Dear Reader,
 Democratic National Convention, Boston, July 25, 2004. Photo: Bill Hackwell |
This issue marks the first anniversary of Socialism and Liberation magazine. A look back at the last 12 issues gives a sense of the tremendous challenges that revolutionaries face today, as well as a sense of the developing people’s movement that is growing in response to U.S. imperialism—both within the United States and around the globe.
The main issue over the last year has undoubtedly been the U.S. war and occupation of Iraq. We have analyzed every aspect of that struggle—from the heroic resistance of the Iraqi people to the issues facing the anti-war movement in the United States. We have made every attempt to show that the war in Iraq is inseparable from the overall U.S. project to dominate the whole Middle East in its quest for global empire.
We have paid special attention to Latin America, where the revolutionary movements are on the offensive after decades of U.S. economic exploitation. We have focused on the efforts of our Cuban comrades led by President Fidel Castro to build a living example of revolutionary socialism in the face of unending hostility by U.S. imperialism. We have tried to convey the hope and excitement of the continent’s working people for the revolutionary process underway in Venezuela. By translating material published by Colombian revolutionaries, we have aimed to spread the spirit of revolutionary struggle from Latin America to the U.S. working class.
Most of all, as communists in the United States, we take on the task of grappling with the problems of making revolution in the most powerful imperialist power in the world. We have paid particular attention to the struggle of Black and Latino people within the United States and the need for white workers to wage a thorough and consistent struggle against all forms of racism and national chauvinism. We have devoted extensive coverage to the struggles of other super-oppressed workers in the United States—immigrants, women, LGBT people—both to build solidarity and working-class unity and so that every worker can learn from their struggles. We have analyzed developments within the U.S. union movement as more and more workers are looking to reverse the decades of defeats handed to unions by the bosses and the government.
Our regular translation of articles into Spanish is a reflection of the growing number of Spanish-speaking workers in the United States as well as of our solidarity with the Latin American socialist and people’s movements. This effort has just given rise to the first issue of Socialismo y Liberación, a Spanish-language magazine based on articles translated from the monthly Socialism and Liberation.
We are proud of our magazine’s content and analysis. We are just as proud of the fact that it is written by leaders and activists from the class struggle in the United States. That is also reflected in the interviews and guest articles.
But even the most careful reader of Socialism and Liberation might miss the magazine’s most important feature. A hint of it can be found on the cover, underneath the logo, where the magazine is described as the “Magazine of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.”
For those of us who work on the magazine, that means much more than presenting the views of our party—although we do that faithfully. It means that every aspect of our magazine—its writing, editing, production, design and distribution, including on the Internet—is intimately connected with building and strengthening the PSL as a class-struggle tested, working-class party.
Magazine articles are regularly used as the basis for discussions in PSL branches as well as in independent study groups around the country. New comrades are developing as writers. A new editing team is developing and will be announced soon. An ever-increasing group of dedicated revolutionaries is accumulating the skills necessary to produce not just the magazine but pamphlets and leaflets designed to intervene in the day-to-day struggles of our class. And the work of distributing the magazine to PSL branches, subscribers and distributors has become an essential aspect of party outreach and growth.
In that sense, the best way to review the last year of Socialism and Liberation magazine is to look at the growth and development of the PSL. The growth and development of the one is inseparable with that of the other.
I hope that you, the reader, have benefited from our articles and analysis. I welcome your positive feedback and criticism. All of us in the editorial staff hope that reading this magazine will inspire you to join the struggle for socialist revolution in the United States, or to deepen your commitment to the struggle—or to join with the Party for Socialism and Liberation in carrying that struggle forward.
I also encourage every Socialism and Liberation reader to help us continue to grow in our second year by making a generous contribution to the Socialism and Liberation Fund Drive. We publish only with the support of our members and friends. Your support will allow us to continue publishing separate Spanish-language editions of the magazine; it will help us reach more readers nationally and internationally; it will allow us to expand our program to subsidize prisoners’ subscriptions; and it will allow us to further develop our national (in fact, international) editorial staff.
In the struggle for socialism and liberation,
Andy McInerney
Editor,
Socialism and Liberation magazine
