Tag: Commentary
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“The Rank and File Strategy”: A Syndicalist View
Veteran activist and writer Tom Wetzel enters the wide ranging debate on the left around the “rank and file strategy” orientation to the labor movement. This piece is based on material in his forthcoming book from AK Press, Overcoming Capitalism. By Tom Wetzel Kim Moody’s writings on “the Rank and File Strategy” have gained a broad hearing…
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Vote — or Don’t: On Abstention
It’s no secret that anarchists detest elections, but most who embrace revolutionary socialism (of which anarchism is a branch) tend to possess a simplistic understanding of how to position themselves in relation to the spectacle of these events. This article argues that the anarchist focus on abstention as a responsive strategy to electoralism is not…
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Life Comes At You Fast: The Stunning End of the Bernie Sanders Campaign
The surprising announcement by Bernie Sanders this week that he will end his 2020 Democratic Party presidential primary bid offers us a critical moment to reflect on the strategic moment we face – especially given the dramatic economic and social crisis of Covid-19 that continues to unfold. This piece critically assesses the core claims of…
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The “Democratic Road to Socialism” and Bernie Sanders
The “inside/outside” strategy is a mistaken answer to the question of how we maximize our power to build a classless society.
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Coronavirus Stories: Crisis, Response, Resistance
We include here personal accounts from members and allies of Black Rose/Rosa Negra across the U.S. speaking on the direct impacts and responses to the coronavirus crisis underway. Some have been directly affected as healthcare workers, laid off service workers, or having to undergo self-quarantine. Others are on front the lines of the responses through…
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Lifting the Mask of Capitalist Disaster: The Coronavirus Response
By Tariq Khan From official disregard and denial to mismanaged response, each day the COVID-19 crisis brings into ever sharpening clarity the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of the current ruling class. Claims of American exceptionalism and greatness are revealed to be a crumbling mask for the systemic rot that pervades. One does not have to…
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How to Win: Blockades in Canada Point To Climate Solution
Update: Since the publication of this article the RCMP federal Canadian police have offered to withdraw from Wet’suwet’en territory as a condition to negotiate the end of the railroad blockades. This is not a victory but a significant step showing that the blockades have forced the Canadian state to back down. Direct Action Gets the…
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Canvassing Is Not Organizing
A common refrain in some quarters of the left states that elections help build capacity, but Organizing Work contributor Ray Valentine argues that the skills built in canvassing for an electoral candidate do not translate to organizing workplaces or tenants. By Ray Valentine If, like me, you have decided to spend a lot of time…
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Instead of Impeachment: Indict the System
By Black Rose/Rosa Negra Social Media Team Today the Democrats released their “Articles of Impeachment” to indict Trump, a narrow and legalistic critique of how Trump went outside of established norms to abuse his power and refuse to cooperate with the investigations of Congress. Completely left out, of course, is any larger critique of what’s…
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A Letter to Intellectuals Who Hide Behind the Word “Purity”
A commentary responding to the Monthly Review Online piece “A letter to intellectuals who deride revolutions in the name of purity” on the question of revolution and state power. By Patrick Berkman “I think we could really not just lose people but lose sight of our own goals if we get sucked into these purity…