What is an intellectual? The most obvious answer would seem to be: a person working with his intellect, relying for his livelihood (or if he need not worry about such things, for the gratification of his interests) on his brain rather than on his brawn. Yet simple and straightforward as it is, this definition would [...]

  Introduction Amidst highly politicised coverage of Venezuela and the media’s obsession with its controversial leader, Hugo Chávez, it is clear that the current government is the most proactive of the progressive forces on the South American continent. To get a fuller image of the continent’s new direction, it is important to examine the economic [...]

  The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) organised on September 13-14 a two-day international trade union meet in the European Parliament complex in Strasbourg, France, to express solidarity with the fighting people of Arab countries and voice strong protest against the hegemonic interference of US imperialism and its European allies in the internal affairs [...]

  The KKE with mass political demonstrations in Athens and in 55 other Greek cities made a direct political intervention in the anti-people political developments which the plutocracy and the Greece’s bourgeois political forces have scheduled, through a new government reshuffle amid various scenarios for the management of capitalism. The GS of the CC of [...]

“Her name was Africa. His name was IMF. He set her up to be pillaged, to go without health care, to starve. He laid waste to her to enrich his friends. Her name was Global South. His name was Washington Consensus. But his winning streak was running out and her star was rising.” Standing on [...]

WORLD BANK  REPORT 2011 [This report, in two volumes, was prepared at the request of Government of India. Volume II contains the full detailed report with all analyses and findings, while Volume I is a more condensed version highlighting main conclusions.] See below the last  chapter from Vol.I of the report: CHAPTER-8:Political Economy of Social Protection(SP) Reform [...]

Palestinian workers  shows the way forward In commemoration of the International Workers’ Day, the Palestinian trade union movement holds its first BDS conference and announces the formation of the Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS). It is the broadest and most representative body of the Palestinian trade union movement * * * Statement of principles [...]

The Importance of Internationalism and Civil Rights “An upsurge of millions in the 1930s, radicalized by the depression and left-wing politics, forced corporate acceptance of the labor movement for the first time in the country’s history. Changes taking place in our unions and communities today can be the beginning of something as large and profound. [...]

Would the labor movement recover its dynamism through centrally directed building of union density in key industries, or would it be built by rank-and-file democratic participation in winning better contracts? Could sophisticated staffers in a union’s headquarters build a dynamic labor movement more effectively than rank-and-file activists in the workplace? Steve Early, Labor’s Civil Wars [...]

“We have chosen to be soldiers of the working class. With that is a responsibility.In the forefront of our responsibility is the requirement to confront the yellow- and CIA-oriented trade unions head on. In practice this means we in the U.S. must condemn and break with the opportunism and corruption stimulated by “our own” imperialism’s [...]