I’m guessing I was like millions of others and didn’t get past the part of the Democrats’ debate where they debated health care. Round and round they went. Back and forth. Should […]
Third Democratic Party debate
Trump’s unbalanced and erratic foreign policy and the firing of John Bolton
Question: What do you get when you combine infantile, narcissistic ego mania with an unbalanced and erratic foreign policy? Answer: The firing of John Bolton. Trump fired his third National Security Advisor, […]
Democrats’ leading candidates: What really matters
So, I watched bits and snatches of the climate discussion that CNN presented. First my impressions and then some unasked questions: Beto O’Rourke: If he doesn’t get elected president, he has a […]
Brexit: A sinister version of Alice in Wonderland
by Roger Silverman in London Curiouser and curiouser, as Alice might have said. Britain staggers towards its third general election in four years, under an unelected Prime Minister who has won not […]
Assembly Bill 5 and capitalist propaganda
I subscribe to the SF Chronicle. When it comes, first I read the comics and “Dear Abby.” Then I turn to the news. Sometimes I learn something new. Sometimes I relearn something […]
Labor Day 2019 in Oakland CA vs. 21st century capitalist realities
On the day that labor holds its traditional marches, rallies and picnics, the name and a little background of the latest mass shooter was revealed. This was the shooter in Odessa Texas, […]
Interview with Simon Rodriguez in Venezuela
Brexit and the degeneration of British Capitalism
In this interview, Roger Silverman discusses the Brexit crisis in Britain. He explains: the long, steady decline in British capitalism the decline in the simple competence of recent prime ministers as a […]
Union rank and file can stop climate disaster
Sisters and brothers: Anybody who looks around is extremely concerned about the looming climate disaster and the fires in the Amazon. Home to 2/3 of our planet’s species, the Amazon is also […]
Book Review: “Why did chavismo fail?”
What in the world is happening in Venezuela? Is it exhibit #1 of the failure of socialism, as Trump would have people believe? Is it a case of a proud people standing […]
Sell outs in the carpenters union
The most recent edition of the rag published by the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council (NCCRC) has news of the promotion of two staffers: Jay Bradshaw to Executive Director of the 46 […]
Foxnews poll reveals mood in the United States
Trump isn’t looking so good, but Biden, Warren and Sanders are. Who’s looking best to most Americans? Barack Obama! That’s the results of a recent Foxnews opinion poll conducted in mid-August (8/11-13), […]
India, Kashmir and the global crisis of capitalism
“What India has done in Kashmir over the last 30 years is unforgivable. An estimated 70,000 people, civilians, militants and security forces have been killed in the conflict. Thousands have been “disappeared,” and tens […]
Kashmir crisis a heritage of British colonialism
India’s ultra-right prime minister Modi has staged an overnight coup abolishing Kashmir’s statehood and autonomous status, cutting all its communication links and flooding it with occupation troops, writes Roger Silverman in Britain. […]
The 2020 elections and the threat to capitalist democracy
When I was in second grade I befriended a kid who by today’s standards would probably be called “autistic”. He was incapable of relating to the other kids, or in fact the […]
Another crisis in socialist movement: The split in the CWI
At a time when capitalism is dragging the world into crisis and the world working class needs a workers international more than ever, at exactly this time what was probably the world’s […]
Sudan: Is a lasting deal between the generals and the protesters possible?
by David Hemson After months of extraordinary struggle involving all Sudanese towns and regions, an agreement has been made between the leaders of the movement and the military. There appears to be […]
Ellie Hamrick runs for city council: “We have a lot of problems and only the working class can solve them.”
Ellie Hamrick, a proud member of Athens (OH) Revolutionary Socialists, is running for Athens city council. Oaklandsocialist recently interviewed her. Here are some excerpts (along with some comments from Oaklandsocialist): On conditions […]
Gilroy, El Paso, Dayton: Why and What Next?
How to avoid sinking into cynicism and despair as the chaos and violence seem to sweep through US society? The first step is to understand what is happening and why. Trump and […]
Open letter by political prisoner Rodney Álvarez
Note: For background on this case, see this article. According to the article, a worker was shot and killed at a workers’ protest. Originally, the union bureaucrat Hector Maicán was arrested and […]
UFCW Local 8 president seems to side with employer & undermine sister locals
United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) representatives throughout Northern California have been bargaining with Lucky (food) Stores for months now. They thought they had reached an agreement that reportedly contained some real […]
Appeal from Jeff Nunes, fighter for carpenters rank and file
Oaklandsocialist reprints here the following appeal from Jeffrey Carlos Nunes. Brother Nunes was a leader of the New York City carpenters who opposed a wage cutting contract being forced down their throats […]
Democratic Party debates, Round II, second evening
Politics is class struggle, and that is what is obscured in these Democratic Party debates. Instead, round and round and back and forth they went. It was impossible to really make sense […]
Democratic debates Round II, first evening
Like millions of others, I was unable to listen to the entire debate among the first group of Democratic Party candidates. It just got too boring. One thing was clear: The moderators […]
Trump, the 2020 elections and what comes afterwards
There’s a long ways to go between now and November 3, 2020, but if the election were held today, and barring widespread voter suppression and fraud, it seems Trump would handily lose. […]
Mueller testifies: The coverup continues
Democrats and Republicans performed intricate dance steps while trying to lure Robert Mueller onto the dance floor yesterday. He, however, stubbornly refused to move from the wall onto that floor. Republicans The […]
Placerville CA: Silent no more!
By Scott Schroeder, Placerville, California. If you have been through Placerville, CA you may have noticed things like American flags, big pick up truck with dogs in the back & Trump bumper stickers. […]
Does a “left” Democrat stand the best chance of defeating Trump?
Does a “left” Democrat – Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren – stand the best chance of defeating Trump next year? They and their supporters argue that such a candidate would enthuse a […]
Now presenting: Boris Johnson, next British Prime Minister!
From Steve McKenzie in Britain: Barring a huge surprise, clown prince Boris Johnson will be anointed as the unelected prime minister next week. It is a fitting epitaph for the absolute degeneration, […]
Lesson from recent labor struggles: Build opposition caucuses!
The hundreds of New York City carpenters – mainly younger apprentices – who protested against a wage cutting contract proved it. The teachers in West Virginia who stayed on strike after their […]
Trump’s racist tweets show where he’s headed in the coming electon
Three days after Trump’s racist tweets and the day after he set of fascistic “send her back” chants at his rally in Greenville, the AFL-CIO was silent on the issue. So was […]
A profits recession?
Originally posted on Michael Roberts Blog:
This week, we get the first US company reports on earnings for the second quarter of 2019. And it looks as though there will be the…
Video: New York Carpenters protest pay cuts
On July 10, 2019, hundreds of carpenters in New York City rallied outside the carpenters district council office to protest the pay cuts being forced down their throat by the district council […]
Carpenters Union leadership record a dismal failure
The New Your Carpenters Union leadership has sent out the following defense of its disastrous contract: If this contract is so great, why didn’t they allow the rank and file carpenters, vote […]
Epstein arrest: a means of getting at Trump?
The procurer of young girls for the rich and famous – Jeffrey Epstein – has been arrested in New York. He had previously been convicted of similar crimes in Florida. In that […]
Carpenters wildcat strike in NYC?
There is increasing talk on Facebook about a wildcat strike among New York City carpenters. The issue is the horrible contract that the union leadership has negotiated. The defining question is whether […]
NYC Carpenters in struggle… against their own union leadership
Carpenters in New York City are facing a danger and an opportunity. During a nation-wide building boom, the New York Carpenters District Council is proposing a contract with some huge give-aways. Most […]
Census Drama and Trump’s Strategy
With the concentration camps on the US border, the growing planet climate/environment emergency, the attacks on a woman’s right to make her own reproductive decisions, and the possibility of war with Iran […]
#Jewishresistance in San Francisco protest of concentration camps
Video of July 5 protest by some 200+ people – mainly but not entirely Jewish youth – against Trump’s concentration camps at the US/Mexican border. They were protesting the camps as well […]
Report from Germany: From “hopeless” to “Now I believe in a future again”
From a correspondent in eastern Germany: Dear readers, Until just a few months ago, I was pretty hopeless about our future and did not really believe that the good would still be […]
Democratic Party Debates
First Night I went to a “watch party” to watch the first round of the Democratic Party debates. It was held at the offices of the Sierra Club in downtown Oakland. I […]
Supreme Court census ruling: Grounds being prepared for inclusion of citizenship question
The US Supreme Court’s ruling today against the inclusion of a citizenship question on the US 2020 census is a sneaky way for the Republican right wing majority to have the best […]
Trump postpones war abroad in favor of war at home
Trump is trying to postpone the war abroad (against Iran) in favor of fighting the war at home. He backed down at the last minute as far as a military attack on […]
Trump, “treason”, and bourgeois democracy
On June 20, the Wall St. Journal republished a column from the publisher of the NY Times, A.G. Sulzberger. The column was sharply critical of Trump. Normally, these two publishers are at […]
A Russian and West Indian in Revolutionary Sudan
by Luke Pickrell Born are the beautiful children, hour by hour with brightest eyes, and loving hearts you have bestowed upon fatherland, they will come, for bullets aren’t the seeds of life. […]
Support Louisa Hanoune
Trade unionists and activists are mobilizing for an international day of action on 20 June in solidarity with Louisa Hanoune, General Secretary of the radical left Workers’ Party who was detained by […]
New Crisis in Gulf of Oman: What really happened? Where is it headed?
On Thursday, June 13 two oil tankers, one operated by a Japanese company and the other by a Norwegian shipping company, were attacked in the Gulf of Oman, off the coast of […]
Britain in a Tailspin
Britain is rapidly plunging into a dangerous tailspin, explains Roger Silverman, in London. Having put her proposed Brexit deal with the EU to parliament three times only to be humiliated each time, […]
“How to start a workers party”
I was asked for “an outline for ‘how to start a workers party.’” But it’s not like just reading the directions and proceeding step-by-step for assembling a piece of Ikea furniture. It’s […]
I Remember the March on Washington
by John Reimann My parents took me to the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. I was 17 at the time and the memories will be with me for my […]
