-V.I. Lenin, 1915
By Greg GodelsThe debates over “multipolarity” and the significance of an allegedly multipolar BRICS grouping continue. In an opinion piece in People’s Voice (Canada) (“Multipolarity, BRICS+ and the struggle for peace, cooperation, and socialism today”, June 16-30, 2024) writer Garrett Halas mounts an earnest defense of multipolarity and the BRICS+ “as a positive step towards socialism.”
History, they say, is written by the victors, even the temporary ones. The dominance of counter-revolution and the overthrow of socialism in the Soviet Union and the Eastern European countries in the early 1990s was the trigger for the escalation of anti-communism at all levels.
Through bourgeois historiography and the mainstream media, a series of fallacious theories have been developed, aimed at slandering the 20th century socialism and demonizing Marxist-Leninist ideology.
'As young people increasingly fall into poverty, billions of pounds are spent on war and the preparations for war', the Young Communist League general secretary pointed out.
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| Photo Credit: Sebastian Meyer |
Late in January Sinohydro Corp and China Railway Group Limited re-negotiated their plunder of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). They hold 68% of Sicomines, a joint copper and cobalt mining venture with a local corporation. The two Chinese corporations will pay a pitiful royalty of 1.2% on gross sales.
The Chinese firms also pledged to invest $7 billion in infrastructure in the Congo during the life of the agreement. However, in the previous contract they had agreed to put in $3 billion but actually invested only $822 million.
Australian millionaire Tim Gurner said what all capitalists are thinking. He expressed the aspirations of all exploiters: To kill the struggles of the working class.
Speaking on September 12th at the building industry summit held by the Australian Financial Review (AFR), property developer Gurner said that "workers have become arrogant" and that "unemployment has to jump 40 to 50 percent".
The question of whether or not modern China is a socialist country, is one of the most polarizing issues among self-proclaimed Marxist-Leninists today. DKU's position on this question defines our position on a wide range of theoretical, political, philosophical and economic issues that we have to deal with in our daily activities. Therefore, we must give a clear answer to our view on the political character of China.
The 8th of April marked the 10th death anniversary of the so-called “Iron Lady”, Margaret Thatcher. Following the announcement of her death, on 8 April 2013, spontaneous celebrations erupted in numerous working class neighborhoods throughout Britain.
The fact that thousands of Britons, old and young, welcomed happily the news of the Iron Lady's death wasn't a coincidence: Throughout her political career Baroness Thatcher made everything in order to establish herself as a fierce enemy of the working class.
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| Nikita Khrushchev and Deng Xiaoping. |
Einstein did it in 1949 through an extensive article in defense of socialism in "Monthly Review and Hawking in 2015 answering a question about artificial intelligence:
ALBERT EINSTEIN
“The methodical invasion of government buildings by far-right supporters of former Brazilian President Bolsonaro and their calls for a coup are directed against the interests of the Brazilian people who are solely responsible for determining the social and political developments in their country.
December 30th marked the 100th anniversary since the founding of the world's first workers' state, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The creation of the USSR was the practical result of the 1917 Great October Socialist Revolution, the single most important event in modern history that became the first conscious step for the transition from capitalism to socialism and the abolition of the exploitation of man by man.
Addressing world leaders gathered for the first fully in-person high-level debate of the UN General Assembly in three years, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez said that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the true essence of the unjust and unsustainable prevailing international order.
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| Protest against child slavery in India. |
Fifty million people around the world are trapped in forced labor or forced marriage, the UN said Monday, warning that their ranks had swelled dramatically in recent years.
The study by the UN's agencies for labor and migration along with the Walk Free Foundation found that at the end of last year, 28 million people were in forced labor and 22 million living in a marriage they had been forced into. That means nearly one out of every 150 people in the world are caught up in modern forms of slavery, the report said. The Covid pandemic, which worsened conditions and swelled debt levels for many workers, has heightened the risk, the survey found.
"The least we owe Ukraine is full support, and to do this we need a stronger Nato [...] Today, one cannot be a leftist if one does not unequivocally stand behind Ukraine” (The Guardian, June 21, 2022).
Who is the author of the above words? Is it NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg? Or German Chancellor Olaf Scholz? Maybe Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez? None of them. The phrase belongs to a celebrity of contemporary left-wing intelligentsia. The much publicized “Hegelian Marxist” philosopher Slavoj Žižek.
