Past Posts by Descending Date

The University of California, Berkeley—widely known as “Cal”—is admired worldwide as a bastion of innovation and a hub for progressive thought. Far less known are the university’s roots in plunder, warfare, and the promotion of white supremacy. As Tony Platt shows in his latest book, The Scandal of Cal, these original sins sit at the center of UC Berkeley’s history. Tony Platt is the author of thirteen books dealing with issues of inequality, power, and justice in American history. Platt, a longtime activist, is currently a Distinguished Affiliated Scholar at Cal Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Law & Society ...

Our program is about the México Solidarity Project (https://mexicosolidarityproject.org/), which recognizes the 2018 presidential election of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) as a watershed moment. AMLO and his progressive Morena party offer the first opportunity to end the corruption, impoverishment, and subservience to US interests that has marked the 70 years of neoliberal dominance. The project offers critical support for Morena, a left-leaning populist political party rooted in anti-neoliberalism and a staunch defender of national sovereignty. It is immersed in the social movements in México struggling for basic rights for workers and people in all marginalized groups. These voices for ...

Our program addresses the rapidly changing world order. This last year has been a time of summits: BRICS, G20, and G77 and the UN General Assembly. That these summits have been so hectic and have felt like such a whirlwind of events is because each marks the accelerated tempo of change on the international plane. At the NATO summit in July, Zelensky failed to get even a timetable to get into NATO. The BRICS summit in Johannesburg in August admitted six new members. Then Putin hosted the vitally important meeting of the Eastern Economic Forum to showcase Russia’s own pivot ...

The ongoing genocide in Gaza is not being perpetrated by the Zionist regime alone but with the full involvement and complicity of the United States and its partners, including Germany, Canada, the UK and France. At the same time, however, it has also strikingly illustrated the rise in the regional resistance, from the sharpening battle on the borders between Lebanon and occupied Palestine and the role of the Yemeni people, government and armed forces (and the AnsarAllah movement) in defending the Red Sea against complicity with genocide. We will discuss the role of Palestine and the rise of the regional ...

Two years of ‘Slava Ukraine’ from every corner, two years of ‘unprovoked invasion’ lies, two years of ‘Russia is losing’. We have seen it all unfolding in front of our eyes. But what exactly happened in February 2022, was it really necessary to start the Special Military Operation? Why is a Ukrainian Marxist on the side of Russia? Speaking: Slava Jalili is a Ukrainian Marxist-Leninist, correspondent at The Revolution Report, and member of Chicago Workers School ...

Harpal Brar will be speaking on his latest book, Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: Marketisation of the Chinese Economy. which explores the path of China after Mao's death, considering the role of the Great Leap Forward in China's economic development and current success, and the truth behind the political events of the Cultural Revolution. Brar tackles the ultimate question: would China have been better off having continued to use centralized planning, or were the reforms and marketization necessary and beneficial? Harpal Brar, former Chairman of the CPGB-ML, is a prominent political economist, author, and journalist ...

On November 25, Dr. Ranjeet Brar and three members of the UK CPGB-ML were arrested at the national Palestine solidarity demo for manning a table selling a book critical of the history of Zionism that was published nine years ago and has since been distributed widely.  They were told that the book might constitute an ‘incitement to racial hatred’ for which they were held in isolation for 24 hours before being released on bail. While imprisoned, their families were subjected to 3:00 AM raids, during which police seized phones, laptops, and party literature. When they were set free the following day, ...

According to the dominant ideology, fascism constitutes an exceptional break with the protocols of liberal democracy, which has only happened at rare moments in the history of the West, such as in Mussolini’s Italy and Nazi Germany. Liberalism is thereby postulated as a bulwark against fascism, an idea that’s been consolidated through the massive perpetuation of a historical narrative regarding the supposed democratic defeat of Nazism in WWII. This presentation will critically interrogate these assumptions by re-examining the historical relationship between liberal democracy and fascism. Have they always been opposed to one another, or do they sometimes work in concert ...

As we head into election 2024, the Biden administration, Democratic Partypoliticians, and media pundits have has launched an aggressivecampaign touting the "accomplishments of Bidenomics." Yetaccording to an AP News poll, only 34 percent of Americans say theyapprove of Biden's handling of the economy. Democratic Partypoliticians and pundits echo the theme that the economy is doinggreat, decry unfounded pessimism, and insist that expressions ofdiscontent are reflections of misinformation and MAGA propaganda. This Sunday,Economist Dr. Jack Rasmus will set the record straight for working people: what is going on in the economy in 2024? What is the basisin reality for peoples' discontent ...

For more than a century, a trend within Western Marxism has been to retreat from endorsing actually existing socialist projects such as the Soviet Union and retheorizing their significance in relation to capitalism. In this context, these scholars have begun to, in effect, reject imperialism as a driving force of capitalism, while obscuring the central regressive role of the US in particular. Such re-theorization downplays the historical significance of actually existing socialism and especially socialist projects in the Global South, often by reframing them as part of global capitalism or global modernity. Recent versions of Western Marxism often conflate capitalism ...

Helen Jaccard, project manager for the voyage of the Golden Rule and her partner Gerry Condon, former president of Veterans for Peace and current board member, will report on their just completed 15-month odyssey with the anti-nuclear sailboat, meeting people along the length of the Mississippi, across the Gulf Coast, on to Cuba, up the east coast, and back to the Midwest via inland waterways. They will also address organizing a peace movement and the peace in Ukraine coalition ...

Just back from the West Bank, international human rights advocate and lawyer Dan Kovalik will discuss the current situation in Palestine in light of historical developments. In addition to Gaza, the West Bank has been under ferocious Israeli attack and repression. The general population in the West Bank is experiencing increased Israeli settler violence with over 300 Palestinians murdered and 3000 arrested since October 7. Last month, our speak visited Cairo with the first international solidarity delegation, which tried unsuccessfully to enter Gaza and bring humanitarian aid through the Rafa crossing. Dan Kovalik has written extensively on international human rights ...

Recently back from a humanitarian mission to besieged Gaza, which was denied entry by Egyptian authorities, our speaker will explain how the ongoing genocide against the Palestinians is a natural outcome of Zionism. The social dynamics of domination inevitably lead to genocide given sufficient time. This is the logical consequence of exceptionalism. The resistance forces of the Palestinians and their allies have planned for a confrontation of unlimited duration, while Israel plans only short, massive attacks designed for a quick, decisive victory, which in this case is illusive. This is the main reason they have chosen genocide as a tactic ...

This Sunday Morning at the Marxist Library session covers the attacks on the pro-Palestine, anti-genocide movement being made in the name of "fighting antisemitism," A group discussion  follows several short presentations on the subject ...

The 200-year history of the Monroe Doctrine is a history of US imperialism. Among Washington’s recent junior partners, Israel stands out as an accomplice to the US imperial project not only in the old world but in this hemisphere as well.  Beginning with the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, the course of what is labeled Manifest Destiny (term was applied in 1845) will be charted through the 19th century.  The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 is a continuation of the planned expansion across the North American continent. As the 19th century proceeded apace, the North defeated the South during the 1861-1865 Revolt ...

This talk will cover from the late 1970s to present, with main focus on the past few years. Two aspects: far rightwing direct action (e.g., direct attacks on racial, religious, gender, communist and other political attacks) and legislative rollbacks on the same groups (e.g., Moms for Liberty attempts to promote reactionary education policies). Also, it will cover various groups and their ideologies, chief social traits and international interconnections among them. Finally, some proposals to counter them. Our speaker, Al Sargis, is the founder of the Friedrich Engels Institute of Marxist War and Military Analysis ...