Past Posts by Descending Date

Sun, Feb 27, 2022: 10:30am-12:30pm PT The US Covid Catastrophe: Pathology of a Failed System On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. Almost two years have passed, and we in the US are now approaching 80,000,000 cases and close to 1,000,000 Covid deaths - the largest number of any country in the world - with no clear end in sight. The pandemic has swept through US society, leaving a path of disease, suffering, death, political and social upheaval, and economic destruction in its wake. The response by the US  government and capitalist politicians has been ...
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'The presentation will include clips from a documentary film and current footage from Labor Notes 2022 Conference with commentary. Not pedantic or dogmatic -- more observational with moments of humor (sorely needed). Anne Lewis is an independent documentary-maker and professor of practice at UT-Austin. Her work reveals working class people fighting for social change. Anne was associate director/assistant camera for HARLAN COUNTY, U.S.A. After the strike, she moved to the east Kentucky coalfields where she lived for 25 years. Documentaries she produced, directed, and edited include: ANNE BRADEN: SOUTHERN PATRIOT; MORRISTOWN: IN THE AIR AND SUN, a working class critique ...
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US sanctions are not new and have been applied by the US in both recent history (Venezuela, Iran) and well prior (Japan 1937-45, Latin America, Africa). However, the scope & magnitude of US sanctions against Russia today represent a quantitative, as well as qualitative, higher stage and escalation of sanctions as a tool of US imperialism. The presentation will describe what's in the US six packages of sanctions announced to date, distinguish between financial sanctions from goods & trade sanctions and individuals' sanctions, and estimate their current stage of implementation of each. How US capitalists are enormously benefiting from the ...
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The midterm congressional elections will soon be upon us. We will again be told, as we are every two years, that the most important election of our lifetimes is impending.  Meanwhile the super-rich take recreational flights into outer space, and neoliberalism – the contemporary form of capitalism – is not meeting working people’s needs.  Was Biden’s primetime lecture from Liberty Hall on September 1 a democracy speech or a demonization speech against half of our fellow citizens?  Was it a needed prop to “our democracy” or another slide down the path of a heightened security state lurching in the direction ...
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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) ...
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Sun, Feb 20, 2022: 10:30am-12:30pm PT Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping on the Global Crisis Eugene E Ruyle: On February 2022, Vladimir Putin, President of Russia joined Xi Jinping, President of the PRC, to take part in the opening ceremonies of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. They also 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 ...
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Sun, Feb 13, 2022; 10:30am-12:30pm Bourgeois ideologists have been successful in obscuring the class basis of various international conflicts. Too few on the Left actively counter those narratives.  We will discuss the consequences of this failure for the struggle for working-class power, using Ukraine as a kind of case study.  Attendees are invited and urged to bring their insights and knowledge to the discussion.  Richard Fallenbaum, a member of ICSS will make a brief introduction. Resources: ...
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THE KILLER’S HENCHMAN, Capitalism and the Covid-19 Disaster - Sunday, Feb 6, 2022: 10:30 am to 12:30 pm Pacific Time Stephen Gowans investigates why, when all the tools to avert a catastrophe were available, the world failed to prevent the Covid-19 disaster. He examines the business opportunities and pressures that helped shape the world’s failed response. His conclusion: the novel coronavirus, a killer, had a helper in bringing about the calamity: capitalism, the killer’s henchman.Resources: Stephen Gowans' blog https://gowans.blog/ ...
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Progressive veterans organizations are working with unions and other allies are organizing against are the parallel threats of privatization of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the US Postal Service, two of the biggest unionized employers of former military personnel.Speakers: Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early, co-authors of “Our Veterans: Winners, Losers, Friends and Enemies on the New Terrain of Veterans Affairs" (Duke University Press, June, 2022). In their new book, "Our Veterans," Richmond-based journalists Suzanne Gordon and Steve Early report on these and other struggles which affect millions of poor and working class people who have served in the ...
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Journalist, Author, and Activist Caleb Maupin - Jan 23, 2022 10:30 AM Pacific Time Caleb Maupin is a widely acclaimed speaker, writer, journalist, and political analyst. He has traveled extensively in the Middle East and in Latin America. He was involved with the Occupy Wall Street movement from its early planning stages, and has been involved in many struggles for social justice. He is an outspoken advocate of international friendship and cooperation, as well 21st Century Socialism. http://www.calebmaupin.com ...
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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 ...
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This will be an open discussion focusing on these questions and have asked a few of our members to prepare brief introductory comments to start the discussion. Anyone who wants to volunteer to prepare a brief, approximately 5-8 minute presentation, please email Gene at cuyleruyle@mac.com by midnight on Friday. so we can plan accordingly ...
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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 ...
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It’s been a hellava year, what with Jan 6, the attack on Roe vs Wade, gun violence, dis-functional congress, global warming, the threat of nuclear apocalypse, the pandemic, you name it. We’ve planning an open discussion on what happened in 2021 and how we can prepare for 2022. We are asking a few of our members to start the conversation with brief presentations. Anyone who wants to volunteer to prepare a brief, approximately 5 minute presentation, please email Gene at cuyleruyle@mac.com by midnight on Friday. so we can plan accordingly ...
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Just back from Ukraine, where he is reporting for Moscow-based RT and making a documentary on Donbass, correspondent Don Courter will give an update on recent events in the Russian Federation and the situation in Ukraine ...
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