New Socialists

Alan Sears on the politics of health from below: "These mobilizations share a commitment to building health-from-below, which is about mobilizing popular power and collective expertise. Of course, scientific expertise and professional practice still matters. I personally do not want to crowdsource surgery. But the expertise must be there as a resource for communities on their own terms, not as an authority structure reinforcing subordination and individualization."

Health from Below in a Global Pandemic – New Socialist Health from Below in a Global Pandemic by Alan Sears / April 24, 2020 40 Views The fact that the current coronavirus pandemic has spread conditions of dystopia tells us a great deal about the politics of health. A virus may be a natural phenomenon, but the destruction wrought by this pandemic is a p...

"The social reproduction feminist analysis helps us understand oppression as something that is systemic to capitalism. Oppression is not, as equality feminism sees it, primarily a result of ignorance, or of unfair treatment in an otherwise fair world. Rather, it is endemic to capitalism, a corollary of the fact that capitalism cannot exist unless it can cheapen and degrade processes of life-making."

Women and Work: An Interview with Sue Ferguson – New Socialist Women and Work: An Interview with Sue Ferguson by Sue Ferguson / February 25, 2020 43 Views Toronto New Socialist member Daniel Sarah Karasik conducted the following interview with sister-member (now living in Houston, Texas) Sue Ferguson — a wide-ranging discussion of gendered work, anti-capitali...

John Clarke writes:

"Whenever the US and its allies look to increase their international ability to dominate and their capacity to exploit, we should be anything but neutral. However, this doesn’t mean that countries that are facing pressure and attack by imperialism are not themselves class divided societies or that the class struggle within them can or should be put on hold."

Workers’ Solidarity vs Geopolitics – New Socialist Workers’ Solidarity vs Geopolitics by John Clarke / December 2, 2019 7 Views I have found myself at odds recently with some on the left who take what we might call the ‘geopolitical approach’ to assessing popular movements and working class struggles across the world. Those who take this appro...

"Socialists must work with broader left forces in Québec to fight racism by integrating the independentist project with a social, political, economic and ecological program. This program must serve the interests of the working-class majority, develop multiracial working-class solidarity, political capacities and ambitions, and point beyond capitalism."

The Federal Election and the Resurgence of the Bloc Québécois – New Socialist The Federal Election and the Resurgence of the Bloc Québécois by Xavier Lafrance / November 5, 2019 5 Views The October 21st Canadian federal election brought a resurgence of the Bloc Québécois and the decline of the NDP vote in Québec. The former will now have 32 seats in the House of Commons ...

"We need a huge mass movement — including re-radicalized unions — that goes beyond electoralism, litigation, and what Naomi Klein calls “blockadia”. . . Growing our political power will include massive street rallies and occupations, coordinated strike actions, and social solidarity between neighbourhoods and cities and across borders.

October Vote Marks the Start of the Deciding Climate Battle, Not the End – New Socialist October Vote Marks the Start of the Deciding Climate Battle, Not the End by Gene McGuckin / September 12, 2019 95 Views While many Canadians are looking to the October 21st federal election for solutions to global climate disruption, the climate plans from the four major parties offer none. Any g...

"GND supporters should set our course in the direction of a social movement larger and more powerful than any in Canadian history."

What will it take to win a Green New Deal? – New Socialist What will it take to win a Green New Deal? by David Camfield / June 10, 2019 79 Views The push for a Green New Deal (GND) that’s become a big topic of political discussion in the US has come north. At the beginning of May 2019, the Pact for a GND was launched publicly in Canada. It was endorsed by...

On the 100th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike, we’re sharing this article by Jim Naylor from our archives. The strike, Naylor writes, “was in many ways more of a local (and potentially regional and national) revolt than a strike. It was both the product of pent up anger, but also of a broad and vaguely defined hope for a better world.”

The Winnipeg General Strike – New Socialist The Winnipeg General Strike by NewSocialist / February 11, 2010 1632 Views By Jim Naylor The Winnipeg General Strike is a landmark in North America by any measure. From mid-May to late June 1919 – for six weeks – about 35,000 workers – the bulk of Winnipeg’s labour force – walked off the j...

Check out a recent article by Thea Baines and Amina Vance on the Students Say No movement: "Our movement is not just fighting to recover a few resources in schools that are often already failing marginalised students. We are fighting for Indigenous students, consistently underfunded across this province. We are fighting for q***r families, who still face bullying and ignorance. We are fighting for a truly public education. And we will keep fighting."

Ford, Do Not Expect Complacency – We the students fight back against cuts to education – New Socialist Ford, Do Not Expect Complacency – We the students fight back against cuts to education by Thea Baines and Amina Vance / May 10, 2019 2 Views It is no accident that education has been specifically targeted by Ontario’s Ford government. An uneducated population is much easier to control, and easie...

Our pamphlet “Socialist Politics in the Age of Trump”, by David McNally, can now be downloaded for free. Check it out.

Pamphlet #01: Socialist Politics in the Age of Trump – New Socialist Pamphlet #01: Socialist Politics in the Age of Trump by David McNally / June 19, 2017 5461 Views by David McNally “Alongside a resurgence of the far-right we are also in the early stages of an opening to radical socialism of the sort we have not seen for two generations. Failure to grasp this mean...

"It is sometimes tempting to tag the Ford government as shoot-from-the-gut reactionaries, striking out randomly at whatever bugs them in the moment. Unfortunately, theirs is a much more deliberate strategy than that, not necessarily based on their own cleverness but on a right-wing playbook for postsecondary education in a neoliberal capitalist society that has been developed since the 1970s. This policy direction is not a mistake, and it will not be reversed by rational argument. Rather, it will require a massive mobilization to stop it."

Fighting Ford on Campus: Resisting the Tory Agenda for Postsecondary Education – New Socialist Fighting Ford on Campus: Resisting the Tory Agenda for Postsecondary Education by Alan Sears / March 19, 2019 5 Views Doug Ford’s Ontario Conservative government launched its first substantial policy initiative around postsecondary education on January 17, 2019. It was wrapped around the headline ...

"Despite all the talk about 'compassion', the Ford government’s welfare reforms are going to make the lives of the poor in Ontario worse. That is not an accident. It is by design; and contained within these reforms is a deeper truth about the desires and fears that drive ruling class thinking and action towards the working class and labour markets."

New Gruel, Old Bottle: Ford, Social Assistance and the Discipline of the Poor – New Socialist New Gruel, Old Bottle: Ford, Social Assistance and the Discipline of the Poor by Jackie Esmonde and Todd Gordon / January 18, 2019 5 Views There was good reason to fear the worst when Ontario’s Minister of Children, Community and Social Services, Lisa MacLeod, announced that the new government was...