Philosophy and Revolution book group, hybrid meeting in Chicago
Articles
Essay: Marx’s Concept of Labor as Life Activity
October 6, 2026Considering ‘Life Activity’ as one of Marx’s most important concepts, contrasted with Hegel’s concept of labor, the author shows how to Marx it mediates the relationship between humanity and nature, and its connection to history of class struggles toward overcoming alienation and establishing new forms of freedom.
OSYAN: From “Woman, Life, Freedom” to “War, Death, Destruction”
October 2, 2026Statement from Osyan/Revolt, a group of Iranian and Afghan women, issued on the fourth anniversary of Iran’s Woman, Life, Freedom uprising. It spotlights the continued resistance to both the reactionary theocratic governments and the U.S. war on Iranians even at the risk of execution, and facing much greater suppression after Trump began bombing.
Handicap This!: October 2026
Takes up: The U.S. Department of Justice threatening the rights of people with disabilities; women and girls with disabilities campaign for democracy, human rights and gender equality; and ‘Being Heumann’, a biopic about the late Judy Heumann, known as the Mother of the Disability Rights Movement.
World in View: Ebola swamps the Democratic Republic of Congo
September 27, 2026As of 23 September 2026, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reported 7,890 confirmed cases of Ebola, including 3,799 deaths. More than a “disaster of nature,” this reflects the world’s indifference to African peoples.
Meeting: The Draft Marxist-Humanist Perspectives for 2026-27
September 24, 2026Invitation to News and Letters Committees’ meeting (Zoom/in person) on ‘The Draft Marxist-Humanist Perspectives for 2026-27’. Monday, Sept. 28, 6:15 PM Central Time. Sulzer Regional Library, Study Room A, 4455 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60625. Speaker: Buddy Bell. Contact us for Zoom link.
👀 Eyes on Education: Wanted: revolutionary thinkers
Meta agreed to pay $18 billion and to strengthen child safety in its products, and New York City announced a policy of AI restriction in public schools. These represent mass resistance to the attempts to control people’s thought. Parent, student and teacher groups have long been rebelling against the flaws in education itself. We can find ways to bring a philosophy of liberation into education.
World in View: Garifuna people resist Honduran authoritarian government
September 23, 2026Garifuna protesters camped out in front of the Honduran Supreme Court for several weeks to demand justice for activists facing charges for resisting a violent, illegal eviction in San Juan, Tela. This is due to the new Agro-industrial Development Law, which favors private interests at the expense of rural or urban communities, sparking Garifuna resistance.
Women World Wide: August/September 2026
September 20, 2026Takes up: a report about disappearances and trafficking of Indigenous Individuals in Canada and the United States; the 2026 Abortion & Reproductive Justice Conference in Nairobi, Kenya; and the Vancouver Committee for Domestic Workers’ and Caregivers’ Rights’ annual march for migrant workers’ rights; and women workers at the Eiffel Tower in Paris went on strike against being told to stay out of sight because a group of visiting sexist monks requested it.
Queer Notes: September 2026
Takes up: a harsher anti-LGBTQ+ bill in Senegal; the celebration of Galway Pride in Ireland; the first Transgender and Non-binary Pride and History Month in Michigan; and responses to the new petty anti-LGBTQ+ Florida law outlawing rainbow crosswalks.
Review: ‘Impossible Choices: A Physician’s Guidance on High-Risk Pregnancy in a World Without Roe’
A doctor of maternal-fetal medicine describes the devastating impact that the repeal of women’s legal right to an abortion has had on doctors and women’s reproductive rights. He includes serious medical issues pregnant women and their doctors can face and provides information and motivation to continue the fight.
Essay: The post-colonial AI future
Buddy Bell traces the impact AI is having on workers and natural resources. The AI industry’s contradictions highlight the need to transform how technology is developed so that it will align with a philosophy of humanism.
Philosophy and Revolution book group
September 11, 2026Philosophy and Revolution book group, hybrid meeting in Chicago
Draft Marxist-Humanist Perspectives for 2026-27: From war to war: Iran, Palestine, AI, climate
September 5, 2026Part 1 of the Draft Perspectives Thesis for 2026-27. A revolutionary organization can no longer allow any separation between theory and practice, philosophy and revolution, workers and intellectuals, “inside” and “outside.” We ask you to join in the discussion of these Perspectives with us. Part 1 takes up the world situation.
America 250: Counterrevolution mythologizes 1776 Revolution
Part 2 of the Draft Perspectives Thesis for 2026-27. A revolutionary organization can no longer allow any separation between theory and practice, philosophy and revolution, workers and intellectuals, “inside” and “outside.” We ask you to join in the discussion of these Perspectives with us. Part 2 examines how the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence this year serves as a battleground for today’s counterrevolution vs. revolution.
Negating this world in crisis: the need to get to the negation of the negation
Part 3 of the Draft Perspectives Thesis for 2026-27. A revolutionary organization can no longer allow any separation between theory and practice, philosophy and revolution, workers and intellectuals, “inside” and “outside.” We ask you to join in the discussion of these Perspectives with us. Part 3 takes up the contradictions in the Left and the need for a philosophy of revolution and its organizational expression.
Learning about Marxist-Humanism: Philosophy and Revolution book group
August 28, 2026Philosophy and Revolution book group, hybrid meeting in Chicago
Review: ‘Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America’
August 21, 2026Cultural journalist Jane Borden explores what made authoritarian tendencies seen in Trumpism and January 6 possible in democratic America. Tracing U.S. authoritarianism back to Puritan culture, she shows how the “Protestant work ethic” was a factor in the Puritans replacing communal values with capitalism. Borden is optimistic that we can understand cult-thinking and overcome its control.
Learning about Marxist-Humanism: Philosophy and Revolution book group
August 11, 2026Philosophy and Revolution book group, hybrid meeting in Chicago
Editorial: Youth revolt in India moves beyond education reform
August 1, 2026The “cockroach” movement in India grew from educational reform to the demand to transform the country’s “democracy.” This new youth movement is fighting to make this a turning point, rather than allow the government’s concessions to disarm it.
Oaklanders protest ICE murders
Several hundred people gathered in Oakland on July 25 to protest ICE killings. The demonstration included an “ofrenda” to honor the 35 people who died in 2026 while in detention, shortly after release, or at the hands of ICE.
Women World Wide: July 2026
July 28, 2026Takes up: Colombia’s legislation against female genital mutilation; women protecting the Afi Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary in Nigeria; and England’s National Health Service inquiry into serious issues at the maternity departments of Nottingham University Hospitals.
Review: ‘Reproductive Wrongs: A Short History of Bad Ideas About Women’
July 22, 2026This book by Sarah Ruden traces propaganda against reproductive rights through Western history. It shows that we can resist by exposing the history of these false claims and the damage they have caused.
Trump administration steals Native American lands…again
The Trump Administration has taken more and more Native lands and favored “production-oriented livestock” like cattle. To protect our rights and sovereignty, but most importantly, protect Mother Earth and all her animals from corporate greed, we must stop this while we still can.
Handicap This!: July 2026
Takes up: World Mental Health Awareness Month in Bermuda; Nova Scotians protest budget cuts affecting people living with disabilities; and UK Supreme Court allows removal of independent checks on the safety and appropriateness of care for vulnerable people.
OFFICIAL CALL FOR CONVENTION to Work Out Marxist-Humanist Perspectives for 2026-2027
July 15, 2026This is the Call issued for a Convention of News and Letters Committees at a moment when the rulers are inflaming one crisis after another more recklessly and thoroughly than they have done since World War II.
Learning about Marxist-Humanism: Philosophy and Revolution book group
July 14, 2026Philosophy and Revolution book group, inaugural hybrid meeting in Chicago
World in View: Flamingo Revolution challenges Albanian government and Trump family
July 1, 2026Albania’s Flamingo Revolution started after news of a resort deal by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. The protests grew, opposing the Kushners, then the Albanian government and opposition party, revealing a hunger for new beginnings and self-determination.
👀 Eyes on Education: Forcing religion—Texas schools’ bible curriculum
A reading list that includes Bible stories will be required of five million Texas public school K-12 students beginning in 2030. Texas and other states are already well down the road of illegally forcing religion into public schools.
👀Eyes on Education: Black history comes to Greenfield Village
June 30, 2026On June 12, Dr. Sullivan and Mrs. Richie Jean Jackson’s home–a key hub in planning the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March–formally opened at the Henry Ford Museum’s Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Mich.
In Memoriam: Ron Kelch
June 29, 2026We celebrate the life of Ron Kelch, a Marxist-Humanist and a revolutionary for nearly 60 years.
Review: ‘The New Age of Sexism’
This book reveals how global society’s failure to eradicate misogyny has allowed abuses and prejudices against women to be perpetuated through computer-based technology.
Free Yaser Ahmadinejad now!
June 21, 2026Demand the immediate release of Yaser Ahmadinejad, and an end to the persecution of Iranian labor activists and the release of all political prisoners in Iran.
Women World Wide: June 2026
Takes up: Afghan Women United recognized by FIFA as Afghanistan’s official national women’s team; the life of Marjane Satrapi, Iranian-French author, film director and actor; and a demonstration in Nairobi, Kenya, against inefficient investigations of femicides and child disappearances.
Queer Notes: June 2026
June 5, 2026Takes up: middle school students protesting the ban of a symphony honoring the Stonewall Uprising; a protest in Australia against gender-affirming care restrictions; and a lawsuit in Botswana to make same-sex marriage legal.
Review: ‘Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption, and the Privilege of American Motherhood’ by Gretchen Sisson, PhD
May 30, 2026This book cuts through myths about adoption as an alternative to abortion, revealing that while women are pressured to choose adoption, that choice often had a negative impact on their lives.
Irán, un país de revolucionarios
May 21, 2026Traducción al español de Essay “Iran—a country of revolutionaries” by Terry Moon.
World In View: India’s state elections marred by Hindu nationalism
May 16, 2026Recent elections in India have further consolidated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s drive to make India a nationalist state. The far-right Hindu nationalist group from which Modi emerged recently celebrated its centenary anniversary.
Women World Wide: May 2026
Takes up: The tenth anniversary of the French law abolishing prostitution; La Cité Audacieuse, a feminist space in Paris, France; and England and Wales decriminalizing abortion.
Movie review: ‘Sudan: Remember Us’
May 11, 2026Filmmaker Hind Meddeb documents the 2019-2021 Sudanese Revolution, from the historic sit-in by youth demanding a civilian government and freedom, to the military coup. Learning from young revolutionaries around the world strengthens our fight at home.
Eyes on Education 👀: Backlash growing against tech in education
May 7, 2026AI is drastically changing education. Pausing its use and respecting educators’ experience with students is urgently needed. The April 21 resolution to implement major limits on educational technology in Los Angeles is an example of parents and educators working together for quality education.
Editorial: U.S. Supreme Court wallows in racism
May 6, 2026The Supreme Court gutted the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965. This dismantling of one of the most important Civil Rights Movement’s achievements exposes the anti-freedom nature and the virulent racism and sexism that pervade this society.
Massive UK marches challenge misogyny, racism, far right
May 1, 2026Report of the Million Women Rise and Together Alliance marches in London on March 7 and March 28. These demonstrations drew record numbers of people to protest increasing violence, misogyny, racism, and authoritarianism in the UK and worldwide.
Handicap This! April 2026
Takes up: Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination demanding mobility rights in South Korea; Disability Inclusive Community Building helping people in Kakuma Refugee Camp, in Kenya; and Autism Awareness Month in Mississippi, Malasya and South Africa.
Women WorldWide: April 2026
April 15, 2026Takes up: a yearly 2.5% increase in self-harm cases among people aged 24 and under; proposed UK ban of pornography depicting incest where one person is pretending to be under 18; and the situation of pregnant women and girls in ICE custody.
From the Writings of Raya Dunayevskaya: The Second International and the organization of thought
April 14, 2026As much of the Left debates how to achieve greater influence in the face of a rising tide of fascism, war, and reaction, this piece reflects on the fatal incompleteness of organization without the organization of thought. The Second International’s detour in the development of revolutionary Marxism shows that it was Marxist organizationally but not philosophically.
Review: ‘Pluribus,’ a humanist utopia?
April 10, 2026‘Pluribus,’ a TV series by Vince Gilligan, presents his post-capitalist dream. Humanity is turned into a single consciousness, which reshapes the world. Both for the deep philosophical issues it tackles and for its artistic value, it is a show worth watching.
‘Greater Israel’ fanaticism devastates Palestine, Lebanon, Iran
April 9, 2026The ambition for an ethnonationalist “Greater Israel” is being put into practice with devastating consequences. Events in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, within Israel itself and in the U.S. reveal where the world is heading if we don’t stop the wars and retrogression.
Review: ‘Beyond Limits: Stories of Third-Trimester Abortion Care’
April 8, 2026‘Beyond Limits’ by M.D. Shelley Sella is a book informed by her experience as the first woman doctor in the U.S. openly providing third-trimester abortions. It includes testimonies of her patients and addresses frequently asked questions revealing the necessity of legalizing abortion at all stages of pregnancy.
Queer Notes: April 2026
Takes up: a legal ruling in the Philippines Supreme Court giving a measure of recognition to same-sex couples; the Dominican Republic decriminalizing same-sex relations; and students at University of California-Berkeley creating and editing Wikipedia pages to preserve LGBTQ+ history.