Author: Dan La Botz

DAN LA BOTZ is a Brooklyn-based teacher, writer and activist. He is a co-editor of New Politics.

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.

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 ›

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 ›

UKRAINE AND THE PEACE MOVEMENT

It is urgent to end the war in Ukraine. But to achieve this goal,

Why the peace movement should support Ukraine

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”?

DSA and the Russian War on Ukraine: Political Paralysis

Why is DSA in this anomalous position: A political organization with no useful position on the central foreign policy question of the day?

Rosario Ibarra: Mexican Socialist Feminist, 1927-2022. Presente!

Rosario Ibarra de Piedra, one of the most important figures of the Mexican left, died on April 16, 2022 at her home in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon at the age of 95.

Alain Krivine: French Revolutionary Socialist – 1941-2022

Alain Krivine, a French revolutionary socialist, died today March 12 at the age of eighty.

Russian War on Ukraine Churns American Politics

The Russian war on Ukraine has completely roiled American politics.

Canadian Truckers Protests Show Strength of Trumpism North of Border

The convoy represents a significant movement by the country’ growing far right, one that parallels and is influenced by right-wingers South of their border led by Donald Trump.

What the DSA International Committee’s Ukraine Statement Gets Wrong

The DSA International Committee statement on Ukraine rightly criticizes NATO but is silent on Russia’s role in the current crisis

Biden Sends Troops to Eastern Europe – Step Towards War?

U.S. President Joseph Biden has begun to send small numbers of U.S. troops to Eastern European nations—some 8,500 altogether have been put on high alert—though none will go to Ukraine, which is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Is this a first step toward war?

Internationalism, Anti-Imperialism, And the Origins of Campism

La Botz analyzes the pseudo anti-imperialist character of campism and calls for genuine internationalism of workers against imperialism.

Mike Parker: Socialist, Labor Educator, Political Activist – 1940-2022

Mike Parker spent his entire adult life engaged in movements and organizations that he believed would advance the struggle for the creation of a democratic socialist society.

U.S. Supreme Court Rules Against Workers’ Health

It was an extraordinarily irrational and reactionary ruling by one of the most undemocratic and authoritarian institutions of our society, one that puts the power of capital ahead of the health of workers.

Biden’s Speech on January 6 Insurrection and the Growth of America’s Far Right

But the rise of rightwing politics and authoritarianism and of armed groups preparing for violent action is an even greater problem than Biden’s speech suggests and neither mainstream Democrats, nor progressives, nor the left, seems to have a strategy to stop the rise of the right.

The United States and Russia Struggle over Ukraine. War on the Horizon?

Both U.S. President Joseph Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin have invoked their nations’ imperial histories and current ambitions, using the Ukraine as the occasion to reassert their claims to dominate Eastern Europe.

Increased U.S. Military Spending Means More Militarism, Imperialism, and War

The U.S. Congress is completely divided, Republicans versus Democrats. Except when it comes to the military. Bills for working people can’t be passed. But there’s always money for the generals and the arms-makers.

Where Are We on Thanksgiving Day in America?

I give thanks that there’s a chance that in the coming year we can begin to build a mass working class movement and an independent working-class political party.

Verdict in Rittenhouse Vigilante Trial Leads to Protest by Left and Jubilation on Right

The Rittenhouse verdict has encouraged and emboldened America’s fascists—and they are taking advantage of it.

Top