Blogs

You would have to be well over 80 to directly remember anything about the 1930s. The nearest thing to real experience of that time, for those in the succeeding generation, was listening to our parents who preferred to forget about them.

Striking to Survive: Workers’ Resistance to Factory Relocations in China addresses the question of why there are so many strikes in China today and whether they add up to a "labor movement." Against the backdrop of a recent wave of factory closures in the Pearl River Delta, this book dispels the myth that Chinese workers are "stealing American jobs" and asks how solidarity between workers on both sides of the Pacific can be built.

The author of Rage Against Capital takes a critical Anarcho-syndicalist look at "The Rojava Revolution".

Prison labour is a billion-dollar industry, and the corporate beneficiaries of this slave labour include some of the largest corporations and most widely known brands. There are literally hundreds of corporations and firms that exploit prison labour.

A list of anime's that I feel are of interest to a class conscious viewer.

The casual observer might think that Trotskyism has been quite consistent in its views on the Syrian war but in fact there are almost as many positions on the war as there are Trotskyist groups. And this is no accident. Before we look at the stance that various Trotskyist groups have taken on the Syrian war it is useful to provide a brief overview of Trotsky and Trotskyism.

The following is my personal, subjective account of my experiences in Chicago for two back-to-back gatherings of working class militants and activists from April 5-8, 2018. The first was the Railroad Workers United Convention and the second was the Labor Notes Conference (I apologize in advance for my stream of consciousness digressions and clunky note-taking style).

The post-war boom melted away decades ago. It produced a mass consumer society unheard of in history. This society was based on the colossal destruction and devaluation of capital in the Second World War.

A history of Japan podcast about the massive coalminers strike in Miike on the island of Kyushu in 1960, and its impact on the Japanese economy, Japanese unions and the Japanese left.

A couple of excerpts from the work of scholars of fascism against the notion that the fascists were socialists.

A brief reminder. In January 2015 Paul Mason proclaimed on his Twitter account: "come to Athens – the revolution is happening". It is 2018 now, and three years later it is Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, who is ecstatic: "You did it! Congratulations to Greece and its people on ending the programme of financial assistance." What happened?

What's the relationship between labour struggles against capitalism and Indigenous struggles against colonialism? How has Marxist and communist theory traditionally tried to understand this relationship? This episode of Living the Dream from The Word With Struggle Street examines these questions by looking at the Communist Party of Australia in the 1920s and 30s and its relationship, or lack there of, with Indigenous struggles.

Many working class people do not believe that their class has the potential to change the world. Indeed many of us do not even recognise the idea of class, let alone see themselves as part of the class of “women and men of no property”. This is not surprising. The ruling capitalist class have powerful tools to confuse and distract the working class.

Over the last four years we spoke to many night-shift cleaners from local food processing plants. Young guys having a spliff after shift, telling us that using the chemicals for cleaning in confined spaces make you think of Syria or other gas attacks. Women workers have less time, as they hurry to get the kids ready for school. From workers at Adelie sandwich plant to LSG Sky Chef airline caterer to Bakkavor ready-meal factory – they all tell us that the time given for cleaning the shop-floor is not enough and that despite their knowledge and responsibility they are paid the lowest possible wage. Read a longer report below…

A listing of events that will be taking place in solidarity with the prison strike running from August 21st-September 9th. Reposted from It's Going Down.

A decade on since the financial crash world capitalism’s basic problem of low profitability remains. The only way the capitalists can revive ‘growth’ is by starting a new cycle of accumulation and this can only be done if a mass of existing capital is devalued.

A podcast episode on the Great Treason Incident and the early Anarchist movement in Japan.

Despite only getting 17% of the votes compared to about 30% for their coalition partners in the Five Star Movement, Matteo Salvini leader of La Lega (The League) has seized the opportunity as deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior to become the most dominant force in the new coalition of “populist parties”. The successive speeches about registering Roma (reminiscent of what happened to Italian Jews in 1938 as preparation for their annihilation in the Holocaust) may have caused outrage, but behind it has come the racist attacks in the street.