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The American Civil War And Marx
From 1861 to 1865 about 620,000 soldiers lost their lives in the American Civil War. One estimate of the death toll is that ten percent of all Northern males 20–45 years old, and 30 percent of all Southern white males aged 18–40 perished. It was perhaps one of the bloodiest wars in U. S history. Not…
Steady-State Socialism
In 1923 the communist activist Sylvia Pankhurst opened an article with the declaration that “Socialism means plenty for all. We do not preach a gospel of want and scarcity, but of abundance…We do not call for limitation of births, for penurious thrift, and self-denial. We call for a great production that will supply all, and…
What’s Left of Reformism?
If there is one thing the employing class is more afraid of than anything else it is the possibility of the workers accepting the idea embodied in the term “social revolution”. Revolutionaries are described as wild visionaries, utopia builders, and so on. In the not-so-distant past, the labour and social-democrat parties did talk in terms…
Utopian Dreamers?
You may say I’m a dreamerBut I’m not the only oneI hope someday you will join usAnd the world will be as one John Lennon Is it possible to mobilise people to fight oppression without fashioning models for a socialist economy for people to fasten on to? The capitalist slogan ‘There is No Alternative’ was…
Who Needs Leaders?
In 1916, in Everett, Washington State, USA, a ferry filled with Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) free-speech activists attempted to dock and was met by the local sheriff, along with his armed deputies. According to lore, when the sheriff asked, “Who are your leaders?” the response from the ferry was a shout from everyone…
No War But The Class War
One of its many problems which capitalism has not solved is that of war. We see each day the mobilisation of military forces on some border as perhaps another potential bloody conflict may break out. The companion parties of the World Socialist Movement have a consistent history of opposing all war. In our analysis which has withstood the test of…
Religion – Thy Name Is Superstition
Banish Gods from the Skies, and Capitalists from the Earth! The first phase in the struggle to end the political and economic exploitation of our class is to learn to question the thoughts we inherit from well-intentioned parents and teachers; to challenge the strictures of the priests, parsons, rabbis and mullahs and to question why…
The Socialist Cooperative Commonwealth
We envisage socialism as being established globally and almost simultaneously. In 1847 Engels wrote: “Will it be possible for this revolution to take place in one country alone? No. By creating the world market, big industry has already brought all the peoples of the Earth, and especially the civilised peoples, into such close relation with one…
Time for a New Revolution
Part One – What Happened Part Two – What Could Happen Part 1: What Happened? As the presidential election draws near both contestants make fatuous appeals to America’s near-sainted Founding Fathers and that almost sacred scroll known as the Constitution. History has seen more than its share of distortion. Myths and misconceptions have sprung up…
Manifest Destiny
The Mexican-American War Each year tens of thousands of Irish-Americans proudly celebrate their heritage on St Patrick Day, yet few are aware of the fate of the Irish in the St Patrick’s Battalion, el Batallón de San Patricio, who chose to fight under their green flag for Mexico against the aggression of the United States…