7 October 2013 — International Socialism
There has been a significant revival of interest among the radical left in “big picture” questions of socialist strategy that, as Mark L. Thomas has pointed out, represents a return to “important debates of the left largely absent over the last three decades”.1
13 September 2013 — The Bullet • Socialist Project E-Bulletin No. 877
Why did ‘real socialism’ and, in particular the Soviet Union, fall? Let me note a few explanations that have been offered. With respect to the Soviet Union, one very interesting explanation that has been suggested is that it’s all the fault of Mikhail Gorbachev. And not simply the errors of Gorbachev but the treachery. Those who offer this explanation rely in particular upon a document which is sometimes described as his confession. This document begins as follows:
7 August 2013 — Links – International journal of socialist renewal
August 6, 2013 — For a good part of his 33 years in power, Robert Mugabe has presided over a ruthless dictatorship. From the thousands killed in the 1980s Gukurahundi massacres and misery for millions under ESAP [structural adjustment plan], Operation Murambatsvina and hyper-inflation of 2008.
2 August 2013 — Socialist Resistance
[And here’s a defence of the ‘Party of Left Unity’. WB]
A debate has begun inside Left Unity – the project to set up a new party of the left in Britain – about what kind of party it should become. Here Tom Walker argues the case for the Left Party Platform
1 August 2013 — Left Unity
[The following is a statement that defines the proposed new party of the left, ‘The Left Unity Party’ by the undersigned at the end of the doc. Though frankly, after reading it, I’m trying to figure out why they bothered, its 10-point plan differs not one iota from the ‘plans’ of other supposedly left parties here in the UK and elsewhere amongst the imperialist states. WB] Continue reading
30 July 2013 — New Left Project
It is easily forgotten that the 1980s were nearly not the 1980s at all, politically speaking. At the decade’s outset, an aggressively organised, ideologically diverse Left insurgency was the ascendent force in a Labour Party hovering around 50% in opinion polls, as the British public recoiled from the initial, monetarist-brutalist phase of Thatcherism.
20 July, 2013 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal
The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) is an important “far left” organisation in Britain which, among other things, organises an annual educational conference — Marxism — in London. The SWP is undergoing a crisis which is only one aspect of a much larger phenomenon, taking place on a global scale within the revolutionary left. This involves a recomposition of the revolutionary socialist movement as a political force, in tandem with the struggles of the multi-faceted working class struggling against the effects of the present world crisis of capitalism.
Toronto — 24 June 2013 — Socialist Project
A presentation by Brian Roper, author of The History of Democracy – A Marxist Interpretation. Continue reading
5 June 2013 — Links International Journal of socialist Renewal
June 4, 2013 — Real News Network — Today the uprisings witnessed a new development, when Turkey’s Confederation of Public Workers Unions, KESK, consisting of 11 unions and approximately 240,000 members, declared their decision to stage a massive two-day strike. The action, which was originally planned for a later date in response to labor law modifications, was rescheduled to June 4 now, in response to the government’s excessive use of police brutality and its increasingly undemocratic practices. For the full transcript, click HERE. Continue reading
20 April 2013 — China.org.cn
Following the death of Hugo Chávez on March 5, 2013, last Sunday’s presidential election in Venezuela produced a narrow victory for the Socialist candidate Nicolas Maduro.
12 April 2013 — The Real News Network
Miguel Tinker Salas: The Presidential elections in Venezuela will decide if the socialist transformation will continue or a pro-US elite will return to power Continue reading
10 April 2013 — Venezuela Analysis
With just a few days to go till Venezuela votes for a new president, the mainstream media has stepped up its campaign in support of opposition candidate Henrique Capriles.
9 April 2013 — Green Left Weekly
Do oil spills make good economic sense? A witness called by Canadian firm Enbridge Inc. – which wants approval to build a $6.5-billion pipeline linking Alberta’s tar sands with the Pacific coast – told a recent hearing in British Columbia (BC) that the answer is yes. He said oil spills could benefit the economy, giving business new opportunities to make money cleaning it up. He told Fishers Union representatives that an oil spill in BC might indeed kill the local fishing industry, but their lost income would be replaced by compensation payouts and new career prospects, such as working for oil cleanup crews.
22 March 2013 — Counterfire
The Peoples’ Assembly will meet in London on June 22, where thousands of those opposing the Coalition’s cuts will gather to work out a strategy to defeat austerity, and by implication, the government. Waiting till a 2015 election is hardly an option. It would be to allow more irreparable damage to be done. And many people, way beyond the radical left, will be wary of assuming that an Ed Miliband government, without strong pressure from below, will do much to alleviate the collective suffering caused by austerity. Continue reading
20 March 2013 — The Bullet • Socialist Project E-Bulletin No. 787
The death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has prompted the international left to acknowledge two key features about him and Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution. The first is Chávez’s commitment to fighting for the poor and oppressed. Plenty of statistics demonstrate this. Literally millions have been lifted out of poverty and given new opportunities to improve their lives. Examples from daily life abound. I remember speaking to an upper class anti-Chavista once who was complaining about how, since Chávez came to power, it had become difficult to find maids. Continue reading
12 March 2013 — HLLN
We shall sing a song to honor the life of Hugo Chavez – Yon Mapou Tonbe Written by Jean-Claude Martineau/Koralen, sung by Carole Demesmin http://www.margueritelaurent.com/pressclips/MapouTonbe.mp3
19 March 2013 — Monthly Review
Samir Amin is director of the Third World Forum in Dakar, Senegal. His books include The Liberal Virus, The World We Wish to See, and The Law of Worldwide Value (all published by Monthly Review Press). This article was translated from the French by James Membrez.
25 February 2013 — <a class=”relay” href=”http://www.newsocialist.org/”>New Socialist
At the moment that I am writing this text, the massive social <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>uprising in Slovenia continues and enters, with even fiercer political determination, into a new stage of political maturity. What began as an isolated sparkle in late November 2012 in Maribor, the second biggest city of Slovenia, spread to other cities and weeks later culminated in an all-Slovenian uprising composed of unprecedented masses across the country. The images of riots, broken windows, tear gas and police repression spoke of unprecedented political violence on the streets. The social <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>uprising also brought a fire burning the central myths of the Slovenian story of successful transition from the <strong class=’StrictlyAutoTagBold’>socialist past.
4 February 2013 — Venezuelanalysis – Aporrea
In his regular column “A Critical Space for the Construction of Socialism”, leftist Venezuelan political scientist Nicmer Evans looks at the state of the Bolivarian project on the 21stanniversary of the Chavez-led civic-military coup attempt against the neoliberal government of Carlos Andres Perez, on 4 February 1992. Despite the coup’s failure, it was the event which thrust Chavez into the public light and played a key role in his election as Venezuelan president in 1998. In his article, Evans argues that the Bolivarian project has reached a stage of maturity in which “the fact we’re talking about socialism must never be left to one side”. Continue reading
30 December 2012 — Radical Notes
The New Dark Age 