DIE LINKE’s Road to Power: An Interview with Bernd Riexinger

Bernd Riexinger, co-chair of Germany's Left Party, talks about socialist strategy in the twenty-first century.

Franz Mehring Was Marx’s First Biographer and a Marxist Pioneer in His Own Right

Franz Mehring joined the fledging socialist movement in Bismarck’s Germany and became one of its most brilliant propagandists. From his historical writings to his biography of Karl Marx, Mehring left behind a vital body of work for Marxists to draw upon.

The Return of “Judeo-Bolshevism”

From Winston Churchill to the Nazis, anticommunists have long blamed the spread of socialism on Jews. With the Left again on the rise, the antisemitic trope of "Judeo-Bolshevism" is back.

How Lyndon LaRouche Said Goodbye to Marxism and Hello to Crazy

Lyndon LaRouche started off lecturing about dialectics and Rosa Luxemburg. By the 1980s, he was Glenn Beck with a private security force.

A Woman’s Place Is in the Revolution

Rosa Luxemburg is rightly recognized for her enormous contributions to the international socialist movement. Yet the pivotal role that many other women played in the German Revolution is all too often ignored.

Classical Marxism: An Intellectual History

The Invention of Marxism is a rich group biography of the founding generation of socialists, who introduced millions to Karl Marx’s ideas. Even where it falls short, its details still charm and provoke interest.

The Revolution Party

The question of the party is back on the Left's agenda — and not a moment too soon.

Bolshevism, Real and Imagined

Lenin's critics like to paint him as an authoritarian through and through. But that picture doesn't match reality.

Is Socialism Undemocratic?

Socialism is often conflated with authoritarianism. But historically, socialists have been among democracy's staunchest advocates.

Order Prevails in the Arab World

Through butchery and sectarianism, the autocracies of the Arab world have survived this round. But in the long run, any order dependent on murder and bloodshed is doomed to collapse.

Two Steps Back

It’s Not Enough to Fight — Labor and the Left Have to Be Serious About How to Win

Unions and the Left across the globe have the power to defeat the billionaires. But Jane McAlevey explains that doing this requires we learn the best traditions of labor organizing — and that we talk to people who don’t already agree with us and win them over to our side.

Henriette Roland Holst Was a Poet and a Revolutionary

Dutch poet Henriette Roland Holst was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature — but also made her name theorizing the mass strike. Her life shows how a generation of militants linked revolution in the arts to the fight for a socialist future.

The German Revolution’s Bloody End

The decisive battles of the German Revolution ended in March 1919 with the bloody crushing of the workers’ uprising. Why did it meet such a fate?

Joan Robinson Changed the Way We Think About Capitalism

Joan Robinson established herself as one of the world’s leading economists in a deeply sexist field. Drawing on the work of Karl Marx and John Maynard Keynes alike, she left us with a vital legacy for the critical study of capitalism.

The Antiwar Left Saved the Honor of German Socialism Amid the Horror of the Trenches

Germany’s radical left spearheaded opposition to a futile, destructive war after 1914. Alongside famous leaders like Rosa Luxemburg, there were lesser-known figures such as Johann Knief, whose political life illuminates this vital period of socialist history.

Lelio Basso and the Missed Opportunities of Italian Socialism

Lelio Basso was a major figure of the postwar Italian left who urged its parties to follow through on their revolutionary programs and avoid subordinating themselves to the ruling Christian Democrats. Italy’s Socialists and Communists should have heeded his advice.

Will Lula Get Another Chance to Transform Brazil?

The stakes are high in Brazil’s upcoming presidential election: four more years of the reactionary, corrupt, right-wing rule of Jair Bolsonaro or a return of the most transformative president Brazil has ever seen, Lula da Silva.

Sahra Wagenknecht Can’t Unite Germany’s Working Class

Long a leader of Germany’s left party Die Linke, Sahra Wagenknecht looks set on creating her own rival party. She accuses the Left of abandoning its historic base — but her appeal to conservative values divides the working class rather than uniting it.

Revolutionary Romance

Why should extravagant pleasures and intense feelings be reserved for the bourgeoisie?