Every four years, you can count on a group of prominent left-of-center figures to issue a statement aimed at the broad left urging a vote for the Democratic Party presidential candidate. Whether it’s the positive case of “Progressives for Obama” or the fear-induced call to support the “lying neoliberal warmonger,” […]
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Marxists and Elections
Paul D’Amato, former managing editor of the International Socialist Review and author of Meaning of Marxism surveys how Marxists have approached elections in this article originally published in the ISR in 2000. The article is especially relevant in the current period as many on the US left, including former leading […]
Chile 1973: The State and Revolution
Here we republish an article the late Tom Lewis wrote for the International Socialist Review (issue 6, Winter 1999), a publication for which he wrote frequently. Though written more than 20 years ago, the topic is so relevant for today, when so many socialists hold illusions in an electoral or […]
Capitalist crisis, “deglobalization,” and the Left’s challenges
This speech by Manuel Garí of Anticapitalistas and the editorial board of Viento Sur in the Spanish state was presented to the national convention of International Workers Left (DEA) in Athens, Greece, last December. In it, he discusses economic and political perspectives for the world, for Europe and for the […]
Is it time to launch a new socialist party?
The following document appeared in ISO preconvention bulletin #13, January 2019 in response to a proposal by Todd Chretien that the ISO initiate a process of launching a “new socialist party.” In it, I argued that though there were plenty of opportunities for collaboration and joint work on the Left, […]
The return of Karl Kautsky?
This article is based on a presentation to the International Socialist Project in December, 2019. For those on the revolutionary left, Karl Kautsky seemed like little more than an historical figure. Someone whom your Marxist education would expose you to, but someone you’d never think would become a reference point […]
México: Year I of the “Fourth Transformation”
This is an editorial marking the first year in office of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador [AMLO] published in Unidad Socialista, the publication of the Liga de Unidad Socialista, a socialist organization in México. The editorial refers to the “Fourth Transformation,” AMLO’s name for his program that seeks to […]
The Road to Prison Abolition: A Practical Solution
Seemingly overnight, politicians are tripping over themselves as they clamor for prison reform in a climate where cases of police murder and prison abuses have drawn thousands in protests onto the streets. Today, few would doubt that America’s criminal justice system is racist and unfair. Moreover, many now point to […]
Plekhanov: an alternative assessment
Reading the literature of not only academic Marxism, but also of the Marxist tradition overall, it would be easy to conclude that Plekhanov, the founder of the Russian Marxist movement, had very little, if anything, to contribute to Marxism. Indeed, if his name is mentioned at all, it is to […]
Colombia’s unprecedented social explosion: a balance sheet and the movement’s challenges
Daniel Libreros Caicedo, a lecturer at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and member of the steering committee of the Movimiento Ecosocialista (Ecosocialist Movement) analyzes the ongoing mass mobilization in Colombia. On November 21 (21N), millions participated in the country’s largest strike and mass demonstrations ever. This article appeared first in […]
Latin America: conservative offensives and the return of the class war
Latin America today is a site of very powerful class conflict, repression and extremely violent attacks by reactionary forces. Franck Gaudichaud introduces our dossier addressing the situation in these countries and the dynamics of these struggles. This interview, conducted by Antoine Pelletier, originally appeared on the Web site of the New […]
Uruguay: The defeat, without extenuating circumstances, of the “governing party”
INTRODUCTION On November 29, after nearly a week of ballot recounts, Uruguay’s election authority recognized Luis Lacalle Pou, the candidate of the right-wing National Party, as the country’s next president following the second round of elections on November 24. Although the result was close, with Lacalle Pou winning over the […]
The state of the class struggle in the U.S.
When socialists look at the situation in a country, one of the first questions we ask is what is the balance of class forces? Where does the struggle between the employers and the working class stand? This article will attempt to answer that question. Unemployment The October unemployment figure was […]
Chile: The Street Hasn’t Signed Any Agreement
INTRODUCTION What began in October as a student protest over an increase in subway fares turned into a Chile-wide revolt of millions. On October 25, 1.5 million—in a country of 18 million—filled the main boulevards of Santiago, the capital, to demand a change in the political and social system inherited […]
Sweden’s ‘radical’ Meidner plan was a defeat of the workers
The Meidner Plan wasn’t a path to socialism. It wasn’t even an advance in workers’ rights within capitalism. It was a defeat for workers and an attack on their power to organise.