Placement: Books of the Month

Sankara: ‘We draw lessons from all the world’s revolutions’

Vol. 84/No. 32 - August 17, 2020
Popular uprising in Madagascar, which toppled government in 1972, had deep impact on Thomas Sankara, who was a military cadet there. He heard from fellow students about 1968 workers general strike in France, above. Transferred to France by the army, he scoured Paris for books by Karl Marx and other revolutionaries. He learned importance of studying history of class struggle.

Thomas Sankara Parle, the French edition of   Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution 1983-87, is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for August. In 1983 Sankara led an uprising in the former French colony of Upper Volta, bringing…

SWP fought for US to admit Jewish refugees of Nazi terror

Vol. 84/No. 31 - August 10, 2020
Members of Socialist Workers Party helped initiate picket at German Consulate in New York in November 1938 demanding Washington open its doors to Jewish and other victims of Nazi terror. Party resolution said road to end Jew-hatred was fight for workers power, socialism.

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for August is The Founding of the Socialist Workers Party: Minutes and Resolutions, 1938-39. The program adopted was based on the communist course of V.I. Lenin and the Bolsheviks, who led workers and…

‘Women in Cuba have always been in front line of struggles’

Vol. 84/No. 30 - August 3, 2020
Members of Cuban Women’s Antiaircraft Artillery Defense Regiment leaving for Angola in 1988, to help defeat apartheid South Africa’s invasion. Vilma Espín, leader of Federation of Cuban Women, at center in white blouse.

Marianas in Combat: Teté Puebla and the Mariana Grajales Women’s Platoon in Cuba’s Revolutionary War, 1956-58 by Teté Puebla is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for July. Puebla was an officer in the victorious Rebel Army and of…

Che: ‘Moncada attack was beginning of Cuba’s revolution’

Vol. 84/No. 29 - July 27, 2020

Che Guevara Speaks by Ernesto Che Guevara is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for July. Che, born in Argentina, became a central leader of the Cuban Revolution and one of the outstanding communists of the 20th century. The…

Workers will develop a movement of their own, a labor party

Vol. 84/No. 28 - July 20, 2020
Workers in Baltimore battle state troopers as 1877 rail workers battle became first nationwide strike in U.S. history. Karl Marx called it “first eruption since the Civil War against the associated oligarchy of capital.” Out of 1884-86 struggles, unions took steps to form a labor party.

Revolutionary Continuity: The Early Years 1848-1917 by Farrell Dobbs is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for July. This is the first of two volumes that document the birth and growth of the communist movement in the U.S. Dobbs…

Workers need to break from dead end of ‘lesser evil’ politics

Vol. 84/No. 25 - June 29, 2020
Nov. 12, 1938, Socialist Appeal, as the Militant was named then, explained how “New Deal demagogy” of President Franklin Roosevelt was “losing its mass hold.” This opened door for workers to build their own party, a labor party, to answer rulers’ attacks and drive to war.

The Lesser Evil? Debates on the Democratic Party and Independent Working-Class Politics by Jack Barnes and others is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for June. The excerpt is from a 1965 debate between Barnes, now national secretary of…

‘Building socialism is a voluntary task of free men and women’

Vol. 84/No. 24 - June 22, 2020
Faced with provocations and war threats from Washington in 1980 as struggles spread across Latin America and the Caribbean, including revolutions by workers and farmers in Nicaragua and Grenada, millions of working people mobilized across Cuba in defense of their revolution.

Cuba’s Internationalist Foreign Policy 1975-80 by Fidel Castro is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for June. Castro was the central leader of the Cuban Revolution that triumphed in 1959. Excerpted here is his 1980 “Speech to the Fighting…

How Cuban military commander was won to the revolution

Vol. 84/No. 21 - June 1, 2020
At Bay of Pigs in April 1961, U.S. transport ship Houston, carrying counterrevolutionary invaders, was sunk by fledgling Cuban revolutionary air force. Inset, Enrique Carreras led the pilots in action.

The Spanish-language edition of   Making History: Interviews With Four Generals of Cuba’s Revolutionary Armed Forces by Enrique Carreras, Harry Villegas, José Ramón Fernández and Néstor López Cuba is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for May. The first piece…

The FBI: The political police of the US capitalist class

Vol. 84/No. 19 - May 18, 2020

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for May is 50 Years of Covert Operations in the U.S. by Larry Seigle. It also includes “Imperialist War and the Working Class” by Farrell Dobbs, who was a central leader of the…