the White House.
Trump’s decision to make a public show of strength appeared to be in response to humiliating accounts of his retreat to the underground bunker, with accompanying images of the White House lights going dark, as protests grew outside on the previous Friday. Whatever the reason, his attempted show of domination misfired badly. If anything, Trump and his team created a textbook example of how NOT to attempt to dominate a situation when people rise up against racist police violence.
Read full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/trumps-photo-op-backfires-in-washington-dc-as-protests-grow-more-determined/
PSL Member Cassie speaks on the unique experiences of being both a mother and a teacher trying to work from home during the pandemic and economic crisis.
PSL has public livestreams every week! Follow us at http://www.facebook.com/pslweb
This second class covers the 30 years from 1919 to 1949, during which the revolution grew from a collection of Marxist reading groups to the establishment of the People’s Republic. We examine the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921, the quest for a revolutionary strategy suited to the actual conditions of China’s economy and society, and the emergence of the CCP and the Red Army as the leading force in the struggle for a New China. We look at the Jiangxi Soviet–which began to experiment with innovative social policies like land reform and the modernization of gender and family relations–and the Long March, an epic venture to relocate the Party’s base area to northwestern China in the face of Nationalist attacks. The Red Army waged prolonged war against the Japanese invaders from 1937-1945. And in the final clashes of the Civil War from 1945 to 1949 the CCP united the Chinese people and triumphed over the reactionary Nationalists of the Guomindang, who fled to Taiwan in 1949. Chairman Mao proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic from the rostrum at Tiananmen on October 1, 1949.
This class was originally held and recorded on May 24, 2020.
Class page: https://liberationschool.org/china-class-2/
This second class covers the 30 years from 1919 to 1949, during which the revolution grew from a collection of Marxist reading groups to the establishment of the People’s Republic. We examine the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921, the quest for a revolutionary strategy suited to the actual conditions of China’s economy and society, and the emergence of the CCP and the Red Army as the leading force in the struggle for a New China. We look at the Jiangxi Soviet–which began to experiment with innovative social policies like land reform and the modernization of gender and family relations–and the Long March, an epic venture to relocate the Party’s base area to northwestern China in the face of Nationalist attacks. The Red Army waged prolonged war against the Japanese invaders from 1937-1945. And in the final clashes of the Civil War from 1945 to 1949 the CCP united the Chinese people and triumphed over the reactionary Nationalists of the Guomindang, who fled to Taiwan in 1949. Chairman Mao proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic from the rostrum at Tiananmen on October 1, 1949.
This class was originally held and recorded on May 24, 2020.
Class page: https://liberationschool.org/china-class-2/
Capitalist politicians here often promote the reactionary and dangerous idea of “American exceptionalism,” by which they mean that the United States is superior to all other countries. In May 2014, President Obama told graduating West Point army cadets, “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being.”
One area in which the U.S. is unquestionably exceptional is the level of state violence directed against African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and working and poor people of all nationalities. U.S. police killings outnumber those in other developed capitalist countries by as much as 100-1!
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/u-s-cops-kill-100-times-rate-capitalist-countries/
PSL Member Kym speaks on the many challenges women face within the system of mass incarceration.
PSL has public livestreams every week! Follow us at http://www.facebook.com/pslweb
The first class in the series is devoted to tracing the decline of the ancient imperial order in China under the combined attacks of Western imperialism and domestic rebellion in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries. China was the most prosperous and sophisticated state in the world through the end of the 18th century, but the Industrial Revolution gave Britain and, later, other Western powers, both new economic power and new military capacities. Britain sold massive amounts of opium to China, then fought a war to open the country to “free trade” when China tried to control the drug dealers. The collapse of China’s domestic economy led to major rebellions, and efforts at reform of the Qing state faltered. When the last imperial dynasty was overthrown in 1911, a period of turmoil followed as Chinese people sought new paths to save their country from imperialist domination and to create a more just and equitable society.
This class was originally held and recorded on May 17, 2020.
Class page: https://liberationschool.org/china-class-1/
The first class in the series is devoted to tracing the decline of the ancient imperial order in China under the combined attacks of Western imperialism and domestic rebellion in the course of the 19th and early 20th centuries. China was the most prosperous and sophisticated state in the world through the end of the 18th century, but the Industrial Revolution gave Britain and, later, other Western powers, both new economic power and new military capacities. Britain sold massive amounts of opium to China, then fought a war to open the country to “free trade” when China tried to control the drug dealers. The collapse of China’s domestic economy led to major rebellions, and efforts at reform of the Qing state faltered. When the last imperial dynasty was overthrown in 1911, a period of turmoil followed as Chinese people sought new paths to save their country from imperialist domination and to create a more just and equitable society.
This class was originally held and recorded on May 17, 2020.
Class page: https://liberationschool.org/china-class-1/
PSL Central Committee Member Karla Reyes speaks on the state of women today during both a health AND economic crisis.
PSL has public livestreams every week! Follow us at http://www.facebook.com/pslweb
On Saturday, June 6 Philadelphians came together for one of the largest protests in the city in decades, demanding justice for George Floyd, victims of police brutality, and all those who face racist oppression.
Approximately 100,000 people assembled by the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art in a rally organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Members of the Working Educators caucus of the Philadelphia Teachers Union, Reclaim Philadelphia, Beyond Arrests: Re-Thinking Systematic Oppression, Socialist Alternative, and the PSL spoke about the systematic police violence targeting Black America and the need for liberation from the racist, capitalist system that sustains it.
Read more: https://www.liberationnews.org/philadelphia-rises-up-against-racism-and-repression-in-historic-march/
PSL Central Committee Member Nathalie Hrizi talks about the history of women's oppression and how women are now and always have been at the forefront of the fight for liberation!
PSL has public livestreams every week! Follow us at http://www.facebook.com/pslweb
May 15 marks the 73rd anniversary of what is billed in the U.S. and Israeli mainstream media as Israel’s “independence,” and what the Palestinian and Arab peoples as a whole know as al-Nakba—the Catastrophe. To make way for the creation of the Israeli settler state, more than 80 percent of the Palestinian population was driven out of their homeland by means of terror.
Washington played an irreplaceable role in the formation of Israel. The U.S. government continues to provide billions of dollars annually and vast supplies of modern weaponry to perpetuate Israel’s continued role as a key instrument in U.S. domination of the strategic Middle East region.
Originally published in 2008, this article has been edited to reflect the passage of time. Richard Becker is the author of Palestine, Israel and the U.S. Empire.
Read more: https://www.liberationnews.org/08-05-13-sixty-years-after-alnakba-in-html/
“I can’t breathe.” The current nationwide uprising against racism is taking place in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Health care workers on the frontlines of the struggle against the virus are acutely aware of the connections between systemic racism and the disproportionate impact of the pandemic on Black, Indigenous and Latino people. On a visceral level, doctors and nurses hear the words “I can’t breathe” from their COVID-19 patients–the exact same words repeated by Floyd George as he was being killed by Derek Chauvin.
Healthcare workers are standing up to say that they are not only interested in treating the physical symptoms of illness in their patients, they want systemic change to foster health and wellbeing and an end to institutional racism in medical care.
Read more: https://www.liberationnews.org/white-coats-for-black-lives-healthcare-workers-solidarity-with-the-uprising/
Link at end of article: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Jyfn4Wd2i6bRi12ePghMHtX3ys1b7K1A/view
This talk was given by Sheila Xiao on September 14th, 2019.
PSL holds livestreams every week Thursdays. Follow us at www.facebook.com/pslweb
"This isn't a riot. It's an uprising! It's a rebellion! And successful uprisings and rebellions become REVOLUTIONS" — Eugene Puryear of the PSL addresses a MASSIVE crowd of 100,000 in Philadelphia on Sat. June 6.
"Everyone likes to care about civil rights, but no politicians cared about civil rights until Black people started shutting this country down and breaking unjust laws!"
Get involved: pslweb.org/join
Today Breonna Taylor would have been 27-years-old. But on March 13, Louisville police murdered Breonna in her own home while she was asleep. An EMT with plans of becoming a nurse, Breonna put her life on the line as a first responder amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Two months after her murder, none of the racist killer cops responsible have been arrested.
Like George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor’s name has been repeated throughout growing rebellions against police brutality and racism that have swept the country over the last 10 days. Hundreds of thousands of people are standing up and demanding justice for their sisters, brothers and communities being brutalized by police terror.
Read more: https://www.liberationnews.org/sayhername-breonna-taylor-would-have-been-27-today/
Class 3 of a 3-part series. There are times when solidarity appears more important than ever. When things are tough, we need comrades who will have our backs. This three-part course examines political solidarity by focusing on comradeship as the relation between those on the same side of a political struggle. Taught by political theorist and organizer Jodi Dean, this course draws on ideas developed in her recent book, Comrade: An essay on political belonging, and discusses what it means to be a comrade, the difference between comrades and allies, the importance of comrades for political struggle, and how to maintain comradeship.
This third class discusses what happens when comradeship ends. What happens when people are no longer comrades? The reading for the class can be found here: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2019/11/comrades-political-organizing-discipline-jodi-dean
Trump declared last night from the White House that he would “end the riots” with a national military mobilization to “dominate the streets” and that “if a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary,” he would “deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them.”
Trump has declared war on this new people’s movement. It is couched in the language of stopping “far-left extremists” and “rioters” — who Attorney General Barr promises will be charged as “domestic terrorists.” But this is classic scapegoating; in fact, it is a declaration of war meant to suppress and quell the whole movement.
Read more: https://www.liberationnews.org/rebellion-and-repression-capitalisms-long-hot-summer-begins/
The enhanced U.S. military presence in Caribbean waters did not deter Iran as the “Fortune,” the first of its five giant tankers full of gasoline and refinery supplies reached Venezuela’s waters late Saturday, May 23.
The ships’ arrival is a major victory for both Iran and Venezuela. Iran’s generous act of solidarity extends a vital lifeline to the Bolivarian Revolution even as the Trump administration is stepping up its regime change campaign.
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/defying-u-s-sanctions-first-iranian-tanker-reaches-venezuela/
Hear from PSL leaders and organizers in a recent livestream event on the cancel the rents campaign. Learn more: canceltherents.org
Liberation News is republishing the following article originally posted in 2014 to answer the lies spread by the U.S. government and its loyal corporate media outlets about China on the anniversary of the 1989 events in Tiananmen Square.
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Twenty-five years ago today, every U.S. media outlet, along with then President Bush and the U.S. Congress were whipping up a full scale frenzied hysteria and attack against the Chinese government for what was described as the cold-blooded massacre of many thousands of non-violent “pro-democracy” students who had occupied Tiananmen Square for seven weeks.
The hysteria generated about the Tiananmen Square “massacre” was based on a fictitious narrative about what actually happened when the Chinese government finally cleared the square of protestors on June 4, 1989.
The demonization of China was highly effective. Nearly all sectors of U.S. society, including most of the “left,” accepted the imperialist presentation of what happened.
At the time the Chinese government’s official account of the events was immediately dismissed out of hand as false propaganda. China reported that about 300 people had died in clashes on June 4 and that many of the dead were soldiers of the Peoples Liberation Army. China insisted that there was no massacre of students in Tiananmen Square and in fact the soldiers cleared Tiananmen Square of demonstrators without any shooting.i
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/tiananmen-the-massacre-that-wasnt/
The Party for Socialism and Liberation believes it is not just a few bad cops, it is the capitalist system itself and its apparatus of repression. The police, courts, prisons and the laws that value private property over lives.
We are a militant organization in more than 90 cities, organizing to fight for a new system: Socialism, where the capitalist repressive state is overturned and a new, anti-racist state replaces it to truly serve the people. Socialism means a job, free healthcare and education, a home for all are guaranteed constitutional rights, instead of commodities out of reach for tens of millions, homelessness and landlordism, racism and police brutality, war and oppression, poverty and hopelessness.
We invite you to join us to fight for socialism. Contact us today!
Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/racism-police-repression-are-the-symptoms-capitalism-is-the-disease-socialism-is-the-cure/
Police rushed into Breonna Taylor's home and murdered her on March 13th, acting just like their slave patrol predecessors. Their callous disregard for Black lives ended in Taylor's murder. Racist mobs are not a thing of the past. They are still alive and well.
Hear PSL organizers speak on coronavirus and the epidemic of racism in capitalist America.
Waffle House, like many struggling industries across the country, has chosen to place the burden of its lost profits on the shoulders of those who keep it running every day of the year.
COVID-19 has brought opportunity again and again for corporate entities and long-standing business empires to ravage the pockets of their workers, those whose labor has lined corporate pockets for generations.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/waffle-house-puts-profits-over-people-in-the-covid-era/
The capitalist class has, not unexpectedly, proven itself unwilling to place human lives over profit-hoarding and welfare for the rich. The Party for Socialism and Liberation’s own Jason Carroll reports directly from the front lines of this struggle, bringing to light the unconscionable disregard Waffle House has shown for its workers in this crisis, and long before.
“Waffle House, instead of shutting down, because they’re losing millions in profit, decided to cut the pay of their managers and cooks while they are on the front lines of the pandemic, risking their lives and the lives of their families,” says Carroll of the WH response to COVID-19. In addition to wide-scale layoffs, what few hours are available are being diverted to management, leaving just scraps of a schedule for other workers to fight over. Of the diminished availability of hours Carroll said, “The fight for hours was already a struggle before these trying times. A coworker recalls working 17 hour days between three different stores just to get the hours he needed. When he refused to go to the other stores in the district, they cut his hours.”
Listen to organizers from the PSL speak on their experiences organizing Cancel the Rents Car Caravan protests!
And join us May 30 for another national day of action to Cancel the Rents! https://www.canceltherents.org/
This podcast is taken from PSL's weekly public livestreams. Follow us on Facebook here. https://www.facebook.com/pslweb/
The Movement now isn't being placated by any promises. We're demanding that the officers involved be named, fired, indicted and convicted. And we'll stay in the streets until that happens.
Hear PSL organizers speak on coronavirus and the epidemic of racism in capitalist America.
We've been here before: when they kill our children, they then try to assassinate their character. Lynchings have a deep history and tradition in the state of Georgia and this country.
Hear PSL organizers speak on coronavirus and the epidemic of racism in capitalist America.
Thousands of people gathered in Minneapolis May 26 to protest the killing of George Floyd and the entire system of white supremacy that police uphold. The previous day George Floyd was pinned to the ground by Minneapolis Police Department officer Derek Chauvin. Chauvin’s knee pressed against Floyd’s neck as witnesses urged Chauvin to stop. Shortly after, Floyd was pronounced dead. His last words were, “I can’t breathe.”
The so-called justice system of the United States fails to protect those harmed by the capitalist institution and instead continues to terrorize Black, indigenous, people of color, and working-class communities. We must continue to organize and fight in solidarity against the murderous police state. Make no mistake, this was no accident. This is yet another killing in a pattern of police brutality against African Americans.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/i-cant-breathe-minneapolis-protesters-vs-racist-police-killing/
The Party for Socialism and Liberation condemns the vicious killing of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police Department. We extend our deepest sympathy to his family and his community. Firing the officers is not enough. Officer Derek Chauvin, and his three police accomplices, must be immediately arrested and charged. Justice can only begin with a conviction and sentencing of all involved!
Read the full article at: https://www.liberationnews.org/psl-statement-justice-for-george-floyd/
These underlying conditions are not even about individual people in and of themselves, but the circumstances of structural racism in which they live. This takes on its own reality here in the time of a pandemic, in the time of COVID-19.
Hear PSL organizers speak on coronavirus and the epidemic of racism in capitalist America.
Class 2 of a 3-part series. There are times when solidarity appears more important than ever. When things are tough, we need comrades who will have our backs. This three-part course examines political solidarity by focusing on comradeship as the relation between those on the same side of a political struggle. Taught by political theorist and organizer Jodi Dean, this course draws on ideas developed in her recent book, Comrade: An essay on political belonging, and discusses what it means to be a comrade, the difference between comrades and allies, the importance of comrades for political struggle, and how to maintain comradeship.
This second class presents Four Theses on the Comrade. The reading for the class can be found here: https://www.e-flux.com/journal/86/160585/four-theses-on-the-comrade/
No more genocide. We say enough is enough. We will stand to defend our right to live in our homelands, free from tyranny, and free from disease. This is a life or death situation, and we all have a right to life.
Hear PSL organizers speak on coronavirus and the epidemic of racism in capitalist America.
The best antidote to COVID-19 and anti-Asian racism is solidarity with the Asian communities and Asian nations, and also public health options. We must have all hands on deck to uproot racism and fight for international cooperation.
Hear PSL organizers speak on coronavirus and the epidemic of racism in capitalist America.
What we now know as Memorial Day began as “Decoration Day” in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. Civil War. It was a tradition initiated by former slaves to celebrate emancipation and commemorate those who died for that cause.
These days, Memorial Day is arranged as a day “without politics”—a general patriotic celebration of all soldiers and veterans, regardless of the nature of the wars in which they participated. This is the opposite of how the day emerged, with explicitly partisan motivations, to celebrate those who fought for justice and liberation.
The concept that the population must “remember the sacrifice” of U.S. service members, without a critical reflection on the wars themselves, did not emerge by accident. It came about in the Jim Crow period as the Northern and Southern ruling classes sought to reunite the country around apolitical mourning, which required erasing the “divisive” issues of slavery and Black citizenship. These issues had been at the heart of the struggles of the Civil War and Reconstruction.
To truly honor Memorial Day means putting the politics back in. It means reviving the visions of emancipation and liberation that animated the first Decoration Days. It means celebrating those who have fought for justice, while exposing the cruel manipulation of hundreds of thousands of U.S. service members who have been sent to fight and die in wars for conquest and empire.
Read more: https://www.liberationnews.org/revolutionary-origins-memorial-day-political-hijacking/
The best antidote to COVID-19 and anti-Asian racism is solidarity with the Asian communities and Asian nations, and also public health options. We must have all hands on deck to uproot racism and fight for international cooperation.
Hear PSL organizers speak on coronavirus and the epidemic of racism in capitalist America.
NYC cannot police its way out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Creative solutions, not budget cuts are what's needed. The police don't serve our interests, they only serve the interests of the ruling class.
Hear PSL organizers speak on coronavirus and the epidemic of racism in capitalist America.
Class 1 of a 3-part series. There are times when solidarity appears more important than ever. When things are tough, we need comrades who will have our backs. This three-part course examines political solidarity by focusing on comradeship as the relation between those on the same side of a political struggle. Taught by political theorist and organizer Jodi Dean, this course draws on ideas developed in her recent book, Comrade: An essay on political belonging, and discusses what it means to be a comrade, the difference between comrades and allies, the importance of comrades for political struggle, and how to maintain comradeship.
This first class focuses on the differences between allies and comrades, and how we go from the former to the latter. The reading for the class can be found here: https://liberationschool.org/from-allies-to-comrades/
Since taking office, the aggressively anti-environment, anti-people Trump regime has overturned nearly 100 environmental regulations — 34 of which are still being fought in the courts. The rollbacks include lifting restrictions on power plants, vehicle emissions, extractive industries and toxic substances, opening up protected lands for drilling, and overturning laws protecting water and wildlife.
These rollbacks will increase greenhouse gas emissions just two years after scientists warned that we have only 12 years to drastically cut emissions in order to avert complete climate catastrophe.
In the end we need socialism, a system run by and for the workers to meet the needs of all people and the planet. We need a planned economy where the workers determine what is needed for society and the health of the planet, where the protection of the planet is inherent to the system. The workers make society run, not the billionaires, and we have the knowledge and tools to overcome the challenges of climate change. When we organize ourselves across borders and divisions and struggle together for a better world, we can win.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/nearly-100-environmental-rollbacks-is-it-the-president-or-the-system/
The war hawks want you to believe that China is bullying and threatening the United States. Don’t fall for it — the truth is just the opposite. Now more than ever the world needs international cooperation and dialogue, not “great power competition” leading to potentially devastating conflict.
Day in and day out on TV, in newspapers, online and in the halls of Congress, the White House and think tanks, the elite molders of public opinion repeat one message over and over: China is the aggressor on the world stage.
This is a lie. To reverse the Pentagon’s reckless drive towards potentially catastrophic confrontation, people in this country need to be aware of the true nature of relations between the United States and China. In fact, it is the United States that is engaged in a comprehensive push to encircle and isolate China using military, economic and political aggression.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/why-china-is-not-the-aggressor/
Building unity between the union and the community. "We as a union have fought for privileges for ourselves, but we know that beyond our personal needs, we also have to lift up families. If we don't rise together, we're going to go back to the same situation we faced before."
Hear PSL leaders speak on the fight for public education in the new era of class struggle from a recent livestream.
The power of strikes and the continuing class struggle. "We were able to undo the damage of a decade of austerity, now we are facing COVID-related budget cuts that threaten to erase our gains from the strike. But what cannot be erased is the fundamental shift in consciousness that came about from our strike."
Hear PSL leaders speak on the fight for public education in the new era of class struggle from a recent livestream.
Reds in Ed: a new initiative from the Party for Socialism and Liberation. "Our communities are on the front line and we, as teachers, stand atthe intersection of so many communities. We have to be tribunes of the people and commit to a struggle for the common good."
Hear PSL leaders speak on the fight for public education in the new era of class struggle from a recent livestream.
Budget cuts and the covid-19 crisis, exacerbating inequities in NYC and beyond. The intequities that students and their families face are already noteworthy. Cutting the budget will push NYC publish schools into an even deeper crisis which we may not be able to bounce back from.
Hear PSL leaders speak on the fight for public education in the new era of class struggle from a recent livestream.
"We know our role in society. We know our families trust us. We know people stand for public education. And we're going to use every opportunity right now to build a fight back for public education. Because when we come together, as workers, as families, as students, we can win!"
Hear PSL leaders from a recent livestream on the fight for public education in the new era of class struggle.
The capitalist mode of production is slowing the development of vaccines including for COVID-19. When the polio vaccine was developed in the 1950s, inventor Jonas Salk famously compared the absurdity of patenting the polio vaccine to “patenting the sun.” If a vaccine is treated as a commodity instead of as a public good, the price paid is in human lives lost.
A global pandemic must be matched by a global effort. The World Health Organization and European Union have launched plans to coordinate efforts on vaccine research and production — efforts the U.S. has so far refused to join. The effort to produce and distribute hundreds of millions or billions of vaccine doses is staggering but can be achieved through international cooperation for the benefit of all.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/how-capitalism-and-racism-hold-back-a-covid-19-cure/
The Trump administration is attacking Trans health access during this pandemic!
The latest attack takes the form of an expected rewrite of the Affordable Care Act, which protects trans people from discrimination in healthcare.
The rule’s rewrite has been a long time in the making. In May 2019, HHS proposed allowing healthcare workers permission to deny care to LGBTQ patients for "religious" or "moral" reasons. Now, the HHS is looking to formally finalize this assault and legally permit discrimination against Trans people.
In a survey conducted in 2017, 29 percent of trans people reported that a health care provider refused to see them due to their gender identity, and 12 percent reported being denied care related to gender transition services. Considering the level of discrimination that already exists,this could open up the floodgates of anti-trans medical bigotry across the country.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/trump-attacks-trans-health-access-during-a-pandemic/
Hear PSL leaders speak on how the Chinese community is organizing to fight back against anti-China racism.
Hear PSL leaders speak on how the fight back has begun, and the difference between our protests and the reactionary right-wing protests.
A real socialist movement can't be based on a politician. In order to build a socialist movement, the working class needs its own party.
Hear PSL leaders speak on building a socialist, working-class party in the U.S.
What would a socialist government's response be to a crisis like the one brought on by the coronavirus?
Hear PSL leaders speak on building a socialist working-class party in the U.S. from a recent livestream.
To confront this centralized, massive power structure, we have to build a counterforce of the organized people from all sections of the working class and exploited peoples.
Hear PSL leaders from a recent livestream on building a socialist working-class party in the U.S.
The U.S. ruling class has perpetuated the myth that it is the greatest country. Suddenly, that myth is now being wiped out in the blink of an eye.
Hear PSL leaders speak on building a socialist working-class party in the U.S. from a recent livestream.
In the early morning of Sunday, May 3, the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela along with the Special Actions Forces of the Venezuelan National Police repelled an armed invasion by speedboats off the coast of La Guaira, less than an hour from the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, recalling past U.S.-backed paramilitary invasions in Latin American states such as the Bay of Pigs in Cuba and the Contras in Nicaragua. As we go to press, the government has issued a maximum alert, with other terrorists having been apprehended in Chuao, west of La Guaira, and other plots suspected.
Venezuelan authorities captured various weapons such as 10 rifles, a Glock 9mm pistol and 2 machine guns along with loaded cartridges of various calibers. Other objects captured were identification documents, satellite telephones, uniforms (including a helmet with a U.S. flag on it) and two notebooks detailing the operation, known as “Operation Gideon.”
Reports have stated that from eight to 10 invaders were killed in the first encounter, along with two being captured. One of the captured is reported to be an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/paramilitary-invasions-in-venezuela-made-in-usa/
As these workers continue to struggle, more victories will follow. And hopefully, what also follows is more urgency for working people to take control of society and seize power.
Hear PSL Central Committee Member Andrew Nance speak on fighting for worker power.
As organizers and revolutionaries, we're not trying to be spectators of a political process. We have to bring to bear the full power of the working class, so that we can advance the struggle.
Hear PSL Central Committee member Ben Becker speak on FIGHTING BACK as the working class.
Why did the U.S. government spend all of its time inciting hatred against China, instead of preparing for the crisis? Our fight back must hold the leaders of this country responsible for this growing crisis.
Hear PSL Central Committee member Sheila Xiao speak on the need to fight racism and scapegoating.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to intensify, poor and oppressed communities will be the hardest hit. This can be seen in Albany, a city of approximately 70,000 people in Southwest Georgia. As of April 17, there have been at least 2,030 confirmed cases, making Albany a city with one of the highest number of coronavirus cases per capita in the world. Additionally, the 78 deaths in Dougherty County, of which Albany is county seat, are the most of any in Georgia. The outbreak has completely overwhelmed the regional healthcare system, which serves over 14 counties in Southwest Georgia. Nurses in the region have been ordered to continue working even if they test positive for the virus.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/the-coronavirus-crisis-in-southwest-georgia-exposes-a-broken-system/
Walkouts, sickouts, sit-ins, picket lines and other forms of protest are sweeping the country from New York to Alabama to California. Essential workers are taking the initiative to demand the on-the-job protective equipment and support necessary to protect themselves against the COVID-19 virus and survive.
The strike wave is an angry response to a corporate establishment that has shown no social obligation to them during the pandemic, and to a federal government which has given trillions of dollars to the banks, but has instituted no regulations for workplace safety against COVID-19.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/essential-worker-strike-wave-we-fight-for-ourselves-and-for-the-public/
At time of publication, only ten countries in the world have surpassed Michigan in their total number of COVID-19 deaths. Michigan, a state with a population of less than 10 million people, has exceeded Canada’s number of cases confirmed today. Wayne County, which houses Detroit, has surpassed the entire state of California in total number of deaths, and has nearly eclipsed Brazil as well.
At Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit, images have recently surfaced of human bodies being stored in vacant hospital rooms, stacked atop each other due to lack of space. At least two people in that hospital have died waiting in the emergency room hallways. The Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office is considering using ice rinks in the Metro Detroit area as provisional morgues.
Over one million people have applied for unemployment, placing the joblessness rate at 25 percent – the highest in the nation. How, in a major city in the richest country ever to exist in human history, could this happen?
Across the country support for incarcerated people has become a rallying cry for all progressive people and organizations. Simultaneously, spontaneous prison actions of resistance have become increasingly regular in the face of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Inmates at the Lansing Correctional Facility in Kansas City started a tier wide uprising forcing guards to retreat from the section of the prison, cellhouse C, where incarcerated people set fires and stormed offices. A rallying call from the prisoner-made footage was “All Gas No Mask!” a play on the expression “All Gas No Brakes” to mean that there is no turning back now because of the lack of life saving personal protective equipment.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/all-gas-no-mask-in-life-and-death-situation-inmates-rebel-amid-pandemic/
While the COVID-19 crisis continues to escalate across the United States, more and more workers are being backed into life or death situations. The crisis is not simply a result of the virus itself but the lack of material governmental response. Many workers, impacted by cuts in hours, job losses or mass school closings are now struck by deep financial precarity, unsure of where next month’s rent money will come from. The lowest paid and most oppressed workers have been hit the hardest.
For working-class women, the Coronavirus crisis has only exacerbated the already-existing fault lines of gender, race and class. Women workers face some of the greatest risks while also being on the frontlines of the crisis. The industries deeply affected by the virus like the service sector, domestic work, and childcare are disproportionately staffed by women. Seventy percent of restaurant servers, 92 percent of childcare workers and 93 percent of domestic workers are women.
Workers need guaranteed pay so they can be home with their kids and properly shelter in place if they aren’t in essential workplaces. The government has the resources to provide all of this. Stop funding the banks and corporations and start funding people’s needs!
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/women-on-the-frontlines-of-covid-19/
Without pressure from the working class, capitalists and the politicians who serve them will concede nothing. This pandemic has exposed how broken the system is, and how deadly the consequences are. We stand in solidarity with the striking workers and the unemployed in these and future crucial struggles.
The 3.3 million people who filed for unemployment benefits as the Coronavirus shutdown began have been joined by an additional 6.6 million newly-unemployed workers in the latest weekly Labor Department statistics. And there are likely millions more who did not file with the Labor Department because websites and call centers were inaccessible or they are unjustly denied benefits due to immigration status. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis has estimated that 47 million people could lose jobs in the next quarter as a result of the pandemic. The resulting 32.1% unemployment rate would far exceed the 24.9% experienced in the Great Depression.
The deadly impact of the pandemic is not surprising, given that tens of millions of people, many of them barely making ends meet, have no access to health care and medical insurance is often linked to employment. Add mass layoffs as businesses grind to a halt, and a purely medical threat becomes a full-blown crisis exposing profound structural flaws in a profit-driven system. The pandemic makes it obvious that workers keep society running, not the bosses.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/politicians-fear-the-people-workers-win-unemployment-benefit-expansion/
This is a segment from our livestream featuring leaders from the Party for Socialism and Liberation on the coronavirus, capitalism and the class struggle.
Are relief measures socialist?
This is a segment from our livestream featuring leaders from the Party for Socialism and Liberation on the coronavirus, capitalism and the class struggle.
When the virus hit, the rich turned tail and ran.
New York is the big money city, the city of Wall Street and the epicenter of capitalism. With at least 65 billionaires and 350,000 millionaires, it is the richest city in the world.
Those who claim to make the world turn have not only been absolutely useless in this health crisis, they also have been dangerous. In the rush to save their necks they did not flee the virus, they took it with them. Their mass exodus to Hamptons coincides with a steep spike in virus cases in Suffolk County, where the Hamptons are located.
Essential workers have gotten no support from the money class who claim to make this city work, and virtually no government protection. Some city and state policies and practices have even threatened their safety. They have been left on their own to individually find a way to stay well as they perform their necessary functions. This is criminal neglect. The result is that front-line workers in NYC and their families have the highest COVID-19 contagion rates and the greatest number of deaths from the virus.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/rich-flee-nyc-workers-deal-covid-19
Ventilators are the most the most important piece of equipment for keeping COVID-19 patients in crisis alive. Yet there is an acute shortage.
There is no central coordination for getting supplies. The states have been advised by the federal government to buy ventilators and PPE on the open market. This has forced states to compete against each other for what exists. Corporations have responded to the demand by jacking up prices.
Why does China have ventilators when the U.S. doesn’t?
China has ventilators because, while there are capitalist businesses there, China has the centralized government of a socialized country. This government prioritized meeting human needs and saving human lives. In marked contrast to the U.S foot-dragging, when the seriousness of the virus became evident, the Chinese government immediately centralized the retooling of more than 1,000 factories to produce needed supplies. Applying science and the principles of public health, China has contained COVID-19. Now it is producing for export many thousands of ventilators, masks, gowns, test kits and other PPE , often given these as gifts to countries hardest hit.
Cuba, a socialist country whose government puts people’s needs first, instituted science-based practices to protect its population. It has very few COVID-19 cases, and is sending anti-viral medications and doctors around the world to assist other countries.
The coronavirus pandemic has revealed the capitalist system to be so bankrupt that, for the sake of humanity, it must be put out if its misery. Capitalism is the virus and socialism is the cure.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/how-wall-st-trump-created-the-ventilator-crisis/
From colonialism to covid, Vietnam has a history of success fighting against deadly diseases.
Vietnam, which shares a border with China and is about 1,200 miles from where the outbreak was first reported in Wuhan, has overcome steep odds in the global fight against COVID-19. As of April 6, the Vietnamese government has reported 245 confirmed cases with 95 recoveries and no fatalities.
Vietnam’s success so far is not simply a miracle. It is the result of a heavily planned economy with a socialist government that puts people over profits. The COVID-19 pandemic has ripped open the weak seams of capitalism and laid bare its callousness in the face of human suffering. In a world where capitalism is a morbid plague, Vietnam proves that there is another way.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/why-has-no-one-in-vietnam-died-from-coronavirus/
People are seeing the starkness and brutality of this capitalist system. In this country, our healthcare is tied to our jobs. We say, free healthcare for all. Gloria La Riva, PSL 2020 Presidential Candidate
This is a segment from our livestream featuring leaders from the Party for Socialism and Liberation on the coronavirus, capitalism and the class struggle.
"The bailout is a massive handout to corporations that's being spun to people as necessary." Eugene Puryear, member of the PSL Central Committee on class struggle.
This is a segment from our livestream featuring leaders from the Party for Socialism and Liberation on the coronavirus, capitalism and the class struggle.
"The working class is the essential class", Brian Becker, member of the PSL Central Committee on class struggle.
This is a segment from our livestream featuring leaders from the Party for Socialism and Liberation on the coronavirus, capitalism and the class struggle.
We need a people's program to fight the virus!
The Party for Socialism and Liberation and the Gloria La Riva/Leonard Peltier presidential campaign call for an immediate emergency program to combat the Coronavirus crisis involving the following measures: - Full sick pay and 100% unemployment insurance for every worker, no evictions or foreclosures - War time emergency production and distribution measures - Free healthcare - Secure housing for all - Strengthen the public health system
and more! Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/a-peoples-program-to-fight-the-virus/
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which passed nearly unanimously on March 27 by Congress and was signed into law by President Trump, is not nearly enough to solve the massive problem facing working class people. Even worse, it constitutes a massive act of robbery because it transfers $454 billion of taxpayers dollars (and potentially 10 times that amount!) to the big corporations and banks.
All the resources to take on this crisis exist; what’s lacking is the political will to use them.
Read the full article: www.liberationnews.org/five-things-workers-should-know-about-the-federal-coronavirus-act
The Trump Administration and the establishment media have waged a campaign of criticism of China’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of this diverts attention from the neglect of the Trump administration and elected officials in fighting the virus here. The following is meant to debunk these myths, to better focus upon what is needed in the U.S. to save lives here, and hold responsible people accountable.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/8-myths-and-facts-about-china-and-covid-19/
As the novel coronavirus COVID-19 continues to spread throughout the world, criminal economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. government are threatening to escalate a public health emergency into a full-blown catastrophe. U.S. sanctions have left the country without sufficient testing kits, ventilators, antiviral medicine and other life-saving supplies. While the World Health Organization, health care providers and human rights organizations have called for the lifting of the sanctions on humanitarian grounds, the U.S. response has been the opposite.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/medical-terrorism-iran-battling-covid-19-is-hit-with-new-u-s-sanctions/
Urgent action is necessary. It is impossible to quarantine in the context of incarceration. Every prison, jail, juvenile facility, and immigrant detention center will become an incubator of the deadly corona virus. Social distancing is physically impossible in lower security facilities.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/arrest-the-virus-free-the-prisoners/
We cannot allow the capitalist ruling class to turn a blind eye to the plight of the incarcerated population — not in general, nor in the particular circumstance of the global pandemic of Covid-19. In the U.S., there are 2.3 million human beings in state, federal, and county jails and more than 52,000 in immigrant detainment camps.
Because the media pounds away at the population with such negative coverage of prisoners — diverting attention from the real capitalist criminals — the idea of many people being freed from the prisons, jails, and immigrant detainment centers could cause a negative reaction.
But liberation is nothing to fear. What is truly scary is the idea that this racist mass incarceration system could be one large mass grave in the context of a global pandemic.
Jael Castro grew up in San Diego near the U.S.-Mexican border. Now she is a bilingual educator in San Francisco, active within the United Educators of San Francisco union, and a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Here is her story.
My father was undocumented while I was growing up. Although I was born here in the states, my household dealt with the issues faced by undocumented people.
Read more: https://www.liberationnews.org/undocumented-during-a-capitalist-crisis/
Now, I see the cycle of capitalism’s crisis starting again. Capitalism fails us in the broadest sense and in the most personal way. It is inherent in capitalism to have recessions and depressions. We are seeing people losing their jobs. All of this is made worse by the outbreak of COVID19. We see people who are not able to quarantine or practice social distancing because they don’t have a home. We see people that can’t apply for unemployment because of where they were born. At the same time, we see Wall Street being bailed out with trillions of dollars. This cycle of events will continue as long as we allow it to.
The time is now. In this time, when capitalism is proving unwilling to meet our needs in a time of crisis, we need to stand shoulder to shoulder and demand for something different. We need to demand for dignity! We need to demand free housing! We need to demand the elimination of student debt! We need to demand free and quality health care! We need to demand the bailout of the people!
The emergency decrees and executive orders of federal, state and local governments are not addressing the real needs to combat the disease and help the people. Tens of millions are already one paycheck away from destitution and homelessness.
Without sweeping economic measures, a catastrophe of monumental proportions stands to affect tens of millions of people.
As it stands, people across the United States are left to fend for themselves. Universities are closing down and evicting students from their dorms. Mass layoffs are already happening, in addition to workplaces being transferred to home work. Many workers are sent home with no pay, schools are closed, and parents scramble for childcare.
The United States has enormous productive capacity to resolve every human being’s needs in the country, employment, housing, health care, education, childcare, secure retirement, a complete overhaul of infrastructure, culture and overall well being. Literally every person could enjoy a full life.
What stands in the way is the system of private ownership. Under capitalism, every essential need for life is in the hands of the capitalists, who only produce if they can make a profit. And yet it is the working class that produces all the wealth. With socialism, instead of profits as the motive force of society, the common ownership and distribution of wealth allows the working class to run society for the good of all.
Today, the virus crisis requires emergency measures of national proportions. How will it all be paid for? Rescind the trillion-dollar tax giveaway to the rich! Use that wealth, shut down the Pentagon budget and use the massive wealth to fight the virus and protect the people, both at home and abroad.
Read the full article: www.liberationnews.org/covid-19-now-a-pandemic-capitalism-exacerbates-crisis
The Democratic Party establishment and the major capitalist-owned media have been waging a low intensity war against the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign for the past year and it is not working too well. Now these attacks are escalating.
Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/the-bernie-sanders-campaign-and-building-the-movement-for-socialism-in-the-us/
The ruling class and its two political parties rightly fear that a new, truly radical and even pre-revolutionary mass movement can quickly sweep through the country as it did in the 1930s and at the end of the 1960s.
The country is badly in need of a mass, energized movement for radical change.
The Sanders campaign is, at this moment, the vessel for a progressive, vaguely socialist insurgency within the confines of the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party has consistently acted against the interests of working people in the United States while trying to present itself as the only option for progressive values. It is a brake on the development of an independent and militant movement in the country. Socialists who understand the Democratic Party is a ruling class party that can not be reformed should support this insurgency.