An important work of Marxist history and theory restores class struggle to central place in explaining how capitalism arose and grew, and can eventually be overcome.
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Monthly Review Magazine
A big rally and a Bavarian vote
Last weekend was surely the most complex in ages! Were the results favorable for “the good side”?
In the wake of Nepal’s incomplete revolution
In the aftermath of Nepal’s near revolution, diverse Maoist leaders are attempting to regroup and move forward again.
The need for mass mobilization as multi-lateral top down agreements fail
We must demand immediate, scientifically rational, and enforceable emissions-reduction targets for each country that take into account historical CO2 emissions, and, relatedly, provision of the necessary technological and financial support to less-developed (and less culpable) countries.
Brazil is falling under an evil political spell
Bolsonaro—an open advocate of racism, sexism, torture, and police execution squads—represents the resurrection of the fascist political tradition. That tradition discards norms of decency, tolerance, compromise and due process whenever they obstruct taking power.
Cassandra calls
Eye-catching in Chemnitz were not just Hitler salutes under the statue of Karl Marx but the friendly cooperation between leaders of nasty PEGIDA anti-Islam movement, local pro-fascist thugs and a representative of the racist Alternative for Germany party (AfD).
Duterte’s tyranny in the Philippines is an obstacle to people’s development
On March 16th and 17th last year the Philippine armed forces dropped bombs containing illegal and toxic white phosphorus on towns in Abra province. The pasturelands and communal forests of farmers and indigenous peoples were burnt, and daily activities ground to a halt as widespread fear set in among the population.
Sharing, not selling: Marx against value
The originality of Marx’s Capital is often underestimated. Countless commentaries have appeared, but only a few have taken the full measure of Capital’s truly unique and counter-intuitive outlook. Critics generally assume that Marx was pursuing familiar questions of economics or philosophy in a fresh way–that his aim was to explain profits, history, or ontology.
A decade since the 2008 crash
Ten years since financial markets crashed in the United States, the world economy is anything but near so-called “recovery.” Ever more urgent is the need for people’s sovereignty, which could be a key principle in orienting economic and development policy especially in the global South today.
The history of the workers’ unemployment insurance bill
At a time when the American population is radicalizing, when popular movements are coalescing around “radical” demands—Medicare for All, the abolition of ICE, tuition-free college, etc.—it can be useful to draw collective inspiration from the Workers’ Bill proposed by the U.S. communist party in 1930.
Socialism is about workers, not wealth funds
The Social Wealth Fund plan is insidious in the sense that it has the capacity to redirect vast amounts of energy and resources toward a goal presented as “socialist” when in reality it is fundamentally incompatible with socialism. We must bring the discussion out into the open to prevent such seductive ideas from compromising the […]
Exploitation and the social metabolism of class societies (part 2)
‘The essential difference between the various economic forms of society, between, for instance, a society based on slave-labour, and one based on wage-labour, lies only in the mode in which this surplus-labour is in each case extracted from the actual producer, the labourer.’ —Marx
Labor and human social metabolism (part 1)
Our global ecological crisis has created an increasing interest in Marx’s theory of metabolic rift as a crucial aspect of capitalism (Foster 2013). To appreciate fully how capitalism creates this rift, it is important to examine the human metabolic relation with nature in general and theoretical terms.
The uprooting in Haiti: whispers of a revolutionary past and future
In 1980, the magazine Tricontinental, published by the Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL), dedicated its issue no. 119 to Haiti. The editors wrote, ‘Very little is known about the Haitian people’s struggle,’ as the imperialists have ‘erected a wall of silence around Haiti.’
There is no refugee crisis. There is only a crisis of humanity
In Syria, the battle for the province of Idlib has begun. Over the course of the past few years, the remnants of the hardened fighters have retreated to this region on the Syria-Turkish border, where they have been under the overall command of an al-Qaeda inspired group.
