Source: “'Common-Sense Socialism'” (review) Commonweal, Vol 3, No. 75, 18 June 1887, p. 197; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. The first word of the above title is usually a sort of danger signal to the wary reader to avoid boredom and confusion. ‘Common-sense’ as applied to knotty questions usually meaning the ignoring of the main issue, or the putting forward of a remedy difficult to apply and useless when applied. This is so well understood by persons with not more than the average amount of time for throwing away on futile and foolish literature, that the title of this book will probably prevent many people from looking into it at all. This is a pity, although before the end of the book the author justifies this well... (From: Marxists.org.)
Source: “The ‘Eight Hours’ and the Demonstration” Commonweal, Vol 6, No. 227, 17 May 1890, p.153; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. Now that the noise and clatter of the 4th of May demonstration are over, it may be profitable to consider what it was that that huge meeting was crying for, and whether it is likely to get it.
But first we must assume that the 4th of May demonstration did not aim at showing any expression of sympathy with labor generally throughout the civilized world. It was in fact an English trades-union meeting distinct from the meetings held on the Continent and in London on May Day, although it was only the agitation on the Continent that made it possible. The English workmen, if we may believe the St... (From: Marxists.org.)
Source: One Big Union Monthly, Nov. 1937, pp. 32-4; Transcribed: by Thomas Schmidt; Proofed: and corrected by Jonas Holmgren
To those readers who are already acquainted with Trotsky’s
ideas and the publications of his movement, his present book will be a
disappointment as it contains little new material. In this review we
shall therefore limit ourselves to those portions of the volume which
indicate that even in the mind of the party-intellectual changes do
take place. But, it must be said, even such changes as Trotsky sees are
only matters of emphasis – an effort to adapt his
“theoretical line” to the new situation which has obviously
contradicted previous postulates of his theory.
Any serious student... (From: Marxists.org.)
One day, the wall shelves in my office collapsed. This left books scattered all over the floor and a jagged, half-dislocated metal frame that once held the shelves in place dangling over my desk. I’m a professor of anthropology at a university. A carpenter appeared an hour later to inspect the damage, and announced gravely that, as there were books all over the floor, safety rules prevented him from entering the room or taking further action. I would have to stack the books and not touch anything else, whereupon he would return at the earliest available opportunity.
The carpenter never reappeared. Each day, someone in the anthropology department would call, often multiple times, to ask about the fate of the carpenter, who alway... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
One day, the wall shelves in my office collapsed. This left books scattered all over the floor and a jagged, half-dislocated metal frame that once held the shelves in place dangling over my desk. I’m a professor of anthropology at a university. A carpenter appeared an hour later to inspect the damage, and announced gravely that, as there were books all over the floor, safety rules prevented him from entering the room or taking further action. I would have to stack the books and not touch anything else, whereupon he would return at the earliest available opportunity.
The carpenter never reappeared. Each day, someone in the anthropology department would call, often multiple times, to ask about the fate of the carpenter, who alway... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Source: “'Looking Backward'” Commonweal, Vol 5, No. 180, 22 June 1889, p.194-195; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. We often hear it said that the signs of the spread of Socialism among English-speaking people are both abundant and striking. This is true; six or seven years ago the word Socialism was known in this country, but few even among the ‘educated’ classes knew more about its meaning than Mr Bradlaugh, Mr Gladstone, or Admiral Maxse know now — ie., nothing. Whereas at present it is fashionable for even West-end dinner-parties to affect an interest in and knowledge of it, which indicates a wide and deep public interest. This interest is more obvious in literature perhaps than in anything else, quite outside ... (From: Marxists.org.)
The coming to power of Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam in 1945 was favored by the special conjuncture of circumstances in which the country found itself: the absence of the French imperialist state apparatus, disrupted by the Japanese army since 9 March 1945, and the surrender of Japan itself on 15 August 1945. Arriving at the head of his guerrilla bands from the highlands of Tonkin, Ho Chi Minh took power in Hanoi. He was able to impose himself upon the insurgent masses not only by his reactionary nationalist demagogy but also above all by force of arms and through the murders carried out by his GPU, the Ty Cong-Au.
Whilst the former mandarins, bourgeois, landlords, peasants and workers were being invited to participate in the Stalinist Viet... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
At several decisive moments over the summer months the ‘peace process’ in the north of Ireland stood on the verge of total collapse — pushed to the very brink by acts of paramilitary violence, and street confrontations with the police and army, instigated by both loyalist and republican militants opposed to the terms of the Good Friday deal.
But Northern Ireland’s political landscape has been dramatically reshaped in the past few years, and violent ‘outrages’ no longer seal the fate of delicate negotiations between unionist and nationalist politicians, now agreed on the need to reform the Orange state. It was soon apparent that the same acts that threatened to destroy the ‘peace process’, had... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Source: “The Reward of ‘Genius'” Commonweal, Vol 2, No. 37, 25 September 1886, p.204-5-206; Transcribed: by Ted Crawford. It is a very common incident at a debate on Socialism for an opponent or doubter to take up the cudgels on behalf of ‘brain-work’ as opposed to hand-work. Even before you avow yourself a Communist (as I have to do), such a questioner is anxious about the future of brain-work in the transitional stages of Socialism. Though this subject has been ably treated before in these columns, I will nevertheless venture on a few plain words in addition to what has been said; which I hesitate to do the less because I have had some small experience of hand-work, though not of the most laborious kind, and ... (From: Marxists.org.)
An open letter, on what we must do to mitigate this crisis.
We are a group of migrant solidarity, prison abolitionist and anti-racist organizers. We wanted to write this statement from an abolitionist, anti-racist perspective, highlighting the reality that the causes of the current crisis lie deeper than the outbreak of disease itself: it is rooted in the very way our economy is organized, how our society is gendered and racialised. See below our open letter, which details what we must do in the face of this crisis.
Coronavirus is a political issue. At root, this pandemic is a disease of global capitalism, both in its genesis and its transmission. Without the drive towards overproduction, the particular conditions for the in... (From: TheAnarchistLibrary.org.)
Revolt Library 
Anarchism 
