Subject Areas

They Said

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:00:00 +0100

"About our press - articles from three clubs in one way or another raised the question of doing away with the People's Daily World because it "takes too much effort, money, and time." And, as one article said, "We don't have the time to visit the contacts we make with the paper anyway." To do away with the People's Daily World would be the first step in liquidating the Party. I don't see any alternative to our press - or our Party. Here again, the influence of the ...

Why a Revolutionary Working Class Newspaper?

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:24:56 +0100

In recent years the question of "what is to be done" has confronted Russian Social-Democrats with particular insistence. It is not a question of what path we must choose (as was the case in the late eighties and early nineties), but of what practical steps we must take upon the known path and how they shall be taken. It is a question of a system and plan of practical work. And it must be admitted that we have not yet solved this question of the character and the methods of struggle ...

The Honduras Coup: Is Obama Innocent? Parenti Interview

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Many people ask: is Obama really innocent about what happened in Honduras? Many also believe this president is "different." www.michelcollon.info asked the opinion of the famous US writer Michael Parenti. 

A Sober View of Iran

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:00:00 +0100

The view of many parts of the Western left on the disputed presidential election in Iran and subsequent upheavals seems to have been influenced by an understandable distaste for the obscurantist and misogynistic elements of Islam and a dislike of theocracy. Romantic illusions about popular uprisings have also figured in the positions Western leftists have taken. But romantic illusions and distaste for Islam have no place in a sober analysis of what has transpired in Iran. ...

The Demise of an Old Friend, the PWW

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Friends tell me of the recent decision of the National Committee of the Communist Party USA to discontinue the print edition of the Party's newspaper, The People's Weekly World. The paper, the successor to The Daily World and People's World, The Worker, and The Daily Worker, has been the public voice of the Communist Party since 1924. I well remember old timers victimized by the extreme anti-Communist repression of the nineteen fifties recalling how the paper was the only means for the ...

North Korea: "Sanity" at the Brink

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Nations that chart a self-defining course, seeking to use their land, labor, natural resources, and markets as they see fit, free from the smothering embrace of the US corporate global order, frequently become a target of defamation. Their leaders often have their moral sanity called into question by US officials and US media, as has been the case at one time or another with Castro, Noriega, Ortega, Qaddafi, Aristide, Milosevic, Saddam Hussein, Hugo Chavez, and others. So it comes as no ...

On Obama's Policy Toward Cuba

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Address by Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, President of the National Assembly of People's Power at the conference on Cuba in the Present Era. The occasion for Alarcon's speech was the celebration on June 23, 2009 in Matanzas Province of the 80th anniversary of the "Hispanic-American Evangelical Congress in Havana in 1919."

Obama y la Politica Hacia Cuba

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Palabras De Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, Presidente de La Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular en la Conferencia Coyuntura Cubana. Conmemoración del 80 Aniversario del Congreso Evangélico Hispanoamericano de La Habana 1929.

Proof of Israeli Effort to Destabilize Iran Via Twitter

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Right-wing Israeli interests are engaged in an all out Twitter attack with hopes of delegitimizing the Iranian election and causing political instability within Iran.

The Fog Machine: Iran, Social Media and the Rise of Genetically Modified Grassroots Organizations

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Occasionally, an event gushes through media channels, spectacularly belying the notion that news outlets have major ideological differences. The current surge is a Green Wave, emanating from Iran. But there is more going on here than a uniform support for the anti-Ahmadinejad forces. We are witnessing something older, what media scholars have called the "technological sublime." In this quasi-mystical sentiment, each media development brings with it a promise for a new age, eve ...

Hold Out for Single-Payer

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Today the Congressional Progressive Caucus faces a choice. That choice is whether members should maintain their unflinching support for single-payer, or to accede to intense political pressure to support the plan currently being developed in Congress under the direction of President Obama: a mandate for Americans to purchase an insurance plan from a massive new regulatory exchange, with one plan potentially being a so called public option. The difference between these choices cou ...

In 2008 War Spending Breaks Records

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Worldwide military expenditure in 2008 totaled an estimated US$ 1464 billion, according to new figures released today by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). This represents an increase of 4 per cent in real terms compared to 2007, and an increase of 45 per cent since 1999. SIPRI today launched the 2009 edition of its Yearbook on Armaments, Disarmament and International Security. The Yearbook shows that the USA accounted for the majority (58%) of the global increas ...

Consolidating the Revolution and Opening Roads to Socialism

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Herewith we publish in full the political declaration issued by the 30th plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela on June 6-7, 2009. The fundamental task of the Party at the present time is to build a powerful workers' and people's movement, with solid class consciousness in order to deepen the revolutionary process, consolidate national liberation, and open roads to the construction of socialism. ...

Consolidar la Revolución y Abrir Caminos al Socialismo

Sat, 06 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

A continuación publicamos en forma íntegra la Declaración Política emanada del XXX Pleno del Comité Central del Partido Comunista de Venezuela, desarrollado el 6 y 7 de junio del 2009, cuya tarea fundamental del presente momento histórico es construir un poderoso movimiento obrero y popular, con una sólida conciencia de clase, para profundizar el proceso revolucionario, consolidar la liberación nacional y abrir caminos a la construcción del Socialismo.   ...

The Trouble with the Democrats

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

The governing party faced an awkward dilemma. People were hurting and furious at the government's generous bailouts for banks. But how could the Democrats do something for the folks without upsetting their friends and patrons in the banking industry? Democrats think they found a way. They are enacting a series of measures described as "breakthrough" reform and "unprecedented" defeat for the bankers. Only these achievements are more accurately understood as "reform lite.& ...

Shadow Wars: Where Will They Strike Next?

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Sudan: the two F-16s caught the trucks deep in the northern desert. Within minutes the column was a string of shattered wrecks burning fiercely in the January sun. Surveillance drones spotted a few vehicles that had survived the storm of bombs and cannon shells, and the fighter-bombers returned to finish the job. Syria: four Blackhawk helicopters skimmed across the Iraqi border, landing at a small farmhouse near the town of al-Sukkariyeh. Black-clad soldiers poured from the choppers, la ...

Grand Theft Auto

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Screw the autoworkers.  They may be crying about General Motors' bankruptcy today. But dumping 40,000 of the last 60,000 union jobs into a mass grave won't spoil Jamie Dimon's day. Dimon is the CEO of JP Morgan Chase bank. While GM workers are losing their retirement health benefits, their jobs, their life savings; while shareholders are getting zilch and many creditors getting hosed, a few privileged GM lenders , led by Morgan and Citibank , expect to get back 100% of their loan ...

US Now Has 250,000 "Contractors" in Iraq and Afghanistan

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Newly released Pentagon statistics show that in both Iraq and Afghanistan the number of armed contractors is rising. The DoD says it sees "similar dependence on contractors in future." A couple of years ago, Blackwater executive Joseph Schmitz seemed to see a silver lining for mercenary companies with the prospect of US forces being withdrawn or reduced in Iraq. "There is a scenario where we could as a government, the United States, could pull back the military footprint, ...

For a Serious Conversation on Socialism

Sat, 23 May 2009 01:00:00 +0100

It was the mother of all ironies that the corporate media began the current public discussion of socialism. Spurred by massive Federal investment in failing mega-corporations, the media wondered how much public funding would constitute socialism. By raising the alarm, they forced self-styled authorities - largely academics - to dust off their old manuscripts and voice an opinion. Faced with public interest, The Nation - the largest circulation, most influential liberal weekly - invit ...

Changing Obama's Mindset

Sun, 17 May 2009 01:00:00 +0100

We are citizens, and Obama is a politician. You might not like that word. But the fact is he's a politician. He's other things, too - he's a very sensitive and intelligent and thoughtful and promising person. But he's a politician.

Obama's Health Care Charade

Wed, 13 May 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Since the first days of his administration, Obama has methodically erased single-payer advocates from the picture. The president feigns
amazement at popular demands for a change in the industrial world's most expensive and dysfunctional health care system.

The Unsung Guantanamera of Pete Seeger and Silvio Rodriguez

Tue, 12 May 2009 01:00:00 +0100

On May 3, during a grand concert at Madison Square Garden in New York, Pete Seeger, "a living legend of the American song" as Silvio Rodríguez called him in a letter written that same day, received a tribute for his 90 years. The greatest poet of Cuban song had been invited to the concert, but, against his own expectations and those of the organizers, the U.S. Department of State did not give an answer on his visa request and Silvio was unable to sing Guantanamera alongside Pe ...

The New US Commander in Afghanistan

Tue, 12 May 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Funny thing about the new commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal: for a brief period of time, his name was left out of the Pentagon phone books. That's because, of course, he was general officer of a series of units whom the Pentagon stubbornly refuses to admit the existence of, even though popular culture and selective leaks have them quite famous and much admired.

Paris, France on May Day 2009

Sun, 03 May 2009 01:00:00 +0100

May Day in Paris did not shut down the city - as it did in Istanbul - or result in pitched battles between the demonstrators and the police - as in Berlin, but it created a big impression nonetheless. First, it was huge. Under a bright blue sky and balmy weather - 160,000 festive participants in Paris (1.2 million nationwide) streamed down Boulevard St. Michel and Boulevard St. Germaine, all afternoon until well into the evening. Though the organizers said the turnout was not so great as th ...

Misunderstanding Marx: Brad Delong and the Collapse of Neoliberalism

Fri, 01 May 2009 01:00:00 +0100

The blogosphere has lately witnessed some interest in a lecture, "Understanding Marxism" posted by Professor Brad Delong of the University of California and a former Clinton administration official. Delong calls himself a neoliberal economist and his lecture is such a confused jumble of misrepresentations and misunderstandings of even the most elementary rudiments of Marxism that its refutation will serve the two fold purpose of clarifying some elementary ideas of basic Marxism ...

Creating A Third Force In American Politics

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Progressives should create a 'third force' in American politics an independent political organization that focuses on developing and advocating reformative and transformative policy proposals and actively educates, agitates, organizes and lobbies to enact its agenda. The Left should have learned by now that the change President Obama believes he can achieve is incremental, not fundamental. There's a problem, however. Although the crucial task is creating a third force as a 21st century versi ...

Obama and the Blockade

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Yesterday I referred to what was funny about the Declaration of Commitment of Port of Spain. Today I could refer to what is tragic about it. I hope our friends do not take any offence in this. There were some differences between the draft that we received, which was going to be submitted by the hosts of the Summit, and the document that was finally published. In all that last minute haste, there was hardly any time for anything. Some items had been discussed at long meetings held som ...

Evo Morales At ALBA

Tue, 21 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

"I want to declare myself a Marxist and a communist. Let's see if the OAS expels me." During his speech at the seventh summit meeting of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, recalled the documents of the Organization of American States that resulted in Cuba being expelled from the organization in 1962 and described the importance of reflecting on the motives for that expulsion. The resolution asserts that the adhe ...

Taking A Stand Against Israel

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

A delegation of 11 Scottish trade unionists spent a week in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories last month. Its task was to discuss the call for BDS - boycott, disinvestment, and sanctions - with the Israeli trade union centre Histadrut, the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and civic organisations. The delegation, organised by the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) general council, included seven of its members including myself, the general secretary, ...

CPI and CPB Joint Statement

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

The Communist Party of Ireland and the Communist Party of Britain held a bilateral meeting in Belfast on 18 April 2009. At the top of the agenda for both parties was closer co-operation in relation to strengthening the peace process and our response to the growing and deepening crisis of state-monopoly capitalism globally. In relation to the peace process, both parties reaffirm their support for the Belfast and St Andrews Agreements as the only basis from which progress could be a ...

Ready to Discuss Everything

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Speech by Cuba's President at the Fifth ALBA Summit in Cumaná, Venezuela Raúl Castro (to Hugo Chávez): Remember that you need to give me the floor to thank everyone, especially those who've spoken and I'm not going to exclude Daniel, because he'll also speak as well, just as he's done throughout his entire life as a revolutionary in the name of the Cuban people, all the expressions of solidarity and support for our Revolution, to our people, and I believe, therefore, also the Lea ...

A Lexicon of Disappointment

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

All is not well in Obamafanland. It's not clear exactly what accounts for the change of mood. Maybe it was the rancid smell emanating from Treasury's latest bank bailout. Or the news that the president's chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, earned millions from the very Wall Street banks and hedge funds he is protecting from reregulation now. Or perhaps it began earlier, with Obama's silence during Israel's Gaza attack. Whatever the last straw, a growing number of Obama enthusiasts are star ...

Crisis Not An Anomaly Of Capitalism

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Excerpts from a recent interview with Osvaldo Martinez, director of the Research Center for World Economy and president of the Cuban National Assembly's Economic Affairs Commission. Mass layoffs all around the world, rising unemployment rates and poverty indexes, bankruptcy of companies and banks are some of the most obvious effects of the crisis. At which stage of the crisis are we? Osvaldo Martinez: The crisis is just beginning, and no one can predict with certainty how long will ...

News From Bolivia

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Yesterday, Thursday 9, our attention was focused on the tense situation in Bolivia. Today, Friday, there is one more event of great interest: after a successful trip to China, Hugo Chavez arrives in Cuba. If in Bolivia the oligarchy has clashed with a serious and strong leader like Evo Morales, in Venezuela the adversaries of the Bolivarian Revolution, who were pinning all their hopes on the blow that the international economic crisis would deal that country, will understand that Chavez ...

Obama's War Budget

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

President Barack Obama wants Congress to act quickly on his $83.4 billion request for US military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, an appeal that's disappointing the most liberal, anti-war wing of his party. But with the president promising to remove all combat troops from Iraq by the end of August 2010, his Democratic allies in control of Congress are sure to pass his request without the type of tortuous battle that characterized their dealings with former President G ...

NATO, the Malvinas Islands, and US 4th Fleet

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

For us with the World Peace Council WPC, an organization that is near completing 60 years of existence with branches in 109 countries, it is a great joy to be in the homeland of San Martin, of Ernesto Che Guevara, fighters who, like us, defend peace, sovereignty and the integration of Latin America. I would like to thank the organizations responsible for this conference, comrades of Mopassol, the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (PAHR) and Serpaj-Latin America. This Internationa ...

CP of Turkey, Protests against Obama in Istanbul and Ankara

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

The visit of the US President Barack Obama to Turkey was protested at demonstrations held in Istanbul and Ankara. A demonstration was held to protest the US President Barack Obama, who arrived Istanbul last evening. At the demonstration in Istanbul held by the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) at Taksim Trolley Station, it was stated that an important aspect of the visit is to bargain on "the cheap soldiers" of Turkey, and Obama's visit will reinforce Turkey's dependence on US im ...

"Cowboy Capitalism" and the Demise of "Globalization"

Mon, 06 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

I have written before of the trend towards economic nationalism that systemically follows a major and deep crisis like the one currently gripping the world economy. Until recently, this tendency has been largely overlooked or ignored. Despite the moralizing reassurances of unity postured by the world leaders assembled at the April G20 conference, symptoms of economic independence and national self-interest are springing up throughout the world with an accompanying friction between the leaders of ...

Working Group Statement on NATO

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 01:00:00 +0100

April 4, 2009 is the 60th anniversary of the foundation of NATO, the imperialist organisation which is under the leadership of the USA. NATO was created allegedly in order to confront the USSR, the first workers' state in the world, which withstood and confronted successfully the attack of the Nazi plague, giving a new impetus to the struggle for national and social liberation all over the world. At the same time, the capitalist governments of the USA, Canada and West ...

A French Communist at the KKE Congress

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Under the slogan, "Counteroffensive," the Eighteenth Congress of the Greek Communist Party (KKE), from February 18 to 22, 2009 was a great Congress of a great party.There were a thousand delegates from all of Greece, about 200 invited guests, and 90 foreign delegations, among them the PCRF , Pȏle de Renaissance Communiste en France.[In English, roughly, Rallying Point for Communist Rebirth] represented by our comrade Daniel Antonini: ...

Amicus Curiae Briefs Filed on Behalf of the Cuban Five

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 17:57:26 +0100

On March 6, 2009, 12 amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs were filed with the Supreme Court of the United States in support of the position for the Court to review the case that was presented by the Defense of the Cuban Five on January 30. This is the largest number of amicus briefs ever to have urged Supreme Court to review a criminal conviction. The United Nations Human Rights Commission has condemned the Miami trial o ...

US Cities Deal With a Surge in Shanty Towns

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

As the operations manager of a outreach center for the homeless here, Paul Stack is used to seeing people down on their luck. What he had never seen before was people living in tents and lean- tos on the railroad lot across from the center. "They just popped up about 18 months ago," Mr. Stack said. "One day it was empty. The next day, there were people living there." Like a dozen or so other cities across the nation, Fresno is dealing with an unhappy déjà vu: the ...

Ten Years After the NATO Onslaught Against Yugoslavia

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Remarks of Aleka Papariga, General Secretary of the CC of Communist Party of Greece (KKE) At the International Conference of the "Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals" 23-24 March 2009 Belgrade Ten years have passed since the incidents that shocked our region causing a conflict between the people of a Balkan country and the strongest political-military, imperialist organisation of our era, NATO. This battle, which was objectively unequal concerning the military ...

Out of the Crisis

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 01:00:00 +0100

"Labor and its allies now have a friend, a people's advocate" in the White House. ... it is obvious that the Obama administration represents a qualitative break with rightwing extremism and free-market fundamentalism. Not to see this, not to acknowledge this, not to welcome this, no matter whether you live in or outside U.S. borders, is to act like the ostrich that sticks its head in the sand and misses what is happening on the ground. " Excerpts from "Out of the Crisis: B ...

Dr. Doom and the Temple of Economic Pain

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Dr. Doom, the moniker earned by NYU Business School Professor Nouriel Roubini with his gloomy forecasts of economic catastrophe, stands out among the batch of economic Pollyannas in the mainstream academic world and the business media. A year ago, Roubini predicted an 18 month recession followed by a classic U-shaped recovery, the expected trajectory of a serious business-cycle downturn. But now, as reported on Bloomberg.com, the great pessimist suggests that the recession may go out 36 ...

Our South Africa Moment Has Arrived

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Introduction As Israel shifts steadily to the fanatic, racist right, as the latest parliamentary election results have shown, Palestinians under its control are increasingly being brutalized by its escalating colonial and apartheid policies, designed to push them out of their homeland to make a self-fulfilling prophecy out of the old Zionist canard of "a land without a people." In parallel, international civil society, according to numerous indicators, is reaching a turning po ...

Working People Didn't Cause The Crisis

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Maybe you work in the Alberta oil patch, or an auto plant in southern Ontario, or a call centre in New Brunswick. You could be a forestry worker, a bank teller, or a university teaching assistant. Wherever you live, your future is on the line as the global economic crisis sweeps across Canada, and layoffs and shutdowns spread like a wildfire. You could already be one of the 1.3 million Canadians "officially" unemployed, or one of the millions who survive on part‑time, tempo ...

Federal Government Must Block Stelco Layoffs

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

US Steel announced on March 3 that it will close its newly acquired steel mills at the Hilton Works in Hamilton, and the Lake Erie Works in Nanticoke, laying off 1500 workers. This is a breach of its contract with Investment Canada, signed less than 18 months ago, in which it guaranteed pensions, jobs and new investment in exchange for the right to buy out the last Canadian-owned steel company. Steelworkers Local 1005 President Rolf Gerstenberger sharply criticized the federal governmen ...

Will We Let Canadian Steel Become A Memory?

Mon, 16 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

For one hundred years the only people who could ever close Stelco were the workers. Now carrying the new (and still odious) name U.S. Steel, this giant steelmaking works will grind to a halt by April when the coke ovens cool and cease to produce. This is not because of a labour dispute. Hamilton and Nanticoke are to be closed by a capitalist system trying hard not to implode and fall on its own sword. The city of Hamilton, home of this mill, is one of the birthing sites of Canadian ...

Protest Over the Auction of a Foreclosed Home

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

On the steps of the Alameda County Courthouse, community activists in the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) protest the auction of the foreclosed home of Armando Ramos and Fernanda Cardenas. Their home mortgage, held by the mortgage company OCWEN, had an adjustable rate. When it went up, Ramos and Cardenas could no longer make the payments. OCWEN then decided to auction off the home on the courthouse steps. ...

Left Obamites Prefer Kool-Aid to Struggle

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

BAR Executive Editor Glen Ford answers Linda Burnham's recent assault on the non-Obamite Left, whom she sneeringly refers to as victims of "Left anticipatory disillusionment'" and assorted other "psycho-babble." Burnham sets up Left straw men, to knock them down, all in an attempt to justify her cohort's capitulation to Power. "One great tragedy of the current episode," writes Ford, "is that the [economic] crisis occurred at a moment when the remnants of th ...

A Meeting That Was Worth It

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The Conference on Globalization and Development: A meeting that was worth it. At the end of the Globalization and Development event, with the presences of more than 1,500 economists, outstanding scientific figures and representatives of international organizations meeting in Havana, I received a letter and a document from Atilio Boron, a Doctor of Political Science, senior professor of political and social theory, director of the Latin American Program for correspondence courses in the s ...

Brief Report on Beirut Anti-Imperialist Conference

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 08:49:29 +0100

The Beirut International Forum for Resistance, Anti-imperialism, Solidarity Between Peoples, and Alternatives was held at Beirut on January 16 -18, 2009. It was jointly convened by the following: a. The Consultative Center for Studies and Documentation in Beirut, b. The International Anti-imperialist and People's Solidarity Coordinating c. Committee (IAPSCC) (Calcutta - Ind ...

Race, History and Eric Holder's Remarks

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 07:55:22 +0100

Last week's comments by Attorney General Eric Holder to the effect that when it comes to race, the USA is a nation of cowards brought forth immediate condemnation by right-wing talk radio. This was to be expected. The more mainstream media also reacted, albeit more mildly. Nevertheless, they have tended to focus on Holder's wording, suggesting that he would be more likely to be heard if he used other language, such as that the people of the USA need to be more sensitive to race. The ...

Obama Expands War, Slaps Peace Voters

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:00:00 +0100

The Obama Administration has engineered a triple setback for the U.S. peace movement and the millions of Americans who opposed the Bush Administration's unjust, illegal, immoral wars. In the last two weeks of February, President Barack Obama upon whom so many peace supporters had counted to change Washington's commitment to wars and militarism delivered these three blows to his antiwar constituency: ...

Was Roosevelt a Good Guy?

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Recently liberals have taken offense to the claim that the capitalist economy recovered from The Great Depression with the military build-up to World War II and not from the effects of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. While economic historians largely agree that military spending was decisive in lifting the capitalist economy well beyond pre-depression levels, few deny that some New Deal programs were effective in improving employment, expanding consumption and increasing production. Both c ...

Financial Crisis Sparks Unrest In Europe

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Thousands of Opel workers from around Germany took part in a mass rally on Thursday demanding parent General Motors scrap plans for plant closures in Europe.The global financial and economic crisis has sparked many protests in parts of Europe. Here are some details:* BOSNIA Workers of Bosnia's only alumina producer Birac protested on Feb. 9 in Banja Luka, demanding salary payments and government support to offset falling metal prices.* BRITAIN British workers held a series ...

A Planet at the Brink

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Will Economic Brushfires Prove Too Virulent to Contain? The global economic meltdown has already caused bank failures, bankruptcies, plant closings, and foreclosures and will, in the coming year, leave many tens of millions unemployed across the planet. But another perilous consequence of the crash of 2008 has only recently made its appearance: increased civil unrest and ethnic strife. Someday, perhaps, war may follow. As people lose confidence in the ability of markets and government ...

Why Is Geithner Continuing Paulson's Policy of Violating the Law?

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Whatever happened to the law (Title 12, Sec.1831o) mandating that banking regulators take "prompt corrective action" to resolve any troubled bank? The law mandates that the administration place troubled banks, well before they become insolvent, in receivership, appoint competent managers, and restrain senior executive compensation (i.e., no bonuses and no raises may be paid to them). The law does not provide that the taxpayers are to bail out troubled banks. Treasury Secretary Paulso ...

FAIR Study: Human Rights Coverage Serving Washington's Needs

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

FAIR finds editors downplaying Colombia's abuses, amplifying Venezuela's. Any evenhanded comparison of the Colombian and Venezuelan governments' human rights records would have to note that, though Venezuela's record is far from perfect, that country is by every measure a safer place than Colombia to live, vote, organize unions and political groups, speak out against the government or practice journalism. But a new survey by FAIR shows that, over the past 10 years, editors at four lea ...

Atrocities in Kosovo Hushed Up

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Russia Today (RT) reviews independent film maker, Ninoslav Randjelov's new documentary on the atrociities of the Kosovo War/Covering up the atrocities committed in Kosovo against the non-Albanian population is ultimately a betrayal of hopes of building a civilized society in Kosovo itself, believes independent filmmaker Ninoslav Randjelov.

Current Tasks of the Communist Movement

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

A meeting of the Working Group of the communist and workers parties took place in Athens on 17th February 2009 hosted by KKE [CP Greece] on the margins of the 18th KKE Congress. The meeting was attended by the members of the Working Group CP of Brazil, CP of Cuba, CP of Spain, Portuguese CP, CPBM [Czech Republic], CPRF [Russia], South African CP, CP of India [Marxist], Lebanese CP and KKE and by representatives of CP of Canada, CP of Albania, Workers Party of Belgium, Syrian CP, CP of Syria, ...

Tareas de la corriente Movimiento Comunista

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Se ha celebrado en Atenas una reunión del Grupo de Trabajo de los partidos comunistas y obreros el día 17 de febrero de 2009, organizada por el KKE alrededor de su 18 Congreso. A la reunión asistieron los siguientes miembros del Grupo de Trabajo: PC de Brasil, PC de Cuba, PC de España, PC Portugués, PCBM de la República Checa, PCFR de Rusia, PC Sudafricano, PC de India (Marxista), PC Libanés y el KKE, así como representantes del PC de Canadá, ...

A Radical Vision for Today's Labor Movement

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The Importance of Internationalism and Civil Rights During the Cold War, many of the people with a radical vision of the world were driven out of our labor movement. Today, as unions search for answers about how to begin growing again, and regain the power workers need to defend themselves, the question of social vision has become very important. What is our vision in labor? What are the issues that we confront today that form a more radical vision for our era? The labor moveme ...

COSATU Humbled By Inspirational Messages

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The South African week of action against Israeli barbarism and in support of Palestinian heroism and resistance has been an unprecedented success. COSATU, its affiliates, particularly the South African Transport and Allied Workers' Union, (SATAWU) and the rest of Palestinian solidarity movement in South Africa are humbled by the large number of letters of support we have received from trade unions, solidarity groups, workers, activists and people of conscience from all over the world fo ...

US staying in Iraq until 2015?

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

A new book by Thomas E. Ricks, the Washington Post's senior military correspondent, "The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008" states that: "The quiet consensus emerging among many people who have served in Iraq is that we likely will have American soldiers engaged in combat in Iraq until at least 2015 -- which would put us not at about the midpoint in the conflict. . . . In other words, the events for which the Iraq war ...

Looking Forward

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 11:14:52 +0100

The Wall Street Journal began the year (1-2-09) with a survey of the "Doomsayers Who Got It Right" in 2008. In the past, they relied upon the cheerleaders of Wall Street to forecast a bright future with only a few clouds on the horizon. But 2009 is different. The prevailing mood is pessimism and fear. And for good reason. The most pessimistic in the Wall Street crowd (and their academic apologists) acknowledge that the current economic crisis is the worse since The Great Depression. The mor ...

Anglican Church Boycotts Caterpillar

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Over this weekend, February 7 and 8, the Church of England clarified their position on their investments in companies profiting from the illegally occupied Palestinian territories and now wish to make clear that late last year they removed over £2.2 million in Caterpillar, a company whose bulldozers and heavy plant equipment are being used to destroy the homes of Palestinians by the Israeli government. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) welcomes this decision. Betty H ...

South African Dockers Stop Israeli Ship

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Israeli Shipping Line Zim Tries To Sneak Into South African Port For Offloading Cargo: Thwarted by SATAWU Dockers Issued by Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) February 6, 2009 The Congress of South African Trade Union is pleased to announce that its members, dock workers belonging to the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) achieved a victory last night when they stood firm by their decision not to offload the Jo ...

The Great Crisis and the Revolutionary Movement

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Speech by Renato Rabelo, National President of the Communist Party of Brazil-PCdoB at the opening of the 10th International Meeting of Communist and Workers’ Parties PCdoB Supports the Peoples’ Struggle In a short period, liberalism - then victorious in 1990s, time when it euphorically proclaimed its eternal life - causes today through the development of its policies, a major disaster for mankind. The neoliberal paradigms, so absolute during that pe ...

In Their Own Words

Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Calling [Ambassador Richard ] Holbrooke’s appointment [ as US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan ] “an exciting moment for the peace movement, because it’s possible diplomacy will be the first step” to respond to the “spiraling crisis” in Afghanistan, Judith LeBlanc, organizing coordinator for United for Peace and Justice, said it shows the importance the administration is placing on diplomacy. Read the Full Story People’s Wee ...

Dr. Ambedkar or Dr. Marx

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 01:00:00 +0100

We are pleased to present a special contribution from Paul Cockshott. It is a scholarly comparison of Marxistm and Indian radical social thought. It represents a departure from our normal emphasis on current commentary and democratic journalism from left and Communist sources. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891 1956), was an Indian nationalist, jurist, political leader and a Buddhist revivalist. He was also the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. Born into a poor Untouchable family, Ambedka ...

American Workers Need Our Support

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Barack Obama, the new President of the United States, has taken up office on a wave of euphoria. His election campaign and media sound-bites certainly struck a chord among the people of the United States, who desire and hunger for a complete change of direction, not just from the discredited Bush regime but from previous regimes over many decades. Obama’s appeal is that he appears to many millions of citizens to be fresh, untainted by the old corrupt politics of Washington and the ...

Mass Privatization and the Post-Communist Mortality Crisis

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This article is from the British medical journal The Lancet. The Summary and Introduction are given here; the full article can be obtained from our documents section or their website below. Summary Background During the early-1990s, adult mortality rates rose in most post-communist European countries. Substantial differences across countries and over time remain unexplained. Although previous studies have suggested that the pace of economic transition was a key driver of increas ...

Assessment of the Political Moment

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

This Central Committee meeting comes at an extraordinarily critical moment in the struggle for peace, jobs and the social and political rights of the working class in Canada and internationally. It is also a critical meeting for our own Party, which faces huge challenges with limited resources, but also under circumstances that offer significant opportunities for the growth and development of our Party and of the fightback movement as a whole, provided we can rise to the occasion. How eff ...

Documenting the "Silent Depression"

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Growing up my father would regularly say to me that while the Great Depression officially ended during World War II, for African Americans it never really ended. While most economists would take issue with my father's analysis, he was onto something that both mainstream economists and political figures wanted to avoid: structural racist oppression has represented, to borrow from Columbia University Professor Manning Marable, the underdevelopment of Black America. Specifically, the condit ...

Aides Say Obama?s Afghan Aims Elevate War

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

President Obama intends to adopt a tougher line toward Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, as part of a new American approach to Afghanistan that will put more emphasis on waging war than on development, senior administration officials said Tuesday. Mr. Karzai is now seen as a potential impediment to American goals in Afghanistan, the officials said, because corruption has become rampant in his government, contributing to a flourishing drug trade and the resurgence of the Taliban. Am ...

Obama the Imperialist?

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Change? In foreign policy, hardly. The new president is in the classic liberal interventionist mold. The first Democratic president in the modern era to be elected on an anti-war ticket is also, to the relief of neocons and the liberal belligerati, a hawk. Committed to escalation in Afghanistan, his foreign policy selections also indicate bellicosity towards Sudan and Iran. During his first week in office he sanctioned two missile attacks in Pakistan, killing 22 people, including women a ...

Capitalism?s Self-Inflicted Apocalypse

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

After the overthrow of communist governments in Eastern Europe, capitalism was paraded as the indomitable system that brings prosperity and democracy, the system that would prevail unto the end of history. The present economic crisis, however, has convinced even some prominent free-marketeers that something is gravely amiss. Truth be told, capitalism has yet to come to terms with several historical forces that cause it endless trouble: democracy, prosperity, and capitalism itself, the ...

Impressions of the Sao Paolo Conference

Mon, 19 Jan 2009 17:21:17 +0100

People's Voice editor Kimball Cariou attended the recent 10thConference of Communist and Workers' Parties on behalf of the CommunistParty of Canada. Originally held in Athens by the Communist Party ofGreece, and then in Portugal and Belorussia the last two years, thisyear's conference was hosted in Sao Paulo by the Communist Party ofBrazil. These annual meetings are important opportunities for theParties to exchange views and to build unity in action. Here is ComradeCariou's report.Travelling to ...

Obama Pledges Entitlement Reform

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

President-elect Barack Obama pledged yesterday to shape a new Social Security and Medicare "bargain" with the American people, saying that the nation's long-term economic recovery cannot be attained unless the government finally gets control over its most costly entitlement programs. That discussion will begin next month, Obama said, when he convenes a "fiscal responsibility summit" before delivering his first budget to Congress. He said his administration will begin confronting the iss ...

Why South African Trade Unions Favor Sanctions and Boycotts Of Apartheid Israel

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Address to Lenasia (near Johannesburg) Rally on Palestine 14th January 2009 From our own experience, we know how painful and dehumanizing is the system of segregation, otherwise known as apartheid. Apartheid is a system based on the assumption that one group or race is superior to others and therefore has a right to all the privileges and virtues associated with that particular status. It has a right to run and determine the lives of others, excluding them from certain privileges, ...

An Urgent Call for Solidarity

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

The Palestinian People's Party expresses outrage and complete condemnation, at the horrific and inhuman attacks by Israel on Gaza and call upon all the fraternal parties, democratic forces and organizations to take immediate action to condemn Israel's actions and to call for an immediate end to Israel's attacks on Gaza. Despite the UN Security Council call for a ceasefire, the brutal Israeli bombing of Gaza continues and the international community must now take concrete action to end the ...

The People of Gaza Under a Hail of Fire

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Progress is difficult for Israeli soldiers, despite the tons of bombs dropped on the 1.5 million Palestinians that live in the Gaza strip, despite the massive, unrestrained destruction and shameless killings. All the Palestinian factions have joined in the armed fight, the Communist militants of the PPP (Palestinian People's Party) included – as has been confirmed to us. From our special correspondent on the border of the Gaza Strip [1] A thick plume of smoke dims the sky. Have the air- ...

We Are All Palestinians - Spanish/English

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Somos Todos Palestinos Y Palestinas Todos somos palestinos y palestinas Todos fuimos, somos, podríamos ser execrados por alguna imaginaria pertenencia étnica o alguna verídica adscripción cultural o política y seleccionados por ella para el gueto, el campo de exterminio, el Holocausto. Todos fuimos, somos, podríamos ser vejados en nuestra propia tierra, discriminados en nuestra cuna, heridos constantemente por la mirada, la pedrada, ...

Want to End the Violence in Gaza? Boycott Israel

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

To end the bloody occupation, Israel should become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to South Africa's apartheid. It's time. Long past time. The best strategy to end the increasingly bloody occupation is for Israel to become the target of the kind of global movement that put an end to apartheid in South Africa. In July 2005 a huge coalition of Palestinian groups laid out plans to do just that. They called on "people of conscience all over the world to imp ...

Canada Must Speak Out Against Israeli Aggression In Gaza

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Israel's savage and criminal attack on Gaza, which started on December 26, has exacted a heavy toll in human suffering. More than 800 Palestinians mostly civilians have been slaughtered to date, and thousands more have been injured or maimed. The constant bombardment of Gaza City and other centres has created a humanitarian tragedy of staggering proportions. Israel's aggression is nothing less than a crime against humanity. And yet, despite growing international condemnation and an expl ...

President of Ecuador on the 50th Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution

Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Speech by His Excellency Mr. Rafael Correa Delgado, president of the Republic of Ecuador, at the commemoration event for the 50th anni versary of the entry of Commander in Chief Fidel Castro into Havana, at Ciudad Libertad, January 8, 2009 Dear Comandante, President Raúl Castro Ruz, I expect that compañero Fidel is watching us and so an immense Latin American and solidarity-filled embrace for him [Applause]. Dear commanders, combatants of this heroic gesture: the ...

Colombian CP Salutes 50 Years of the Cuban Revolution

Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0100

Fifty years of the Cuban revolution mark a milestone in the history of Latin America and the Caribbean. A half century of resistance and unending struggle demonstrates that the socialist option exists and represents a forceful way out from the crisis of capitalism. Spokespersons for the oligarchy and the Colombian narco-bourgeoisie are engaged in disparaging the extraordinary experience of socialist Cuba. They try to compare it with indicators of capital accumulation, with free market m ...

Let Obama be Obama?

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Disenchantment is setting in... Among those who describe themselves as "progressives" (an umbrella-term re-invented to avoid the pejoration of "liberal" and to encompass liberals and the non-Marxist left), the infatuation with President-elect Obama has began to sour. As thousands prepared to join the inaugural celebrations in DC, the announcement that Reverend Rick Warren would invoke the ceremonies sparked a decided outcry from progressive Obama supporters. The right-centrist Cabinet app ...

Working Group: Appeal of Solidarity with the Palestinian People

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

We, communist and workers parties from all parts of the world, strongly condemn the repeated murderous air strikes by the Israeli air force on Gaza which resulted in the killing of over 340 Palestinians. By these brutal attacks and other crimes by the armed forces, the government of Israel try to achieve what was impossible by imposing the wall, the siege and blockade: to break the resistance of the Palestinian people. The policy of genocide and state terrorism by the Israeli government, ...

Grupo de Trabajo: Llamamiento en Solidaridad con el Pueblo Palestino

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Nosotros, partidos comunistas y obreros de todas las partes del mundo, conde namos firmemente los repetidos ataques aéreos asesinos de la fuerza aérea israelí sobre Gaza que han tenido como resultado la muerte de más de 340 palestinos. Por medio de estos brutales ataques y otros crímenes cometidos por las fuerzas armadas, el gobierno de Israel trata de lograr lo que era imposible con el muro, el asedio y el bloqueo: romper la resistencia del pueblo palest ...

KKE on the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Cuban Revolution

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

To the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee Havana. Valued comrades! The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece sends you a warm comradely greeting for the 50th anniversary of the triumph of the Revolution. From the arrival of the Granma to the triumph and continuing on to the defeat of armed imperialist invasion at Playa Giron, socialist construction, resistance to the criminal blockade, resistance to the incredible difficulties of the "special period," ...

For Cuba, Revolution Made All The Difference

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Observers, for example Michel Chossudovsky (GlobalResearch.ca), predict fallout from the collapse of the U.S. economy will dwarf ramifications of the 1930s great depression. Neither, however, affected the United States as seriously as the calamity triggered by the fall of Soviet bloc allies weighed upon Cuba. The 1990s became Cuba’s “special period” - war conditions during peacetime. In the United States, 2.7 million people lost jobs during 2008. In December, four wee ...

A Food Agenda for Obama

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Within hours of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack's nomination last week as Agriculture secretary, websites were humming with well-documented critiques of his affinity for genetically engineered crops, agribusiness giant Monsanto, heavily polluting factory farms, and other Big Farm interests. Some critics expressed outrage, others surprise, especially since they had mounted a vigorous, 55,000-plus strong online petition to persuade President-elect Barack Obama to nominate someone more progre ...

A Christmas Carol

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Charles Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in 1843, just two years after Karl Marx completed his doctoral dissertation and well before the thinking of Marx and Engels matured to shape a scathing critique of capitalism. Yet on an emotional level, Dickens was offering his own critique of the industrial system most fully developed in his home country, England. While Dickens never embraced socialism, his writings brought to life characters broken and bent by the emerging capitalist order ...

Raul Castro: The Blockade Has No Future

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 19:38:16 +0100

BRASILIA, December 18 President Raúl Castro today highlighted the preparation of the Cuban people in confronting the blockade, which has no perspective, and reiterated his disposition to dialogue with the United States on the basis of absolute equality of conditions. "It's been almost 50 years now, it's time for it to end, it's dying," the Cuban president said in comments to reporters during his official visit to Brazil at the invitation of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio L ...

Guns, Butter, and Obama

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Over the next several months there will be a battle for hearts and minds, but not in Iraq or Afghanistan. The war will be here at home, waged mostly in the halls of Congress, where grim lobbyists for one of the top 15 economies in the world are digging in to preserve their stake in the massive U.S. military budget. With the country in deep recession and resources dwindling for the new administration's programs on health care, education, and the environment, the outcome of this battle may ...

Theses on Socialism

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

A. The contribution of the Socialist system B. Theoretical positions on Socialism as the first, lower stage of Communism C. Socialism in the USSR - Causes of the victory of counter-revolution Assessment of the economy during the course of socialist construction in the USSR Conclusions concerning the role of the communist party in the process of socialist construction The development of Soviet power Developments in the international communist movement and its st ...

Latin American Summit Includes Cuba

Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:00:00 +0100

COSTA DO SAUIPE, Brazil - Latin American leaders on Tuesday blamed the global economic crisis on rich countries and welcomed Communist-run Cuba at a summit meeting designed to weaken U.S. influence in the region. The presence of Cuban President Raul Castro at the meeting in northeastern Brazil was touted as a sign of Latin America's growing independence from the United States, a far cry from the Cold War era when Cuba was expelled from the Washington-based Organisation of American Stat ...

Obama and Cuba

Tue, 16 Dec 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Cuba does not foresee a great change with the arrival of Obama. Dialogue will occur if Washington assumes a more rational attitude. The Cuban official analyzes the arrival of the Democratic Senator from Illinois to the White House, and the possibilities for interaction with Havana. "I know the United States well enough to know that there is a difference between what has existed up until now and what is coming," he says. ...

People's Protests in Greece

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Interview of A.Papariga with the Greek Public News Agency ANA-MPA "The molotov cocktails [fire-bombs] and looting of the hooded individuals, wh ose steering center is linked with the state secret services and centers abroad, have absolutely no relationship with the mass rage of the pupils, the students, the people in general," Communist Party of Greece [KKE] leader Aleka Papariga stressed in an exclusive interview with ANA-MPA, adding that the rece ...

Cholera Outbreak Outcome of West?s War on?Zimbabwe

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The crisis in Zimbabwe has intensified. Inflation is incalculably high. The central bank limits – to an inadequate level - the amount of money Zimbabweans can withdraw from their bank accounts daily. Unarmed soldiers riot, their guns kept under lock and key, to prevent an armed uprising. Hospital staff fail to show up for work. The water authority is short of chemicals to purify drinking water. Cholera, easily prevented and cured under normal circumstances, has broken out, leading t ...

Significance of the Chicago Factory Occupation

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 01:00:00 +0100

On Friday, December 5, 2008, a new chapter in labor history was written by about 260 Chicago workers at Republic Windows and Doors. Three days earlier, they learned the plant was closing. Bank of America, although flush with U.S. government bailout cash, had refused to extend Republic's line of credit and had also refused to allow Republic to pay out what they were owed. United — as a union of co-workers — they stood together and said "No!" For the next five ...

Afghanistan, Another Untold Story

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Barack Obama is on record as advocating a military escalation in Afghanistan. Before sinking any deeper into that quagmire, we might do well to learn something about recent Afghan history and the role played by the United States. Less than a month after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, US leaders began an all-out aerial assault upon Afghanistan, the country purportedly harboring Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorist organization. More than ...

Reflections on the Global Economic Crisis and Its Likely Impact on South Africa

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Extracts of the Political Report delivered to the 6th Plenary Session of the 12th Congress Central Committee, SACP. The world capitalist system is in the midst of probably its worst economic crisis since 1929. Capitalism is, of course, seldom crisis free, and there have been a series of crises over the past decade and a half. These included, for instance, the extremely grave Asian crisis of 1997-8. This latter crisis resulted in millions of job losses and deepening poverty in many Asian ...

Closing Speech by Jeronimo de Sousa, PCP XVIII Congress

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:00:00 +0100

We have reached the end of our XVIII Congress. Not the end of a 3-day event, but the culmination of a process we began in February and have been preparing ever since. It was remarkable for the participation, the creative opinion of thousands of comrades, men, women and youth, with different experiences, social origins, wisdom and knowledge reflected in the hundreds of proposals of amendment, most of which were considered in the approved Political Resolution. It was remarkable for t ...

Gaza's Death Throes, And No One's Listening

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

What kind of government in the 21st century can deny another people basic human rights -- that is, the right to food, water, shelter, security and dignity? What kind of government imposes draconian sanctions on another people for democratically electing a government not to its liking? What kind of government seals a heavily populated territory of 1.5 million people so that no person can enter or leave without permission, fishermen cannot fish in their own waters, and world food aid ca ...

The Deepening Crisis and the Socialist Option

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

While most of us have been riveted upon the economic miseries and policy responses of the crisis in the US, the disease has spread widely through the world. For most, first notice of a problem began with mounting housing foreclosures and declining home values. The popular notion is that this infection spread to associated financial firms, migrated to the entire financial industry, attacked the consumer economy and now has the global economy bed-ridden. While this disease model is useful as far a ...

Holding an Obama Administration Accountable

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Part 2 of a Series – Single Payer Health Care and the Auto Industry.In the second installment of this series, we examine the connectionbetween the auto industry's crisis and single payer health care. Shouldthe auto industry get a Wall Street-style blank check bailout? Or isthis the ideal time to make US auto and other industrial jobs globallycompetitive by enacting the kind of single payer health care systemevery other wealthy industrial nation on the planet uses? Is this thefirst chance f ...

Obama Needs a Protest Movement

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The astonishing election of 2008 is over. Whatever else the futureholds, the unchallenged domination of American national government bybig business and the political right has been broken. Even moreamazing, Americans have elected an African-American as president. Thesefacts alone are rightful cause for jubilation.Naturally, people are making lists of what the new administrationshould do to begin to reverse the decades-long trends toward risinginequality, unrestrained corporate plunder, ecologica ...

The Venezuelan Elections, a Preliminary Look

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

While many of both the foreign and domestic opposition to VenezuelanPresident Hugo Chavez were working overtime to give him and theBolivarian Revolution that he leads a death blow, the president'spolitical party, the United Socialist Party (PSUV), got theoverwhelming majority of votes in the country's regional elections. ThePSUV won the governor's office in 17 out of 22 states. However, theopposition won four more governorships as well as the Federal Districtin the Nov. 23 elections for a total ...

By Bus, Canoe and Burro, Communists Gather for Bogota Meet

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

"From the fourcardinal points of the country, some by bus, others in canoes, onburros, and by airplane they came to Bogota," Juan Cendales wrote onrebellion.org. "They got their bags ready, went over their ideas, andreaffirmed dreams and hopes," before heading for the 20th Congress ofColombia's Communist Party, Nov. 14-16.A few travelers encountered police and military harassment. Preventedby authorities from boarding airplanes, some party leaders had totravel overland, takin ...

Resolution in Solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean Peoples

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The 10th Communistand Workers' Parties Meeting, being held for the first time in LatinAmerica, welcomes and congratulates all Communist and Workers' Partiesand all democratic, progressive, popular and anti-imperialist regionalforces united and strengthened in popular struggle and in the gainsmade during the last decade. These advances have made this part of theworld one of the outstanding centers of anti-imperialist resistance,setting the scene for the development of alternatives to imperialisth ...

The Sao Paulo Proclamation

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The full text of the Sao Paolo Proclamation - Socialism is the Alternative! - of the 10th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties, hosted by the Communist Party of Brazil and held on November21-23, 2008 in the city of Sao Paolo, Brazil. Sao Paolo Proclamation – Socialism is the Alternative! The world is facing a grave economic and financial crisis of large proportions. A capitalist crisis, which cannot be dissociated from capitalism's own nature and from its ...

On the 10th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties

Sun, 23 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The 10th International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties hasbeen successfully held in Sao Paulo, Brazil, from 21-23 of November 2008, hosted by the Communist Party of Brazil. Sixty-five partiesattended from 55 different countries.Representatives of the parties delivered speeches on the theme of themeeting: "New phenomena in the international framework. Worseningnational, social, environmental and interimperialist contradictions andproblems. The struggle for peace, democracy, sovereig ...

This Is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama's White House

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

U.S. policy is not about one individual, and no matter how much faith people place in President-elect Barack Obama, the policies he enacts will be fruit of a tree with many roots. Among them: his personal politics and views, the disastrous realities his administration will inherit, and, of course, unpredictable future crises. But the best immediate indicator of what an Obama administration might look like can be found in the people he surrounds himself with and who he appoints to his Cabi ...

Fidel on the G20

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Bush seemed happy to have Lula sitting to his right during dinner on Friday. On the other hand, Hu Jintao, whom he respects for the enormous market in his country, the capacity to produce consumer goods at low cost and the volume of his reserves in US dollars and bonds, was sitting to his left.Medvedev, whom he offends with the threat of locating strategic radar and missiles not far from Moscow, was assigned a seat rather distant from the White House host.The King of Saudi Arabia, a country that ...

Russia's Place in the World

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Since the abolition of the Soviet Union, Russia has been de-socialized and de-modernized. A prosperous modern society with full employment, social cohesion and universal social welfare has been turned into a capitalist nightmare. Those who danced for joy at the liquidation of the Soviet Union might like to consider the following facts (gathered from the statistical reports of the United Nations and the Russian press) that show contemporary Russia's place in the world. 1st place for m ...

In Praise of a Rocky Transition

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington's handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It is borderline criminal. In a moment of high panic in late September, the US Treasury unilaterally pushed through a radical change in how bank mergers are taxed--a change long sought by the industry. Despite the fact that this move will deprive the government of as much as $140 billion in tax revenue, lawmakers found out only after the fact. According ...

Philippine Communist Party (PKP) Holds 13Th National Congress

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

At the recent Congress of the Philipine Communist Party, a U.S. - born Communist journalist William Pomeroy and his wife Celia Mariano-Pomeroy were elected as honorary members of the Political Bureau. The Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP-1930, the Philippine CommunistParty) held its 13th National Congress on November 7, 2008, at the mainhall of the Club Royale Resort in Malolos City, the capital of BulacanProvince, just outside Metropolitan Manila. The occasion also markedthe Party's celebrat ...

Was Georgia a Neo-Con Conspiracy? A Lesson for Obama

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

New revelations aboutGeorgia's August war with Russia should send a warning topresident-elect Barack Obama about how a commander-in-chief can bemanipulated into war.It now appears that the same neo-conservatives who manipulated the USinto the Iraq war on false evidence were directly involved in backingGeorgia's ill-fated operation on August 7-8, which eyewitness militaryobservers have described as indiscriminate attacks by Georgia onRussian and civilian positions. The observers reports, first ma ...

UE On the Elections

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

A long time coming... but there's much work to be done, say UE's top three electedofficers in a statement that both celebrates this very historicelection ... and cautions that there is a lot of work ahead … A newpolitical landscape where the conservative, wealthy-first agenda ofGeorge Bush and John McCain was soundly repudiated.UE members - and working people across the country - awoke to a newpolitical landscape on November 5. The conservative, wealthy-firstagenda of George Bush and John ...

Portuguese CP On the Elections in the U.S.

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Concerning the presidential elections in the U.S., the Portuguese Communist Party believes that the election of Barack Obama as President is far from meeting the expectations that the huge worldwide media campaign tried to build to create the illusion of change and of a shift in U.S. policy and its role in the international sphere.The massive operation produced for the purpose of the U.S. presidential election can not be separated from the current crisis of capitalism - which has been particular ...

The Theses of the Greek CP for its 18th Congress

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

THESES OF THE CC OF KKE FOR ITS 18TH CONGRESS Athens 18-22 February 2009FOR A STRONG KKE 18TH CONGRESS OF COUNTERATTACKReport for the period since the 17th Congress the Party's tasks until the 19th Congress.IntroductionThe Theses of the CC, on the first item on the agenda of the 18th Congress, are divided into seven chapters with the following titles:International Developments. Developments in the EU. The international Communist and Anti-Imperialist Movement. Economic developments in Greece. Dev ...

Communists Today - Chapter 5

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

This is Chapter Five of Communists Today (Kommunisten Heute) by Hans Heinz Holz. Chapter Five is entitled "Towards a Clear Understanding of Our Epoch." Other chapters are posted on MLToday.com. We thank the Northern Communists of the CP Britain for the translation from the German. The character of an epoch is not shaped by individual political events, however incisive and revolutionary they may appear to those living through it. In Britain, when the Stuarts returned from emigrati ...

Nationalize and Socialize the Banks

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Declaration of DKP’s Executive Committee The financial crisis has global effects. It has driven the world economy into a recession resulting in extreme stock price losses and increasing effects on the real economy, witness the German automobile industry. The consequences for the working class, the employed and unemployed, for pensioners and those dependent on any form of public assistance, for the poor all over the world, as well as for the middle class in the developed capitalist cou ...

The Crisis Of the Capitalist System and the Topicality of Socialism

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Excerpts of the Statement of the Central Committee Meeting The Central Committee of the PCP, meeting on October 27, 2008, analyzed the crisis of capitalism, its causes and effects, and its expression in Portugal. The Central Committee of the PCP identified the maneuvers and measures that, at the national and international level, are being undertaken to protect the interests of big capital. It pointed out the essential guidelines, which, in a break with the right-wing policy, can immediately ...

Crisis : The Natural Offspring of Capitalism

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Within capitalism, a crisis does not appear accidentally. Since 1825, more or less regularly, crises have recurred. Crisis means that the capitalist economy is not developing smoothly and continuously. The basic contradiction of capitalism, between the social character of production and private capitalist form of appropriation of the resulting production, is the biggest cause of -- and final reason for -- economic crisis in capitalism. However, that basic contradiction does not lead direct ...

The Crisis and Speculative Capitalism, Revisited

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Recently, I received via e-mail an audio recording of a discussion of an article of mine posted on this website in March of this year, entitled “The Crisis and Speculative Capitalism” (MLT, March 14, 2008). I was honored that a group of Communist activists chose the article as part of their study of capitalism. Moreover, their remarks were sharp, insightful and thought- provoking. For that, I am grateful. The fast-moving events of the last six months coupled with their discer ...

Notes on the World Crisis of Capitalism

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Presentation on the international economic situation, for the Fifth International Conference of the Via Campesina, Matola, Mozambique October 20, 2008.The Nature of the Current Phase of Capitalism . Capitalism is in a phaseof imperialist globalization, in which its means of production and itslaws (such as exploitation of labor, appropriation of the surplusvalue, accumulation, concentration and centralization) dominate theeconomy of all the countries of the world. In this phase, the princip ...

Preparing for US Invasion

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

As George Bush's presidency draws to a close, progressive governments in Latin America are facing ever-greater danger, writes Charley Allan (Morning Star, Wednesday September 17 2008). EXACTLY 35 years after a CIA-orchestrated coup brought down Salvador Allende's socialist government in Chile, the political climate in Latin America is boiling over and now threatens to explode. On last Thursday's anniversary of Allende's murder, between 30 and 70 peasants in the Bolivian ...

Bloody Friday

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Monday, September 29, 2008 may well deserve to be proclaimed a people's national holiday. For the first time in memory, the popular will of millions trumped the resolute diktat of the US ruling class. For a solid week, our fellow citizens overcame political affiliation, gender, race, and religion to flood their elected representatives with e-mails, phone calls, and letters advocating a clear, simple, class-based position: No public bailout of the rich. While US elites have been largely su ...

The Law of the Jungle

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Trade, within a society and between countries, is the exchange of goods and services produced by human beings. The owners of the means of production appropriate the profits. As a class, they are the leaders of the capitalist state. They boast of fostering development and social well-being through the market. This market they  worship like an infallible God. In every country there is competition between the strongest and the weakest; on the one hand, those with more physical energy and bett ...

La Ley de la Selva

Sat, 11 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Reflexiones del compañero Fidel  El comercio dentro de la sociedad y entre los países es el intercambio de bienes y servicios que producen los seres humanos. Los dueños de los medios de producción se apropian de las ganancias. Ellos dirigen, como clase, el estado capitalista y se ufanan de ser los impulsores del desarrollo y el bienestar social a través del mercado, al cual se rinde culto como dios infalible.   Dentro de cada pa& ...

Where Did It All Go Wrong?

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Jerry Jones explains why he was predicting the financial crisis five years before it hit. The credit crunch was utterly predictable. I forecast it five years ago in this paper. We have been here before. This time it is going to be worse. The problem, as always, arises from the fact that, left to their own devices, banks are bound to expand credit as far as they dare or rules allow because that is how they make their profit. As always, politicians ignored history. Th ...

Communists Demand Policies for the People, Not Big Business

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The Communist Party rejects the notion that the current economic and financial crisis is primarily the result of so-called 'sub-prime' mortgage lending to high-risk homebuyers in the USA. While US corporate greed and war expenditure helped precipitate a credit crisis, the New Labor government and the financial monopolies in the City of London cannot escape responsibility for their policies. In order to serve the interests of big business and its market system, they have subjected a ...

Statement of the Politburo of the CC of CP Greece (KKE)

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The crisis phenomena of the economy of the USA and the member states of EU which broke out in the form of a bankruptcy tendency in the financial sector are manifestations of the anarchic capitalist development. The decay and parasitism of current economy is caused by the private and stock ownership of the concentrated means of production, which is the source of the daily purchasing and selling of shares (of securities of no value, promising future profits) conducted through banks, insuran ...

The Current Global Financial Crisis and its Implications for South Africa

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The proposed $ 700 billion bail out for US banks is a striking indication of the extent of the current crisis of financialised global capitalism. $ 700 billion is nearly three times the Gross Domestic Product (total value of goods and services) of South Africa. The most recent bail out proposal follows earlier hand outs to mortgage lending companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the buy out of major insurance companies. The failure by the US Congress to approve it led to the big ...

The International Crisis of Capitalism and Urgent Measures to Confront it

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

General-Secretary of the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) The PCP considers that, faced with the serious crisis of the capitalist system and with its impact upon the national economy and the life of the Portuguese people, the government must frontally face up to the situation, assume its responsibilities and stop mystifying the situation. It is a mystification to state that the crisis is the result of the greed of a few, as if the crisis were the result of the violation of some ethic ...

Pakistan As "New" Front In Terror War

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The truck bomb that exploded in front of Islamabad's Marriott hotel killing at least fifty-three people heralded in the latest salvo in the U.S.'s and Mujahedin's love/hate relationship. Their relationship began in 1979 in Afghanistan and Pakistan when the U.S., starting with Jimmy Carter and his National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brezezinski, hatched an idea of using the most extreme militant Islamists to first draw in the Soviets (to Afghanistan) and, then, go to war against them. At th ...

CPC on Economic Crisis

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The Central Executive of the Communist Party of Canada released the following statement this morning (September 30, 2008  ) in response to the deepening economic crisis. Stephen Harper's claim that the Canadian economy is on "a solid footing" looks utterly foolish after the staggering fall in stock prices on Monday, Sept. 29. In reality, Canada is on the brink of a "Dirty Thirties" depression, thanks largely to the neo-conservative policies pushed by ...

To End the Casino Economy

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The Communist Party rejects the notion that the current economic and financial crisis is primarily the result of so-called "subprime" mortgage lending to high-risk homebuyers in the US. While US corporate greed and war expenditure helped precipitate a credit crisis, the new Labor government and the financial monopolies in the City cannot escape responsibility for their policies. To serve the interests of big business, they have subjected almost all sections of the Brit ...

Why Nationalization Isn't Socialism

Sun, 28 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Robert Griffiths explains why we shouldn't get too excited over the recent spate of nationalization. Like the nationalization of Northern Rock in Britain, US President George W Bush's plan to bail out Wall Street finance corporations to the tune of $700 billion has spread ideological confusion far and wide. Some right-wing newspapers in Britain condemned the Northern Rock takeover as a return to the "state socialism" of "old Labor." Some Labor Party ...

Review: Socialism Was Betrayed

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Avante! is the weekly newspaper of the Portuguese Communist Party. The interview was translated and abridged by Bill Miller. Roger Keeran and Thomas Kenny are North American activists. Roger is a published historian and a university teacher. Thomas is an economist. Longtime friends, they joined together in the study and analysis of the causes leading to the defeat of socialism and the breakup of the USSR, which meant an untold loss for workers and oppressed peoples worldwide. The findings reveal ...

A Dose of "Socialism"?

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:05:44 +0100

With capitalist crisis worsening and spreading from our shores to all other countries, an industry of analyses and nostrums has emerged. Given the near complete domination of market idolatry and neo-liberal dogma among those who are designated to do our thinking for us, it is not surprising that there is much nonsense in the air. Nonetheless, there are useful proposals emerging that show growing class awareness without in any way challenging capitalist fundamentalism. The idea that attention sho ...

Ninety Experts on Bolivia and Latin America ask State Dept. to Reveal Bolivia funding

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Ninety Bolivia and Latin America experts wrote the US State Department. Below is their letter in full. September 20, 2008To Dr. Condoleezza Rice, U.S. Secretary of StateCc:Phillip Goldberg, U.S. Ambassador to BoliviaHenrietta Fore, Administrator, U.S. Agency for International DevelopmentRepresentative Eliot Engel, Chair, Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Committee of Foreign AffairsSenator John McCainSenator Barack ObamaDear Dr. Rice,We are writing out of deep concern ove ...

Capitalism on the Ropes

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Events move swiftly. The weekend of September 13th marked a turning point in the crisis devastating the US economy and rapidly spreading to the rest of the world. It is not necessary to review the significant events. The collapse of huge financial institutions long viewed as the bedrock of world capitalism has quickly moved from the business pages of the leading newspapers to the headlines. Arcane financial issues have become the subject of ominous conversations around the water cooler and on th ...

The Bi-Partisan Origins of the Financial Crisis: Shattering the Glass-Steagall Act

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

If you're looking for a major cause ofthe current banking meltdown, you need seek no farther than the 1999repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act.The Glass-Steagall Act, passed in 1933, mandated the separation ofcommercial and investment banking in order to protect depositors fromthe hazards of risky investment and speculation. It worked fine forfifty years until the banking industry began lobbying for its repealduring the 1980s, the go-go years of Reaganesque market fundamentalism,an outlook embraced ...

Bolivia: US Ambassador of Ethnic Cleansing

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 19:46:17 +0100

Translation: MacheteraLast June 28th, the 20 year old U.S. citizen Donna Thi, from Miami, wasdetained at the airport in La Paz, for trying to bring in five hundred45-caliber bullets which she’d declared as “cheese” to customs. Waitingfor her in the terminal was the wife of Colonel James Campbell, thehead of the military section at the U.S. embassy in Bolivia.The North American Ambassador, Philip Goldberg, intervened immediatelyto obtain the woman’s release and said that i ...

The War over South Ossetia

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 19:42:06 +0100

On August 4, 2008, Russia's deputy foreign minister Grigory Karasin phoned US assistant secretary of state Daniel Fried to complain about the build-up of Georgian troops in the vicinity of South Ossetia. [1] Two days later, South Ossetian leader Eduard Kokoity, having evidence that Georgia planned a military strike before the month was out, told Denis Keefe, Britain's ambassador to Georgia, that a Georgian invasion was imminent. [2] Georgia had increased its military budget from $30 mi ...

How Physics is Validating The Labor Theory of Value

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Foreword by Zoltan Zigedy Paul Cockshott’s “How Physics Is Validating The Labor Theory Of Value” is an important article. He and his colleagues represent an independent and rigorous strain of Western Marxism that takes two aspects of the Marxist tradition quite seriously: 1. They insist that Marxist ideas must measure up to the most rigorous scientific scrutiny in order to earn the claim of “scientific socialism.” ...

Executive Pay and "The Market Economy"

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

It's pretty hard these days to justify astronomical executive pay. In 2007, the average CEO's pay of $10.5 million was 344 times higher on average than the average worker's wage, according to Executive Excess 2008, a joint report from the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Policy Studies and Boston-based United for a Fair Economy. The top 50 private investment fund managers each took home more than 19,000 times the average worker's earnings. But never fear, Jack and Suzy Welch — the f ...

The US "Aid" Offer to Cuba

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Declaración del MINREX A las 11:50 horas de ayer, martes 9 de septiembre, el Departamento de Estado envió a la Sección de Intereses de Cuba en Washington la Nota Verbal No. 252/18, en la cual, tras expresar su pesar por los daños adicionales causados al pueblo cubano por el huracán Ike, insiste en enviar a nuestro país "un equipo de evaluación humanitaria" para "inspeccionar las áreas afectadas". Hoy, 10 de se ...

US Offer of "Aid" to Cuba (Eng.)

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

STATEMENT BY THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS Yesterday, September 9, 2008, at 11:50 A.M., the Department of State conveyed to the Interests Section of Cuba in Washington Note Nº 252/18 in which, after expressing its regrets for the additional damage caused to the Cuban people by hurricane Ike, it insists in the visit to our country of a "humanitarian assessment team" to "inspect the affected areas". Today, September 10, at 7:20 P.M. the Interests Section of Cu ...

Obama?s Candidacy: The Advent of Post-Racial America and the End of Black Politics?

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The following article was sent to New York Times by Linda Burnham, former and founding director of the Women of Color Resource Center in Oakland, California and long-time left-progressive activist The Obama candidacy has provoked a torrent of observations and speculations about race in America – some grounded in reality, some approaching the realm of sheer fantasy. In the latter category are the commentaries heralding the advent of a “post-racial America” and “the en ...

The Myth of the Tragedy of the Commons

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Will shared resources always be misused and overused? Is community ownership of land, forests and fisheries a guaranteed road to ecological disaster? Is privatization the only way to protect the environment and end Third World poverty? Most economists and development planners will answer "yes" — and for proof they will point to the most influential article ever written on those important questions. Since its publication in Science in December 1968, "The Tragedy of t ...

A Lampoon of Communism in a Communist Publication

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

What does it mean when a Communist leader sets out to publicly eviscerate Marxism? This is the question that looms over a recent blog on the web magazine of the Communist Party USA, Political Affairs. On August 5, 2008, long-time editor, and now publisher, Joe Sims, posted a deliberately provocative list of "Ten Worst and Best Ideas of Marxism," a compilation that was nothing if not dismissive of most of the major ideas historically associated with the Marxist tradition. Subsequen ...

Race Isn't the Reason for Obama's Slide

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

I posed this simple question to a savvy political columnist for a popular black newspaper: Why hasn't Barack Obama run away with this election? Instead, according to the latest Zogby/Reuters poll he's on the slide. Republican rival John McCain now has a not insignificant poll lead over Obama. Even more galling to the Democrats: more voters say that McCain, a Republican of all things, can better manage the economy than Obama. At first glance this makes no sense. Here we have a Democratic presid ...

A Cuban Take on the U.S. Elections

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The dictionary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language defines "mezcolanza" as "a strange and confusing, and sometimes ridiculous mix." That seems to have become the election campaign of candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, at least to one Cuban observer. Many American political analysts point out that Barack Obama has only a narrow lead over John McCain in the polls, even though all factors in the November elections seem to favor the Democrats gaining victor ...

Review: Solidarity Divided

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Solidarity Divided: the Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice by Bill Fletcher, Jr. and Fernando Gapasin, University of California Press, Berkeley, 2008, 301 pp. ISBN #978-0520-25525-8This left analysis of the US trade union movement by Bill Fletcher, Jr. and Fernando Gapasin is the best book in years on the predicament of US unions. Every left trade unionist should buy it and read it. We are the ones who will take to heart its many insights.Bill Fletcher is a career lab ...

The Root Causes of the Conflict in Georgia

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The conflict now unfolding across Georgia with terrible human consequences is a tipping point in the global "long war" of the last seven years. Make no mistake, it is a conflict which can only be understood in the context of the same war already causing carnage in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia and menacing Iran. That is to say, it is a further conflict which has its ultimate cause in the ambitions of the US ruling elite to impose a global hegemony. It differs from the other fronts in ...

On the US/NATO Aggression in the Caucasus

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The outbreak of a deadly armed conflict in the Caucasus is not only a humanitarian disaster which has already cost some 2,000 lives, but poses a very real threat of wider wars in the region. Imperialism's preparations and aggressions in Georgia are sparks that can eventually ignite a much larger conflagration, demanding the sharpest condemnation of the international labour movement and all peace and anti-imperialist forces. Unhindered by a strong socialist bloc of countries, imperialist ...

Rally For Cuban Five 9/13/08 in Washington

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

As you may already know, the Cuban Five are five Cuban men who have been in US prisons for the last ten years, serving four life sentences and seventy-five years collectively, after being arrested in September 1998 and wrongly convicted in U.S. federal court in Miami in 2001. They are: Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Antonio Guererro, Fernando Gonzalez and Rene Gonzalez. Both Rene Gonzalez and Antonio Guererro are also US citizens who were born in Miami, Florida. They ...

British Union Condemns Foreign Meddling in Bolivia

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Unite the Union recently merged with the United Steelworkers of America. Unite the Union pledges solidarity with the Bolivian Government and calls for the people of Bolivia to be allowed to determine their own future free from external interference Unite the Union is the largest union in the UK with more than 2 million members, it is also the largest single affiliate of the Labour Party – the governing party in the UK. The delegation here in Bolivia is a high level delegation ...

Where is the People's Outrage?

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 03:00:00 +0100

Strange times. Awash in Obama-mania, the leftist political opposition spins an imperialist foreign policy and corporate-friendly domestic policies into the second-coming of FDR. Leave it to the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal (Why No Outrage, 7-19/20-2008) to point out the complacency of the opposition and its standard-bearers concerning recent corporate pillage. “Through history, outrageous financial behavior has been met with outrage. But today Wall Street’s damaging recklessness ...

Communists Today - Chapter 4

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 01:00:00 +0100

In this chapter Comrade Holz refutes the prevailing myth that classes and class struggle have disappeared, while recognising that changes have taken place in class structure and the class experience. The material lends itself readily to discussion based around questions and answers. The tutor could, at appropriate intervals, pose the following questions: Do we live in a class society? What defines class? In what ways is it disguised today? How does class society hold together? What do we me ...

Communists Today - Chapter 6

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In this chapter leading German communist philosopher Hans Heinz Holz defends the use by Marxists of the term "General Crisis of Capitalism" to define the current era, although he points out that it was often misused or misunderstood in the past. In developing his analysis, he provides a profound explanation of the way in which the General Crisis impacts on many areas of society today. It might be helpful, after a brief introduction, to ask comrades what they understand by the term and ...

Communists Today - Chapter 8

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Notes for Class Tutors In this chapter Comrade Holz stresses the need to have a clear theoretical understanding and analysis in order to map out the way forward. It is a militant defence of dialectical and historical materialism, as developed by Marx, Engels, Lenin and Gramsci. To deal adequately with this chapter, two classes might be necessary. It might be helpful to start by asking comrades what they understand by dialectics. This would serve as a revision for those who are more experienced a ...

Respect for Democracy EU-style

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

“The treaty is not dead. The treaty is alive, and we will try to work to find a solution.”—José Manuel Barroso, president of the EU Commission (press conference, 14 June 2008). “I am convinced that we need this Treaty. Therefore we are sticking with our goal for it to come into force. The ratification process must continue.”—Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs (Reuters, 14 June 2008). “We think it is a real ...

McCain Revealed, a Briefing Book

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 03:00:00 +0100

In March, the AFL-CIO unveiled McCain Revealed, a campaign to tell the real story about Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the Republican nominee for president. The briefing book has been updated. McCain has built a media-friendly reputation as a "maverick" and moderate. But there's nothing moderate about McCain, a loyal ally of Bush who has consistently and perniciously voted against the interests of working families in his decades-long career in Washington. The new McCain Revealed web ...

Chavez, the FARC, and the Path to Power

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:00:00 +0100

Chávez, the FARC and the Path to Powerby José A. CruzNuestro MundoJuly 01, 2008 Translated for MLToday by Bill MillerThe words that President Hugo Chávez recently directed to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have prompted comments from sections of both the right and left.In order to properly analyze Chávez's comments, they must be viewed in the context of all his words and not based on what the bourgeois press and the right-wing governments of the U.S ...

American Inequality

Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The United States of America is becoming less united by the day. A 30-year gap now exists in the average life expectancy between Mississippi, in the Deep South, and Connecticut, in prosperous New England. Huge disparities have also opened up in income, health and education depending on where people live in the US, according to a report published yesterday. The American Human Development Index has applied to the US an aid agency approach to measuring well-being - more familiar to observers of t ...

On the Politics of Opposition

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:00:00 +0100

On Tuesday, July 8, 2008 Barack Obama had his Sista Souljah moment before a crowd in the Atlanta suburb of Powder Springs, Georgia. During the 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton had famously sent a message to white, centrist voters that he dissociated himself from African-American militancy by gratuitously attacking a relatively obscure African-American cultural figure, Sista Souljah. He brazenly chose a meeting of the Rainbow Coalition to publicly drive the point home. No doubt Obama foll ...

Communists Today - Foreword

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 01:00:00 +0100

This material is courtesy of the Northern Committee of the Communist Party of Britain. Leading German communist philospher Hans Heinz Holz was one of the keynote speakers at the Communist University of Britain, held at Ruskin House, Croydon, October 26-28, 2007. His book The Downfall and Future of Socialism is available from the Communist Party of Britain website. His more recent publication, Communists Today, is currently in the process of being translated and will pr ...

Communists Today - Chapter 1

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:00:00 +0100

What Does it Mean to be a Communist Today?Since the break-up of the socialist societies in eastern Europe, a deep-seated insecurity has spread among many communists (and also many communist parties) over what should constitute the essence of a communist party, and what requirements its members should place on themselves if they wish to regard themselves as communists. The frequent violation of Leninist party norms in the past has shaken communists’ self-understanding, and has brought ...

Greek Skies Host Training For Iran Strike

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:00:00 +0100

On June 20, the New York Times revealed that more than 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighter jets had taken part in joint training exercises with the Greek air force over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece.The manoeuvres, code-named Glorious Spartan 08, took place between May 28 and June 12 and consisted of simulated aerial combat, attacks on terrestrial targets, aerial refuelling and search and rescue missions.Although Israeli officials declined to discuss the details of the exercise, the manoeuv ...

Blaming Everything But The System

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

It's taken a while, but the extraordinary dimensions of the economic crisis have begun to deflate the deeply-ingrained faith in US capitalism. Predictably, the pundits, academic economists, and the bourgeois politicians are jumping into the fray with sermons and finger-pointing. Fourteen months ago, when we were projecting a severe downturn in the economy, there were few forecasting anything other than sunny economic weather marred, perhaps, by an occasional shower. Today, the weather report cal ...

Europe's Communists Hail Irish "No" to Lisbon Treaty

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The NO victory in Ireland puts an end to the Lisbon Treaty. This result is of great importance and wide political significance – considering that it was achieved in the context of huge pressures from the main leaders of the European Union – and constitutes a significant defeat of the project of intensifying neo-liberalism and militarism in Europe and of the design, pursued by the governments and the big economic and financial groups, of a European Union as a directorate of the g ...

Marxism Without Marx

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:00:00 +0100

In an aside that has been distorted innumerable times, Engels claimed that Marx once said "I am not a Marxist". The point – for anyone who actually bothers to read Engels' letter to C. Schmidt – was that many self-proclaimed Marxists had departed so radically from the method and spirit of Marx and Engels' work that Marx disavowed any association with their "Marxism".I was reminded of this point when I read a recent article in Nature, Society, and Thought ...

Chavez, las FARC y la Via al Poder

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:00:00 +0100

This article is now available in an English translation. Las palabras del presidente venezolano Hugo Chávez hacia las Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) ha motivado comentarios desde ambas elementos de derecha que de izquierda. Para analizar las palabras de Chávez se tiene que hacer dentro del contexto de la totalidad de sus palabras y no simplemente como la prensa burguesa y los gobieros de derecha de Estados Unidos, México y Colombia, igual ...

Who Makes Obama's Foreign Policy?

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Cuba's dramatic announcement last February that Fidel Castro was stepping down as head of the Cuban government presented Barack Obama with an unprecedented opportunity to establish his foreign policy credentials and set himself apart from Hillary Clinton, as well as the Bush Administration and its heir-apparent, John McCain. It should have been an easy shot: President Bush said U.S. policy toward Cuba, particularly the longstanding U.S. embargo, would not change one iota until "free and fai ...

The McCain Tour And The Manifest Destiny Of The U. S. Fourth Fleet

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

While I was preparing a reflection about McCain's relationship with the anti-Cuban terrorist mafia in Miami and other related subjects of historical interest, fresh news was flowing about this character that is being projected by the empire’s hawks as Bush’s replacement: his visit to Colombia and Mexico which will begin tomorrow. It is not possible to avoid them since they confirm the opinions we have sustained. “McCain will be in Colombia for two days, starting tomorrow o ...

Dubious Design

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 03:00:00 +0100

An adapted excerpt from God and His Demons, a forthcoming book by Michael Parenti.What is called "creationism" is the belief that in six days the Judeo-Christian god created the universe and all the earthly species including humans in finished form much as they exist today. For centuries this view prevailed throughout the western world. Even after evolutionary science had emerged in the latter half of the nineteenth century, the scenario sketched in Genesis remained the only one accept ...

Zimbabwe at War

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

This is a war between revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries; between nationalists and quislings; between Zimbabwean patriots and the US and Britain. Should an election be carried out when a country is under sanctions and it is has been made clear to the electorate that the sanctions will be lifted only if the opposition party is elected? Should a political party which is the creation of, and is funded by, hostile foreign forces, and whose program is to unlatch the door from within to provi ...

"Left" Voices Helping U.S. Imperialism

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

On June 16th the Nicaraguan center-right newspaper El Nuevo Diario published a letter [1] from various well known people calling for the Nicaraguan coalition government, led by the Sandinista FSLN, not to shut down political freedom and to hold a national dialogue to address the food crisis and the high cost of living in Nicaragua. This appeal was made in solidarity with Dora Maria Tellez, the former president of the neo-liberal social democrat Movimiento Renovador Sandinista. The letter’s ...

On the Anniversary of Clara Zetkin

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:00:00 +0100

At the Second Women's Conference in Copenhagen in 1910, Clara Zetkin did not limit herself to proposing the annual observance of International Women's Day — which takes place since then every March 8—, but called for linking the fight for equal rights, to the struggle for peace and against war. Who was she? A German fighter, teacher and writer who dedicated her life to defending women's rights; faithful supporter of the working class, with exceptional abilities as a leader and found ...

Close the Misnamed NED

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Haven’t heard of the National Endowment for Democracy? Not many people have. Yet the NED is taxpayer funded and carries out foreign policy with no meaningful public oversight or transparency. In fact, it does more to undermine democracy than not. The NED… * …spent more than $20 per voter in Nicaragua in 1990--more than had been spent by both candidates in the 1988 US Presidential election! * …funded and set up meetings between organizations i ...

CPUSA Demands Justice for Cuban Five

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

CPUSA statement on Appeals Court decision June 4 in the case of the Cuban Five. The Communist Party USA rejects unequivocally the decision announced June 4 by a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals that puts off freedom for five Cuban men who as of September 12 will have served ten years of unjust imprisonment. They are Gerardo Hernandez, Fernando Gonzalez, Rene Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, and Ramon Labanino. ...

The Bolivarian Revolution Is A Global Revolution

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:52:14 +0100

Her name and her accent are from the movies. Her youthful manner, bold sense of humor and ironic smile touch everyone. The daughter of a U.S. father and Venezuelan mother, Eva Golinger is a jost unusual woman. A lawyer specialized in international human rights law and educated in New York, she left that U.S. metropolis to live in Venezuela, a country that she passionately defends. Her book, The Chavez Code, which reveals U.S. intervention in this South American nation, was described by Jose Vice ...

Blows Against the Empire

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:26:25 +0100

"Cuba Si, Yanqui No"Chapter 4 of Blows Against the Empire by Gerald HorneNew York , International Publishers, 2008http://www.intpubnyc.com Ramon Ripoll Diaz was pleased.And why shouldn't he be? As members of a sizeable delegation from China assembled before this First Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation of Cuba, he happily signed a document that would mean increased trade between his nation and this Asian giant. Though many in Washington ...

What is the Philosophy of Marxism? - Part III

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 02:00:00 +0100

Third and final part The laws of dialectical development The law of transformation of quantity into quality shows the way the way in which development occurs, the mechanism of that process. It expresses the interconnection of such opposites as the quantitative and qualitative aspects of things and processes. "It has been said there are no sudden leaps in nature, and it is a common notion that things have their origin through gradual increase or decrease," states Hegel. "But the ...

McCain: A Risky Choice

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

"I believe that the Iraqi people will greet us as liberators." Sen. John McCain, (March 20, 2003)"As you know, there are al Qaeda operatives that are taken back into Iran, given training as leaders, and they're moving back into Iraq." Sen. John McCain, 2008 presumptive Republican presidential nominee, (In Amman, Jordan, March 18, 2008).Iran obviously is on the path toward acquiring nuclear weapons." ...At the end of the day we cannot allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.& ...

2008: a Reprise of 1976?

Wed, 28 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

There are some striking and illuminating parallels between this election season and the Presidential election campaign of 1976. Like the eight years of the Bush administration, the eight years of Nixon/Ford produced an unparalleled collapse of support for the Republican Party. The Watergate scandal coupled with the failure of the US military in Vietnam and an economic crisis left the Republican Party wounded and regrouping. The interim elections of 1974 produced gains for the Democrat ...

The Empire's Hypocritical Politics

Sun, 25 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

It would be dishonest of me to remain silent after hearing the speech Obama delivered on the afternoon of May 23 at the Cuban American National Foundation created by Ronald Reagan. I listened to his speech, as I did McCain's and Bush's. I feel no resentment towards him, for he is not responsible for the crimes perpetrated against Cuba and humanity. Were I to defend him, I would do his adversaries an enormous favor. I have therefore no reservations about criticizing him and about expressing my po ...

The Political Economy of the Elections

Sun, 18 May 2008 01:00:00 +0100

We’ve written often and pointedly about the crisis of the two-party system and the failings of bourgeois democracy. We have not, however, participated in the mania surrounding the current presidential campaign that has replaced professional sports and reality television as the daily obsession of the US public.Our friends will remind us that political participation is a good thing. We agree that electoral engagement should be welcome. Many retort that much is at stake in the 2008 election c ...

New Evidence on the Second Economy

Sun, 18 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In December 2007 KOMEP, the theoretical and discussion journal of the Greek Communist Party held a Symposium on Socialism in Athens, Greece. The Greek Communist Party is updating its theses on the downfall of European Socialism in 1989-91. KOMEP invited Marxist scholars from around the world. This was the US contribution. We will publish more as they become available. In 2004, Socialism Betrayed: behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union was published. In it we tried to use the to ...

Electoral Politics: A Glimpse at the Ruling Class Vision

Sun, 18 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In a previous article The Political Economy of the Election, we attempted to offer a Marxist assessment of the forthcoming Presidential election. We argued that the material elements of the three candidates’ campaigns (class status, top staff, and financial backing) were better indicators of what the working class could expect from the forthcoming election than the opportunistic, media-driven public circus of endless pandering for votes. In our view, the expensive, carefully orchestrated P ...

Statement of Communist and Workers' Parties from EU countries

Fri, 16 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

On 16–17 May 2008 the Fifth European Union-Latin America and Caribbean EU-LAC) Summit will be held in Lima, Peru.The objectives of the European Union have nothing to do with combating poverty and social inequalities, or with promoting the environment – benevolent policies as they claim. It seeks to open up the economies of these countries to exploitation, demanding the privatisation of state industries and natural resources, even water, for the benefit of the monopoly capital. It is ...

Santa Cruz Autonomy Campaign is Lynchpin to Destroy Latin American Progress

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

On Sunday, May 4, 2008 I joined two dozen progressive activists marching in a circle in front of the Bolivian embassy. Thanks to our spirited presence 150 or so right-wing Bolivians from the province of Santa Cruz were unable to get in front of the embassy to demonstrate in favor of the autonomy referendum being held by their fellow Santa Cruzians that day. I call them Santa Cruzians rather than Bolivians because they carried only one Bolivian flag (and two US flags!) while waving dozens of Sant ...

On the Passing Away of M. Marulanda

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

To the Central Headquarters and the Secretariat of the Central Headquarters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP) Dear Comrades: It is with great sadness that we received your message informing us of the death of Comrade Manuel Marulanda Velez, who for over 44 years has been a leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP ). The revolutionary movement of Colombia and throughout Latin America has lost a prestigi ...

Free The Cuban Five Bulletin

Sun, 11 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The following is a letter from Maruchi Guerrero, Antonio Guerrero's sister. We urge you to read it in its entirety. Let us commit ourselves ever more to fight for the Five's immediate freedom. A letter from Antonio Guerrero's sister Maruchi.Dear friends of solidarity:Once more we witnessed the risk that our Five unjustly-imprisoned brothers face in United States prisons.My mother and I returned on Apr. 28 from Colorado, where we were for 21 days. We had plans to visit Tony in prison nine times, ...

The Contradictions of Amnesty International

Wed, 07 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Amnesty International (AI) is undoubtedly the jost famous human rights organization in the world. Created in 1961 by British lawyer Peter Berenson, this non-governmental organization has branches in more than 50 countries and more than two million members throughout the world. Its outstanding work in favor of abolishing the death penalty and torture, against political crimes and for the freedom of prisoners of conscience has allowed it to enjoy advisory organization status at the Economic and So ...

Shutting Down the West Coast Ports: The ILWU's May Day Strike

Fri, 02 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

On Thursday, May 1, the ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union) staged a one-day (one shift, actually) walkout as a protest against the U.S. military occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. The shutdown affected ports up and down the West Coast, from San Pedro, California, to Seattle, Washington.Although the PMA (Pacific Maritime Association) had warned the ILWU leadership that an “unauthorized” strike such as this was illegal, and that any rank-and-file dockworker who p ...

Class: The jost Dangerous Word in America

Thu, 01 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Once in a while a mainstream American politician forgets the script and deviates from the self-imposed censorship of the club rules. It happened about three weeks ago in San Francisco, when presidential contender Barack Obama casually mentioned that some of the American working class, embittered by their harsh economic reality, sought solace in religion, guns and the comforting distrust of those who look different. Obama immediately faced a barrage of self-righteous indig ...

US Navy Resurrects Fourth Fleet

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Choosing to confront the rise in power of left-leaning governments in its backyard, the United States is recreating the Fourth Fleet.It's now official: The Pentagon is going to resuscitate its Fourth Fleet, with the mission of patrolling Latin American and Caribbean waters. Created during the Second World War to protect traffic in the South Atlantic, the structure was dissolved in 1950. "By reestablishing the Fourth Fleet, we acknowledge the immense importance of maritime security in this r ...

Declaration of the World Peace Council - Caracas

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The Assembly of the World Peace Council was successfully held on April 9-10, 2008 in Caracas, Venezuela, with the participation of 265 delegates and 285 participants from 124 Organisations from 76 countries. After a rich and very fruitful discussion the participants of the Assembly concluded with the following declaration to the peoples of the world: The developments that have taken place since the last WPC Assembly in May of 2004 have continued to rise to a situation which is crucial for h ...

Top Bush Advisors Approved 'Enhanced Interrogation

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the jost senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high- value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News.The so-called Principals who participated in the meetings also approved the use of "combined" interrogation techniques-- using different techniques during interrogations, instead of using one method at a time-- on terrorist ...

Zimbabwe and the Western Left

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0100

While the Western media loudly demonizes the government of Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, it is fairly silent on the repressions of the US client regime of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt.Outdoing each other in the quest for the William Randolph Hearst prize for excellence in yellow journalism, Western newspapers slam Mugabe as the "Monster" and "Hitler of Africa ." At the same time, civil society hagiographers compromise with imperialist forces to help oust the "dictator" in Har ...

No War: The Movement That Has Dissolved Itself

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

What has happened to the movement against the war that exploded in 2003, mobilizing millions of people in the entire West, to the point that the New York Times called it "the second superpower"?The fact is that it never was, in the true and proper sense of the word, a movement -- only a day of paroxysm, a spontaneous and desperate attempt of citizens of all political persuasions to stop the war.It was conceived, if you will, as a preventive blow against a war that people instinctively ...

Neither Clinton nor Obama Has a Plan to End The War

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

'So?" So said Dick Cheney when asked last week about public opinion being overwhelmingly against the war in Iraq. "You can't be blown off course by polls." A few days later, his attitude, about the fact that the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq has reached 4,000, displayed similar levels of sympathy. They "voluntarily put on the uniform," the vice-president told ABC news.This brick wall of indifference helps explain the paradox in which we in the US anti-war camp fin ...

The CIA in Tibet

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

On March 25, 2008, Mr. Kenneth Conboy, surviving co-author of the the book CIA's Secret War in Tibet, readily accepted an invitation for an exclusive interview by People's Daily staff editor Dr. Liu Chao.

The following are excerpts from Dr. Liu's exclusive interview with Mr. Kenneth Conboy, as well as some excerpts from his renowned book.

A Tribute to a Revolutionary Leader: Fidel Castro

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 02:00:00 +0100

On July 26, 1953, Fidel Castro stepped onto the stage of history, as he and other revolutionaries launched an attack on the Moncada Barracks of Cuban dictator Batista. After being captured, Castro made an eloquent defense of his action, saying, “history will absolve me.” Less than six years later, Castro led the Cuban revolution to victory by overthrowing the corrupt and cruel U.S.-backed Batista dictatorship. This act alone - leading a revolutionary movement to victory on a sm ...

The Crisis and Speculative Capitalism

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Billionaire investor George Soros, writing in the Financial Times, calls it “the worst financial crisis in 60 years.” In The New York Times, liberal economist Paul Krugman speaks of “a sort of minor-key reprise of the banking crisis that swept America in 1930 and 1931.” For economist and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, contributing to the same paper, the crisis deepens because the US consumer is “totally spent.” Chalmers Johnson sees the “debt cris ...

The $200 Billion Bail-Out For Predator Banks

Fri, 14 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

While New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was paying an 'escort' $4,300 in a hotel room in Washington, just down the road, George Bush's new Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Ben Bernanke, was secretly handing over $200 billion in a tryst with mortgage bank industry speculators.

UN Report Hits U.S. Racism

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 11 (IPS) - The United States government is drawing fire from international legal experts for its treatment of American Indians, Blacks, Latinos and other racial minorities. The U.S. is failing to meet international standards on racial equality, according to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) based in Geneva, Switzerland. Last Friday, after considering the U.S. government's written and oral testimony, the 18- member committee said it ha ...

On The Recent Developments In Latin America

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The Portuguese Communist Party condemns the military actions of the Colombian regime of Álvaro Uribe that, in violation of international law and of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ecuador, resulted in the massacre of 16 Colombian guerrillas and the assassination of Raúl Reyes, one of the main commanders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and one of the main protagonists of the recent FARC initiatives of unilateral release of prisoners. ...

What Is The Philosophy Of Marxism? - Part II

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

An opening given by Peter Hendy to the New Worker Supporters Group meeting in Manchester on 6th March 2008. Materialism versus idealism The philosophy of Marxism is materialism, wrote Lenin. Philosophy itself fits into two great ideological camps: materialism and idealism. Before we proceed, even these terms need an explanation. To begin with, materialism and idealism have nothing whatsoever in common with their everyday usage, where materialism is associated with material greed and swindling (i ...

What Is The Philosophy Of Marxism? - Part I

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0100

An opening given by Peter Hendy to the New Worker Supporters' Group meeting in Manchester, England on 6th March 2008. Part one MARXISM, or scientific socialism, is the name given to the body of ideas first worked out by Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). In their totality, these ideas provide a fully worked-out theoretical basis for the struggle of the working class to attain a higher form of human society – socialism. Marxism falls under three main headings, correspon ...

The Real Lesson of the New Deal for the US Left

Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:00:00 +0100

Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. --Frederick Douglass Seventy-five years ago this March, the Presidential inauguration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt ushered in a new era of US capitalism in response to the seemingly bottomless decline of production, trade, and employment which began with the stock market crash in October of 1929. Dubbed the “New Deal,” the policies of the Roosevelt administration sought to restore growth and employm ...

A Spectre Haunting Europe

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:08:11 +0100

Late last year the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a draft resolution introduced by Göran Lindblad of Sweden, a member of the European People's Party, with the title "The need for international condemnation of crimes of totalitarian communist regimes." This will go to a full meeting on 23-27 January.

FBI E-Mail Refers to Presidential Order Authorizing Inhumane Interrogation Techniques

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 11:46:48 +0100

Newly Obtained FBI Records Call Defense Department's Methods "Torture," Express Concerns Over "Cover-Up" That May Leave FBI "Holding the Bag" for Abuses NEW YORK — A document released for the first time today by the American Civil Liberties Union suggests that President Bush issued an Executive Order authorizing the use of inhumane interrogation methods against detainees in Iraq. Also released by the ACLU today are a slew of other records including a December 2003 FBI e-mail th ...

Cuba-Venezuela Agreement: Bolivarian Alternative For The Americas: Breathing Life Into Clay

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 14:34:20 +0100

As of late Latin America has been reaching agreements and attempting to integrate itself into regional and sub-regional blocks. The South American Common Market (MERCOSUR) and the Andean Community of Nations (ACN), which will soon be integrated into one large block, are an example. And just last week the South American Community of Nations was created, a political gathering encompassing all of South America with its goal of joining efforts towards the creation of a great political and economi ...

Iraq's Oil Workers Will Defend the Country's Oil

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 13:59:10 +0100

Q: How was the Southern Oil Company Union organized? {josimage}A: Two weeks after the occupying forces entered Basra on the 9th of April, 2003, Iraqi activists in the oil industry met to reestablish the union. We organized the workers for two reasons. First, we had to deal with the administration put in place by the occupying forces. Second, we fear that the purpose of the occupation is to take control of the oil industry. Without organizing ourselves, we would be unable to protect our ind ...

Iraq: National Liberation or Insurgency?*

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:23:44 +0100

Western news services have taken to characterizing the struggle against the US occupation of Iraq as an insurgency. While insurgency is a relatively neutral word, an innocuous word with little ideological bias, its widespread use represents a victory over the ideologists, the spin-doctors of US imperialism. When the invasion of Iraq began, all forces standing in opposition to the US legionnaires, their mercenaries, and their satellite allies were deemed Saddamites, terrorists, or cutthroat triba ...

Iraqi Liberation: Postscript

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:22:31 +0100

As we noted in an earlier article “Iraq: National Liberation or Insurgency,” the war in Iraq has taken the form of a classical National Liberation struggle against an occupying power and it’s puppet regime. Like Algeria, Cuba and Vietnam, the structure of a political and military contest for the national independence of Iraq is beginning to take shape. And like these earlier examples, a new and united national consciousness has emerged from the resistance.We posed the victory i ...

The Real Story Behind Kosovo's Independence

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0100

News Flash: The Bush administration acknowledges there is a such thing as international law. But, predictably, it is not being invoked to address the US prison camps at Guantanamo, the wide use of torture, the invasion and occupation of sovereign countries, the extraordinary rendition program. No, it is being thrown out forcefully as a condemnation of the Serbian government in the wake of Thursday's attack by protesters on the US embassy in Belgrade following the Bush administration's swif ...

Holding Barack Obama Accountable

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The presidential campaign of Barack Obama has become a media parade on its way to a coronation. Journalists and leading Democrats have done shockingly little to pin Obama down, to hold him specifically responsible for anything beyond his slogans of "yes we can" and "change we can believe in". Prominent Black Democrats, many ministers and the traditional Black leadership class are doing less than anybody to hold Obama accountable, peddling instead a supposed racial obligation among African Americ ...

Going Bankrupt

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0100

This article appeared in January 2008, but it remains relevant. The military adventurers of the Bush administration have much in common with the corporate leaders of the defunct energy company Enron. Both groups of men thought that they were the "smartest guys in the room," the title of Alex Gibney's prize-winning film on what went wrong at Enron. The neoconservatives in the White House and the Pentagon outsmarted themselves. They failed even to address the problem of how to fin ...

Wanted: A Fighting Communist Party

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0100

In the face of unvarnished realities, we have to speak some unpleasant truths. Less than a decade into the twenty-first century, triumphal capitalism is suffering from severe crisis, both politically and economically. After the fall of the European socialist states, capitalism marched confidently forward, promising an unprecedented period of economic growth, rising standards of living, equality, democracy, peace, and civil and human rights. We were told that history had arrived at humanity's hig ...

Mises, Kantorovich, and Economic Computation

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0100

From the Editors of Marxism-Leninism Today: We are pleased to post the introductory section of an important article "Mises, Kantorovich, and Socialist Economic Calculation," submitted by Paul Cockshott, Reader in Computing Sciences at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. His article explains and defends the work of the great Soviet economist Kantorovich, whose breakthrough laid the basis for the scientific planning of socialist economies. You may download the full article ...

Update on Palestine

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0100

The role of the Communist and leftist parties in their countries and in the region Dear comrades, Please allow me to extend my appreciation and gratitude to the Greek Communist Party who initiated this important meeting under the current difficult and complicated conditions in our region. We believe that the participation of parliamentarians from GUE/NGL in this meeting will deepen and expand the scope of discussion to seek the best means to consolidate cooperation and coordination amon ...

21st Century Marxism

Mon, 31 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

In certain respects the situation of Marxism in the early 21st century has much in common with that in the late 19th century. In both cases Marxism is faced with a world in which the capitalist mode of production dominates. During what Hobsbawm called the 'short 20th century', the period from 1914 to 1990, world politics centered round the epochal struggle between capitalist and socialist economic systems, and that reality gave to Marxism a quite different character than in its first period 1848 ...

Palestine: A Case for the One-State Solution

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

As two of the authors of a recent document advocating a one-state solution to the Arab-Israeli colonial conflict we emphatically intended to generate debate. Predictably, Zionists decried the proclamation as yet another proof of the unwavering devotion of Palestinian — and some radical Israeli — intellectuals to the "destruction of Israel." Some pro-Palestinian activists accused us of forsaking immediate and critical Palestinian rights in the quest of a "utopian" ...

Palestine: A Case for the One-State Solution

Sun, 30 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Venezuela, Cuba, Latin American Integration An Interview With Ali Rodriguez

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

The Caracas Energy Agreement and the Robinson and Barrio Adentro (Into the Neighborhoods) social programs are making it possible to balance the scales between Venezuela and Cuba. They are making it possible, for example, to provide free health care to 17 million people. Alí Rodríguez Araque, former president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA, and now that country's ambassador in Cuba, refutes certain accusations made by ...

New Year's Messages From the Cuban Five

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Message from RamonDear Brothers and Sisters of the World:As the Christmas and New Year 2008 celebrations approach, we want to send you our congratulations together with all the appreciation and affection, for supporting us in this cause that unites us: solidarity with Cuba and freedom for the Five. For these days one makes an assessment of what was accomplished and what is to be done. This is why, in remembering all the actions that were carried out in 2007 in order to gain more solidarity ...

CPV on Referendum Results

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Paraphrasing Che, Oscar Figueroa, General Secretary of the PCV, declared that "you learn more from the defeats than the victories." In this way, in the weekly press conference, the first analysis was made of the results of the consultative Referendum on Constitutional Reform presented to the country by the President of the Republic, Hugo Chavez Frias.

Fear of Chavez is Fear of Democracy

Mon, 03 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0100

The Family Bush can fix Florida. They can fix Ohio. But its just driving them crazy that they cant fix the vote in Venezuela. The Bush Administration and its press puppies the same ones who couldn't get enough of the purple thumbs of voters of Iraq are absolutely livid that this weekend the electorate of Venezuela had the opportunity to vote.

Peace is the Priority

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 01:00:00 +0100

British and Iraqi antiwar leaders, speaking to the Respect Party, that unity is essential to prevent the looming attack on Iran. Andrew Murray, chairman of the Stop the War Coalition, and then, the remarks of Iraqi peace activist Sami Ramadani. "The big lesson from the last few years is that we can only advance in unity."Everything that we are proud of having achieved in the Stop the War Coalition - the massive demonstrations, the unprecedented Military Families Against the War ca ...

Posada Hearing on Capitol Hill

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0100

In September 2005, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security deliberately rejected the use of a recorded confession by Luis Posada Carriles, obtained in Caracas in 1977 by U.S. journalist Blake Fleetwood, in the presence of Orlando Bosch.That information was revealed in Washington before the Subcommittee for International Organizations, Human Rights and Supervision of the U.S. Congress, during a hearing convened by Congressman Bill Delahunt concerning Luis Posada Car ...

On the UN Vote against the US Blockade of Cuba

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0100

"The Communist Party USA takes the occasion of the vote October 30 by the UN General Assembly against the U.S. economic blockade of Cuba to express solidarity with the Cuban people. We support heightened efforts within the United States to end Bush administration Cuba policies that defy international law, go against the grain of international opinion and against the grain of U.S. public opinion. ...

On the Ninetieth Anniversary of Great October

Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Ninety years ago, the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917 gave birth to a new society in which humanity's jost advanced dreams of peace, equality and democracy began to flourish and become reality. The revolution signaled the opening of the epoch of the transition to socialism, a society which would end exploitation, plunder and war, and construct a whole new kind of social relations based on cooperation, not competition, and based on social justice, not social, national or gender inequal ...

On Political Organization

Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Relatively few of the more than five hundred publications by the German philosopher and art critic Hans Heinz Holz have been translated into English. It's rather surprising, given that he is regarded as one of the world’s jost profiled "universal scholars." The Downfall and Future of Socialism is one of his books. Another of his widely read books, now out in its second edition, is Communists Today. We undertook the translation of its last chapter. It is slightly abridged for spac ...

Nicholas Guill?n, Cuban Poet

Mon, 01 Oct 2007 13:28:53 +0100

Nicholas Guillen was born on in 1902. He was an Afro-Cuban poet, writer, journalist, and social activist. From Camageuey, Cuba, he was the sixth child of Argelia Batista y Arrieta and Nicolas' Guillen y Urra, both who were of mixed African-Spanish decent.Guillen's father introduced him to Afro-Cuban music when he was very young. His father, a journalist, was assassinated by the Cuban government. As he and his brothers and sister finished school in pre-revolutionary Cuba; they encountered ...

Review: People vs. Profits

Sat, 29 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Victor Perlo (1912 – 1999), the well known U.S. economist, was a prolific writer. Besides his 13 published books, translated into a dozen languages, it is estimated that he wrote some 3,000 newspaper and magazine articles. Only about a third of these have been readily accessible to those wanting to publish a selection of his shorter pieces. "People vs. Profits, Volume I: The Home Front," a collection of Perlo's articles dealing with the domestic affairs of the ...

State-Monopoly Capitalism Today

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 00:00:00 +0100

1. THE THEORY OF STATE-MONOPOLY CAPITALISM Along with Imperialism, the Marxist concept of State Monopoly Capitalism was part of the intellectual bathwater discarded with the demise of European Socialism in the last decade of the twentieth century. So called Western Marxists a small group of academically bound thinkers in the developed capitalist countries, with no party, no mass following, and no working class roots were quick to dispose of any thinking associated with what they viewed ...

The Legacy of Oppression and the Legitimacy of Resistance

Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0100

The following remarks by Dr. Wasfi were given at the March and Rally for Peace held in Kennebunkport, Maine on Saturday, August 25th:I speak to you today on behalf of relatives on my mother's side — Ashkenazi Jews who fled their homeland of Austria during Hitler’s Anschluss. It is for them that we say "Never again." I speak to you today on behalf of relatives on my father's side who are not living, but dying, under the occupation of this administration's deadly ...

A Blood Pressure Lowering Guide to the Democratic Party

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Many folks on the Left, and in our labor movement, are afflicted with frequent bouts of anguish and outrage as we observe the action or inaction of some Democrat in office — or running for office. Those on the Left who claim to be recovered — or never afflicted — by this disease often seem quite calm and at peace as the rest of us go through our gag reflex. I have often wondered whether they secretly are experiencing this condition, but have just gained control of their fa ...

The Iraqi Resistance is Just and Should be Supported

Sat, 11 Aug 2007 02:00:00 +0100

A Reply to Phyllis Bennis In the four years of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, public debate within the U.S. antiwar movement on whether to support the Iraqi resistance has rarely taken place. Consequently the recent polemic between Alexander Cockburn and Phyllis Bennis (a leader in the United for Peace and Justice Coalition) is an extremely positive development and should be welcomed. It is an important debate that needs to take place at all levels within the U.S ...

Cuban Official Nixes Russian and Chinese Reforms

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage squashed speculation that Communist Cuba is heading toward Chinese-style reforms of its economy, in a speech to state managers published on Thursday. Cuba will not follow the paths of other Communist-run nations, such as China and Vietnam where capitalist markets have flourished. He said perestroika reforms failed in the former Soviet Union."The countries that are working to build socialism today in different parts of the w ...

Faux Marxism

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 00:00:00 +0100

A recent on-line exchange between Joel Wendland, managing editor of Communist Party USA theoretical journal Political Affairs, and David Walsh, a writer for the World Socialist Web Site, demonstrates embarrassingly what ails the US left: a shortage of Marxist understanding. Ostensibly, the dispute reflects different positions on the impeachment of Bush and Cheney, but in reality it exposes the foolishness of fealty to the Democratic Party and the silliness of infantile leftis ...

From Revisionism to Party Liquidation

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:00:00 +0100

In an earlier article posted at a left website, the present writer offered an analysis of revisionist ideas promoted by elements of the CPUSA leadership.[1] These critical notes take the view that more recent writings go further and amount to reviving Browderism, though in a subtler and more gradual way. Some may bristle at such a harsh judgment. Browders opportunism was the most extreme in CPUSA history. He obtained full and formal liquidation of the Party by a National Committee vote, after ...

Progress, Achievements and Important Struggles in Uruguay

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0100

On his first visit to Cuba, Eduardo Lorier, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Uruguay, told Granma newspaper that changes are taking place in his country since the election of the Frente Amplio."We believe that there are advances and important achievements by the Frente Amplio (FA) government that are reflected by the performance of the different ministries, particularly that of Social Development led by Marina Arismendi, former secretary general of our Party. Arismendi is underta ...

Guernica, More Than Ever!

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 13:18:20 +0100

Review: Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939?1953

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0100

On 22 June 1941 a German army of 3 to 4 million troops stormed over the border to wipe out the Soviet Union. Stalin's Wars is an evaluation of the war effort of the peoples of the USSR and their leaders, who defeated the invasion and drove the Nazis all the way back to Berlin. The Soviet victory, if it is not the jost stupendous achievement in military history, must come close. The immense scale of the forces arrayed on each side, and the toll in life, are breathtaking.Geoffrey Roberts's ...

Reviving the EU Constitution: The "Berlin Declaration"

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 00:00:00 +0100

The signing of the "Berlin Declaration" by heads of state and government of the European Union on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Treaty of Rome paves the way for an intended replacement for the defeated EU Constitution. This will have the same content under a different title, and it is planned that it will be ratified as quickly as possible.Meanwhile the jost influential German think tank, the Bertelsmann Foundation, maintains that European unification must be driven f ...

The Fight for Socialism is Real Because Capitalism Has Decayed

Wed, 28 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +0100

In the last PCdoB's Central Committee's meeting, which took place in São Paulo from March 9 to 11 of 2007, the International Relations Secretary, José Reinaldo Carvalho, presented a report concerning the current international conjuncture. The focus was an analysis of the immediate scenario, bringing attention to the latest global happenings and their effect on economics and politics. The report also discussed the aspects of international actions of the PCdoB. In the occasion, it wa ...

Fidel Talks with Ch?vez on "Al? Presidente"

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Hugo Chávez — Who is speaking?Fidel Castro — Listen.Hugo Chávez — I'm listening.Fidel Castro — My illustrious and dear friend, how are you?Hugo Chávez — Caramba, it's Fidel! (Applause and exclamations of: "Fidel, Fidel, Fidel!")Fidel Castro — So, I am listening to you here on "Aló, Presidente, and all of the information that you've used in the last few minutes. I think your line of argument is very good on growth, the ...

Working Group of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0100

The preparatory meeting of the Working Group for the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties of 2007 took place in Athens on 24 February 2007, as had been decided at the International Meeting in Lisbon in November 2006.

A Murderer and Terrorist: U.S. Avoids Trying Posada

Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0100

ON January 31, the United States government once again used a legal subterfuge to avoid bringing charges against Luis Posada Carriles for what he actually is: a murderer and a terrorist.Our people will recall that on January 15, in response to the U.S. government's criminal indictment of Luis Posada Carriles on January 11, 2007, on charges of fraud and lying when applying for naturalization, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) clearly stated that it was hoping that "those charges ...

A Guide to Becoming an Ex-Leftist

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0100

This is a guide for those who have accepted the well known "offer you can't refuse" and took jobs as heads of corporate media outlets or private companies, that always demand silence or statements adjusted to the interests of their "masters" (forgetting that there are not so much offers you can't refuse as there are excessively weak backbones). ...

Review: The Twilight of American Culture

Tue, 16 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0100

According to the dust jacket this book is "brilliant," has "uncommon insight," is "trenchant" and in the words of one writer the author is "one of the jost creative and original thinkers of our time." Having read the book, I can only shudder to think this collection of puerile nonsense and ignorant rambling could have been taken seriously by any publisher. That it was published at all is a sure sign that we are indeed in the twilight of our culture.In this ...

One Hundred Hours with Fidel (selections)

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Comandante, I would like to ask you a question on Subcomandante Marcos. January 2004 saw the 10th anniversary of the eruption of the Zapatistas in Chiapas on the occasion of the coming into force of Mexico's Free Trade Treaty with the United States and Canada. I would like to know what you think of that exceptional figure, who has become so popular in the heart of the alternative globalization movement. Do you know him, have you read his texts?I cannot judge him, but I have read some of your mat ...

Stop Violation of Human Rights

Mon, 08 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0100

The World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) strongly condemns the execution of Sadam Hussein. This execution was an act of political revenge against the Iraqi people aiming for the justification of the imperialist invasion and occupation of Iraq. President Sadam, who was a war prisoner and the execution of a war prisoner, is against all international laws regarding the war.

Statement of the World Peace Council on the Execution of Saddam Hussein

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0100

The World Peace Council (WPC) expresses its anger and deep disapproval about the execution of Saddam Hussein, an act of political revenge against the Iraqi people aiming in the justification of the Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq.Saddam Hussein committed many crimes and political errors and should have been tried only by the Iraqi people. The US-paid and orchestrated trial of Baghdad was not only far away from being fair, but covered finally the complicity of the USA and its Europ ...

The International Labor and Trade Union Movement in the 21st Century

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0100

Many years have passed since the formation of the first labor union in 1790 and since the establishment of the first internationalworkingmen's association in 1864. The labor and union movement has traveled a long since then road paved with substantial achievements and very good results.The first and forejost issue that the appearance of trade union organizations revealed was the role of a then young and emerging new social class — the working class — which rapidly ente ...

On the Right to the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0100

As time passes by, the saying that the world is more insecure whenever the UN Security Council is holding a meeting is more and more a reality. ...

The 4th Plenary Meeting of the CC of the CP of Venezuela (PCV)

Tue, 26 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Central Committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) Summons the Party’s National Congress Caracas, Dec/23 (Press Office, PCV) — The Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Venezuela has called for the broadest possible internal discussion on the ongoing debate about Socialism and the building of the “Party of the Revolution.” For that purpose, the Central Committee has summoned extraordinarily the XIII National Congress of th ...

A Vast Struggle Line against USA Plans

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Some other organisations in the country resisted against Israel which used their kidnapped soldiers as an excuse beside Hezbollah. When resistance was under consideration, although Hezbollah has stuck out, one of those fighting shoulder to shoulder with Hezbollah guerrillas against Israeli soldiers has also been Lebanese Communist Party (LCP). Lebanese Communist Party (LCP) called its cadres for “an armed struggle against occupier” immediately after the attacks and approximately 20 m ...

Review: The Question

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Henri Alleg’s book “The Question” is a searing, firsthand account of the torture that the author experienced during the Battle of Algiers. Although it was first published in 1958, it is a book that should still be read today: first, because it is a classic of anti-colonialist literature; and second, because — as the horrors of Abu Ghraib and the current debates in the U.S. about the use of torture make clear — “the question” of torture is, unfortunately, ...

Parliamentary Delegation from Lebanon Visited Greece

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Khaled Hadada General Secretary of the Lebanese Communist Party and Mr. Ali Bazzi member of the Lebanese Parliament visited Greece on December 7-10, upon the invitation by KKE.The Lebanese delegation met with A. Papariga, General Secretary and head of the KKE parliamentary group, D. Koutsoumpas, PB member and responsible for international relations, O. Kolozof, spokesman of the KKE Parliamentary group, Mr. Stavrou spokesman of the Parliamentary Group of the ruling New Democracy Party, Mr. F. Kou ...

Anniversary of the Landing of "Granma"

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Speech by the Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, First Vice-President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, Army General, Raúl Castro Ruz, at the Political Ceremony, Military Review and March of the Combatant People in Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Landing of the Granma Yacht and the Day of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, and in Celebration of the 80th Birthday of the Commander-in-Chief, Fidel Castro Ruz, Gi ...

Fidel: Impetuous, Unstoppable, and Victorious

Sat, 02 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0100

“Today we are living the jost promising and encouraging time in our history. This is the fruit of the Cuban people’s stoicism: their faith in the revolution and their confidence in the commander in chief, present even in the jost critical moments,” said Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage at the closing of a week long tribute to Fidel Castro for his 80th birthday.The ceremony, held at the Karl Marx Theatre in Havana on Friday afternoon, was part of activities organized by the Guay ...

Statement on the NATO Summit in Riga

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The Riga NATO summit of 29th of November 2006 constitutes a further step in the reinforcement of NATO as “gendarme du monde” and of its vital role in promoting the reactionary policies of big capital, of plundering natural and energy resources, in occupying and destabilizing sovereign countries, in subverting democratic rights and liberties, in backing reactionary forces and slandering the popular resistance.

International Solidarity Resolution

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Text of the International Solidarity resolution unanimously adopted at the 23rd Congress of the CPI1.International solidarity has always been one of the central principles at the heart of the Communist Party of Ireland's ideology. We see as central the importance of giving political and material support to the struggles of oppressed nations and peoples across the world, to support those people struggling in the front line against imperialism and solidarity to those nations and peoples building s ...

Interview with Ricardo Alarcon

Thu, 16 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0100

"The current situation in Latin America is better than that which the Bolsheviks encountered. I don't want to say that we are going to repeat Moncadas or Sierra Maestras. It's not a question of imitation. We are fortunate that in Cuba our Lenin has lasted throughout this half century."Oviedo, Asturias. Immersed in the hurricane of a history that began long before Nov. 25, 1956, when in Tuzpan, Veracruz, aboard the Granma in pursuit of a dream, Fidel Castro not only was able to conquer ...

Contribution of the CP of Chile

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Dear comrades:A meeting such as this one is undoubtedly a contribution to our common struggles. Today, even more than yesterday, the interrelationship between national and international struggles cannot be underestimated. In fact, the international scenario is a determinant factor in the progress or retreat of our peoples in each nation in terms of the respect for their rights and the materialization of their aspirations for a better life. ...

Statement in Solidarity with Palestine and Lebanon

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0100

We, the above mentioned parties that met in the international meeting of communist and workers parties hosted by the Portuguese Communist Party in Lisbon 10-12 November 2006 vehemently condemn the new atrocities by the Israeli Army in Ghaza as well as the participation in the Israeli government of representatives of the jost reactionary and aggressive forces. We expressed our concern about the continuing attacks against Lebanon and other peoples of the region and protest the continuous blocking ...

For a People's Alternative

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0100

In November the Communist Party of Ireland held its 23rd National Congress in Belfast. Communists from all over Ireland gathered to share and exchange experiences, to discuss and debate the current political situation. The congress also provided an opportunity to establish priorities for the coming period and laid out the approach that the CPI should take. ...

Alarcon Discusses Cuba, Fidel, Latin America with Spanish Press

Fri, 27 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Ricardo Alarcon, president of Cuba's National Assembly since 1993, smiled when he recalled the afternoon he joked with Fidel Castro about the upcoming announcement to the world that the Cuban president was ill and had been hospitalized. "Now he is doing pretty well.""That afternoon I spoke with Fidel and we had a lot of fun talking about what would happen after the announcement. We were quite accurate in our forecasts: the first headlines will immediately be followed by all kinds ...

In Solidarity With KSM

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Dear Comrades of the KSM,The Communist Party, USA expresses its concern and outrage at the anti-democratic dissolution of your organization, the Communist Youth Union of the Czech Republic.The assault on the KSM is an assault on democracy, an assault on all of those who seek to join together to create a better world, and to defeat the ideologues of capitalism and extremism who have taken over greater portions of the world since the fall of the Soviet Union. ...

First Steps of Workers' Movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

As it is known Bosnia and Herzegovina has passed through civil war and explosion of nationalism which caused not only devastation of economic resources but also division of working class along ethnic lines. In Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia working class had rights known never before but very often it was not able to exercise them because of continuous tensions it had with ruling bureaucracy. Regardless of that working class had possibility to be a decision-maker in some enterprises an ...

On the Illegalization of the Communist Youth Union of the Czech Republic

Tue, 24 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Statement by the Political Committee of the Portuguese Communist Party

In view of the decision taken on October 12 by the Government of the Czech Republic to officially dissolve the Communist Youth Union of the Czech Republic (KSM), the Portuguese Communist Party expresses its firm rejection of this attack against democracy and against elementary freedoms in the Czech Republic.

Statement Condemning the Prohibition of the Communist Youth Union of Czech Republic (KSM)

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

On December 2005 it came to our knowledge that the Ministry of Interior of Czech Republic commanded KSM to renounce to its political proposals, its communist identity and its Marxist-Leninist principles. The Czech Republic government established a time limit so that KSM would change its political program otherwise this youth organization would be declared illegal. The first given closing date (31st December 2005) was later on postponed to March 2006. ...

KSM is Illegalized! Anticommunist Decision of Czech Government

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Dear Comrades,Today we have received a decision of Ministry of Interior of the Czech Republic that makes the Communist Youth Union (KSM) officially dissolved. In attachement you find more information.We ask you kindly for futher solidarity.Comradely yours,International Department of the KSM COMMUNIST YOUTH UNION (KSM)Politickych veznu 9111 21 Prague 1Czech Republic e-mail: international@ksm.czfax: +420 222 897 449tel: +420 222 897 403 ...

Letter to Embassy of Czech Republic

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Ambassador RNDr Josef HAVLAS Embassy Czech Republic. Dublin 2, IrelandDear Ambassador.We have just received information that your government has banned the Communist Youth Union (KSM) on the 16th October. This is a grave attack upon democracy and the freedom of speech and assembly in the Czech Republic.Surely this is somewhat hypocritical as these where the corner stones of the much proclaimed "velvet revolution."We have informed the Irish public, public representatives, trad ...

For the Freedom of the Five and of Solidarity with Cuba

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

It was eight years ago, on 12 September that five Cuban patriots were jailed in the prisons of the United States of America. Antonio, Fernando, Gerardo, Ramon and René — sentenced to long prison terms resulting from a fake lawsuit orchestrated by the North American justice system — are accused of a "capital crime" in the eyes of the North American imperialism: of acting with courage and firmness to prevent their country from being a target of terrorist actions, plann ...

About The Latest Armenian Genocide Law Adopted In France

Wed, 11 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The intention of imperialists and liberal circles in scratching the sufferings of Armenian people is neither confronting history, nor modernizing Turkey. Imperialism wants to discredit the struggle against imperialism in Turkey. The insistence on the term genocide has no practical meaning other than that. We consider Armenians' "Medz Yegern" as the "Great Catastrophe" of all peoples. Today the communists and patriots, who claim the struggle waged against imperialism in our co ...

True Humanism

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The conversation begins before the series of questions, in an interview amidst a slew of cameras. It will be filmed for the Round Table on Cuban television and while the technicians and cameramen improvise the set, Ignacio Ramonet is relaxed and even joking about the overwhelming event of his intense One Hundred Hours with Fidel which reflects aljost all of the journalistic humanity, on the one side and, on the other, the political framework which, undoubtedly, separates the practice o ...

PCdoB Achieves Positive Results in the Elections

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

After the elections that renovated the House of Representatives, State Legislative Assemblies and one third of the Federal Senate, the Communist Party of Brazil views as positive its performance in those battles.

PCdoB's Guidelines for the Runoff Elections

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Re-electing Lula and progressive governors in order to further the struggle for national sovereignty, democracy and labor valorization1. Despite the vicious attack of the opposing neoliberal-conservative forces and the manipulations by the hegemonic media, President Lula and the A Força do Povo (People's Force) coalition were the great victors in the first round of the presidential elections. For only 1.39%, the candidate of the popular and democratic forces fell shy of achievin ...

Renato Rabelo: "Runoff demands concentrated energies"

Thu, 05 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Right after the official announcement by the TSE that there would be a presidential election runoff, past Monday morning, PCdoB's national President, Renato Rabelo, analyzed the results. For him, the first round confirmed the strength of President Lula, "who has been targeted by a sordid campaign by the opposition and the media", and reveals an urgency for "gathering forces and concentrating all energies for the runoff battle. The moment requires the concentrated persistence ...

What We Are Today, What We Will Be Tomorrow

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

It was a historic day of deep symbolism and extraordinary significance for those at the Havana theater where the principal state and political leaders of the country gathered that October 3rd, 1965.Assigning the name of the Communist Party of Cuba to the leading organization in the Revolution and the election of its first Central Committee, headed by Fidel Castro, its first secretary, was a landmark that signaled maturity in the process of radical transformations of a society that for the first ...

Transition to Socialism

Sun, 01 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Dear comrades,Let me begin by expressing our party's appreciation to our host, the Communist Party of Venezuela for convening this seminar. We sincerely believe that the results of this forum, and of the 12th Congress itself will make a meaningful contribution to the work of all communist and revolutionary parties and movements around the world. The theme "Socialism in the 21st Century" is especially appropriate given that it is precisely here in Venezuela where the working class and p ...

Answers to the Questions Raised by Solidaire* about Lebanon

Mon, 25 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0100

1. What is your opinion of the presence of UNIFIL 2 [the new UN contingent] in Lebanon?UNIFIL 2 as it is currently made up is much different from what has been present at Lebanon for more than 30 years, following Resolution 425 of the Security Council of the UN. ...

Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0100

In a letter published in the Irish Times, (see below) 61 Irish academics from a wide variety of disciplines call for a moratorium on EU support of Israeli academic institutions until Israel abides by UN resolutions and ends the occupation of Palestinian territories.

Building Working Class Power: for Accelerated Implementation of the Freedom Charter

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Thank you for inviting our Party to address your 9th Congress.Your congress is taking place during an extremely challenging and complicated period in the history of our revolution. All our formations in the Alliance are faced with complex political challenges. As the SACP we believe that at the heart of all these challenges is the fundamental question of the direction of the national democratic revolution and the motive forces that should be leading this revolution. ...

Statement of Solidarity with the 5 Cuban Patriots and the Cuban People

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0100

We participants to the Balkan meeting of communist and workers' parties hosted by KKE in Thessaloniki, September 15th vehemently protest the new treats by the government of the United States of America against the people and the national sovereignty of Cuba as stressed on many occasions by the Bush Administration. ...

Jer?nimo de Sousa at the Closing Rally of the "Avante!" Festival

Mon, 18 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0100

At the great closing rally of the 30th edition of the "Avante!" Festival, Jerónimo de Sousa, General Secretary of the PCP, addressed the main issues of the current national and international affairs and also the matters concerning the strengthening and intervention of the PCP. ...

Israel, Oil and the Demolition of Lebanon

Fri, 15 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0100

[from Information Clearing House. Written prior to the recent ceasefire, this article has been abridged.—PV]"The raw logic of Israel's distorted self-image and racist doctrines is exposed beyond confusion by the now-stark reality: the moonscape rubble of once-lovely Lebanese villages; a million desperate people trying to survive Israeli aerial attacks as they carry children and wheel disabled grandparents down cratered roads; limp bodies of children pulled from the dusty basements of ...

The Sabra and Shatila Massacre and the Dark Corners of History

Wed, 13 Sep 2006 14:31:35 +0100

September 16 marks the 24 anniversary of the massacre by Phalangist militias of between 700 and 3,500 Palestinian and Lebanese refuges at the Sabra and Shatila camps in west Beirut. The massacre, carried out while the Israeli army ringed and sealed off the camp, was condemned by the United Nations General Assembly as an act of genocide. Israel's future prime minister, Ariel Sharon, then Minister of Defense, was found by an Israeli inquiry (widely consider to be a whitewash) to bear personal ...

The Lebanese Resistance

Tue, 05 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0100

From an interview with the general secretary of the Lebanese Communist Party, Dr Khaled Haddadeh[Translated from Arabic]There has been a lot of talk about the “new Middle East” proposed by the American government. What is your comment? ...

Time To Change Course

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Humanity these days is marking an anniversary of the end of the Second World War which, contrary to common belief, ended not in Berlin but on the Pacific. Our country, together with the other members of the United Nations, took a jost active part in liquidating the cruel evil of German fascism and Japanese militarism.Ever since the victorious month of May, and later in September of 1945, the Soviet Union has pursued a policy of solving all the major international problems by peaceful political m ...

The Israeli Aggression and its Consequences

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 00:00:00 +0100

I. Introduction:The National council of the Lebanese communist party discussed in its periodical meeting the report presented by the political bureau about the Israeli aggression against Lebanon (from 12 July to 14 August, 2006).Here are the results of the discussions and the main duties of the Party on the local and international levels. ...

Notes on the Greek Civil War (1946-1949)

Thu, 24 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

On July the 2nd 2006 thousands of members and supporters of the KKE and KNE gathered in the village of Likorakhi deep in the Gramjos mountain range for the opening ceremony of a memorial commemorating the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the Democratic Army of Greece (DAG) and in honour of the thousands of militants who sacrificed their lives in the three year civil war (1946-1949), in the struggle against domestic reaction and Anglo-American imperialism. ...

Israel is Defeated and Crisis Remains in the Middle East

Mon, 21 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Finally, after 33 days of massacres and genocide, crimes against human rights and unrestrained violations to International Law perpetrated by Israeli aggressors with the support of the United States' Imperialism, the United Nations Security Council passed the resolution 1701 demanding immediate cease-fire. It was not without embarrassment, however, that the highest body of the United Nations evidenced the lateness with which it took the position, only after the Lebanese people was massacred. Tha ...

Meeting of CP's the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean, the Gulf Region and the Red Sea

Sun, 20 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Dear Comrades We proposed that this extraordinary meeting of the Parties of our region, also with the presence of other parties, be held because of the provocative assault be the Israeli army on the peoples of Palestine and Lebanon and because of the new situation which has developed in the region as a whole.First of all it gives us the opportunity to receive a first hand account of the situation from the comrades from Lebanon and Palestine. ...

Statement from Cuba's Parliament on Cuban Five Case

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The Constitutional and Judicial Affairs Commission of the National Assembly of the People's Power [Cuban Parliament] voices indignation over the decision of the Atlanta Federal Appeals Court, which, removed from judicial procedures, invalidated the unanimous decision of the panel of three judges that had declared null the trial that took place in Miami against Cuban Five anti-terrorist fighters Gerardo Hernandez, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez, Rene Gonzalez and Antonio Guerrero. ...

"No Enemy Can Defeat Us"

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Affirms Raúl in a statement to Granma. He affirmed that Fidel continues to improve and thanked people for the thousands of messages of solidarity and support from our country and abroad. Measures have been taken to prevent any attempt at aggression. The people are giving a conclusive demonstration of confidence in themselves.The General of the Army Raúl Castro Ruz has offered an interview to Granma daily. The conversation took place in his office at the Ministry of the Revolutionar ...

The Long March of Justice

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

"Nothing looks more like a fear of the truth than the unjust incarceration of the five heroes of Cuba."(Manu Chao)Since September 12, 1998 the U.S. government has held Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guerrero, Fernando González and René González in arbitrary and illegal imprisonment.These are eight years of injustice and shame, and cynical complicity with terrorism. Washington always admitted that its proposition in acting against th ...

On the UN Resolution

Sat, 12 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Will the American-Israeli aggression against Lebanon stop after the unanimous adoption by the Security Council of Resolution 1701 yesterday?One month and a day after the start of the American-Israeli aggression against Lebanon, after the failure of that aggression and its inability to achieve its aims, after America's repeated use of stalling tactics, delaying expected sessions of the Security Council, and after numerous American drafts that were proposed and then retouched by France, it was the ...

Labor and the Middle East War

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 01:00:00 +0100

For weeks, Israel has turned Lebanon into a killing ground, slaughtering and maiming thousands of people, destroying the civilian infrastructure, and turning a quarter of the population into refugees in their own land. At the same time, it continues to brutalize Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.Israel's crimes are carried out with U.S.-made F-16s, Apache helicopters, and cluster bombs. These high-tech lethal weapons are part of $5 billion that Israel gets each year from the United States, ...

Assessment of the Latest Developments

Fri, 11 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Negotiations underway in the corridors of the United Nations Security Council on issuing a resolution on the Israeli aggression against Lebanon remain deadlocked. The talks rise and fall and alternate waves of optimism and pessimism sweep over the negotiators trying to reach an agreement on such a resolution. ...

The Lebanese Communist Party Mourns its 7 Heroes

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

It has been fourteen days through which the heroes of the Islamic and National resistance continue to make heroic deeds. Targeting the safe civilians as well as the infrastructure, our Zionist enemy continues its brutal and aggressive attacks against our cities and villages. The heroes of the resistance have proved utjost bravery and sacrifice, and high fighting skills through the battles in the south, and we all know that they are facing one of the strongest armies in the world. In addition, th ...

The Danger of Mistaking the Aggressor for the Victim

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The world is expecting a decision for immediate cessation of bombings and any other Israeli military operation in Lebanese territory.It is always positive that countries that are influent by the UN Security Council regarding the war in Lebanon. Until now, there is no consistent document capable of producing the ceasefire. The only, acceptable and reasonable resolution, in order to promote peace, is the in the international state of affairs and Security Council veto-holders take initiative and st ...

Hiroshima and Nagasaki: To Remember the Nuclear Crime

Wed, 09 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The United States Air Force B29 bomber "Enola Gay" launched on the "chosen" city of Hiroshima, an uranium-235 atomic bomb, named Little Boy, with a power equal to 13.000 tons of TNT, causing the immediate death of about 80.000 people and destroying around 90% of the buildings and infrastructures of a city that at the time had a population of about 300.000 people. ...

The Sovereignty of Cuba Must Be Respected

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

As a result of the communication of Fidel Castro on his state of health and the provisional delegation of his responsibilities, high ranking U.S. officials have formulated more explicit statements about the immediate future of Cuba. The Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez said that "the moment has arrived for a true transition towards a true democracy" and the White House spokesman Tony Snow said that his government is "ready and eager to provide humanitarian, economic and othe ...

KSCM Launches Campaign against U.S. Anti-Missile Base in the Czech Republic

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The Communists (KSCM) have launched a campaign against the possible stationing of an U.S. anti-missile base on Czech territory, KSCM spokeswoman Monika Horeni told reporters.The petition against the U.S. military base has been so far signed by some 5,000 people. KSCM representatives will deliver the first petition sheets with signatures to the Chamber of Deputies on Friday. ...

No Lasting Solution without Justice for Palestine

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The Israeli aggression against its neighbours in Lebanon and its continuing violence against the Palestinian people in the occupied territories continue to expose the brutality of the Israeli military.The kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers does not justify what has taken place. This aggression was in the planning for some time and was carried out with the imprimatur of Israel's supervisor, the United States. ...

Proclamation of Cuban President Fidel Castro to the People of Cuba

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Version of the text of the Proclamation issued by Cuban President Fidel Castro to the Cuban people and which was read on Cuban television at 9:15 p.m., Monday, July 31, 2006:Due to the enormous efforts made to visit the Argentinean city of Cordoba, participate in the MERCOSUR meeting, in the closing of the People's Summit in the historic University of Cordoba and the visit to Altagracia, the city where Che lived during his childhood and together with that my participation in the commemoration of ...

On the Situation in the Middle East

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

1. The Portuguese Communist Party, following its previously disclosed viewpoints, finds it necessary (...), to reaffirm its stand of a strong condemnation of the Israeli attacks which represent true war crimes, disregard the jost elementary human rights and international conventions and reveal the terrorist nature of the policy of the present Israeli government.

Appeal for Resisting the Zionist Occupier and Defending our Land, and People

Sat, 29 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The army of the Zionist enemy is continuing its aggression against Lebanon for its third consecutive week. From its very beginning stage, this aggression has taken the form of a savage predatory war. Neither man nor stone is safe from its fiery hell, nor are human and civil institutions, the media, or the infrastructure. The Zionist killing machine has jost recently targeted even international observers. ...

"Multinational Force" of the United States will Lead to Another War in Lebanon

Thu, 27 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The Rome Conference held yesterday by the so-called Lebanon Group failed miserably. Called offhandedly in the lack of another instance able to meet and approach in a straightforward manner and with a multilateral point of view the Middle East crisis, the Rome Conference had a flawed origin, for the Lebanon Group appeared as last-minute arrangement on the initiative of enemies of the Lebanese people when former Premier Hariri was murdered. Moreover, the parties gathered, despite the good intentio ...

Rage Against Israel, Warning To AKP Government

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Party of Labour (EMEP) organized simultaneous demonstrations in cities around Turkey to protest Israel's attack against Lebanon and Palestine. Tens of thousands of labourers attended the demonstrations and chanted "End To Persecution of USA and Israel".

Hands Off Lebanon

Wed, 26 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

For the last two weeks, Israel has been waging an unprecedented barbaric assault against Lebanon. It has been committing a massacre after a massacre killing civilians, including children, women and the aged. It has been destructing roads, bridges and electricity plants in an attempt to destroy the whole infrastructure of the country. It has encircled Lebanon with a complete siege and has cut all means of communication among villages and towns within the country. About a million citizens had alre ...

Worldwide Protests against Israel's War

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 23:00:00 +0100

From one end of the world to the other protests against the Israeli attack on Lebanon are pouring in. In many cities, including in Tel Aviv, large demonstrations took place last weekend against the aggression and the mindless destruction and killing that is a consequence of the savage Israeli bombing. Hundreds have been killed, jostly civilians. The demand is to "Stop the War" and for an immediate ceasefire.

The Solution of Middle West Crisis Demands the End of Bombing

Tue, 25 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The US Secretary, Condoleeza Rice, in her turn by Lebanon and Israel yesterday and today has announced the US imperialism position about the deepening of crisis in Middle East region. She said what the entire world already knows – that her country supports in an unrestricted way the Israeli attacks to Lebanon and USA identifies itself with the Zionist aims and methods.

The Latest Crime of Imperialism

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

We are living hard times when humanity awakens each day to new horrors, because the only superpower, the United States, strikes once again to impose its egotistical interests across the planet.The Palestinian and Lebanese people are currently facing an escalating aggression and crimes committed by the government of Israel. ...

Stop?Zionist State?Terrorism!

Sat, 22 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Warplanes, tanks and heavy artillery against defenseless civilian targets. This is the true picture of the zionist attacks against the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. Ehud Olmert and the other zionist leaders of Israel are trying to portray themselves as the injured party, who allegedly are merely acting to save the life of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas commandos in Gaza, and of 2 others captured by Hezbollah guerrillas along the Lebanese border. But in fact, their so-called "rescue operatio ...

Solidarity with Palestinian and Lebanese People

Thu, 20 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

We strongly condemn all aggressive acts by the Israeli army in Gaza and Lebanon with tragically consequences for the live of the Palestinian, Lebanese and Israeli people but also for people from other countries. ...

The Fifth Day of the Aggression

Wed, 19 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The Fifth Day of the Aggression by the Lebanese Communist Party Circular of the Political Bureau of the Lebanese Communist Party on Current developments for Party Organizations and Friends On Current Developments: The Fifth Day of the Aggression ...

Ottawa Must Condemn Israeli Aggression

Fri, 14 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The Communist Party of Canada has condemned Israel's "wanton aggression" in Gaza and Lebanon, and is demanding that the Harper federal government join the vast majority of the international community in criticizing Israel's escalating military actions. ...

The PCP and the Israeli Aggression against Lebanon

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

1. The news pouring out from Lebanon is highly alarming. Israel, once again violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon, is bombing civilian targets and terrorizing the populations of Beirut and other localities, namely in the South of the country. The destruction is great and numerous the victims, namely children.

The Plan Bush for "Assistance to a Free Cuba":

Thu, 06 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

"There is nothing covered up that will not be uncovered, nothing hidden that will not be made known." (Luke 12.2)ON May 20, 2004, with all pomp and ceremony, George W. Bush announced his Plan for the annexation of Cuba. The interminable monster document — of more than 450 pages — provoked a volley of criticism from all sides.Above all, from the Cuban people, who are threatened with extermination and with the liquidation of their nation. As the sinister Plan states in p ...

Resolution of the CC of KKE on Aspects of the International Developments

Tue, 04 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The CC of KKE met on 19th of May to discuss the developments linked to the visits of US Secretary of State C. Rice in the region, the NATO summit in Sofia and the Iran issue.It decided to issue the following resolution which mainly focus on developments related to these issues.The calling of a session of the CC of the KKE and a statement on this specific issue was considered essential, in light of the international developments in the recent period, jost notably the serious crisis in relation to ...

Fidel Castro Says Communist Party Must Be Strengthened More Than Ever

Tue, 04 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Cuban President Fidel Castro stressed that the Cuban Communist Party must be strengthened more than ever as he gave his closing remarks to the 5th Plenary Meeting of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party, last July 1, Granma newspaper reports on Tuesday.Participants at the plenary meeting delved into different issues related to the Party's organization, national defense, the incorporation of new members to the Central Committee, and other subjects related to the country's developmen ...

Unpublished Interview With Comrade William Kashtan

Sat, 01 Jul 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Thank you for giving us your time for this interview. Initially, can you tell us something about yourself, your background?K: Well, I was born in Montreal 82 years ago. I will be 83 in June. I joined the Communist Youth Organization, the Young Communist League, in 1927. Then I came to Toronto in 1929 to become the South Ontario's organizer for the Young Communist League. Then I became the National Secretary of the young Communist League. In 1938, the comrades said it's time that you retired ...

Stop the IDF crimes in Gaza and the West Bank!

Thu, 29 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The CPI denunciates Olmert-Peretz's government, which has aggravated the bloody war against the Palestinian people, especially against the Palestinian inhabitants in the Gaza Strip and kidnapped ministers, members of the parliament and senior Palestinian officers.

On the Significance of the Seventh Left Front Government

Thu, 22 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0100

THE sweeping electoral triumph of the Bengal Left Front under the leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was replete with significance. For the seventh consecutive time a Communist-led Left Front government could be established in a country within the confines of a federal polity in a bourgeois-landlord State led by the big bourgeoisie. This in itself is perhaps unprecedented in the political annals of the world. Certainly, the triumphant existence in continuum of the Communist-led ...

Imperialism is Not Invincible!

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 23:00:00 +0100

Dear friends and comrades,On the occasion of this event, we should like to highlight several dangerous points underlying the attempts being made to vindicate fascism and Nazism in recent years, following the overturning of socialism in the countries of Eastern Europe and the dissolution of the Soviet Union. In this contribution, I should like to present certain basic aspects of the way my party, the Communist Party of Greece, has approached these developments. ...

Conflicting Scenarios

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The foreign circumstances upon which the Brazilian electoral campaign is launched is not prone to the manifestation of platitudes or to sowing illusions. For a start, the economic environment is once again cloudy with signs of incoming storms. The harsh declarations made by Mr. Bernanke, the new president of FED, the United States’ Central Bank, announcing tough times, and the instability felt by financial markets in the previous weeks are eloquent manifestations of the capitalist system&r ...

The "AFL-CIA" ? Not Dead Yet

Fri, 09 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0100

In 1995 when the supposedly "new" AFL-CIO was born, the old Cold War International Affairs apparatus of the AFL-CIO — built by rabid anti-Communists such as Jay Lovestone, Irving Brown, Bill Doherty and overseen for decades by George Meany and Lane Kirkland, went into the dustbin of history. Or, so many thought.Unfortunately, that was not the case. Though a few staff people with erstwhile progressive reputations were put in prominent positions in the American Center for Inte ...

Debates in Brazilian Preliminary Campaign

Fri, 02 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0100

For the good and for the bad, as something that was being delayed and arrived at a good time, the foreign policy and the ideological thematic connected to concrete politics have become driving ideas being debated during the period preceding the electoral campaign in Brazil. In the first case, and in a very positive manner, it takes place under the impact of the nationalization of the hydrocarbons industry by the popular government of Evo Morales. ...

Review: Strange Liberators: Militarism, Mayhem, and the Pursuit of Profit

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0100

With an introduction by Michael Parenti, afterword by Mickey Z. Llumina Press Fort Lauderdale, June 2006: From war and sanctions to corporate plunder and the looming threat of climate change, the harrowing accounts in Gregory Elich's Strange Liberators comprise an essential source for understanding today's world. This is U.S. foreign policy as seen by those on the receiving end."Gregory Elich is the model investigative journalist of the anti-imperialist left; tenacious, t ...

Failed Solidarity: The ICFTU, AFL-CIO, ILO, and ORIT in Haiti

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0100

On February 16, 2004 a group of foreign trade union officials arrived in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, amongst them ORIT General Secretary Victor Baez, ICFTU Assistant General Secretary Mamounata Cissé and union leaders from France, Canada, Guyana and the Global Union Federation. The purpose of the delegation was to assist eleven trade unionists of the Coordination Syndicale Haïtienne (CSH), accused by Haitian authorities as working to bring down the government. The labor delegation drew in ...

Arrogance of an Empire

Thu, 01 Jun 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Excellencies:Today is a particularly symbolic day. Cuba is a founding member of the Human Rights Council and the United States is not. Cuba was elected with the overwhelming support of 135 countries, more than two-thirds of the United Nations General Assembly, while the United States did not even dare to run as a candidate. Cuba relied on the secret vote for the same reasons that the United States was afraid of it.Cuba's election epitomizes the victory of principles and truth; it stands as recog ...

On The Threats Caused By Terrorism

Tue, 30 May 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Mr. President:First of all I would like to commend you for you work as President of the Security Council during the month of May.I also thank the Chairpersons of the Committees created under resolutions 1267 (1999), 1373 (2001) and 1540 (2004) for the information provided.Mr. President:For more than 45 years the Cuban people has been target of countless terrorist actions, jost of them masterminded and organized from US territory, with the support, protection and funding of the successive Governm ...

Working Group Statement

Mon, 29 May 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The Working Group for the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties met in Lisbon, invited by the Portuguese Communist Party, on May 27, 2006. In this meeting, as in previous meetings, other Communist and Workers' Parties that are not members of the Working Group were invited to participate. The meeting was attended by the Workers' Party of Belgium, the Communist Party of Brazil, the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (Czech Republic), the Communist Party of Cuba, AKEL from Cyp ...

Montenegro's Independence "Vote" is a Foul Play

Tue, 23 May 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The New Communist Party of Yugoslavia(NKPJ) was greatly saddened and terribly upset to learn of the strangulation of the Serbia and Montenegro state. In actual fact the Montenegro's independence "vote" doctored by the European Union is a foul play. ...

We Do Not Accept the Imperialist Break-up of Serbia and Montenegro

Tue, 23 May 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Western imperialism, led by the USA, in the referendum of 21 May 2006 in Montenegro unfortunately realized its destructive goal of creating the project begun in 1990 of totally smashing the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which was the equal-rights union of Yugoslav nations and ethnic minorities and the first socialist state in the history of Yugoslavia.

On the Nationalization of Hydrocarbon Resources of Bolivia

Tue, 23 May 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The nationalization of Bolivia's hydrocarbon resources, decreed by President Evo Morales on May 1, was a courageous and sovereign decision. The Communist Party of Brazil through this note expresses its solidarity to the people and government of our brother country. At the same time, the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) supports and respects the firm and principled position of the Lula government, based on the constitutional precepts of Brazil, which honors the peoples' right to self-determinati ...

Communiqu? of the Executive Committee Meeting of the World Peace Council

Sat, 20 May 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The Executive Committee of the World Peace Council concluded its meeting on 19th and 20th May 2006 in Brasilia, for the first time after decades in South America.

Hands off Venezuela and Cuba

Sat, 20 May 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Dear Sisters and Brothers:On behalf of the revolutionary Government of Cuba and the Cuban people I salute the organizers and all participants at the May 20 Hands off Venezuela and Cuba rally.We appreciate your solidarity in our struggle for independence and justice in the face or the imperialist aggression that our people have been resisting, heroically and successfully for over 47 year. In spite of the economic blockade our people has advanced dramatically in building a new and better society a ...

Marxism in 2006

Thu, 18 May 2006 00:00:00 +0100

MANY distinguished Communists have addressed this annual commemoration of the life and work of Karl Marx. Rereading some of these speeches I was struck not only by the many profound points made but also by their rather diplomatic character.This may be Marxist, but it is not a bit Marx-like. The revolutionary buried here was endlessly disputatious, often truculent and utterly intolerant of any attempt to confound or compound the doctrines to which others gave his name.From Marx we can perhaps lea ...

Revolution and Revolutionary Power

Wed, 17 May 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Contribution by Nikos Papakonstantinou, member of the Ideological Department of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) and of the Center of Marxist Research (Athens) to the III International Conference "The work of Karl Marx and the challenges of the 21st century"Havana, Cuba, 3-6 May 2006• The Communist Party is the organized vanguard of the working class, its advance detachement. This constitutes the fundamental characteristic of the "Party of a New Type," which was ...

Review: Overthrow by Stephen Kinzer

Sat, 13 May 2006 00:00:00 +0100

"For how can people, when they understand their system, fail to see in it the best possible plan of the best possible state of society?"[1]Former New York Times reporter Stephen Kinzer's latest book, "Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq" makes the case that regime change has been a regular feature of US foreign policy for decades, and is not a recent innovation cooked up one afternoon by neo-cons over barbecued ribs and Budweiser at the B ...

The International Juncture in Broad Strokes

Mon, 01 May 2006 00:00:00 +0100

In the course of the third anniversary of the United States’ aggression against Iraq, the world is in the verge of facing another political crisis and a new war waged by the superpower against a sovereign nation. Fierce economic, political and social contradictions are manifested in a concentrated manner, especially in the Middle East and in Latin America. A scenario of degradation and crisis becomes evident with sharp and strong colors, distinct in every manner from the soft reality viewe ...

On A Third Alternative

Fri, 21 Apr 2006 23:00:00 +0100

The CPI(M) has advocated the need for a third alternative in Indian politics. It was the first Party to initiate moves for its formation. As far as the CPI(M) is concerned, the third alternative is necessary to be built so that there is an alternative to the Congress and the BJP. But what should be the nature of this alternative and how it should be created requires looking back and learning from the lessons of such attempts in the past two decades. ...

Opposing Real Capitalism

Tue, 18 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Luciano Álzaga: Several cases have come to the fore in the last few months about clandestine transfers of prisoners of the U.S. crusade on "terrorism" across some European nations, which denied knowledge of these facts, to be tortured in third countries or in secret prisons. If U.S. intelligence and other repressive forces undertake these covert flights to apply torture where such harassment is legal and torture is condoned, as if they respect international judicial order i ...

Information on General Election in Italy 2006

Wed, 12 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The result of our party is excellent: Rifondazione has increased its votes everywhere, both in percentage and in absolute votes: from 5% achieved at the 2001 election to 5.8% at the Chamber of Deputies or lower house (from 1,867,712 votes to 2,229,604) and 7.4% at the Senate, the upper house (from 1,707,175 to 2,518,624). 41 MPs will represent our party at the lower house (instead of 11) and 27 senators at the Senate (instead of 3). This is the largest parliamentary representation ever achieved ...

Swaziland Situation Calls for Urgent Action

Wed, 05 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

It is interesting to note that contrary to the furore that has been generated by Zimbabwean political developments, there is general silence, and even justification of the repression in Swaziland. In our country the few exceptions have been the SACP, COSATU, the ANC Youth League, the Young Communist Leagues, some progressive NGOs and a few mass formations inside our country. ...

The Case for Communism

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Introduction"I DON'T SEE HOW you can ever get any real justice or prosperity, so long as there's private property, and everything is judged in terms of money — unless you consider it just for the worst sort of people to have the best living conditions, or unless you're prepared to call a country prosperous, in which all wealth is owned by a tiny minority — who aren't entirely happy even so, while everyone else is simply miserable." ...

Ripples of Freedom: Commemorating The 1916 Rising

Sat, 01 Apr 2006 00:00:00 +0100

There are turning-points in a nation's history that leave an indelible mark on the course of that nation and of its people. One such event was the 1916 Rising and the impact it had on twentieth-century Ireland. It shaped for generations how the Irish people saw themselves. ...

Against Imperialist Aggression And Occupation

Fri, 31 Mar 2006 00:00:00 +0100

After 3 years of the criminal occupation of Iraq by the United States (US) and its allies, the Portuguese Communist Youth (JCP) declares its commitment to the anti-imperialist fight to put an end to the occupation and its solidarity with the resistance of the Iraqi people.

We?ve Done It Before, So Why All The Shock?

Thu, 16 Mar 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The last three years have not been kind to the US-led, British-assisted, and collaborator-facilitated occupation of Iraq. They’ve been less kind to Iraq and its people. The lies, deceit, and fabrications on which the United States based its attack, were obvious from the first, at least to anyone who didn’t need to believe in the rightness of all the US state does abroad. Now, these deceptions have been laid bare, though a rearguard action is being pursued to obfuscate the imposture b ...

3rd Anniversary Of The War Against Iraq

Mon, 13 Mar 2006 00:00:00 +0100

End of occupation — Solidarity with the Iraqi peopleThe war against Iraq, launched by the US imperialism and its allies has been going on for three years now.Around the 18th of March, on the occasion of the anniversary of the war, there will be demonstrations and protests all over the world against the ongoing occupation. ...

The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2005

Wed, 08 Mar 2006 23:00:00 +0100

On March 8, the U.S. Department of State, posing once again as "the world's judge of human rights," released its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2005. As in previous years, the State Department pointed the finger at human rights situations in more than 190 countries and regions, including China, but kept silent on the serious violations of human rights in the United States. To help people realize the true features of this self-styled "guardian of human rights," ...

Europe and the European Union, Realities, Experiences

Fri, 03 Mar 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Dear Comrades,At first, I would like to convey the warm comradely greetings of the CC of the KKE on the occasion of the 85th anniversary of the PCP’s foundation, of the foundation of the party of the working class and of all the Portuguese working people, which has identified itself with the struggle against fascism, has put its seal on the revolutionary transformations of April and nowadays plays an important role in the country’s political life and in the international revolutionar ...

Europe and the European Union, Realities, Experiences of Struggle

Thu, 02 Mar 2006 23:00:00 +0100

Comrades,We would like to start our contribution by recalling some of what the political representatives of European monopoly capitalism have achieved so far. ...

The Leading Motive Force

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The ANC has decisively won the March 1 local government elections. Celebrations have appropriately taken place in many parts of our country. Now the party is over and it is time to knuckle down to work to build better local government for our people, especiallyfor the workers and the poor.

PCdoB Repudiates New Menaces to the Bolivarian Venezuela

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0100

By a new — and more and more frequent — demonstration of the US government hostility, this time by words talked by Condeleezza Rice, US State Secretary, at audience of the US External Relations of the Representative Commission, last February 17th, 2006. She has declared she has called the Chancellors of Brazil, Spain and Austria — the latter is being in turn presidency at European Union — to tell them that “they have to pay attention on the developments in Venezuela ...

Statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cuba

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0100

We are bearing witness to a new blow to multilateralism and to the United Nations. The United States is threatening with calling for a vote and voting against the draft resolution presented by the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations last February 23, with the aim of establishing the modalities of the Human Rights Council, body which will substitute the current Commission on Human Rights. As it is known, said Commission went to pieces due to the political manipulation imposed ...

On the Worsening of International Tension

Tue, 21 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The extraordinary dimension achieved by the so-called “cartoon crisis”, besides its more immediate motivations and visible actors, is inseparable from the general offensive of big capital and imperialism, an offensive which has lately had new and severe expressions to which the PCP considers necessary to draw the attention of the workers and the Portuguese people.

World Social Forum Evolves and Approaches the New Socialism

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0100

In its trajectory, the World Social Forum has become the main event for popular movements from many countries. This year, in an unprecedented deed, the Forum was a polycentric event. And also for the first time it could reflect the air of the new moment Latin America is now living: the trend towards the progressive movement’s growth. Cebrapaz — the Brazilian Center of Solidarity for the Peoples and Struggle for Peace — had an outstanding participation both in the Bamako Forum, ...

Statement About the Cartoon Crises

Mon, 20 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0100

All over the world there have been severe reactions on the cartoons.

The cartoons, published in the Danish daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten, are a provocation and have nothing to do with the freedom of expression.

What Will Happen After The Electoral Coup In Palestine?

Sat, 18 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0100

There is no doubt that the recent legislative council elections is an electoral coup in Palestine. Due to the nature of this coup, and because of the current conditions at the regional and international level, it will be extremely difficult to complete this step and move with it to its natural result where Hamas can assume the responsibility — alone — and form the next Palestinian government.

A New Left Force in Germany

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The crisis of reformismReformism has deep historical roots in Germany. The foundation for the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) at the changing of the years 1918/19 meant the existence of a new party which continued the revolutionary traditions of the “federation of Communists” around Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The KPD became a mass-party, the social democrats (SPD) stayed one until their ban in 1933. Members of KPD and SPD who were haunted promised during the experience of fasci ...

Bring The Troops Home

Sun, 05 Feb 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Testimony of Dr. Dahlia Wasfi at Iraq Forum Held by Congress Members in D.C. (02/05/2006) I speak to you today on behalf of relatives on my mother's side - Ashkenazi Jews who fled their homeland of Austria during Hitler's Anschluss. It is for them that we say "Never again." I speak to you today on behalf of relatives on my father's side, who are not living, but dying, under the occupation of this administration's deadly foray in Iraq. From the lack of security to t ...

Reflections on Revisionism in the USA

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 01:00:00 +0100

Note from the ML Today Editorial Board: The following contribution received from Edward A. Drummond does not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board. Nevertheless, a majority of the Editorial Board has supported its posting. Our policy has been to acquaint our readers with the views of various political parties and with the public debates about those views, but not to interfere in the internal affairs of any political party. We have concluded that the contribution from Drummo ...

No Majority, but Dangers Lie Ahead

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0100

[The Central Executive of the Communist Party of Canada issued the following preliminary statement on the outcome of the federal election on January 24, 2006.]

Remarks by Fidel Castro to the Peoples of Cuba, US and of the World

Tue, 24 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0100

Key remarks by Fidel Castro Ruz, President of the Republic of Cuba, to the people of Cuba, to the noble American people and to the world public opinion, at the onset of the heroic Cuban people's march on the U.S. Interests Section in Havana on January 24, 2006Dear compatriots:At the onset of this march on the perfidious and provocative representatives of imperialism, I wish to reiterate what I said on Sunday in my closing remarks to the heroic people of our beloved homeland, to the noble America ...

Evo Morales: "We Shall Complete the Struggle of Che"

Mon, 23 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0100

La Paz, January 21 — The president elect of Bolivia, Evo Morales, said that he strive to fulfill the objectives of the struggle of heroic guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara, who was killed in Bolivia on October 8, 1967.Morales, according to a report by ANSA, called for the unity of the indigenous people of Latin America to continue the struggle for liberation."The struggle that Che Guevara left uncompleted, we shall complete," he said in Tiwanacu when receiving the symbols of office o ...

A Joint Statement Concerning the Programs of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Iraq

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The Iraqi economy has been severely affected by decades of sanctions, wars and occupation. The Iraqi trade unions and federations believe in the capacity of the country with all its oil and mineral resources to provide a decent living standard for Iraqis.The federations and unions consider that the wars and occupation have caused a dramatic decrease in the living and social standards of Iraqis and especially of workers.The federations and unions stress the importance of complete sovereignty for ...

Capitalism and the Values of the National Democratic Revolution

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0100

When the Chief Executive Officer of Shoprite — a large South African based supermarket chain- Whitey Basson pays himself R59 million in salary and bonuses, with 80% of shareholders approving, where is our country going? When sections of the black elite splash their wealth by spending on multi-million rand mansions, and, with few exceptions (eg COSATU), there is public silence even from government, one wants to ask, again, where are we going? Two years ago, the same Whitey Basson paid himse ...

The State, Leadership of the Democratic Revolution and the People

Wed, 18 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The 9 days beginning this Friday will be another important period in our revolution. The three Alliance partners, the ANC, COSATU and the SACP will respectively be holding their end-of-the year National Executive Committee, Central Executive Committee, and Central Committee meetings. These meetings are important to evaluate the past year and map a way forward for the coming year.

Iraqi CP Disagrees with Anti-War Movement's Call for Immediate Withdrawal

Sat, 14 Jan 2006 23:00:00 +0100

[As with many of the articles we print on our website, we provide this information without endorsing its perspective or verifying the facts that it claims. In this case, as in many other articles we post here and print in our magazine, the perspective is in sharp contrast to that which we editorially endorse. Our view is that the deepest truth emerges from the free struggle between different views and perspectives.] — Tikkun ...

The Letters to Saddam Hussein

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The Cuban archives are a treasure-trove of historical material. Many of their diplomatic files have been made public, but the correspondence between Fidel Castro and other world leaders will be a particularly rich source of information when, someday, it is made available.This excerpt from Chapter 25 of the book "One Hundred Hours with Fidel" contains partial quotes from letters to Saddam Hussein from Fidel Castro during the period leading up to Gulf War I, after Saddam had been suckere ...

The Spectre of Communism Is Still Haunting Europe

Fri, 06 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0100

15 years after being declared dead and buried, the spectre of communism is again haunting the minds of some of Europe's political leaders.On February 24 2005, the European Ministers of Justice were to discuss a common strategy against racism, anti-semitism and xenophobia. On this occasion, several European MPs from the former East European countries, members of the European Popular Party (EPP), among whom the Lithuanian former president Landsbergis, demanded the forbidding of Communist symbols a ...

About The Anti-Communist Motion: You Cannot Change Either Our Current Position Nor Our History!

Wed, 04 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0100

The attempt by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for convicting “communist regimes for their crimes against humanity” and identifying them with fascism is nothing but an effort for acquitting fascism. At the beginning, our party considered this draft, which has been around for a while, as the work of a few reactionary madmen. But apparently we are entering an era, in which capitalists are going mad en masse. ...

Review: The Culture Struggle

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0100

"Michael Parenti has educated generations of Americans — including my own — on the merits of a radical world view and progressive politics. In The Culture Struggle, Parenti is at the top of his game. His arguments about the importance of culture and his debunking of dominant ideology is masterful and written with precise and crystal clear prose that few other writers can approach, let alone equal."—Robert W. McChesney, co-author of Tragedy and Farce"Michael is a ...

Roll Back Energy Prices Now!

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0100

This winter, Canadians face steep cost increases to heat their homes and drive their vehicles, while shareholders in the big energy monopolies rake in windfall profits. As the federal election campaign moved into high gear, Communist Party of Canada leader Miguel Figueroa, a candidate in Toronto’s Davenport riding, called for immediate action to protect working people from the impact of the energy crisis.

Latin America: Beginning of a New Era?

Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 +0100

On Tuesday 10 January 2006 the SACP had the honour of meeting with President-elect of Bolivia, Cde Evo Morales. Cde Morales was on a brief visit to our country, as part of an international trip to several progressive countries, prior to his official inauguration on 22 January 2006. The SACP used this opportunity to warmly congratulate Cde Morales for his historic victory in the Bolivian elections, and we expressed SACP solidarity with his movement, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS), and ...

Cuba and Bolivia Move Closer with New Accords

Sat, 31 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Havana — Cuban President Fidel Castro and Bolivia's President-elect Evo Morales signed a cooperation accord on Friday in Havana to educate 5,000 Bolivian doctors in Cuba. The figure does not include the 497 Bolivian youths who are already studying medicine on the island, explains the agreement that becomes effective after Morales is sworn in on January 22.Morales, the first indigenous leader to hold the Bolivian presidency, swept to victory on December 18th winning 54 percent of the vote. ...

Review: War At Home: Covert Action Against U.S. Activists and What We Can Do About It

Sun, 25 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0100

[Editor's note: More information on COINTELPRO in the Bari case is available at the Monitor Judi Bari index. Much of the following was taken from Brian Glick's book War At Home: Covert Action Against U.S. Activists and What We Can Do About It, (South End Press; Boston, 1989), a source for detailed and documented information on the history of domestic covert action against movements for social change.] ...

I Believe Only in the Power of the People

Sat, 24 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0100

This is the text of a speech given on December 24 at the "In Defense of Humanity" conference.What happened these past days in Bolivia was a great revolt by those who have been oppressed for more than 500 years. The will of the people was imposed this September and October, and has begun to overcome the empire's cannons. We have lived for so many years through the confrontation of two cultures: the culture of life represented by the indigenous people, and the culture of death represente ...

Delphi Workers Fan Flames of Labor's Renewal

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0100

After decades of concessionary contracts, rank-and-file United Auto Worker activists have worked tirelessly the last two months resisting attacks on auto parts workers at Delphi Corporation.Delphi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Oct. 8. With Steve 'The Hatchet' Miller, CEO of Delphi, at the helm, the company blames health care payments for retirees and labor costs as factors contributing to Delphi's financial crisis. Approximately 24,000 General Motors workers were sold out in 1999, when GM s ...

Statement of Mikis Theodorakis On the Anti-Communist Memorandum

Thu, 22 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Dear comrades We forward you the English translation of a statement made on 22 of December by the famous Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis on the anticommunist memorandum.— The Intetnational Section of KKEThe Council of Europe has decided to change History. To distort it by equalizing the victims with the aggressors, the heroes with the criminals, the liberators with the conquerors and the Communists with the Nazis. ...

Time to Stand against Racism

Wed, 14 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0100

“This is racism and must be condemned and opposed”, said the Secretariat of the Communist Party in a statement strongly condemning the riots on several Sydney beaches over the past few days. The statement continues:

KSM (Czech Republic), Request for Solidarity

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Dear comrades,

We are writing to inform you of the latest attack of state power — the Home Office of the Czech Republic — against the Communist Union of Youth (Komunisticky svaz mladeze, KSM) — a member organization of the World Federation of Democratic Youth (WFDY) — and against the communist movement in general in the Czech Republic.

Speech at 2nd Cuba ? CARICOM Summit

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Honourable Owen Arthur, Prime Minister of Barbados, playing host to this meeting:Honourable Kenny Anthony, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia, and President of CARICOM:Honourable Prime Ministers of other member countries of CARICOM: Honourable Edwin Carrington, Secretary General of CARICOM:Distinguished heads of delegations, ministers and special guests:It is for me a source of special satisfaction that we can meet again, this time in the land of Errol Barrow, who was a very dear friend of Cuba. Thre ...

Anniversary of Cuban Aid to Angola

Fri, 02 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Distinguished guestsInternationalist combatantsComradesForty-nine years ago today, the 'Granma' yacht arrived on the coast of our homeland. Thus today marks the beginning of the 50th year in the life of the Rebel Army and the Revolutionary Armed Forces.As is well known, in the wake of the landing and despite early setbacks, the fight spread rapidly to every corner of our fields and towns. There was not a moment's truce until the resounding people's victory of 1st January 1959, in the fight to th ...

Interview With Pedro Ross Leal, General Secretary of the Confederation of Cuban Workers

Thu, 01 Dec 2005 00:00:00 +0100

XV World Congress of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU)The decision to allow our country to host the XV World Union Congress, which was ratified in the recent Presidential Congress of the WFTU (celebrated in Paris), is a decision which union leaders consider to be historic and transcendental, because the event will be celebrated in the continent which is the basis for the jost important changes that workers have gone through recently, expressed Pedro Ross Leal, Secretary General of the ...

A Tribute to a Giant: SACP Congratulates COSATU on its 20th Anniversary

Sun, 27 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

On Sunday, 4 December 2005, COSATU celebrated its 20th anniversary. These have been two decades of heroic collective struggle against apartheid, for workers’ rights, and for the reconstruction of our country after the 1994 democratic breakthrough. In paying tribute to COSATU, last month’s Augmented Central Committee of the SACP said:

US Prepares for War from Australian Soil

Wed, 23 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

The announcement that the United States will start sending long range B-52 and B-51 bomber aircraft as well as stealth bombers for training exercises — including bombing practice — in the Northern Territory signals the latest stage in preparation for US aggression in the region. The decision was revealed during last week’s visit by US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld at a joint press conference with Australia’s Defense Minister Robert Hill. US Deputy Secreta ...

Resolution of Solidarity With Venezuela

Sun, 20 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Today, the people of Venezuela, the heir of the emancipating ideas of Simón Bolívar, El Libertador, is the protagonist of a revolution, led by President Hugo Chávez Frías, that is a hope for that nation and for all the peoples of Latin America.

Statement On The Mausoleum of Lenin

Sun, 20 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

To The President of The Russian Federation
Vladimir Putin

Dear Mr. President,

The international community is following the development of the situation in the Russian Federation with great attention. This year the progressive forces of the world, together with the peoples of your country, marked the 60th anniversary of Victory over Fascism and Nazism.

Contribution by the Portuguese Communist Party

Sun, 20 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Dear Comrades, Capitalism, as a world system, has long entered into its historical decline. Despite the appearences and all the attempts to portray it as an unsurmountable (although perfectible) mode of production, it is undergoing a crisis that is structural and which knows no solution within the framework of the system. What is needed is its replacement by a superior mode of production, that can harmonize the productive forces and the relations of production; that can liberate the enormou ...

Contribution of the General Secretary of the CC of the KKE, Aleka Paparhiga

Sun, 20 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Dear Comrades, First I would like to welcome you to Athens and to thank you for taking part in the international meeting that our Party has hosted every year since 1999. We note with satisfaction that, since the time when international meetings of this type were first established, the number of parties attending increases from one year to the next. There are also parties that have declared their desire to participate for the first time, which we have to discuss using the well-known procedur ...

Review: After The Empire

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Emmanuel Todd is a researcher at the French National Institute for Demographic Studies in Paris. His regard in intellectual circles springs from his book, The Final Fall: An Essay on the Decomposition of the Soviet Sphere, acclaimed for its prediction of the demise of the Soviet Union. More recently, he has produced a European best seller predicting a similar breakdown of the US “empire,” After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order.Whether his book on the Soviet d ...

Text: Orderly and Rapid Withdrawal from Iraq

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Text of the New York City Council Resolution: Orderly and Rapid Withdrawal from IraqResolution urging the United States government to immediately commence an orderly and rapid withdrawal of United States military personnel from Iraq, and further urging that the financial resources used to prosecute the war be redirected to address the urgent needs of America's great urban centers and the jost vulnerable portions of our population, including in the areas of health, education and homeland secu ...

Without a Left, US Labor Continues its Downward Spiral

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

The crisis in the U.S. labor movement continues unabated. Conditions for the vast majority of working people continue to deteriorate as capital moves to destroy the trade union movement.The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue with a huge drain on the budget which results in the further cutting of social programs, a healthcare crisis that increasingly cannot sustain coverage for the mass of Americans, the use of bankruptcy to cancel union contracts, attacks on pensions, social security, and the ...

We Can Build the jost Just Society in the World

Fri, 18 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Fidel Reaffirms his Confidence that We Can Built the jost Just Society in the World. He chatted with students and professors in the Aula Magna. They celebrated the 60th anniversary of the revolutionary leader's entrance into the University of HavanaFidel went to the University of Havana yesterday, November 17, to tell the people, and above all the youth, that he is confident of their disposition and ability to strengthen and maintain the invincibility of the Revolution; that neither will it coll ...

Arafat the Obstacle Has Been Exposed as a Myth

Tue, 15 Nov 2005 14:33:34 +0100

he Palestinian leader's portrayal by the west and Israel has been a barrier both to understanding the conflict and to peaceOne year after Yasser Arafat's death, and he has passed into silent myth and legend. As with all great historical figures, the myth is both powerful and pervasive. Yet in Arafat's case, it possesses a peculiar driving force that frames the manner in which we see the present. Indeed, everything about the conflict between the Palestinians and Israel is shaped by th ...

A Communiqu? on the Convening of the 10th Syrian Communist Party Congress

Sat, 12 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

The 10th Congress of SCP was held in Damascus from 9 until 12 November 2005 under three basic slogans:

“For a Free Country and Triumphant People”
“For Defending the Country and Defending Interests of the People”
“For a world Anti-Imperialist Front”

The Congress was decorated with SCP patriotic, class and International slogans.

Contribution of the Workers Party of Belgium

Sat, 12 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

19th Prague Theoretical - Political Conference "Socialism: Scientific or Surrealist?"Dear Comrades,Allow me to introduce today’s subject starting from the class struggle that’s going on in my country and in many other European countries. On October the 27th, Belgium witnessed its second day of general strike in a space of two weeks. That day, more than 100.000 workers, of different political backgrounds, marched through the streets of Brussels. For aljost two months no ...

Cuban Foreign Minister's Speech at the UN

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Havana, Nov 10 (Prensa Latina) Prior to a historic vote by the UN General Assembly, the Cuban Foreign Minister, Felipe Perez Roque, delivered a speech condemning the US blockade of his country and providing evidence of its negative impact on the island and of its territorial nature.Dear President:Dear Delegates:Today is a day of particular importance for the United Nations. By casting a vote for the fourteenth time on the draft resolution presented by Cuba, entitled "The Need To Put An End ...

UN Vote on the Blockade

Thu, 10 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Dear President, dear DelegatesToday is a day of particular importance for the United Nations. By? casting a vote for the fourteenth time on the draft resolution ?presented by Cuba, entitled ´The Need To Put An End To The Economic,? Commercial And Financial Blockade Imposed On Cuba By The United? States of America´, the General Assembly will not only be making a? decision regarding a subject that affects Cuba; we will also be? voting in favor of the principles and regulations of Inter ...

Who Owns Solidarity Center?

Wed, 09 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Is AFL-CIO’s International Solidarity Center A Subsidiary of the U.S State Department? In 1997, the AFL-CIO established the American Center for International Labor Solidarity to develop organizing strategies for international campaigns and cooperative relations with labor federations in other countries.Solidarity Center replaced the four regional institutes under former President Lane Kirkland, whose staffs, operating in some 80 countries, had been involved with CIA agents to destabil ...

Colombia ? No Option but Struggle

Wed, 02 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Liliany Obando is a member of the International Relations Commission of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (the main trade union peak council in Colombia) and of the Federación Nacional Sindical Unitaria Agropecuaria Fensuagro (the peak council of agrarian unions). During her recent visit to Australia, she spoke with the editor of The Guardian, Anna Pha, about the continuing political turmoil in Colombia and the possibility of the re-election of the right-wing government of President &A ...

The Cuban Five: Silencing The Truth Is An Unpardonable Crime

Wed, 02 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Two recent news items confirm, with regrettable accuracy, the revelations appropriately disclosed by Cuba regarding plans by the current U.S. administration to obstruct justice in its desire to please the Cuban-American mafia that controls the destiny of southern Florida and to whom it owes, among other expensive favors, the fraudulent assumption of power by George W. Bush in 2000.On Wednesday October 26, in an embarrassing and shameful and act, which the Miami media merely characterized as news ...

Developments within the Imperialist System ? The New Dynamics in the Anti-Imperialist Struggle

Tue, 01 Nov 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Address by Seán Edwards, member of the National Executive Committee of the CPI, to an international gathering of communist and workers’ parties jointly organised by the Communist Party of Turkey and the Communist Party of Greece.

France-US: Set Apart Over the Middle East

Mon, 31 Oct 2005 23:00:00 +0100

CUBA SOCIALISTA Theoretical and Political Journal Edited by the CC of the Cuban Communist Party Although France provided decisive military support to the American settlers during their independence war against Great Britain, and followed their lead with the 1789 Revolution, US-French relations have always been touchy. Traditionally, short and fragile moments of relative understanding are always followed by periods of important contradictions usually having an impact on political and economi ...

On the Congress of the ?European Left Party?

Wed, 26 Oct 2005 23:00:00 +0100

This weekend the first congress of the “European Left Party” (ELP) will be held in Athens.According to the preconditions of the European Union the “European Party” has to guarantee that its basic documents as well as its activities will correspond to “the basic aims of the EU,” otherwise the Party can be dissolved by the European Parliament. The member organizations of ELP are quite different socialist, social democratic, Trotskyism and ecological groups as we ...

WFTU Calls Upon International Trade Union Movement

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0100

TO FURTHER STRENGTHEN SOLIDARITY WITH SYRIA AND DENOUNCE THE FABRICATIONS AND THREATS AGAINST THE SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLICThe World Federation of Trade Unions strongly condemns the recent heightened efforts to aggravate tensions, chaos and conflicts in the Arab region and the attempts to disregard the tragic events resulting from the occupation of Iraq, Palestine and other Arab lands as well as the plans to reinforce hegemony by the United States and expand Israeli penetration and their efforts to u ...

The Workers' Party of Belgium and the European Left Party

Tue, 25 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0100

At the end of October, the "European Left Party" will hold its first congress in Athens. This compels us to clarify our position.

1. It has been said over and over again: the collapse of socialism in the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe has only intensified all contradictions of the global capitalist system.

A Message From The Cuban Interests Section

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Dear Cuba's friends:

The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States since the very triumph of the Revolution has caused loses to Cuba amounting to more than 82,764 billion dollars. This figure does not include the 54 billion dollars due to direct damages caused to economic and social targets occasioned by sabotages and terrorist actions financed and encouraged in the United States.

Cuba Demonstrates Its High Degree of Preparation for Confronting Nature's Adversities

Mon, 24 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0100

• Affirms President Fidel Castro• He offers medical aid to Mexico, where Wilma left more than one million victimsIn face of the threat of Hurricane Wilma, the country has once again showed its high level of preparation for confronting such adversities of nature and mobilizing all forces and resources in order to protect each one of its citizens, something they cannot achieve in even the richest nations, affirmed President Fidel Castro, who spoke during a TV "Roundtable" progr ...

International Colloquium to Free the Five ? Holgu?n, Cuba

Fri, 21 Oct 2005 01:00:00 +0100

I would like to greet all of you who are participating in this meeting which I believe to be very important because solidarity always is, and will always continue to be, the fundamental principle, the fundamental motivation that should guide revolutionaries. I would say that for human beings it is, in fact, the antithesis to a world which seeks to institutionalize injustice, outrage, and war - in short, what we daily see happening on the planet. ...

Speech Delivered by Comrade Fernando Rem?rez de Estenoz

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Comrades:

Greetings to our comrades of the Communist Party of Greece, who once again are our hosts. We reaffirm to them our solidarity and our acknowledgement of their great efforts in the initiative and organization of this important event.

A greeting to all communist and workers’ parties who continue the struggle for a better, more just and more human world.

Resolution of Solidarity With Cuba

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0100

For forty five years and as part of their systematic policy of hostility and aggression, ten successive US Administrations have applied a cruel economic, financial and commercial blockade on Cuba, a blockade that has been intensified under the present Republican Administration of President George W. Bush. Up to now, it has caused economic damages that amount to $82,764 billion, a total figure that does not include more than $54 billion imputed to direct damage caused to Cuba’s economic and ...

The Iraqi Constitution: A Referendum For Disaster

Thu, 13 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0100

** The constitutional process culminating in Saturday's referendum is not a sign of Iraqi sovereignty and democracy taking hold, but rather a consolidation of U.S. influence and control. Whether Iraq's draft constitution is approved or rejected, the decision is likely to make the current situation worse.** The ratification process reflects U.S., not Iraqi urgency, and is resulting in a vote in which jost Iraqis have not even seen the draft, and amendments are being reopened and negotiate ...

Communist Party of Australia ? 10th Congress, 2005: Opening Night Speech

Wed, 12 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0100

1. CONGRESS SLOGANIt is with great pleasure we welcome you, our comrades and friends to the opening night of our Party Congress. Our Congress is the jost important event in the life of our Party and it will determine the Party’s policy and direction for the next four years. ...

CPA 10th Congress Resolutions

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 23:00:00 +0100

Asia-Pacific regionThe Communist Party of Australia recognizes the significant contribution to the International Communist and Workers’ Movement made by the meetings of Communist and Workers’ Parties in Athens and Sao Paulo. ...

Report on Political Resolution

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:00:00 +0100

In Saturday, October 1, the Political Resolution of the 10th CPA Congress was presented by Anna Pha, Guardian Editor and member of the Central Committee Executive.

Revamped Party Program Endorsed

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 22:00:00 +0100

Among their other tasks over the long weekend, delegates to the CPA's 10th National Congress considered an updated Party Program. Rob Gowland, Central Committee member and Secretary of the Sydney District Committee, gave the meeting an outline of the changes, which built on the analysis of the current of the national and international political scene, contained in the previous Program. Rob noted that the document had benefited considerably from the work carried out by Party organizations since t ...

Statement of the Central Committee Meeting

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0100

The Central Committee of the PCP, meeting on 11 October 2005, analyzed the result of the local government election and underlined the important success of the CDU materialized in an increase in the number of votes, office-bearers, borough councils and town councils in which presidencies were won. It evaluated the struggle and protest actions that have been taking place, in several sectors, against the government's policy, actions that are, in themselves, inseparable from the ...

Anti-Communism in Europe ? The Revival of A Spectre

Wed, 05 Oct 2005 00:00:00 +0100

Only two years have passed since, in August 2003, the head of the Liberal Group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe submitted a project condemning communist ideology and urging to take the necessary measures to get rid of the inheritance “of former communist totalitarian states.” The project was then adopted by the Bureau of the Council of Europe. A new Neurenberg was needed, according to the words of the Minister of Justice of Estonia. ...

The New Dynamics in the Anti-Imperialist Struggle