https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/parties/spusa/1915/0918-debs-schoolformasses.pdf

Good article giving a brief summary of early socialism through the lives and ideas of Saint-Simon, Robert Owen, and Charles Fourier. Talks a little about their push against capitalism. They guys also tried to build cooperative, egalitarian alternatives—laying the moral and intellectual groundwork for later socialist movements.

Utopian socialism has some lasting influences on labor, education, and radical politics.

From teenage civil rights organizer to hero of the historic 1963 March on Washington

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Peter Taaffe, who after a long illness died on 23 April 2025. The loss of Peter is a big blow to the working class movement and Trotskyism internationally. Since becoming active in the revolutionary movement in 1960, Peter made an indispensable contribution, both theoretically and practically in the hard graft necessary to build a revolutionary party and international. Peter was a leading member of the International Secretariat of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI), Political Secretary of the Socialist Party in England & Wales, and for many years its General Secretary.

Characteristically, Peter fought a determined battle against numerous illnesses in recent years which allowed him to enjoy his final years a little longer. On behalf of the CWI throughout the world and the Socialist Party in England & Wales, we send our heartfelt condolences to Peter’s wife Linda, daughters Nancy and Katie, his grandchildren and great-grandson, and all his family and friends.

Coming from Birkenhead, and an extremely poor working class background, Peter found his way to Marxism and revolutionary politics. Never going to university, working for Liverpool City Council for a time, he educated himself through the revolutionary movement and experience. Well versed in literature as well as Marxism, he was not what is often perceived in some circles as a stereotypical theoretician coming from a petty bourgeois background. As a result, Peter was an inspiration, especially to those not from an academic or petty bourgeois background themselves – he demonstrated what those from a working class background can be capable of theoretically and culturally. One of Peter’s strengths was that he never lost touch with the working class and oppressed as a workers’ leader. He continued to feel the pain and suffering they experienced. One of the greatest public orators of his generation, with a distinctive Merseyside accent and speaking style, Peter was able to immediately connect with audiences small and large. Peter summed up the horrors of capitalism and the struggles of the working class, explaining Marxist ideas in an accessible manner.

Open link to continue reading.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/1866754

Archived

According to the Global Slavery Index (2023), over 50 million people are forced to live in conditions of modern slavery.

India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia have high numbers of people forced into modern slavery, mainly due to the large populations and economic disparities in these countries.

Much of the modern slavery there occurs in industries such as textiles, agriculture, manufacturing, and construction. For example, garment factories and brick kilns are known to exploit workers, forcing them to work long hours for low pay.

...

Cross posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/18185844

Archived

• Analysis of two nationally representative surveys in China from 1995 to 2017 reveals that wealth (assets minus liabilities) of households with at least one CCP member is 21–24% higher than similar households without CCP [Chinese Communist Party] members.
• The CCP wealth premium is explained in part by preferential access for CCP households to more valuable housing at lower prices compared to similar non-CCP households during the early years of housing privatization.
• The most recent survey (2013–2017) reveals the wealth of CCP households grew faster than similar non-CCP households, especially among the wealthiest 5%, driven primarily by higher levels of capital gains.
• For all wealth levels, CCP membership was a stronger predictor of wealth growth than level of education.

[...]

Privately owned real estate today accounts for 84% of the gross total wealth across urban households — by far the largest component of private wealth. In the 1970s, however, virtually all urban housing stock in China was publicly owned.

[...]

CCP households were less likely to self-build houses and more likely to either inherit or purchase homes through preferential policies, while non-CCP households invested more in self-built housing — typically the least profitable form of housing investment, especially for those at the lower end of the wealth spectrum. As a result, CCP households were better positioned to acquire high-value homes at lower prices, amplifying wealth disparities over time.

[...]

The findings underscore the enduring wealth advantages CCP households enjoy compared to similar non-CCP households up and down the wealth distribution. The mechanisms identified in this research include preferential access to housing in the early phases of urban real estate privatization and faster wealth accumulation through capital gains in recent years.

An interesting take. Not sure if it goes here.

Every now and then I go back to the ideas developed by Mesquita and his colleagues about the Selectorate Theory. They entered public discourse via CGP Grey's videos, and a book called The Dictator's Handbook.

The wikipedia article I linked to above, gives a pretty good overview. I see it as a work in the line of Machiavelli, or Gramsci: a theory of how power operates. There are some very good common-sense arguments there for example for expanding democratic participation ("the size of the selectorate") as much as possible in as many spheres as possible, because small selectorates simply mean less public goods. At its limit, it leads quite naturally to egalitarianism in politics, the economy, etc.

I'm not saying it is perfect as a universal theory of everything, of course. It's an abstraction, but it seems a very useful one. I think that it's a very useful tool that seems to be completely ignored in left/socialist circles.

I see and hear from communists an anger towards Trotskyism. Can someone from an anti-Trotskyist position explain the reasons to avoid Trotskyism.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/19742313

Socialist Claudia De La Cruz presidential ballot access by state so far

California - On the Ballot

Colorado - Write-in

Florida - On the Ballot

Idaho - On the Ballot

Indiana - Write-in

Iowa - On the Ballot

Louisiana - On the Ballot

Maine - Write-in

Massachusetts - On the Ballot

Minnesota - On the Ballot

Mississippi - On the Ballot

New Jersey - On the Ballot

New Mexico - On the Ballot

South Carolina - On the Ballot

Tennessee - On the Ballot

Texas - Write-in

Utah - On the Ballot

Vermont - On the Ballot

Virginia - On the Ballot

Washington - On the Ballot

West Virginia - Write-in

Wisconsin - On the Ballot