Much of the historical material in this article can be found in the book, Palestine, Israel and the U.S. Empire, by Richard Becker. (PSL Publications, 2009) https://store.pslweb.org/Palestine-Israel-and-the-US-Empire_p_10.html As Israeli leaders and the Trump regime grotesquely celebrated the moving of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem on the 70th anniversary of Israel’s declaration of independence, May 14, just 40 miles away Israeli troops were massacring unarmed Palestinians trapped inside Gaza. A...
May 12, 2021•15 min
But does the pro-Israel lobby—or Israel itself through the lobby—control and direct U.S. policy in the Middle East? To put it another way, does the tail wag the dog? Is it really conceivable that a small, dependent country could call the shots for the most powerful empire in the history of the world? The answer to all of these questions is no. Israel is part of the U.S. global empire, not the other way around. "Palestine, Israel, and the US Empire", written by Richard Becker. E-book: www.amazon....
May 12, 2021•17 min
While Palestine was still nominally under Ottoman rule, Britain’s foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, sent a letter to Lord Rothschild, a member of the British House of Lords and one of the world’s richest men. The infamous Balfour Declaration of Nov. 2, 1917, reads: Dear Lord Rothschild: I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to, and approved by, the Cabinet: “...
May 12, 2021•9 min
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Zionism represented a small minority among Jewish people. It was mainly a movement of the middle class, with support from a few wealthy sponsors, particularly the Rothschild oil and banking interests. Jewish workers and intellectuals of that time played a vital role in the socialist, communist and other progressive movements in Europe and the United States. They fought for equality rather than separation. Prior to World War II, political Zionism was wid...
May 12, 2021•16 min
Though it had its own distinct roots, Zionism shared some of the characteristics of the reactionary European movements. It fiercely opposed the anti-colonial and genuine national liberation movements. The Zionists, while aiming to create a Jewish nation-state, did not seek to acquire territory in Eastern Europe where most of the European Jewish population was concentrated and most violently repressed. Instead, the Zionists offered to make themselves available to be transported as settlers to any...
May 12, 2021•24 min
The aim of the Zionists to dispossess Palestinians of their land and rights was no mystery to the Palestinian population. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s there were numerous uprisings against British colonialism and Zionist settlements, the most famous and protracted of which was the 1936-1939 revolt. In 1936, Palestinians launched a general strike that lasted six months—the longest general strike in history. The strike was followed by a guerrilla war that lasted nearly three and a half years. It...
May 12, 2021•8 min
Suffused with anti-Semitism themselves, many in the U.S. ruling class in the 1930s viewed Nazi Germany as a weapon against their main enemy of the time—the Soviet Union. A number of U.S. capitalists regarded Nazi Germany as having an ideal business climate. The Nazis had smashed the powerful German labor unions and had fused German corporations closely with the state. Among those who shared Nazi sympathies and business connections were Henry Ford, Joseph Kennedy Sr. (father of John, Robert and T...
May 12, 2021•7 min
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
May 12, 2021•7 min
Written by Richard Becker Copyright © 2009 by PSL Publications Library of Congress Control Number: 2009932241
May 12, 2021•11 min
Amílcar Lopes da Costa Cabral was born September 12, 1924 in Bafatá, Guinea-Bissau, one of Portugal’s African colonies. On January 20, 1973–48 years ago today–Cabral was murdered by fascist Portuguese assassins just months before the national liberation movement in which he played a central role won the independence of Guinea-Bissau. This particular struggle was waged for the liberation of not just one country–Guinea-Bissau, where the fighting took place–but also for another geographically-separ...
May 11, 2021•44 min
There is, in fact, an irreconcilable conflict in the Middle East, but it is not one between different peoples or faiths. It is instead the struggle between imperialism, Israel and the dependent Arab regimes on the one hand and the oppressed peoples of this oil-rich and strategic region fighting for liberation and progress on the other. At the very heart of this conflict is Palestine. The Palestinian struggle is a struggle against Western colonialism. It has been this way from the beginning, more...
May 11, 2021•6 min
Devastation in Iraq exposes U.S. imperialism's lies. https://www.breakingthechainsmag.org/
May 09, 2021•12 min
In his first speech to a joint session of Congress on April 28, Joe Biden made the calculation that he needed to directly address the needs of the working class. “20 million Americans lost their jobs in the pandemic – working- and middle-class Americans. At the same time, the roughly 650 billionaires in America saw their net worth increase by more than $1 trillion,” Biden noted, “[T]rickle-down economics has never worked. It’s time to grow the economy from the bottom up and middle-out”. Biden we...
May 09, 2021•13 min
May 4 marks the anniversary of a seminal moment in modern Chinese history. In 1919, the “May 4 movement” broke out — a youth-led uprising against the country’s domination by foreign colonial powers. In the following piece written in 2008, Fidel Castro reflects on this and other milestones in China’s long struggle for independence. The following reflection was published over a two-day period in the Cuban newspaper Granma. When the First World War broke out in 1914, China joined the allies. As rec...
May 04, 2021•30 min
We are excited to announce ‘Reading Capital With Comrades’—a new 12-part podcast series teaching volume 1 of Karl Marx's Capital. Listen now on Spotify, Soundcloud & more! Marx published the first volume of Capital in 1867 after pouring over a decade of his life into writing it and another decade researching political economy. The book is more than an endurance challenge or a purely intellectual milestone. As "Reading Capital with Comrades" demonstrates, understanding the theoretical basis o...
Apr 26, 2021•1 min
PSL organizer Sasha Murphy speaks on Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdict, a result only thanks to mass uprising, and what's next for the movement against police terror!
Apr 23, 2021•5 min
One thing is unambiguously clear: Derek Chauvin being found guilty is the result of a historic popular uprising. Chauvin’s brutal murder of George Floyd ignited a massive resistance from Minneapolis’ Third Precinct into the smallest towns and biggest cities in the United States. The Party for Socialism and Liberation was proud to participate in this historic movement that brought millions into the streets, many for the first time. New leaders emerged and are now in the struggle for the long haul...
Apr 21, 2021•4 min
To General of the Army and First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Raúl Castro Ruz; To President Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and to all delegates of the Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba: On behalf of the Party for Socialism and Liberation in the United States, we send you revolutionary greetings and solidarity on the occasion of the VIII Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba. We salute your congress as you begin your deliberations on the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of the...
Apr 19, 2021•4 min
History is always political – many of us here are familiar with this concept. However, the lessons taught in school leave out the important context, reducing history to just a mere list of dates, people, and isolated events. As Marx once said “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.” Understanding the progression of society and the social forces at play situates these seemingly isolated points into synchronization. This is the very tool that connected my e...
Apr 16, 2021•32 min
After the deaths of Marx and Engels, socialists began taking up the important task of summarizing their work for popularization. In 1919, for example, Georg Lukács, the Hungarian Marxist, argued that the essence of Marx’s project is not the correctness or incorrectness of his many theses, but rather, his dialectical method. Stressing the significance of Marx’s method Lukács notes that it is a “weapon” of the proletariat and “an instrument of war” (1919/1971, 224). Marx never wrote a text on dial...
Apr 14, 2021•17 min
Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General and renowned international human rights attorney who stood against U.S. military aggression worldwide, died peacefully April 9 at his home in New York City, surrounded by close family. He was 93 years old. Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/ramsey-clark/
Apr 11, 2021•31 min
Gloria La Riva speaks on Radio Havana Cuba regarding the blockade against the Cuban people, and the caravans in 60 US cities that drove in solidarity with the caravans in Cuba demanding the lifting of the embargo that the US has inflicted upon Cuba for over half a century.
Apr 01, 2021•4 min
As anti-Asian violence and sentiment spikes nationwide, a string of violent assaults and robberies on elderly Asians in the Bay Area are fueling outrage. Video from two separate, unprovoked attacks in Oakland and San Francisco, which left one dead and three others injured, was shared widely. This prompted widespread condemnation and a range of responses from local figures. Authorities, news stations, and even celebrities have cynically sought to manipulate the fact that the attackers in these in...
Mar 30, 2021•11 min
On March 2, the Alabama State Senate passed a bill intended to prevent transgender youth from accessing any gender-affirming care. The bill, absurdly titled the “Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act,” bans puberty blockers and hormone therapies for transgender youth. This vital medical care alleviates the psychological and physical harm caused by going through puberty on hormones incongruent with one’s gender. Doctors, pharmacists, and other medical professionals who continue to provid...
Mar 29, 2021•10 min
Bolivian coup leader and former self-proclaimed president Jeanine Áñez was arrested on March 13 in the department of Beni. She was found hiding in a box to avoid detection from authorities. On March 15, Áñez made her first appearance in front of a judge via video. She was officially charged with sedition, terrorism and conspiracy due to her involvement in the November 2019 U.S.-backed coup to oust Bolivia’s democratically elected and first Indigenous president — Evo Morales of the Movement Towar...
Mar 24, 2021•4 min
Powerful protests are sweeping through Haiti in response to U.S.-backed President Jovenel Moïse’s refusal to step down at the end of his constitutionally-bound presidential term. Hear how conditions are ripe for revolt in Haiti and what role the U.S. is playing in thwarting the Haitian people's desire for independence.
Mar 21, 2021•20 min
The Party for Socialism and Liberation recently held a forum on International Women's Day, as well as the ongoing struggle in Haiti. International Women's Day, March 8, is a day of global celebration of the economic, political, and social achievements of women and a reminder of the ongoing struggle for women’s rights. In this clip you will hear a presentation regarding socialist feminism as the true path to women's liberation, as well as a review of some of the immediate gains that revolutionary...
Mar 19, 2021•18 min
On Tuesday, March 16 at around 5:00 p.m., three spas staffed by Asian workers in the Atlanta area were the targets of a racist and sexist mass shooting. Eight people were killed, seven of whom were women, and six of the women were Asian. The shooter, a 21 year old white male, admitted to this heinous crime shortly after he was arrested later that night. Atlanta residents and Asian Americans across the country are horrified by this egregious act of terror. The Party for Socialism and Liberation e...
Mar 18, 2021•6 min
Editor’s note: 8 people were murdered in the Atlanta area the the night of March 16 when a white supremacist carried out a series of terrorist attacks targeting spas staffed by Asian workers. The Party for Socialism and Liberation expresses our deepest sympathy and solidarity to the loved ones of those who lost their lives in these horrific massacres. The following article was originally published March 7, and analyzes the roots of the wave of anti-Asian hate sweeping the country. “Imperialism i...
Mar 18, 2021•17 min
Working-class and oppressed women are bearing the brunt of the combined COVID and economic crises in the United States. December’s jobs numbers produced shocking headlines throughout the mainstream media. CNN’s headline read: “The US economy lost 140,000 jobs in December. All of them were held by women.” A separate Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, which received much less mainstream coverage, indicates that nearly all the December jobs were lost by Black and Latina women. Read the full article...
Mar 16, 2021•7 min
