Socialist newspapers and magazines

[Ostrinski]

If this is in the wrong place, move it, etc etc.

I know there are probably plenty of threads about this, and there may even be a sticky somewhere, but I couldn't find anything. What are some good socialist papers that I could subscribe to?

Don't really care about tendency or party politics, just something that is at a reasonable price, and worth the price.

[Os Cangaceiros]

The only "left" publication that I regularly read is Fire to the Prisons. Although they haven't come out with a new one for a long time.

It's not that it's especially "good", just entertaining in a way that other publications aren't.

I was at the London demonstration today and was practically assailed by Trots with their goddamn newspapers. I shamefully bought one (Socialist Appeal, the IMT's rag), but I managed to turn down at least three others. Some old anarchist dude from Anarchist Federation gave me literature for free, too.

[Ostrinski]

It does seem like the Trotskyists have the most significant literature dissemination machinery. Was never really interested in Trotskyism. Are any of their papers worth reading or is it really sectarian?

[mrmikhail]

It does seem like the Trotskyists have the most significant literature dissemination machinery. Was never really interested in Trotskyism. Are any of their papers worth reading or is it really sectarian?

This all depends by group, the IMT has a good news letter that doesn't really get into sectarianism, Here (www.marxist.com/) is the main website. Another organisation with whom I don't care for personally, but has a good daily news letter is Here (http://www.wsws.org/) but they tend to have quite a bit of attacks of other groups from time to time, their main daily news letter, however, is almost strictly on relevant non-sectarian matters of news in the movement in general.

[mrmikhail]

I was at the London demonstration today and was practically assailed by Trots with their goddamn newspapers. I shamefully bought one (Socialist Appeal, the IMT's rag), but I managed to turn down at least three others. Some old anarchist dude from Anarchist Federation gave me literature for free, too.

The IMT in america (WIL) encourages members to have multiple subscriptions to SA and then hand them out free to non-members to encourage growth/consciousness of the organisation....the IMT in Britain doesn't have this as a common practice?

[Meditation]

tinyurl.com/c2h2zxt

[SHORAS]

What sectarian actually means in this day and age is don't discuss or criticize another organisation. Which is fucking mental, and I don't know how people don't understand that this is necessary AND productive.

All these groups want to make their revolution, they have little interest in the proletarian revolution.

I've tried a few leftist papers and anarchist publications and found them all wanting, even the SPGB I found very disappointing given their general positive positions. My advice is read something more theoretical. It will give you something to think about even if you completely disagree with most of it and it will bring out your differences and hopefully advance or make you question your own understanding.

I have a subscription to the International Communist Current (ICC) and more recently Internationalist Communist Tendency (ICT) - which I haven't read yet. The only real problem I have with the ICC publications are the lack of discussion within their publications. But that might be due to people simply not writing anything in opposition or sending any comments to them. Maybe people do and they don't publish them? However, there is now discussion on their forum which I recommend people to visit.

[Os Cangaceiros]

The publication that the ICC puts out quarterly (can't remember what the name of it is) is absolutely abysmal. And I say that as someone who sympathizes with their positions, for the most part.

The last one I read dedicated the first few pages to the financial crisis (good), and literally the entire rest of the publication to a political discussion of the communist left in the 1920's and Rosa Luxemburg. :rolleyes:

[SHORAS]

The publication that the ICC puts out quarterly (can't remember what the name of it is) is absolutely abysmal. And I say that as someone who sympathizes with their positions, for the most part.

The last one I read dedicated the first few pages to the financial crisis (good), and literally the entire rest of the publication to a political discussion of the communist left in the 1920's and Rosa Luxemburg. :rolleyes:

The ICC quarterly is called International Review. Interestingly I found that it was their monthly World Revolution that I was less impressed with. I still find it useful though. IR I found especially good on historical and theoretical subjects. (Perhaps if you already have a good grasp of historical struggles it won't appeal as much)

What don't you like about it, the fact that it contains historical and workers struggle content or the way it is presented etc? Of course WR usually contains on-going and recent events. The only criticism I have of that is some of the reoccurring rhetoric really but then the publication has a different purpose and has different form and content.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I think that the dilemma much of the left faces (not just the ICC) is how you can put out a publication that's accessible by the people you're supposedly advocating for, while at the same time being able to present the ideas of the left in their complexity and proper scope. On the one hand you have publications like the International Review, which, judging from my experience, seemed to put more emphasis on discussing the theoretical errors of Lenin or the Dutch left post-ww1 than anything anyone outside the very small left milieu cares about. The previously mentioned Fire to the Prisons (also a quarterly) is the opposite: a bunch of stories extolling the deeds of cop killers, arsonists, rioters etc. but absolutely devoid of theoretical content.

I realize that the ICC is not really interested in recruitment so much, and thus their publications are oriented towards people who are already in the milieu. But...I just think it's turgid writing and kind of inaccessible to those who may have a mild interest in some of the ideas it promotes.

[khlib]

Against the Current, put out by Solidarity, is wonderful, imo. Labor Notes and Worker's World are also good.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Worker's World is true birdcage liner. The word "good" and the name of the publication "Worker's World" should never go together in the same sentence.

[The Idler]

What do you want out of a publication? Some people want news, some people want labor union and industrial action reports, some people want theory, some people want letters and discussion of other left groups. What frequency do you want?

Most of the general public want an attractively designed publication.

If you're a hardcore lefty, you should be able to cope with reading text on party websites to find out what you like.

Identifying your tendency can be a good place to start, but the left publications I just bought (xmas splurge) is all over the place at the moment.

[mrmikhail]

Worker's World is true birdcage liner. The word "good" and the name of the publication "Worker's World" should never go together in the same sentence.

Apparently you find every news paper to be birdcage liner, so I must question your deductions on any matter concerning news.

[Ostrinski]

What do you want out of a publication? Some people want news, some people want labor union and industrial action reports, some people want theory, some people want letters and discussion of other left groups. What frequency do you want?

Most of the general public want an attractively designed publication.

If you're a hardcore lefty, you should be able to cope with reading text on party websites to find out what you like.

Identifying your tendency can be a good place to start, but the left publications I just bought (xmas splurge) is all over the place at the moment.I suppose I'm just looking for news with leftist commentary. I don't really care for aesthetic. I'm looking for something that comes out somewhat frequently. I haven't been able to choose a tendency thus far. I've read a lot of theory but I can't bring myself to subscribe to one set of ideas.

[graymouser]

Of course there's Socialist Action's newspaper of the same name, and I'd be remiss if I didn't say it's worth reading.

While I do not agree with their basic line of economic analysis, there is a lot of valuable stuff in Monthly Review (http://monthlyreview.org/). John Bellamy Foster has been writing excellent stuff on the environment, and the magazine has a lot of interesting material month to month.

Workers World is birdcage liner. Liberation is slightly better as Marcyite papers go. (It was better as a magazine, the newspaper length articles have basically chopped the more interesting analysis off.) I subscribe or have subscribed to much of the US Trot press, aside from SA's paper I would say Socialist Appeal (not quite every other month) and Freedom Socialist (every other month) are the most interesting. International Socialist Review and Against the Current, from the ISO and Solidarity respectively, are decent magazines, although neither is great.

[socialistjustin]

The only magazines I have had experience with is the International Socialist Review and Z Magazine. The ISR is pretty much The Nation with socialist thought instead of liberal thought and Z Magazine is a bit more theoretical. Both are decent reads.

[Die Rote Fahne]

The ILN releases a magazine called "The Mass Strike". I've yet to order it, but I've heard good things.

[Ostrinski]

Alright thanks. I appreciate the help.

Also, @graymouser. You said in a past thread that Socialist Action is opening a branch in Kentucky. Can you direct to me to more information on that? I looked on their site and couldn't find anything.

[El Louton]

Morning Star?

[Q]

I suppose I'm just looking for news with leftist commentary. I don't really care for aesthetic. I'm looking for something that comes out somewhat frequently. I haven't been able to choose a tendency thus far. I've read a lot of theory but I can't bring myself to subscribe to one set of ideas.

You could give the Weekly Worker (http://cpgb.org.uk) a try. While most of the left newspapers pretend they are the only red thing on the planet, the Weekly Worker tries to engage with others on the left about contemporary issues, which often involves a polemical attitude where people can write responses too in the form of letters or full articles. For this engagement, the Weekly Worker often gets branded a "gossip rag" by much on the left. I think this is unwarranted as it is in the clash of ideas that makes this publication so interesting and which is lacking in much of the rest of the left publications. It gets released every Thursday.

If you want something more about fighting the good fight, I can recommend Justice (http://socialistalternative.org/justice/), which is a bimonthly publication.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Workers Vanguard is the best paper in the U.S., bourgeois or otherwise -- and it's only $10 a year. The entertainment value alone is worth the price of admission.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Oh, really? I'm disappointed to hear that...I turned down buying a copy yesterday.

The guy who sold it and I had a conversation about how much the ISO and WWP sucked, though, so I assume it's pretty sectarian.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Sectarianism in our sense really means putting your sect's program and interests above the interests of the working class. It doesn't mean being critical of others. If that were the case Karl Marx would be among the biggest sectarians in world history.

The Sparts strategy involves recruiting from members of other "ostensibly revolutionary groups" (OSGs). So they pay a lot of attention to what these groups do and say. Because of that Workers Vanguard does a pretty good job of calling them out on their class-collaboration, reformism, treachery and inconsistency, though does not mean that the Sparts themselves don't fall into any of this.

They also do some of the best historical research of any group out via their Prometheus Research Library (http://www.prl.org/), and at least attempt to aid political prisoners via their Partisan Defense Committee.

But like I said, the entertainment value alone is good enough reason to subscribe. There's some stuff in some of the issues that the best parody acts on earth couldn't come up with.

[HEAD ICE]

I have a subscription to the International Communist Current (ICC) and more recently Internationalist Communist Tendency (ICT) - which I haven't read yet.

Revolutionary Perspectives is one of the finest pieces of communist literature out in the English language today. You get news, analysis, history and a glossy cover page. Look out in the beginning of 2012 for the return of the ICT's American publication!

ICT NEVER LOSE

[Die Rote Fahne]

Sectarianism in our sense really means putting your sect's program and interests above the interests of the working class. It doesn't mean being critical of others. If that were the case Karl Marx would be among the biggest sectarians in world history.

The Sparts strategy involves recruiting from members of other "ostensibly revolutionary groups" (OSGs). So they pay a lot of attention to what these groups do and say. Because of that Workers Vanguard does a pretty good job of calling them out on their class-collaboration, reformism, treachery and inconsistency, though does not mean that the Sparts themselves don't fall into any of this.

They also do some of the best historical research of any group out via their Prometheus Research Library (http://www.prl.org/), and at least attempt to aid political prisoners via their Partisan Defense Committee.

But like I said, the entertainment value alone is good enough reason to subscribe. There's some stuff in some of the issues that the best parody acts on earth couldn't come up with.

The spartacist league? Those fucking clowns that stole the name of Luxemburg's party and made it into a den of idiocy and pedophile apologists?

Fuck that.

[mrmikhail]

Sectarianism in our sense really means putting your sect's program and interests above the interests of the working class. It doesn't mean being critical of others. If that were the case Karl Marx would be among the biggest sectarians in world history.

The Sparts strategy involves recruiting from members of other "ostensibly revolutionary groups" (OSGs). So they pay a lot of attention to what these groups do and say. Because of that Workers Vanguard does a pretty good job of calling them out on their class-collaboration, reformism, treachery and inconsistency, though does not mean that the Sparts themselves don't fall into any of this.

They also do some of the best historical research of any group out via their Prometheus Research Library (http://www.prl.org/), and at least attempt to aid political prisoners via their Partisan Defense Committee.

But like I said, the entertainment value alone is good enough reason to subscribe. There's some stuff in some of the issues that the best parody acts on earth couldn't come up with.


Child pornography, like any pornography, is images and words intended for entertainment—nothing more, nothing less.

That would be from their latest issue. Now that is the mark of every great newspaper :rolleyes:


Workers Vanguard is a former good paper, back in the day it was discussed in a number of reputable discussion groups, now it isn't even worth cleaning up dog feces with.

And their defence committee is taking up for people like Daniel Guevara, who is in prison for child porn and is a paedophile...if you consider that being a political prisoner then....uhhhh good for you I guess :confused:

[the Leftâ„¢]

http://www.iww.org/PDF/IndustrialWorker/IWNovember2011.pdf

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Workers Vanguard is a former good paper, back in the day it was discussed in a number of reputable discussion groups, now it isn't even worth cleaning up dog feces with.I know a lot of "reputable" people who are well known (and generally respected) on the left that maintain subscriptions -- largely for entertainment purposes like I said. Anyway I'd rather read Workers Vanguard than the Post... and forget about the boring rags like Socialist Worker or Socialist Appeal ("tune in next issue to find out how successful our campaign to build a labor party to enter has been!"). But then again, I'm not trying to apply Lenin's newspaper-centered tactics of the early 20th Century so we're probably looking at the issue from much different viewpoints.


And their defence committee is taking up for people like Daniel Guevara, who is in prison for child porn and is a paedophile...if you consider that being a political prisoner then....uhhhh good for you I guessI'm not really interested in the macho pro-state posturing and hysteria, but the PDC spends most of its time giving stipends to political prisoners like Mumia, Peltier, Manning, Lynne Stewart; filing friend of court briefs; trying to fight for Mumia's freedom, to abolish the death penalty, etc. They usually fight for the freedom of members of other groups that have run ins with the state. I can remember off the top of my heard that they contributed to Larry Holmes's defense campaign. If you didn't know, he's a leading member of the WWP.

And they publish their finances openly -- a tradition that the bulk of the left abandoned long ago -- so it's not like you can say they are secret about where the money they raise goes.

Again, I'm not a member of the Sparts, never have been, never would be. Simply talking about the group and its (entertaining) paper.

[Binh]

http://links.org.au/

http://occupiedmedia.org/

[black magick hustla]

i don't really read any "publications". i guess the closest i read to publications is the theoretical magazine endnotes. i think a lot of leftist political writing is boring as hell, even insurrectionists, which you would think with all the criminality and violence they seem to entertain, it would be like reading an entertaining pulp novel. unfortunately the shitty high school poetics get on my nerves sometimes

[Os Cangaceiros]

Endnotes is OK, for a leftist nerd publication.

What I like about insurrectionist writings is how they try and incorporate non-leftists into their celebrated acts of "resistance", like the nut who drove down to the Pentagon just to shoot bullets at it, the "Barefoot Bandit" and Joe Stack, the guy who suicide bombed the IRS building in Texas. I expect a full write-up in the next FTTP about the guy who shot the White House recently.

[black magick hustla]

they are members of the imaginary party bruh thats why

[Aurora]

The spartacist league? Those fucking clowns that stole the name of Luxemburg's party and made it into a den of idiocy and pedophile apologists?

Fuck that.
Right.. you know it's named after Spartacus right? Luxemburg 'stole' it. Whatever you think of the sparts their hardly idiots and to jump on the anti-spart bandwagon in a thread completely unrelated is borderline trolling.

Anyway OP if your at a demo or march just go around and pick up the literature from any group that's there, their pretty cheap and it'll give you a sample of what you can expect in future issues and give you a basis in that groups politics, a lot of Trotskyist groups produce a newspaper and a journal which usually has more theoretical and historical stuff.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Yeah that's true. If you can make to a decent-sized protest you should be able to go home with a stack of lit from every group in town.

[The Idler]

Revolutionary Perspectives is one of the finest pieces of communist literature out in the English language today. You get news, analysis, history and a glossy cover page. Look out in the beginning of 2012 for the return of the ICT's American publication!

ICT NEVER LOSE
Just bought this today incidentally along with a lot of obscure publications of obscure groups. The cover is indeed glossy but a bit Times New Roman. The most attractively presented one was Socialist Resistance (UK), but it might not have been, had I succumbed to the latest issue of Permanent Revolution (UK).

What Anarion says is right, if you go to a demo and ask nicely (say you're thinking of joining) you can get an issue from a lot of different groups for free. It would be churlish to make a habit of this (as the publications rely on subscriptions), and if you did I hope you'd be recognised after a while.

[Die Rote Fahne]

Right.. you know it's named after Spartacus right? Luxemburg 'stole' it. Whatever you think of the sparts their hardly idiots and to jump on the anti-spart bandwagon in a thread completely unrelated is borderline trolling. Luxemburg named the party after Spartacus, a person who led a slave rebellion against the Romans. She didn't call her party "Spartacus" but the Spartacus League. If the modern Sparts had called themselves the Spartacus Organization or Party or Tendency, you would have a point.

It's easy to jump on a bandwagon against apologists for child molestation and rape.

[wunderbar]

The only leftist publication I subscribe to right now is Industrial Worker, which comes with my IWW membership.

I had a subscription to The Militant (biweekly newspaper of the US SWP) when I was a teenager, but I wouldn't subscribe to it now. Last time I had an encounter with an SWP member they were so aggressive in trying to sell me a subscription I had to pretend I was getting a phone call to get away.

I picked up a magazine put out by some Trot group earlier this summer, I don't remember what the group was, but at 60-something pages for $2, it's probably the best bang for your buck. If I can find that magazine again, I'll probably subscribe to it, some of the articles were good, some were entertaining, and several articles had the hilarious sub-headline "Help us build a Leninist-Trotskyist Party!".

CPUSA managed to become even more depressing when they stopped printing People's Weekly World, so now their members just pass out photocopied articles from their website. They don't even have nice formatting like the people at WSWS or Liberation.

[Ostrinski]

Unfortunately, I live in Kentucky, so there aren't really any demonstrations near me. But thanks for the suggestions.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

I picked up a magazine put out by some Trot group earlier this summer, I don't remember what the group was, but at 60-something pages for $2, it's probably the best bang for your buck. If I can find that magazine again, I'll probably subscribe to it, some of the articles were good, some were entertaining, and several articles had the hilarious sub-headline "Help us build a Leninist-Trotskyist Party!".

Sounds like you could be talking about 1917, which is published occasionally by the International Bolshevik Tendency (Spart splinter).

[wunderbar]

I just checked and it's The Internationalist, put out by the League for the Fourth International (http://www.internationalist.org/).

[robbo203]

I find the Socialist Standard quite good these days http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2011

It has certainly improved in recent years and there are usually one or two excellent articles - if not more - in each issue

[OHumanista]

I just checked and it's The Internationalist, put out by the League for the Fourth International (http://www.internationalist.org/).

I am a trot and the only thing I have to say is...it looks like crap.(the english news is so-so sometimes, the portuguese news is so bad I wouldn't use it as toilet paper)

[Aurora]

Luxemburg named the party after Spartacus, a person who led a slave rebellion against the Romans. She didn't call her party "Spartacus" but the Spartacus League. If the modern Sparts had called themselves the Spartacus Organization or Party or Tendency, you would have a point.

It's easy to jump on a bandwagon against apologists for child molestation and rape.
If you wanna talk semantics her party was called spartakusbund, bund can be translated as alliance, union or federation, which is irrelevant because Luxemburg wouldn't give two shits that some communists almost 50 years later used the name of spartacus, she didn't have a copyright or anything. Also the ICL(FI) calls itself Spartakist-Arbeiterpartei in germany and don't claim to be a continuation of the spartakusbund.
Which is all off-topic, this isn't a thread to discuss the sparts politics or to throw mud at them with (false) allegations of apology for rape and child abuse.

[Kornilios Sunshine]

Sorry if this has been posted before.
A good Greek communist newspaper is the one of the KKE, Rizospastis which means radical.
http://www22.rizospastis.gr/wwwengine/images/rizospastis_big_logo.png
Website (in Greek) : http://www2.rizospastis.gr
Also there have been some special annual newspapers in several languages which you can find here (http://www2.rizospastis.gr/static.do?page=/special/editions/international/international.jsp&publDate=3/12/2011&id=13797).

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

I just checked and it's The Internationalist, put out by the League for the Fourth International (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.internationalist.org/).

Ah OK, the Nordenites. They also publish occasionally.

Nobody really calls them the "League for the Fourth International," just like no one really calls the Sparts the "International Communist League (Fourth Internationalist)." They're usually just referred to as the Internationalist Group / IG.

They are also a Spart splinter. Norden, one of their leading members, was the editor of Workers' Vanguard for a while.

[HEAD ICE]

.
I had a subscription to The Militant (biweekly newspaper of the US SWP) when I was a teenager, but I wouldn't subscribe to it now. Last time I had an encounter with an SWP member they were so aggressive in trying to sell me a subscription I had to pretend I was getting a phone call to get away.


Oh god this happened to me a few weeks ago it was amazing. It was two older looking people tabling outside of my university selling The Militant and pathfinder books. They were really nice and the man who was there reminded me of my grandfather. But man the lady was onto me about getting a subscription, it was so hard for me to figure out how to end the conversation. I said that I didn't have any cash only a debit card in which they responded by syaing they can just take my card number (LOL no). I then lied and said I would go to the ATM and never came back. I actually felt bad lying to them because they were so nice :(.

[Q]

Oh god this happened to me a few weeks ago it was amazing. It was two older looking people tabling outside of my university selling The Militant and pathfinder books. They were really nice and the man who was there reminded me of my grandfather. But man the lady was onto me about getting a subscription, it was so hard for me to figure out how to end the conversation. I said that I didn't have any cash only a debit card in which they responded by syaing they can just take my card number (LOL no). I then lied and said I would go to the ATM and never came back. I actually felt bad lying to them because they were so nice :(.

It's their sales pitch and they're obviously well versed in it.

Yes, we're fighting capitalism with... sales pitches!

[Die Rote Fahne]

If you wanna talk semantics her party was called spartakusbund, bund can be translated as alliance, union or federation, which is irrelevant because Luxemburg wouldn't give two shits that some communists almost 50 years later used the name of spartacus, she didn't have a copyright or anything. Also the ICL(FI) calls itself Spartakist-Arbeiterpartei in germany and don't claim to be a continuation of the spartakusbund.
Which is all off-topic, this isn't a thread to discuss the sparts politics or to throw mud at them with (false) allegations of apology for rape and child abuse.
http://www.spartacist.org/english/wv/991/vilca.html

http://www.icl-fi.org/english/spc/163/witchhunt.html


http://www.icl-fi.org/english/asp/201/henson.html

And

http://www.icl-fi.org/english/wv/958/poland.html


Anti-communism goes hand in hand with broader social reaction. This is exemplified by the fact that the current anti-communist ban is linked to measures aimed against pornography, sexual activity involving youth under the age of 15 and other such “crimes without victims.” These measures are linked to a vile witchhunt targeting the right of adults and youth to engage in mutually consensual sexual relations, with the Polish bourgeoisie screaming for pedophiles to be imprisoned and “chemically castrated.” We are against any government intrusion into consensual sexual relationships. Down with the criminalization of pedophilia! Down with the reactionary concept of “age of consent”! Priests, cops and prosecutors out of the bedroom! For the unrestricted right to abortion—Free abortion on demand!
IS IT ANY CLEARER? Do you need assistance reading that?

Fucking goober.

Edit: any Sparts on this site should be banned.

[Aurora]

-snip-

IS IT ANY CLEARER? Do you need assistance reading that?

Fucking goober.

Edit: any Sparts on this site should be banned.


Which is all off-topic, this isn't a thread to discuss the sparts politics
Nor will i get dragged into discussing their position on this issue as it is against board rules. I have never been associated with the sparts but i am very glad you don't get to decide who gets banned.

[Die Rote Fahne]

Nor will i get dragged into discussing their position on this issue as it is against board rules. I have never been associated with the sparts but i am very glad you don't get to decide who gets banned.

Yes, I would ban every member of that child rape apologist organization.

Another note: Jacobin magazine. My brother reads it. Thoughts?

[Binh]

Jacobin is alright. They are very anti-dogma which puts them ahead of most of the socialist left publications.

There is very little truly good stuff written by the socialist left on Occupy.

[Kassad]

I sent a letter to Workers Vanguard asking them who would win in a fight between Bill Logan, Jan Norden and James Robertson. No answer as of yet.

[black magick hustla]

Jacobin is alright. They are very anti-dogma which puts them ahead of most of the socialist left publications.

There is very little truly good stuff written by the socialist left on Occupy.

they arent really "anti dogma", its the same type of boring dynamic that gave rise to platypus. they are menshevik grad students really

[Smyg]

Thinking about getting a subscription to Arbetaren, the syndicalist weekly newspaper here in Sweden. Got one edition for free, and it rocked.

[Elsa]

In Poland there's Pracownicza Demokracja's (Trotskyists connected to British SWP) newspaper, sold in Warsaw on Saturdays 12.00-13.00 on the square near the Centrum metro station, and also available online (if anyone cares) - it comes out monthly and is pretty good

[Q]

In Poland there's Pracownicza Demokracja's (Trotskyists connected to British SWP) newspaper, sold in Warsaw on Saturdays 12.00-13.00 on the square near the Centrum metro station, and also available online (if anyone cares) - it comes out monthly and is pretty good

For some reason I don't think Polish is a usual second language for someone from Kentucky, USA (where the OP is from).

[Lev Bronsteinovich]

Yes, I would ban every member of that child rape apologist organization.

Another note: Jacobin magazine. My brother reads it. Thoughts?
For my two cents, I think Workers Vanguard from the US is probably the best and most interesting CO on the international left (in English). 1917 by the IBT is also sometimes OK. The Militant (SWP) used to be stultifyingly boring. But somehow the SWP has devolved into a strange cult around Jack Barnes (a man even less charismatic than Bob Avakian) and I haven't seen the paper in many years.

You should stop with your vile accusations against the ICL. If you understood the line of the group, it's that laws that legislate sexuality, in the hands of the bourgeois state are tools of oppression. That's not the point of the discussion here, however -- take your stupid spart bashing somewhere else, please.

[Die Rote Fahne]

Read the links. Pretty self explanatory. Goober.

[Lev Bronsteinovich]

I'm not sure why you aren't being warned for this stuff. I know what the line of the ICL is about consensual sex -- difference between us seems to be that I understand it or that you have some emotional issues that cloud your brain about it. I guess if you knew the history of how these laws are used or understood what they were for, you might not make these kind of outrageous assertions. Alas you don't, and I apologize to the other participants for feeling the need to call you out on your stuff. I would expect this kind of moralistic outrage more from our Maoist friends. . .

[Die Rote Fahne]

I'm not sure why you aren't being warned for this stuff. I know what the line of the ICL is about consensual sex -- difference between us seems to be that I understand it or that you have some emotional issues that cloud your brain about it. I guess if you knew the history of how these laws are used or understood what they were for, you might not make these kind of outrageous assertions. Alas you don't, and I apologize to the other participants for feeling the need to call you out on your stuff. I would expect this kind of moralistic outrage more from our Maoist friends. . .

Perhaps you can enlighten us as to how an 8 year old can consent to sex with an adult.

Or maybe one of you avid defenders of the ICL can come out and give a logical explanation in regards to the laws being discussed, as opposed to adhominem and just asserting that those laws are mystically capitalistic and no good.

[Smyg]

I'm entirely with DRF on this one, FFS.

[Prometeo liberado]

Does any remember when the CPUSA paper used to have a sports section in it? Truly head scratching in the sense that it was just re-written articles taken off the AP wire. Just didn't understand it.:confused:

[BOZG]

Does any remember when the CPUSA paper used to have a sports section in it? Truly head scratching in the sense that it was just re-written articles taken off the AP wire. Just didn't understand it.:confused:

What's confusing about it? I would assume their aim was to not just be an addition to the bourgeois newspapers but to replace them. A worthy enough goal if you have the support and circulation that is necessary to pull it off without sacrificing political content.

[Die Neue Zeit]

^^^ The reverse is true as well: just as long as primarily political newspapers don't go off-tangent by putting political or social commentary inside the sports section, like analyzing crowd reactions, makeup, and such.

[Firebrand]

I read the socialist worker online. There is a fair amount of dull stuff, but the lovely thing is you don't have to read it. There's nice headings that let you read the bits you're interested in. They generally have a fair amount of tory bashing which is satisfying, but probably not relevent to someone living in kentucky, a lot about strike ballots that I don't usually bother reading, a couple of reviews, some theory and usually something historical. It's a bit sectarian but if you can ignore that its fine, lets face it when you get right down to it nearly all papers are pretty sectarian.
BTW nearly all newspapers can be read online for free, so if you're trying them out don't bother buying hard copies.

[Ostrinski]

After looking over all of them online, I think I like Monthly Review the best. Is anyone critical of them?

[Binh]

After looking over all of them online, I think I like Monthly Review the best. Is anyone critical of them?

An excellent article of mine was rejected by them, so they are 100% counter-revolutionary!! :lol:

[AmericanRed]

Monthly Review has taken a political nosedive at least since Ellen Meiksins Wood was "fired" from their editorial board. MR Press still prints worthy books, though.

Those who like International Socialist Review and/or Against the Current should check out New Politics (www.newpol.org). It only comes out twice a year but it's very, very good. The late Hal Draper was one of its editors in the '60s, to give you some idea of NP's general politics.

[KurtFF8]

Monthly Review has taken a political nosedive at least since Ellen Meiksins Wood was "fired" from their editorial board. MR Press still prints worthy books, though.

What do you mean? I'm quite fond of the MR but am unfamiliar with what you're referring to here

[Brosip Tito]

Jacobin has always been a favourite.

Also, I agree with those two guys who were banned. Fuck the ICL.

[Brosa Luxemburg]

I subscribe to Z Magazine and Extra!: The Magazine of FAIR.

[AmericanRed]

What do you mean? I'm quite fond of the MR but am unfamiliar with what you're referring to here

Depending on who you ask, she either left the editorial board voluntarily or was forced out by the other editors. In any case, she's a great writer and I highly recommend her books, Empire of Capital in particular.

[Kassad]

Also, I agree with those two guys who were banned. Fuck the ICL.

Eh, I used to say the same thing when I was immersed in reformist politics. I'm not saying you are, but their criticisms of some left groups are incredibly valid. Sometimes their tactics are weird and shitty, but frankly, they put forward more revolutionary demands than other groups with a much wider presence.

[Brosip Tito]

Eh, I used to say the same thing when I was immersed in reformist politics. I'm not saying you are, but their criticisms of some left groups are incredibly valid. Sometimes their tactics are weird and shitty, but frankly, they put forward more revolutionary demands than other groups with a much wider presence.You don't have to be a reformist to know when a groups view on a subject is fucking absurd. They may have perfectly fine views on some things, however, their views on this, and their reasoning, is pure idiocy: "those laws that say it's illegal for a man to have sex with a 5 year old are bourgeois and anti-worker!!".

Like, every law made or legislated within capitalism is anti-worker or "bourgeois". Fuck off (directed at the ICL).

[Lev Bronsteinovich]

You don't have to be a reformist to know when a groups view on a subject is fucking absurd. They may have perfectly fine views on some things, however, their views on this, and their reasoning, is pure idiocy: "those laws that say it's illegal for a man to have sex with a 5 year old are bourgeois and anti-worker!!".

Like, every law made or legislated within capitalism is anti-worker or "bourgeois". Fuck off (directed at the ICL).
Adds so much to the discussion at hand -- thanks comrade. You think that it is possible to legislate precisely that which constitutes effective consent. Further, you are happy to let the bourgeois state decree what that might be -- and then proceed to use it in a most selective and discriminatory way. Human sexuality is a lot more fluid that bourgeois morality would allow. Coercion is coercion and should be treated as criminal -- but that's not what these laws are about. They are not about protecting anybody. And your humble faith in the bourgeois state to police sexual matters in a reasonable way is misplaced. And so is your ire.

[Brosip Tito]

Adds so much to the discussion at hand -- thanks comrade.You're subtle and ineffective sarcasm amuses me.


You think that it is possible to legislate precisely that which constitutes effective consent.No, however, you can come close enough. I do know that a 5 year old does not understand or comprehend intercourse and it's consequences and therefore, is unable to consent.


Further, you are happy to let the bourgeois state decree what that might be -- and then proceed to use it in a most selective and discriminatory way.You are happy to see a 45 year old force himself upon a 5 year old, because he persuaded her to say "Okay".


Human sexuality is a lot more fluid that bourgeois morality would allow.Mmk.


Coercion is coercion and should be treated as criminalWe aren't talking coercion. We are talking rape.


-- but that's not what these laws are about.They are about?


They are not about protecting anybody.See above. You can't just make a proclamation, and then not explain why you make it.


And your humble faith in the bourgeois state to police sexual matters in a reasonable way is misplaced. And so is your ire.The discussion has nothing to do with the policing, or the bourgeois state. It has to do with the laws. I agree the laws could be made to better reflect the situation, however, I am not for abolition of a law that prohibits a 45 year old to rape a 5 year old.

So please, go ahead and actually make a case. Avoid the sarcasm, it's unbecoming, and poorly executed.

[Grenzer]

Jacobin has always been a favourite.

Also, I agree with those two guys who were banned. Fuck the ICL.

Seconded.

Fuck the ICL. They have a lot of revolutionary sloganeering, but in reality have some pretty reactionary views on certain subjects. They do a lot of talking, but don't actually do much.. must be a part of their Marcyite heritage. They have the same tainted origin as the PSL, and share many of the flaws in certain regards.

[A Marxist Historian]

You don't have to be a reformist to know when a groups view on a subject is fucking absurd. They may have perfectly fine views on some things, however, their views on this, and their reasoning, is pure idiocy: "those laws that say it's illegal for a man to have sex with a 5 year old are bourgeois and anti-worker!!".

Like, every law made or legislated within capitalism is anti-worker or "bourgeois". Fuck off (directed at the ICL).

Need it be said that OR's quote is a deliberate lying forgery?

The Spartacist doctrine is "effective consent." How could a five year old possibly effectively consent to sex with an adult, given the extreme age differences?

What this is really all about is the question of sex between adolescents and adults. Being as adolescents these days (probably for the entire history of the human race, but definitely these days!) start engaging in sex when they hit puberty, an ironclad bourgeois rule that anybody who is say 16 years old engaging in sex with a 19 year old, or for that matter a 29 year old, is automatically a "rape victim" is absurd.

Like they repeatedly say in the articles quoted, you have to judge case by case whether a sexual relationship is consensual or a form of child molestation, no arbitrary bourgeois law can possibly be helpful, even if fairly applied, and bourgeois laws are never fairly applied.

And this is of course all way off topic and even a discussion against the Revleft rules, so I think we should stop.

-M.H.-

[A Marxist Historian]

Seconded.

Fuck the ICL. They have a lot of revolutionary sloganeering, but in reality have some pretty reactionary views on certain subjects. They do a lot of talking, but don't actually do much.. must be a part of their Marcyite heritage. They have the same tainted origin as the PSL, and share many of the flaws in certain regards.

Factual correction. They originated as the Revolutionary Tendency of the American SWP in 1960, and never had anything whatsoever to do with the Marcyites, who in many ways they were the exact opposite of.

The Marcyites also originated as a split from the SWP, but they believed that Khrushchev was right to put down the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. The prehistory of the Revolutionary Tendency was as the initial leaders of the SWP's youth organization, the YSA, first formed when Spartacist founder Robertson and other early RT'ers split from the Shachtmanites on the grounds of Hungary, opposing both the pro US imperialist position of Shachtman and any form of conciliation to Stalinism.

So support for the Hungarian Revolution was the very first "Spartacist position" ever, and had a lot to do with why the founders of the RT in the SWP opposed the SWP's support to Castro in Cuba.

So if you want to diss the Sparts, you should pick a different ground.

-M.H.-