Subjects Archives: History

A few days before Remembrance Day, November 11, 2024, the Government of Canada announced that it will not release that portion of a report produced by the Commission of Inquiry into War Criminals in Canada (Deschênes Commission) that names 900 Canadians accused of war crimes committed on behalf of the Nazis.

As China grows and prospers many in the U.S. want us to believe that China will follow the same path that the U.S. itself pursued–global military aggression, the overthrow of numerous governments around the world and persecution of minorities at home. (A repost from February 2023.)

I’m old enough to remember, just barely, the Great Depression: lines of shabby men waiting for free soup, better-dressed men selling apples on streetcorners, miles of evil-smelling, self-made shacks in a Hooverville near Newark.… In February 1937 I recall the movie newsreel with happy, unshaven sit-down strikers at GM in Flint, waving from the factory windows in a dramatic (Communist-led) victory which changed the USA.

Following the Eurocentric pathways to identity and development are a fallacy that is holding Africa back, ROGER McKENZIE argues.

At the 2017 March for Science in Washington, DC , Dr. Lydia Jennings wore a T-shirt that read, “Strong Resilient Indigenous,” and held a sign saying, “Traditional Ecological Knowledge Is Science Too!”

In his new book, Alvin Finkel tells the story of the 99% who have constantly sought to live in a society of equals

In this republished essay from 1996, Samir Amin gives his view of Samuel Huntington’s theory of “clash of civilizations.” His demonstration of why culturalism and imperialism reinforce each other, and how victims can be led to accept “difference” in place of equality and liberation, is today of potential utility everywhere.

Composing a history of Detroit is an exercise in tying together many economic and social trends within a microcosm of class, race, and fraught politics. Mark Jay and Philip Conklin’s work discusses the 20th-century history of the city to offer a documentation of class struggle seen through the industrialization of the city in the early 20th century, the racial tensions of the post-World War II period, and, finally, the simultaneous processes of decay and development in the last three decades.

This year, Brazil and China celebrate fifty years of official diplomatic relations. The importance of the Sino-Brazilian relationship cannot be underestimated in the context of the rise of the Global South, the decline of U.S. hegemony, and the emergence of a New Cold War. With a look back into the history of bilateral relations, how can we understand the importance of these two countries in the current conjuncture in pushing forward changes unseen in a century?

Israel isn’t just fighting Hezbollah. It intentionally seeks to eradicate Lebanon’s rich cultural heritage and collective history, aiming to raise the Lebanese cost of supporting the resistance and reshape the state’s political and demographic fabric.

The Film was one of the most pro-union movies in American history.

Forty years later, Lehlohonolo Kennedy Mahlatsi looks back on the Vaal Uprising in South Africa, which marked a turning point in the growth of mass-based organizations throughout the country and the mass rejection of apartheid colonial rule.

Toshiyuki Mimaki, co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, the Japanese organization honored with the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize for its anti-nuclear activism, drew comparisons between the plight of children in Gaza and those impacted by the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

Despite all the many years, those who hated the GDR still hate it today. Indeed, they seem to fear it, and continue almost daily to revile its memories—like kicking an old horse cadaver which might yet bite or strike out with a hoof or two.

Andy Higginbottom reviews Adam Hanieh’s crucial new book, Crude Capitalism.

Israel’s latest murderous assault on Lebanon is part of a recurring pattern of imperialist aggression.

In honor of the monumental life of Fredric Jameson (1934–2024), we republish an essay he wrote for the April 1996 issue of Monthly Review.

Toby Manning’s history of popular music in its historical context is a rich and rewarding exploration of the politics of music, finds Charles Marriott.

The beginning of the left movement in Sri Lanka goes back to 1935.

As the first city-states started to form in ancient Mesopotamia, fed by a patchwork of farms across the fertile land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, grain was stored in large siloes (in case of future shortages), and a surplus was generated for the first time, that was accumulated and controlled by a warrior class drawn from Mafia-like, oligarchic families, assisted by a priesthood that kept records and legitimized their rule via a mandate from the heavens.