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Under today’s conditions, the ideas of libertarianism, anarchism, and socialism are all making a revival, as the youth and workers search for an explanation of the crisis and a road forward. The heroic “glory days” of the Industrial Workers of the World are being revived in the minds of many young people as they fight to form unions in their minimum-wage workplaces. Anarchist writers such as Proudhon, Kropotkin, Bakunin and Durruti are being rediscovered by new layers of youth. Authors such as Howard Zinn, Michael Albert, and Noam Chomsky, who expose the evils of imperialism and capitalism, are being eagerly read by a new generation.
Insofar as they open people’s eyes as to the undemocratic and exploitative nature of capitalist society, the growing interest in these ideas is extremely positive. Anarchism is appealing to many young people due to its simplicity: to reject anything and everything to do with the status quo. But upon deeper examination, there is a pervasive lack of real substance and depth of analysis in these ideas. Above all, there is very little in the way of an actually viable solution to the crisis of capitalism. After reading their material, one is inevitably left asking: “but what is to replace capitalism, and how can we make this a reality, starting from the conditions actually existing today?” 32 pages. By Alan Woods.
Socialist Appeal is the official newspaper of the Workers International League (WIL). It is published 7 times a year. In it you will find the latest news and analysis from a Marxist perspective on national, international, labor, and theoretical issues.
First-time subscribers can take out a 3-issue trial subscription for the special price of just $6 and help support the work of the WIL and Wellred USA.
Socialist Appeal is written, edited, laid out, printed, and shipped with 100% union or donated labor.
After Trotsky’s assassination and the end of World War II, there were new theoretical and organizational questions to be grappled with. Ted Grant’s writings on the mass organizations represent a deepening of our understanding of Bolshevik strategy and tactics when it comes to connecting the ideas of revolutionary Marxism with the working class. The experience of Militant, the largest and most successful Trotskyist organization in recent decades, offers many lessons for today. This volume is therefore an important addition to the theoretical arsenal of the current generation of Marxists.
Includes articles on British Perspectives, the Independent Labour Party, the Labour Party, the rise and fall of Militant, work in the mass organizations, the U.S. and the need for a labor party, workers' control, and more.
By Ted Grant with an introduction by John Peterson and an appendix by Rob Sewell.
288 pages.
Limited quantities of this two-volume set are now available for just $45.
Volume One of Trotsky's writings and speeches for the Communist International covers the period of its first three congresses when the post-war revolutionary upsurge reached its peak and then began to recede. It establishes, without fear of contradiction the important role he played in the foundation of this, the Third workers' International, and in the formation and early development of the French, German and Italian Communist Parties. By Leon Trotsky. Paperback. 422 pages.
Speeches and documents by Trotsky in the second volume date from the period when the Comintern was at the height of its authority as the general staff of the revolutionary movement. This volume contains the reports dealing with questions such as the united front and the economic conjuncture. By Leon Trotsky. Paperback. 384 pages.
The United States is the richest and most powerful country on the planet, with more than enough wealth to provide a high quality of life for everyone living here. And yet, shocking inequality and the poison of racism are everywhere, and are in fact integral to the continued domination of U.S. capitalism. Despite the mass struggles of the past and the reforms of the last forty years, blacks, together with the other racial and ethnic minorities, remain the most exploited and oppressed layer of U.S. society. Black youth are faced with daily harassment and intimidation by the police, and suffer disproportionately high unemployment rates. Blacks make up just 13 percent of the population, and yet are imprisoned and executed by the state at a far higher rate. Blacks continue to suffer from lynchings and violence at the hands of the state, racist organizations and individuals, as well as being forced to live under conditions of mass poverty, exploitation and oppression.
By the Workers International League. 40 pages.
The true lesson of Germany in the 1920s and 30s is that it was only after the repeated failure of the workers' organizations to offer a solution and take power that the middle classes were driven to such extremes of despair. Under such conditions, the ruling class can lean on these layers of society to support reaction. However, before this were to happen again in Germany or in a country like the USA, the working class will have many opportunities to resolve the crisis in its own interests. This poses the need to transform the organizations of the working class into real weapons that can carry out the historic aim of the socialist transformation of society. In the words of Trotsky, the crisis of mankind is the crisis of (revolutionary) leadership. This can only be resolved by the building of a powerful Marxist tendency in the United States and internationally. That is the urgent task of the Workers International League and the International Marxist Tendency.
84 pages. By Rob Sewell. Printed in the USA.
There are many workers who voted for the Democrats because they hoped they would bring about reforms such as universal health care, job creation, stronger unions and an end to the wars in the Middle East. Many are already disappointed as the Democrats basically continue Bush’s policies, with a few cosmetic changes. Many workers would like there to be an alternative to the political parties of big business but don’t see how this would be possible. This booklet takes up many questions that commonly arise around the question of a Labor Party in the US. 16 pages.
