The article below was published by the Freedom Socialist in the fall of 1981. It was a frank appraisal of the courageous, sometimes deadly, battle for Black voting rights that won the Voting Rights Act in 1965, and a warning that it was not a permanent victory. • • • “We’re not on our knees… Read more »
history
From the archives of the Freedom Socialist — The incendiary legacy of Malcolm X: revolutionary internationalism
This article was written soon after Spike Lee’s 1992 movie Malcolm X inspired renewed interest in him. But this piece could have been written yesterday, as African Americans and their supporters protest the wanton murder of Black and other youth of color by cops around the country, along with persistent legal and economic injustice. As… Read more »
Freedom socialist book review — historical novel: of slavery and sisterhood before the Civil War
Who doesn’t love the story of a rebel? The tale of the Grimké sisters is just that. Two daughters of a plantation-owning, slave-holding family, they defied their roots and society to become outspoken abolitionists and champions of women’s rights. When I realized that The Invention of Wings by my latest and favorite novelist, Sue Monk… Read more »
Trotsky’s legacy on the 75th anniversary of his death: powerful ideas for today’s struggles
Leon Trotsky was second only to Vladimir Lenin in leading the 1917 Russian Revolution. As elected chair of the St. Petersburg Soviet (workers council), he organized the uprising that put the working class in power. He formed and led the Red Army to victory in the Civil War in which 16 capitalist armies intervened. This… Read more »
Norma Abdulah, 1921–2015
A passionate fighter for race, gender and economic equality, Norma Abdulah was born in Harlem to a Trinidadian family. Her education about racism in the U.S. started early when her father, a professional in his homeland, was told not to apply for “white men’s jobs.” But no matter how tight the budget, Norma was always… Read more »
500 years of police brutality
Police stand guard against Occupy Wall Street and union protesters on May Day 2012. Five hundred years before Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice were murdered by police, white men in the colonies were hired to catch runaway slaves. They were the first police force in what became the United States. Native Americans had… Read more »
Freedom Socialist opinion — Manhattan Project still taking lives
I was stunned to learn that President Obama signed a measure in December to establish national parks at three government sites that constituted the infamous Manhattan Project. These are Hanford in Washington state, Los Alamos in New Mexico, and Oak Ridge in Tennessee. The Hanford park will include B Reactor, the world’s first large-scale nuclear… Read more »
Eleven(!) foreign powers bombing Syria: why, and who’s who
Syria bombarded as imperialist powers attack to halt revolutionary change in the Mideast.
Karl Marx on the struggle for a shorter workday
The 8-hour day didn’t just happen.
The racist past and present of right-to-work leglislation
Slavery and Jim Crow paved the way for the misnamed, anti-union legislation.
