Background Information The Tatmadaw (Myanmar’s military junta) detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and took control of the government on February 1st. This coup is not the first in Myanmar’s history. Following independence, a civil war between various ethnic groups with disparate interests began to escalate. In 1962, General Ne Win, a military leader,…

Socialism, communism, social democracy, revolution… The diverse and shifting meanings attached to words like these cause endless confusion and misunderstanding. Why is it so difficult for people to agree on what they mean? How did all the muddles arise?  On this blog, the World Socialist Movement tries to clarify the matter by tracing the history of such terms…

11 de noviembre de 1982, Biblioteca Central de Islington, Debate entre Steven Coleman – El Partido Socialista de Gran Bretaña, argumentando Sí y Monty Johnstone – El Partido Comunista de Gran Bretaña argumentando No. Steve Coleman, Partido Socialista de Gran Bretaña Gracias, señor Presidente, camaradas y amigos. Permítanme comenzar citando una carta que fue enviada…

Democracy is one of those that is mis-used, over-used and ill-abused words that have been hi-jacked by governments and politicians to deliberately misrepresent their actions and to deceive the voters. The word “democracy” originates from the Greek and means ‘power of the people’. In the “largest democracy in the world”, India, how do the majority of the population on a…

La crisis actual en Somalia es, en primera instancia, una resaca de la guerra fría, un dolor de cabeza causado por el viejo conflicto entre el capitalismo de mercado occidental y el capitalismo de Estado ruso. Que Estados Unidos se vea a sí mismo como el remedio al problema es poco más que la filosofía del pelo del…

Among the countless frustrations that accompany modern society, there is one that particularly irritates members of the companion parties of the World Socialist Movement — that is, the perpetual willingness of the exploited majority to swallow so much of the ruling class political propaganda that is fed to them every day of their lives. We could paraphrase…

This is Socialism Socialism means common ownership The means of production will no longer belong to a privileged minority class, whether private capitalists or state bureaucrats. Both private capitalism and state capitalism will be replaced by a system in which all natural and industrial resources will be held in common by the whole community. This…

Do you know about socialism? According to capitalism’s political spokespersons, we have had the best that that system can give. They told you that you have been getting too much and will have to cut back. Yet poverty abounds. Not for you, perhaps, the dire poverty of homelessness or slum ghettoes — that may only be the…

Un capitalista es un hombre o una mujer que puede permitirse vivir sin necesidad de vender su fuerza de trabajo por un salario o salario. Al poseer una parte suficiente de los medios de producción y distribución de la riqueza, el capitalista puede invertir en las energías mentales y físicas de otros, que no son capitalistas, y…

Object: The establishment of a system of society based upon the common ownership and democratic control of the means and instruments for producing and distributing wealth by and in the interest of the whole community. What do we mean by a “system of society”? The world is a “global village”. Each region may have its…