FRSO: March 4 Education Protests Rock the Nation!

Occupation of an administration building at UCLA on March 4th. (Fight Back! News)

The following statement by Freedom Road Socialist Organization is from Fight Back! News:

The March 4 national day of action for education was a huge success! Over 100,000 people marched, rallied and took action at over 100 schools and colleges. The biggest protests were in California, both on college campuses and in city streets. College students and union members joined parents with their children, as well as high school students, to demand education funding from the state government. Across the country, students, union workers and faculty marched across campuses and rallied outside administration buildings, while administrators hid or snuck out the back door. In some cases university chancellors and presidents locked themselves inside their offices surrounded by police while students tried to deliver petitions.

National Democratic Front of the Philippines condemns Arroyo government for targeting children of CPP-NPA cadres

The following is from the National Democratic Front of the Philippines:

NDFP demands immediate release of Michelle Adelantar from Arroyo government custody

By Fr. SANTIAGO “Sanny” SALAS
Spokesperson, NDFP-Eastern Visayas

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines – Eastern Visayas today demanded the immediate release from the Arroyo government’s custody of Michelle Adelantar, a daughter of a cadre of the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army.

“In violation of international humanitarian law, Michelle, 17, was abducted and detained last 3 February in San Jose de Buan, Western Samar, by operating troops from the 34th Infantry Battalion merely because she was the child of a CPP-NPA cadre,” said Fr. Santiago Salas, NDF-EV spokesperson.

Tuscaloosa Bus Drivers Win!

Students picket with striking Crimson Ride bus drivers at Univ. of Alabama (Fight Back! News/Staff)

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Network to Fight for Economic Justice on the important victory by bus drivers in Alabama.

Alabama Bus Drivers Win Union Contract!

Statement from the Network to Fight for Economic Justice (NFEJ)

 Union bus drivers at the University of Alabama are celebrating today! They voted to accept their first union contract late last night, March 8, 2010. All the members and supporters of the Network to Fight for Economic Justice are rejoicing with them!

Organizing a union and winning a first contract are difficult enough. To organize in the South where racism and intimidation are strong factors, is spectacular! The union workers and leaders of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1208 are to be congratulated for their grit and determination. They stood up and sent a message across the country, “We’re NOT going to take it anymore!”

India: Spring Thunder and After…

The following article by Debdutta Ghosh, Mou Chakravarty and Drimi Chaudhuri is from the Hindustan Times:

Charu Majumdar is dead for about 40 years. Kanu Sanyal is 78, ill and infirm, staying at his native village in north Bengal. Asim Chatterjee has mellowed. But Naxals — in their new avatar — are coming back to Kolkata.

On June 28, 1967, Radio Peking (in China) called it ‘The Spring Thunder’. The occasion was the May 1967 rebellion in north Bengal’s Naxalbari by a small breakaway faction of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Later, on April 22, 1969 — Russian revolution leader V.I. Lenin’s birthday — the rebels formed the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). But the announcement was made earlier at a public rally in Calcutta (the old name of Kolkata) by Kanu Sanyal on May 1 that year. The thunder fizzled out by 1972.

After spending about 35 years in the wilderness, the Marxist-Leninists morphed into the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in 2005 — after dividing and reuniting several differing factions operating almost independently.

Celebrate the 100th International Women’s Day!

In honor of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, The Marxist-Leninist is posting a number of articles throughout the month of March on women’s liberation, particularly those that deal with the question from a revolutionary communist perspective. As Women’s History Month continues, more articles will be posted on this website and they will then be collected here. For more on women’s liberation, please see the section of the Marxist-Leninist Study Guide on Proletarian Feminism and Women’s Liberation as well as the other posts on women’s liberation.

• Claudia Jones, Communist
• Soong Ching Ling and Women’s Liberation in China
• Ka Mohan: photo essay
• Dolores Ibárruri (La Pasionaria): Women at the Front
• Freedom Road Celebrates International Women’s Day in Minneapolis
• FRSO: Celebrate International Women’s Day 2010

“Genuine equality between the sexes can only be realized in the process of the socialist transformation of society as a whole.” – Mao Zedong

Long Live International Women’s Day!

Comrade Shireen Abu-Oun of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine

Ka Joy of the New People's Army of the Philippines

Guerrilleras of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP)

Women's Militia in Socialist Cuba

New People’s Army wipes out a platoon of the 23rd Division Reconnaissance Company in Mindoro

From the Communist Party of the Philippines:

AFP to suffer more losses after big defeat in Mindoro–CPP

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) today lauded the New People’s Army in Mindoro for its successful tactical offensive Saturday morning that practically wiped out a platoon of fascist troops in Mansalay, Oriental Mindoro. The NPA ambushed a platoon of the 23rd Division Reconnaissance Company (DRC) resulting in the death of 11 soldiers and the wounding of eight troopers.

The number of soldiers wiped out in the Oriental Mindoro ambush was the biggest loss suffered so far by government forces this year. Since the start of this year, at least 40 AFP officers and soldiers have been killed and 43 wounded in action as the NPA stepped up its tactical offensives nationwide. The CPP has directed the NPA to launch more tactical offensives in an effort to implement its objective of reaching the strategic stalemate stage of its people’s war by mid-decade.

FRSO: Celebrate International Women’s Day 2010

Clara Zetkin

The following statement is from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and is being reposted here from Fight Back! News as part of The Marxist-Leninist’s ongoing series of articles on women’s liberation for Women’s History Month:

March 8, 2010 will mark 100 years of International Women’s Day. Around the world people will celebrate the contributions of women in the movements to end inequality and exploitation, to insist on the complete liberation of women and to look forward to the day when oppression of all kinds has become a thing of the past.

In 1910, Clara Zetkin, a German socialist, called for an International Women’s Day. She was inspired to do so by the historic struggle of immigrant women garment workers in New York City who were fighting for better working conditions and living wages. At the time, most garment workers didn’t live past their early twenties because of the horrendous working conditions. They went on strike for 13 cold winter weeks – and in the end they were victorious.

Freedom Road Celebrates International Women’s Day in Minneapolis

Jess Sundin, of FRSO speaking at International Women's Day event.

The following article is from Fight Back! News, and is being posted to The Marxist-Leninist as part of a series of articles form Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day (March 8th):

International Women’s Day Celebrated in Minneapolis

Minneapolis, MN – 50 people gathered here March 7, to celebrate International Women’s Day. The event, organized by Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), included speeches, a showing of the film The Eyes of the Rainbow – a documentary about Assata Shakur – and brief toasts from trade union, anti-war, student and welfare rights organizers.

Leaders of FRSO and the FMLN Committee of Minnesota spoke at the program.

Presentation by Harpal Brar to the Stalin Society on the Comintern and the Chinese Revolution

Here is a  video of a talk by Harpal Brar, Chairman of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) to the Stalin Society on the line of Joseph Stalin and the Communist International regarding the Chinese Revolution. See also Comrade Brar’s article Stalin and the Chinese Revolution.

See the rest

Liberation and People’s Democracy in Tibet: A Study Guide

People's Democracy in Tibet: Delegates to Tibetan Autonomous Region People's Congress

To mark Serf’s Emancipation Day later this month (March 28), The Marxist-Leninist is posting a set of readings on the question of Tibet. These readings are intended to dispell a number of myths, distortions and outright lies about People’s Tibet (the Tibetan Autonomous Region), such as those spread by the imperialist-backed Dalai Lama and the counter-revolutionary “Free Tibet Movement”. This study guide is being added as a section of the M-L Study Guide.

The Marxist-Leninist recommends two outstanding books on the liberation of Tibet: When Serfs Stood up in Tibet by Anna Louise Strong (1959), and Lhasa, the Open City: A Journey to Tibet by Han Suyin (1977).

• The Agreement of the Central People’s Government and the Local Government of Tibet on Measures for the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet (May 23, 1951)
• On the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet by Zhu De
• Tibet: From Serfdom to Socialism from China Reconstructs
• Friendly Feudalism: The Tibet Myth by Michael Parenti
• The True Story of Maoist Revolution in Tibet by Mike Ely
• “Democratic Imperialism”: Tibet, China, and the National Endowment for Democracy by Michael Barker
• Fifty Years of Democratic Reform in Tibet by the Information Office of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China  
• Serfs’ emancipation day celebrated in Tibet from Fight Back! News
• 50th Anniversary of the Liberation of Tibet from Lalkar
• Tibet Builds Socialism from Lalkar

Helpful websites:

• China Tibet Information Center
• Tibet Human Rights
• Focus on Tibet

Dolores Ibárruri (La Pasionaria): Women at the Front

Dolores Ibárruri with Vietnamese Communist leader Ho Chi Minh

In honor of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day (March 8th), The Marxist-Leninist is posting a number of articles on women’s liberation. The following article is by Dolores Ibárruri (La Pasionaria), a member of the Communist Party of Spain and a Republican leader during the Spanish Civil War. Her autobiography, They Shall Not Pass, is essential reading.

Women at the Front

She was a volunteer, a member of the civilian militia, wearing the blue blouse of a workman. She clasped her rifle with ardour, as though it were not a weapon of death but a much-desired plaything. Amidst the groups of merry militia men who were going smilingly to fight and perhaps to die, she marched in silence, serious and self- engrossed. A light burned in her eyes. They expressed hatred, inflexible determination and courage. I approached her and asked:

“Where are you from?”

“Toledo.”

“Why are you at the front?”

She was silent for a few moments, and then answered:

“To fight fascism, to crush the enemies of the working people and…to avenge the death of my brother.”

Electric shock “trial,” sickening violation of Ricardo Palmera’s human rights

Ricardo Palmera

The following article is from Fight Back! News. For more on the history of the case, see the Ricardo Palmera Fact Sheet from the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera.

Tom Burke, spokesperson for the National Committee to Free Ricardo Palmera, urgently requests, “Help and aid from Americans, Colombians, and the international community to stop a crime.” Professor Palmera is being put on trial in Colombia while held in solitary confinement in the U.S. He is being forced to wear prison clothes, shackled at the hands and feet and then chained together around the waist, with the ever-present threat of electrical shock if he moves too quickly. This ‘trial’ is a violation of Professor Palmera’s dignity and his rights as a prisoner of war. Tom Burke says, “There is nothing fair or just about the trials and imprisonment of this brave Colombian freedom fighter Ricardo Palmera. Ricardo Palmera should be set free.”

Professor Palmera is held by the U.S. government in solitary confinement, under inhumane conditions in the Florence, Colorado Supermax prison. Tom Burke says, “We need friends and sympathizers to support freedom for professor Ricardo Palmera (popularly known in Colombia as Simon Trinidad). We denounce the wrongs committed against Ricardo Palmera by the U.S. and Colombian governments, along with the abuses and violations of human rights.”

Campuses rocked by education rights protests March 4

March 4 protest at UCLA (Fight Back! News/Staff)

The following article by Kati Ketz is from Fight Back! News:

 Thousands of students, workers and faculty at over 100 campuses in at least 39 states participated in a national day of action March 4. One demand was that administrators and chancellors must quit raising tuition and fees. Another demand was that theycut the salaries of the highest-paid administrators instead of the lowest-paid staffers on campus. Many of the protests opposed layoffs. Actions ranged from walkouts and marches, to occupations and shut-downs, to teach-ins and movie showings.