Part of our perspectives series, this piece analyzes the trend toward political polarization among the two wings of the US ruling class, represented by the Democrats and the Republicans. The once-unified ruling class has been fragmented by decades of neoliberalism and economic crisis. This has led to a loss of class consciousness on the right wing and a new political landscape that revolutionaries need to understand.
Part of our perspectives series on major issues, this piece addresses the ongoing genocide in Palestine, its effects on the region and the US, and what approach communists should take in organizing against US imperialism. The societal crisis wracking Israel together with an unprecedented Palestine solidarity movement suggests the potential collapse of the Zionist project in our lifetimes, even in the face of increasingly draconian crackdowns against activists.
The Swiss-Syrian academic and activist Joseph Daher has contributed an excellent Marxist perspective on the Palestinian struggle. Providing clarity on important questions that remain contentious for the movement — from the “Zionist lobby” to support for armed resistance — the book is a valuable intervention on the meaning and methods of Palestinian liberation.
In a few short weeks, Donald Trump’s second presidential administration has quickly established new lows in reactionary cruelty and chaos compared to his first. With an entrenched far-right nationalist movement behind him in his MAGA minions, and more support from key...
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...
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,...
What does the election say about current consciousness? Are a majority of Americans now MAGA racists? People approach elections pragmatically. The majority decides how to vote on the basis of lesser-evilism. They estimate which candidate will be better for themselves...
This article is a partisan intervention. Being a communist means taking sides, specifically the side of the international working class and all oppressed peoples. As Marx and Engels wrote, communists “have no interests separate and apart from those of the proletariat...
Read part one here: Why Socialists Don’t Vote for Our Enemies Won’t it be easier to organize under a Democrat? All else being equal, probably not. The variables at work in determining the prospects for working-class organization go beyond which party is in the White...
As imperialism keeps intensifying through new and expanding military operations around the world in the drive to access new markets for the capitalist class, communists must understand why we should view soldiers as workers. We also need to consider how to persuade...
Is fascism an immediate threat in the US, or anywhere else? A lot of people with different kinds of politics seem to think so. As someone who looks at the leftist corners of the internet quite a bit, I can safely say I see the word “fascism” used to describe things...
Sir,We congratulate the American people upon your re-election by a large majority.If resistance to the slave power was the reserved watchword of your first election, the triumphant warcry of your re-election is, Death to Slavery.— Karl Marx to Abraham Lincoln,...
In his 1997 text “The Metaphysics of National Bolshevism,” the Russian fascist philosopher Aleksandr Dugin said the coming together of the political left and right under the banner of national Bolshevism represented the future: The rule of National Bolshevism, its...
Read part two here: Marxists and Elections: FAQs Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race and the candidacy of Kamala Harris has changed the character of the coming election. Instead of just another in the endless, monotonous slog of election cycles, with the...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
Marxism represents a complete and vigorously materialistic world-view. A complete world-view differs from an eclectic one in that each of its aspects is connected in the closest way with all the others, and therefore one cannot with impunity eliminate one of them and...
“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...
I want to start off by admitting that I am totally what you might call a “basic girl.” I love overpriced oat milk lattes, and going to Target as a form of therapy. For the past two years in a row, I was in the top .03% of Taylor Swift listeners on Spotify. It’s a...
Earlier this month, I attended Socialist Alternative’s Socialism conference in Sydney. For readers outside Australia, I’m referring to the Australian Trotskyist organization (which was a cousin of sorts to the ISO in the US before the latter disbanded), and not the...
The anti-racist and anti-police brutality movement has turned toward abolitionism in recent years. It has called for the complete elimination of police and prisons. This is a radical turn and to be applauded, but it does have its problems. One of the key arguments for...
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...