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What is at Stake in the Western Marxism Debate?

Reviewing the fallout over Gabriel Rockhill's critiques of Western Marxism, Donald Parkinson argues the controversy is ultimately a battle over what kind of intellectual culture the left needs.

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The State Is Declared: The Story of the Iraqi Insurgency (October-December 2006)

Continuing a serialized account of the Iraqi insurgency, Rob Ashlar gives an in-depth analysis of the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq, fractures in the Sahawat movement, and the choices faced by Sunni Iraqis trapped between sectarian depravity and the Coaltion collaboration. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

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On the Modern Problems of The Great Transformation: Rescuing Polanyi from the Academic Ivory Tower

Benjamin Marshall, June 16, 2026

Bringing Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation into the age of information technology, Benjamin Marshall argues that platform capitalism has disembedded data into a "fourth fictitious commodity", atomizing the proletariat and fragmenting class struggle. Read Article.

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The Rise and Fall of Participatory Management in the People's Republic of China, Part 1: The Consolidation of the Party-State

Mark Reid, June 12, 2026

In part one of a three-part serialized series examining the systemic limitations and historic potentials of democratic workplace management in the People's Republic of China, Mark Reid details the rise of Staff-and-Workers’ Congresses, the transition from a mixed to planned economy, and the experimentation of the Great Leap Forward era. Read Article.

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The Poverty of Terminology

Vilen Isteni, June 10, 2026

Vilen Isteni provides a critical examination of the conceptual instability inherent in applying Western economic labels, such as “state capitalism,” to non-Western systems. Read Article.

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¡Cuba Sí!: Why All Socialists Should Care About Cuba

Albert Gil, June 8, 2026

Against the grain of various sectarian narratives, Albert Gil argues that the Cuban Revolution stands as a bold experiment in socialism with contributions worthy of appreciation for all socialists today. Read Article.

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Misplaced Necessities: A Reply to Slavoj Žižek

Raphael F. Alvarenga, June 2, 2026

Tracing how Žižek’s own crisis diagnostics increasingly lead toward a politics of institutional preservation and securitarian mediation, Raphael F. Alvarenga argues instead that universality emerges through political struggle, institutional transformation, and class recomposition across difference. Read Article.

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Towards a Revolutionary Party and Dual Power: The Tasks of DSA

Samuel Withers, May 29, 2026

What will it take for the DSA to rise to the occasion of its historic tasks? Samuel Withers offers constructive criticism of DSA's electoral, labor, and community organizing, with the goal of synergizing these spheres of work around a common revolutionary strategy to offer a path forward. Read Article.

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Bourgeois Decadence or Workers' History?

Darío Doña-Falcón, May 27, 2026

Against the claims of social conservatives among the left, Darío Doña Falcón argues that the potentialities to break away from bourgeois sexual norms have historically been developed within the working class. Read Article.

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Heat and Light: A Critique of “Toward a Marxist State Theory of the Socialist Market Economy”

Ewan Tilley, May 25, 2026

Ewan Tilley argues that Theryn Arnold's theory of "socialist state form" fails to answer core questions of class determination and therefore cannot provide adequate political answers regarding the People's Republic of China today. Read Article.