Bolshevik Revolution Centennial Series: New Economic Policy, A Retreat from Communism

This is the  part of an extensive series about the Bolshevik Revolution and the triumphs, as well as the defeats, of the world communist movement of the 20th century. We welcome your comments and criticisms, and encourage all readers to discuss this period of history with their friends, classmates, co-workers, family, and comrades.

 In 1921, the workers in the former Russian Empire were faced with building the first workers’ state on a territory with the area of one-sixth of the earth’s surface. Much of the brand-new Soviet Union’s best farmlands and economy were shattered by the imperialist devastation of World War I; widespread peasant revolts rocked the countryside while urban populations were declining; and on top of this there was a famine affecting millions of workers and farmers. The leaders of the Communist Party (nicknamed Bolsheviks in Russian) included Vladimir Lenin, who had no blueprints or previous experiences to learn from.
Lenin proposed that the Bolsheviks temporarily adopt aspects of capitalism in order to create jobs and develop industry first, and build socialism later. After considerable debate, the Bolsheviks responded with the New Economic Policy (NEP) which lasted until 1928. The NEP allowed a limited  restoration of capitalism that was meant to be under the control of the Soviet Union. Lenin and others felt while this was a retreat from socialism, it was necessary for survival of the revolution to rebuild after the devastating civil war that followed the 1917 Revolution.

Click to read more ...

Zimbabwe Aligns with China, ‘Revolutionary’ Nationalism Fails Workers

On November 24 Emmerson Mnangagwa, former vice president of Zimbabwe was named president, bookending national turmoil that began when former president Robert Mugabe fired Mnangagwa, triggering a military takeover, protests in support of Mnangagwa, and Mugabe’s own ousting by coup d’etat.
While a result of in-fighting within the ruling class of Zimbabwe, this is also a sign of China’s growing investment in Africa and the strengthening of their role as leading imperialist power.
China is Zimbabwe’s fourth largest trading partner and its largest source of investment, buying 28 percent of its exports in 2015 and a making a promise of five-billion-dollars in direct aid and investment from Chinese president Xi Jinping, who has called Zimbabwe an “all-weather friend” (BBC 11/20).

Click to read more ...

Iran: Capitalist Regime Deadlier than Earthquake

In Iran, as tension increases between U.S. and Iranian capitalists making World War III a growing possibility, the working class is experiencing severe ruin. The devastation from the Iran-Iraq earthquake was the deadliest in a decade.

Click to read more ...

Bolshevik Revolution Celebrations

MEXICO

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, members of Progressive Labor Party held an international communist school over this past long weekend. On the first day, a large group of education workers studied political economy. Everyone was very receptive to our communist ideas, advancing their understanding that they are part of the working class and that the purpose of education under capitalism is to prepare new generations of exploited workers, and that educators play a role in that. For the working class to win a world free of exploitation—communism—educators have a different important role to play, teaching young people to resist the capitalist ideas of individualism, racism, and sexism, and turning them into ideas of collectivity and struggle.

Click to read more ...

Imperialist China Gains on U.S.—Slippery Slope to World War

When U.S. President Donald Trump descended upon Asia in a twelve-day tour spanning five countries, it marked a turning point for the ascendance of China, the relative decline of the U.S., and their sharpening inter-imperialist rivalry. While Trump declared that “America is back” (The Guardian, 11/17), it was more wishful thinking than reality.
Trump’s attempts to appease his alienated working-class base with a hard line on trade and North Korea ring hollow. China’s growing economic, military, and political might are propelling it forward, while the U.S. desperately tries to hold on to its once-dominant position. As history has taught us, most recently in World Wars I and II, the top dog imperialist will never relinquish its power willingly. The tension between China and the U.S. will continue to intensify amid rising fascism in both nations. The inevitable outcome will be world war.  

Click to read more ...

Boston Anti-Racists Fight Fascists, Again

BOSTON, November 18—A thousand anti-racist protestors rallied to stop a gathering of 50 fascists at the Boston Common. This follows a similar rally in August, when 40,000 people marched from up and down the East Coast to oppose neo-Nazis like the Oath Keepers, Patriotic Prayer, and other white-supremacist militias. As part of a new generation of gutter racist organizations, emboldened by the brazenly racist Trump presidency, these groups openly advocate “white nationalism” and anti-immigrant racism. They have sent armed vigilantes to intimidate people demonstrating against police killings of Black workers.

Click to read more ...

Bolshevik Revolution Centennial Series: The Epic Black Sea Revolt

This is the  part of an extensive series about the Bolshevik Revolution and the triumphs, as well as the defeats, of the world communist movement of the 20th century. We welcome your comments and criticisms, and encourage all readers to discuss this period of history with their friends, classmates, co-workers, family, and comrades.

In the pamphlet, The Epic of the Black Sea Revolt (1932), the French Communist André Marty reveals that the “war to end all wars” did not cease after 1917. (André Marty was one of the leaders of the revolt of the French sailors in 1919 and was arrested and sentenced to 20 years in prison.  Pardoned in 1923, he became a member of the Communist International, and at his suggestion the Soviet Union supported the Spanish Republic against the fascist forces in the Spanish Civil War 1936-9.)
Capitalist nations around the world and white armies continued to besiege the U.S.S.R.  The revolts of French sailors represented one aspect of an immense world-wide movement against the aspirations of many imperialist countries.

Click to read more ...

APHA Hotbed of Struggle Against Racist Police Terror

ATLANTA, November 8—The annual American Public Health Association (APHA) convention in Atlanta, which drew 12,000 attendees, was again a hotbed of struggle over racism. Led by members of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and many young public health students and workers, the fight to pass two anti-racist resolutions became headline news.

Click to read more ...

Students Fight Fascism with Multiracial Unity

HAMMOND, IN, November 21— “If issues like racist police killings and the deportations bother you, we need you to stand up and join this rally!” Over 20 members of various student groups at Purdue University Northwest rallied against racist police terror and deportations. The goal was to show multi-racial unity in the face of injustices faced by students and their families. Progressive Labor Party (PLP) comrades in attendance took an active role in planning and sharpening the event’s multi-racial politics.

Click to read more ...

Shut Racist Spencer’s Trap

BAY AREA, November 15—Over 300 students at Stanford protested anti-Muslim racist Robert Spencer. Spencer didn’t learn his lesson from the first three times he was protested at college campuses this year. He founded the uber-racist journal Jihad Watch and founded the equally anti-Muslim racist and Zionist organization Stop Islamization of America. He is also a two-time bestseller at the liberal imperialist mouthpiece the New York Times.

Click to read more ...