Category Archives: Revolutionary Theory
From Signalfire: A Maoist Response to the Ten Theses of Ba Jin
The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation: home to a people that Ba Ji and Fire Next Time would have us believe are a “Brown Middle Layer” between Africans and Whites in Amerika
The following article is a response from Maoist Amerikan website Signalfire to the Ten Theses on the US Racial Order by the Fire Next Time Collective based in the eastern United States. This article by the comrades at Signalfire gets a lot right, in particular the emphasis that (New) Afrikan people, along with other “minorities” in fact face national oppression/colonialism inside the United States, and not some kind of amorphous “racial oppression”. It also correctly calls out the FNT’s notion of a “Brown” middle-layer placed between (New) Afrikans and Whites within the supposed Amerikan racial hierarchy. The Speed of Dreams also commends the comrades at Signalfire for emphasising the utter lack of attention paid to First Nations’ (so-called “Indians”) national oppression in the United States by the FNC. Finally, the Signalfire article is refreshing in that it unusual to see North American Marxist-Leninists and Maoists with a (more or less) correct orientation on the settler-colonial origins of the US. Read the rest of this entry
The Contributions of Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah to the Global Anti-Imperialist Struggle
The following article is the text of a speech about the political-theoretical contributions of Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah – the Pan Africanist, scientific socialist and anti-colonial leader of Ghana, and the major theorist of the concept of neocolonialism. It was given by Jorge Risquet Valdes, a Central Committee member of the Communist Party of Cuba. Here comrade Valdes illustrates the main points of Osagyefo Nkrumah’s ideas and his influence. Comrade Valdes also illustrates revolutionary Cuba’s strong relationships with various African liberation movements as a display of their strong proletarian internationalism.
However, as usual the posting of this does not imply total agreement by TSoD with the positions of the author/speaker. In particular the author falls into the same trap that many Marxists have over the decades by speaking about “proletarian” struggles within the imperialist nations, and his support of them. The clear understanding of the parasitism of the imperialist working class, what some call a labour aristocracy, puts those views of the author in question.
Finally, this piece was first spotted over at Anti-Imperialism.com, whose Peoples Liberation University project’s upcoming course on colonialism and neocolonialism will feature some of Nkrumah’s writings. Read the rest of this entry
Amilcar Cabral’s Theory of Class Suicide
This following was written by Thomas Meisenhelder, Professor of Sociology at California State University, San Bernardino. As always, reposting here is for critical discussion and does not imply, agreement, endorsement, or affiliation. Thanks to the comrades over at Anti-imperialism.com for helping to spread the piece.
This is a most difficult time for revolutionary socialists. The rapid collapse and disintegration of the Soviet Union, the electoral defeat of the Sandinistas, the many problems of Cuba, and the demise of revolutionary Marxism-Leninism in Africa all force a serious questioning of basic ideas and strategies. It is a time when global capital seems to rule nearly unchallenged throughout the world. If revolutionary socialism is to be revitalized, received truths about revolution and socialism must be reviewed. Serious questions must be asked. Why so many failed revolutions ending in some form of elitist rule? So far most answers to this question wisely stress a global context of resurgent capitalism; however, it also is important to probe socialist revolutions internally. Read the rest of this entry
