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California Restructures
to Enrich Corporations,
Abandoning Workers
As the capitalists and their political allies push to solidify their class rule in California in support of private property and profits, Californians are gradually awakening to the fact that their futures are being destroyed.
CONTINUE...

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Editorial:
Embrace Change, Envision the Future
Today, we stand on the cusp of a new epoch in human history. As terrible as it is, and will become, the destruction we see all around us is the prelude to transformation. The whole of human history shows those who grasp this one truth will be those who emerge victorious. CONTINUE...

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Demands of Dispossessed Only Basis for Unity
The political center of gravity is shifting to that growing core of dispossessed workers who have the option of fighting or starving. Their jobs are gone forever. Fighting for their concrete demands means educating and fighting against a system rather than against an employer.CONTINUE...

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Darwin at 200: The Man, the Theory, the Times
With the publication of On the Origin of Species materialism replaced metaphysics and idealism as the fundamental basis of the understanding of natural science. Darwinian evolution was a unifying theory of life that incorporated natural and physical sciences and revolutionary change into the human understanding of nature. CONTINUE...

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The U.S. Social Forum on the Road to Detroit
Armed with an understanding of history and the class forces in conflict today, the emerging revolutionaries can become part of an independent political force that is conscious of its class interests and has the capacity to act on these interests to construct a new cooperative and egalitarian society. CONTINUE...

 










 

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Editorial: The first step
Necessity unites.
– German proverb.
Sometimes the old sayings are the truest. Unity is a conscious act, an act of understanding and will. But it derives its strength – indeed, becomes truly possible – in the presence of necessity.
Recognizing the connection between practical necessity and understanding makes the difference between defeat or victory. This has been the key to success of revolution throughout history. CONTINUE...
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Unity is Only Path Forward as Immigrant and U.S. Born Workers Face Common Enemy
As the capitalists' historical means of controlling the native born U.S. working class unravels, they must destroy the nascent working class movement before it becomes conscious of itself and unites to fight for its own interests. To do this, the capitalist class utilizes historically evolved forms to divide and conquer the emerging movement and to mold it toward their own interests. CONTINUE...

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Rally, Comrades! The Voice of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America
Its primary purpose is to coalesce and consolidate a core of communists politically prepared to take the next step in the line of march of the revolutionary process. It expresses the continuity of the League's understanding that this stage of the revolutionary process requires us to focus, not on the masses, but on those capable of influencing and leading others. CONTINUE...

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Harpers Ferry: Courage and clarity changed history once –
and will do so again
John Brown’s last act of propaganda was to march up the steps of a scaffold on a spring-like December morning, his brisk footsteps and unflinching firmness announcing to the world that he was ready to die, undaunted and unafraid. Today, we toll the bell in his honor best by continuing to bring the weapon of clarity to the “despised poor” that he and the other heroes of 1859 fought so valiantly to mobilize. CONTINUE...

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New conditions demand new ways of thinking

At moments of rapid and fundamental change, it is critical to assess what is new and emerging, and to discard old ways of thinking. Only then can revolutionaries think and act strategically. Politics today is becoming real politics – the struggle of classes for the political power to reorganize society. The first step on that path is to demand that the government act in the interests of the public, not the corporations. CONTINUE...

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Know Your Enemy, Know Yourself
"Therefore I say: Know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril." – Sun Tzu, The Art of War
CONTINUE...

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New Conditions Demand New Doctrine
Doctrine is a guide to dealing, in a general way, with some aspect of objective reality. As that reality changes, doctrine must change accordingly. For example, until the end of the Civil War, mass infantry attack was the basic military doctrine. The invention and use of the machine gun forced the military to abandon that doctrine and adopt the doctrine of dispersal. CONTINUE...

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Editorial:
Auto Workers' Fight Signals Battles Ahead
The papers and news shows are filled with talk about the General Motor's bankruptcy and how terrible it is going to be for the corporations, the bondholders, the rich and powerful. CONTINUE...

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Private or Public Property? It's Up to Us
Since the rise of classes and the domination of one class over another, private property has existed in one form or another. The popular notion of private property is that it is personal property, one's individual possessions. This is not what is meant by the concept. The propaganda of the owning class deliberately confuses or obscures this. The intent is to frighten people and make them believe that the abolition of private property means the loss or confiscation of what little they personally own. CONTINUE...

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Communism: Practical resolution to immediate problems
Socialism is becoming more popular in America. According to an April 9, 2009 poll by Rasmussen Reports, only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism. The same poll found that younger Americans are most favorably inclined with 33% of adults under 30 preferring socialism. Americans today are changing their minds about socialism and capitalism, but without a clear understanding of what socialism is. CONTINUE...

____________________ Book Reviews
Neal Bascomb, Red Mutiny: Eleven Fateful Days on the Battleship Potemkin. John Christian,
Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History. James McPherson,
Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief. Sterling Seagrave, The Soong Dynasty. CONTINUE...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Beginning of political struggle in U.S. calls for political approach to work
Economic crisis and government action to stabilize the economy are drawing the American people into politics. When the government began to insert itself openly and directly into the management of the economy, the whole country was pulled into political discourse — “leave it to the market,” “bailout those corporations that are too large to fail,” “nationalize” – with journalists and students, laid-off and debt-laden workers, homeowners and homeless all asking, “Where’s my bailout?” CONTINUE...

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It Takes Money: Become an educator, propagandist and fundraiser
The moment is urgent. The ruling class is using the economic crisis to accumulate more and more money and to increase its power. By claiming their enterprises are "too big to fail," they extort money through bailouts. As corporations and government merge, the state is being transformed into a market state with the purpose of defending private property at all costs. The ruling class lives in gated communities and works in skyscrapers that grow ever taller. Meanwhile, tent cities, slums, and shanty towns are growing across the country and world. CONTINUE...

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Editorial: Interests of our class must determine our course
President Barack Obama called on the American people to dream and to hope for change. His election signaled a major shift in what Americans want and expect from their government. At a time when we are confronted with overwhelming problems, too big to solve on our own, we heard a promise to get us through hard times. CONTINUE...

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Fascist movement gathering force
Society begins to move as the economic crisis develops. This social response then polarizes society. At this point the left and right side of the movement reach a point – a fork in the road – a polarization within their ranks. The left side of the movement begins to break between progressive and communist and the right side of the movement between reactionary and fascist. CONTINUE...

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Economic Crisis: Instability leading to decisive change
This Building Block article is one of a series which explains a basic concept of the revolutionary process, challenging readers to explore its meaning for political work in today's environment.
The first step in curing a patient is to make an estimate as to what is wrong. The second step is to attempt a cure based on that estimate. In politics, as in war or medicine, if the estimate of the situation is wrong, the attempted cure will be wrong and the cause will be lost. How is this played out in the political aspects of the economic crisis today? CONTINUE...

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Common economic interests basis for class unity across lines of color
Any understanding of privilege in America has to begin from a scientific understanding of American history. The social position of the white worker was created at the inception of this country as a result of the capitalists' demand for labor and the need to control its exploitation. The legal system, social institutions and the ideas of society were reshaped to divide white and black workers from one another by granting social privileges to one group over the other. The 'bribe' was made possible by the ever expanding American economy. CONTINUE...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Strategic Importance of the Rust Belt for Revolution
It has been said that what the bourgeoisie produces above all are its own gravediggers. This means that the bourgeoisie, in its never-ending drive to maximize profits, is forced to constantly revolutionize the productive forces, and along with them, the whole relations of society. The entire process creates a new class whose very survival depends on overthrowing the old order and creating a new society where the interests of the immense majority are met. CONTINUE...

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Fascism: Unity between the state and the corporations to protect private property
Fascism, as a term and political concept, emerged after WWI during a period of global political and economic crisis as societies were undergoing transition in their economic base. The term itself comes from the Italian Partito Nazionale Fascista, the ruling party under Mussolini, but is also used to identify other governments and movements that emerged in the period after WWI, including Nazi Germany, Franco's Spain, and Imperial Japan. CONTINUE...

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Editorial: Outcome of nationalization will determine the next stage of history
Revolutionaries have long argued that the introduction of new ideas was the indispensable next step to revolution. New ideas cannot arise without a new situation. Ideas are not simply abstractions. Like everything else, they arise as form and content. The concrete form of the American revolutionary idea is at last emerging. We must understand it, grasp it, and turn it against our enemy. CONTINUE...

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The burning question for revolutionaries: What is the path to victory?
The historic aim of world society is the ending of private property and the creation of a cooperative communal society. Today, this lies within humanity's reach. Qualitatively new means of production are laying the foundation for the abundance of society to be made available to all. A vast social revolution is underway. Destruction and polarization are tearing down the old and opening the way for the new. But the reign of private property and the class that defends it stands in the way. CONTINUE...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Abraham Lincoln:
Revolutionary Leader and Visionary
As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth, our country is again at the verge of a great economic, moral, and political crisis. We need to study our history. We need to create a political memory in order to understand and emulate the characteristics of this great man. After all these years he remains unchallenged as the greatest American leader and perhaps the only one beloved by the people of the world. CONTINUE...

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Destruction of Value Marks Capitalism's End
As electronics eliminates human labor, it destroys the source of all value, and thus ends a system of production and distribution based on the exploitation of human labor power. Zero rate of profit and zero value of human labor power mark the end of the capitalist system of production and distribution, and thus the end of value as the means for determining what is produced and consumed. CONTINUE...

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Revolutionaries Face Greater Responsibilities as Crisis Reaches Critical New Point
The government is taking steps to stabilize the system of exchange and the economy as a whole. These steps protect the property of the owners of capital at the expense of those without, and define the next phase of political polarization and the battlefield for the next round of politics. The 2008 general election marks the end of one phase of the political life of this country and opens another. CONTINUE...