Books of the Month – Page 8

Marxism, historical materialism help arm working-class fighters

Vol. 86/No. 17 - May 2, 2022

Depiction of peasant uprising in Germany, 1525. Leon Trotsky cites Frederick Engels’ The Peasant War in Germany, which explained this class conflict disguised as religious ideas against oppressive aristocratic landowners, as a “brilliant illustration” of Karl Marx’s materialist conception of history.

The Challenge of the Left Opposition (1928-29) by Leon Trotsky is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for April. The book documents the opposition led by Trotsky in the Soviet Communist Party to defend the proletarian and revolutionary internationalist…

Fight for right to self-determination of nations oppressed by czarism

Vol. 86/No. 16 - April 25, 2022

V.I. Lenin, leader of 1917 Russian Revolution, addresses Third Congress of Communist International, July 5, 1921. Lenin’s final fight was against Stalin over the national question.

Lenin’s Final Fight: Speeches and Writings 1922-23, one of the Books of the Month for April, helps explain why the Socialist Workers Party supports Ukrainian independence against Moscow’s invasion. Taken from the introduction, the excerpt describes how V.I. Lenin, the…

For Cuban working people, revolution was ‘the only way forward’

Vol. 86/No. 15 - April 18, 2022

Banner of revolutionary-minded youth movement of Orthodox Party leads march against coup by U.S.-backed Fulgencio Batista in Havana in 1952. From these beginnings, Fidel Castro organized the July 26 Movement, which led working people to take power into their own hands.

One of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for April is the Spanish edition of Aldabonazo: Inside the Cuban Revolutionary Underground, 1952-58, a Participant’s Account by Armando Hart. One of the historic leaders of the Cuban Revolution, Hart was a central…

Stalin’s oppression, Nazi occupation fuel fight for Ukraine independence

Vol. 86/No. 14 - April 11, 2022

Grain taken from Ukrainian peasants near Kyiv, 1930, amid Stalinist forced collectivization and national oppression, led to widespread famine and death of almost 4 million Ukrainians.

As Ukrainian working people, arms in hand, defend their country’s sovereignty against Moscow’s invasion today, the Militant features Samizdat, Voices of the Soviet Opposition, which contains clandestine writings circulated in the Soviet Union that challenged the anti-working-class regime under Joseph…

‘The revolution cannot triumph without emancipation of women’

Vol. 86/No. 13 - April 4, 2022

Revolutionary leader and President of Burkina Faso Thomas Sankara speaks on International Women’s Day, March 8, 1987. He was assassinated that year in counterrevolutionary coup.

To mark International Women’s Month, the Militant is featuring the French edition of Women’s Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle by Thomas Sankara. Sankara led a popular uprising in August 1983 that established a revolutionary government in Burkina Faso, in…

Stalinism bears main responsibility for Hitler’s rise to power

Vol. 86/No. 11 - March 21, 2022

Nazi stormtroopers occupy union offices in Berlin 1933. Stalinist line that Social Democrats were “social fascists,” refusal to collaborate with them in fight against Hitler, allowed fascists to come to power without facing serious working-class combat.

The Struggle Against Fascism in Germany by Russian revolutionary leader Leon Trotsky is this week’s Books of the Month selection. Written during the heat of battle against the rising Nazi movement in the early 1930s, he explains the counterrevolutionary course…

‘If the US attacks Cuba, they will face a war of the entire people’

Vol. 86/No. 8 - February 28, 2022

Enrique Carreras, second from left, went to North Vietnam in 1969 to learn how their air force organized to defend against U.S. imperialist assault. His goal was to offer solidarity and strengthen Cuba’s ability to defend its revolution against Washington’s attacks.

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

‘Our war is war of the working class against the capitalist order’

Vol. 86/No. 7 - February 21, 2022

Leaders of the SWP and Minneapolis Teamsters, including James P. Cannon, second from right, ready to begin their jail terms in December 1943. In 1941, the 18 were sentenced under Smith “Gag” Act for organizing labor opposition to the U.S. rulers’ imperialist war drive.

The Socialist Workers Party in World War II: Writings and Speeches, 1940-43 by James P. Cannon, is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for February. Cannon, a founding leader of the SWP, was framed up in 1941 and imprisoned…

Thomas Sankara spoke for the oppressed all over the world

Vol. 86/No. 6 - February 14, 2022

We Are Heirs of the World’s Revolutions: Speeches from the Burkina Faso revolution 1983-87 by Thomas Sankara is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for February. In August 1983 Sankara led a revolution in the former French colony of…

Malcolm X: ‘We’re living at a time of worldwide revolution’

Vol. 86/No. 5 - February 7, 2022

Malcolm X: The Last Speeches is one of Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for February. Malcolm X emerged as an outstanding leader of the popular struggle for Black liberation. An intransigent opponent of the U.S. government and its imperialist policies,…