December 26, 2023 marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the great leader and teacher of the Chinese revolution, Mao Zedong. This is an excellent occasion to review Mao’s contributions as one of the principal theorists of the science of revolution, Marxism-Leninism.

The following text was present by Mick Kelly, the political secretary of Freedom Road Socialist Organization at a webinar organized by the People’s Resource for International Solidarity and Mass Mobilization (PRISM) and the International League of People’s Struggle (ILPS) to mark the 175th anniversary of “The Communist Manifesto.”

Comrades and friends,

Let me begin by thanking the organizers of this important event, the People’s Resource for International Solidarity and Mass Mobilization (PRISM) and the International League of People’s Struggle (ILPS) for today’s opportunity to learn from each other and share our respective views, as we mark the birth of The Communist Manifesto.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following paper by Mick Kelly, political secretary of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, that was presented in Amsterdam October 14 at International Theoretical Conference on Imperialism and War organized by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

Comrades and friends,

On behalf of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, I would like to extend our thanks to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and its member organizations for organizing this timely and important theoretical conference on imperialism and war. And we salute all of you in attendance today. We have much to gain by exchanging our respective views, seeking points of agreement to build unity, and putting proletarian internationalism into practice.

Currently, there is a wide ranging debate, originating among the ruling-class parties, about gun control. This is nothing new, but since the more recent epidemic of school shootings and other terrorist acts, such as the recent white chauvinist mass shooting in August 2023 at the Dollar General in Jacksonville, Florida, the issue of what to do about gun violence has become an ever-present issue. It is not an issue that people interested in revolution and socialism can avoid weighing in on. Indeed, it is only through revolution and socialism that it can truly be solved.

Marxism-Leninism is the science of revolutionary social change. It allows us to understand the laws of motion of society and to understand how to organize in line with those laws. This will allow us to resolve the contradictions inherent in capitalism that lead to exploitation, oppression, poverty, waste, crisis and war. By using Marxism, we can transform the world we live in into a just world, where the working class, who produces the vast wealth of society, is able to put that wealth to work and solve the problems that capitalism creates.

Postmodernism is a weapon in the ideological arsenal of the capitalist ruling class. Like any ideology, postmodernism has a class basis, and arose as the result of particular historical conditions. It represents the thinking of the petit bourgeois intellectuals and exerts ideological pressure from the liberal petit bourgeoisie in the people’s movements. In this article we are going to look more closely at the origins of postmodern theory, its development, and its effects.

The publication of the new English translation of Domenico Losurdo’s book, Stalin: History and Critique of a Black Legend, is a major event for Marxists, as well as for scholars of Soviet history in the English speaking world. Originally published in Italian in 2008, Iskra Press has just released the first authorized translation into English, thanks to the translation work of Henry Hakamäki and Salvatore Engel-Di Mauro.

Without a doubt, modern science has achieved a great deal. It has given us automation with the potential to free us from toil, medical innovations that extend life expectancy, and an understanding of the laws of physics and nature. It allows us to light and heat our homes with the push of a button, and to communicate instantly across the world. It gives us the ability to produce enough to fulfill the wants and needs of everyone. Science is a cornerstone of modern society in terms of what we produce and what we consume.

It is growing more and more common to hear people repeating core elements of conspiracy theories. Many of these conspiracy theories grow from the fringes of right-wing extremist groups, then begin to creep into the mainstream through websites like Elon Musk’s Twitter (now renamed “X”), or through podcast personalities like Alex Jones, Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan, or through “influencers” on social media. They have grown even more prevalent since Donald Trump’s rise to power, as he himself promoted many of them from the Oval Office in Washington.

By now it should come as no surprise that Trotskyism, with its ultra-left emphasis on “pure proletarian revolution” originating in Trotsky’s theory of “permanent revolution,” that Trotskyism’s errors extend to the national question.