A novel about the Soviet purge trials of the 1930s, in which an Old Bolshevik prisoner confesses for the good of the Communist Party to crimes he did not commit.

The focus of this debate included the questions of socialism and ‘identity politics’; the role of the trade unions and the working-class movement; the national question; and under what programme and how should Marxists organise internationally and domestically. The primary goal of Socialism is the elimination of socioeconomic classes through equal distribution of income. They all began as democratic socialism—before turning into coercive, stratified, hierarchical societies run incompetently by a technocratic elite. When today’s proponents of democratic socialism say “this time it will be different,” they are only saying what was promised in every preceding effort to put socialism into practice. Chapters on Stalin’s Soviet Union, Mao’s China, Cuba, North Korea, Khmer Rouge’s Cambodia, Albania, East Germany, and Venezuela. In this third book on the history of the work of the Socialist Party, Peter Taaffe outlines a Marxist and Trotskyist analysis of developments in the global capitalist system, including the political events that flow from them, from the financial crash of 2007-08 through to 2019.Having risen up in the land of Europe’s gendarme (as the esteemed Nikolai Romanov was styled), the Russian people declare that they wish to speak with their brothers-in-arms in Germany, Austria, Turkey, etc, not in the language of arms but in the language of the international solidarity of the toilers of all countries. [5] This nation declared openly to the whole world that it does not need conquest, it will not encroach on others’ possessions and that it seeks only the brotherhood of peoples and the freedom of labour. This fact cannot be eliminated from the consciousness of the popular masses of all countries suffering under the yoke of the war. Sooner or later they will hear our voice and stretch out a helping hand. In Defence of Trotskyism’ is a new book bringing together many of the key documents produced to defend a working-class, Trotskyist CWI; a process which culminated in the CWI’s re-foundation.

Cde Trotsky shows two maps of the western front in September and October, from which it is clear that in the course of these two months there was a large transfer of forces from ours to the western front. But in these two months, the speaker says, we were not in power and peace negotiations were not then taking place…. Numerous examples of successful trade union and political class battles bring to life not only the kind of organisation and audacity that can win against the bosses now, but also help workers hone the kind of methods and organisation that can ultimately bring about fundamental socialist change. Much has been written about socialism, yet too little has been read (too little serious writing, that is). This annotated list of recommended reading, compiled by Independent Institute Senior Fellow Dr. Williamson M. Evers, tries to remedy this deficiency by highlighting some of the most insightful critiques of socialism ever written. It’s not an exaggeration to say that anyone who carefully studies even a handful of these books will gain a stronger understanding of socialism than is possessed by the vast majority of socialists. In a socialist system, all decisions regarding production, distribution, and pricing are made by the government. Hohenzollern and Hapsburg were the family names of the German and Austro-Hungarian emperors respectively. The German emperor, Wilhelm II, is later referred to in this article just as Wilhelm.Anderson and Boettke liken the Soviet economy after 1921 to the 16th and 17th century mercantilist states of Europe (such as France under Louis XIV). The Communist rulers handed out monopolies to loyalists. The ruling elite reaped rewards in the form of status, power, and privilege. Soviet central planners (who didn’t exist in classical mercantilism) couldn’t really plan for the future and didn’t; they helped sort out friction amongst the monopolists. We’ve also prepared a list of questions to try and help discussion at your group. We’ve produced a handy pdf to print off, and will carry the questions in full below. Feel free to use as many or as few as you like, or discuss it on your own terms. These are here to spark discussions and help explore and understand the book. Hayek provides one of the most articulate statements of the [classical] liberal proposition that economic freedom and political freedom are linked.... He argued that economic control does not control merely ‘a sector of human life which can be separated from the rest; it is the control of the means for all our ends. And whoever has sole control of the means must also determine which ends are to be served, which values are to be rated higher and which lower—in short, what men should believe and strive for. Central planning means that the economic problem is to be solved by the community instead of by the individual; but this involves that it must also be the community, or rather its representatives, who must decide the relative importance of the different needs.’” Die Gemeinwirtschaft: Untersuchungen über den Sozialismus, Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2007. (reprint of 2nd German edition) Hayes, H. Gordon (1937). "Review of J. Casey, The Crisis in the Communist Party and L. von Mises, Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis". The American Economic Review. 27 (3): 624–625. JSTOR 1802093.

Crisis, austerity and environmental devastation. That is the future capitalism offers for billions of working class, young and poor people across the globe. We live in a world where eight men own the same wealth as the 3.6 billion people in the poorest half of humanity, said Oxfam a year ago. In the year since then, the world’s richest 1% took 82% of all the wealth generated. And for the vast majority of people this system can’t meet people’s basic needs for housing, health care, education and even food and water. Soviet Venality: A Rent-Seeking Model of the Communist State,” by Gary M. Anderson and Peter J. Boettke. Public Choice, vol. 93, nos. 1 & 2 (1997): 37-53. Reprinted in Boettke’s Calculation and Coordination: Essays on Socialism and Transitional Political Economy. Routledge, 2001. Thousands of people, especially the young, have taken to the streets across the world in opposition to the naked greed by the ruling elite, and growing impoverishment of the mass of people. The chasm between the obscenely rich ruling oligarchs and the majority of workers has been brought into sharp relief in the terrible pandemic.At Zimmerwald were gathered the internationalists who were being mercilessly persecuted by the chauvinists of all countries. [2] We were a small handful, three dozen people. It seemed that the entire past of socialism had been submerged by a bloody wave of chauvinist blindness and that we were the last remnants of a great but now closed chapter. We have received a letter from cde Liebknecht, incarcerated in a fortress by the German tyrants. [3] He writes to us that we should not be worried that we are few, he is certain that our labours and efforts will not be in vain. It is possible to deal with a lone individual easily and with impunity, but in the hearts of the peoples a belief in revolutionary socialism will not be broken. In saying this, Karl Liebknecht is deceiving no-one, life ever more strongly and clearly bears out his hope. Socialism is an economic, social, and political system based on public rather than private ownership of a country’s means of production. Socialism: A Study Guide and Reader, edited by David M. Hart. Online Library of Liberty, Liberty Fund, 2018. What was Hegel’s ground-breaking philosophical contribution to Marxist thought? And why was it incomplete?