The Dawn of Labor: Commemorating May Day, by Yanis Iqbal

Image by Tysasi via Flickr

by Yanis Iqbal
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Aligarh, India
Originally published May 4, 2021
May 1, 2022

In 1889, Clara Zetkin wrote: “Wherever busy folk are drudging under the yoke of capitalism, the organised working men and women will demonstrate on May Day for the idea of their social emancipation.” In today’s world, the murderous claws of oppression have dug deeper into the flesh of humanity. The globalization of capital, establishment of post-Fordist economic arrangements of flexible specialization, financialization of the accumulation process and neo-colonial strangulation of the Global South have led to a barbaric situation. Amid this generalized chaos, May 1 acts as a blazing streak, inviting the wretched of the earth to reflect intensively on their own history of joy, tenacious resistance, collective courage and strong solidarity.

The Dawn of Labor: Commemorating May Day, by Yanis Iqbal

Image by Tysasi via Flickr

by Yanis Iqbal
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Aligarh, India
May 4, 2021

In 1889, Clara Zetkin wrote: “Wherever busy folk are drudging under the yoke of capitalism, the organised working men and women will demonstrate on May Day for the idea of their social emancipation.” In today’s world, the murderous claws of oppression have dug deeper into the flesh of humanity. The globalization of capital, establishment of post-Fordist economic arrangements of flexible specialization, financialization of the accumulation process and neo-colonial strangulation of the Global South have led to a barbaric situation. Amid this generalized chaos, May 1 acts as a blazing streak, inviting the wretched of the earth to reflect intensively on their own history of joy, tenacious resistance, collective courage and strong solidarity.

The Brief Origins of May Day by Eric Chase

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Dandelion Salad
Originally published May 1, 2015

Republished with permission from IWW

by Eric Chase
IWW, 1993
April 30, 2021

Most people living in the United States know little about the International Workers’ Day of May Day. For many others there is an assumption that it is a holiday celebrated in state communist countries like Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Most Americans don’t realize that May Day has its origins here in this country and is as “American” as baseball and apple pie, and stemmed from the pre-Christian holiday of Beltane, a celebration of rebirth and fertility.

The War at Home: Part 1: Rebellion

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Dandelion Salad

“The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and all to lose—especially their lives.” — Eugene Debs

Part 3: Freedom from Socioeconomic Oppression, by W.R. Zammichiéli

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by W.R. Zammichiéli
Writer, Dandelion Salad
August 7, 2020

(Part Three of an Ongoing Series: The Four Fundamental Freedoms of Libertarian Socialism) [Part 1, Part 2]

Throughout the course of human history, there have been countless individuals inhabiting countless communities who have been directly and indirectly participatory in various movements dedicated to the elimination of specific hierarchical structures present within a given society that exist for the sole purposes of ensuring the systemic oppression of a unique portion of the population. Be it upon the basis of biological factors, or be it upon the basis of cultural characteristics, or be it upon the basis of economic positioning, there have been numerous systems of oppression designated to specifically subjugate an entire portion of the population predicated upon the principle of maintaining the embedded structures of power within a particular society.

Part 2: Freedom From Statism, by W.R. Zammichiéli

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by W.R. Zammichiéli
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 31, 2020

“Every State is a dictatorship.” — Antonio Gramsci

(Part Two of an Ongoing Series: The Four Fundamental Freedoms of Libertarian Socialism) [Part 1]

Part 1: Freedom From Capitalism, by W.R. Zammichiéli

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by W.R. Zammichiéli
Writer, Dandelion Salad
July 26, 2020

The ideology of capitalism is indistinguishable from the ideology of the cancer cell — unlimited growth for the purposes of infinite expansion within a finite reality.

(Part One of an Ongoing Series: The Four Fundamental Freedoms of Libertarian Socialism)

The Science of Marxism

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Dandelion Salad

“We’re gonna focus on two core philosophical components of Marxism: Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism. We’re going to show how both of these can be used to better understand the world and change it for the good of all poor and colonized people like ourselves. And in doing so we can debunk this widespread narrative in mainstream media that Marxism is somehow an outdated dogmatic religion. We can demonstrate that Marxism is truly a science and a weapon for revolutionary change.” — Ramiro Fúnez

Trouble #23: Prelude to a Disaster

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Dandelion Salad

sub.Media on Nov 29, 2019

Every day the news gets worse. Millions of people are displaced by record-breaking heatwaves and droughts, violent mega-storms and flash floods. Unprecedented wildfires burn out of control, scorching massive tracts of forest and brush, and plunging nearby urban metropolises into surreal scenes of mid-afternoon darkness. Meanwhile, scientists solemnly inform us that marine life could be wiped out by mid-century, as the oceans continue to be gradually transformed from vibrant areas of rich biodiversity into the plastic-filled graveyards of industrial civilization. Try as we might… the consequences of our consequence-free lifestyles are becoming harder and harder to ignore.

The Brief Origins of May Day by Eric Chase

Image by brent granby via Flickr

Dandelion Salad
Originally published May 1, 2015

Republished with permission from IWW

by Eric Chase
IWW, 1993
May 1, 2019

Most people living in the United States know little about the International Workers’ Day of May Day. For many others there is an assumption that it is a holiday celebrated in state communist countries like Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Most Americans don’t realize that May Day has its origins here in this country and is as “American” as baseball and apple pie, and stemmed from the pre-Christian holiday of Beltane, a celebration of rebirth and fertility.

What Was The Paris Commune? by The Anti-Social Socialist

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“The Paris Commune of 1871 was one of the greatest and most inspiring episodes in the history of the working class. In a tremendous revolutionary movement, the working people of Paris replaced the capitalist state with their own organs of government and held political power until their downfall in the last week of May. The Parisian workers strove, in extremely difficult circumstances, to put an end to exploitation and oppression, and to reorganise society on an entirely new foundation. 130 years later the lessons of these events are of fundamental importance for socialists today.” — Greg Oxely, The Paris Commune of 1871, May 16, 2001

The Difference Between Socialism, Communism, and Marxism Explained by a Marxist

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Dandelion Salad
Previously posted on Aug. 29, 2017

azureScapegoat on Feb 18, 2017

Ever wondered what the actual difference between socialism and communism were? Well wonder no longer!

Ending Capitalism Is Not Enough by Eric Schechter

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by Eric Schechter aka LeftyMathProf
Writer, Dandelion Salad
Eric’s Rants and Videos blog
January 22, 2019, revised March 12, 2019

leftymathprof on Mar 12, 2019

The world is falling apart, and reforms won’t suffice. “End capitalism” is a good start, but ultimately too simple an explanation. We need to end hierarchy and property, because they concentrate power, which corrupts. Separate property requires markets, which cause increasing inequality, alienation, and externalities. The externalities include war, poverty, and climate change. Climate change will kill us all soon if continued.

Plutocracy IV: Gangsters for Capitalism (must-see)

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Dandelion Salad

Scott N April 3, 2018

Political repression in the USA.

Traditional Libertarianism VS American Libertarianism by The Anti-Social Socialist

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“One gratifying aspect of our rise to some prominence is that, for the first time in my memory, we, ‘our side,’ had captured a crucial word from the enemy… ‘Libertarians’… had long been simply a polite word for left-wing anarchists, that is for anti-private property anarchists, either of the communist or syndicalist variety. But now we had taken it over.” — Murray N. Rothbard, The Betrayal Of The American Right, 2009