Articles

In this lecture from the IIRE's serie on the changing shapes of imperialism, Peter Drucker discusses the evolution of US imperialism.

Peter Drucker is a former co-director of the IIRE. He is an advisory editor of the US socialist journal Against the Current and author of Warped: Gay Normality and Queer Anti-Capitalism (Haymarket books).

Suggested background reading:

El movimiento sindical moderno es producto de la primera fase del capitalismo moderno, el de la libre competencia. El modo de producción capitalista niega a los productores el libre acceso a los medios de producción y los alimentos, obligándolos así a vender su fuerza de trabajo para obtener los medios de subsistencia diaria; su fuerza de trabajo se transforma en una mercancía. Como cualquier propietario de mercancías, el propietario de la fuerza de trabajo va al mercado a venderla.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has led to renewed discussion of the notion of imperialism. Is the invasion proof that Russia is an imperialist power? But Russia is not the only country described as an imperialist power. China’s international influence has increased dramatically in the past ten years. In South-East Asia, China's claims over large parts of the South China Sea has brought it into conflict with Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. Worldwide, Chinese investments play an increasingly important role.

In this talk from the IIRE school, Michael Löwy presents the principles of Ecosocialism.

The history of fascism is at the same time the history of the theory of fascism.ⁱ For no other new social phenomenon of modern times is the simultaneity of its appearance and the attempt at understanding it as striking as for fascism.

The IIRE is working on a new collection of Trotsky's writings on fascism. This new translation of a 1932 article by Trotsky is part of this project. This article was originally published in the journal Die Weltbühne ('The World Stage'). Die Weltbühne was an important journal of the Independent intellectual left during the Weimar republic. Cooperators and contributors included Carl von Ossietzky, Kurt Hiller, Erich Mühsam, Fritz Sternberg, Heinrich Ströbel, Kurt Tucholsky and others.

Ernest Mandel was one of the most significant Marxists of the twentieth century. During his life, Mandel participated in anti-fascist resistance, played a leading role in the Fourth International, and assisted Che Guevara with socialist economic planning after the Cuban Revolution. For many socialists, Mandel’s writings were their first encounter with Marxist theory and played an important role in their political education.