History and Traditions

Column: Todd Chretien

Marx and the Silesian strikers

Just as Marx first identified himself as a communist in his writings, an uprising of textile workers broke out in Germany. October 3, 2012
Comment: Marlene Martin

The Montgomery bus boycott

The story of the Montgomery Bus Boycott is not just about its leaders, but a mass movement that involving tens of thousands. September 28, 2012
Comment: Frederick Engels

On authority

If the first principle for the anarchists is opposition to authority, what do they say about a revolution where workers assert their collective power? September 28, 2012
Column: Todd Chretien

Rekindling the human spirit

Marx's writings on alienation contain some of his most moving critiques of capitalism's crippling impact on body and mind. September 25, 2012
Comment: Leon Trotsky

Why Marxists oppose individual terrorism

A Russian revolutionary argues that it requires more than the anarchist idea of “propaganda of the deed” to transform capitalism. September 21, 2012
Comment: Hal Draper

Why the working class

A U.S. socialist explains why Marxists view the working class as the social force capable of transforming capitalist society. September 14, 2012
Speech: C.L.R. James

The centrality of the Black struggle

A 1948 speech places the struggle for Black liberation at the heart of any socialist movement in the United States. September 7, 2012
Comment: Elizabeth Schulte

When 1 million voted for socialism

In the early years of the 20th century, Eugene V. Debs won up to 1 million votes in his five presidential campaigns. August 31, 2012
Comment: Lee Sustar

The Supreme Court and the struggle

It took a militant Black struggle to pressure the federal government to enforce the Supreme Court's desegregation decisions. August 31, 2012
Comment: Eric Ruder

Our alternative to the madness of the market

A socialist society would eliminate hunger and other forms of scarcity by getting rid of the profit motive and making human need society's first priority. August 30, 2012
Comment: Tithi Bhattacharya

How do ideas ever change?

If ruling class ideas dominate with most people, how can we even initiate a struggle that can change those ideas? August 29, 2012
Comment: Bill Mullen

The FBI's war on the left

Allegations that Black Panther Richard Aoki was an informant should be viewed in the context of decades of repression. August 29, 2012
Comment: Anthony Arnove

Exposing a topsy-turvy world

On what would have been his 90th birthday, the work of late people's historian Howard Zinn is as relevant as ever. August 27, 2012
Comment: Lee Sustar

The roots of the civil rights movement

The economic and social changes caused by the Second World War helped set the stage for the upheaval of Black Southerners. August 24, 2012
Comment: Russell Pryor

1934: Strike wave in the South

Striking Southern workers in the 1934 General Textile Strike faced great challenges, including racism. August 22, 2012
Comment: Lee Sustar

McCarthyism and the civil rights movement

The anticommunist witch-hunts of the 1950s had a huge negative impact as the civil rights movement was taking root. August 17, 2012
Column: Paul D'Amato

The sigh of the oppressed

Religious ideas continue to thrive as a way of coming to terms with alienation and misery. August 10, 2012
Comment: Lee Sustar

From Harlem's "Lenin" to AFL bureaucrat

In contrast to his radical roots, labor leader A. Philip Randolph ended up a conservative voice during the civil rights struggle. August 10, 2012
Comment: Benjamin Silverman

The story of the Rebel Girl

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn helped lead some of the most exciting workers' struggles in early 20th century America. August 7, 2012
Column: Paul D'Amato

A committed few aren't enough

What both voluntarism and substitutionism forget is that major social changes are the result of mass mobilizations. August 3, 2012
Column: Paul D'Amato

Protecting the environment

The way that capitalism organizes production--not industrial production per se--is the cause of environmental destruction. July 27, 2012
Column: Paul D'Amato

What is a vanguard party?

Socialists who consider themselves Leninists are often criticized for wanting to create a "vanguard party." July 20, 2012
Comment: Jason Netek

The appeal for socialism

The newspaper Appeal to Reason had a circulation of three-quarters of a million in the early days of the socialist movement. July 19, 2012
Column: Paul D'Amato

Is reforming capitalism enough?

Socialists and liberals agree that struggles for reform are key, but is curbing the excesses of capitalism enough? July 13, 2012
Comment

Leon Trotsky and the Black struggle

In discussions with U.S. comrades, the Russian revolutionary Trotsky asserted the centrality of the right to self-determination. July 13, 2012

History and Traditions

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