History and Traditions

  • The belief that Russia was socialist came from the idea that socialism equals state ownership of property. That isn't socialism. February 10, 2012

  • The story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott is not just about its leaders, but a mass movement that depended on tens of thousands of people. February 9, 2012

  • Union struggles are more than a means to win a wage increase or defend working conditions--they're training grounds. February 3, 2012

  • The threat--and use--of violence, has always been a crucial way in which states promote the economic interests of their rulers. January 27, 2012

  • History provides several examples that show how, even in the face of immense repression, workers' revolution is possible. January 20, 2012

  • To Marxists, the phenomenon of globalization isn't a policy but a dynamic that is built into the very nature of capitalism. January 13, 2012

  • The Marxist tradition is often wrongly accused of ignoring forms of oppression that exist outside of economic relations. January 12, 2012

  • The struggle of tens of thousands of textile workers in Lawrence, Mass., 100 years ago was one of the fiercest battles in U.S. labor history. January 11, 2012

  • The slaughter of hundreds of Lakota women, children and men 121 years ago marked the end of the "Indian Wars." January 10, 2012

  • Capitalists' profits come from the unpaid labor of workers--which is why socialists say that capitalism is organized theft. January 6, 2012

  • How close are the views of right-wing politicians who proclaim their Christian beliefs to the historical Jesus who opposed kings and oppressors? December 14, 2011

  • It is a great source of strength to draw from our revolutionary traditions as we engage in present-day struggles for radical change. December 12, 2011

  • The last general strike to take place in the U.S. was in none other than Oakland--the heart of the call for a ports shutdown. December 12, 2011

  • The ruling ideas of each age have ever been the ideas of its ruling class, Marx and Engels wrote in the Communist Manifesto. December 9, 2011

  • In November 1999, tens of thousands of people came together in a show of force against the World Trade Organization. December 9, 2011

  • A leading member of ISO discusses what kind of organization socialists need to be effective in the fight against the system. December 2, 2011

  • We're taught that social change is something that happens gradually--but this flies in the face of the historical record. December 2, 2011

  • In 1932, First World War veterans--known as the Bonus Army--traveled to Washington, D.C., to demand what was owed them. November 11, 2011

  • Throughout history, class struggle has been essentially been a conflict over control of what the exploited classes produced. November 11, 2011

  • In some Occupy encampments, the question has been raised whether we should use the term "occupy" at all. November 7, 2011

  • Do human beings have a built-in nature, shaped genetically by their physical attributes, which programs their behavior? November 4, 2011

  • Marx's materialist philosophy was rooted in the idea that the world around us shapes and limits our possibilities. October 28, 2011

  • The Black Power movement was a magnificent high point of African American resistance--one that inspired and shaped radicals for years to come. October 25, 2011

  • Today's Occupy movement stands in a long tradition of struggles that have depended on the determination of activists that "we shall not be moved." October 18, 2011

  • For a movement or struggle, hoping for general agreement after a thorough discussion is very different from requiring it. October 10, 2011