Placement: Books of the Month

How US combat troops turned against the Vietnam War

Vol. 84/No. 48 - December 7, 2020
Over 500 active-duty GIs joined San Francisco protest against Washington’s war in Vietnam, Oct. 12, 1968. GI opposition to the war, disintegrating morale was a key factor in U.S. defeat.

Out Now by Fred Halstead is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for November. Halstead, an active participant in and leader of the international movement against the U.S. war in Vietnam, visited and talked with GIs at a U.S.…

Workers need fighting program for jobs, protection from inflation

Vol. 84/No. 47 - November 30, 2020
1937 sit-down strike at GM in Flint, Michigan, won union recognition and pay raise. The 1930s labor upsurge posed fight against twin scourges of unemployment and high prices. “The right to employment is the only serious right left to the worker in a society based on exploitation.”

The Transitional Program for Socialist Revolution by Leon Trotsky is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for November. The excerpt below is from the document “The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International.” In drafting…

Organizing the South remains a key challenge before labor

Vol. 84/No. 43 - November 2, 2020
Steelworkers Local 8888 victory demonstration at Newport News, Virginia, shipyard in 1979. Drive led by Black workers to organize 18,000 there showed possibilities for organizing South.

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for October is Labor’s Giant Step — The First Twenty Years of the CIO: 1936-55 by Art Preis. Preis, a participant in labor battles in the 1930s, became a staff writer for the…

‘Imperialism is an arsonist setting fire to our forests’

Vol. 84/No. 40 - October 12, 2020
Burkinabe women building terrace to prevent spread of the desert, 1986. Revolution led by Thomas Sankara mobilized peasants, workers, women to take control of their lives, country.

Thomas Sankara Speaks is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for October. Sankara was the exemplary leader of a revolution in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in Africa, from 1983 to 1987. His speeches explain how the…

Workers and oppressed peoples worldwide unite!

Vol. 84/No. 39 - October 5, 2020
V.I. Lenin, center, Bolshevik leader of Russian Revolution, addresses Second Congress of Communist International in St. Petersburg, 1920. First four Comintern congresses left a legacy of revolutionary working-class program and strategy still crucial for workers today.

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for September is The Socialist Workers Party in World War II by James P. Cannon. Cannon was a founding leader of the American Communist Party in 1919 and served on the executive committee…

Che: ‘Youth must be the motor force of our revolution’

Vol. 84/No. 38 - September 28, 2020
Che Guevara, center, took lead in initiating voluntary labor in early days after Cuba’s 1959 revolution. In future socialist society, he wrote, work will be transformed, turned into production for society without compulsion to force workers to sell their labor power as a commodity.

The Spanish edition of Che Guevara Talks to Young People is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for September. After joining Fidel Castro’s July 26 Movement, Ernesto Che Guevara, the heroic Argentinian-born revolutionary, helped to lead the first socialist…

1877 strike foretold growth of ‘serious workers party’ in US

Vol. 84/No. 37 - September 21, 2020
Troops attack strikers in Baltimore in 1877 general strike. Karl Marx called it “the first uprising against the oligarchy of capital since the Civil War.” From here, he pointed to the forces of the American socialist revolution — free labor, free farmers exploited by capital and freed slaves.

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for September is The Great Labor Uprising of 1877 by Philip S. Foner. After four years of economic depression, a walkout by West Virginia railroad workers developed into a nationwide strike involving 100,000…

How Cuban Revolution beat the ‘fifth column’ in Escambray

Vol. 84/No. 35 - September 7, 2020
Militia members in the Escambray learning to read and write in 1961. Land reform and literacy campaign benefited peasants, helping the volunteer fighters defeat counterrevolutionary bandits, and deepened support to Cuba’s socialist revolution and its leaders.

From the Escambray to the Congo: In the Whirlwind of the Cuban Revolution by Víctor Dreke is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for September. Dreke joined Cuba’s revolutionary movement as a high school student and became a Rebel…

Russian Revolution proved workers can take power

Vol. 84/No. 34 - August 31, 2020
Workers’ Red Guard patrols south of Moscow during October 1917 Russian Revolution. U.S. communist leader James P. Cannon said workers from U.S., Europe and their “colonial slaves” were lifted up by victory of Bolsheviks after “depression and despair” of imperialist world war.

Speeches for Socialism by James P. Cannon is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for August. A young working-class fighter inspired by the 1917 October Revolution led by the Bolsheviks, he was a founding leader of the U.S. Communist…

‘American workers: Stop your rulers throttling our revolution’

Vol. 84/No. 33 - August 24, 2020
Painting of 1775 Battle of Lexington by William Barns Wollen shows “the shot heard around the world” that began the American War of Independence. Lenin said this revolutionary war set an example worldwide.

Revolutionary Continuity: Birth of the Communist Movement, 1918-1922 by Farrell Dobbs is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for August. This is the second of two volumes tracing the early history of the communist movement in the U.S. Dobbs…