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“A very valuable history of an important period in the labour and socialist movements” (Counterfire reviews Chester)

Chester argues that free speech must be defended as an absolute principle, decrying any ‘call to suppress the views of those on the radical right’, repeatedly arguing against ‘no platform’ policies. Certainly, the left should oppose repressive state laws, but mobilising against racists and fascists when they attempt to use public space to propagate their agenda is essential. It is a necessary part of any defence of working-class interests. | more…

The Kisan Movement’s Direct Action: A defeat not only to Modi, but imperialism

Particular battles often have a significance that goes beyond the immediate context, of which even the combatants may not be fully aware at the time… The battle between the Kisan movement and the Modi government falls into the same genre. At the most obvious level, it has been seen as a climbdown by the Modi government in the face of the incredible resoluteness shown by the agitating peasants. At another level, it has also been seen as a setback for neoliberalism… | more…

Striketober! Let it spread like a contagion (Shaun Richman in ‘In These Times’)

A moment in which tens of thousands of workers are on strike — at John Deere, at Kellogg’s, at Warrior Met Coal—might seem like a strange time to talk about a ​“right” to strike. But a legal right to strike must include the right to return to the job when the strike is over — win, lose or draw — and U.S. workers haven’t had that right since corporations and Ronald Reagan’s National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) conspired to weaponize a long-dormant Supreme Court decision to legalize union-busting…Strikes are contagious. | more…

Sorting through confusion on the repatriation of Haitian refugees (Listen to Dr. Horne on the Carl Nelson Show)

The short answer is that when the U.S. was involved in Afghanistan, we cut deals with many warlords, shorthand for gangsters, that’s number one. Number two: Afghanistan is quite rich with mineral wealth, which ironically enough, may end up going to the People’s Republic of China, which is quite close to the Pakistanis, which was the major creator and backer of the Taliban, who are now in power. The third point, however, is that the Taliban is going to have a hard way to go…” | more…

As skilled in the pyrotechnics of historiographical revision as archival spelunking (Science & Society reviews “The Dawning of the Apocalypse”)

I read this gorgeous, furious book while teaching the first half of the U. S. history survey: 1607–1877….In this book as well as its recent antecedent, ‘The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy and Capitalism in 17th Century North America and the Caribbean,’ Horne turns to examine the earlier foundations of empire and racial capitalism. Unlike much of his other work, these books are primarily secondary-source–driven. But Horne is that historian, as skilled in the pyrotechnics of historiographical revision as he is at archival spelunking. | more…