Minneapolis, MN – Human Rights Day is celebrated internationally every year on December 10. This year, activist groups from the Twin Cities gathered in the Minneapolis’s Uptown neighborhood for a protest and march to bring attention to the ongoing fight for human rights. Over 50 people attended the protest and march despite the cold weather.

Chicago, IL – Chicago lost a well-known fighter for immigrant rights on December 11. José Sigfredo Landaverde was a priest at Our Lady of Guadalupe Anglican Catholic Church in Little Village. Padre Landaverde was also a friend of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. He died after a long battle with illness.

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines.

The historic task of the working class in the socialist revolution is to eliminate all oppression. This includes the liberation of women and LGBTQ people from the shackles of patriarchy.

Mother Bloor, a Communist revolutionary who fought for women’s suffrage, emphasized that women couldn’t just stop at the right to vote. Working women still had to organize against the capitalist ruling class, which forced them to endure long hours, low wages and suffocating labor conditions. The vote was just another tool in that struggle. The suffrage movement relied on people like Bloor – workers who recognized that women’s liberation depends on the struggle for socialism.

Dallas, TX – On Saturday, November 26, more than 60 activists gathered at the Pan-African Connection bookstore in Dallas to celebrate People's Thanksgiving, a celebration honoring those who struggle against imperialism, capitalism and national oppression.

Seattle, WA – On November 18, the University of Washington’s Progressive Student Union (PSU) held a banner drop in protest of the national “Don’t Say Gay” bill, introduced by Congressional Republicans last month. Officially titled the “Stop the Sexualization of Children Act of 2022,” this is a national version of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis earlier this year. The D.C. bill prohibits the use of federal funds for any topic or program related to sex education in schools. It also prohibits access of library books with LGBTQ topics to children.

Talks took place November 25 between General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Xi Jinping and First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez. The discussions took place in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

LA sheriff defeated

Los Angeles, CA – At a press conference on November 16, the Check the Sheriff coalition announced a victory in the overwhelming passage of Measure A in the November 8 Los Angeles County elections. Measure A allows the removal of a sheriff by the LA Board of Supervisors for violation of a law. This is a major victory in the ongoing fight for community control of police.

Arlington, TX – On November 9, Dozthor Zurlent, a former adviser to Hugo Chavez, came to the University of Texas at Arlington to give a lecture to over 30 attendees on the status of the Bolivarian Revolution.

Contradiction is inherent in everything and is what causes things to change qualitatively. In socialist society there are also contradictions. Socialism is the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat, where the working class uses its state power to take society out of capitalism and towards the classless and stateless society of communism.

Minneapolis, MN – Members of the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC) testified at the Minneapolis city council public hearing on the city budget on November 10. This was the first of three public hearings the city will hold on the 2023 budget.

Milwaukee, WI – On November 10, the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals – AFT Local 5000 held a press conference to call attention to the unsafe working conditions in hospitals in the context of what public health experts are calling a tridemic – of the Flu, COVID-19 and RSV this winter season.

Minneapolis, MN – 45 University of Minnesota students and community members gathered November 11 outside the Prospect Park location of First Care Pregnancy Center to demand that crisis pregnancy centers be removed from campus and defunded by the state. A classroom projector was used to display slogans such as “Abortion is healthcare” and “Fake abortion clinic” on the front of the building as protesters chanted.

Dallas, TX – On November 6, protesters gathered at Dealey Plaza to demand the continuation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), a U.S. immigration measure that protects from deporation immigrants who came here as children, and which is now threatened by the right-wing Supreme Court. The protest was called by La Frontera Nos Cruzó.

Chicago, IL – The November 8 midterm election is important around the country, as the seemingly formidable reactionary wave in electoral politics continues. In general, the task in most states is to defeat the most reactionary and backwards candidates.

Minneapolis, MN – On October 27, around 50 activists gathered outside Mayor Jacob Frey's apartment building in Northeast Minneapolis to demand that he take action to stop the demolition of the old Roof Depot building in the East Phillips neighborhood.

Arlington, TX – In the many decades since the University of Texas at Arlington ended segregation, students have fought long and hard to end the university’s practice of glorifying white supremacy.

Civilian oversight of El Paso County Sheriff’s Department needed

Colorado Springs, CO – On Tuesday, October 25, community members and activists with the Colorado Springs People’s Coalition attended the El Paso County Commissioners board meeting to demand civilian oversight of the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center. The call for civilian oversight came after the death of 18-year-old Dezarae Archuleta in El Paso County Jail, the eighth person to die in custody this year. The event was co-sponsored by the Chinook Center and the Democratic Socialists of America.

Marxism isn’t just a philosophical and analytical framework based on dialectical and historical materialism, or a critique of political economy. It is also a theory of revolutionizing society and building socialism. Based on the laws of motion of the capitalist societies that precede it, and the experiences of socialist construction from 1917 until today, Marxism-Leninism is able to give us a vision and roadmap for the socialist transformation of society. Of course, every country has its own concrete path to follow, based on its own time, place and conditions, but we can still draw some lessons from those experiences.