Imperialism

Michael Pröbsting — Relations between Great Powers cannot be understood in isolation but rather have to be viewed in the context of fundamental class contradictions within a given historical stage of a mode of production.

A wide-ranging interview with British activist and researcher John Smith about imperialism, super-exploitation, and struggle

International Socialist Tendency — The overdetermining factor in the Ukraine war is the expansion of the imperial sphere of power of the West (NATO and the European Union) under the leadership of the US on the one hand and the reclamation of Ukraine into the imperial sphere of power of Russia on the other.

Nate Moore explains why U.S. based socialists should not be opposing arms to Ukraine despite the inter-imperialist dynamics unleashed by the Russian invasion.

Michael Pröbsting — One of the key debates among socialists today is the class character of China. This is hardly surprising since China is not only the most populous country on the planet but its rivalry with the U.S. also constitutes a pivot of the world situation.

After a long interval, the 21st century has revived interest and support for Left politics in Pakistan. The Jamhoor team got together with leaders of Pakistan’s three major leftist parties – Aasim Sajjad Akhtar (Awami Workers’ Party), Ammar Ali Jan (Haqooq-e-Khalq Party) and Syed Azeem (Pakistan Mazdoor Kissan Party) to think through the challenges and opportunities faced by the Left within the current political and economic conjuncture.

Polish left-wing party Razem (Together) International Office member Zofia Malisz speaks to Federico Fuentes about the party’s history, Polish politics and Razem’s views on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Sam Wainwright - Russia's invasion of Ukraine has had profound consequences for world and domestic politics that we need to grapple with if we are to chart a way forward.

Peter Drucker - Today, as in Lenin’s time, Marxists need to be champions of self-determination. At the same time, today as a century ago, our defense of self-determination needs to be informed by an understanding that no imperialist power can be counted on as an ally.

Richard Fidler - Historical analogies can indeed be useful in assessing the issues posed in contemporary events, provided of course that careful attention is paid to the particular circumstances and to what degree the differing situations and protagonists are comparable.

Renfrey Clarke - The war in Ukraine has presented left-wing theorists and commentators with a difficult analytical challenge. How are we to resolve this conundrum? As well as needing to answer the question of where Russia stands within the capitalist world-system we also need to decide how the right to national self-determination plays out within this context.

Promise Li - What characterizes this new multipolar order and the nature of inter-capitalist competition? As a whole, this emerging multipolar world of bourgeois states does not create better conditions to challenge global imperialism, but merely preserves and even heightens these capitalist dynamics.