Permanent Revolution: August 2017

Monday, August 21, 2017

REMEMBER SACCO and VANZETTI

August 23rd is the ninetieth anniversary of the execution of Sacco and Vanzetti. "The good die young." Innocent of the murder charge, unable to get a fair trial because they were Italian and anarchists, they refused to cop a plea because they would not lie to save themselves, and because they hoped their martyrdom would save others from the same injustice.

Remember Sacco and Vanzetti when we hear politicians proclaim that immigrants are criminals and terrorists. Remember Sacco and Vanzetti when prejudice precludes a fair trial. Remember Sacco and Vanzetti because capital punishment is irreversible, and innocent men and women are being killed.
The spirit of Sacco and Vanzetti must remain in our memory.

Sacco and Vanzetti. Drawing by Marc Shanker.

Text by Marc Shanker

The gutter politics of David North

The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) edition of May 17 featured a hysterical diatribe against me by the leader of that organization, David North.

Here we are today, 33 years after the split with Healy. Does the fact that North was on the right side of that split confer upon him the legitimacy of a hereditary monarch? Reading North’s comments, one would think that for him the Fourth International is some kind of franchise that he alone can operate. If the continuity of the Fourth International is to have any meaning, other than a ritualistic invocation meant to shore up the flagging morale of one’s followers, it can only be in one’s adherence to the program and theoretical conceptions of the Fourth International. If we examine the political conceptions and organizational practices of the group North has led for all these years it is clear that in all respects it bears little resemblance to the organization Trotsky founded in 1938. It is in fact our exposure of the hollowness of North’s claims to be the inheritor of the mantle of Trotsky that has so infuriated him. Why else would he be spending more time writing about me and Frank Brenner, two individuals, than about the Stalinists, Pabloites and state capitalists?

Read More ----> The gutter politics of David Norh

Trump and the crisis of liberalism

by Frank Brenner

It is tempting to say that 2016 marks the death of liberalism, but that's probably wishful thinking. What is dead, though, is the old 'centrist' political consensus, i.e. the pendulum swings from centre-left to centre-right that made mainstream politics in the West about as predictable (and stable) as an old grandfather clock. Now the swings are much more extreme - or rather the swings to the right are. (One might add that what led up to this was a major shift rightward of the 'center' itself from Reagan/Thatcher on – what Tariq Ali rightly dubbed the “extreme center”.

Link to full essay: Trump and the crisis of liberalism

Link to Greek translation: Ο Τραμπ και η κρίση του φιλελευθερισμού

Lecture: Dialectics of Revolutionary Strategy and Tactics

Alex Steiner gave a talk at the Locomotiva Cooperative Cafe in Athens, Greece on July 9, 2015, shortly after the historic vote for NO - OXI -in the Referendum of July 5. The event was a huge success attracting a packed audience of about 50 people. The talk was sponsored by the Workers Revolutionary Party of Greece (EEK) and was chaired by Savas Michael-Matsas. A Greek translation of this talk is now available. The translation was first published in the theoretical journal of the EEK, Revolutionary Marxist Review, in the issue of November 2015-February 2016. The translation was the work of Eve Manopoulou.

Link to English version: --->Dialectics of Revolutionary Strategy and Tactics

Link to Greek translation: ----> Η Διαλεκτική της Επαναστατικής Στρατηγικής και Τακτικής