Our history

  • 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

  • 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 19, 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 16, 2009

  • The myths taught to America about Christopher Columbus' "discovery" of America are a cover for inconceivable acts of violence. October 15, 2009

  • Marek Edelman, the last surviving leader of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, passed away on October 2 at the age of 90. October 12, 2009

  • The three victorious strikes that paved the way for the struggles to come in the 1930s were led by radicals dedicated to solidarity and rank-and-file democracy. October 6, 2009

  • The history of the Teamster Rebellion in Minneapolis is packed with lessons, especially the importance of mobilizing a militant rank and file. September 29, 2009

  • The San Francisco General Strike in July 1934 involved 200,000 workers up and down the West Coast, making it the largest general strike in U.S. history. September 21, 2009

  • The 1934 Auto-Lite strike in Toledo, Ohio showed how workers could unite, employed with unemployed, to defeat the power of the bosses. September 15, 2009

  • In Diary of Bergen-Belsen, Hanna Lévy-Hass gives a never-read-before look at Nazi internment as told by a Jewish resistance fighter. September 3, 2009

  • Long omitted from the history books, the Seattle General Strike of 1919 offers an inspiring view of what it would look like if workers took power in the U.S. August 27, 2009

  • The Industrial Workers of the World based itself on the idea of industrial unionism--of organizing all workers together, regardless of skills, craft, sex, nationality or race. August 20, 2009

  • The writer who helped create the fictional character that Chicago's Bud Billiken parade is named after was a militant fighter for civil rights. August 6, 2009

  • The history of America in the world is of a rapacious empire that bends other nations to its will--but presents itself as benevolent. July 27, 2009

  • What you think about the Tiananmen uprising 20 years ago goes to the heart of what you think about socialism today. July 21, 2009

  • A new edition of a labor history classic tells the inspiring story of the Seattle General Strike of 1919. July 16, 2009

  • Pretty much everyone acknowledges that this is not only the worst economic crisis, but also the worst ideological crisis for U.S. capitalism since the 1930s. July 13, 2009

  • Hubert Harrison, the Black socialist from the turn of the 20th century, was many things: author, editor, public speaker, educator and activist. July 6, 2009

  • A son remembers Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who were executed at the height of the 1950s Red Scare for allegedly stealing atomic secrets. June 24, 2009

  • When tanks crushed pro-democracy protests in China in 1989, some on the U.S. left supported the massacre--in the name of socialism. June 17, 2009

  • Thomas Paine, who inspired and guided revolutions in North America and France, died in virtual obscurity 200 years ago. June 11, 2009

  • China's Tiananmen Square revolt challenged a government that claimed to stand for socialism, but in reality ruled over an exploitative and oppressive system. June 4, 2009

  • Although May Day was founded to honor a U.S. labor struggle, few workers in this country know its origin, because our history is largely untold. May 1, 2009