Category: Socialism

How workers rallied to aid the early Soviet republic

29 December 2012 – The following brief talk on work by the Communist International to gather material aid for the Soviet Republic was given by Suzanne Weiss at the fourth Toronto study session on Toward the United Front, a 1,300-page edition the Fourth Communist International Congress (1922).

The study session, entitled “The Comintern’s Struggle for Social Hegemony,” surveyed Comintern work in unions, cooperatives, education, youth organizations, and on material assistance to Soviet Russia. The presentation, taking up a speech by Willi Münzenberg, is followed by a brief biography and a description of the study session. For more information on this program, see Self-Guided Tours of Revolutionary History. More information on Toward the United Front is available here.  – John Riddell Continue reading How workers rallied to aid the early Soviet republic

After Referendum Defeat, Chávez Pledges to Continue the Struggle

A Report from Caracas

John Riddell and Suzanne Weiss traveled to Venezuela at the end of November, as participants in a tour organized by the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network.

Responding to what he termed a “photo finish” defeat in Venezuela’s December 2 constitutional referendum, President Hugo Chávez pledged to continue the struggle for the measures that were presented to voters.

Announcing the results on national TV, he accepted “the decision made by the people” and thanked all voters, both those who voted “yes” and those in the “no” camp. But he called for his movement to stay on course. “I do not withdraw a single comma from the proposal,” he added. “The proposal is still on the table.” Continue reading After Referendum Defeat, Chávez Pledges to Continue the Struggle

How Women’s Oppression Began—and How It Will End

Based on a talk given to the Socialism 2007 conference in Toronto, April 28, 2007.

When I think about the course of my life, I am struck by how much things have changed for me—and for all women—over the course of the last half century. Through the explosive struggles in the 1960s and 1970s, women won more freedom to choose our life paths. We gained access to contraception and abortion. Our lives were no longer defined solely by marriage and children. Many women decided they had a right to a full education and to a career. Now, in some countries, including Canada, women can even marry other women! Continue reading How Women’s Oppression Began—and How It Will End

Anti-Jewish Prejudice Yesterday and Today

Editors’ note: “Anti-Semitism” is a much misused and much misunderstood concept. This epithet is often wrongly applied to opposition to the Israeli state’s apartheid-like policies—such as the statement in defense of Palestinians adopted by the Canadian Union of Public Employees’ Ontario convention in May. Yet anti-Jewish prejudice remains deeply rooted in capitalist society and continues to pose a deadly threat to all working people. Suzanne Weiss explained its origins and present character in a talk given to the Socialism 2006 conference, organized by Socialist Action in Toronto, on April 29, 2006. This article is based on that talk.

In 1919, V.I. Lenin, the great leader of the Russian Revolution, gave a brief talk on anti-Semitism that was recorded for use among the Russian peasantry. Continue reading Anti-Jewish Prejudice Yesterday and Today

First -Hand View of Cuba Exposes U.S. Lies

Oct. 1960 – As a member of YSA delegation to the Latin American Youth Congress in Cuba this summer, I wanted to see for myself what changes the revolution had wrought in the country, to meet some of the Cuban students, workers and peasants, and to try in whatever way I could to convince them that there are people in the United states who support the Cuban revolution despite the barrage of slanders in the press.

One of the first things the delegation did was to attend the 26th of July celebration in the Sierra Maestra Mountains where the Revolution was born. The site of the celebration was the grounds of a giant “school city” which will eventually house 20,000 students from peasant families. Already 500 youngsters who never had the chance to attend school before are living, working and studying in the completed sections. Continue reading First -Hand View of Cuba Exposes U.S. Lies