Published bimonthly since 1986, Against the Current is a Solidarity sponsored analytical journal for the broad revolutionary left. The November/December issue features Jack Rasmus on "The Crisis Beneath the Bailout," Milton Fisk's analysis of the Obama and McCain health care plans, Malik Miah on how the financial crisis effects African Americans and Suzi Weissman's interview with Thomas Frank. International coverage includes Martin Hart-Landsberg on "The Realities of China Today" and Jeffery R. Webber on Bolivia following the August recall referendum as well as articles on France, Mexico and Argentina.
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International Viewpoint
is the monthly English-language magazine of the Fourth International. IV is a window to radical alternatives world-wide, carrying reports, analysis and debates from all corners of the globe. Correspondents in over 50 countries report on popular struggles, and the debates that are shaping the left of tomorrow.
Bomb kills 60, injures 250 at Islamabad Marriott: Most of the 60 dead and over 250 injured as a result of suicide attack on a five-star Marriott Hotel in Islamabad were security guards and drivers. Read More...
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- Working Class Casualties: Mumbai and Long Island
by Isaac posted on 11/29/08
- Major Transit Cuts Threaten NYC
by Chloe posted on 11/26/08
- March for Equality: Nationwide Protests Against Proposition 8
by jonhseattle posted on 11/13/08
- The War(s) at Home: the Iraq War in movies
by Maeve66 posted on 11/3/08
- Revolutionary Work in Our Times
by Stephanie L posted on 11/3/08
- More on FMPR: Beating the Odds, Independent PR Teachers Union Trounces SEIU in Representation Election
by Micah posted on 11/2/08
- Howie Hawkins Press Release
by dws posted on 10/29/08
- Puerto Rico's Teachers Show the Way; SEIU Learns the Meaning of "No"
by Steve posted on 10/24/08
from the Webzine
- Funding public transportationbyFrances Chapman (not verified)onMajor Transit Cuts Threaten NYC
- correctionbyCBS (not verified)onSome Talking Points on the Financial Crisis
- Thank you Remy for sortingbyAnonymous (not verified)onFrance: A Sea Change on the Left
- thanks abra!bybmcampb (not verified)onThe War(s) at Home: the Iraq War in movies
- Recertification of FMPRbyMicahonPuerto Rico's Teachers Show the Way; SEIU Learns the Meaning of "No"
Solidarity statements
- Their Crisis, Our Consequences: Is this what 1931 Looks Like?
- Understanding and Responding to the Economic Crisis (pdf)
- The Financial Meltdown and a Socialist Response
From Against the Current:
- Malik Miah: The Financial Calamity, Blacks and Obama
- Jack Rasmus: The Crisis Beneath the Bailout
- Nomi Prins: The Sub-Prime Market Crisis
- Bob Brenner: Devastating Crisis Unfolds
- Jack Rasmus: A New Phase of Economic Crisis
By Dan LaBotz on Monthly Review's MRZine:
- The Economic Crisis, the American Working Class, and the Left: The Situation Today and the Situation in 1930 (March 17, 2008)
- Confronting the Economic Crisis: The New Deal at 75 - Lessons for Today (April 8, 2008)
- The Financial Crisis: A View from the Left (September 24, 2008)
- World's Labor Federations React to Financial Crisis with Proposals from Re-regulation to Socialism (October 24, 2008)
Regroupment & Refoundation of a U.S. Left
As part of the preparation for our 2008 Convention, members of SOLIDARITY have begun a political document describing some perspectives for socialist renewal in the twenty-first century. We welcome responses to this initial draft of the document. Some of the themes here have also been developed in Solidarity's Founding Statement and our 1997 pamphlet, “Socialist Organization Today.”
New Pamphlet: Hell on Wheels
New from Solidarity! Long time transit worker activist Steve Downs has written a pamphlet charting the twenty year story of New Directions, a rank and file caucus in New York City's transit union that he helped build and develop - including the challenges of keeping the rank and file democracy movement alive after New Directions won control of the local.
Read a review and order your copy today!From Abortion Rights to Reproductive Justice
New from Solidarity's Feminist Commission, this leaflet responds to the right wing attack on reproductive freedom and argues that the movement must go beyond "pro-choice" to true reproductive justice. This socialist and anti-racist feminist agenda would take up issues such as access to health and child care, forced sterilization, and the division of "productive" and "reproductive" labor.
Download the pamphlet...
Labor
More on FMPR: Beating the Odds, Independent PR Teachers Union Trounces SEIU in Representation Election
Submitted by Micah on November 2, 2008 - 1:15pm.
The Puerto Rican Federation of Teachers (FMPR) has done the near-impossible: solidly defeating one of the world’s most powerful labor organizations in an election for representation of Puerto Ric
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The Authoritarian Personality
Submitted by SHL on June 8, 2008 - 11:18am.
While there are people who pursue powerful positions in society or in a group in order to dominate others, there are also those who identify themselves with dominant groups or the ideology of the group and submit themselves to the opinions of strong authority figures. One of the characteristics of them is to show a “blind faith” toward their “ingroup” to which they belong and hostility toward “outgroups.” Besides, they seldom show sympathy (or often show hostility) toward minorities who occupy weaker positions in social structure, whether in terms of ethnicity or in such criteria as gender, sexuality, occupation, nationality, opinions, and wealth.
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Detroit and my "romantic" dream
Submitted by SHL on May 19, 2008 - 3:02pm.
I had a “romantic” dream about Detroit when driving to the city for my summer job last year. If anyone has been in Detroit, he or she would know that there are many abandoned buildings. Abandoned, of course, does not mean devoid of “legal” and “private” owners. Nevertheless, what if we socialists, workers, and homeless people were to physically occupy abandoned buildings and use them as our offices, homes, and conference places, and eventually make the city into a “socialist city”?
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Indian Guest Workers organizing in Mississippi shipyards
Submitted by redstar504 on March 10, 2008 - 2:18pm.
Indian shipyard workers accuse their employer of human trafficking and forced labor; Guest Worker organizing continues in Mississippi and Louisiana
by Robert Caldwell & Damien Ramos
by Robert Caldwell & Damien Ramos
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Thoughts on Solidarity's Socialist Feminist Retreat -- from Harmony Goldberg
Submitted by Chloe on January 31, 2008 - 11:49pm.
From Jan. 11 through Jan. 13 Solidarity held a socialist feminist retreat that brought together a multi-generational group of 60 activists to discuss work, gender and heteronormativity. There were lots of great discussions, both organized and informal.
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Remembering MLK : "I Wouldn't Stop There"
Submitted by Kate G on January 24, 2008 - 2:15am.
Monday evening I called to chat with my friend, "Alice", who works at a university hospital, and asked how she celebrated the holiday:
Alice: "uh, by working."
Kate G: "Working? Seriously? They don't give you the day off?"
Alice: "uh, by working."
Kate G: "Working? Seriously? They don't give you the day off?"
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As Pop Culture Leans Left, Does it Really Matter?
Submitted by mark on December 20, 2007 - 6:26pm.
Jaime Paglia (creator of Eureka), Rob Kutner (writer for The Daily Show), and Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) at the Writers Guild of America Rally in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass., on Friday, December 14th, 2007. Photo from Brad Searles
Last Friday there was a rally by striking writers in Boston. Joss Whedon, the Creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the big names at the event. A friend of mine asked me if I had ever seen the episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer where Buffy gets pulled into a demonic sweatshop. Basically it goes like this -- runaway kids are kidnapped from Skid Row, dragged into this netherworld sweatshop, worked until they are nearly-dead, and then spit back onto the streets of Los Angeles. Ever Buffy, she busts the place up and frees all the captives. My friend mentioned it because he thought it was a great example of the left presence in pop culture, since in a key scene Buffy uses a hammer and sickle to kick the demon guards asses, striking a bad-ass Stakonovite pose in the middle of the fight sequence for good measure.
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Tom Mooney - a little late but in memoriam
Submitted by dharmared on December 9, 2007 - 12:13am.
I just learned--too late--that the Ohio labor movement lost a great leader at the end of 2006 in Tom Mooney. In fact he died a little over a year ago today.
What I didn't know is that Tom started out as a '60s radical at Antioch College and worked on a ton of public and collective education projects, then rose through the ranks of the union. He ended up head of OFT/AFT in Columbus, OH, and I knew him through labor-coalition work. He died much too young, at 52, of a heart attack.
What I didn't know is that Tom started out as a '60s radical at Antioch College and worked on a ton of public and collective education projects, then rose through the ranks of the union. He ended up head of OFT/AFT in Columbus, OH, and I knew him through labor-coalition work. He died much too young, at 52, of a heart attack.
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Spatiality and Working Class Solidarity
Submitted by SHL on December 6, 2007 - 12:32am.
Many geographers since the 1960s have studied impacts of “spatiality” in working class solidarity. Simply put, every society in a certain historical period has its own particular ways of creating, arranging, and rearranging social and physical spaces, and the processes and the outcomes of spatial arrangements affect workers’ ways of looking at the world, social relations, and their own lives.
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