WeAreMany.org: Featured Audio

What Do Socialists Say About White Privilege? Khury Petersen-Smith brian bean Socialism 2018 Racism & Civil Rights The questions of understanding and fighting racism, and Black liberation, are central ones for socialists in the US. At the moment, there is a set of conversations on the left about how socialists understand white privilege, and they are related to the question of where the fight against racism fits in the class struggle. read more

Poverty, Pain, and Pill Mills Social Crisis and America’s Opioid Epidemic Nicole Colson Socialism 2018 U.S. Politics The opioid epidemic is ravaging large swathes of America—from once-thriving Rust Belt communities to inner cities. So many lives have been lost to this crisis that annual opioid deaths in the U.S. now outnumber deaths due to breast cancer, and American life expectancy has fallen two years in a row. read more

A War Resister in the Ranks Spencer Rapone Rory Fanning Socialism 2018 War & Antiwar What does it mean to resist as an active duty soldier in the 21st century? Socialist revolutions share a vibrant historical legacy with disaffected soldiers who have laid down their arms and refused to serve the interests of the rich and powerful. read more

South Africa: How Apartheid Was Defeated Trevor Ngwane Socialism 2018 International The British and Dutch colonizers of South Africa built from the outset a society based upon the oppression and exploitation of the indigenous African population, where the latter were restricted from buying land outside of special “reserves,” given the worst jobs and legally considered “sojourners” in urban areas. read more

Vanguard Party, Democratic Centralism, and Workers' Revolution Todd Chretien Socialism 2018 Socialism & Marxism The Bolsheviks developed a theory and practice of political organization that is both coherent and recognizable, and it is absolutely relevant for today. This talk will explain terms and history for beginners, but also address the rise of a new socialist movement in the U.S. read more

Final Rally Another World Is Necessary Sharon Smith Khury Petersen-Smith Socialism 2018 Socialism & Marxism

Marxists, Elections, and the State Eric Ruder Socialism 2018 Socialism & Marxism The surprise primary victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over a high-ranking Democrat has given fresh energy to a longstanding debate about how the left should relate to elections and the Democratic Party. read more

Syria and the Left Ashley Smith Socialism 2018 International

A Nation under the Gun Gun Violence and Gun Control Danny Katch Socialism 2018 U.S. Politics For years each horrific mass shooting has followedby a loud but largely empty partisan debate: Republicans and Democrats pointfingers at each other while avoiding uncomfortable questions about why guns andgun violence are so prevalent in a country founded on stolen land and stolenbodies and maintained with the violence of mass incarceration and globalempire. read more

From Apathy to Rebellion What Makes Workers Fight? Jen Roesch Socialism 2018 LGBT The teachers' rebellion that broke out in West Virginia this spring followed years of historically low strike levels. And rather than emerging in the places where unions are strongest and most organized, these strikes have rocked the so-called "red states" - places where Trump won handily and governed by Republican governors and legislatures. read more

Opening Plenary: Fighting Racism in Trump's America Khury Petersen-Smith Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor Socialism 2017 Racism & Civil Rights Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, a professor at Princeton’s Center for African American Studies and author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, was forced to cancel two speaking engagements following her May 30 commencement speech at Hampshire College, where she called President Trump a “racist, sexist megalomaniac.” After Fox News covered the speech, she received more than fifty emails, some co read more

Trump, Economic Nationalism, and Imperialism Today Lee Sustar Socialism 2017 U.S. Politics Trump famously broke with Republican orthodoxy by criticizing free trade deals and promising to champion manufacturing workers. He also denounced surviving Cold-War era institutions like NATO—causing some pundits to worry that he would undermine the post-war agreement that placed the U.S. at the center of a “liberal” imperial order. read more

Marxism and Cultural Appropriation Nicole Colson Socialism 2017 Socialism & Marxism A University of Texas fraternity holds “border” themed party where attendees wear construction gear, ponchos, and sombreros. Czech composer Antonin Dvorak utilizes a well-known Black spiritual as the basis of his most famous symphony. GM names one of its most iconic brands after a famous Ottawa chief, Pontiac, who led a resistance against European conquest. read more

Not Just Your Pay Grade: How do Marxists Understand Class? David Whitehouse Socialism 2017 Socialism & Marxism Class in the U.S. is usually defined in terms of income and status. The “middle class” denotes the majority who are neither poor nor rich. This descriptive way of looking at class obscures more than explains—for example, how someone gets rich who doesn’t work at all while someone else who works hard is poor. read more

The Theory of the United Front Kirstin Roberts Socialism 2017 Socialism & Marxism The united front strategy was developed in the era immediately after the Russian Revolution as a tool for revolutionaries to win over in and through struggle the majority of the working class, which still held reformist views, to a revolutionary perspective. read more