In order to understand the crisis of the imperialist world system in the twenty-first century,” MR editors write in this month’s “Notes from the Editors,” “it is crucial to see this in terms of the present as history, that is, as an outgrowth of a centuries-long historical process.” Following this thread from the long sixteenth century through to the present day, the editors dissect the material conditions leading the emergence to a new and decidedly anti-imperialist revolutionary subject. | more…
This article will be released in full online September 22, 2025.
Andy Merrifield explores Nikolai Gogol’s short story “The Nose,” a satirical tale featuring a puffed-up government official who finds himself suddenly nose-less. As the official pursues his formerly attached schnozz through the streets of St. Petersburg, Gogol bestows upon readers a twisted parable revealing the pettiness and indolence pervading the corridors of power. | more…
This article will be released in full online September 29, 2025.
“Assume a ship under the command of a mad captain headed for certain shipwreck. What would freedom mean to the people on board?” asked MR cofounder Paul M. Sweezy in this previously unpublished discussion piece. “There can hardly be any doubt about the answer…the essence of freedom for the people on the ship is the ability to control their collective fate.” | more…
This month’s “Notes from the Editors” discusses the accelerating progress of China toward sustainability. China’s decline in carbon emissions and rapidly decarbonizing energy sector demonstrates the importance of societal realignment and extensive planning to shift toward the ecological modernization that has continued to elude monopoly-capitalist regimes. | more…
Inspired by the Venezuelan project of building socialism via the commune, this special issue looks at attempts to use communal models in socialist projects in a range of different contexts, as well as the theoretical bases for such an endeavor. In their introduction, guest editors Chris Gilbert and Cira Pascual argue that the theme of Communes in Socialist Construction is an important opportunity for engaged Marxist reflection of a kind that offers valuable contributions to the universal body of socialist thought. | more…
Ángel Prado, a founder of El Maizal Commune and Minister of Communes since 2024, discusses Venezuela’s communal project as both a response to urgent material needs and a long-term strategy for building socialism. Drawing on his experience as a grassroots organizer, he explores how communes are structured, how they relate to the state, and how they embody a vision of popular power. He also reflects on the need for unity within the Chavista movement. | more…
Chris Gilbert proposes to answer the question: When is a socialist commune anti-imperialist? His response follows Karl Marx’s line of thought, looking at the latter’s approach to the commune from the Grundrisse through his late notes and letters on rural communes. After reconstructing the Marxist communal strategy, Gilbert argues that real-world projects in Venezuela, Bolivia, and Brazil in recent times conform to this overall Marxist approach, combining communal construction with an anti-imperialist drive for national liberation. | more…
In this innovative study, John Bellamy Foster gets to the heart of Marx’s writing on communal societies—an aspect of Marx’s work that is often overlooked, despite its importance to the socialist project. Tying together Marx’s studies of anthropology, history, and ethnology, Foster illuminates the centrality of communalism to Marx’s overall critique of class-based societies. | more…
Brian M. Napoletano revisits the concept of generalized autogestion, traditionally defined broadly as “self-management,” placing it in the context of an ecological path to socialism. Using this orientation, Napoletano leads to reader to consider the potential of socioecological approaches to repairing the metabolic rift and pursuing sustainable human development. | more…
Sit Tsui and Lau Kin Chi elucidate the history of China’s People’s Communes as told through the lens of three present-day rural villages. In these villages, they observe the effects of the project’s dismantling and diminishing collective ownership and land management, with the conclusion that a return to collectivism is vital for carrying forward the socialist project. | more…
This month, the editors dive into the history of Nazi Germany for a discussion of Gleichschaltung, which in this instance describes the “falling into line” of institutions and individuals under fascism. As the editors point out, the extralegal and norm-breaking actions may be justified rhetorically by the fascist regime but require the acquiescence of the larger society in order to become effective—a process we are currently watching in real time. | more…
In this third installment of MR‘s series on the MAGA movement, John Bellamy Foster explores the dramatic shift in U.S. imperialism that began with the first Trump presidency and has accelerated in his second. The shift, Foster explains, is not one driven by anti-imperialism and anti-militarism but rather represents a hard shift to the right fueled by hypernationalism and the goal of recapturing U.S. power on the world stage. | more…
