It is no exaggeration to say that the principal disputes between activists, organizations and political trends in U.S. social movements have hinged on different understandings of, and attitudes toward, the state. What distinguishes a revolutionary communist...
Introduction Trump declared last night from the White House that he would “end the riots” with a national military mobilization to “dominate the streets” and that “if a city or state refuses to take the actions that are necessary,” he would “deploy the United States...
Two major developments occurred in the global economy in early December that have drawn much commentary and analysis in the financial media. First, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries failed to agree on a reduction of oil production quotas. Saudi Arabia,...
“At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production. ... From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social...
According to the most recent data released by the Federal Reserve, U.S. industrial production as measured by the Fed's manufacturing index (see chart), reached 101.2 in May, finally surpassing the previous peak of 101.0, reached in December 2007. Following that peak,...
In early 2005, as the most recent boom phase of the capitalist industrial cycle came into sight, Apple’s Steve Jobs arranged a secret and illegal pact with Google’s Eric Schmidt to hold down their workers' wages by agreeing not to recruit each other’s employees,...
Over the last few years, the word socialism has become more and more common. Usually, it’s used in an extremely negative way and in almost all situations the politician or commentator uttering the word either has no idea what it means or is being intentionally...
The writer is a union organizer. Workers across most of Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America have experience in using general strikes in order to press for political demands. For example, in 1995, French workers forced the government to retreat at least temporarily...
The following is a talk given in the Keynote Plenary of the Nov. 13-14, 2010, National Conference on Socialism sponsored by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The Soviet Union went out of existence 19 years ago next month. Some progressive people argue that given...