A podcast explores the impact of Soviet nationality policy on the Ukraine crisis, refuting narratives of Ukrainian nationalists and Putin. It discusses the diverse nationalities, oppression, and inequalities in the USSR. It also highlights advancements in education and healthcare, pro-Soviet sentiment, and the Soviet Union's efforts to address national oppression through language policies and national cultural activities.

This podcast explores the root causes of attacks on reproductive rights, including the role of capitalism, exploitation, and intersecting systems of oppression like racism and patriarchy. It discusses the historical attempts to limit reproductive freedom and the rise of the new right's focus on abortion. The podcast also emphasizes the influence of ruling class ideas and advocates for socialism as a solution for gender equality.

The overthrow of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War restructured global imperialism and all of world politics. Without an understanding of the internal logic of imperialism, some hoped that now there would be a “peace dividend,” a period after the Cold War where the United States and its junior partners would have no reason to initiate more wars and invasions. The illusion was that the lone superpower would not be threatened by any potential rival, and therefore peace and calm would rein. In the quarter-century since the overthrow of the Soviet Union, the United States has in fact been engaged in constant war, and now has a bipartisan military outlook based on “permanent war.” It continues to operate over 900 military bases in more than 100 countries in every region of the world. Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/the-unipolar-era-of-imperialism/

The presence of Nazis in Ukraine is dismissed as Russian fake news, supporting a war-mongering narrative. Collaboration between Nazis and Ukrainian ultra-nationalists during WWII involved genocidal acts. Far-right parties in Ukraine, financial links between Zelensky and oligarchs revealed in Pandora Papers, and controversial connection with ultra-nationalist militias. Speech advocating destruction of Russian people. Fascism and Nazism in Ukraine pose a global threat with support from international fascists and acts of terror in the US.

On May 11, the U.S. Senate voted down the Women’s Health Protection Act, 49-51. The WHPA would have made abortion legal, eliminating the role of the Supreme Court on the issue of abortion and nullifying the pending Supreme Court decision, the draft copy of which has already been leaked to the media. The Democratic Party leadership is responsible for this catastrophe because they refused to forcefully defend abortion rights and women’s rights over the past two decades. It was not a priority for them. They only gave lip service for abortion rights to get votes. Millions of women are now losing control over their own bodies. It’s not just Joe Manchin to blame. The Democratic leadership has only seen abortion rights as a bargaining chip in bourgeois, capitalist politics. Nancy Pelosi, the leader of the Democrats in the House of Representatives, has insisted that support for abortion rights should not be a “litmus test” for Democratic candidates. In recent days she even went to Texas to support the campaign of Henry Cuellar, who is opposed to abortion rights, against a more progressive challenger who supports abortion rights. This clearly indicates that the Democratic Party leadership doesn’t give a damn about abortion rights. They are playing politics and using the issue of abortion to fundraise and mobilize voters for the midterm elections, while failing to preserve the fundamental right to abortion. This is not the first time this has happened. In 2009 and 2010, the Democrats did not have a razor thin majority in the Senate, but a huge majority. Fifty-nine Senators were Democrats, and one Independent voted with the Democratic caucus. In that same Congressional term, the Democrats had a vast majority in the House of Representatives, and they had just elected Barack Obama as president, who enjoyed immense popularity in his first two years. Then too, the Democrats could have adopted legislation like the Women’s Health Protection Act that would have enshrined abortion rights forever. On May 14, there will be large-scale protests in support of abortion rights initiated by Planned Parenthood. In addition to supporting abortion rights in general, the message of the May 14 organizers will be focused on voting for the Democratic Party in the upcoming midterm elections. This is a smokescreen and shield for the Democratic Party’s role in the destruction of abortion rights. While Planned Parenthood is running interference for the Democratic Party’s insidious role in allowing abortions rights to be destroyed, there is no reason to focus a political attack on any other organization than the Democratic Party itself. Planned Parenthood provides many critically needed medical services, not only abortion and birth control but important preventative care as well as transition care for transgender people; the organization is under attack by right-wing anti-abortion forces around the country. Campaigning for the Democratic Party must be understood as a losing strategy. In fact it is a fraudulent exercise. Recent history clearly demonstrates that even when the Democratic Party controls all branches of government, they have not cared enough about abortion rights to ensure that abortion rights legislation becomes the law of the land. We have to make this clear in our conversations at the May 14 actions. A militant mass movement in defense of abortion rights will be launched. This movement needs to expose the failure of the Democratic Party to adequately mount a defense of abortion rights. In fact, the Democratic Party must be held responsible for the catastrophe that is being imposed on women, girls and every person who needs access to safe, legal abortion.

The Supreme court has declared war against women and our basic rights to control our own bodies. Now is the time to fight back. Millions of people going into the streets would make it clear that without justice there can be no peace. A heroic individual has leaked to the public the decision by the Supreme Court to end abortion rights by overturning the Roe v Wade decision, and the later Casey decision. Read the full statement here: https://www.liberationnews.org/supreme-court-declares-war-on-women-and-abortion-rights-take-to-the-streets/

Brian Becker gives a virtual lecture on the importance of V.I. Lenin's State and Revolution, and how important it is to understand and maintain the revolutionary nature of Marxist theory and practice. Brian is a founding member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the National Coordinator of the ANSWER Coalition, and a host on The Socialist Program with Brian Becker (https://soundcloud.com/thesocialistprogram). You can watch the original video of the presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6gpqM5Lfbs&ab_channel=LiberationNews

Karl Marx wrote to Lincoln in 1864 that he was sure that the “American anti-slavery war” would initiate a “new era of ascendancy” for the working classes for the “rescue…and reconstruction of a social world”. The Black historian Lerone Bennett, writing 100 years later, called Reconstruction, “the most improbable social revolution in American history”. Clothed in the rhetoric and incubated within the structure of “American Democracy,” it was nonetheless crushed, drowned in blood, for being far too radical for the actual “American democracy.” While allowing for profit to be made, Reconstruction governments made a claim on the proceeds of commerce for the general welfare. While not shunning wage labor, they demanded fairness in compensation and contracts. Reconstruction demanded the posse and the lynch mob be replaced with juries and the rule of law. This all occurred during a time when the newly minted “great fortunes” brooked no social contract, sought only to degrade labor, and were determined to meet popular discontent with the rope and the gun where the courts or the stuffed ballot box wouldn’t suffice. The defeat of Reconstruction was the precondition for the ascension of U.S. imperialism. The relevant democratic Reconstruction legislation was seen by elites as “class legislation” and as antithetical to the elites’ needs. The proletarian base of Reconstruction made it into a dangerous potential base for communism, especially as ruling-class fears flared in the wake of the Paris Commune, where the workers of Paris briefly seized power in 1871. The distinguished service of Blacks at all levels of government undermined the gradations of bigotry essential to class construction in the United States. Read the full article here: https://www.liberationschool.org/reconstruction-in-america/

Richard Becker speaks at the Party for Socialism and Liberation's forum "Crisis in Ukraine & Anti-war Analysis", discussing the latest events in Europe, and the roots of the crisis.

The Biden administration announced a major escalation in its sanctions against Russia yesterday with a ban on the import of Russian oil, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal to the United States. A White House press statement said that the United States made this decision “in close consultation with our allies and partners around the world” and with bipartisan consensus. This move from the U.S. government fuels the flames of global tensions to the benefit of giant energy and military corporations, making the prospect of lasting peace in Ukraine even more remote. Read the full article here: https://www.liberationnews.org/embargo-on-russian-oil-gives-gift-to-energy-corporations-deals-blow-to-hopes-for-peace/