#socialism

What is the radical Left?

Despite real analytical and strategic differences, the radical Left is united by a shared endeavor to address the foundational roots of social injustices. It seeks to overthrow—not simply tweak—capitalist social relations.

Leftists work towards the common goal of a stateless, classless society characterized by collective self-determination, worker control of production, and individual freedom and dignity.

Anarchists are antistate or libertarian socialists who advocate the reorganization of society into voluntary federations based in social equality and individual freedom. Syndicalists, who overlap substantially with anarchists, believe that revolutionary unions should prefigure the new world and act as the vehicles to re-organize society.

The labels of socialism and communism are at times used interchangeably; it is often useful to think of socialists as those who pursue reformist strategies whereas communists advocate revolutionary seizure of state power by a vanguard party.

For a transnational account of the radical left in the Americas, check out my 2023 article "Radical Americas: A Hemispheric History of the Left," published in Left History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Historical Inquiry and Debate. It is free online here: https://lh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/lh/article/view/39672

#anarchism #socialism #communism #history

Under socialism, everyone's basic needs are always met. Under capitalism, it's everyone for themselves. It's capitalism rather than socialism, where people are hungry.

#anticapitalism #eattherich #feedthepoor #anarchism #socialism #communism #economy

"No to US/USSR imperialism. Mayday! Anarchist Contingent" (1988)

One of the most interesting aspects of writing about anarchism in the 1980s-90s is their position re: the Soviet Union as it fell (I'm writing an piece about this now!). They had great hope, but also saw the dangers of capitalist transformation.

Bob McGlynn of "NYC Neither East Nor West," who had extensive contacts with anarchists and other lefty dissidents in Eastern Europe, wrote an article in the Love and Rage newspaper in April 1990 titled "Whoopie! East Bloc Explodes!"

"Watching one Stalinoid dictatorship after another crumble with embarrassing speed is even more fun than drinking beer! (Well almost.)"

. . .

"Many wonder if this [East-West solidarity] movement is over. Not at all. In fact, it’s needed now more than ever."

. . .

"Opposition movements in the Soviet bloc remain. These are made up of anarchists, independent socialists, draft resisters, ecologists, anti-nuclear activists, workers, women, youth, gays. The battle for relative civil liberties may appear to be won, but the war for everything else is on."

. . .

"In many ways, we’re only just beginning. For instance, the sporadic contacts between anarchists in both blocs can now be cemented.

In April an Italian group is sponsoring a large gathering of East and West anarchists – the first time ever. In a sense we are at point zero. Now we can really move."

But despite his hope, McGlynn presciently identified the potential dangers of the Soviet collapse.

"Western capitalism is poised to eat the East alive, through debt and capital penetration.

. . .

The barbed wire and concrete borders are now being replaced by a border less tangible: that of money/commodity relations and rule. And this game, like the old one, has only enough room for a few players."

In 1990, the future was open. McGlynn ends:

"The paradox is that as the world has gotten very interesting recently, it's also simultaneously becoming increasingly monotone and banal. Pepsi power, etc. This, then, is prime territory for adventurers seeking seams in this seemingly seamless whole. It's been remarked that with Stalinism collapsing, we are now 'at the end of history.' Rather, perhaps, we are only at its beginning."

McGlynn's fears were realized: capitalism remade the former Soviet Bloc in its image. Could this have been prevented by more solidarity across borders? Was a libertarian socialist alternative possible? Or was the choice always simply between Stalinism and neoliberalism?

#anarchism #socialism #communism #history

The shifting terrain of late twentieth century society produced a crisis for the left that destabilised Marxism-Leninism and gave rise to an anti-state socialist politics. Crisis came in two primary forms.

First, the state launched an all-out assault on radical organisations and revolutionary fighters. From FBI infiltration and disruption to long term imprisonment and even outright assassination, the state reacted violently to the threat that it perceived from revolutionary forces. By the late 1970s, the state had essentially defeated the revolutionary wing of the New Left, from the Black Panthers to the Weather Underground.

Alongside this frontal assault, the changing nature of capitalist production and state power destabilised the analysis and programme of the Marxist-Leninist left. Offshoring production to the global south decimated the industrial working-class base of the Old Left while repression disoriented the national liberation movements that had provided the locus of struggle for anti-imperialists in the long 1960s. Traditional approaches to organising factory workers under the direction of a communist party no longer appeared viable to many militants.

Further, capturing the state no longer appeared to be a sufficient condition for building socialism–and was increasingly seen as undesirable in the first place, echoing the critique of the state formulated by earlier generations of anarchists in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. The decline and fall of the Soviet Union, the capitalist turn of post-Maoist China, the ‘betrayal’ of the French Socialist President François Mitterrand’s 1983 ‘turn to austerity’, the electoral defeat of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua in 1990, and the failure of national liberation movements to build socialism in the decolonising world all contributed to a global re-evaluation of the state-centric mode of politics.

A new generation of radicals critiqued the failures of Marxism-Leninism and turned towards anarchism. Marxism-Leninism certainly did not disappear, but anarchism grew more quickly and recaptured the imagination of the radical left and broader social movements. This was driven both by the neoliberal counterrevolution’s decimation of the Marxist left and the development of new theory and practice in the anarchist movement.

Read more on the late 20th century shift from socialism to anarchism in my 2022 journal article "From the Ashes of the Old: Anarchism Reborn in a Counterrevolutionary Age (1970s-1990s)" in Anarchist Studies, available online from the @anarchistlib https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/spencer-beswick-from-the-ashes-of-the-old

#anarchism #socialism #history

“European opulence is literally a scandal for it was built on the backs of slaves, it fed on the blood of slaves, and owes its very existence to the soil and subsoil of the underdeveloped world. Europe's well-being and progress were built with the sweat and corpses of blacks, Arabs, Indians, and Asians. This we are determined never to forget.”
― Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth

#colonialism #socialism #socialism

Alright, I've put it off long enough. During a short vacation I took in early June, I read the book "Why We're Getting Poorer: A Realist's Guide to the Economy and How We Can Fix it" by Cahal Moran, also known as John Unlearning Economics, the guy that created the YouTube channel Unlearning Economics. I also took a lot of notes on the margins -- part of redoubling my efforts to absorb the material I'm reading since I have the time to do so. (1/)

#economics #socialism #books #bookstodon

"Their complaints are practical — they don’t want to pay more taxes. But they’re also ideological, as Dimon’s comments suggest: they don’t want to see left-wing ideas go mainstream. Their declarations sound almost plaintive. Take the frightened whine of another wealthy Mamdani foe, television star Dr Phil, at a recent fundraiser for Eric Adams: “Nothing is for free, folks.”

Asked to describe the reaction of the New York City ruling class, the level-headed Kathy Wylde, president of the Partnership for New York City (essentially the city’s chamber of commerce) on the Bloomberg News podcast Odd Lots said, “‘Hysteria’ is the word I would use.” She laconically noted that these business elites didn’t seriously consider the possibility that Mamdani would win until 10 p.m. on primary night.

“How do we stop this guy?” asked Bo Dietl, former New York Police Department detective and prominent right-wing media personality, who is planning on raising $10 million with former mayor Rudy Giuliani, a disgraced former Trump adviser.

Dr Phil? Bo Dietl? Rudy Giuliani? The anti-Mamdani forces aren’t exactly sending their best. Then again, maybe they are."

https://jacobin.com/2025/07/mamdani-nyc-billionaires-israel-defenders

#USA #NYC #Mamdani #DemocraticSocialism #DSA #Socialism

“In England and the United States, the police were invented within the space of just a few decades—roughly from 1825 to 1855. The new institution was not a response to an increase in crime, and it really didn’t lead to new methods for dealing with crime. The most common way for authorities to solve a crime, before and since the invention of police, has been for someone to tell them who did it. Besides, crime has to do with the acts of individuals, and the ruling elites who invented the police were responding to challenges posed by collective action. To put it in a nutshell: The authorities created the police in response to large, defiant crowds. That’s — strikes in England, — riots in the Northern US, — and the threat of slave insurrections in the South. So the police are a response to crowds, not to crime.”

— Origins of the Police by David Whitehouse

#acab #anarchism #socialism

Mondragon Corporation is the world's largest worker owned coop. Profits are primarily allocated to the worker-members' capital accounts and reinvested in the coops. The highest paid executives are typically paid, at most, around 3 to 9 times as much as their lowest paid workers, compared to the average of about 300 times in the US. They employee about 70,000 people, mostly in Basque Country and Spain. They own banks, factories (auto parts, construction, etc), retail stores, including a large grocery store chain and a chain of gas stations, a university, and R&D centers.

They are proof that you can find success by taking care of your employees. They are proof that federations and co-operatives work. They are a powerful example of democratic economic organization.

https://www.mondragon-corporation.com

#Socialism #coop #Mondragon