Liberation Audio

PSL Member Claudia speaks about the continuing fight for reproductive rights during the pandemic. PSL has public livestreams every week! Follow us at http://www.facebook.com/pslweb

This week’s class covers the first 30 years of the People’s Republic, the period of the initial construction of socialism and the struggle between two lines. After liberation in 1949, China set about stabilizing the economy and establishing new governmental institutions. Land Reform and the 1950 Marriage Law began a process of social and economic transformation, including agricultural collectivization and urban industrialization. The Great Leap Forward was a high tide of this process, but was undermined by bureaucratic abuses within the CCP. The Soviet Union, which had aided China in the 1950s, withdrew that aid in 1959 as the Sino-Soviet Split intensified. Efforts at Party reform in the early 1960s left Chairman Mao frustrated with the Party’s alienation from the masses, and the Cultural Revolution was aimed at encouraging mass oversight of the Party. Prolonged and complex struggles within the Party remained unresolved until the death of Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong in 1976, after which Deng Xiaoping emerged as the leader of the Party, now focused on a developmental model using market mechanisms to advance the productive economy. Class page: https://liberationschool.org/china-class-3/

This week’s class covers the first 30 years of the People’s Republic, the period of the initial construction of socialism and the struggle between two lines. After liberation in 1949, China set about stabilizing the economy and establishing new governmental institutions. Land Reform and the 1950 Marriage Law began a process of social and economic transformation, including agricultural collectivization and urban industrialization. The Great Leap Forward was a high tide of this process, but was undermined by bureaucratic abuses within the CCP. The Soviet Union, which had aided China in the 1950s, withdrew that aid in 1959 as the Sino-Soviet Split intensified. Efforts at Party reform in the early 1960s left Chairman Mao frustrated with the Party’s alienation from the masses, and the Cultural Revolution was aimed at encouraging mass oversight of the Party. Prolonged and complex struggles within the Party remained unresolved until the death of Zhou Enlai and Mao Zedong in 1976, after which Deng Xiaoping emerged as the leader of the Party, now focused on a developmental model using market mechanisms to advance the productive economy. Class page: https://liberationschool.org/china-class-3/

Worker exploitation and lack of safety measures in the Texas meatpacking industry during the pandemic are highlighted in this episode. It discusses a COVID-19 outbreak at Quality Sausage Co. resulting in deaths and infections, the high infection rates among immigrant workers, and the negligence of companies in testing and informing employees. The history of worker exploitation in the Amarillo meatpacking industry and the challenges faced by workers during the pandemic, including limited healthcare resources, are also discussed.

Across the country protests against racist police violence have only grown stronger in the face of brutal efforts to crush the uprising. A clear turning point was seen in Washington, D.C. as as protesters’ determination escalated sharply after June 1 when Donald Trump decided to violently remove peaceful demonstrators so he could pose with a Bible in front of St. John’s Church near the White House. Trump’s decision to make a public show of strength appeared to be in response to humiliating accounts of his retreat to the underground bunker, with accompanying images of the White House lights going dark, as protests grew outside on the previous Friday. Whatever the reason, his attempted show of domination misfired badly. If anything, Trump and his team created a textbook example of how NOT to attempt to dominate a situation when people rise up against racist police violence. Read full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/trumps-photo-op-backfires-in-washington-dc-as-protests-grow-more-determined/

PSL Member Cassie speaks on the unique experiences of being both a mother and a teacher trying to work from home during the pandemic and economic crisis. PSL has public livestreams every week! Follow us at http://www.facebook.com/pslweb

This second class covers the 30 years from 1919 to 1949, during which the revolution grew from a collection of Marxist reading groups to the establishment of the People’s Republic. We examine the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921, the quest for a revolutionary strategy suited to the actual conditions of China’s economy and society, and the emergence of the CCP and the Red Army as the leading force in the struggle for a New China. We look at the Jiangxi Soviet–which began to experiment with innovative social policies like land reform and the modernization of gender and family relations–and the Long March, an epic venture to relocate the Party’s base area to northwestern China in the face of Nationalist attacks. The Red Army waged prolonged war against the Japanese invaders from 1937-1945. And in the final clashes of the Civil War from 1945 to 1949 the CCP united the Chinese people and triumphed over the reactionary Nationalists of the Guomindang, who fled to Taiwan in 1949. Chairman Mao proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic from the rostrum at Tiananmen on October 1, 1949. This class was originally held and recorded on May 24, 2020. Class page: https://liberationschool.org/china-class-2/

This second class covers the 30 years from 1919 to 1949, during which the revolution grew from a collection of Marxist reading groups to the establishment of the People’s Republic. We examine the founding of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921, the quest for a revolutionary strategy suited to the actual conditions of China’s economy and society, and the emergence of the CCP and the Red Army as the leading force in the struggle for a New China. We look at the Jiangxi Soviet–which began to experiment with innovative social policies like land reform and the modernization of gender and family relations–and the Long March, an epic venture to relocate the Party’s base area to northwestern China in the face of Nationalist attacks. The Red Army waged prolonged war against the Japanese invaders from 1937-1945. And in the final clashes of the Civil War from 1945 to 1949 the CCP united the Chinese people and triumphed over the reactionary Nationalists of the Guomindang, who fled to Taiwan in 1949. Chairman Mao proclaimed the founding of the People’s Republic from the rostrum at Tiananmen on October 1, 1949. This class was originally held and recorded on May 24, 2020. Class page: https://liberationschool.org/china-class-2/

Capitalist politicians here often promote the reactionary and dangerous idea of “American exceptionalism,” by which they mean that the United States is superior to all other countries. In May 2014, President Obama told graduating West Point army cadets, “I believe in American exceptionalism with every fiber of my being.” One area in which the U.S. is unquestionably exceptional is the level of state violence directed against African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and working and poor people of all nationalities. U.S. police killings outnumber those in other developed capitalist countries by as much as 100-1! Read the full article: https://www.liberationnews.org/u-s-cops-kill-100-times-rate-capitalist-countries/

PSL Member Kym speaks on the many challenges women face within the system of mass incarceration. PSL has public livestreams every week! Follow us at http://www.facebook.com/pslweb