Published in Evrensel, 23 October 2017. Reprinted with permission. Claims and facts about the right of nations to self-determination, following the independence referendums in Iraqi Kurdistan and Catalonia. Arif KOŞAR Following the independence referendums in Iraqi Kurdistan and Catalonia, the right of nations to self-determination has become a popular debate. Here are some of the claimsContinue reading “Claims and Facts About the Right of Nations to Self-determination”
Category Archives: Common Sense
Russia is an Imperialist Country
Original article on massproletariat.info The present world situation is defined by a system of capitalist-imperialist relations, and the principal contradiction on the global scale is between imperialist states and oppressed peoples. In Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism Lenin put forward a Marxist analysis of the nature of capitalist-imperialism, and it is to this document that we shallContinue reading “Russia is an Imperialist Country”
The Berlin Wall: Another Cold War Myth
by WILLIAM BLUM November 9 will mark the 25th anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin Wall. The extravagant hoopla began months ago in Berlin. In the United States we can expect all the Cold War clichés about The Free World vs. Communist Tyranny to be trotted out and the simple tale of how the wallContinue reading “The Berlin Wall: Another Cold War Myth”
Grover Furr: The Ukrainian Famine: Only Evidence Can Disclose the Truth
No detective can solve a crime without carefully and objectively studying the evidence. Likewise, no one can know what actually occurred in history without studying, in an objective manner, the relevant primary sources – the evidence. I have spent decades in studying the primary sources concerning many specific events of the Stalin period. Mark TaugerContinue reading “Grover Furr: The Ukrainian Famine: Only Evidence Can Disclose the Truth”
Thomas Jefferson in Defense of the French Revolution
“In the struggle which was necessary, many guilty persons fell without the forms of trial, and with them some innocent. These I deplore as much as any body, and shall deplore some of them to the day of my death. But I deplore them as I should have done had they fallen in battle. ItContinue reading “Thomas Jefferson in Defense of the French Revolution”
Bruce Cumings on the North Korean Economy
“My spirits brightened, however, when former Congressman Stephen Solarz, long interested in Korean affairs, found a ‘brilliant and breathtaking’ study by a CIA analyst and concluded it was for North Korea ‘what the Rosetta Stone was to ancient Egypt’. So rare and privileged was the author’s knowledge that it took him a decade to getContinue reading “Bruce Cumings on the North Korean Economy”
Misunderstandings Regarding Proletarian Leadership and the Peasant Question in Marxism
“Present-day thinking on Marx and Engels’s strategy is often muddled by a curious misunderstanding. We tend to visualise a contrast between ‘developed’ countries like Germany, France and England on the one hand and ‘backward’ ones like Russia on the other. But how ‘developed’ were countries like Germany, France and England in 1848 or 1871? OnlyContinue reading “Misunderstandings Regarding Proletarian Leadership and the Peasant Question in Marxism”
Isaac Asimov Reviews ‘1984’
Originally published in The New York Times. REVIEW OF 1984 By Isaac Asimov I’ve been writing a four-part article for Field Newspaper Syndicate at the beginning of each year for several years now and in 1980, mindful of the approach of the year 1984, FNS asked me to write a thorough critique of George Orwell’sContinue reading “Isaac Asimov Reviews ‘1984’”
John Callaghan on Rajani Palme Dutt and Evidence for the Moscow Trials and Anti-Soviet Conspiracies
On pages 279-280 of the book Rajani Palme Dutt: A Study in British Stalinism by John Callaghan (Lawrence & Wishart 1993), the author writes the following: “… the evidence points overwhelmingly to Dutt’s satisfaction with the Communist record. In preparing his book on The Internationale, for example, he had considered the inclusion of an anecdoteContinue reading “John Callaghan on Rajani Palme Dutt and Evidence for the Moscow Trials and Anti-Soviet Conspiracies”
Stalin’s Four Attempts at Resignation
Joseph Stalin was elected as the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU in April 1922 during the 11th Congress of the Party. Between then and until his death, he asked to be relieved of his duties as General Secretary a total of four times — all of which were rejected. On Lenin’sContinue reading “Stalin’s Four Attempts at Resignation”
ICMLPO Resolution on Colombia
The Parties and Organizations participating in the XXII International Plenary have carried out a detailed monitoring of the Colombian reality, especially of the activities that are realised today in this country for the peace. Our Conference wants to take advantage of this occasion to reiterate its full support to the working class, the labourers andContinue reading “ICMLPO Resolution on Colombia”
Michael Parenti: Is Nicaragua More Democratic Than the United States?
[From: Covert Action Information Bulletin, Number 26, Summer 1986] To justify the policies of attack, encirclement, embargo, and destabilization directed against Nicaragua, the Reagan administration has charged that the Sandinista government is on the road to totalitarianism, that it denies religious and political freedom and is a threat to the security of its neighbors. TheContinue reading “Michael Parenti: Is Nicaragua More Democratic Than the United States?”
Communist Party Alliance: On Sectarianism
The ‘left’ in Britain is characterised by sectarianism. What are the main reasons for this in an imperialist country? John Green examines the causes. The Causes of Sectarianism Bourgeois Social Conditions Divisions in the revolutionary movement are not formed simply from ideological differences, but sometimes represent class and social divisions. The social conditions of manyContinue reading “Communist Party Alliance: On Sectarianism”
Stalin’s ‘Anti-Semitism’
The accusation that Stalin was an anti-Semite is a strange one. Neither Stalin’s written texts nor his actions indicate anti-Semitism. Indeed, they indicate precisely the opposite, as I will show in a moment. So those who wish to make the accusation have to rely on hearsay – second- and third-hand snippets from passing conversations,Continue reading “Stalin’s ‘Anti-Semitism’”
William Blum on the “Death of Socialism” in the 20th Century
“The boys of Capital, they also chortle in their martinis about the death of socialism. The word has been banned from polite conversation. And they hope no one will notice that every socialist experiment of any significance in the twentieth century — without exception — was either overthrown, invaded, corrupted, perverted, subverted, destabilized, or otherwise hadContinue reading “William Blum on the “Death of Socialism” in the 20th Century”
The Espresso Stalinist 