Missing Victory? Blanqui and the Paris Commune
Doug Enaa Greene, October 13, 2018
Louis August Blanqui was a key revolutionary leader in the French Socialist movement. Yet when the Paris Commune erupted in 1871, Blanqui was in prison, leaving his core of followers without leadership. Failing to defeat inevitable counter-revolution, this experiment in social emancipation was crushed in blood. How would have Blanqui's leadership affected the outcome of the Commune? Doug Enaa Greene, author of 'Communist Insurgent: Blanqui's Politics of Revolution' weighs in. Read Article.
The USSR's Founding Mother
Cliff Connolly, October 8, 2018
M.A. Iasilli on what Bolshevik militant Nadezhda Krupskaya can teach us about education and labor. Reading: Cliff Connolly. Read Article.
How to Play with Fire: Electoral Politics in the Heart of Empire
October 2, 2018
Ira Pollock examines the difficulties of left electoral strategy regarding the question of imperialism and affirms the importance of upholding strong anti-imperialist principles in electoral campaigns. Otherwise, the left itself can become an arm of the imperialist state. Read Article.
Conciliation and Insurrection in Bavaria 1918–19 (Part 1)
Alexander Gallus, September 23, 2018
What political lessons can be learned from the failed Bavarian Soviet Republic? Alexander Gallus takes a deep dive into the history of this famous moment from the German workers' movement and aims to draw contemporary lessons for revolutionary Marxist politics. Read Article.
Historical Narratives of the Red Terror
Donald Parkinson, September 17, 2018
Donald Parkinson dives into the historiography of the Russian Revolution and argues that the Red Terror was not an ideological outgrowth of communist ideals. Rather, the red terror must be understood through a materialist lens that sees its roots in social environment rather than ideology. Read Article.
The Future is the Past: The Failure of Accelerationism
Rosa Janis, September 15, 2018
Rosa Janis takes on all the different tendencies of the intellectual fad of 'Accelerationism' and reveals the poverty of their visions of a better future and contradictory beliefs. An emancipatory movement must develop a vision of a better future without internalizing the logic of capitalism. Read Article.
Communists and the National Question in the 21st Century
Stani Bjegunac, September 15, 2018
Stani Bjegunac takes a look at different approaches to the national question by historical communists and how we may approach issues of national oppression in a 21st-century context. Read Article.
Why Have a Political Program?
September 3, 2018
Parker McQueeney lays out the case for building a party around a minimum-maximum program. Reading: Cliff Connolly. Read Article.
The Conquest of Ballots
Jenna Grove, September 3, 2018
Ben Grove lays out a vision of socialist electoral strategy. Read Article.
Where Does Power Come From?
Amelia Davenport, September 3, 2018
What is power and how do we build it? Amelia Davenport argues that power must be built through the organization of mass communist institutions independent of the state. Reading: Cliff Connolly. Read Article.