Books of the Month – Page 2

In crisis, rulers will turn to fascism, but workers have power to win

Vol. 87/No. 48 - December 25, 2023

Mass rally by Jersey City Mayor Frank Hague, Jan. 6, 1938. Hague’s cops barred unions, communists from the city, broke up union meetings. SWP leader James P. Cannon warned that Hague was “an incipient American fascist,” and a deadly danger to the working class.

The wave of Jew-hatred that came on top of Hamas’ Oct. 7 pogrom against Jews in Israel poses a deadly danger both to Jews and to workers everywhere. Jew-hatred will be an indispensable weapon of any fascist movement the bosses…

Trotsky: ‘Jewish question is tied to the emancipation of humanity’

Vol. 87/No. 46 - December 11, 2023

Jewish survivors surrounded by Nazi stormtroopers after crushing of heroic monthlong Warsaw ghetto uprising by Polish Jews in 1943. Over 6 million Jews were killed by Hitler regime in the Holocaust. Taking on Jew-hatred is crucial task for the working class today.

Since Hamas’ Oct. 7 pogrom against Jews in Israel ignited a surge in Jew-hating attacks across the world, Pathfinder is featuring the pamphlet On the Jewish Question by Leon Trotsky as one of its Books of the Month for December.…

Trotsky: ‘Our hope rests on unleashing the European revolution’

Vol. 87/No. 45 - December 4, 2023

Leon Trotsky, commander of the Soviet army after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, addresses Red Guard combatants in 1918. The Bolsheviks, Trotsky said, pinned their hopes on the Russian Revolution inspiring toilers across Europe to emulate their example and take political power.

Leon Trotsky Speaks is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for November. The excerpt is from “The Organization of Power,” Trotsky’s Oct. 26, 1917, defense of the Bolshevik Revolution, which he helped lead. The Second Congress of the Soviets,…

Bolsheviks set example in building a revolutionary workers party

Vol. 87/No. 43 - November 20, 2023

Petrograd Soviet meets in September 1917 as working-class support for Bolshevik Party expands, culminating in Russian Revolution. Socialist Workers Party is being built along the same course, forging a revolutionary working-class party in program and composition to take power.

The French edition of The Turn to Industry: Forging a Proletarian Party by Socialist Workers Party National Secretary Jack Barnes is one of the November Books of the Month from Pathfinder Press. It explains that working people will only truly…

US rulers launch Palmer raids, seek to crush Communist parties

Vol. 87/No. 42 - November 13, 2023

Mass arrests of members of communist movement, union fighters during notorious raids carried out by Democrat Attorney General Mitchell Palmer. Special targets were newly formed Communist parties. Up to 10,000 worker militants were detained, many deported.

Revolutionary Continuity: Birth of the Communist Movement, 1918-1922 by Farrell Dobbs is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for November. The excerpt from “New capitalist repressions” explains how the U.S. rulers trampled on constitutional freedoms to crush union militancy…

SWP in 1938: Open US doors to victims of Hitler’s Nazi terror!

Vol. 87/No. 40 - October 30, 2023

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.

The deadly Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom against Jews in Israel highlighted the danger of Jew-hating violence worldwide as the crisis of capitalism grows. Below are excerpts from “Theses on the Jewish question” and “Open the doors to victims of Hitler’s…

Lenin opposed Russian domination of Ukraine, Soviet republics

Vol. 87/No. 39 - October 23, 2023

V.I. Lenin, center, addresses Second Congress of Communist International, Petrograd, Russia, July 1920. It adopted resolution by Lenin to promote fight against national oppression.

One of the October Books of the Month is the Spanish edition of Lenin’s Final Fight: Speeches and Writings 1922-23. It describes the last political battle by V.I. Lenin, the central leader of the Bolshevik-led 1917 socialist revolution in Russia.…

Fidel’s leadership key in defeat of South African invasion of Angola

Vol. 87/No. 38 - October 16, 2023

Cuban platoon in Angola led by Gerardo Hernández, center, one of Cuban Five. Experience in Angola advanced Cuban Revolution, “strengthened us politically,” Pombo explains in the book.

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for October is Cuba & Angola: The War for Freedom by Harry Villegas. Widely known as “Pombo,” he fought alongside Che Guevara in Cuba, the Congo and in Bolivia. Pombo helped lead Cuba’s…

James P. Cannon built the SWP as an internationalist party

Vol. 87/No. 37 - October 9, 2023

Farrell Dobbs, left, and James P. Cannon, center, in Minneapolis, 1941. They were among 18 leaders of Socialist Workers Party and Minneapolis Teamsters facing government frame-up charges as U.S. rulers prepared to drag working people into the second imperialist world war.

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for September is James P. Cannon As We Knew Him by Farrell Dobbs, Joseph Hansen, George Novack, Jean Tussey, Harry Braverman and 28 other contributors who knew and worked with him. The introduction…

With proper leadership, the working class can overcome

Vol. 87/No. 35 - September 25, 2023

Teamster Bureaucracy by Farrell Dobbs is one of the Books of the Month for September. The last of his four volumes on the Teamsters, it covers the political campaign to organize working-class resistance to the bosses’ attacks and the U.S.…