The Russian Revolution By February 1917, the people of Russia were starving due to food shortages, freezing due to coal shortages and exhausted from the war effort. The czar had led the country into another war of aggression where workers and peasants fought on the battlefield only to help realize the imperialist dreams nursed by … Continue reading The Russian Revolution
Category: Marxist Theory & History
Salvador Allende’s Chile
On September 11 1973 the Chilean army carried out the coup d’etat which it had been planning for the preceding two and a half years.The Popular Unity government was overthrown and its President, Salvador Allende, was shot dead in his room at the Moneda Palace, a large section of which was destroyed by artillery and aerial bombardment. The "Chilean … Continue reading Salvador Allende’s Chile
A Marxist analysis of Cuba
The text below consists of major excerpts from a resolution, "Death Agony of World Capitalism and the Crisis of Proletarian Leadership" that was approved by Socialist Action's national convention in August 1998.The Cuban revolution of 1959 profoundly changed economic and social life on the island. Within two years after the revolution, the capitalist system had … Continue reading A Marxist analysis of Cuba
Afrocentrism vs. Eurocentrism in Ancient History
by Cliff Conner The text below is by Cliff Conner, and is available in pamphlet form from Socialist Action Book for $2.50 by writing to 298 Valencia St., San Francisco CA 94103. The use of the word “history” in the title of this talk may be a little misleading, because the place and period of time that I … Continue reading Afrocentrism vs. Eurocentrism in Ancient History
The Russian Revolution & the Struggle Against War
by Mary Scully / December 2007 To understand the Russian Revolution in its relationship to World War I, we need to start with the origins of WW I, not as it is taught--as a response to German aggression--but as it actually was. The assassination of the Austrian crown prince by a Serbian nationalist is insignificant and the … Continue reading The Russian Revolution & the Struggle Against War
Obama counsels Arab nations to ‘follow Poland’
On his visit to Warsaw at the end of May, President Obama cited Poland as a ‘living example” for Arab nations that are currently in revolt. The U.S. sees Poland as the most successful case of an Eastern European country in which capitalism has been restored.Poland was the only EU country that did not fall … Continue reading Obama counsels Arab nations to ‘follow Poland’
How socialists fought government repression in 1940s
by Jim GrilliIn light of the FBI’s recent attack on the civil liberties of antiwar activists in the Midwest, it would be useful to look back to a moment in history in which state-sponsored oppression served as a tool for silencing dissent.During the 1930s and ’40s, working people in the United States made tremendous gains … Continue reading How socialists fought government repression in 1940s
Statement to the Trotsky Museum Conference
Message from Jeff Mackler, National Secretary, Socialist Action, U.S. fraternal section of the Fourth International (founded by Leon Trotsky), and from Barry Weisleder, Federal Secretary, Socialist Action / Ligue pour l'Action socialiste, in solidarity with the Fourth International in Canadian state.Comrades and friends,Please accept our deepest apologies for not being with you on this special … Continue reading Statement to the Trotsky Museum Conference
SA Answers Justin Raimondo’s Attacks
by Michael Schreiber, editor of Socialist Action newspaperJustin Raimondo, a contributor to numerous ultra-right media outlets and editorial director of the mis-named “Antiwar.com,” has now chosen a new target for his diatribes. At the end of July and early August, for two weeks running, he has concentrated his fire on the organized antiwar movement in … Continue reading SA Answers Justin Raimondo’s Attacks
Ernest Mandel: A Revolutionary Life
Reasons to Oppose a Left-Right Antiwar Coalition
Farrell Dobbs: His Work in the 1934 Mpls Truckers Strike
Anishinaabeg prepare for long, hot summer in 1855 Treaty rights battle
by Jeff ArmstrongNearly 200 members and supporters of the indigenous Anishinaabe nation gathered on the shores of Lake Bemidji in northern Minnesota on May 14 to assert their treaty rights under U.S. and international law to hunt, fish, and gather wild rice free of state regulation. While generations of Anishinaabeg (referred to in treaties as … Continue reading Anishinaabeg prepare for long, hot summer in 1855 Treaty rights battle
Curious George Attends a Tea Party
“Fascism is not a set of ordered beliefs… it is essentially an emotional protest, partly of those members of the middle class (such as small shopkeepers) who suffer from modern economic developments… It is irrational, in the sense that it cannot achieve what its supporters desire… If it could succeed, the results would be widespread … Continue reading Curious George Attends a Tea Party
The Falling Rate of Profit
Leon Trosky Speech
Alexander Cockburn’s light is out at the end of the tunnel!
BY JEFF MACKLER [Jeff Mackler is the National Secretary of Socialist Action and a national antiwar leader for the past 45 years. For more information, visit http://www.socialistaction.org, jmackler@lmi.net.] Alexander Cockburn’s Sept. 4-6 “CounterPunch Diary“ hit piece against the U.S. antiwar movement, “Deeper into the Tunnel,” merits the serious attention of all antiwar fighters and organizations. … Continue reading Alexander Cockburn’s light is out at the end of the tunnel!
Robert Novak and the Art of Red-Baiting
By JOE AUCIELLORight-wing journalist and television commentator Robert Novak has died after a long and vile career of political mendacity. Even in mainstream journalism, an often duplicitous business where information is ultimately presented in a way to support the class that controls it, Novak further debased the job of reporting through viciousness, deceit, and treachery.In … Continue reading Robert Novak and the Art of Red-Baiting
Nationalize the Banks Under Workers Control!
[by Andrew Pollack]Simultaneous with the announcement of his 10-year budget plan, Obama rolled out new bank bailouts.Obama announced on February 26th he was considering giving $750 billion or more to banks, and that he had budgeted $250 billion in reserves, based on a conservative estimate of what it could lose in the course of spending … Continue reading Nationalize the Banks Under Workers Control!
Socialist Action Convention Pictures
Click on the link below to see pictures from the recent Socialist Action National Convention held in Hartford, Connecticut:
Video of Forum on the Spanish Revolution
Obama’s Victory: A socialist perspective
[a Socialist Action editorial]Barack Obama, a Black man, has been elected President of the United States. Few, if any, thought his victory was even a remote possibility in racist America when capitalism’s two-party multi-billion dollar electoral charade began twenty-one months ago.When Obama’s win was projected early on as a certainty by television stations across the … Continue reading Obama’s Victory: A socialist perspective
A Workers’ Action Program to Confront the Economic Crisis
[by Andy Pollack]The liberals propose to tweak the Wall Street Bailout on behalf of the amorphous “taxpayers” living on a mythical “Main Street.” Revolutionary socialists, in contrast, start from the needs of flesh-and-blood workers, and rely on their class power to challenge ruling class attacks.For that reason our Action Program for this crisis begins with … Continue reading A Workers’ Action Program to Confront the Economic Crisis
No Bailout for Wall Street!
[by Jeff Mackler]One day in late September 2008, the top representatives of the tiny hereditary US ruling class, the trillionaires who really run the country and own and control its banks, insurance companies and major corporations, cloistered in a very private locale, most likely in Washington, to figure out how to deal with what everyone … Continue reading No Bailout for Wall Street!