Author: Dan La Botz

Mike Davis (1946-2022): Miscellaneous Encounters with “A Real Marxist”

Mike Davis, the revolutionary socialist social and culture critic, has died. 

Bartolomé de Las Casas: Defender of the Indians—and, By the Way, of Ukraine

Over 400 years ago, long before Woodrow Wilson or Vladimir Lenin, Bartolomé de Las Casas developed a theory of the right of nations to self-determination that can be applied to many other countries today, including Ukraine.

The United States and China in Latin America: Rival Imperialisms

The United States has long dominated Latin America, but today—in fact for the last twenty years—it is being challenged by China, which has invested billions and established political and some military relationships with many governments in the region.

Ukraine and Its Language in the Political Imagination of the Russian Nation and Empire

In order to understand Putin’s war against Ukraine and its people, one must take a close look at the place that Ukraine, its state, language, and culture occupy in the imperial and national imagination of Russians.

Brazil: End of the Nightmare?

In addition, Lula will be, like Dilma Rousseff, under the permanent threat of a “parliamentary coup.” 

Putin’s Annexation of More Ukrainian Territory is Part of Pattern of Ethnocide and Genocide. Stand with Ukraine.

Russian soldiers had committed war crimes, including many cases of torture, executions, rape (including of children), bombing of civilian areas sometimes leading to separation of families from their children.

Support Ukrainian Resistance and Disempower Fossil Capital

A new anti-militarist movement must uphold solidarity with the civil as well as armed resistance of the Ukrainian people, and with the Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian leftists who oppose the Putin regime’s war.

Unions Strive to Keep Ukraine’s Mines Running, Protect Civilians and Appeal for Solidarity

The NGPU and our leading organizations consider Russia’s attack to be a cynical attempt by the Russian regime to destroy Ukraine and its people.

On the Eve of National Elections, Looking Backward

Italy’s Rising Black Tide, A Creeping Counter-Revolution

On September 25 Italy will hold elections following the resignation of Prime Minister Pario Draghi and the concern is palpable.

“Cancel Culture” and Its Perils

There is no question that “cancel culture” is a legitimate tool of a vibrant democratic culture, especially as it allows the powerless to redress the abuses and the offensive behavior directed at them by powerful public figures.

Towards the Brown International of the European and Global Far Right?

Modi’s India, Putin’s Russia, Bolsonaro’s Brazil, Orban’s Hungary, and soon Giorgia Meloni’s Italy and maybe Trump II’s United States, the picture is far from being exhaustive but it still gives an idea of the seriousness of the threat that now hangs over humanity.

DSA Discusses Ukraine—Without an International Socialist Perspective

The Democratic Socialists of America organized a panel discussion on Ukraine on August 28, but it made no reference to the central issue of Ukraine’s right to self-determination.

Ukraine: Between Hope and Fear

While I share the apprehensions of many, those of us on the international socialist left also have hopes that war in Ukraine can lead to making the world a better and safer place.

Laurent Schwartz: The Vicissitudes of an Internationalist

The first of an occasional series of articles on the lives of figures of the French left.
For more than a decade, from 1936 to 1947, Laurent Schwartz (1915-2002), the famous mathematician, was a Trotskyist in France, though that was only one . . .

Read more ›

Russia: An Imperialist Power or a “Non-Hegemonic Empire in Gestation”? A reply to the Argentinean economist Claudio Katz An Essay (with 8 Tables)

Since the year 2001 I have defended the thesis that Russia is an imperialist power.

Book Review: Two Failures of Vision

Doug Greene, A Failure of Vision: Michael Harrington and the Limits of Democratic Socialism. Washington: 2021. 260 pages. Notes. Bibliography. No index.
Doug Greene has written his critical political biography of Michael Harrington, in large part it seems because he wants . . .

Read more ›

“We Must Rebuild a Left-wing Student Union in Ukraine”: Interview with Ukrainian Student Activists

Ukrainian students: Maxim and Katya
Patrick Le Tréhondat of the Syllepse Publishing House collective conducted an interview with two Ukrainian university students, Katya and Maxim. Katya studies at the Academy of the Arts and Maxim is a computer science student. This . . .

Read more ›

Ukraine Labor Law Reform Campaign

It is with dismay that we learn—right in the middle of their life-and-death struggle—that Ukraine’s working people have come under attack on a second front: laws attacking their labor rights and working conditions have been passing through the Ukrainian parliament.

On Contradiction: Mao’s Party-Substitutionist Revolution in Theory and Practice – Part 4

Explaining and debunking the theory and practice of Maoism. Part 4.

The Right to Resist: A Feminist Manifesto

We, feminists from Ukraine, call on feminists around the world to stand in solidarity with the resistance movement of the Ukrainian people against the predatory, imperialist war unleashed by the Russian Federation.

Their Values and Ours: The Debate over Western Values and the Values of the Socialist Left

Where does the Left stand and where should it stand on this question of “Western values”?

Top