Dutch poet Henriette Roland Holst was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature — but also made her name theorizing the mass strike. Her life shows how a generation of militants linked revolution in the arts to the fight for a socialist future.
It’s important to place the leading figures of Marxism in the context that shaped them. That context has to include the repressive state structures and extreme inequalities of Europe in the early 20th century, which made revolution seem inevitable.
The French secular ideal of laïcité is not a misused noble idea — it is deeply flawed at its roots.
Over the years, efforts of US workers to build a party that represents their interests have come up short. Why?
Despite its ultimate demise, the Socialist Party shows us that the United States possesses no special immunity against socialist politics.
How should we understand the October Revolution and its tragic aftermath?
A review of Lars Lih's Lenin
On July 14, 1889, the Second International was born to unite the workers of the world. What happened to that dream?
The revolutionary socialist vision is a vital one. Today’s rising socialist movement shouldn’t discard it.
The leading thinkers of Marxism stressed how important it was to govern in partnership with the peasantry. When communist states imposed collectivization by force, the results were disastrous.
For some, searching for a surer moral footing upon which to launch a socialist political program has again raised the specter of Christian ethics.
Before Anton Pannekoek, astronomers sought only to interpret the cosmos — his goal was to change it. The renowned Dutch scientist who gave his name to an asteroid and a moon crater was also a Marxist revolutionary who debated with figures like Lenin about the road to power.
More than a century after her murder, there’s still so much to discover in Rosa Luxemburg’s work as more of her writings become available in English. Brazilian writer Michael Löwy is one of the best guides we have.
Ninety-nine years after the Russian Revolution, let’s free Lenin from distortions of all types.
On Bastille Day 1889, militants from around the world met in Paris to declare an international union of socialist parties. The Second International promised to spread the spirit of the revolution across borders, only itself to fall victim to nationalist passions.
Holiday merriment and feverish polemicizing mesh well.
A review of Eric Hobsbawm's How to Change the World.
The Letters of Rosa Luxemburg reveal a revolutionary who was deeply committed and defiantly humane.
