The name Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934) is commonplace in the field of education. Ask any teacher or professor of education about Vygotsky and chances are they will at least recall the name from their child development or educational psychology classes. His theories are still foundational to even mainstream education but, as is the case with so many revolutionaries, they have been stripped of their Marxist foundations. One result is that the revolutionary potential of Vygotsky’s theories have remained...
Jul 28, 2020•22 min
This short piece is about Cuba's renowned Henry Reeve Brigades, the famous "Cuban Doctors" that travel around the world helping in the world's worst disasters and pandemics. In this piece, we talk briefly about the history of the brigades, their importance today, and how they are a product of a revolutionary socialist state and society. We are releasing this on the anniversary of 26 de Julio so that we remember why revolution is both possible AND necessary, so we may be inspired to change our wo...
Jul 26, 2020•5 min
Yesterday, the United States surpassed 140,000 COVID-19 deaths. More than 3.7 million people in the U.S. are known to have fallen ill, by far the largest number of cases in the world. The Trump administration’s monumentally criminal refusal to wage effective war on the virus has caused needless suffering for millions. Tens of millions of people are being driven to economic ruin, with unemployment, no health care, and mass evictions looming. But the pandemic’s disastrous results in the U.S. were ...
Jul 23, 2020•13 min
Usually we share narrated articles from our newspaper, but today we want to let you know of an important day of action. This Saturday, July 25, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and other organizations from across the country are taking to the streets to demand “Stop Evictions and Foreclosures, Cancel the Rents & End Racist Police Terror!” We will adhere to physical distancing guidelines and wear facemasks. Everything to make sure we’re safe as possible But we have to get out in these s...
Jul 22, 2020•3 min
This essay examines the theory and practice of the Leninist party from the time of Lenin until today. We turn to Lenin’s key writings and to the history of Bolshevism and the international communist movement to delineate the distinctiveness of the Leninist party. Throughout we pay careful attention to the differences between Lenin’s time and ours. Read the full article: https://liberationschool.org/the-leninist-party-in-history-and-the-present/
Jul 22, 2020•37 min
PSL organizer Kameron Hurt talks about George Jackson, his revolutionary life, his imprisonment, the historic events around his life, and what we can still learn today from this monumental figure in the Black radical tradition.
Jul 16, 2020•14 min
The current period is the most favorable for socialists in the United States in decades. Against the backdrop of the Great Recession, waves of activity around the Occupy Movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Bernie Sanders campaign have produced a profound radicalization in political attitudes across society. Socialism is viewed favorably by close to half of the population and a substantial section of young people are sympathetic towards communism and Marxism. The key challenge faci...
Jul 13, 2020•21 min
12 points on the U.S. state and the necessity of revolution 1. The Party for Socialism and Liberation stands for the overthrow, dismantling and complete replacement of the core institutions of the capitalist state, which are the “special bodies of armed men,” namely the police, prisons, military and courts. This core of the capitalist state cannot be reformed into a neutral body. It must be abolished by means of a revolution. 2. The centrality of these violent institutions in capitalist governan...
Jul 12, 2020•20 min
In an exciting development for the Party for Socialism and Liberation, on July 2 the PSL was officially designated by the New Mexico Secretary of State as a qualified political party in the state of New Mexico. This despite the onerous requirement of signature gathering, made even tougher in time of the pandemic. Now, when New Mexicans register to vote or update their registration, they can make their party affiliation the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Also, when they go to the polls in No...
Jul 11, 2020•6 min
PSL organizer Kerbie Joseph reminds us that Black Liberation icons like the Panthers were deeply connected to the struggle for socialism, a fact that is often (purposefully) erased.
Jul 11, 2020•2 min
This PSL public forum from 2019 reviews the now-debunked Russiagate hysteria and how it connects to the tradition of anti-communism in the US to propagate US imperialism. This topic is still relevant today as not only do the establishment liberals still use Russia scapegoating, but now scapegoat other countries as well, namely China.
Jul 10, 2020•14 min
The following solidarity statement was issued by the International Relations Department of the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP) Dear comrades, On behalf of the Communist Party of Turkey, we express our heartfelt support for the working people of the United States who took to the streets protesting the brutal murder of George Floyd by racist policemen. In the past weeks, people’s anger has already grown because of the devastating social effects of the pandemic. The Trump administration’s failure i...
Jul 10, 2020•2 min
For the 70th anniversary of the official beginning of the Korean War, Liberation School interviewed the People’s Democracy Party, a revolutionary workers’ party in South Korea, to get their perspective on the war and the prospects for peace. The voices of the South Korean left are excluded from mainstream and even many progressive media outlets, and it’s crucial that the U.S. peace movement hear first-hand the ideas and activities of organizers on the Korean peninsula. The PDP was formed in Nove...
Jul 09, 2020•16 min
On the evening of July 3, thousands of community members in Aurora, Colorado, gathered to demand justice for Elijah McClain and to call on the Aurora Police Department to immediately fire the officers involved in his killing. Protesters also demanded murder charges for the killers. The action was organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the Frontline Party for Revolutionary Action, organizers who have been in the fight for justice for Elijah McClain since he was attacked and then ...
Jul 08, 2020•12 min
Journalists in the mainstream Western media often show surprise even as they report on governments in the Global South navigating the COVID-19 pandemic with relative success compared to the chaos in the U.S. and UK. But the success story that they narrate is typically one of individual leadership or culture, as if individuals and cultures are not embedded in political spaces. This article is about Kerala, a state in the southern part of India that elected the world’s second democratically electe...
Jul 07, 2020•12 min
It’s probably safe to say the year 2020 has been unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes, even for people who marched against Jim Crow segregation and the U.S. war on Vietnam . We’re witnessing – and part of – a militant, multinational uprising in cities around the world. The police lynching of George Floyd and so many before him may have been triggering event, but fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly fueled the fire. Tens of millions of people are out of work in this country, ...
Jul 04, 2020•10 min
In a country as wealthy as the U.S., you would think ensuring that students have access to quality education and services would not be an issue. You would think that in a country as wealthy as ours, it would be a priority that students and their families remain in good health and have access to health care, as well as mental health care during a global pandemic. You would think that national COVID-19 testing would be required before opening up the doors of schools to students, educators, and sta...
Jun 30, 2020•16 min
A profound rebellion against racism has been sweeping the country for a month. Millions have taken to the streets in every part of the country, shaking public opinion. Elite institutions, individuals and corporate brands are scrambling to offer symbolic sacrifices at the altar of racial justice in the hopes they will be spared from the righteous wrath in the streets. At the same time the police are wantonly attacking protestors and continuing to murder Black people, making a mockery of all the “...
Jun 29, 2020•21 min
Since the murder of George Floyd on May 26, protests in Minneapolis have ignited a global uprising not only in major cities across the United States and globally, but also in small towns from coast to coast. These small towns — some that have not seen any kind of protest in years or even decades —have become activated, now mobilizing to hold marches, vigils, sit-ins and other forms of direct action. Some of these protests, though small and peaceful, have also been harassed and brutalized by the ...
Jun 29, 2020•13 min
On June 3, the main tenants’ advocacy group in the small city of Ithaca, New York secured a key legislative victory in their fight to cancel rent payments due during the pandemic. The Ithaca Tenants’ Union submitted a resolution to the Ithaca city council which would have the city request that the New York State Department of Health grant the city the power to forgive all outstanding rent payments accumulated since March. The proposal passed six to four, and the next day the city sent an officia...
Jun 25, 2020•5 min
The International Longshore and Warehouse Union shut down 29 west coast ports on June 19 in remembrance of George Floyd and to mark Juneteenth. All along 2,000 miles of coastline, in 29 ports from Seattle to San Diego, not one container was loaded or unloaded. The ILWU has a long history of anti-racist and international solidarity. It shut down these ports in 1968 after the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. Union members refused to unload a ship from apartheid South Africa. The union shut the por...
Jun 21, 2020•16 min
On June 15, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that LGBTQ workers were protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In a 6-3 ruling, representing the majority, Justice Gorsuch wrote, “An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law.” The majority ruled that the protection against discrimination based on sex by the CRA applies to queer folks. The ruling, while welcomed by the queer and progressive communities, was surprising given the conservative...
Jun 19, 2020•9 min
Since the lynching of George Floyd on May 25, cities and towns across the United States and internationally have erupted in righteous anger at a government and police force that has never once removed their knee from the neck of Black people. Mainstream media and politicians continue to intentionally misreport the facts to instill doubt in this movement, but Party for Socialism and Liberation members were on the ground across the country reporting for Liberation News, and witnessed a much differ...
Jun 18, 2020•14 min
SOLIDARITY WITH THE PEOPLE IN THE US AGAINST THE RACIST THUGGERY OF THE CAPITALIST STATE! The cause of the mass uprising in the United States against the brutal execution of George Floyd is the cause of the international working class. We, as the Socialist Revolutionary Workers’ Party, join the clarion call being made by the revolutionary peoples’ camp in the United States in their cries for ‘Justice for Floyd!’. Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/statement-south-african-solid...
Jun 17, 2020•15 min
During a pandemic and a national uprising against racist terror the Trump administration handed down another devastating blow: the Department of Health and Human Services announced it had completed revisions to the Affordable Care Act removing anti-discrimination protections for women and LGBTQ people in healthcare. June 12 was a brutal day for the LGBTQ community. People learned of the brutal murders of two Black trans women – Dominique “Rem’Mie” Fells of Philadelphia and Riah Milton of Liberty...
Jun 16, 2020•7 min
PSL Member Cathy speaks on being a teacher in Queens, and the unique challenges facing her borough during the COVID19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis. PSL has public livestreams every week! Follow us at http://www.facebook.com/pslweb
Jun 15, 2020•5 min
PSL Member Graciela speaks on being a teacher in the Bronx, and the state of her borough during the COVID19 pandemic and the ensuing economic crisis. PSL has public livestreams every week! Follow us at http://www.facebook.com/pslweb
Jun 15, 2020•5 min
On Sunday June 7, an armed man attempted to drive a car into the crowd at the intersection of 11th and Pine. Protesters chased the car and tried to erect a barricade but what saved countless lives was the heroism of a young Black man named Daniel Gregory who reached into the open window of the car and grabbed the driver, who shot Gregory in the arm. Gregory was treated on the scene by street medics and taken to the hospital; he has since been released. The gunman exited his car, brandishing his ...
Jun 15, 2020•7 min
Hungary’s racist, homophobic, transphobic right-wing government has continued its efforts to divide the Hungarian working class by depriving transgender and intersex people of their right to legally change their genders. Across the capitalist world, LGBTQ rights have become a major target of attack by reactionaries, making it more imperative than ever that the working class rally in their defense. On May 19, the Hungarian Parliament passed a new omnibus bill that bans transgender or intersex peo...
Jun 14, 2020•6 min
June 4, 1977 marked the start of the Humboldt Park Uprising, in the predominantly working-class, Puerto Rican neighborhood on the West side of Chicago. Following a day of festivals at the Puerto Rican Day Parade, in which more than 3,000 people were in the park, a group of 100 police officers entered the park claiming violence was breaking out. As the police arrested one person suspected of violence, the picnickers tried to intervene on their behalf. Police officers began attacking everyone in t...
Jun 14, 2020•4 min
