"The real purpose of socialism is to advance above and beyond the predatory environment. ... The economic anarchy of capitalism is, in my opinion, the real source of evil." -Albert Einstein, Time magazine's Man of the Century The turn of the century is a mathematical calculation. But the changing of the age is a social … Continue reading Editorials
Category: Marxist Theory & History
The Genesis of Proletarian Internationalism
It's in the nature of things that capitalist exploitation and oppression on a global scale begets its own opposite-that is, brings into existence the internationalism of the exploited and oppressed. Both nationalism and proletarian internationalism are relatively recent expressions of the social nature of the human animal. There are many social species, from ants and … Continue reading The Genesis of Proletarian Internationalism
Socialism and the New Millennium
By MARK HARRIS "The imposing edifice of society above my head holds no delights for me. It is the foundation of the edifice that interests me. There I am content to labor, crowbar in hand, shoulder to shoulder with intellectuals, idealists, and class-conscious workingmen, getting a solid pry now and again and setting the … Continue reading Socialism and the New Millennium
Youth In Action: Red Skies Over Minnesota
The red autumn leaves of Minneapolis and St. Paul are bearing witness to more than just lakes and the normal hustle and bustle of the Twin Cities this year. Here, in an area where Trotskyism has had a very significant impact (through the 1934 Minneapolis Teamster strike, for instance), there has been a dramatic revival … Continue reading Youth In Action: Red Skies Over Minnesota
CHINA: 50th Anniversary
By ZHANG KAI It is half a century since the Chinese revolution scored a victory and the People's Republic of China was set up, and with the changes in the relations of production and in class relations, the economy acquired possibilities for rapid growth. According to official statistics, China's GDP rose from 67.9 billion … Continue reading CHINA: 50th Anniversary
Globalization: The Achilles Heel of Capitalism
By LYNN HENDERSON With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the pundits of capitalism-its politicians, economists, media publicists, and corporate leaders-confidently proclaimed a new era. This new era has been described using a number of terms, such as "The New World Order" and "The New World Market Economy." But the term that prevailed and … Continue reading Globalization: The Achilles Heel of Capitalism
Why Capitalism Founders in Russia
By NAT WEINSTEIN A scandal broke in the mass media on Aug. 19, when the Bank of New York admitted to cooperating with money-laundering of some $4 billion to $10 billion swindled from the Russian people by Stalinist bureaucrats and capitalist tycoons. (Russian bureaucrats and tycoons, more often than not, are the same people.) … Continue reading Why Capitalism Founders in Russia
Capitalism and War
By CAROLE SELIGMAN Below is the second installment of excerpts from a talk given by Carole Seligman, the acting national secretary of Socialist Action, at the Socialist Action National Educational Conference, on Aug. 19, 1999. In the first part of this series, which appeared in our September issue, Seligman discussed why capitalism leads to … Continue reading Capitalism and War
The Philosophy of Marxism
By NAT WEINSTEIN Following is a lecture given at the Socialist Action National Educational Conference, in San Francisco on Aug. 22, 1999. Lenin wrote a piece outlining the three component parts of Marxism. They also serve as the heart and soul of Scientific Socialism. They are what make scientific socialism a realistic-and therefore, … Continue reading The Philosophy of Marxism
Youth in Action: Why We Need a Revolutionary Youth Group
By PAUL M. Paul M. is a first-year student at San Francisco State University. Following are major excerpts from a talk he gave on Youth Day (Aug. 21, 1999) at the Socialist Action National Educational Conference.` What a revolutionary socialist youth group is able to do is to centralize all of the experiences and knowledge … Continue reading Youth in Action: Why We Need a Revolutionary Youth Group
Capitalism and War
By CAROLE SELIGMAN Following is the first installment of a two-part talk given by Carole Seligman, a National Committee member of Socialist Action, at the Socialist Action National Educational Conference, on Aug. 19, 1999. Soon the bloodiest century of human history, a century dominated by the imperialist stage of capitalism, will be over. … Continue reading Capitalism and War
Youth in Action: Meet Us at the Socialist Educational Conference!
By ADAM RITSCHER "I'm interested in attending Socialist Action Summer School, and joining a group of young activists." These words from a young woman college student in San Francisco exemplify the type of response members of Youth for Socialist Action have been getting in trying to sign up youth for the summer school. … Continue reading Youth in Action: Meet Us at the Socialist Educational Conference!
BOOK REVIEW: Whose Millennium?
Daniel Singer, "Whose Millennium? Theirs or Ours?" Monthly Review Press, 1999. 295 pp. $17.95 (paper). By PAUL SIEGEL Daniel Singer, the well-known European correspondent of The Nation, seeks in "Whose Millennium?" to demonstrate both the possibility and the need for creating a new society through collective political action. Marxists have often falsely been portrayed by their … Continue reading BOOK REVIEW: Whose Millennium?
Inflation? Deflation? What’s It All About?
By NAT WEINSTEIN The phenomena of inflation and deflation have been mystified in the capitalist owned and controlled mass media. The media has been celebrating "disappearing inflation" as if it were an indisputable fact. But the claim that "the rate of inflation has fallen to its lowest level in more than half a century," is … Continue reading Inflation? Deflation? What’s It All About?
Socialists Played a Key Role in Mobilizing Against the Vietnam War: Lessons of a Winning Antiwar Movement
By CAROLE SELIGMAN The U.S. war against the people of Vietnam lasted 15 years. By its end in 1975, the Vietnamese had won a victory against the mightiest nation of all time. But it came at the cost of over 4 million dead, millions wounded, the countryside poisoned, and the economy destroyed. The United States … Continue reading Socialists Played a Key Role in Mobilizing Against the Vietnam War: Lessons of a Winning Antiwar Movement
The Seattle General Strike
By JOHN RUHLAND SEATTLE-Eighty years ago, working people closed this city down. The great Seattle General Strike of 1919 was not the first or the last general strike in the United States. But the Seattle strike demonstrated-to friend and enemy alike-the tremendous power that workers can generate when they act in solidarity with the struggles … Continue reading The Seattle General Strike
Socialist Action’s World Resolution: A Contribution to a Discussion – Ex-USSR & China
Ex-USSR & China The road to capitalist restoration in the degenerating workers' states of Europe and Asia is more difficult than anyone expected. The world's capitalists acknowledge that these states have a long way to go before their economies are truly market-driven; that is, capitalist. While they have all made varying degrees of "progress" toward … Continue reading Socialist Action’s World Resolution: A Contribution to a Discussion – Ex-USSR & China
Socialist Action’s World Resolution: A Contribution to a Discussion – Cuba
Cuba Discussion is beginning in the Fourth International (FI), the worldwide revolutionary socialist organization, in preparation for the next World Congress. Socialist Action, although prohibited by reactionary U.S. legislation from membership in the Fourth International, remains in fraternal solidarity with the organization. As an initial contribution to the FI discussion, we are printing major excerpts … Continue reading Socialist Action’s World Resolution: A Contribution to a Discussion – Cuba
Death Agony of World Capitalism and the Crisis of Proletarian Leadership
Discussion is beginning in the Fourth International, the worldwide revolutionary socialist organization, in preparation for the next World Congress. As an initial contribution to the discussion, we print below major excerpts from the World Political Resolution approved by Socialist Action's national convention in August 1998. The financial crisis that erupted last October in the so-called … Continue reading Death Agony of World Capitalism and the Crisis of Proletarian Leadership
Fourth International in Crisis
By JEFF MACKLER The programmatic heritage of the Fourth International (FI), the world party of socialist revolution founded in 1938 by Leon Trotsky and his collaborators in response to the degeneration and betrayal of the Stalinized Third International, has been proposed for elimination. The Feb. 21-26, 1999, Amsterdam meeting of the International Executive Committee (IEC) … Continue reading Fourth International in Crisis
Statement by the Socialist Action Political Committee
Solidarity-a loose association of ex-revolutionary socialists, ordinary reformists, and other disparate radicals-has gone way out of its way to defend the capitalist government's attack on Carey and the Teamsters Union. This group is a far more aggressive and shameless defender of government intervention in the Teamsters than are the central leaders of the Teamsters for … Continue reading Statement by the Socialist Action Political Committee
Mexican Socialists Show Gains at Convention
MEXICO CITY-The Mexican Socialist Unity League (LUS-Liga de Unidad Socialista), which was founded last year, held its first regular convention on the weekend of Jan. 9-10. The group was formed by activists who wanted to maintain the perspective of building a revolutionary socialist party. In the recent period, most of the Mexican socialist left abandoned … Continue reading Mexican Socialists Show Gains at Convention