The attention of the international lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community and its supporters has been fixed on Russia in recent weeks. In recent years, the issue of LGBTQ rights has become more prominent in Russia. LGBTQ people have asserted their...
What is the real legacy of the Soviet Union? An overview
The first time the people had the power The capitalist class and its well-paid intellectuals and pundits continue to argue that the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 means that socialism and communism are impossible. A stereotyped and negative image of the Soviet Union...
Why we continue to defend the Soviet Union
The following is a talk given in the Keynote Plenary of the Nov. 13-14, 2010, National Conference on Socialism sponsored by the Party for Socialism and Liberation. The Soviet Union went out of existence 19 years ago next month. Some progressive people argue that given...
Kyrgyzstan: The national question and imperialism
The Central Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan has become the scene of a bloody conflict. Estimates of the casualties vary widely, with the country’s interim president estimating up to 2,000 deaths. As many as 275,000 people have fled the conflict areas, hoping to make it...
Anniversary of Berlin Wall demise gives workers no reason to cheer
The results of a BBC poll, released Nov. 9 in the midst of the Berlin Wall media circus, found that only 11 percent of people globally believe free market capitalism "works well." The poll helps get to the truth behind the pageantry and propaganda put forward by the...
True and false in Obama’s D-Day speech
"So when the ships landed here at Omaha [Beach], an unimaginable hell rained down on the men inside," President Barack Obama said as he spoke in Normandy on June 6th, the 65th anniversary of "D-Day." This was certainly true. On that day in 1944, U.S., British and...
The role of leadership in revolutionary struggle – Lenin’s April Theses
The article below was first published in Socialism and Liberation in April 2005. The 1917 Russian Revolution was the first time in history that the working class seized and held power, organizing a workers state in the interest of the vast majority of toilers rather...
Russia, Georgia, and independence in the age of imperialism
The U.S. government and media have portrayed the latest conflict between Russia and Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia as a resumption of Russia’s Soviet-era "domination" over the smaller, beleaguered country of Georgia. But in fact, on Aug. 8, the Georgian...
Socialism and the legacy of the Soviet Union
The single biggest event that shaped global politics in the 20th century was the Russian Revolution of 1917, which gave birth to the Soviet Union. The first socialist government’s existence was the pivot for world events in history’s most turbulent and dynamic...