Monthly Archives: December 2021

2021-12-31: News Headlines

Fight Back (2021-12-31). Looking forward to a new year of struggle in 2022: Join FRSO. fightbacknews.org As 2021 concludes and we look forward to a new year, it makes sense to survey the political landscape and discuss what's to be done. | Monopoly capitalism is a failed system. We need a revolutionary solution to our problems. And to achieve that goal, revolutionary organization is a requirement. Freedom Road Socialist Organization has the aim of overthrowing capitalism and replacing it with socialism. If that is what you want, it is time to join our ranks. | FRSO does not just talk about change. We are active in our unions, community organizations, anti-war, student, and many other groups. Our members are African…

WSWS (2021-12-31). Preface to Halil àáelik: A Fighter for Socialism. wsws.org This is the preface to a volume of writings of Halil Celik published by the Sosyalist E≈üitlik Grubu of Turkey, three years after Comrade Halil's untimely death of cancer.

WSWS (2021-12-31). Sri Lankan and Indian ruling elites whip up national rivalry between poverty-stricken fishing communities. wsws.org The ongoing military harassment of Indian and Sri Lankan fishermen highlight the reactionary and irrational character of the arbitrary national borders maintained by the ruling classes in both countries.

2021-12-31 17:30 | 13:30 EST | jz | 5 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 

2021-12-30: News Headlines

Editor (2021-12-29). bell hooks changed how we think about Black femininity, class, and capitalism. mronline.org The world lost a trailblazing thinker and feminist this week. Professor and social activist Gloria Jean Watkins, better known by her pen name bell hooks, passed away at the age of 69.

Editor (2021-12-29). Editorial: El asesinato y la tasa de retorno. workers.org Primero de Mayo de 2020 frente al almacén de Amazon en Staten Island. En una nota a pie de página del volumen 1 de El Capital, publicado por primera vez en 1867, Karl Marx citó al T.J. Dunning, un líder obrero inglés del siglo XIX: "Si la ganancia es adecuada, . . . |

Fra Hughes (2021-12-29). Jeremy Corbyn and the North Shropshire Conservative Defeat. orinocotribune.com By Fra Hughes — Dec 24, 2021 | In undermining Corbyn in a Machiavellian-type coup, the new Labour leader Keir Starmer was supported by the establishment, supported by the mainstream media, supported by Tony Blair, and supported by Zionist "Israel". |

| Jeremy Corbyn the one-time leader of the British Labour Party whose leadership was undermined from within the party by Blairite centrists and without the party through a broad-based attack claiming he was an anti-Semitic, a communist and a pro-IRA supporter. The great hero of the left, the hope for a future generation of socialists and left of center…

teleSUR Desk (2021-12-29). Chaos, poverty and hunger — The U.S. legacy in Afghanistan. mronline.org The U.S.-led mission fled the Afghanistan front of their so-called "war on terror," leaving nothing but trash, extreme poverty and universal unemployment.

2021-12-31 04:34 | 00:34 EST | jz | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 

2021-12-29: News Headlines

Fra Hughes (2021-12-29). Jeremy Corbyn and the North Shropshire Conservative Defeat. orinocotribune.com By Fra Hughes — Dec 24, 2021 | In undermining Corbyn in a Machiavellian-type coup, the new Labour leader Keir Starmer was supported by the establishment, supported by the mainstream media, supported by Tony Blair, and supported by Zionist "Israel". |

| Jeremy Corbyn the one-time leader of the British Labour Party whose leadership was undermined from within the party by Blairite centrists and without the party through a broad-based attack claiming he was an anti-Semitic, a communist and a pro-IRA supporter. The great hero of the left, the hope for a future generation of socialists and left of center…

teleSUR Desk (2021-12-29). Chaos, poverty and hunger — The U.S. legacy in Afghanistan. mronline.org The U.S.-led mission fled the Afghanistan front of their so-called "war on terror," leaving nothing but trash, extreme poverty and universal unemployment.

_____ (2021-12-28). After Years Of Setbacks, US Labor Demonstrates Its Power. popularresistance.org 2021 was a historic year for labor in the US. An eruption of strikes, major contract wins, and workers quitting low-wage jobs in unprecedented numbers all signaled that workers en masse are ready to reclaim their power. Workers organized union drives across nearly every industry, pushed for union reforms, and elected new union leadership, speaking volumes to their desire for a more democratic workplace. | For many workers, the pandemic revealed the cruelty of capitalism. Mainstream media and politicians campaigned for a return to business as usual during this second year of COVID. In particular, workers, called "

_____ (2021-12-28). Richard Wolff: US Capitalism Has Peaked And Is On The Way Down'. popularresistance.org For the end of the year, Clearing the FOG speaks with economist Richard Wolff about the current state of United States capitalism. Wolff explains that the United States is experiencing the greatest crisis in its history – a severe economic crisis at the same time as a pandemic, as well as the climate crisis. This is unprecedented. Unlike the great depression in the last century, when the wealth divide shrank, inequality is worsening. On top of that, US empire is in decline. Wolff discusses the current state of inflation and supply chain disruption and the forces behind them. Instead of facing up to these realitie…

WSWS (2021-12-28). An Anniversary of Stalinist Counterrevolution: 30 years since the end of the USSR. wsws.org The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) recognized, as early as 1985, that Gorbachev's policies of glasnost and perestroika expressed the drive of the Stalinist bureaucracy to reintegrate the Soviet economy with the world market through the restoration of capitalism.

_____ (2021-12-28). The Radical Legacy Of New York's Winter Rent Strike. popularresistance.org From 26 December 1907 to 9 January 1908, 10,000 tenants, predominantly Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe living in New York City's Lower East Side, took part in a historic rent strike. During an economic depression causing mass unemployment and grinding poverty, landlords tried to hike rents by thirty-three percent. With their cry to 'fight the landlord as they had the Czar', the tenants won a partial victory, with rents significantly reduced for 2,000 households. The movement established a tradition of militant working-class housing campaigns that eventually contributed to winning vital rent controls that st…

Editor (2021-12-28). The Oligarchy's Ultimate Political Weapon (Video). scheerpost.com Robert Reich / If you're discouraged by what's happening in the country, that is by design. The forces undermining our democracy, polluting our planet, and stoking hatred are counting on you to give up. But we must not let them. | They use their allies in political office to grind the gears of government to a halt, so people see government as the problem, not the solution. But if there's one thing we learned from this wretched pandemic, it's that government intervention can reduce poverty and suffering, and we can afford to pay for it. | They want us t…

2021-12-29 18:23 | 14:23 EST | jz | 9 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 0 

2021-12-28: News Headlines

_____ (2021-12-28). Richard Wolff: US Capitalism Has Peaked And Is On The Way Down'. popularresistance.org For the end of the year, Clearing the FOG speaks with economist Richard Wolff about the current state of United States capitalism. Wolff explains that the United States is experiencing the greatest crisis in its history – a severe economic crisis at the same time as a pandemic, as well as the climate crisis. This is unprecedented. Unlike the great depression in the last century, when the wealth divide shrank, inequality is worsening. On top of that, US empire is in decline. Wolff discusses the current state of inflation and supply chain disruption and the forces behind them. Instead of facing up to these realitie…

_____ (2021-12-28). After Years Of Setbacks, US Labor Demonstrates Its Power. popularresistance.org For many workers, the pandemic revealed the cruelty of capitalism. Mainstream media and politicians campaigned for a return to business as usual during this second year of COVID. In particular, workers, called "essential" and "heroes" during the pandemic, were expected to continue sacrificing the most while receiving the least in pay and benefits. At the same time, the world's biggest corporations made record-breaking profits and the richest individuals saw their wealth multiply.

WSWS (2021-12-28). An Anniversary of Stalinist Counterrevolution: 30 years since the end of the USSR. wsws.org The International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) recognized, as early as 1985, that Gorbachev's policies of glasnost and perestroika expressed the drive of the Stalinist bureaucracy to reintegrate the Soviet economy with the world market through the restoration of capitalism.

_____ (2021-12-28). The Radical Legacy Of New York's Winter Rent Strike. popularresistance.org From 26 December 1907 to 9 January 1908, 10,000 tenants, predominantly Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe living in New York City's Lower East Side, took part in a historic rent strike. During an economic depression causing mass unemployment and grinding poverty, landlords tried to hike rents by thirty-three percent. With their cry to 'fight the landlord as they had the Czar', the tenants won a partial victory, with rents significantly reduced for 2,000 households. The movement established a tradition of militant working-class housing campaigns that eventually contributed to winning vital rent controls that st…

_____ (2021-12-27). Desmond Tutu Opposed Capitalism, Israeli Apartheid And US/UK Imperialism, Too. popularresistance.org Being a leader in the movement to end apartheid in South Africa was probably the greatest achievement of the man's life work, and it should come as a surprise to no one that this is the focus of his many obituaries, along with the Nobel he was awarded in 1984. After Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, he was remembered by the establishment in much the same way, as a leader of the movement against apartheid in the US. The fact that he had become one of the most well-known and well-loved voices of the antiwar movement in the United States and around the world at the time of his death has largely been written o…

2021-12-28 23:54 | 19:54 EST | jz | 7 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 

2021-12-27: News Headlines

David Rovics (2021-12-27). Desmond Tutu Opposed Capitalism, Israeli Apartheid and US/UK Imperialism, Too. zcomm.org Long live Desmond Tutu's vision of a world free of oppression — a world in which so many of the politicians praising him today would be in front of a truth and reconciliation commission tomorrow, if Tutu were calling the shots…

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-26). Attack on protesting oil refinery workers in Greece condemned. peoplesdispatch.org On December 21, police attacked the workers of Kavala Petroleum who were protesting at their plant against threats of layoffs and inadequate safety measures. The All Workers Militant Front of Greece and the Communist Party of Greece have condemned these attacks…

Fight Back (2021-12-26). FRSO greetings to Communist Party of the Philippines on 53rd anniversary. fightbacknews.org From: Freedom Road Socialist Organization | To: Communist Party of the Philippines | Dear Comrades, | The leadership and members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization send our warm and militant greetings to the Communist Party of the Philippines on the occasion of the of your 53rd anniversary and we wish the CPP every success in developing the people's democratic revolution. | Working and oppressed people around the world, including here in the U.S., take inspiration from heroic struggle of the people of the Philippines and the great advances made by the CPP. Your party has grown from a relatively small organiza…

Fight Back (2021-12-26). A great read from Mao Zedong on his birthday. fightbacknews.org To mark the 128th anniversary of the birth of Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong on December 26, 2021, Fight Back News Service is circulating his famous 1939 article "In memory of Norman Bethune." | Comrade Norman Bethune, a member of the Communist Party of Canada, was around fifty when he was sent by the Communist Parties of Canada and the United States to China; he made light of travelling thousands of miles to help us in our War of Resistance Against Japan. He arrived in Yenan in the spring of last year, went to work in the Wutai Mountains, and to our great sorrow died a martyr at his post. What kind of spirit i…

2021-12-27 18:13 | 14:13 EST | jz | 6 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 

2021-12-26: News Headlines

Peoples Dispatch (2021-12-26). Attack on protesting oil refinery workers in Greece condemned. peoplesdispatch.org On December 21, police attacked the workers of Kavala Petroleum who were protesting at their plant against threats of layoffs and inadequate safety measures. The All Workers Militant Front of Greece and the Communist Party of Greece have condemned these attacks…

Fight Back (2021-12-26). FRSO greetings to Communist Party of the Philippines on 53rd anniversary. fightbacknews.org From: Freedom Road Socialist Organization | To: Communist Party of the Philippines | Dear Comrades, | The leadership and members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization send our warm and militant greetings to the Communist Party of the Philippines on the occasion of the of your 53rd anniversary and we wish the CPP every success in developing the people's democratic revolution. | Working and oppressed people around the world, including here in the U.S., take inspiration from heroic struggle of the people of the Philippines and the great advances made by the CPP. Your party has grown from a relatively small organiza…

Fight Back (2021-12-26). A great read from Mao Zedong on his birthday. fightbacknews.org To mark the 128th anniversary of the birth of Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong on December 26, 2021, Fight Back News Service is circulating his famous 1939 article "In memory of Norman Bethune." | Comrade Norman Bethune, a member of the Communist Party of Canada, was around fifty when he was sent by the Communist Parties of Canada and the United States to China; he made light of travelling thousands of miles to help us in our War of Resistance Against Japan. He arrived in Yenan in the spring of last year, went to work in the Wutai Mountains, and to our great sorrow died a martyr at his post. What kind of spirit i…

Yanis Varoufakis (2021-12-25). 4. Flat management, democratic planning and a basic income. zcomm.org Debate on a postcapitalism world…

Bejoy Sebastian (2021-12-25). Nothing left of democracy in Hong Kong. moderndiplomacy.eu Hong Kong is no longer what it was known for a few years back. The Chinese Communist Party continues to dismantle the city's democratic ethos, the latest being the drama of Legislative Council polls. Beijing has also managed to erase its bloody past from public memory. *** A week ago, on December 19, the people …

2021-12-26 21:22 | 17:22 EST | jz | 7 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 

2021-12-25: News Headlines

_____ (2021-12-24). Capitalism Contributed To Factory Workers Deaths. popularresistance.org The weekend of December 10-11, 2021, saw a reported 30 tornadoes hitting several states from Arkansas to Illinois; as of this writing, 74 people are confirmed dead and several buildings severely damaged or totally demolished. | All the cases of death and destruction are devastating; however, the most telling and unconscionable are the deaths of eight people at a candle-making factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, and six in an Amazon facility in Edwardsville, Illinois. What makes these two cases significant is that they most likely could have been avoided, but once again capitalism's insatiable greed is significantly re…

Editor (2021-12-24). A come to Jesus sermon from the Rev. Chris Hedges. scheerpost.com [Journalist and minister, Chris Hedges. [Photo courtesy of Chris Hedges] | Click to subscribe on: Another holiday season plagued with high Covid-19 rates and fears of infecting loved ones has come around, this time amid supply chain shortages and other economic woes. As runaway American capitalism tries to sell us consumerism as the answer to our current crises ev…

A. Kent MacDougall (2021-12-24). Boring From Within the Bourgeois Press: Part One. mronline.org Eugene V. Debs may be my all-time favorite American and Karl Marx my all-time favorite journalist. But my employer for a decade was The Wall Street Journal, and for another decade it was the Los Angeles Times.

2021-12-25 22:02 | 18:02 EST | jz | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 

2021-12-24: News Headlines

_____ (2021-12-24). Capitalism Contributed To Factory Workers Deaths. popularresistance.org The weekend of December 10-11, 2021, saw a reported 30 tornadoes hitting several states from Arkansas to Illinois; as of this writing, 74 people are confirmed dead and several buildings severely damaged or totally demolished. | All the cases of death and destruction are devastating; however, the most telling and unconscionable are the deaths of eight people at a candle-making factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, and six in an Amazon facility in Edwardsville, Illinois. What makes these two cases significant is that they most likely could have been avoided, but once again capitalism's insatiable greed is significantly re…

Editor (2021-12-24). A come to Jesus sermon from the Rev. Chris Hedges. scheerpost.com [Journalist and minister, Chris Hedges. [Photo courtesy of Chris Hedges] | Click to subscribe on: Another holiday season plagued with high Covid-19 rates and fears of infecting loved ones has come around, this time amid supply chain shortages and other economic woes. As runaway American capitalism tries to sell us consumerism as the answer to our current crises ev…

A. Kent MacDougall (2021-12-24). Boring From Within the Bourgeois Press: Part One. mronline.org Eugene V. Debs may be my all-time favorite American and Karl Marx my all-time favorite journalist. But my employer for a decade was The Wall Street Journal, and for another decade it was the Los Angeles Times.

Richard S. Dunn (2021-12-23). Capitalism Contributed to Factory Workers Deaths in Kentucky and Illinois. covertactionmagazine.com The weekend of December 10-11, 2021, saw a reported 30 tornadoes hitting several states from Arkansas to Illinois; as of …

Thomas Klikauer (2021-12-23). Naked @ Work — the Neoliberal Workplace. zcomm.org Capitalism's relentless drive to growth based on global environmental exploitation has not just transformed the entire planet but is about to destroy planet earth…

Special to People's World (2021-12-23). Art Perlo, 'Gentle Giant,' 1947-2021. peoplesworld.org Art Perlo, lifelong Communist beloved for his stalwart dedication, modesty, wit, and wisdom, passed away on Dec. 18 after a year-long battle with bladder cancer. He served as Ward 24 Co-Chair in New Haven, Conn., and executive board member of the Yale Unions Retirees Association. Ward 24 Alder Evette Hamilton called him a "gentle giant" …

Internationalist 360 ∞ (2021-12-23). Imperialism: Unpacking the Primary Contradiction. libya360.wordpress.com Erica Caines Global and domestic repression under imperialism are counterparts. However, this truth gets distorted in the Global North, even by so-called leftists. Living in imperialist nations, we are constantly propagandized and thus forced to internalize and repeat anti-communist rhetoric. Unless we are vigilant about studying theory and history, this will continue. The best way…

Staff (2021-12-23). Pentagon Clamps Down on Extremism & White Supremacy After Dozens of Jan. 6 Rioters Had Military Ties. democracynow.org The Pentagon has announced new rules to slow the spread of extremism in the military, one of which will discipline soldiers for liking or resharing white nationalist and other extremist content on social media. The Pentagon announcement comes just two weeks before the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, where more than 80 of the 700 individuals charged with the attack had ties to the U.S. military. Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project Susan Corke says these rule changes are welcomed by her organization but don't go far enough to stop extremism in the armed forces. "It sh…

2021-12-25 01:05 | 21:05 EST | jz | 10 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 

2021-12-23: News Headlines

Richard S. Dunn (2021-12-23). Capitalism Contributed to Factory Workers Deaths in Kentucky and Illinois. covertactionmagazine.com The weekend of December 10-11, 2021, saw a reported 30 tornadoes hitting several states from Arkansas to Illinois; as of …

Thomas Klikauer (2021-12-23). Naked @ Work — the Neoliberal Workplace. zcomm.org Capitalism's relentless drive to growth based on global environmental exploitation has not just transformed the entire planet but is about to destroy planet earth…

Staff (2021-12-23). Pentagon Clamps Down on Extremism & White Supremacy After Dozens of Jan. 6 Rioters Had Military Ties. democracynow.org The Pentagon has announced new rules to slow the spread of extremism in the military, one of which will discipline soldiers for liking or resharing white nationalist and other extremist content on social media. The Pentagon announcement comes just two weeks before the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, where more than 80 of the 700 individuals charged with the attack had ties to the U.S. military. Director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project Susan Corke says these rule changes are welcomed by her organization but don't go far enough to stop extremism in the armed forces. "It sh…

Nick Matthews (2021-12-22). Holidays with Dickens and Marx: 'A Christmas Carol' and the 'Communist Manifesto'. peoplesworld.org It has often been pointed out that Karl Marx and Charles Dickens inhabited the same London streets for over 20 years. They were both appalled by the squalor the Industrial Revolution brought with it, particularly to the streets of Manchester and London. It was this, after all, that inspired their best-known works, published within five …

Editor2 (2021-12-22). Destruction of the Soviet Union: a Crime Without Statute of Limitations. orinocotribune.com Statement of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the United Communist Party of Russia (OKP) in connection with the 30th anniversary of the unconstitutional liquidation of the USSR in December 1991. | In December 1991, the largest state on the planet, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the first ever socialist state of workers and peasants, disappeared from the political map of the world. | In the context of the general crisis of Gorbachev's "perestroika" policy, few people paid attention to the blatant violation of all conceivable and inconceivable constitutional procedures during the "dissolution" of…

2021-12-24 00:53 | 20:53 EST | jz | 7 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 

2021-12-22: News Headlines

Editor2 (2021-12-22). Destruction of the Soviet Union: a Crime Without Statute of Limitations. orinocotribune.com Statement of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the United Communist Party of Russia (OKP) in connection with the 30th anniversary of the unconstitutional liquidation of the USSR in December 1991. | In December 1991, the largest state on the planet, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the first ever socialist state of workers and peasants, disappeared from the political map of the world. | In the context of the general crisis of Gorbachev's "perestroika" policy, few people paid attention to the blatant violation of all conceivable and inconceivable constitutional procedures during the "dissolution" of…

Editor2 (2021-12-21). Want to Know How to Beat COVID? Look at China. orinocotribune.com By Scott Scheffer — Dec 17, 2021 | The world is now nearing the end of the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic. The United States has the highest death toll in the world — 823,390 as of Dec. 16. | With all the scientific resources available, and billions of dollars in the vaults of the richest capitalist class in history, the U.S. should have been able to succeed in a vaccination campaign and treat everyone before they were infected. Vaccines should have made their way throughout the world, including the global south where the challenges of poverty magnify the horrors of the pandemic. | Instead, the W…

Editor (2021-12-21). Murder and the rate of return — an editorial. workers.org In a footnote to Volume 1 of Capital, first published in 1867, Karl Marx quoted from the 19th century English labor leader T.J. Dunning: "With adequate profit, capital is very bold. A certain 10% will ensure its employment anywhere; 20% certain will produce eagerness; 50% positive audacity; 100% will make . . . |

Fight Back (2021-12-21). Today is Stalin's birthday – here's what Mao had to say. fightbacknews.org Fight Back News Service is circulating the following article written by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong on the 60th birthday of Joseph Stalin. | Stalin, Friend of the Chinese People | On the Twenty-first of December, Comrade Stalin will be sixty years old. We can be sure that his birthday will evoke warm and affectionate congratulations from the hearts of all revolutionary people throughout the world who know of the occasion. | Congratulating Stalin is not a formality. Congratulating Stalin means supporting him and his cause, supporting the victory of socialism, and the way forward for mankind which he points ou…

Martin Empson (2021-12-21). Gregory T. Cushman — 'Guano and the Opening of the Pacific World: A Global Ecological History'. mronline.org In the last two decades it has been common, in Marxist books on ecology, to find discussions of how capitalist agriculture developed an urgent need for fertilisers to solve the crisis of soil fertility in the 19th century.

In Defense of Liberation! (2021-12-21). The Transition from Matriarchy to Patriarchy 101: (My best attempt!). anchor.fm In this episode I do my best to explain just that, through historical and dialectical materialist analysis and an understanding of political-economic development in human history I try to show how the transition from traditional Matriarchal societies developed into Patriarchal ones. If I missed anything or spoke too little about something, please tell me! Also check out "The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State" by Engels, plus a recent episode of Probably Cancelled Podcast with an interview by Michael Parenti titled, "Male Terrorism and the Political Economy of Sex Oppression". Hope you enjoy th…

C.J. Atkins (2021-12-21). Manuel Tiago's 'Border Crossings': People's World interviews the translator. peoplesworld.org Once more, People's World is back to talk with Eric Gordon, the English-language translator of the novels of Portuguese writer àÅlvaro Cunhal, late leader of the Portuguese Communist Party, who wrote under the literary name of Manuel Tiago. Eric previously talked with us about the first three volumes published in the multi-book series: Five Days, Five …

2021-12-22 12:42 | 08:42 EST | jz | 9 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0