debates

Why Kautsky Was Wrong (and Why You Should Care)

Why Kautsky Was Wrong (and Why You Should Care)

During his lifetime, Karl Kautsky was such an influential theorist he was called the “Pope of Marxism” — but he was also famously branded “the renegade Kautsky” by Lenin for his betrayals of revolutionary socialism. In recent years there have been efforts to revive Kautskyism in order to justify reformism and electoralism. This approach is as wrong as it always was: Kautskyism remains a renegade socialism that is fundamentally opposed to revolution.

Palestine, Revolutionary Morality, and Liberation: A Reply to La Botz and Shalom

Palestine, Revolutionary Morality, and Liberation: A Reply to La Botz and Shalom

Dan La Botz and Stephen R. Shalom’s recent writings in Tempest have scolded supporters of Palestinian armed resistance. Their abstract moralizing about October 7 comes as no surprise: despite their stated international socialism, a look at their past writings reveals a tendency towards philosophical idealism, and a definite drift rightward toward reformism and liberalism.

Why We Support Palestinian Armed Resistance

Why We Support Palestinian Armed Resistance

Supporters of Palestinian armed resistance have faced criticism from some on the left who moralize about terrorism and civilian deaths or make false accusations of campism and Third Worldism. Firebrand stands firmly with Palestinians in their national liberation struggle, and with those who support them. This position is justified not only by a radicalizing mass movement, but by the best of the Marxist tradition.

Protest Photos: Facing the Unblurred Truth

Protest Photos: Facing the Unblurred Truth

Repression has always been a problem for people seeking social change. From direct physical attacks by police and vigilantes to the firing and evicting of union activists, the ruling class doesn’t make it easy to challenge their power. Contemporary methods of...

The Spectre of Spontaneism

The Spectre of Spontaneism

“We don’t have a mass revolutionary party. If we did, I would join. Once upon a time, a revolutionary vanguard existed. After the defeat of the New Left, the vanguard has to be rebuilt. We need to knit together activists. Without soviets there would have been no...

Is the US Still a Settler Colony?

Is the US Still a Settler Colony?

Too often morality is the only guide to politics on the left. Oppression and exploitation are obviously disgusting — however, overcoming them takes analysis and strategy, not just outrage. One example of this is the widespread dismissal of workers in the United States...

Years for the Locust? Part Two: Leninism Deformed

Years for the Locust? Part Two: Leninism Deformed

Continued from Part One After my first experiences with the International Socialist Organization (ISO), what convinced me to join was the sincere belief that my views and actions mattered. After meeting up with some comrades from the organization in early 2011, we...

Years for the Locust? Part One: The Myth of the Microsect

Years for the Locust? Part One: The Myth of the Microsect

Introduction “Trotsky considers the opportunist current and its leaders somewhat as victims of circumstances… There is no doubt that opportunism, like all else in the world has its objective causes in external conditions. But in politics more than anywhere else, to...

In Defense of Revolutionary Organization

In Defense of Revolutionary Organization

What kind of party do we need? Or what kind of party should revolutionary socialists be focused on building? I want to propose some answers to the organizational questions we’re facing. But more than that, I want to invite those who are asking the same questions to...

On Mutual Aid: Limitations, Opportunities, Strategies

On Mutual Aid: Limitations, Opportunities, Strategies

In recent years, mutual aid has overtaken protest as a dominant form of Left political action. When the US government failed to address anything more than the barest of needs during the pandemic, communities organized themselves. After this same government repressed...

Is There a Socialist Mode of Production Separate from Communism?

Is There a Socialist Mode of Production Separate from Communism?

A specter is haunting communism: the specter of “socialism” Reformists and Stalinists, social democrats and communists alike have invented “socialism” as a replacement for Karl Marx’s revolutionary communism. They try to divert the left-wing movement from its goal of...

Building Followers and Bitter Dissidents, But Not Leaders

Building Followers and Bitter Dissidents, But Not Leaders

“A supporter of the theory of scientific communism does not take anything on word. He judges everything by reason and experience…. Bureaucratic and artificial discipline has crumbled to dust at the moment of danger. Revolutionary discipline does not exclude but...

Against Dual Membership in the DSA

Against Dual Membership in the DSA

We have enacted a policy prohibiting our members from holding dual membership in our organization and the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). This policy is based on our commitment to working-class independence and revolutionary socialism, because we understand...

Crimes Against Humanity

Crimes Against Humanity

The U.S. government and most of the press are trying to whip up support for the U.S./NATO intervention in Ukraine. Labeling Putin a war criminal helps that effort. VP Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and President Joe Biden have solemnly pronounced...

No U.S./NATO Arms to Ukraine 

No U.S./NATO Arms to Ukraine 

Sharp divisions among revolutionary socialists The question of war has always been a key division among socialists. It divides reformist supporters of the capitalist state from revolutionary opponents of the capitalist state. Since the late 1800s, it has divided soft...

TikTok, Surveillance and Imperialism

TikTok, Surveillance and Imperialism

Many people probably know about the proposed ban on TikTok. Biden, the Democrats, and Republicans are coming together in bipartisan unity to limit free speech. They’re attacking an app that many of us not only use for funny and stupid videos, but also for political...