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ICSS 20200823 Sun, Aug 23, 2020: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Drastically Cutting the Military Budget Why Is It Not a Campaign Issue? Hunger and homelessness stalk the poor. Jobs lost in the pandemic and the resulting economic collapse may not come back or will be even lower wage than before. Public education and transportation along with protecting the environment are on the chopping block, while the billionaires are raking in money. Our cities and states are economically strapped. Yet, elected officials have no idea how to run them without raising local taxes, laying off workers, or slashing benefits. Meanwhile ...

Sun, Nov 21, 2021: 10:30 AM Pacific Time Elections in Nicaragua: a Report Back From an On the Ground Observer - Rick Sterling  ...

Our speaker, John Parker began his trip to the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine on April 27 as part of a fact-finding mission organized by Struggle-La Lucha newspaper in the U.S. to gather eyewitness observations and testimony of Lugansk residents. He also visited Russia, where he conducted interviews and was present at the May 9 Victory Day parade, commemorating the defeat of Nazi Germany and honoring the 27 million Soviet people who died fighting fascism. John Parker was a candidate for U.S. Senate in the June 7th election. He recently returned from Russia and the Donbas region on a fact-finding ...

 Rick will speak about his recent trip to Russia and especially Crimea. In 2014, following the coup in the Ukrainian capital, Crimea had a referendum and decisively decided to secede from Ukraine and "re-unify" with Russia.  In many ways, the situation in Crimea is emblematic of the Ukraine conflict.  Rick will describe what he saw and learned on this trip. Rick Sterling is a Bay Area journalist, active with Mt Diablo Peace and Justice Center and Task Force on the Americas.  ...

ICSS20200906 Group Discussion: Before and After November 2020 There are increasing concerns as to what will happen before, during, and after our November election so this is an opportunity to express our concerns. Our group discussion will be introduced by Gene Ruyle and other ICSS members with ample opportunity for discussion. Be prepared to voice, and defend, your views  For background, we will post a list of recommended sources in early September, for example in Democracy Now, the New York Times, and elsewhere ss they develop. ICSS member Sharon Rose will moderate. Resources: Session resources ...

Group Discussion on the future of ourSunday Morning Programs - Sunday, January 2, 2022 HAPPY NEW YEAR! After a brief review of the history of the Marxist Library and the ICSS and the relationship between them, we will ask for input on our programs and suggestions for improvement. We are also seeking input on possible future programs ...

ICSS group discussion: the communist manifesto Sunday, July 11, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Pacific  We will go through this foundational work of Marxism reading selective paragraphs  with ample opportunity for discussion after each selection. Be prepared to voice, and defend, your views!    Our discussion will be led by ICSS member Gene Ruyle. In preparation, please re-read the Manifesto itself, and if there are particular passages you want the group to consider, please send the full text of those passages to <cuylerluyle@mac.com> by Saturday morning so they can be included—and bring your own copy to our Zoom meeting (available on the Marx-Engels Internet ...

 The US is spearheading an effort to reinvade and reoccupy Haiti, according to our speaker who last visited the island republic last month. Danny Shaw will report on the different ingredients in the neocolonial hybrid war in Port-au-Prince; the guns, the so-called gangs, and the neocolonial state. He has been working with the Haitian left both in Haiti and in the diaspora since 1998 and speaks Kreyòl. Our speaker, Danny Shaw,  teaches Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Race, Ethnicity, Class and Gender at the City University of New York. He holds a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University. He has ...

July 29, 2022, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), raided the offices and homes of members of the Uhuru Movement. They broke down doors, broke windows, used flashbang devices and drones and threatened residents with automatic weapons. The US Govt has recently filed indictments against 3 Uhuru Movement leaders.This is a call to everyone to defend the right of African people and the Chairman of the African People's Socialist Party, Omali Yeshitela, to free speech. Speakers Mwezi (Michelle) Odom, Chair of the Hands Off Uhuru Committee and member of the African People's Socialist Party. Penny Hess, Chair of the ...

There is no World War I or World War II, only the Great War, 1914-1922 (not 1918); 1931-1945. A period which marks the demise of the European colonial powers and domination of the globe, during Man's greatest industrialized war. Only two countries, in the end, could wage such a conflict, 1941-1945 and they will win same, the United States and the Soviet Union, hence the Cold War.  Speaker: Mark Albertson is the historical research editor at Army Aviation magazine in Monroe, Connecticut; and, the historian for the Army Aviation Association of America. He has authored numerous books and has taught ...

The Chancellor:  January 30, 2023 will mark the 90th anniversary of Adolf Hitler's ascension to the Chancellorship of Weimar Germany.  Yet, Hitler did not take power, it was offered to him.  Little more than three years after the start of the Great Depression, President Paul von Hindenburg was able to exercise Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution; thereby circumventing representative government to appoint Chancellors to run the government to get Germany out of a worsening economic morass.  Three candidates were chosen, all three failed to reverse the declining fortunes of the Fatherland.  With investments from the United States drying up and with the Right and ...

US aggression toward China is escalating and China is shedding its usual restraint to more clearly call out this aggression and warn the US not to overstep its red lines. K. J. Noh, an activist, journalist, and scholar on the geopolitics of the Asian continent, will discuss the renewed belligerence of South Korea under President Yoon Suk-yeol, the increasing militarization of Japan, shifting alliances in Western Asia, and how China, including Taiwan, is responding. Noh will also speak about efforts in the United States to prepare for a war against China and how that is increasing violence against Asian Americans, ...

Sun, Feb 27, 2022: 10:30am-12:30pm How the US Instigated the Ukraine Crisis Russia recognized the independence of Donetsk and Luhansk, and sent troops into Ukraine this week. In a one hour address, President Putin said the goal was the "de-Nazification" of Ukraine. It is now clear the Russian statements and proposed peace treaty in December 2021 were deadly serious. At that time the Russians said the US and NATO were crossing red lines, they felt threatened and would not abide this endlessly. Now they have taken action. Join us at Sunday Mornings at the Marxist Library on zoom (link below) ...

ICSS 20200830  The Past and future of US policing.  By: Tony Platt Sun, Aug 30, 2020: 10:30 am to 12:30 pmThe past and future of U.S. policingNoted historian and criminologist Tony Platt will share his long research and insights into the carceral state known as the USA. Tony Platt has been involved since the 1960s in issues relating to criminal justice, race, inequality, and social justice in American history. He taught at the University of Chicago, Berkeley, and California state universities. He is currently a Distinguished Affiliated Scholar at the Center for the Study of Law & Society in Berkeley’s Law School. A founding ...

ICSS 20200913 Sun, Sep 27, 2020: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Labor and Immigration David Bacon will talk about the struggles of farmworkers on the West Coast to organize, and the way it's affected by their work lives and status as immigrants. He'll include photographs and a description of his documentary work process. Our speaker, David Bacon is a photojournalist, author, political activist, and union organizer who has focused on labor issues, particularly those related to immigrant labor. He has written several books and numerous articles on the subject. Bacon's parents were strong supporter of unionism and his early interest ...

Sun, Jan 10, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Michael Roberts, The Story of the Year of the COVID: But What Now for 2021? 2020 will go down in history - a worldwide pandemic from a previously unknown virus deadly to humans, killing millions or leaving them with permanent health problems; forcing lockdowns across the world that destroyed the world economy in the worst slump in the history of capitalism; and driving millions globally into poverty and loss of livelihood. Where did all this come from? Can capitalism come out of this unscarred? With vaccines on the way is the ...