Marxist-Leninists are practical people. This has been true since Marx wrote his famous Eleventh Thesis on Feuerbach: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.” Many Marxists might even consider themselves “pragmatists.” But Marxism and pragmatism, though there may be some superficial similarities, are, in fact, fundamentally opposed. So, let’s look more closely at this. What is pragmatism?

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Fight Back News Service is circulating the following June 4 statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP).

• Liberation Party (Argentina)

With the successful conclusion of the 9th Congress of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), a real leap has been made in our efforts to build a serious, revolutionary organization that can make meaningful contributions to the people’s struggle. It is also clear that we are continuing to make progress in our efforts to construct a new communist party, one that can stand at the forefront of the fight for socialism.

Now that we’ve nailed down what we mean by forces of production, let’s talk about the other aspect of the mode of production: the relations of production. Remember that the forces of production are comprised of the means of production (the instruments of production, such as factories and tools, and the objects of labor, like raw materials, land and natural resources) and the agents of production (the workers themselves and their techniques of labor).

For anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx, May 5, 1818, Fight Back! is reprinting “Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League”. Drafted by Marx in 1850, this work shows Marx to be, above all else, a revolutionary.

To mark the 152nd birthday, April 22, of the outstanding revolutionary V.I. Lenin, Fight Back News Service is circulating his famous article “Letter to American Workers” written in 1918.

Tallahassee, FL – Freedom Road Socialist Organization – Tallahassee hosted a panel for International Women’s Day at The Bark, a local vegan restaurant in the All Saints community, on Saturday, March 12. The panel was co-sponsored by FAMU Generation Action, the Tallahassee chapter of Students for a Democratic Society, and the Tallahassee Community Action Committee with about 50 people from various organizations and the community in attendance.

Fight Back News is circulating the text of a speech given by Sol Marquez at a celebration of International Women’s Day in Los Angeles.

When we talk about the philosophy that forms the basis of Marxism-Leninism, we say that that philosophy is dialectical materialism. At this point in our series on the theoretical concepts of Marxism-Leninism, we are going to focus on the materialism of dialectical materialism and try to come to a clear understanding of what that means. And to do that, we’re going to also look at materialism’s philosophical opposite: idealism.

Caracas, Venezuela – Day three of the PSUV 5th Congress began on March 8, with thousands filling the large auditorium again as Afro-Venezuelan dancers took to the stage and Caribbean coast music filled the air. The Chavista delegates smiled and swayed to the steady rhythm of folkloric songs about the Bolivarian Revolution. PSUV militants came prepared to listen to speeches and consider the changing conditions and forces in motion, explanations of errors, questions about how to achieve new goals, and implementation of the Three R’s: Resistance, Rebirth, and Revolution.

At this point in our series, it would serve us well to zoom in on the process by which practice becomes theory, and vice versa. Stalin said that “theory is the experience of the working-class movement in all countries taken in its general aspect.” This is a good summation, but what does that really mean?

So far in our series on theory, we’ve looked at the historical emergence of Marxism. But by the time Marx finished writing Capital, capitalism was still developing and changing. The fundamental characteristics of the capitalist mode of production haven’t changed. Commodity production and exploitation of workers’ surplus value by the capitalists remain the driving force of the capitalist system. And it remains a system plagued by regular cycles of crises of overproduction, pushing poor and working-class people further down while the rich get richer and richer. But by the beginning of the 20th century the internal motion of capitalism’s contradictions led to its advancement to a higher stage: monopoly capitalism, also known as imperialism.

Caracas, Venezuela – The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) opened their 5th Congress, March 5, with music and a cheering crowd, followed by serious speeches of the PSUV leaders. The international delegation, including the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, with ambassadors from People’s Korea, China, South Africa, Cuba, Russia, Bolivia, Palestine and Nicaragua, were welcomed by every speaker.

Caracas, Venezuela – The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) opened their 5th Congress, March 5, with music and a cheering crowd, followed by serious speeches of the PSUV leaders. The international delegation, including the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, with ambassadors from People’s Korea, China, South Africa, Cuba, Russia, Bolivia, Palestine and Nicaragua, were welcomed by every speaker.

Continuing the Fight Back! series on the theoretical concepts of Marxism-Leninism, let’s examine how Marxism emerged, and the struggles that it grew out of.

This is the beginning of a new series on Marxist-Leninist theory. Fight Back! News is publishing this series of short articles in the interest of furthering the critical task of fusing Marxism with the workers’ movement. Marx stressed that the purpose of theory is to understand the world so as to change the world, and this series hopes to help give activists in the people’s struggles a better grasp of these theoretical tools. But let’s begin with an overview: when we say we are Marxist-Leninists, what does that mean? What is Marxism-Leninism, and why is it important?

The FRSO and class-struggle labor unionism

Grand Rapids, MI – The Freedom Road Socialist Organization is hosting another online meeting for the growing numbers of members on Thursday, February 17 at 8 p.m. Eastern time. We will use Zoom to welcome our new members who joined since the last meeting on capitalism destroying the environment.

Feb. 2 marks the 79th anniversary of victory over fascism at Stalingrad