socialism
-
Amidst capitalist crisis and war, Russian Communists struggle against Putin and the oligarchs
MOSCOW—Walking along the thoroughfares of the Russian capital these days, it’s easy to feel as though you’ve gone “Back to the Future.” Like Marty McFly in the classic 1985 movie, visitors to Moscow might imagine they’ve traveled back in time to the Soviet past, when socialism beat Hitler and the future of communism beckoned on… Continue reading
-
The Struggle for Women’s Emancipation Will Always Be Worth It: The Twelfth Newsletter (2024)
8 March was not always International Women’s Day, nor has there always been any such day at all. The idea emerged from the Socialist International (also known as the Second International), where Clara Zetkin of the German Social Democratic Party and others fought from 1889 to hold a day to celebrate working women’s lives and… Continue reading
-
The Sickness of the American Left and the Path to Recovery
The U.S. has entered a dark period. Economic crisis wracks its capitalist system. Military instability and chaos reign supreme over its imperialist ventures. Political illegitimacy worsens by the year, at times by the month. These conditions sound favorable to the growth of revolutionary possibilities within the citadel of imperialism. Continue reading
-
Books: The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology
John Bellamy Foster’s brilliant recovery of a century of ecological and socialist thought will inform, enable, and inspire a new generation of reds and greens Continue reading
-
There is no shortcut to an ecosocialist future
Voting for liberals won’t work. Nor will isolated actions by small groups. Building mass movements is hard work, but it is the only way to win Continue reading
-
FBI Seized Legally Privileged Materials From Julian Assange After Arrest In Ecuador Embassy
The FBI in the United Kingdom enlisted the Ecuador government’s help in seizing legally privileged materials from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange after he was arrested and expelled from the Ecuador embassy in London on April 11, 2019.According to Gareth Peirce, one of Assange’s attorneys, that day she “made immediate contact with the embassy in regard… Continue reading
-
Making the case that green politics must be ecosocialist
Essays by pioneering ecosocialist Joel Kovel argue that radical social change is the only way to prevent ecocatastrophe Continue reading
-
Labour, socialism & the search for a party By Terry Bell
What will workers decide when faced with the confusion of 48 political parties listed for the national and provincial poll on May 8? Many clearly did not register to vote, some have said they will abstain, others remain uncertain about who to support. Continue reading
-
The specter of Marx haunts the American ruling class By Barry Grey
Last month, the Council of Economic Advisers, an agency of the Trump White House, released an extraordinary report titled “The Opportunity Costs of Socialism.” The report begins with the statement: “Coincident with the 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth, socialism is making a comeback in American political discourse. Detailed policy proposals from self-declared socialists are… Continue reading
-
Book Review: Can the working class change the world?
The title of Michael Yates’ new book asks a question that every socialist has heard many times. We hear it from liberals who think changes can only be made by working inside the system. We hear it from radicals who simply can’t imagine working people moving against the system. And if we are honest we… Continue reading
-
Cuba’s New Draft Constitution: Institutionalizing Revolution and Reversing Personalization
Cuba’s National Assembly passed a new draft constitution, to replace its existing Soviet-era constitution via national referendum in a few months. Many changes are in the works, including the recognition of private property and gay marriage. But will it mean real change? We discuss the constitution with Prof. Liz Dore and James Early Continue reading
-
Back in the USSR: Turning Power into Money, the End of the Soviet Union – RAI with A. Buzgalin (4/12)
On Reality Asserts Itself, Prof. Alexander Buzgalin says that many Communist Party leaders supported Gorbachev’s perestroika reforms, but what they really wanted, was to drop restrictions on accumulating great wealth – with host Paul Jay (inc. transcript) Continue reading
-
Back in the USSR: Success and Mutation in the Soviet Union – RAI with A. Buzgalin (2/12)
On Reality Asserts Itself, Prof. Alexander Buzgalin says the threat of European fascism propelled the militarization and bureaucratization of the USSR Continue reading
-
The End of the road for capitalism or for us all? By William Bowles
My dream is that before I die, I see at least a glimmer of real change, a sign that finally we, the so-called privileged of this world get our act together and rid our world of the parasites who prey on us, the 1% that we talk so glibly about. But you know, that without… Continue reading
-
István Mészáros: Capitalism and Ecological Destruction
István Mészáros, one of the finest political philosophers of our time, died on October 1. As this article shows, he was one of the first Marxists to identify the global environmental crisis as a central contradiction of late capitalism. In 1970, he received first Deutscher Memorial Prize for his book Marx’s Theory of Alienation. The… Continue reading
-
Disastrous Capitalism – But is a Labour government the solution? By William Bowles
The reality is that Corbyn’s aspirations are also the aspirations of twenty million citizens, maybe more. That’s one-third of the population. It also means that at least one-third are not afraid of the word socialism. What an opportunity! Or will it be a missed one? Continue reading
-
Full Corbynism: Constructing a new left Political Economy beyond Neoliberalism
19 June 2017 — New Socialist by Joe Guinan and Thomas M. Hanna [I’m working on a followup to my previous outings on Corbyn, the Labour Party and the left, to be published shortly. I am still not convinced that Corbyn can so transform the Labour Party as to effectively make a new political formation Continue reading
-
Full Corbynism: Constructing a new left Political Economy beyond Neoliberalism
To consolidate the ambitious project they have initiated, Corbyn and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell must follow through on the construction of a radical new left political economy. The responsibility is enormous. As McDonnell has said, ‘I want us to surpass even the Attlee government for radical reform. The situation demands nothing less’. Continue reading
-
John Bellamy Foster answers five questions about Marxism and ecology
27 March 2017 — Ecologize – Climate & Capitalism Can Marxism strengthen our understanding of ecological crises? The author of Marx’s Ecology replies to a critic on metabolic rift, sustainable human development, degrowth, population growth, and industrialism. Introduction: The Indian website Ecologize recently published John Bellamy Foster’s Foreword to Ian Angus’s book Facing the Anthropocene. Commenting on Foster’s article, journalist and activist Saral Sarkar, Continue reading
-
An essential summer reading list courtesy Climate & Capitalism
29 June 2016 — Climate & Capitalism John Bellamy Foster Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature Monthly Review Press, 2000 This is a classic, the one book you absolutely must read if you want to understand what Marx actually thought and wrote about humanity’s relationship to the rest of nature. Foster demonstrates that Marx’s work is deeply Continue reading
The New Dark Age 