Our Public Meetings

Harris, Trump, and the End of Lesser-Evilism

Wednesday, July 24, 2024

In some ways, the election cycle through which US workers are currently suffering is distinct from those that have preceded it. The far right continues to convincingly campaign in this country and others for a narrow mandate on state power it will use to further crush the working class and oppressed and pull back what slim gains remain from victories of the past. At the same time, the center-right “opposition” is even more unable than before to mount a convincing program for what it would do with the same mandate. 

In other ways, this election is exactly the same as those of the past. Two representatives of the capitalist class jockey for power and demand that workers identify themselves with one of them. The Biden regime justifies its claims to our votes not by anything it proposes to do, but by insisting that the extreme right they have nurtured and protected will be worse. “Vote for Joe,” Biden supporters insist, “and he will stop the things that have been happening while he is in power from continuing to happen under Trump.” 

Socialists see elections under capitalism not as expressions of the opinions of individual citizens but one of many arenas of class struggle. The question, then, is what should socialists — not as individual voters, but as an organized force — do in this election? 

Featured Speaker
Mark J (he/him) is a founding member of Firebrand.

Recommended Material

• “Who’s going to be the lesser-evil in 1968?” by Hal Draper
• August Nimtz on Lenin and “Lesser Evil” Voting 

The Bipartisan War on Immigrants

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

In the past few months, tensions have been rising between the different sectors of the ruling class over the issue of immigration. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has ordered the Texas National Guard to arrest migrants en masse, in an offensive he calls “Operation Lone Star”. He is supported by another 25 far-right governors.

The Biden administration views this as a usurpation of the federal government’s authority to enforce the border, as this has been understood as an authority given solely to the federal government. On the one hand, this has led to a Supreme Court battle and tense standoffs between federal Border Patrol and the Texas National Guard over who really has the authority over the border. On the other, it has led to the looming death and mass incarceration of migrants. In fact, 2023 was already the deadliest year on record for deaths at the border, and this year seems set to keep pace. 

Featured Speaker
Kendall G (he/him) is a founding member of Firebrand and the Seattle Revolutionary Socialists.

Recommended Material

• “US economy: saved by immigrants” by Michael Roberts
• “Far Right Forces Are Attempting to Generate a National Emergency at the Border” by Justin Akers Chacón
• “The Border Crossed US: The Case for Opening the U.S.-Mexico Border” by Estefania Castañeda Pérez 

Intifada Until Victory

Wednesday, Jan 17, 2023

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. 

What will it take to actually liberate Palestine? Those committed to Palestinian liberation must fight to overthrow U.S. imperialism and therefore capitalism as well. A single-issue focus on Palestine or even just on imperialism is not enough — we need an organization that fights on all fronts and connects them together to the overthrow of capitalism.

Featured Speakers
Jim Poe (he/him) is a member of Firebrand and an at-large member of Denver Communists based in Sydney, Australia.

Steve Leigh (he/him) is a founding member of Firebrand and the Seattle Revolutionary Socialists. He has been an active Marxist since 1971 and was a founding member of the International Socialist Organization. He was a shop steward in SEIU for 35 years and is a member of the retirees chapter of SEIU 925.

Recommended Material

• “Why We Support Palestinian Armed Resistance” by Firebrand

• “Ending apartheid in Palestine: the case for a revolutionary strategy” by Anne Alexander

• “Revolution Until Victory” by Sumaya Award and brian bean, Conclusion of Palestine: A Socialist Introduction

Out of the Voting Booth, Into the Streets: Revolutionaries & Electoral Politics

Wednesday, Oct 11, 2023

Can progressive social change be advanced via the political parties of the capitalist class? Should we support left Democrats, like the Squad? What can we learn from the history of the socialist movement’s various approaches to voting and electoral politics?

Featured Speaker
James Radek (he/him) is a founding member of the Denver Communists, Firebrand, and the Revolutionary Socialist Network.

Recommended Material

• “Marxists & Elections” by Paul D’Amato

• “Elections aren’t a path to socialism” by Daniel Taylor

• “Revolutionary parliamentarism? Lenin, the Bolsheviks, and the electoral arena” by Todd Chretien

• “The Ballot or The Streets or Both? From Marx and Engels to Lenin and the October Revolution” by Alex Snowdon

Toward a Revolutionary Party: Our Short- & Long-Term Tasks

Wednesday, Aug 16, 2023

Marx and Engels wrote that communism is the real movement to abolish the present order of things, but the present order of things—capitalism—has the day-to-day advantage over us and uses it, forcing its ideas on working people at work, through all forms of media, and in every part of our daily lives.

To organize against capitalism, communists need to have a strategy for projecting our ideas. We also need an approach to making our ideas the basis for organized work and building organizations suited to pursuing and developing our politics.

How should communists seek to project our ideas into the world? What obstacles do we face? And which of the many approaches to anticapitalist organization provides the best path forward to defeating capitalism’s project of exploitation and oppression?

Join Firebrand for a presentation and discussion of communist perspectives and strategies for building a revolutionary party.

Featured Speaker
Mark J. is a communist organizer, writer, and educator in eastern Kansas. He is a founding member of Firebrand.

Recommended Material

• “Communist Perspectives for Firebrand — Part One: A World in Crisis” by E. Reed
• What Is To Be Done? by V.I. Lenin, Ch. 1, Section D: Engels On the Importance of the Theoretical Struggle
• From Little Things Big Things Grow by Mick Armstrong, Section 1: Introduction and Section 2: The nature and tasks of a socialist propaganda group 

The Fraud of Stalinism: Recovering Communism from the Tankies

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

In recent years, many on the Left have turned away from social-democratic reformism (great!) and toward Marxism-Leninism (not so great). Many are seeking revolutionary, anti-imperialist politics against milquetoast, social-democratic, pro-US military liberalism.

However, history reveals that, far from a force for revolution, Marxist-Leninists (aka Stalinists, “tankies,” and the like) have held back working-class revolutions and liberation struggles – including in the Global South. In truth, Marxism-Leninism is neither Marxist nor Leninist.

Join communists from across the US to uncover the history and put forward a revolutionary alternative to both social-democratic reformism and Stalinism.

Featured Speakers
Doug Greene is an independent communist historian from the Boston area. He has written a biography of the communist insurgent Louis Auguste Blanqui and a takedown of DSA founder Michael Harrington. His new book, Stalinism and The Dialectics of Saturn, examines debates about Stalinism.

E. Reed is a founding member of the Boston Revolutionary Socialists and Firebrand. His articles have appeared in the International Socialist Review, Red Flag Boston, and Firebrand.red.

Recommended Material

• “Stalinism and Bolshevism” by Leon Trotsky
• “Thirty Years After the Russian Revolution” by Victor Serge
• A People’s History of the World by Chris Harman, pp 560-570, “Through the Looking Glass” to “The Cuban Revolution” Epub / Mobi / PDF

Understanding Imperialism

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Russia’s war on Ukraine is symptomatic of the world situation. We have decisively entered a new period of inter-imperial rivalry and conflict. At the same time, the question of imperialism and international struggle has divided the Left.

Concretely, on the one hand, many sympathize with Ukraine’s resistance to the Russian invasion but have fallen into the trap of supporting US and NATO arms and intervention. On the other hand, some on the Left endorse Putin’s claims that Russia has a legitimate right to invade and see the US as the sole enemy of liberation and socialism.

We reject this false choice. We say neither Washington nor Moscow. No to US/NATO arms, no to Russia’s invasion. The main enemy is at home.

Join us to study the Marxist understanding of modern imperialism and discuss the world situation today. We will start with brief presentations, followed by open discussion.

Recommended Material

• “Lenin and Bukharin on Imperialism” by Phil Gasper
• “The Asymmetric World Order: Inter-imperial Rivalry in The Twenty-first Century” by Ashley Smith