“Detroit: Through the lens of class and race” first appeared on PeoplesWorld.org on September 23, 2013. Read it on PeoplesWorld.org.
“Labor in the white skin cannot emancipate itself when in the black skin it is branded.” – Capital, Vol. 1, Karl Marx
Much has been written about the trauma that Detroit is going through. And much of the commentary places the blame for this crisis in one of two places.
“Ingredients for a movement that can transform our country” first appeared on PeoplesWorld.org on June 28, 2013. Read it on PeoplesWorld.org.
I have written before that the people’s movement that is now emerging doesn’t yet possess the transformative power of the movement of the 1930s. That movement set in motion an era of broad, deep-going, democratic, anti-corporate restructuring of our political and economic institutions – and also changed the thinking of tens of milliions.
“Obama and the right’s “brave new world” first appeared on PeoplesWorld.org on May 23, 2013. Read it on PeoplesWorld.org.
Political pundits seem to agree that the past couple of weeks haven’t been kind to the Obama administration. First, the controversy around the administration’s handling of the terrorist attack in Benghazi resurfaced. Then the story broke that the IRS has allegedly been targeting tea party organizations applying for special tax exempt status. And finally an uproar greeted the Justice Department’s sweeping subpoena of Associated Press journalists’ phone records.
“Building a Transformative Movement & Party” first appeared on CPUSA.org/PoliticalAffairs.net on May 7, 2013. Read it on CPUSA.org/PoliticalAffairs.net.
I want to welcome you to Winston Unity Center, named after our former National Chairman, Henry Winston. Winnie, as he was affectionately known, would be very happy that we are meeting this weekend to turn our attention to the twin tasks of building a transformative movement and party. Few things were closer to his big heart.
“Keep hope alive, build a transformative movement” first appeared on PeoplesWorld.org on April 10, 2013. Read it on PeoplesWorld.org.
It is easy to become frustrated with the pace and the scale of change in recent years. Over the past 30 years or more, we have lost far more battles than we have won. Nearly every section of the working class – none more so than racially oppressed workers – has lost income, job opportunities, and rights as the capitalist class has ferociously pressed its offensive. Entire regions have been turned into economic wastelands. Many cities have become placeholders of poverty, inequality, and racial segregation. The temperature of the planet tracks upward. And wars and the buildup to wars for geoeconomic and geopolitical advantage, albeit disguised in the language of containing threats to world peace and stability, continue apace.
I'm a long-time socialist and activist, but new to the blogging world, to which I aim to bring a different perspective on politics, sports, culture, and Marxism. I also teach online classes, but leave plenty of time for swimming, hiking, ESPN, music, reading, drinking good beer, and, not least, my family and friends. I wish I could play basketball, but my knees ruled out that possibility long ago. I was the national chairperson of the Communist Party, USA from 2000 until 2014. While I grew up in Maine and currently live in New York City, my politically formative years were spent in Detroit during the 1970s and 1980s. I graduated from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia (where I played basketball) and received my MA in economics from the University of Connecticut.
