Haitian Raoul Peck ('I Am Not Your Negro') directs an indie biopic that narrates the early stormy development of communism through the prism of the Marx-Engels partnership. In select theaters.
Suddenly, Marx is cool again, mainly because he was, and remains today, one of capitalism’s most astute critics. Happy Birthday Karl, and thanks.
A Chicago Tribune feature story last week mentioned in passing “mainstream supporters” of Italian fascism in 1930s Chicago; indeed, Chicago Mayor Edward Kelly appears to have been an enthusiastic fan of Mussolini. But we should also remember the courageous anti-fascist organizing in Chicago at the time by Italian Americans and African Americans, who drew explicit connections between the fascist ideology being celebrated and the racist and repressive system existing here
Democratic socialism needs to become a mass presence in US society. Fighting for "Non-Reformist Reforms"; Building a Majority. Until then, The Power of a Minority.
How to Help - Harvey Relief, Texas AFL-CIO, Not Red Cross, Organizations on the Ground that Need Help; Problems with Outlook; Reader Comments: Racism, Hatred, Slavery, Those Monuments; Populist Victory in Birmingham, AL; Building Today's Socialist Movement, DSA; California Hate Crime Tracker; 4,000 Rabbis Berate Trump; Announcements - Voting and Partisan Gerrymandering; Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression; MEDICC 20th Anniversary Conference in Cuba
Portside anticipated that the DSA convention would be a watershed event for the left. Just before it was called to order, membership surpassed 25,000. The group was making a leap from minor to major, and we welcomed that. We contacted some DSAers we know who were present, to bring you their views on what the meeting meant for DSA and the left.
Reader Comments: White Supremacy in the Age of Trump; Removing Confederate Monuments - They Lost - Get Over It; Free Speech Hypocrisy; Monopoly (the game) was Invented to Demonstrate the Evils of Capitalism; Right to Work - Racist Origins, Victory in Missouri; Radicals in Our History; Korea; Venezuela; Boycott the NFL; Jews Against Hate; and more....
Communist bookstores provided a critical public space for radicals, operating in virtually every major American city. Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York had several apiece. Smaller and ostensibly less radical locales such as Birmingham, Houston, and Omaha, had communist bookstores, too. Some radical bookstores operate today. Venture into one of these shops in which left bookstores helped customers envision radical worlds that were often otherwise unimaginable in America
DSA, the Democratic Socialists of America, just held their largest convention - ever - with 700 delegates, representing 25,000 members. Nearly a thousand socialists - young and old, over-whelmingly young, came together to startegize building DSA, the largest socialist organization in the United States in decades. Here is a Portside exclusive report by Heidi Chua.
DSA has experienced a surge in membership. The question is whether it can translate that enthusiasm into actual change.
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