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How a Young Communist Won and Lost Power in Postwar Japan

Chris Dite Jacobin
Today marks a decade since the death of Japanese communist Toshiko Karasawa. Her courageous life is a testament to the revolutionary potential of anti-imperialism, but also the difficult choices faced by the Left in US client states.

How Ideology Can Help (or Hurt) Movements Trying To Build Power

Mark Engler and Paul Engler Waging Nonviolence
Bernie Sanders and the Squad have helped pave the way for open socialists to win elected seats in multiple levels of government at a scale that has not been seen in a century. Many progressives are taking a new look at the importance of ideology.

US Leaders Split on China Policy

Richard Wolff CounterPunch
On the one hand, U.S. policy aims to constrain China’s economic and military development because it is our chief competitor and thus enemy. On the other hand, it seeks to secure the benefits of U.S. companies’ trade with and investments in China.

Atomic Frankenstein

R. Howard Bloch, Ellen Handler Spitz The American Prospect
‘Oppenheimer’ and the anguish of creative destruction

America’s Cold Civil War

David A. Love LA Progressive
The nation is now divided between people who want a multiracial democracy in which every American is allowed and encouraged to vote, and those who yearn for an anti-democratic system in which an extreme white minority has unchecked control over everyone else.

Tidbits – Apr. 20, 2023 – Reader Comments: Clarence Thomas = Corrupt; Mifepristone Ruling; Supreme Court “Ethics”; Biden’s Right Turn and 2024; Lula’s Plan: Global Battle Against Trumpism; LBJ vs. MLK; Danger of Nuclear War; AI, Labor, and Tech;

Portside
Reader Comments: Clarence Thomas = Corrupt; Mifepristone Ruling; Supreme Court "Ethics"; Biden's Right Turn and 2024; Lula’s Plan: A Global Battle Against Trumpism; LBJ vs. MLK; Rising Danger of Nuclear War; AI, Labor, Tech; Cartoons; Announcements;

The Cold War Was Never About Democracy

Vincent Bevins, Loren Balhorn Rosa Luxemburg Foundation
After World War II, the Indonesian Communist Party threw itself into democratic politics and outreach to broad segments of society. Western intelligence agencies were worried because they knew that the PKI was not coercing people into giving them power — they were simply growing in popularity.
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