Author: icsswpadmin

Quo Vadis Turkey? A crumbling fascism in the Middle East under imperialism – Mehmet Bayram – Sun, Oct 24, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Pacific Time

Quo Vadis Turkey? A crumbling fascism in the Middle East under imperialism – Mehmet Bayram – Sun, Oct 24, 2021: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Pacific Time

Posted by | Oct 24, 2021 | |

Turkey is a neo-colonial NATO member country. It is tied through its umbilical cord to imperialism. Changing the name from Ottoman Empire to Republic of Turkey did not change much from what Ottomans stood for. An attempt at a bourgeois revolution was too late and had started during the Ottomans but was cut short, crushed, due to occurring in the age of imperialism. The bourgeoisie had changed character in this age and was no longer what used to be called a “national bourgeoisie.” A better term for the leaders of this crippled revolution would be “local bourgeoise” and its character as “comprador bourgeoisie” due to its relationship with imperialism.
Fascism passes through dormant and active phases, but never leaves Turkey. It is impossible to speak of a “bourgeois democracy” in the age of imperialism in the neo-colonial countries. This is tied to the crippled bourgeois revolution. Any and all, even very peaceful, demonstrations are brutally attacked and participants get long prison sentences. Hundreds of journalists are in jail, opposition party MPs are beaten, silenced and thrown into prisons, even without a charge for more than 4 years. The National Assembly is powerless and is irrelevant but stays for the show, typical of a regime that is defined by neo-colonial fascism. Unions are silenced and are under brutal attack. Media is suppressed and internet access is controlled. Government media spews unbelievable and outright ridiculous lies and repeats these 24 hours around the clock. Corporations work hand in glove with the government while raking in billions of dollars.
Corruption, as expected in the capitalist world is no longer secret but has become the norm. It is illegal to report corruption. Turkey uses Europe’s regulations against surveillance capitalism to protect the citizens against corporations like Google and Facebook to protect the capitalists and the corrupt government officials. It invokes the “right to be forgotten” against any news that exposes corruption, theft, bribery or murder and puts a media ban on news that exposes a corruption. Meritocracy has long vanished and the only qualification to get a job is loyalty to the government.
Erdoğan was brought to power by the US and he knows not to bite the hand that feeds him. As imperialism seems to lose its grip due to its seeming decline, neo-colonials do look around for a new boss to take its orders. Fascism is the only way to rule in a country that also has a rich history of socialist and left opposition. However, as new elections approach in a year and a half, the main topic that the country discusses is whether the government will even have the elections or respect the results. The answer seems to lie in the parallel, paramilitary, armed, terrorist organizations the AKP government is preparing, very similar to the illegal, semi-secret structures that were used for the Armenian Genocide.
Economic collapse has only exacerbated the fascism and repression has increased even in the last few days.
These and similar issues on foreign affairs involving Syria, Russia, China, Greece, but mostly European Union and the US will be discussed. However, Turkey never did, does not, and will not decide independently its internal or external affairs. Imperialism is an internal affair in Turkey due to the class structure under imperialism. What seems to be bold moves that could be read as challenging the US are only the slave asking for the leash to be extended a bit while Turkey picks up doing more dirty work for US imperialism in the world and the Middle East.
Even many on the left who opposed the analysis of fascism in the past are pronouncing this terminology to define Turkey these days.
What are the alternatives? What is the left to do?
Our speaker, Mehmet Bayram, is visiting his native land Turkey and will be reporting from there. He is a long time journalist, reporter, photographer and translator. Currently he writes and translates for the Sendika.org in Turkey, a site shut down 62 times by the government. Please follow Turkey’s news in English at: https://sendika.org/kategori/english/

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What does Lenin say on Marx’s Works and on Socialism? – Group Discussion – October 17, 2021 10:30 AM Pacific time

What does Lenin say on Marx’s Works and on Socialism? – Group Discussion – October 17, 2021 10:30 AM Pacific time

Posted by | Oct 17, 2021 | |

So, what does Lenin take from Marx’s vast works and summarize it succinctly? And specifically on Socialism. Some of us thought that last week’s discussion on socialism did not deal aqequately with Lenin’s scientific concept, so we invited Raj Sahai to lead a Group Discusion on this important topic. Raj will be joined by Gary Hicks and Eugene Ruyle to begin our open discussion. In preparation, folks are invited to read V. I. Lenin’s Karl Marx — a Brief Biographical Sketch with an Exposition of Marxism (1914), available at:

https://libcom.org/library/karl-marx-brief-biographical-sketch-1914-vladimir-lenin

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Talking Socialism – Tom Gallagher – Sunday, October 10, 2021 10:30 AM PT

Talking Socialism – Tom Gallagher – Sunday, October 10, 2021 10:30 AM PT

Posted by | Oct 10, 2021 | |

American public discussion of socialism arguably hit a new level when Wally, the coffee-drinking, do-nothing character in Dilbert, the daily comic strip send-up of office politics, declared his conversion to that point of view. Unfortunately, as Wally’s case reminds us, much of this increased socialism talk comes from people who don’t like and/or understand the idea. That more of it needs to come from the actual left is clear. Less clear is exactly what we should say when we talk the talk.

Simultaneously, a series of recent foreign elections — most notably Germany’s — have prompted talk of a global revival of the left. And yet, Germany is an example of the left’s failure to take power, in part because of its inability to unite — and perhaps because of its failure to take the prospect of governing seriously. Are we American socialists prepared to move our ideas from the lecture halls to the halls of power?

Our speaker will be long-time Democratic Socialist Tom Gallagher. Tom was elected to the Massachusetts State Legislature in 1982. Running as an open socialist, he quickly earned the affectionate nickname, “Tommie the Commie.” Since then, he has remained active, and true to his Democratic Socialist values . Tom has served as a Democratic National Convention delegate for both George McGovern (1984) and Bernie Sanders (2016).

Since moving to San Francisco, Tom has remained active as union member (United Educators of San Francisco, AFL-CIO) and president of the local Democratic Club in the Bernal Heights neighborhood. He is a long-time anti-war and political activist who has authored five Iraq and Afghanistan antiwar resolutions adopted by the San Francisco Democratic Party. In July 2015 he published his pamphlet, The Primary Route: How the 99% Takes On the Military Industrial Complex, which makes the case for socialists running in Democratic Party primaries, the route actually followed by Bernie, AOC, the Squad, and others, though Tom does not claim that any of them actually read his pamphlet. Tom is also well-versed in Marxist theory, having completed all three volumes of Capital.

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Why the Cuban Revolution has Endured: A Marxist Assessment of Cuba’s Historic Break with Capitalist Rule and its Lessons for Today – Jeff Mackler – Sunday, September 26 10:30 AM PT

Why the Cuban Revolution has Endured: A Marxist Assessment of Cuba’s Historic Break with Capitalist Rule and its Lessons for Today – Jeff Mackler – Sunday, September 26 10:30 AM PT

Posted by | Sep 26, 2021 | |

At the urging of union organizers today, International Publishers recently republished The Communist Party and the Auto Workers Unions, by Roger Keeran, a book originally published in 1980 and long out of print. The author will discuss the circumstances around the book’s original publication, the significance of the struggles it describes, and its relevance for our times.

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