Socialist Project

What's New: The 1917 July Days uprising: Soviet leadership clashes with ranks

| August 19, 2017

The July Uprising or July Days came about due to the failure of the Russian military offensive in June, a worsening of the crisis in Petrograd’s food and fuel supply, and a crisis of confidence in the government after two Liberal (Kadet) ministers resigned over their opposition to Ukrainian autonomy. In the wake of the offensive’s collapse, massive unrest arose in the Russian army, which could no longer fight effectively. The uprising began among soldiers in the Petrograd garrison who feared transfer to the front, but it also involved workers who were already on strike over low wages.

Bullet #1470: How New York Subways Got Broke, On Purpose

by Vincent DeCesare | August 18, 2017

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is pushing for a tax on the rich to fund desperately needed improvements to the crumbling subway system run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). De Blasio's plan would raise city income taxes on individuals making over $500,000 a year and couples making over $1-million by about half of a per cent, which would raise over $700-million for subway and bus upgrades as well as half-price Metro Cards for the almost 800,000 city residents who are at or below the federal poverty level.

What's New: U.S. Workers in the Late Neoliberal Era: The Pressures, the Changes, the Potential

by Kim Moody | August 17, 2017

Capitalism in the United States and across the world has gone through a series of mind-bending crises, spatial 'fixes,' and continuous restructurings that have disoriented organized labor in most of the developed economies since the beginning of the neoliberal era in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Since then, however, continued problems of profitability and competition have altered the structure of U.S. capitalism and the working class in ways that could lay the basis for renewed class struggle.

What's New: Coverage of Winnipeg’s Rooster Town Blockade Reveals Media’s Anti-Indigenous Biases

by James Wilt | August 17, 2017

Winnipeg’s Rooster Town Blockade has been standing for almost a month now, with Indigenous land defenders and allies successfully blocking a large aspen forest from clearcutting. Local reporters have covered almost every major occurrence on site, including the original seizure of the mulching machine by land defenders, the developer's request for an urgent court injunction against lead organizers, and the recent installation of massive floodlights and 24-hour surveillance.

Bullet #1469: An Injury to One is an Injury to All!

by CUPE, DSA, IWW, ISO | August 16, 2017

Four statements on the events in Charlottesville, Virginia, last week. -- Hate crawled up from the sewers of Charlottesville, Virginia on Friday and flooded the streets with thousands of white men baring torches and chanting unbelievable hatred. Many thought we were past such horrors, that the days of torches and pitch forks held high by angry white men screaming hate were gone for good. We might have hoped that the racist haters that still exist understand that this kind of venom just won’t be tolerated by most people in our society.

Bullet #1468: Korean Unions Call for a Just Energy Transition

| August 15, 2017

In a series of landmark statements following the May 2017 election of the pro-reform President Moon Jae-in, Korean energy, transport and public service workers have called for 'a just energy transition' allowing the sector to 'function as a public asset under public control.' Unions support the new government’s decision to close the country’s aging coal-fired and nuclear power stations, and its planned reconsideration of two new nuclear facilities - Kori 5 and Kori 6.

What's New: Back Seat Drivers

by Mike Constable | August 14, 2017

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7:00pm, Tuesday August 22, 2017 A Different Booklist Cultural Centre, 777 Bathurst Street, Toronto. Add to iCal \| Google \| Yahoo	Forum: The France of Macron, the ‘New’ Neoliberal Reforms and the Left Analyses and Reportbacks from the 2017 Election with Stefan Kipfer and Nathan Rao The 2017 Presidential and Parliamentary elections produced a paradoxical result: the victory of a youngish Emmanuel Macron who is a pure product of the discredited social democratic François Hollande presidency (as well as the typical institutions of the French ruling class) and a leader of a brand-new political formation (La République en Marche) that managed to marginalize the parties (the Républicains and the Parti Socialiste) that have, under different names, governed France since 1958. Macron's victory blocked the advances of the neo-fascist Front National, the President of which, Marine Le Pen, garnered a record 10.5 million votes in the Presidential election. In turn, Macron threatens to deepen the very conditions that have led to the recurrent surge of neo-fascist politics in France. He wants to radicalize the policies of the Hollande government by making the state of emergency a permanent feature of French law, implementing a new set of neoliberal labour reforms, entrenching austerity to shrink public sector employment and deconstructing the French welfare state all the while defending a central and aggressive role for the French military sector Euro-American imperialism. A force of ‘continuity-in-discontinuity’, Macron's En Marche thus expresses the ongoing crisis of rule in France as well as the wider systemic uncertainties about French capitalism and the future of the European Union. What are the political implications of the French elections for the future of left and popular forces in France? * Stefan Kipfer just returned from a sabbatical year in France doing research on fascism and anti-fascism. He teaches politics and urban questions at York University. * Nathan Rao is a writer and political activist living in France. Sponsored by: Centre for Social Justice, Socialist Project \| Facebook event \| PDF poster
12:00pm, Sunday August 20, 2017 Christie Pits park, Bloor and Christie, Toronto. Add to iCal \| Google \| Yahoo	: Christie Pits Riot Commemorative BBQ To commemorate the 84th anniversary of the Christie Pits Uprising against racism and fascism, the Toronto IWW General Defence Committee Local 28, in partnership with the United Jewish People's Order, International Socialists and the Organizing Committee Against Islamophobia is hosting a family-friendly community BBQ on Sunday, August 20th, from 12pm to 5pm. Join us in Christie Pits Park - the location of the baseball game where the uprising began - for food, baseball, and solidarity against fascism. In 1933, six months after Adolf Hitler took power in Germany, the effects of this administration could be felt across the world. In Toronto, Jews were institutionally excluded from summer resorts outside of the city. The Jewish population at the time was predominantly working-class, and would spend their summers making use of the city’s various amenities. This sparked a backlash from the more racist and xenophobic residents of Toronto, who formed “Swastika Clubs,” whose purpose it was to marginalize Jews and others, and threaten them with violence. Facebook event
August 17 - August 19, 2017 UQAM, Montreal. Add to iCal \| Google \| Yahoo	Canada, Past and Present: Capitalism, Patriarchy, Colonialism The Canadian State celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. It’s the only territory of the Americas that didn’t fight for its independence or reinvent itself to resemble a republic. Yet Canada has had a distinct and ongoing history of conquests and plunder, including the stealing of 98 % of the First Nation’s lands. This is not our State and we have nothing to celebrate. However, this year represents an opportunity to better understand the long-lasting capitalist, colonial and patriarchal power system that has oppressed and violated people across the land, at the hands of a benefitting small elite. Time and again, this power has been shaken by uprisings. This history of resistance is our history. And it’s from here that we can map out our movements and our struggles. Join us at the NCS People's University next August as we retake our history, invent new tools for liberation and imagine another world, a post-capitalist, post-patriarchal and post-colonial society. www.cahiersdusocialisme.org \| Program \| PDF poster