Marxism

Our Perspective on Palestine

Our Perspective on Palestine

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.

Palestinian Liberation from Below: A review of Palestine and Marxism by Joseph Daher

Palestinian Liberation from Below: A review of Palestine and Marxism by Joseph Daher

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.

How to Fight Trump (And How Not To)

How to Fight Trump (And How Not To)

The second Trump administration’s horrific attacks on immigrants, the oppressed, workers, and the public sector have been met with an encouraging wave of protest by the broad left. However the anti-Trump movement has also been mired in liberal patriotism and misplaced hope in the courts. By contrast, a truly effective resistance will pose a real threat to the ruling class.

Our Perspective on the Economy

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...

How Should Marxists Relate to Maoism?

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,...

The Enduring Lessons of the Russian Revolution

The Enduring Lessons of the Russian Revolution

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...

Marxists and Elections: Frequently Asked Questions

Marxists and Elections: Frequently Asked Questions

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...

Soldiers: Workers in Uniform

Soldiers: Workers in Uniform

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...

Everything You Hate Isn’t Fascism

Everything You Hate Isn’t Fascism

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...

Why Socialists Don’t Vote for Our Enemies

Why Socialists Don’t Vote for Our Enemies

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...

A Marxist Critique of The Black Antifascist Tradition

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...

Why Kautsky Was Wrong (and Why You Should Care)

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,...

Neither Dogmatism nor Eclecticism, But Marxist Dialectics

Neither Dogmatism nor Eclecticism, But Marxist Dialectics

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...

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...

Report Back from the Socialism Conference in Sydney

Report Back from the Socialism Conference in Sydney

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...

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...

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...