April 2021 Human civilization faces three dire, intertwined threats to its existence by the capitalist and imperialist world order: global warming, rising imperialist militarism and war, and growing social and national inequities. A Socialist In Canada website aims to explain and promote the ideas of socialism and Marxism as a viable alternative to this bleak future in store under globalized capitalism.
The international working class has suffered more than a century of setbacks and defeats since the rise of imperialism in the late 1800s and, in particular, since the world war of 1914-18 which the imperialist countries of the day unleashed upon the world. These defeats were not without significant social, economic and political achievements, as documented in this 2017 essay by Roger Annis. But the achievement have not reversed the overall trends of working class disempowerment, most notably in the imperialist countries. The disempowerment has only accelerated since the rise in the late 1970s of globalized capitalism (inaccurately labeled ‘neoliberalism’ by academics). Globalized capitalism has unleashed more and novel setbacks against the working class while simultaneously cultivating acquiescence through such mechanisms as home ownership, stock market investments and comfortable pensions. All this while the older generations of the working class have succumbed to higher pay and benefits as well as illusory job guarantees in exchange for lesser pay and benefits to younger and other marginalized workers.
Humanity is quickly running out of time to reverse the sharp decline in social and ecological conditions in the world and to prevent new horrors of war, including that of nuclear apocalypse. The working classes of the world urgently need to wrest political and economic power out of the hands of the capitalist classes and set a new, revolutionary and progressive course for human development. This will be far more difficult to achieve if the real lessons of the past 150 years of class struggle are not studied and accurate lessons drawn. Alas, much of the Western political left in the 21st century, including Marxists, are bogged down and rendered irrelevant by false, ultraleft interpretations of the great Russian (‘Bolshevik’) Revolution of 1917 and old dogmas whose time has long passed.
A Socialist In Canada began publication in 2011 under the editorship of Roger Annis, a lifetime socialist and aspiring Marxist. Since its inception, the website publishes a diversity of progressive views, from liberalism to Marxism. Since 2017, the website consists of:
* Original articles and essays by its editor, Roger Annis. The frequency of these published items has declined since 2019 due to a lack of support and re-publication by broader left-wing publications.
* Articles and essays of particular note by other left-wing writers, usually first appearing in a different publication.
* Three news headline pages–World News; Canada newsroll; and Ecology newsroll. These are compiled by the website editor and often include his supplementary information and comment.
* Three additional information pages–Feature essays (a selection of noteworthy essays by Roger Annis); Books and essays (by other writers); and Links (recommended publications).
You can reach A Socialist In Canada by emailing to: [email protected]. Your thoughts, comments and questions are always welcome, as are offers of financial as well as editorial assistance.