China

Imperialisms in our time: Making sense of “Chinese characteristics”

Into the third decade of the 21st century, what does it mean to talk of imperialism(s) and empire? Can every unequal relationship of exchange, power and cultural diffusion be considered imperialistic? How do we sift through the complexities of imperialist power in a rentier state like Pakistan whose ruling bloc has cultivated multiple foreign patrons?
Afghanistan after one year

Afghanistan one year on

The US withdrawal of 2021 was a military victory for the Taliban. For at least two years leading up to it, the Afghan government forces were losing more people dead and wounded each month than they were recruiting. So those forces shrank.
Swedish Left

Swedish left’s perspectives on the war in Ukraine

The Swedish left has come a long way since 2014. Though the tumultuous events that shook Ukraine that year never became a top priority for left debates in Sweden, the antifascist rhetoric mobilized by Russia did appeal to some. In March of that year, a near-fatal assault on a group of leftists in the city of Malmö by far-right activists galvanized the Swedish left around the antifascist cause.
Taipei skyline

Pelosi, Taiwan and China

Reposted from RS21, August 16, 2022.

Mao Zedong

A unity of opposites: The Dengist and the Red Guard

According to Mao Zedong, the principal law of materialist dialectics is the unity of opposites. Thus, it is quite fitting to observe that we can find the unity of opposites on display in evaluations of Mao himself as represented by Domenico Losurdo and Alain Badiou. For Losurdo, Mao is praised for his realism, nationalism, and attention to economic modernization. By contrast, Alain Badiou sees Mao as an eternal rebel, a symbol of the communist idea, and a universalist. These positions could not be more opposed.

(Video) Ukraine: Revolutionaries at war

Kyiv, end of February 2022: the Russian army is at the gates of the city. Faced with an imminent onslaught, each one has to make a choice. For some, it's about running away; for others, to fight.
Vladimir Putin

Stupidity, treason, or business as usual? The system is working in Russia

“Stupidity or treason?” asked State Duma deputy Pavel Milyukov in 1916, when the imperial Russian army was in the midst of retreat under the onslaught of the Germans, surrendering city after city along the western borders. A little over a hundred years later, we hear exactly the same exclamations from domestic patriots, complaining that either some secret enemies or incompetent individuals - who have somehow risen to the highest echelons of power - are alone responsible for defeat in the war with Ukraine.
Sri Lankan protester with flag

‘The canary in the coal mine’: Sri Lanka’s crisis is a chronicle foretold

Interview with Balasingham Skanthakumar by Eric Toussaint. Reposted from CADTM, August 7, 2022.

Malfred Gerig

The Long Venezuelan Depression: A conversation with Malfred Gerig

Venezuela entered a profound economic crisis beginning in 2014. There are many heated debates about its origins and causes. Among the most recent contributions to these debates is Malfred Gerig, a young researcher who has written extensively about economic and political issues. His soon-to-be-published book La Larga Depresión Venezolana [The Long Venezuelan Depression], pinpoints the origins of the crisis in a closing cycle of capital accumulation that was based on oil exports.
China and UK flag graphic

Britain: Tory candidates push anti‑China cold war

Although Liz Truss has largely succeeded in outflanking her rival Rishi Surnak to the right[1] on economic policy, by contrast on social issues[2] and foreign policy Surnak and Truss have played a game of right-wing leapfrog, each dragging the other successively toward more hard-line positions.
Ukranian socialist graphic

The war on Ukraine: An interview with a Ukrainian socialist

Reposted from New Politics, Summer 2022. New Politics put the following questions to Andrei, a member of the Ukrainian socialist organization Sotsialnyi Rukh (Social Movement).
May Day graphic from Revolutionary Worker 1979

Running aground: The Revolutionary Communist Party (US) and Stalinism

Emerging from the social upheavals of the 1960s, the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) counted many dedicated organizers in its ranks who were inspired by the ideas and the example of Maoist China. The party used Maoist theory not only to plan for a future socialist revolution, but also to grapple with the complicated history of Stalinism and its impact on the international communist movement and the USSR. While the RCP did confront some of the dogmas and myths of Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy, in the end they were unwilling and unable to effectively understand Stalinism.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Search LINKS