The cause of socialist democracy lost a giant last week with the death of Michael Hirsch, a comrade with family roots in the Jewish working class of New York City as well as in the global youth radicalization of the 1960s.
Category: In Memoriam
On Remembering Stanley Aronowitz
Brother Stanley Aronowitz was always ahead of the curve, with his criticism of the shortcomings of old labor and his envisioning of “a new workers movement” that might replace it.
Remembering Mark Levitan: Comrade and Dear Friend
Student radical, trade union militant, and economist. Michael Hirsch pays tribute to a comrade who has gone too soon.
In Memoriam: Kai Nielsen (1926-2021)
The Marxist philosopher Kai Nielsen, for many years a sponsor of New Politics, passed away on March 29 in Montreal, only a few weeks away from what would have been his 95th birthday.
A Memorial for my Marxist Mentor: On Leo Panitch
Leo Panitch was a genuine organic intellectual. He was a great teacher and a good friend. He should not have left us so soon and so suddenly. But we should all be grateful for what he gave to the left, to his students, to his comrades.
Reginald Wilson: A Black American Socialist (1927-2020)
Reginald Wilson, the prominent African American psychologist and educator, civil rights activist and socialist, and a member of the New Politics board, died on December 13, 2020 at the age of 93.
In Appreciation of Leo Panitch
The sudden death our friend and comrade Leo Panitch has led to an extraordinary outpouring of sadness and appreciation across the world. Very few intellectuals on the left have had the intellectual impact on progressive thinkers and activists that Leo has had.
Herman Benson (1915-2020): No Socialism Without Democracy
Herman Benson, veteran socialist activist and fighter for rank-and-file democracy in the labour movement, died on 2 July, aged 104. Herman was the second-to-last survivor, at least to my knowledge, of the “first generation” of “third camp” socialists.
“Capital, It Fails Us Now”: Andy Gill of Gang of Four, 1956-2020
For people of a certain age — Generation X, they used to call us — it’s something of a cliche that if you loved punk rock and had leftist leanings you’d find your way to hearing a Gang of Four . . .
Noel Ignatiev, 1940–2019
A Life Defined by Political Engagement
This article by John Garvey on the late Noel Ignatiev was originally posted by The Brooklyn Rail as an introduction to a piece by Ignatiev on Frederick Douglass. Given Ignatiev’s importance as a writer on race and class in the . . .
For Pride Month: Remembering Doug Ireland
Doug Ireland, radical journalist, blogger, passionate human rights and queer activist, and relentless scourge of the LGBT establishment, died in his East Village home on October 26, 2013. Doug had lived with chronic pain for many years, suffering from diabetes, . . .
Gertrude Ezorsky, 1926-2019
Former New Politics board member Gertrude Ezorsky died on April 19, 2019, at the age of 92. The New Politics board mourns her passing and offers some links to help us remember her.
Andrew Wengrad and Nanette Funk, “Gertrude Ezorsky,” New Politics . . .
Gertrude Ezorsky
Gertrude Ezorsky, professor emerita, in the philosophy departments of Brooklyn College, and the CUNY Graduate Center, died at home peacefully on April 19 age 92.
Lyndon LaRouche
When Lyndon LaRouche’s disciples began setting up literature tables at American airports in the late 1970s, his conspiracy theories were already in full bloom, though not yet widely known. The same might be said about his claim to the title . . .
In Memoriam: David McReynolds, 1929-2018
David McReynolds was the first “Old Leftist” I ever met, back in 1996, at one of a number of ill-fated 1990s meetings of representatives of socialist organizations in New York City hoping for some sort of “left unity” around a common project. Strictly speaking, David wasn’t an “Old Leftist” – that label was affixed to members of the Socialist Party (SP), Communist Party (CP) or the Trotskyist grouplets of the 1930s and 1940s. David was “inbetween” the Old and New Lefts, joining both the SP and the radical-pacifist War Resisters League (WRL) in 1951.
Two Tributes to Jesse Lemisch
New Politics sponsor Jesse Lemisch died on August 25, 2018. He will be greatly missed as a radical historian, a friend, and a tireless fighter for socialism (and history!) from below.
Here are memories from two friends.
In Memoriam: David McReynolds, 1929-2018
Early Friday morning, socialist, photographer, and lifetime War Resisters League member David McReynolds — committed pacifist + socialist — passed peacefully at the age of 88. David was on WRL staff for a large part of his life and remained within our community long, long after.
Presente.
As written by WRL Member Ed Hedemann.
Brazil: Marielle’s death was not just more of the same
On 14 March, Marielle Franco, a city councillor in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, of the Socialism and Freedom Party, was assassinated. In a piece originally published on the website of the Brazilian New Socialist Organisation (NOS) and republished here from the website Esquerda Online, Giambatista Brito argues that her death marked a new low in the country’s descent into political repression following the coup d’état of 2015. Translation by Max Leak.
Wholly Dedicated to Socialism From Below
The death of Joanne Landy last October is a profound loss to the socialist and internationalist movements.
Joanne died less than a day shy of her 76th birthday, and for her entire adult life, she retained a commitment to the fight for a more democratic and more humane world, and to the politics of socialism from below.
Remembering Joanne
In June 2017, the New Politics editorial board organized an event to honor Joanne Landy. She had been diagnosed almost a year before with stage 4 lung cancer. We all knew her prognosis was very grim and thought it would be a fine thing to show Joanne, while she was still with us, how much she was loved and admired by so many, many people.
Wholly Dedicated to Socialism From Below
THE DEATH of Joanne Landy earlier this month is a profound loss to the socialist and internationalist movements.
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