A 2019 Introduction to “Where’s the Winter Palace?” In late 2017, we began drafting what would become “Where’s the Winter Palace? On the Marxist-Leninist Trend in the United States” (WTWP). Its release launched this blog exactly one year ago today. In the past year, we have learned a lot through our political work and studies. […]
by David Thompson The article “Do America’s Socialists Have a Race Problem?” in The New Republic reaffirmed for me why I’ve hitched my wagon to Philly Socialists and the Marxist Center, rather than DSA. It’s not because I share the author’s implied criticisms or think he gave DSA a fair shake. He clearly didn’t! It’s […]
by Jean Allen In “Against Think Tank Socialism,” I argued that the project of ‘left populism’ is ultimately about viewing the left as an intellectual project, and that this might ‘work’ in a broader left but is ultimately a deeply narrow project to build a left around. But even writing this, I could hear myself […]
Revolutionaries get lost in history, defining themselves by reference to a context of struggle that has no present-day correlate. They draw lines in sand which is no longer there. — Endnotes, A History of Separation The following is a response to Austin Revolutionary Organizing Collective (AROC)’s reflections on the recent Marxist Center conference. Full disclosure: […]
by Avery Minnelli Click here for an Italian translation of the following article. I am of the opinion that there is no such thing as a “neutral” or “objective” reading of a given political text or thinker.1 If a reading presents itself as such, there is likely a hidden agenda veiled behind an appeal to […]
by Jean Allen This is in response to Sophia Burns’ article, “The US Left Has Only Four Tendencies”. In it, Burns makes an argument that’s been popping up more and more in the last two years, and one I generally agree with: that the geopolitical splits which defined US socialist politics during the Cold War […]
A Review of On the Edge: Political Cults Right and Left by Dennis Tourish and Tim Wohlforth by Avery Minnelli It has been more than five months since the publication of our first essay, “Where’s the Winter Palace?” and I plan on returning to the topics discussed in that essay in due time. However, my […]
by Sophia Burns Objectively, most inherited tendency divisions are obsolete. For instance, your evaluation of the USSR (and its rivals) mattered 50 years ago, because the right line could get you Soviet or Chinese money (with strings attached). Today, the USSR is not a live issue with practical implications, and the PRC no longer funds […]
by Jean Allen The wake of Occupy Wall Street brought with it a series of new Leftist parties and politicians aiming to turn anti-capitalist sentiment into electoral victories. These politicians have been, in turn, opposed and supported by a variety of journals and activist groups, in many cases regardless of the stated ideology of the […]
Edited by D.B. Cooper This packet was originally compiled by D.B. Cooper for distribution to local Socialist Party membership as a primer on base building and the Marxist Center. It was then shared with the rest of the Marxist Center, and the editor has graciously permitted us to republish it here. A full PDF of […]
The Left Wind