a communist organization
Firebrand is committed to revolutionary socialism, internationalism, liberation from all oppression, and the political independence of the working class. We stand in the tradition of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, and Luxemburg. We intervene in social movements and labor struggles to the best of our ability, in order to advance those fights and win our fellow fighters to revolutionary conclusions.
Our Latest Writing
Our Perspective on the Economy
Tackling a topic as big as the current state of the economy is not easy. One could write volumes about it and still only scratch the surface, and indeed many have done just that. In order to avoid trying to boil the ocean, we will instead focus on a few specific...
Imperialist Blowback on Bourbon Street
In the very early morning hours of New Year’s Day, a rented Ford pickup truck driven by a United States military veteran barreled down a crowded Bourbon Street in New Orleans, killing fourteen revelers and injuring another thirty-five. After the truck disabled itself...
Jimmy Carter: War Criminal and Founder of Neoliberalism
Earlier this week, Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, died at the advanced age of 100. The outpouring of tributes to Carter as news of his death broke reflected his great popularity. Though he was despised by the right-wing during his presidency,...
Social Murder Avenged: The UnitedHealthcare Assassination and the Need for a Revolutionary Movement
In the early hours of December 4, Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed by a lone gunman on his way to an investor meeting in Midtown Manhattan. UHC is the largest health insurer in the United States, covering over 50 million people — more...
The Inquisition with Footnotes: Grover Furr’s Stalinist Conspiracy Theories
In the 1930s, the Soviet Union was wracked by intense violence known as the Great Terror or the Great Purge. During this time, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin initiated a series of public show trials to eliminate his political competition within the Communist Party. ...
How Should Marxists Relate to Maoism?
It is often the case that newly radicalizing Marxists end up confused about our relationship to Maoism. Is it just “Marxism in China” or “socialism with Chinese characteristics”? Is it a newer form of Marxism which we can learn from and engage with? What Maoist ideas,...
Our recent statements
Our Perspective on the Economy
Tackling a topic as big as the current state of the economy is not easy. One could write volumes about it and still only scratch the surface, and indeed many have done just that. In order to avoid trying to boil the ocean, we will instead focus on a few specific...
Jimmy Carter: War Criminal and Founder of Neoliberalism
Earlier this week, Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, died at the advanced age of 100. The outpouring of tributes to Carter as news of his death broke reflected his great popularity. Though he was despised by the right-wing during his presidency,...
Social Murder Avenged: The UnitedHealthcare Assassination and the Need for a Revolutionary Movement
In the early hours of December 4, Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was shot and killed by a lone gunman on his way to an investor meeting in Midtown Manhattan. UHC is the largest health insurer in the United States, covering over 50 million people — more...
A Marxist Critique of The Black Antifascist Tradition
The Black Antifascist Tradition, by Jeanelle K. Hope and Bill Mullen, is an extensive overview of the politics of anti-racist struggles by Black people in the United States. Published earlier this year by Haymarket Books, it is, first of all, a very interesting and...
The Rise of Christian Nationalism in the US
The religious right-wing, made up largely of white evangelicals, holds a great deal of political power in the United States. They form a formidable voting bloc, with presidential candidates seeking and depending on their endorsement. As a dominant force among...
Advances, Limits, and Lessons of the Student Intifada
The eruption of Gaza solidarity encampments on college campuses around the world has been a welcome and unexpected shot in the arm for the Palestine liberation movement. In hindsight, the pot simmered on campuses for months before boiling over. Last fall, universities...
Why Kautsky Was Wrong (and Why You Should Care)
Karl Kautsky’s grandson John told a very revealing anecdote about attitudes towards his grandfather in the 1960s. He recalled a historian named Georges Haupt, who had many discussions among students about the history of the Second International. During those talks,...
Ian Angus’s The War Against the Commons: A Vital New History of the Bloody Rise of Capitalism
In Marxist theory, primitive accumulation is, as Marx defined it in Capital Volume I, “the historical process of divorcing the producer from the means of production.” Occurring at different times in different regions around the world, primitive accumulation is the...
On the Ground with the Student Intifada
Auraria Campus, Denver Report by James Radek A protest encampment in solidarity with Palestine was established on Thursday, April 25 on Denver’s Auraria Campus, which is home to the University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University, and Community College of...
Solidarity with Jodi Dean, and with All Victims of McCarthyist Attacks on Intellectual Freedom
On April 13, 2024, the President of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York state summarily dismissed Jodi Dean, professor of politics, from her teaching position at the institution. The dismissal is ostensibly temporary, pending an investigation into claims...
What Is Fascism? Strategy and Tactics in the Struggle Against the Far Right
Fascism arose in the 20th century as a capitalist response to its own crises and the increased threat of the communist movement after the Russian Revolution. Fascism is a symptom of capitalism in decay, and is especially centered on the ruined petty bourgeoisie and...
Out of the Voting Booth, Into the Streets: Revolutionaries and Electoral Politics
According to the dominant view on the broad liberal-left, to achieve progressive change we must elect officials with progressive politics. Liberalism claims we can eliminate the problems inherent in capitalism without eliminating capitalism itself, and by using the...