Socialism
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Day of the people: Gracchus Babeuf and the communist idea By Doug Enaa Greene
For Babeuf, a communist operating in the midst of France’s bourgeois revolution of 1789, saw a future beyond capitalism. For Babeuf, there were many roads that had been opened by the French Revolution, some of which led to a society dominated by competition, or social democracy while Babeuf wanted to push the revolution to its… Continue reading
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Non-market socialism: Life Without Money – An Interview with Anitra Nelson
For the contributors of the volume, socialism/communism is not just a state or goal which we have to achieve in some distant future; rather, it is built through immediate practices that reject capitalism and its key institutions – market and money. Continue reading
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Political life after the Communist Party By Kate Hudsen
In 1991, Kate Hudson was one of the leaders of the left opposition within the Communist Party of Great Britain that unsuccessfully attempted to prevent that organisation’s dissolution. Here she writes on political life after the Party. Continue reading
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Capitalism, Crises, and a Socialist Alternative: In Conversation With Michael A. Lebowitz By Rebekah Wetmore and Ryan Romard
The crisis of world capitalism starting in 2007 was the most severe crisis of capitalism since the Great Depression and thus far the recovery, both globally and within Canada, has been weak at best. With this mind, to what extent is the current crisis cyclical and in what ways is this related to a broader,… Continue reading
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Democracy and the Communist Party By Aniket Alam
This paper, rather preliminary note towards a full paper, attempts to look at the troubled history of democracy (both as a concept as well as a practice) and parties claiming affiliation to Marxism-Leninism. Continue reading
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Michael Lebowitz: Socialism for the 21st century — re-inventing and renewing the struggle
First, why don’t workers put an end to capitalism – given its destruction of human beings and the environment (something Marx was so conscious of). In particular, given the declining standards of life for decades in the United States, the economic disaster in Europe and the current crises, how is it that the system is… Continue reading
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Is There an Alternative for Capitalist Economics and Politics? Richard Wolff Says Yes
Few are better equipped than economist Richard Wolff, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, to address the massive failings and inequalities of capitalism as he does in his latest book, Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism. Continue reading
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Video: Do We Oppose the Anomalies of Capitalism or Capitalism Itself?
Gáspár Miklós Tamás Interviewed by SkriptaTV Continue reading
banks, Capitalism, conference, corruption, democracy, Europe, IMF, interview, police, UN, Video, World Bank, WTO -
Interview with Gianni Vattimo: "Only Weak Communism Can Save Us" by Víctor Amela
Industrialism. Stalin imposed the development of heavy industry against agriculture and thence the displacement of people, the sacrifices, the deaths. . . A crazy dream! Continue reading
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United Left National Convention: ‘This is the Spanish SYRIZA!’By Dick Nichols
On the last day of the 10th federal convention of the Spain’s United Left (Izquierda Unida, IU), Juan Peña, young IU organization secretary for the Castilian town of Valladolid, summed up his view of the impact of the indignado(15M) movement on the IU, one of the oldest broad left formations in Europe: “15M brought IU… Continue reading
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United Left National Convention: ‘This is the Spanish SYRIZA!’By Dick Nichols
On the last day of the 10th federal convention of the Spain’s United Left (Izquierda Unida, IU), Juan Peña, young IU organization secretary for the Castilian town of Valladolid, summed up his view of the impact of the indignado(15M) movement on the IU, one of the oldest broad left formations in Europe: “15M brought IU… Continue reading
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What’s new on Reading From the Left
Reading from the Left is a non-commercial project to promote socialist pamphlets and books from a wide range of publishers and all are free. Continue reading
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21st Century Eco-Socialism? Struggles over Nature in Venezuela
In this interview, Santiago discusses the peaks and valleys experienced by the mesas técnicas de agua and the differences between 21st century socialism and eco-socialism. He concludes by proposing a radical rethinking of the human-nature relationship. Continue reading
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Books: The Contradictions of “Real Socialism”
What was “real socialism”—the term which originated in twentieth-century socialist societies for the purpose of distinguishing them from abstract, theoretical socialism? In this volume, Michael A. Lebowitz considers the nature, tendencies, and contradictions of those societies. Beginning with the constant presence of shortages within “real socialism,” Lebowitz searches for the inner relations which generate these… Continue reading
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Video: The Concept of "Fairness": Possibilities, Limits, Possibilities
Keynote address by Michael A. Lebowitz: The Concept of “Fairness”: Possibilities, Limits, Possibilities. The talk draws on Lebowitz’s latest book, The Contradictions of “Real Socialism”. Continue reading
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What went wrong with ‘real socialism’?
Those of us who share Marx’s vision of socialism as a society of freely associated producers therefore have a responsibility to understand and explain what went wrong with 20th Century socialism, why it went wrong, and how we would avoid repeating the same mistakes in the future. Continue reading
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U.S. Election: Sawant, Stein, and Post-2012 Left Strategy By Pham Binh
With more than 16,000 votes (a whopping 28 per cent of the vote), the campaign of Socialist Alternative’s Kshama Sawant in Washington’s 43rd legislative district is a bright beacon of hope on the otherwise bleak horizon of the 2012 election for the American left, although you wouldn’t know it by reading the party-line and left-liberal… Continue reading
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Video: Occupy Socialism: Alternatives to Economic Inequality, Imperialist War and Ecological Destruction
29 September 2012 — Socialist Project View complete playlist (in 3 parts) or watch individual parts here: Part 2 (20 mins) and Part 3 (Q+A, 17 mins). Ingo Schmidt is an economist, a writer, and a labour educator. He is the Coordinator of the Labour Studies Program at Athabasca University. Continue reading
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France: The Rise of the Left Front By Murray Smith
The Left Front (Front de Gauche) emerged onto the political scene at the beginning of 2009. As the Left Front to Change Europe, it was established by three organizations – the French Communist Party (PCF), the Left Party (Parti de Gauche, PG) and the Unitary Left (Gauche Unitaire, GU) – with the aim of standing… Continue reading
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Why today’s radicals must read Marx’s Das Kapital by Mike Wayne
The relevance of Marx’s Das Kapital to the modern capitalist world is once again getting a hearing. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the opening up of China to international capitalism, the political and economic elites declared that a new economic paradigm had arrived, bringing with it undreamt promises of wealth… Continue reading
The New Dark Age 