The disastrous land reforms: Stalin's USSR

Stalinist nations ( called Communist nations by the capitalist media ) are famous for their abuse of power, bureaucratic rule and mismanagement of their economy. Anticommunists also love to spread the lie that communism as an ideology is responsible for the death of 150 million people. Most victims of these regimes died during the major land reforms that the ruling communist parties enforced. In this series of documents we tell about the Soviet, Chinese, Vietnamese and Khmer land reforms. The USSR, People's Republic of China, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam ( North Vietnam ) and Pol Pot's Democratic Kampuchea showed no tolerance or sympathy for supposed ''class enemies''. Millions died because of these disastrous land reforms!

The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics was founded in December 1922, as a union of workers councils. For the first time in history a nation was created for workers and peasants. But the new USSR was deformed and started to degenerate. Soviet leader Lenin noticed this early on. The degeneration was the result of the civil war and isolation. Most capitalist nations tried to destroy Vladimir Lenin and his socialist revolution. Between 1917 and 1922, 200.000 soldiers from 21 nations invaded the former Russian Empire to aid the anticommunist White Armies. But the Red Army of the Soviets ( workers councils ) defeated the White movement and by 1920 most foreign soldiers left Russia. Only Japanese soldiers remained until June 1922! 

During the civil war the workers councils lost more and more power to the Russian Communist Party. By the end of the civil war the only stable force was the Russian Communist Party. When the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics was founded, the only political party allowed was the communist party. This was not done because the communists were totalitarian, but because all others political groups opposed the revolution with force. Lenin hoped that his communists would remain loyal to the principals of the 1917 revolution. But he was wrong, many new members of the party wanted a better life then ordinary workers. Also because of the civil war, the Soviet-Union was forced to reintroduce a market economy called the New Economic Politics!

This market economy was created to please the peasants who opposed state ownership of land. Many peasants had rebelled against the Soviet government. A famous rebellion against Lenin was the Kronstadt uprising of February 1921. More then 12.000 peasant sailors of Kronstadt rose up against the central Soviet government. Lenin already had made the plans for the NEP, but the uprisings of peasants forced him to act fast. So by 1921, the economy of the USSR was a mixed market economy. Heavy industry was state owned but small businesses were kept in capitalist hands. 

But many members of the Russian Communist Party opposed the NEP. Since the market economy was capitalist, many opposed it. Lenin however was pragmatic and said that the NEP was needed to bring back production. He was supported by Joseph Stalin and Nicolai Bukharin. Stalin liked the idea of a state-capitalist economy like Bukharin. But the left-wing of the communist party opposed the NEP. Leon Trotsky and his supporters wanted a planned economy controlled by the Soviets!

Lenin left politics right after the foundation of the USSR. He became sick and died in January 1924. After his death the communist party was divided between three groups. The left opposition led by Leon Trotsky, the centrist group led by Stalin and the right-wing opposition led by Bukharin. Joseph Stalin was party leader and became head of state. His supporters became known as stalinists, bureaucratic party members who were bought by Stalin to vote for him. 

By 1925, Trotsky was removed as leader of the Red Army. After a two year struggle against stalinism, he was expelled and deported from the Soviet-Union. The opportunistic Stalin changed his views on the NEP by abandoning the idea of state-capitalism. In 1928, Stalin created the first five year plan. The economy of the Soviet-Union became a planned economy. But the transformation from a market economy to a planned economy was disastrous!

The USSR was not industrialized yet. In the year 1929, most people were farmers. The NEP allowed small farmers to sell their products on open markets. The people who worked as middle men between farmers and consumers were called NEP men. These people were hated by the communist party because they acted capitalist. For the NEP men making profits was the way of life, a life style opposed by many communists. Stalin supported the NEP as long as he was not in full control. But by 1929 he no longer needed the support from the right-wing of the communist party. Nicolai Bukharin was removed from the party leadership, now the central committee was fully controlled by the stalinists!

Joseph Stalin started his land reforms by creating two types of collective farms. The Sovkhozs ( state farms ) and Kolkhozs ( community farms ). Stalin wanted to end the power of the wealthy farmers who benefited from the NEP years. We all know that those wealthy farmers did not liked the collective farms. A farmer is an individualist who wants his own land. That is why most farmers are conservative and traditionalists. When the system of state farms and community farms was created, most farmers opposed it. They refused to give up their ''property''.  

When Stalin was told that the farmers did not wanted to give up their farms, he ordered his police to arrest farmers. Many of them choose to kill their animals rather then giving them up. This is partly the reason for the great famine started in 1932. Under the Kolkhozs and Sovkhozs farmers became slaves to the Stalinist government. In both the Kolkhozs and Sovkhozs, a system of internal passports prevented movement from rural areas to urban areas. Until 1969 all children born on a collective farm were forced by law to work there as adults unless they were specifically given permission to leave. In effect, farmers became tied to their Sovkhoz or Kolkhoz in what may be described as a system of "neo-serfdom", in which the Stalinist bureaucracy replaced the former landowners!

Farm workers were supposed to be paid a share of the farm’s product and profit according to the number of workdays, while a Sovkhoz employed salaried workers. In reality the criminals of Stalin almost never paid them a good wage. After world war 2 it was found out that 30 percent of the Kolkhozs paid no cash for labor at all, 10.6 paid no grain, and 73.2 percent paid 500 grams of grain or less per day worked! 

It is understandable that the peasants refused to join the Kolkhozs farms. The Russian peasant way of life could not easy be changed. While the government portrayed the Kolkhozs as voluntary, in reality most peasants were forced to live in these huge communal farms. Living in a huge collective forced by a government most hated and opposed. At the same time the USSR started with a massive anti-religious campaign. This angered the peasants who were deeply religious. Soon Stalin was called the anti-Christ by many. When they rebelled Stalin used brutal methods of driving thousands out of their villages and into the forced labour camps later called Gulags!

Stalin's collectivization's ended up in failure. Between 1929 and 1933 there was a massive fall in agricultural production resulting in famine in the countryside. Stalin and the party blamed the prosperous peasants called Kulaks. These Kulaks were the wealthy upper class of farmers. Like the members of the bourgeoisie in the cities, the Kulaks owned land, peasants and took all the profits. During the civil war, the Kulaks opposed the Soviets and choose to support the White movement. This is understandable because a Kulak wants to own land, like a capitalist wants to own a factory or business. For Lenin the Kulaks were the class enemy like the capitalists. Wealthy farmers hated the rule of urban workers councils ( Soviets ) and did sabotaged the socialist revolution. They refused to sell cheap food and would go over bodies in order to get their profits. That is why the government was forced to act brutally and aggressively. Many Kulaks were killed during the civil war. 

After 1921, the Kulak returned and were able to own land again under the NEP. Stalin supported the NEP until he removed his opponents from the party. As his forced collectivization failed he again blamed the wealthy Kulaks. This time they were not guilty. Sure they opposed Stalin and the collectivization of farm land. But it was Stalin's brutality that led to the 1932 famine. This famine killed 8 million people in the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic, three million who died were children. Some people call it a genocide, the Holodonor. This famine started when Stalin tried to destroy the independent Ukrainian farmers. Like in Russia the Ukrainian farmers tried to hide their grain and food from the government. When Stalin found out that the Ukrainians were hiding food, he ordered to increase grain production. But in 1932 the harvest failed, yet the government took all grain away leaving the people of Ukraine with nothing to eat. This led to the famine some call a genocide! 

Two years after the famine in Ukraine, Stalin started with his Great Terror. With this act of killing he murdered the last Soviet leaders who worked with Lenin. Leaders like Rikov, Zenoview, Kamennev and Bukharin. After the assassination of Leon Trotsky in 1940, Stalin had killed all major Bolsheviks. At the Congress of the All Union Communist Party in 1952, Stalin said that the party should no longer call themselves Bolsheviks. An ironic statement because out of the original 26 Central Committee members, 13 were killed by Stalin. By 1945 only three original CC members were still alive!

Anticommunists abuse the famine of Soviet Russia/Ukraine to spread anticommunism. Most people believe the propaganda because leftist forces are unable to stand against stalinism. Most communists in Russia and Ukraine are dogmatic loyal to Stalin and deny the fact, that the Soviet government killed millions. This denial give the anticommunists only more bullets. Revolutionary socialists opposed the forced collectivization of the USSR. We stood in opposition to Stalin and we were killed because of it. Members of the Left Opposition were arrested and giving ''special'' treatment in the Gulags. Like millions of workers and peasants, we revolutionary socialists were victims of stalinism too. Yet this is not told by the capitalist media who only cry crocodile-tears, about the anticommunist victims of stalinism!

14 million Soviet workers and peseants were

send to the Gulag camps between 1930 and 1956!

Supporters of the Left Opposition got extra cruel treatment!

West German athletes also used drugs

The sport world has again been shocked by a scandal. West German athletes ( like their East German counterparts ) were giving drugs to cheat during sport events. The world knew that the former East German state used drugs to boost the East German teams during sport events. Their victories were celebrated as a huge victory of the ''socialist'' motherland over the capitalist nations. In reality the sport men and woman were giving drugs in order to boost their sport abilities. After the collapse of the German Democratic Republic, athletes found out that their bodies were boosted with illegal drugs. East Germany cheated, but so did West Germany as we find out in 2013!

Although not a state program like in the GDR, drugs were used by West German teams since 1949. The government of Konrad Adenaur needed victories of Germans in sport events to boost moral. After the war, the Germans were left with nothing but shame. So the West German doctors and coaches started with a WW2 drug giving to allied bomber pilots called ''fighter pilot chocolate''. With this drug they were able to boost West German athletes! 

When West German won the 1954 football league, they were giving a drug called Pervitin. We now know that this drug was giving to the West German team before their match against the People's Republic of Hungary. West Germany's victory in the 1954 world cup, was a huge boost to German patriotism. But with this Pervitin drug we can say that West Germany cheated and did not play fair!

In 1966 the Fédération Internationale de Football Association found traces of Ephedrine in the blood of three unnamed West German football players. West Germany did not win the 1966 world cup, but they did ended second place. In total, West Germany won three times world football championships and three European football leagues. If West Germany also used drugs, then their football victories were unfair and not deserved. 

We revolutionary socialists understand why capitalist and stalinist governments used doping. They wanted to show to the world, how great they were. Sports are major events. Billions are made with football and the Olympic Games. Big capitalists demand victories in order to increase their profits. Cheating in order to win is not new, but with the revelation that ''democratic'' West Germany also used drugs, we can now say that East Germany was not alone. Capitalist nations did it too! 

The Federal Republic of Germany was paying scientists to work on new drugs. The German Federal Institute of Sport Science is now accused by a new report of having held the central role in a government-backed attempt to dope athletes for international success! Although it was never a state policy to use drugs, they government of West Germany knew it was used. While they blamed East Germany for their use of drugs like EPO, the West German teams were also using it to win! 

Sport is not a game, sport is big money. Capitalist nations know this and they will cheat. There is not fair game, no fair competition. In the end, it is all about profits. The nation that is winning gets the most profits. This proofs why capitalism ( and stalinism ) are bad. Stalinist states wanted to show the world how good they were, while the capitalist nations too wanted to boost their propaganda with sport victories. Sport is no longer a fair game. Not in football, not in the Olympics and not in Bicycle racing. Doping is used to cheat, it is used by greedy athletes and governments who only care about winning. They ruin the sport world with their lies and cheating! 

West German football players in 1966

three were giving the drug Ephedrine

Israel and Palestine, two nations in one land

The State of Israel and the new State of Palestine both share a divided nation. Although the State of Palestine is not yet accepted by all members of the UN, most people of the world are ready to accept a Palestinian state, the State of Israel however is not!

For almost 1000 years, religious people have fought over the lands of Israel/Palestine. The Ancient Egyptians ruled it, so did the Greeks and Romans. In the medieval period, Christian kingdom were founded to ensure Christian rule over the ''holy land''. The Arabs were not happy with this, especially when the brutal Knights of the religious orders started to murder Islamic pilgrims. Arab leader; Saladin fought a long war with the Kingdom of Jerusalem. He was able to capture Jerusalem in 1187!

After the decline of the Arab Islamic Caliphate, the Turks took power in the middle east. Their Ottoman Empire ruled for almost 600 years. Meanwhile the supporters of the Jewish religion were exiled. Since the days of the Roman Empire, the Jews have been hated and prosecuted. Christians also hated the Jews because they believed that Jews were the ones who betrayed Jesus Christ to the Romans. So in medieval Europe, the Christian kings were very anti-Semitic. Blaming the Jews for almost anything that went wrong!

In the Ottoman Empire the Turks were a little less hostile to Jews, but they too had their hatred for the people of this religion. Arabs who lived in Ottoman Palestine were very hostile to the Jews who started to settle in what is today Israel/Palestine. The Ottoman Sultan banned the Jews from living in Ottoman Palestine in the year 1892. As the Jewish religion grew so did anti-Semitism in Ottoman Palestine!

During World War 1 the anticommunist White Armies in Russia, used anti-Semitism against the Bolsheviks. Although Vladimir Lenin was not Jewish, Leon Trotsky was born in a Jewish family and Karl Marx was also of Jewish parents. The anticommunists murdered at least 150.000 Jews in Ukraine, with the help from many Christian peasants who hated Jews. As the Ottoman Empire collapsed in 1920, Jews were targeted by opponents of Mustafa Kemal. They blamed the Jews for the collapse of their empire. But Mustafa Kemal won the struggle and in the secular Republic of Turkey, Jews were not prosecuted!

Turkey lost Ottoman Palestine to the British. They created the British Mandate of Palestine. For 28 years, Palestine would be a colony of the British Empire. The Arabs who lived in Palestine opposed British Imperialism and felt betrayed by the British. They were told that Great Britain would grand them independence if they fought against the Ottoman Turks. But the British betrayed the Arabs and took possession of the middle east!

Between 1936 and 1939 there was a revolt among Arabs. During this uprising the Jews of Palestine supported the British. They feared the anti-Semitic Muslims who never liked the Jews. By supporting the British the Jews were even more hated by the Arabs. Jewish police men and British soldiers were able to slaughter 5.000 Arabs and execute more then 100. In the four years of the Arab uprising 300 Jewish police men were killed. British Imperialism was able to suppress the revolt and jailed 12.000 Arabs. The hatred towards the British was so high that some Arabs joined forces with another great anti-Semitic leader; Adolf Hitler!

When Nazism was defeated in 1945, the United Nations wanted to create a Jewish state in British Palestine. This was opposed by the Arab nations who did not wanted a Jewish state. The United Nations wanted to create two states, one for the Jews and one for the Arabs. But Arab nations opposed this so much  that they decided to invade British Palestine to prevent the creation of the State of Israel. On May 15 of 1948, Arab forces from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon invaded Israel/Palestine. But the Jews were not about to give up their new state, 100.000 men and woman joined forces to fight the Arab invaders!

After 9 months, 3 weeks and 2 days, the war was over. The State of Israel was able to defeat the Arab invaders. The Arab Palestinians were forcefully removed from the their homes. Some Israeli soldiers even committed mass murder against them. We know today that Israeli soldiers committed 24 massacres against the Arab population. The reason why they did this was out of revenge and hatred. Arab forces also committed crimes against innocent Jews, but on a far smaller scale then the Israeli. This is because Arab forces never captured many Jewish towns and cities. It was the Israeli Defence Force that conquered all Arab towns and settlements. But the West-Bank and the Gaza Strip were still in Arab hands. The Kingdom of Jordan took control of the West-Bank and annexed it in 1950!  

This first defeat at the hands of Israel was the beginning of a long and bloody conflict. Hatred towards Israel soon turned anti-Semitic as Jews across the middle east were bullied and intimidated by Arabs. Meanwhile in Israel, the supporters of the Jewish state ( called Zionists ) replaced Arab towns with Jewish towns. Many Jews from Europe migrated to the State of Israel. Between 1948 and 1967, the Jews outgrew the Arabs who in 1948 were still the majority in Israel/Palestine!

Fearing the Egyptian leader; Gamal Abdel Nasser, the State of Israel launched an attack on the Arab world called the Six Day War. On June 5 of 1967, Israeli air planes destroyed 2/3 of the proud Egyptian Air Force in an surprise attack. More then 400 Egyptians planes were destroyed, most on the ground, Israel only lost 46 planes. But the State of Israel did more then just destroying the Egyptian Air Force. Their invasion force also conquered the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip and the West-Bank ( held by Jordan ). Now the State of Israel was bigger then it ever was!

This surprise attack humiliated the Arabs. In the United Nations the attack of Israel was condemned and they were told to leave the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza Strip and the West-Bank. Israel refused saying they needed those lands to protect themselves. The United States of America and most Western European nations supported Israel in this. They totally ignored the needs to the Palestinian people. Win-out any support from outside, the Arab Palestinians started to use terrorist methods to put fear into the minds of Israel. Leftist nationalist groups like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( PFLP ) were created in 1967 to oppose Israeli Imperialism!

The PFLP became known for their aircraft hijacking in the late 60's and 1970's. Many of these young nationalists belonged to the middle-class. They were educated in the Marxist Leninist ( Stalinist ) ideology yet for many nationalism was the motivator not communism. They also got support from western leftists, who after 1968 sided with the PFLP against Israel!

Meanwhile the bourgeoisie of the world supported the State of Israel. They said that Israel was only defending themselves and that the PFLP was a ''dirty communist terrorist group''. That was also said about the African National Congress and their jailed leader Nelson Mandela, who was also called a ''dirty communist terrorist'' by the capitalist politicians in the western world!

The Arab world took their revenge on Israel in 1973. Egyptian forces under president Anwar Sadat invaded the Sinai Peninsula and recaptured it for Egypt. Although the Yom Kippur War was a Israeli tactical victory, Egypt regained its lost honour. Anwar Sadat became a hero in the Arab world for attacking the State of Israel during their Yom Kippur holiday. But Sadat went in another direction when he started to talk with Israel about peace. In 1979 the Camp David Accords were signed between the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Israel. These accords were signed win-out the Palestinians and the UN condemned them for it. Also the Arab world was furious at Sadat who made peace with Israel. The Arab League suspended Egypt because of this!

In 1981 Anwar Sadat was murdered by Islamic extremist soldiers in the Egyptian Army. During a parade the soldiers opened fire on the president. He was killed while vice president Mubarak was injured. After the death of Sadat, vice president Mubarak became president. His government was able to persuade the Arab world into accepting peace with Israel.

The State of Israel made sure that the occupied Palestinian lands would become Jewish in time. Radical Zionist colonists took up residence in the West-Bank. They claim that all of Israel/Palestine belongs to the Jewish people. These Jewish extremists hate Arabs and with the support from the Israeli Army, they bully and intimidate Palestinians till this day. In the United Nations the call to leave the Gaza Strip and the West-Bank was put into a motion in 2002. But the State of Israel did not accepted this motion. They claim to this day that they have the right to control Palestinian lands!

After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, a new force became a danger to Israeli Imperialism. Until the 1980's, Palestinian nationalism was secular and leftist. But a new ideology would emerge, one more extremist and totalitarian. This ideology is called Islamism and based around the Islamic religion. In 1987 the Islamic Resistance was founded. ''Islamic Resistance'' or Hamas, was able to rally poor people around the banner of Islam and strict dogma's. Unlike the middle class PFLP, the militants of Hamas were able to rally poor people with the Islamic religion. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was never able to rally the working class, due to their believe in guerrilla warfare instead of class struggle. The poor were easy recruited by Hamas, who also gave social security and medical aid!

By the year 2000, the secular nationalists were losing the fight for support. Hamas was growing very fast. They also started to use suicide-bombers against Israeli civilians. Their terror attacks fueled the anger of the State of Israel, who used brutal methods to hunt down the Hamas terrorists. Even Palestinian young teens ( 12-18 years old ) were jailed and assaulted by Israeli Defense Force soldiers. The Palestinian National Liberation Movement ( Fatah ) was by now the leader of the secular resistance. Between 1987 till 1993 they launched the first Intifada against Israel. This Intifada was an uprising that was met with huge brutality. Israel lost 160 soldiers, but slaughtered 1.000 Palestinians. Most tried to fight the Israel Defence Force ( IDF ) with stones but were shot at by tanks and machine guns!

Supporters of Israel claim that the soldiers did their job while defending Israeli citizens. We revolutionary socialists say that is no excuse. Israel has no right to occupy the West-Bank. They had no right to take it as their own in 1967 when they invaded lands that were never theirs to take. The UN plan for a Jewish state did not include the era's we call the Gaza Strip or the West-Bank. Revolutionary socialists support a socialist Israel and a socialist Palestine that are both secular and free from Jewish and Islamic dogma's.

In 2005, Israel left the Gaza Strip. Many Jewish extremists opposed this and there were many demonstrations against leaving Gaza. But Israel did it and left Gaza to the Palestinians. Unfortunate it was Hamas who was able to win the minds of the people. During the elections of 2007 it was Hamas who got total control over the Gaza Strip. In response to this the Israeli's blocked the strip. They also destroyed the airport and prevent any ships from entering Gaza. Hamas retaliated by firing unguided rockets at Israel causing very little damage. But the Zionists use these attacks as proof that the IDF has the right to attack Gaza and kill Palestinians!

Since the victory of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the two Palestinian territories are govern independently. The State of Israel has granted the Palestinian Liberation Organisation ( PLO ) limited self management in the era's of the West-Bank that are not under control of Jewish colonists. Yet the IDF is still the only military force allowed in the West-Bank. The PLO is the organisation that launched the second Intifada in the year 2000. During this second Intifada  more then 1.000 Israeli's ( 2/3 were civilian's ) died. The IDF responded very harsh by killing 3.000 Palestinians in total. They claim it was all self-defense and that the ''terrorists'' were responsible for the killings of Palestinians. Again the State of Israel plays the victim, while they are the ones who occupy lands that don't belong to them!

The second Intifada ended in 2005 with the removal of IDF forces from the Gaza Strip. The Islamic Resistance( Hamas ) was able to win the elections in 2007, leading to sectarian violence between the secular nationalists and Islamic nationalists. Meanwhile the Palestinian Authority is deeply divided and losing support. In the year 2012 they appealed to the United Nations to recognize them as the State of Palestine. Most supporters of the State of Israel ( including the USA and the Netherlands ) opposed the idea of a State of Palestine. The PLO declared a State of Palestine back in 1988, but no nation recognized this state. Even in the year 2013 the Palestinians still have no state. This is because the USA and their allies block any UN attempt to recognize a Palestinian state! 

Hamas is still in complete control of the Gaza Strip. Turning the only free part of Palestine into a Islamic theocracy. Freedom is speech is limited, criticism is not welcomed. Hamas is fuelling anti-Semitism among children, at schools and on television children learn to hate Jews. Anti-Semitism remains very strong among the Arabs, it is also a weapon of the State of Israel. Because the Israeli's claim that anyone who opposes Israel must be anti-Semitic. People who support the Palestinians are easily called anti-Semitic by the media of Israel!

Revolutionary socialists stand in solidarity with the Palestinians. But we give no political support to Hamas or Fatah. We say that Palestinian workers must build a party for themselves on a socialist program. Workers in Israel must do the same thing. Only a workers party on a revolutionary socialist program can break the wall of lies spread by the ruling class of Israel and Palestine. We understand that workers in Israel want to defend their freedoms against Hamas. But supporting the State of Israel is as wrong as supporting Hamas. The ruling class of Israel wants war and conflict. They want to divide people into sectarian groups fighting each other. This is why workers of both nations must build workers parties. Only a secular socialist Israel and Palestine can lead the way to peace and true freedom!

The loss of Palestinian lands to Israel

Statement for Kshama Sawant for Seattle City Council Position 2

In yet another election flooded with candidates eager to serve corporate interests, I'm running to represent working people, who have no voice in city government. 

For many of us, Seattle is becoming an increasingly unaffordable place to live. As we face out-of-control rent, the city gives handouts to billionaire developers like Paul Allen. 

While we struggle with low wages, council members pay themselves 120,000 dollars a year, more than any other city except L.A. 

As a council member, I will only take the average worker’s wage, and donate the rest to social justice movements. 

My opponent Richard Conlin, a 16-year incumbent, is a poster boy for out-of-touch politicians. Behind a progressive veneer, Conlin has proved himself a loyal friend of big business. 

He was the only council member who voted against paid sick leave. He voted to criminalize panhandling, while piling obstacles in the way of providing shelter for the homeless. 

I'm campaigning for a citywide 15 dollars an hour minimum wage, rent control, and a Millionaire Tax to fund mass transit and education. 

Unlike my opponents, my campaign is entirely funded by grassroots contributions. 

I'm an economics professor and activist in my union, AFT Local 1789. 

Last year, I ran as a Socialist Alternative candidate against Democratic House Speaker Frank Chopp, and won 29% of the vote. Over twenty thousand people voted for a socialist because they're fed up with inequality and relentless cuts to social services. 

It's time we take a stand. Get involved at Vote Sawant.org. Let's make history together.

Bulgarians and their capitalist politicians

Angry Bulgarians have done something that shocked the ruling class of the Republic of Bulgaria. Almost 2000 people entered the parliamentary building in Sofia and kept the politicians hostage. On July 24 of 2013, the angry demonstrators entered the building and prevented some ministers and politicians from leaving. They are angry and they have all right to be. Since the collapse of stalinism in 1990, Bulgaria has been ruled by capitalist politicians, who only cared about the new ruling class!

The Republic of Bulgaria was founded in 1990, it replaced the People's Republic of Bulgaria founded in 1946. For almost 43 years the Bulgarian Communist Party ruled the nation, its leader for 35 years was Todor Khristov Zhivkov, who's nepotism and Bulgarian nationalism was mixed with stalinism. He gave his own family leading positions in the Bulgarian Communist Party ( BCP ). Zhivkov promoted his children, daughter Lyudmila Zhivkova and son Vladimir Zhivkov, in the Bulgarian Communist Party hierarchy. Both of them would live a life in luxury and wealth, while most workers were forced to obey the ruling caste. 

After the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the Romanian Revolution, Todor Khristov Zhivkov was forced out of office. Two months later the People's Republic of Bulgaria became the Republic of Bulgaria and his BCP renamed itself into the Bulgarian Socialist  Party ( BSP ). This new party was not revolutionary socialist. The new BSP turned social democratic and accepted capitalism. Zhivkov died in 1998, just before his death he showed the world how anticommunist he truly was by calling Marxism ''nonsense''!

The new Bulgaria became a capitalist hell on earth. Poverty and crime rose, so did political corruption. The first elections in ''democratic'' Bulgaria were always a fight between the right-wing; Union of Democratic Forces and the capitalist left-wing; Coalition for Bulgaria, a group of capitalist leftists around the BSP. The first election under the new democratic constitution gave the Union of Democratic Forces 34,4% of the votes. The Coalition for Bulgaria got 33% of the votes!

By 1994 the capitalist democrats destroyed so much, that voters turned massive to the Coalition for Bulgaria ( led by the Bulgarian Socialist Party, ex-stalinists ). The social democrats won 43% of the vote, leaving the Union of Democratic Forces with only 24%. But the social democratic government did not changed anything. The ruling Bulgarian Socialist Party did not limited capitalism, they did not even created a welfare state like the Scandinavian social democrats did! 

Angered by this social democratic betrayal the people fell for the anti-leftist propaganda of the Union of Democratic Forces. In 1997 the Bulgarian rightists won 52,3% a clear majority. Now they were able to rule unopposed. Yet their rule was good for the new rich and those with big money, workers and poor people got nothing. Anger rose again and by 2001 most people hated both the Union of Democratic Forces and the Coalition for Bulgaria!

Then an old ruler offered something different. The National Movement Simeon II was created around the former king ( czar ) Simeon II. He was the son of the king who ruled Bulgaria until 1946. As a political liberal democrat Simeon II was not infected with all the bad things people knew of the other politicians. So during the 2001 elections, the National Movement Simeon II won 47% of the vote. Leaving the Union of Democratic Forces and the Coalition of Bulgaria far behind. Simeon II became prime minister of Bulgaria and ruled for four years!

The revolutionary left was nothing in Bulgaria after the collapse of stalinism. People who called themselves Marxists, were either old Stalinists, still dreaming about their People's Republic of Bulgaria. Soon the elderly realized that their life in capitalist Bulgaria was worse then under stalinism. So they started to idealize their former life in the People's Republic of Bulgaria. Poverty among the elderly is very high, but the ruling class does not care at all. Their target is the youth of Bulgaria. Most young people had no interests in the Stalinist past, they were blinded by the propaganda of the capitalists. Many teens who lived between 1990 and 2000 were told that capitalism would mean a bright future for them. The market was God, competition was King! 

But as the 21st century began, most young people realized that there was no good life for them in Bulgaria. So many choose to work in other European nations. As Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007, many Bulgarians left home to find work in western EU nations. Not all western Europeans were happy with all those Bulgarians searching for work. In 2008, the capitalist crisis erupted as the stock market collapsed. Now many people in western Europe were losing their jobs to cheap Bulgarians, this fueled racism and hatred.   

The National Movement Simeon II did not brought change to Bulgaria. As a liberal capitalist party, they too supported the rule of the markets against workers and poor people. The elections of 2005 were a big defeat for the former king, who's movement lost 67 seats in the parliament. Winner was the Coalition for Bulgaria, but they needed a coalition partner to form a government. The social democrats were told that the financial markets demanded a stable capitalist government. So after much debates and compromises a capitalost government was created between the Coalition for Bulgaria, the National Movement Simeon II and the liberal; Movement for Rights and Freedoms. 

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms is the liberal democratic party of Bulgaria. While the Union of Democratic Forces is conservative and nationalist, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms is mainly liberal and supportive of neoliberalism. With these three parties a stable government was created. The markets were pleased, but workers would soon find out that this government was again no government of the people. 

Again there was no socialist alternative. This is mainly because the Bulgarian Socialist Party is called ''socialist'' by the Bulgarian media. They fool the workers into thinking that the BSP is leftist and pro-worker. The BSP is getting their voters from workers based communities. But these workers are not helping themselves with a vote on the BSP. The lack of a socialist alternative is the reason why many still choose to vote for the Bulgarian Socialist Party and their Coalition for Bulgaria!

As the story grows very familiar, the government was defeated in the elections of 2009. Again a new capitalist formation promised to change everything. This time the Bulgarians were told to trust in the European Union and European capitalism. The Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria was created in 2006 by pro-EU populists who love the European Union and its free market dogma's. They won 39,7% during the elections in 2009. But for the supporters of Simeon II, the elections were a huge defeat. In 2007 they changed their movement's name to National Movement for Stability and Progress, but the people voted them out of the parliament. Simeon II's movement is reduced to nothing!

The new pro-EU government of Bulgaria was again pro-capitalist and anti-worker. After another four years of capitalist rule the anger exploded. Many Bulgarians choose to demonstrate against the corrupt government and their pro-capitalist agenda. The elections on May 2013 were a defeat for the Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria, but they remained the biggest party in the nation. Winners were the social democrats of the BSP who were able to mask themselves as progressive and leftist again! 

Thanks to the support from the Movement for Rights and Freedoms the BSP was able to form a ( capitalist ) government. The EU populists were forced into the opposition. But they have nothing to fear. The BSP is pro-EU and will not stop the European demands for free markets and freedom to exploit workers. Because that is very common in Bulgaria. The minimum wage is €158.50 and prices are rising. 

Soon the new government made another huge mistake that angered the people. They appointed a media mogul to be the leader of the secret police of Bulgaria. On July 24 of 2013, more then 2000 angry people attacked the parliamentary building preventing some ministers and politicians from leaving. The Bulgarian police was ready and after a few fights were able to clear the road for the ministers and politicians to escape.

But the anger is not gone. Many Bulgarians don't trust the government and they have a good reason to oppose it. Every government has been capitalist and anti-worker. This is because all political parties in Bulgaria are supportive of capitalism. Even the new Communist Party of Bulgaria supports capitalism, by joining the Coalition for Bulgaria under BSP wings. 

What Bulgarians need is a workers party. A party for workers, young people and the poor. This party must be build on a revolutionary socialist platform. Nationalizing the means of production and expropriate the rich and the corrupt politicians, who got rich behind the backs of the poor. Capitalism must be abolished and be replaced by democratic socialism. But this can only happen when the working class of Bulgaria wakes up from the nightmare the ruling class imposed on them since 1990!

Since 1990, Bulgaria is good friends with 

the capitalist class of the USA! 

Right-wing extremists in the US Army

The US Army is the tool of the ruling class of America. With huge propaganda they claim to fight for ''democracy'' and ''liberty''. These two words are used throughout the United States of America. Their propaganda values are high, because many Americans thinks they are genuine free. Just another big lie on which the USA was founded. Freedom only for the white race, freedom only for the white male and today there is only freedom for the rich. Because the NSA/CIA is spying on people just like the KGB did. While Americans were made paranoia about KGB stories, the CIA was doing the same thing! 

Serving in the army is a ''patriotic duty'' many Americans say. But we revolutionary socialists know how brutal and cruel US Army training is. Young boys are drilled into fighting monsters in order to kill and murder. You can see the drilling nature of the US Army and how their drill commanders act. Inhuman and brutal, their job is to destroy humanity in the recruits, so they can do their job win-out thinking. Shoot first and ask questions later, that is the American way! 

Now many say that there are no neo-Nazi's in the US Army. Wrong again, the Army is perfect for militaristic white boys who are racists. Since Nazi's love militarism and discipline they find a good home in the Army. Some neo-Nazi's are recruited in prison, serving the US Army instead of going to jail is what many right-wing extremists choose.  

After the attacks on 9/11, the US Army needed fresh recruits for their war against the Taliban. Since not enough boys wanted to join, they government searched for others who might wanted to join. The people they recruited into the Army were not at all supporters of the US Constitution. There is a book out that is telling you the story about how the US government used right-wing extremists in their own army!

''Since the launch of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars—now the longest wars in American history—the US military has struggled to recruit troops. It has responded, as Matt Kennard’s explosive investigative report makes clear, by opening its doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists, gang members, criminals of all stripes, the overweight, and the mentally ill. Based on several years of reporting, Irregular Army includes extensive interviews with extremist veterans and leaders of far-right hate groups—who spoke openly of their eagerness to have their followers acquire military training for a coming domestic race war. As a report commissioned by the Department of Defense itself put it, “Effectively, the military has a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy pertaining to extremism.”

Irregular Army connects some of the War on Terror’s worst crimes to this opening-up of the US military. With millions of veterans now back in the US and domestic extremism on the rise, Kennard’s book is a stark warning about potential dangers facing Americans—from their own soldiers'' 

This book should be a wake up call to Americans. But then again the warnings fell on deaf ears. Partly because of the massive war propaganda spread by the imperialist media. Fox News and CNN are the main pro-war news networks who poison the minds of the American working class. During the Afghanistan war and Iraq war, they portrayed the US Army as the good guys, fighting for ''democracy'' and ''liberty!''

US imperialism used the same trick in Korea and Vietnam. When the Democratic People's Republic of Korea invaded the Republic of Korea, the USA choose to defend the totalitarian regime of Syngman Rhee. This South Korean dictator was put into power by the Americans in 1948 and he already jailed 30.000 people by 1950. As the army of the DPRK invaded South Korea, Syngman Rhee ordered the execution of 150.000 people in the Bodo League concentration-camps  All were murdered right under the nose of the new CIA, who reported the killings to the US government! 

But the Americans kept silence. Because they told their soldiers that South Korea was a democracy and that American soldiers came to defend ''liberty'' and ''freedom''. More then 36.000 US soldiers died to save the totalitarian anticommunist dictatorship of Syngman Rhee. The cruel dictator would rule for another seven years, before students forced the old men to flee South Korea. He was replaced by a military junta that would rule until the partly democratic elections in 1987.   

Right-wing extremists joined the fight against the ''communist'' North Koreans. Some Dutch who fought for the Waffen SS during World War 2, joined 819 Dutch soldiers send to Korea in 1950. Also the racist anticommunist South Africans would send 800 soldiers to fight the ''communists''. 

After the Korean War, a Demilitarized Zone was build separating the Stalinist North and the capitalist South. Both the DPRK and the ROK would remain dictatorships. A partly democracy was created after 1987 in South Korea, but revolutionary socialists are still getting jailed for opposing capitalism and US imperialism in Korea! 

Neo-Nazi's were part of the US forces stationed on the DMZ. Why do we know this? Because there are stories and pictures of US soldiers with right-wing extremist symbols. In the picture below this report, you can see US soldiers in Afghanistan with the flag of the Waffen SS. The lower picture shows a soldiers with a neo-Nazi flag. The flag is put on an armored vehicle, while the US flag is on another vehicle. This picture seems to be taken in South Korea or South Vietnam, we are not sure!

The point of this story is that right-wing extremists are in the US Army. People who hate Muslims, Jews, secularists and above all; they hate tolerance and love. This hatred towars tolerance and love is why they choose the US Army. Because there is no tolerance in the army of the USA. Militarism, discipline and brutal training, that is the nature of the US Army. They claim it is all in the name of ''democracy'' and ''liberty'', but tell that to the 150.000 South Koreans murdered by a dictator you fought and died for. Tell that to the students and left-wing activists who were arrested and tortured while you guarded the DMZ. The enemy of freedom and democracy was not only North Korea, but also South Korea!

50.000 US soldiers died to defend the military junta of South Vietnam from 1963 till 1973. The South Vietnam was no democracy but a military junta, since the Army of the Republic of Vietnam staged a coup and killed the civilian president in 1963. South Vietnam murdered 89.000 people including many farmers, left-wing nationalists and those who simply opposed the corrupt rule of the military!

Almost 4.500 US soldiers were killed in 8 years since Operation Iraqi Freedom. In Afghanistan the US Army lost about 2.300 soldiers. Since US imperialism invaded these two nations, more then 200.000 people have been killed. Most of them were civilians killed in the war between US forces and the resistance. Some supported of the war claimed that America brought ''freedom'' to Afghanistan and Iraq. But when we look at these nations today in 2013, we see that US imperialism only achieved one thing. They have privatized those economies  opening the doors for US capitalists to steal the wealth from both Afghanistan and Iraq. The new ''democratic'' governments of these nations could not oppose the demands of US capitalists! 

Corruption is high, elections are a fraud. In the Islamic Republic of Afganistan, females have been reduced to second class citizens.  Male superiority is supported by the Hamid Karzai government, called ''democratic'' by the supporters of US imperialism. The puppets of the USA in Iraq are now in complete control of the nation. But anger and hatred towards the Iraqi government is rising. In Baghdad, fresh water is not restored even after 10 years. Electricity is not rebuild, the rich and government leaders have their own generators. The working class is left with a destroyed infrastructure. All because of corruption and inefficient government!

US forces with right-wing extremist symbols! 

A victory for the whole working class

On Sunday July 14, Liv Shange was able to return to South Africa. She had been threatened to be kept out of the country because of the political role she played in the mineworkers’ struggle. The Workers and Socialist Party launched the Liv Shange Defence Campaign to put pressure on the authorities against this threat. So far they had to back off and let Liv and her three children back in.

By the Democratic Socialist Movement ( South Africa )

Background
On Tuesday June 11, shortly before Liv left South Africa for a family visit to Sweden, African National Congress (ANC) General Secretary Gwede Mantashe stated to a business forum in Sandton that foreigners from Sweden and Ireland were behind what he described as “anarchy in Marikana”. This was followed by an attempt to throw leading Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) and Workers and Socialist Party (WASP) activist, Liv Shange, a Swedish citizen married to a South African, out of the country.

Mantashe was referring to the role the DSM and Liv amongst others were playing in the mineworkers’ strikes last year. They helped the mineworkers to set up their own strike committees and coordinate them in the National Strike Committee. The Workers and Socialist Party, which will stand in the next general elections and aims to unify workers and community struggles was born out Marikana and the committees. Both the mineworkers and WASP seem to be a constant pain in Mantashes neck, which he tries to overcome with repression.

But the attack on Liv Shange was not an isolated act. There is a low intensity civil war going on in the mines including suspension of shop stewards, harassment of trade union activists and court proceedings against trade unions. Additionally the expulsion of the Tlokwe ANC Councillors who ousted a corrupt major shows how the ANC government deals with political opponents inside and outside the ANC. Thisdefeat of the repression against Liv Shange is a victory for everybody facing repression in the country.

Liv Shange Defence Campaign
The Liv Shange Defence Campaign collected hundreds of signatures from different organisations, activists and trade unions. Many signatures were collected on the mines of Rustenburg and Carletonville. Well known people like the author Don Materra declared their support for Liv Shange. People from all over the country and internationally sent letters to the Department of Home Affairs. Among them was also a letter by the Irish Member of the European Parliament who also replied to Mantashes allegations.

On Sunday, after a long and nervous wait, a large group of WASP comrades, community and trade union activists, gave Liv a warm welcome. During the jubilant celebration of this victory, Liv was even hoisted up in the air by members of the Amplats workers committee.

The concession that has been won is that Liv was allowed back into SA, for now on a three-month visitor’s permit. She is engaging with Department of Home Affairs to resolve the issue of her immigration status. The struggle to counter the threat of abusing the powers of the Department of Home Affairs to exile Liv will continue.

The authorities have made a u-turn in the last few days, after saying I would have to wait in Sweden for them to approve my return to SA, and that is thanks to the pressure of the campaign, says Liv

''I’m not intimidated and will continue to together with my comrades support the struggles of the mineworkers and working class communities''
An injury to Liv is an injury to all was written on the posters at the airport. Thus a victory for Liv is a victory for all. The left, trade unions and communities must now unite against all repression confronting them and discuss a strategy how to fight the governments and mine-bosses policies!

 Liv Shange is back in South Africa!