Socialism

Coronavirus And The Crisis This Time

April 20, 2020 Sam Gindin, The Bullet. Strategize! COVID-19, Recession, Socialism, Working Class

Crises – not regular downturns but major crises – are characterized by the uncertainty they bring. They interrupt the normal and require yet-to-be discovered abnormal responses in order for us to move on. In the midst of these periodic calamities, we don’t know how or even whether we will stumble out of them nor what to expect if they do end. Crises are, consequently, moments of turmoil with openings for new political developments, good and bad. Because each such crisis modifies the trajectory of history, the subsequent crisis occurs in a changed context and so has its own distinct features. The crisis of the 70s, for example, involved a militant working class, a challenge to the American dollar, and a qualitative acceleration in the role of finance and of globalization.

Contrasting Health Systems

April 19, 2020 Pasqualina Curcio Curcio, Ultimas Noticias, translation Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau. Educate! COVID-19, Health Care, Profit motive, Socialism

In the catalog of health provision and financing systems, we find a wide range, from the most private to the public and free of charge. There are systems whose provision and financing are completely privatized, such as the United States, Chile and Colombia, where the facilities that provide health services are private and in order to enter and be served, people have two options: either they pay for the service out of their own pockets or they take out an insurance policy so that when a contingency arises, they pay the bill. This type of health system based on the intermediation of insurance companies in which a “third party” pays, in addition to being extremely costly (the insurance company keeps a margin of the business’ profit) is the most exclusive: 1) if you do not have how to take out a policy, the safest thing, worth the redundancy, is to be left out, and in this unequal world in which 1% of the world’s population appropriates 82% of the wealth, it is many, many people who do not have sufficient resources to take out health insurance.

Pandemic, The Left And Workers’ Power

April 18, 2020 Juan Cruz Ferre, Left Voice. Strategize! COVID-19, Electoral Politics, Socialism, Working Class

There are over 140,000 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S., but the actual number of infected individuals is probably already in the millions. We don’t know the real incidence of infections because the Trump administration has intentionally restricted the availability of tests in order to keep numbers artificially low. For this reason, we missed a golden opportunity to detect cases early, trace their contacts and isolate before there was community circulation of the virus. Now it’s too late. ICUs are overflowing in New York City, and we can expect similar situations in other cities as they reach their peak of infected individuals. We are on track to finding ourselves in a scenario like the one in Italy or in Spain, but with a population that’s five times larger and without universal health care. In New York State alone, there were 279 deaths in the 24 hours of Monday, March 30.

Capitalism Has Failed In Fighting Coronavirus

April 10, 2020 Richard D. Wolff, Brave New Europe. Educate! Capitalism, COVID-19, Economic collapse, Socialism

The desperate policies of panic-driven governments involve throwing huge amounts of money at the economies collapsed in response to the coronavirus threat. Monetary authorities create money and lend it at extremely low interest rates to the major corporations and especially big banks “to get them through the crisis.” Government treasuries borrow vast sums to get the collapsed economy back into what they imagine is “the normal, pre-virus economy.” Capitalism’s leaders are rushing into policy failures because of their ideological blinders. The problem of policies aimed to return the economy to what it was before the virus hit is this: Global capitalism, by 2019, was itself a major cause of the collapse in 2020. Capitalism’s scars from the crashes of 2000 and 2008-2009 had not healed.

China’s Socialist Planning And COVID-19

April 9, 2020 Sara Flounders, Workers.org. Educate! China, COVID-19, International Solidarity, Socialism

The global COVID-19 viral pandemic has exposed in the sharpest light the contradiction between a globalized world economy and a still existing but archaic capitalist system based on the private expropriation of wealth and resources. The relentless drive to reap a profit from every type of human interaction now stands exposed as the greatest danger to the people of the whole planet. At the same time, China is sending enormous amounts of assistance to countries desperate for medical and personal protective equipment. These massive solidarity shipments demonstrate the superiority of China’s basic socialist planning. China is sending by air, rail and sea needed medical equipment to 89 countries around the world. This includes test kits, facemasks, protective clothing, goggles, forehead thermometers and ventilators.

Socialism At Its Finest After Fed’s Bazooka Fails

March 24, 2020 Staff, Ellenbrown.com Educate! Finance and the Economy, Socialism

The financial crisis began in late February, when the World Health Organization announced that it was time to prepare for a global pandemic. The Russia-Saudi oil price war added fuel to the flames, causing all three Wall Street indices to fall more than 7 percent on March 9. It was called Black Monday, the worst drop since the Great Recession in 2008; but it would get worse.

The Socialist Specter In Present-Day US Politics

March 20, 2020 Victor Wallis, Counterpunch.org Educate! Ideology, Inequality, Socialism

The US political scene is haunted by talk of socialism. The basis for this has been developing now for some years, especially since the financial meltdown of 2008, which many came to see as decisive proof that a capitalist economy does not serve the majority. But how does this new mass perception express itself? On the one hand, there is wide recognition of the grotesque level of inequality, as expressed in the slogan...

Pete Dolack: “It’s Past Time We Had An Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Imperialist Global Front”

March 2, 2020 Pete Dolack, Mohsenabdelmoumen.wordpress.com Strategize! Books, Ideology, Socialism

Mohsen Abdelmoumen: Your fascinating book It’s not over: Learning From the Socialist Experiment shows us why we need to move beyond capitalism and it also provides the tools on how to do so. Can you explain to our readers how we can effectively fight to destroy definitively this aberrant system that is capitalism?

The Ecosocialist Solution To Ecological Catastrophe

February 28, 2020 Michael Löwy, Globalecosocialistnetwork.net Strategize! Climate Change, Ecology, Ideology, Socialism

The future of the planet, and thus of humanity, will be determined in the coming decades. Calculations by certain scientists as to scenarios for the year 2100 aren’t very useful for two reasons: A) scientific: considering all the retroactive effects impossible to calculate, it is very risky to make projections over a century.

The Push To Create Co-ops Is Energizing A New Generation Of Socialists

February 6, 2020 Richard D Wolff, Truthout.org Create! Cooperatives, Economics, New Economy, Socialism

On the other hand, socialism was the name adopted by Western European — and especially Scandinavian — “welfare-state” governments, which aimed to regulate markets comprised still mostly of private capitalist firms. This led many people to associate socialism with robust public spending and government intervention in the marketplace.

55% Of US Voting-Age Women Prefer Socialism, Over Capitalism

January 23, 2020 Staff, Telesurenglish.net Educate! Electoral Politics, Ideology, Socialism, Women

A majority of voting-age women in the United States oppose capitalism and would rather live under an economic system resembling the democratic socialist structure in force in Nordic countries such as Sweden and Norway, according to a reminder published Sunday by the news website Axios. The Harris poll conducted for “Axios HBO” in June 2019 had shown that socialism gained popularity over the past years.

Report On 6th European Left Congress: ‘Reset Europe Go Left’

December 29, 2019 European-Left.org. Create! European Union (EU), Left, Socialism

From December 13 to 15, 2019 members of the European Left held their sixth Congress in Malaga, Spain. The European Left describes itself as: "The Party of the European Left is a political party at the European level which was formed in 2004. Member and observer parties of the EL are socialist, communist, red-green and other democratic left parties. Their basic principles and political aims are laid down in the EL Manifesto from 2004. Membership to the EL is open to any left party and political organization in Europe that agrees with the EL Manifesto and accepts the EL statutes." Below are videos and the political document that came out of the Congress. Read the political document here or scroll below the videos.

In And Against The European Union?

December 29, 2019 Hilary Wainwright, Transnational Institute. Strategize! Austerity, European Union (EU), Portugal, Socialism

The government of the Portuguese Socialist Party supported and pressured by an alliance with the Communist Party and the Left Bloc have shown that it is possible to implement an effective anti-austerity programme as a member of the EU. This entailed successfully standing up to EU negotiators and facing down their repeated opposition to the government’s measures, leading to tough but ultimately successful negotiations. The result was a reversal of all the austerity measures introduced under the supervision of the Troika by the previous conservative government, while remaining within the EU’s 3% deficit limit. From the Portuguese standpoint, the success of these negotiations depended on a favourable balance of power reinforcing the government’s bargaining position.

What It Will Take To Build Left Independent Political Power In The 21st Century

December 19, 2019 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Popular Resistance. Organize! Bernie Sanders, Political Parties, Socialism, Workers

Clearing the FOG co-hosts, Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, interviewed Dr. Leo Panitch, Professor Emeritus in political science at York University in Toronto and Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy, about the recent election in the United Kingdom. Panitch has been studying the Left in the UK and other places around the world since the 1970's. He talks about what led to Corbyn's defeat, what it means for the Sanders campaign in the United States and what it will take to build independent political power on the Left. In the United States, this will require changing the structure of political organizing. You can listen to the full interview, plus an analysis of current events on Clearing the FOG.

Corbyn’s Loss: What It Means for Sanders And Where The Left Goes From Here

December 16, 2019 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Clearing the FOG. Podcast Bernie Sanders, Elections, Jeremy Corbyn, Socialism

On December 12, Jeremy Corbyn, head of the Labour Party in the United Kingdom, suffered a great defeat as the conservative Boris Johnson became the new prime minister with a gain of 47 new seats. Labour lost 59 seats. After years of austerity, including cuts to the National Health Service, Corbyn offered a strong manifesto outlining his program for change. We speak with Dr. Leo Panitch, a professor who has studied the Labour Party and left politics since the 1970s. Panitch explains what happened in the UK election and what it potentially means for Senator Sanders' run for president in the United States. He also speaks more broadly about what the left needs to do to build power to the point of having the capability of instituting a progressive platform.

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