US history proves it: change comes from struggle, not elections ~~ Eleanor Morley

https://redflag.org.au/node/7429

Pinning hopes on the outcome of elections has weakened social movements. When the oppressed take matters into their own hands, things change.

Nearly 1,000 Homeless People Died in LA in 2020 as 93,000 Homes Sit Vacant ~~ Alex Ferrer, Terra Graziani and Jacob Woocher

https://portside.org/2020-11-02/nearly-1000-homeless-people-died-la-2020-93000-homes-sit-vacant

We must see real estate market for what it truly is: an institution rooted in settler colonialism that allows land (and the housing that sits atop it) to be distributed and controlled by those who have enough money for their preferences to matter.

Rosa Luxemburg's Revolutionary Socialism ~~ Paul Leblanc

https://socialistworker.org/2019/01/15/rosa-luxemburgs-revolutionary-socialism

TEN YEARS after the murder of Rosa Luxemburg in January 1919, playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht wrote in his typically stark, homely verse:

Red Rosa now has vanished too.
Where she lies is hid from view.
She told the poor what life’s about.
And so now the rich have rubbed her out.

Luxemburg was born in 1871, in a Poland divided under German and Russian domination, and she played a role in the working-class socialist movement of each country.

Yet her influence has been global. She was part of a mass working-class movement seeking a transition from capitalism to socialism. The decades following her death saw increasing crises and finally a half-century decline and collapse of that movement.

Why the military establishment backed Biden

https://mronline.org/2020/11/17/why-the-military-establishment-backed-biden/

~~ posted for Collectivist ~~

The U.S. military establishment will breathe a sigh of relief at Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election. Nearly 800 former high-ranking military and security officials penned an open letter in support of the Democratic candidate during the campaign. A who’s who of former generals, ambassadors, admirals and senior national security advisers—from former Secretary of State Madeline Albright to four-star admiral and Bush-era Deputy Homeland Security Advisor Steve Abbot—backed Biden as the best bet to revive U.S. power. A month earlier, 70 national security officials who served in Republican administrations threw their weight behind Biden (the list soon grew to 130), arguing that, on foreign policy, Trump “has failed our country”.

Labor podcasts

https://portside.org/2020-11-16/labor-podcasts

~~ posted for Collectivist ~~

The right-wing has effectively taken over much of the media, from TV stations to radio and podcasts. Fortunately, labor organizers and analysts are creating high quality informative podcasts and news shows.

Reasserting the Importance of Committed, Truthful, On-the-Ground Reporting on the Centenary of John Reed’s Passing ~~Juan Antonio Sanz

https://portside.org/2020-11-14/reasserting-importance-committed-truthful-ground-reporting-centenary-john-reeds-passing

~~ posted for Collectivist ~~

On 17 October 1920, just days before his 33rd birthday, American journalist John Reed, author of Insurgent Mexico, a book covering the Mexican Revolution, and Ten Days that Shook the World, the most famous chronicle of the October Revolution of 1917, died of typhus in a Russian hospital in Moscow. Both of these works and Reed’s career now constitute an invaluable example of engaged journalism committed to social justice while ensuring truthful reporting, respect for sources and the indispensable need for the journalist to be where the news is happening.

Class Oppression and the Virus ~~ Deidre Griswold

https://www.workers.org/2020/11/52464/

~~ posted for Collectivist ~~

The United States continues to lead the world — in the number of COVID-19 cases as well as in deaths.

Americans Work Too Damn Much AN INTERVIEW WITH JAMIE MCCALLUM. ~~ Micah Uetricht

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/work-time-leisure-hours-overwork-labor

Workers in the United States have lost control of perhaps the most important aspect of their lives: their time. Getting that time back is crucial — for workers’ well-being, for democracy, and for weakening the tyrannical power of the boss.