History and Traditions

The story of the San Patricios--Irish soldiers who left the U.S. Army to fight for Mexico in the 1846 war--is an important but hidden story of resistance to empire. March 19, 2010

The practice of cloaking military invasions in idealistic garb has a long history--to hide the real aims of conquest, colonization and exploitation. February 23, 2010

The right wing used Howard Zinn's death as an opportunity to spew vitriol, but some mainstream historians are also dismissing his work. February 11, 2010

To know that Howard Zinn was a part of our struggle made people stand a little taller and feel a little more committed and confident about our fight. February 5, 2010

The civil rights movement's lunch counter sit-ins--direct action protests against a hated symbol of Jim Crow segregation--began 50 years ago today. February 1, 2010

With Howard Zinn's death, we lose a man who did nothing less than rewrite the narrative of the United States. January 29, 2010

He taught millions about the hidden history of resistance in America--and he was a fixture of countless struggles for justice and equality. January 28, 2010

A rebellion of slaves in the ancient world still thrills us today with its size--and the way it humbled the greatest empire of its day. January 15, 2010

One of the key figures of the French student revolt of 1968 and a revolutionary through all the years since has died after 15 years of living with AIDS. January 13, 2010

The movement for global justice lost an irreplaceable comrade when the South African poet and activist passed away December 26. January 4, 2010

Even in his last days, Dennis Brutus was fully engaged, advocating protest against those responsible for climate change and social injustice. January 4, 2010

The 1976 Olympic Games were in jeopardy, and the cause of all the tumult, according to Sports Illustrated, was a diminutive South African poet. January 4, 2010

The union organizer and socialist featured in the documentary Union Maids died on Thanksgiving Day at the age of 93. December 9, 2009

The myths about the "first Thanksgiving" are meant to sanitize history and turn the conquest of the Americas into a benign national origin story. November 25, 2009

The fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago was one crest in a wave of revolt that overturned governments across half of Europe at the end of 1989. November 12, 2009

Long before the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was a history of workers' struggle against the self-described Communist regimes of Eastern Europe. November 6, 2009

The regimes of Eastern Europe that collapsed 20 years after a series of mass rebellions were the opposite of what we mean by socialism. November 3, 2009

Socialism is a system in which people democratically come together to determine how to structure our society so everyone can reach their real potential. October 28, 2009

Non-human animals don't possess the attributes that would allow them to engage in activities we associate with "liberation" and "rights." October 25, 2009

When politicians gathered at the Capitol for the unveiling of a statue of Helen Keller, they left out an important fact--Keller was a socialist. October 18, 2009

One hundred and fifty years ago today, a band of men led by John Brown launched an armed attack they hoped would spark an uprising against slavery. October 15, 2009

The myths taught to America about Christopher Columbus' "discovery" of America are a cover for inconceivable acts of violence. October 14, 2009

China recently marked the 60th anniversary of a 1949 "peoples' revolution" that kicked out foreign powers--but workers there have never really held power. October 12, 2009

Marek Edelman, the last surviving leader of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, passed away on October 2 at the age of 90. October 11, 2009

Capitalism depends for its survival on divisions created in the working class, so the struggle for a new society must challenge those divisions. October 8, 2009