Articles
Black History Month (BHM) arrives this year under quite exceptional conditions. The last year and a half has witnessed the parallel rise of the largest mass movement the United States has witnessed in decades and the fascist reaction. Immediately following the George Floyd popular revolt that swept across the country, fascist thugs flexed their muscles on a national scale for the first time on January 6th, 2021 with a putsch in Washington, DC. The old-school Democratic Party liberals captured power by riding on the exhaustion and frustration of the masses and the momentary disorientation in the Republican ranks following the January 6th debacle. Their moment of victory, however, lasted short, as they soon found out that they had no idea on how to handle the multi-layered social crisis in their hands
Les 25 et 26 décembre 1991 constituent un tournant dans l'histoire moderne. Ces jours-là ont vu la dissolution de l'Union des républiques socialistes soviétiques (URSS), l'État né de la grande révolution d'octobre 1917. Hormis le règne éphémère de la Commune de Paris pendant 72 jours en 1871, il s'agit de la première révolution qui a aboli les relations capitalistes et a ainsi établi le premier État ouvrier. La situation mondiale tout au long du 20e siècle, non seulement en Russie mais aussi dans le monde entier, a été déterminée par l'existence de cet État, dont la position a été, du moins théoriquement, fortifiée par d'autres révolutions victorieuses pendant et après la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
Les noms sont importants. Commençons donc par nommer correctement la crise actuelle : La question n'est pas que la Russie menace l'Ukraine. La question est plutôt que la Russie a décidé de mettre un terme à la menace de l'impérialisme en dressant une barrière militaire contre la menace de l'OTAN. Cette barrière a été établie à la frontière avec l'Ukraine dans les circonstances actuelles. Elle aurait très bien pu être établie dans une autre localité dans des conditions différentes. Le problème n'est pas l'Ukraine : C'est la tension OTAN-Russie.
İstənilən bir məsələni necə adlandırmağımız olduqca əhəmiyyətlidir. Odur ki, ilk növbədə baş verən böhranın adını düzgün qoymalıyıq: burada söhbət Rusiyanın Ukraynanı təhdid etməsindən yox, Rusiyanın NATO əleyhinə hərbi baryerlə imperializm təhlükəsinin qarşısını almaq qərarına gəlməsindən gedir. Sözü gedən baryer hazırkı şəraitdə Ukrayna ilə sərhəddə təsadüfən qurulub. Yəni belə bir baryer müxtəlif şərtlər daxilində başqa bir ərazidə də qurula bilərdi. Məsələ Ukrayna deyil, NATO-Rusiya gərginliyidir.
Bir sorunu nasıl adlandırdığınız çok önemlidir. Yaşanmakta olan krizin adını doğru koyalım: Mesele Rusya’nın Ukrayna’yı tehdit etmesi değil. Mesele, Rusya’nın NATO’nun kendisini tehdit etmesine karşı bir askerî barajla emperyalizmin bu tehdidine “dur!” demesi. Bu baraj bugünün koşullarında Ukrayna sınırında kuruldu. Başka koşullarda başka bir coğrafyada kurulabilirdi. Konu Ukrayna değil. Konu NATO-Rusya gerilimi.
Naming matters. So let us start with correctly naming the current crisis: The question is not about Russia threatening Ukraine. Rather, the question is that Russia decided to put a stop to the threat of imperialism with a military barrier against NATO’s threat. This barrier happened to be established on the border with Ukraine under current circumstances. It could very well have been established in another locality under different conditions. The issue is not Ukraine: It is the NATO-Russia tension.
Qazaxıstan təzə ilə kütləvi etiraz aksiyaları ilə başladı. Yanvarın 2-də başlayan aksiyalar artıq ilk həftəsini başa vurarkən bir çox məsələ barədə hələ də dürüst məlumatlar əldə etmək mümkün deyil. Bununla belə, günbəgün toz-duman dağılır, hadisələrin başlıca cəhətləri aşkara çıxmağa başlayır. Biz də belə bir şəraitdə Qazaxıstan siyasətinin ən xırda təfərrüatları barədə məlumatlı olduğumuzu iddia etmədən ilkin hadisələrə və mümkün gedişata dair təəssüratlarımızı bölüşməyi mənalı hesab edirik.
Kazakistan yeni yıla büyük kitle eylemleri ile başladı. 2 Ocak’ta başlayan eylemler ilk haftasını doldurmak üzereyken, birçok konuda hala net bilgiler edinmek mümkün değil. Yine de her geçen gün toz duman biraz daha dağılıyor, bazı hatlar ortaya çıkmaya başlıyor. Biz de bu şartlarda, Kazakistan siyasetinin inceliklerine vâkıf olma iddiamız olmaksızın, ilk gelişmelere ve olası gidişata dair izlenimlerimizi paylaşmayı anlamlı buluyoruz.
Kazakhstan’s new year took off with mass protests. While the actions that started on January 2 are a week in, it is still not possible to obtain precise information on many issues. However, the fog of war disperses by the day, and the main lines of the episode start to emerge. In these circumstances, we find it meaningful to share our impressions of the first developments and possible course without claiming any expertise in the intricacies of Kazakhstan’s politics.
To the couriers and delivery workers of Greece, Europe and the whole world. To the international labour movement.
The Workers Revolutionary Party (Greece) fully endorses the announced international strike of the delivery workers called by the SVEOD rank-and-file union in Greece in cooperation with equivalent unions from Europe and other countries. The first international action of the delivery workers has been announced to take place on the 1st of May 2022. May Day, a global day of international and internationalist action by workers all over the world, has been set as a springboard to the international emergence of the demands and claims of the new proletariat.
The series of events of 6th January 2021 in the United States that culminated in the storming of Congress is, to refer to a metaphor Lenin used in an entirely different context, “a flash of lightning which threw more of a glare on reality than anything else.”
Exactly one year has passed since Trump’s fascist gangs have attempted to take over the Capitol in Washington, DC to prevent the transfer of power from Trump to Biden.
Though the putsch emerged as a flash of lighting seemingly out of thin air a mere nine days before the succession, it was in fact one of the most predictable political ruptures the United States had ever witnessed.
The American fascist movement is regaining the momentum in the aftermath of the 2020 elections and the abortive putsch on January 6th in Washington, DC at lightning speed. In stark contrast to the classical forms of fascism in the 1920s and 1930s, today’s fascist movement is strengthening its grip on large sections of the working class. The gubernatorial elections in two East Coast states, Virginia and New Jersey, clearly demonstrate this horrifying fact.
Подведём итоги проведённого обзора величайших исторических прорывов, незабываемых подвигов, совершённых в ХХ веке коммунистами и трудящимися СССР и – по их примеру, после Второй мировой войны, - многих других стран, обзора огромных достижений в начатом движении по переходу к высшей фазе коммунизма и – попутно – немалых ошибок, теоретических и практических извращений, допущенных на этом пути. Негативы, увы, оказались сильнее и прервали развитие большинства социалистических проектов. Систематизация причин поражений станет естественным заключением очерка нашей драматической 74-летней истории.
We are proud to present to our readers Issue No. 4 (11) for 2021 of Советское Возрождение. Бюллетень Ассоциации «Советский Союз» or in English Soviet Renaissance. Bulletin of the Association “Soviet Union”.
Fakat 1991’de, Berlin Duvarı’nın yıkılmasının ve Orta ve Doğu Avrupa’daki tüm işçi devletlerinin çöküşünün hemen ardından, bu grubun hâlâ en gelişmişi ve temsilcisi olan Sovyet devleti dağıldı. Bunu, Asya’nın devleri Çin ve Vietnam’da kapitalizmin daha tedrici ve kontrollü restorasyonu izledi. Böylece, tüm dünya sahnesinin gidişatına damgasını vuran 20. yüzyılın sosyalist inşa deneyimi, iskambil kağıtlarından bir kule gibi devrildi.
El secreto más abominable de nuestro tiempo es el hecho histórico que da al comienzo del siglo XXI su especificidad en comparación con el anterior. De 1917 a 1991, durante lo que el historiador Eric Hobsbawm llamó el corto siglo XX, la situación económica, política e ideológica mundial estuvo determinada por esta realidad irreductible de la existencia de un nuevo tipo de Estado, la Unión Soviética, que simplemente eliminó la relación de capital, imposibilitando así la explotación del trabajo de los humanos por otros humanos.
La vitalidad y resistencia mostradas por el primer Estado obrero, nacido por la revolución socialista de octubre de 1917, fue la primera confirmación en la práctica de la legitimidad histórica de la revolución socialista victoriosa, considerada entonces (pero también ahora) por muchos en la izquierda y por todos en la derecha, como una aberración de la Historia, o como un aborto prematuro.
In 1991, however, upon the heels of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of all the central and east European workers’ states, came the dissolution of the Soviet state, still the most advanced and representative of the family. This was followed by the more gradual and controlled restoration of capitalism in the Asian giants of China and Vietnam. Thus the experience of socialist construction of the 20th century, which set the tone for the entire world scene, collapsed like a house of cards.
Thirty years ago, on 26 December to be exact, the USSR was declared dissolved by its constituent nations, the republics that formed the Soyuz. This was the pacific counter revolution that then started a chain reaction of radical transmutation, leading to the unwinding of all the characteristics that made it possible to attribute to the Soviet Union and hence to its constituent republics the character of a workers’ state, albeit under the distortions and convolutions of a heavy-handed bureaucratic degeneration.
The USSR, a Nationless Federation of Nations: The Most Adequate Form for the Transition to Socialism
In the process I will defend the idea that the USSR as a state form constituted a revolutionary rupture with respect to the state form of the nation-state in the modern era. It is the first state in the modern era, and the only one so far, that does not bear the name of a nation or at least a geographic location that later in the historical process became the name of a nation. Of the second type, the most salient instance is the United States of America. The Soviet state had no such national belonging in its outward appearance, which makes it exceptional in the modern nation-state system.
The vitality and resilience showed by the first Workers’ State, born by the October 1917 socialist revolution, was the first confirmation in practice of the historical legitimacy of the victorious socialist revolution, considered then (but also even now) by many in the Left and by everybody in the Right, as an aberration of History, or as a premature miscarriage.
In December 1991, the largest state on the planet, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the first ever socialist state of workers and peasants, disappeared from the political map of the world. In the context of the general crisis of Gorbachev’s “perestroika” policy, few people paid attention to the blatant violation of all conceivable and inconceivable constitutional procedures during the “dissolution” of the united socialist homeland.
Let us summarize the results of the review of the greatest historical breakthroughs, unforgettable feats accomplished in the twentieth century by the communists and working people of the USSR and, following their example, after the Second World War, of many other countries, an overview of the enormous achievements in the initiated movement towards the transition to the highest phase of communism and -along the way- considerable mistakes, theoretical and practical perversions, made along the way. The negative factors, alas, turned out to be stronger and interrupted the development of most socialist projects. The systematization of the causes of failure will be the natural conclusion of the essay of our dramatic 74-year history.
We are publishing here issue No.6 for the year 2021 (Issue No. 144) of Communist of Leningrad, the bi-monthly publication of the Russian Party of Communists in Leningrad (St. Petersburg).
October 2021 witnessed a huge upsurge in strikes across a myriad of sectors in the USA, from auto workers of John Deere to food-processing workers of Nabisco. This unique month of strikes has already been dubbed “Strike-tober” by many American workers and socialists, and its impacts have already spilled over to the months that followed.
However, a long, relatively smaller strike had begun in mid-September, and unfortunately did not get the coverage it deserved from the mainstream media or most of the socialist press. The engineers of the private hospital chain Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California have been striking for better pensions and wage increases adjusted to inflation. At the time of writing (December 10, 2021), the strike has entered its 84th day, thus becoming the longest strike the Bay Area has ever seen. It is seconded only by the 1934 San Francisco General Strike, which had lasted for 83 days.
An abuse of such proportions of a religious belief for purely material interests ought to be hard to find in history. The declaration by Tayyip Erdoğan, the principal architect of the free-fall of the Turkish Lira, of interest as nass (textually verified principle of Islam) to defend himself is nothing but a desperate final attempt to hide the material reality from the eyes of the people. To understand this, we need to go back in time and grasp the roots of the crisis currently underway.
The AKP government had a lucky streak in the ec
The 6th Congress of the Revolutionary Workers Party (DIP) of Turkey greets the century-old, just and legitimate fight of the Palestinian people against Zionism and imperialism, and states that the party's support for this struggle will continue uninterruptedly.
Throughout the entire history of its struggle, the Palestinian people have fought against almost all great powers, so to speak. Palestine, which fed the Ottoman court, pashas, tax farmers and their local collaborators until the 20th century, was occupied by the imperialists after the First World War, and its territory was made a present to the Zionists by them. In 1948, the direct colonialism of imperialism was replaced by the Zionist occupation, and a racist, fundamentalist, apartheid-type settler-colonial state called Israel subjected the Palestinians to a systematic ethnic cleansing on the one hand, and, on the other, became the bridgehead of the imperialists, especially of the USA, in the region.
Le 6e Congrès du Parti révolutionnaire des travailleurs salue la résistance juste et légitime du peuple palestinien contre le sionisme et l'impérialisme depuis près d'un siècle et affirme que le soutien du parti à cette lutte se poursuivra sans cesse.
Tout au long de l'histoire de sa lutte, le peuple palestinien s'est battu contre vents et marées. La Palestine, qui alimentait la cour ottomane, les pachas, les fermiers fiscaux et leurs collaborateurs locaux jusqu'au 20ème siècle, a été occupée par les impérialistes après la Première Guerre mondiale, et son territoire a été donné aux sionistes par eux. En 1948, le colonialisme direct de l'impérialisme a été remplacé par l'occupation sioniste, et un État colonial raciste, fondamentaliste, colonisateur de type apartheid appelé Israël a soumis les Palestiniens à un nettoyage ethnique systématique. Le même Israël est devenu la tête de pont des impérialistes, en particulier des États-Unis, dans la région.
El VI Congreso del Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores (DIP) de Turquía saluda la lucha centenaria, justa y legítima del pueblo palestino contra el sionismo y el imperialismo, y afirma que el apoyo del partido a esta lucha continuará ininterrumpidamente.
A lo largo de toda la historia de su lucha, el pueblo palestino ha luchado contra casi todas las gran potencias, por así decirlo. Palestina, que alimentó a la corte otomana, pachás, recaudadores de impuestos y sus colaboradores locales hasta el siglo XX, fue ocupada por los imperialistas después de la Primera Guerra Mundial, y su territorio fue un regalo para los sionistas. En 1948, el colonialismo directo del imperialismo fue sustituido por la ocupación sionista, y un estado de colonos de tipo apartheid, racista y fundamentalista llamado Israel sometió a los palestinos a una limpieza étnica sistemática por un lado y, por otro, se convirtió en la cabeza de puente de los imperialistas, especialmente de Estados Unidos, en la región.
Georges Abdallah’s struggle is our struggle. His enemies are our enemies.
Free Georges Abdallah now!
La lutte de Georges Ibrahim Abdallah est notre lutte. Ses ennemis sont nos ennemis.
Liberté immédiate à Georges Ibrahim Abdallah !
Macron, et avec lui toute la bourgeoisie nationale, impose dans les DOM-TOM, en Guadeloupe et en Martinique, en Guyane, en Polynésie et en Nouvelle Calédonie,… un ordre colonial très discriminant pour les classes populaires de ces régions. Contre ce colonialisme et le terrorisme policier, contre les discriminations, contre les bas salaires (plus bas qu’en métropole) et les prix plus élevés, contre les mensonges et les crimes d’État (scandale du Chlordécone), les populations résistent. Alors Macron et la bourgeoisie envoie des forces de répression supplémentaires : le GIGN et le RAID, (+2 500 hommes), des blindés, du matériel militaire.
Le renversement du Conseil de souveraineté de transition et la destitution du gouvernement de transition au Soudan n'est pas simplement un coup d'État militaire, comme le réitère la « communauté internationale » des impérialistes et les médias occidentaux, mais une contre-révolution. Ayant commencé en décembre 2018, la révolution soudanaise a mis fin à 30 ans de dictature d'Omar el-Béchir et a fait jeter le dictateur lui-même en prison en avril 2019, mais a ensuite poursuivi le sit-in devant le Commandement général des forces armées pendant deux mois. Après le massacre du 3 juin 2019, au cours duquel plus d'une centaine de martyrs sont tombés, le peuple héroïque du Soudan s'est de nouveau soulevé le 30 juin. Le Conseil militaire de transition, qui avait pris le relais après la chute d'el-Béchir, a dû céder au pouvoir des masses révolutionnaires, mais a manœuvré pour mettre en place un Conseil de souveraineté de transition pour partager le pouvoir avec les représentants de la direction de la révolution, qui était à l'époque entre les mains des Forces pour la liberté et le changement et à sa tête l'Association des professionnels soudanais.
Sudan'da Geçiş Dönemi Egemenlik Konseyi'nin devrilmesi ve geçiş hükümetinin görevden alınması, emperyalistlerin “uluslararası toplumunun” ve Batı medyasının ısrarla öne sürdüğü gibi basit bir askeri darbe değil, bir karşı devrimdir. Aralık 2018'de başlayan Sudan devrimi, Ömer El Beşir'in 30 yıllık diktatörlüğüne son verdi ve Nisan 2019'da diktatörü hapse attı, ama ardından silahlı kuvvetlerin Genelkurmayı önünde 2 ay boyunca oturma eylemini sürdürdü. Yüzden fazla kişinin şehit düştüğü 3 Haziran 2019 katliamının ardından, Sudan'ın kahraman halkı 30 Haziran'da yeniden ayağa kalktı. El Beşir'in düşmesinden sonra görevi devralan Geçiş Dönemi Askeri Konseyi, devrimci kitlelerin gücüne teslim olmak zorunda kaldı, ancak iktidarı devrim liderliğinin temsilcileriyle paylaşmak için bir Geçiş Dönemi Egemenlik Konseyi kurma manevrası yaptı. O dönemde devrimin liderliği, başında Sudan Meslekler Birliği bulunan Özgürlük ve Değişim Güçleri'nin elindeydi.
The overthrow of the Transitional Sovereignty Council and the dismissal of the transitional government in Sudan is not simply a military coup, as the “international community” of imperialists and the Western media have been hammering, but a counter-revolution. Having started in December 2018, the Sudanese revolution put an end to the 30-year dictatorship of Omar al Bashir and had the dictator himself thrown into prison in April 2019, but then went on to continue the sit-in in front of the General Command of the armed forces for two months. After the massacre of 3 June 2019, when over one hundred martyrs fell, the heroic people of Sudan rose again on 30 June. The Transitional Military Council, which had taken over after the fall of al Bashir had to give in to the power of the revolutionary masses, but manoeuvered to set up a Transitional Sovereignty Council to share power with the representatives of the leadership of the revolution, which at that time was in the hands of the Forces for Freedom and Change and at its head the Sudan Professionals Association.
Revolutions are those moments in history when treading the middle ground is the most suicidal road. The experience of the Sudanese revolution has shown this much more clearly than many other revolutions. The Sudanese Professionals Association, which fought the forces of repression courageously until July 2019, suddenly yielded in front of the military and hoped that a moderate line would bring them and their revolution good. They found out, however, to their great chagrin, that there is no way to reconcile revolution and counter revolution. Fortunately, the revolution came into its own in bewildering speed. To squander this second chance by trying to rehash the road that has been tried and failed would be folly. The Sudanese revolution must go to the very end if it is not to suffer a catastrophic defeat the next time around. Only those who have nothing to lose will go to the end. Not the better-off petty-bourgeoisie represented by the Sudanese Professional Associations or the Forces for Freedom and Change, but the Resistance Committees that have sprung from the bosom of the poor working-class neighbourhoods and fight the police and the army no matter what happens. There is...
We are publishing here issue No.5 for the year 2021 (Issue No. 143) of Communist of Leningrad, the bi-monthly publication of the Russian Party of Communists in Leningrad (St. Petersburg).
We are proud to present to our readers Issue No. 3 (10) for 2021 of Советское Возрождение. Бюллетень Ассоциации «Советский Союз» or in English Soviet Renaissance. Bulletin of the Association “Soviet Union”.
Statement by the EEK (Workers Revolutionary Party of Greece)
A 18 years old young Roma has been murdered by Greek Police in Perama, Piraeus.
– the Mitsotakis right wing government covers up and protect the killers
The murder of the young Roma was committed by 7 police officers of the special DIAS force, well known for its brutality.
Late in the night of Friday, October 22, the DIAS unit, after a long pursuit of three minors Roma, 15-18 years old, who apparently they had stolen a car, in the area of Renti, trapped then in Perama and opened massive fire with their guns. One young Roma, 18 years old, was killed on the spot. Another, 16 years old was seriously wounded by three bullets in the belly, while a third, 15 years old, escaped.