Category: Presentations

Our speakers, Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny will discuss their book, Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union (2004), and their reflections since writing the book, including Gorbachev’s role in overturning socialism in the Soviet Union, why he arose, whether this was inevitable, and what lessons are to be learned.

Roger Keeran is Professor Emeritus at Empire State School of the State University of New York (SUNY), He has been a member of the Communist Party USA for three decades and is currently a member of the advisory board of the Marxist journal Science & Society.

Joe Jamison (Thomas Kenny) is co-author with Roger Keeran of Socialism Betrayed: Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union. He is a retired labor economist, member of the U.S. Peace Council and Editor of Marxism-Leninism Today (mltoday. com).

Michael Roberts will analyse the latest developments in the major economies as inflation rates...

The AFL-CIO has since its existence been involved in taking money from the CIA and other government agencies for international operations around the world It has supported coups in Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Ukraine, and attempted coups in Venezuela, Cuba. It now operates in over 60 countries without real transparency and reports to the membership of the AFL-CIO members. Most workers in the AFL-CIO do not know about this history or the fact that the AFL-CIO “Solidarity Center” gets $75 million a year from the National Endowment for Democracy which is directly from the US government.

This panel of Professor Kim Scipes and labor journalist Steve Zeltzer are members of the newly formed organization Labor Education Project On AFL-CIO International Operations LEPAIO.

https://aflcio-int.education

Our speakers, Steve Zeltzer and Kim Scipes, are labor activists.

Background: Reckoning with the AFL-CIO’s Imperialist History. https://jacobin.com/2020/01/afl-cio-cold-war-imperialism-solidarity

Our speaker will be Professor Gerald Horne, Moores Professor of History at the University of Houston has published dozens of books. Hear his presentation on his latest: ‘The Counter-Revolution of 1836: Texas Slavery & Jim Crow and the Roots of U.S. Fascism’, 2022, which has implications for California and Indigenous History–and the prospects for a unique form of fascism.

What are the motives and likely effects of Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan? We will be looking at these questions in the light of the interlocking crises of the US empire, US capitalism and the US Democratic Party. We will start the discussion with short presentations by Gene Ruyle, Veterans for Peace and ICSS, Raj Sahai of ICSS, and David Ewing, Chair of the US-China Friendship Society.

‘The canonical accounts of Lenin’s last writings accept the version that Lenin left a “testament” that included a number of negative remarks about Joseph Stalin, and that Lenin wished to remove Stalin from the position of General Secretary of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik). This version stems partly from Leon Trotsky, who embraced it eagerly in his campaign to replace Stalin as Party leader; partly from Lenin’s wife Nadezhda Krupskaya; and partly from Nikita Khrushchev and the Khrushchev-era last edition of Lenin’s works, the Polnoe Sobranie Sochinenii (“Complete Collection of Writings”), or PSS.
Professor Valentin A. Sakharov of Moscow State University conducted extensive research in the 1990s on this subject. His 2003 book, Lenin’s “Political Testament”, published by Moscow State University Press, is the result of years of access to and study of many of the archival copies of Lenin’s works, drafts of those works, and originals of other important documents related to the question of Lenin’s “testament.”

A new book by Professor Grover Furr concludes that Lenin’s so-called “Testament” is a fraud, same as Skharov reached earlier and is largely based on that research. The new book by Prof. Furr also examines the role Leon Trotsky, Lenin’s wife N. Krupskaya and his sister Maria Ulyanova played in this fraud. Further, it reveals the errors and falsehoods in the book ‘Lenin’s Last Struggle’ by the late historian Moshe Lewin. Furr’s book also analyzes the role of Lenin’s wife.

On Feb 4, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with China’s President Xi Jinping at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing They released a 5000-word document, “Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China on the International Relations Entering a New Era and the Global Sustainable Development.” This document expresses the views of two of the world’s largest nuclear powers, both permanent members of the UN Security Council. As such, it merits full discussion and we are inviting a panel to lead our discussion.

1. Myth: Russia’s “Special Military Operation” (SMO) is an unprovoked war of conquest
2. Myth: Russia miscalculated its military strategy in its invasion of Ukraine Russia is losing the war.
3. Myth: the claim that Ukraine is natizified is a Russian propaganda ploy
4. Myth: the world is united against the “Russian aggression” in Ukraine, Russia is isolated and growing more isolated.
5. Myth: the economic sanctions against Russia are working, the Russian economy is a shambles, Putin is isolated, and the sanctions will eventually topple the “Putin regime”

Instead of an hour presentation followed by a discussion, we will split the session into discussions of each of the above US-Narrative talking points, one by one. Several of us will prepare and briefly comment on one or more of the above narrative talking points

Even the corporate press pronounced Biden’s recent Summit of the Americas meeting in Los Angeles as a flop, while the balance between red states (and we don’t mean Republican) and blue states south of the Rio Grande is tipping to the left. Most recently, Colombia elected its first left leaning president, following similar victories in Chile, Peru, and Honduras, which in turn followed Bolivia, Argentina, and Mexico. And the frontrunner in Brazil’s presidential contest slated for October is a leftist. Meanwhile Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela – countries led by explicitly socialist parties – remain in the crosshairs of US imperialism, suffering from severe sanctions also known as unilateral coercive measures. What does this mean for US hegemony?

Speaking will be Roger Harris who is with the Task Force on the Americas, on the executive committee of the US Peace Council, and active with the #FreeAlex Saab and Sanctions Kill campaigns. Roger recently returned from the Workers Summit on the Americas in Tijuana, which was organized as an alternative to Biden’s summit as a place where countries besieged by and barred from the US could participate and meet with militants from workers, peace, human rights, and solidarity organizations (see Roger’s June 17, 2022 article in Counterpunch at:

https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/06/17/summit-of-the-americas-flops-while-workers-summit-exposes-cracks-in-the-imperial-facade/

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 mission and to expose U.S.-NATO war aims and alliances in the region. He is the Coordinator of the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice and on the Organizing Committee of the Socialist Unity Party.

Often we only see the border from the U.S. side, despite the fact that many more people live in the border region south of the wall than north of it.  Despite the media’s fascination with the wall, people live their lives and organize vibrant social movements that are virtually invisible in the U.S. Yet they have a direct impact. From winter strawberries to flat panel televisions, people north of the border consume what’s produced just a few miles south of it.  This presentation, with photographs, will probe more deeply into the lives of the people of the border itself, rather than simply see it as a wall, or a place people try to cross to enter the United States. It will pay particular attention to the rich history of the social movements in border communities, challenging often oppressive conditions.  The presentation is based on the new book, More Than a Wall / Mas que un muro, a book of photographs and oral histories created during 30 years of covering the people and social movements of the Mexico/U.S. border.  

Speaker: David Bacon,   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.

Roe v. Wade to be abolished?

That’s the intent of the pending Supreme Court decision, a draft copy of which has already been leaked to the media. This will be a human rights disaster for women. On May 11,2022  the U.S. Senate voted down the Women’s Health Protection Act 49 to 51. The WHPA would have made abortion legal, eliminating the role of the Supreme Court on the issue of abortion and nullifying the pending Supreme Court decision,  How do we fight back against this grossly undemocratic decision? We certainly can’t trust the Democratic Party leadership,

Speaker: Rosa Astra, an Oakland-based militant journalist, community organizer, and activist with the ANSWER coalition.