No. 73, June-August 2024  Table of Contents Selected articles linked Click on image to left for pdf version of complete issue.

Israel Out of Gaza, the West Bank and Golan – U.S. Imperialists Out of the Middle East! Gaza Genocide Made in USA For International Workers Action to Defend Palestinians, Defeat U.S./Israel Slaughter Day after day, people around the world see photos and videos of harrowing scenes from the Israeli invasion and gruesome war on the Palestinian Arab population of the Gaza Strip. What is happening, and what millions are witnessing, is an actual genocide unfolding, aiming at the destruction of an entire population. The Zionist militarists are waging a one-sided war to drive out and decimate the 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza – who for decades have been locked up in the tiny enclave on the shores of the Mediterranean – while preparing a possible sequel in the occupied West Bank. And in carrying out this slaughter, the Israeli forces are dropping monster bombs, manufactured and supplied by the United States, from fighter jets built and supplied by the U.S. Without the U.S. armaments, it would be impossible for Israel to carry out mass murder on this scale. A detailed analysis of the planned genocide underway in Gaza, and the U.S. role in it. Gaza Genocide Made in USA (10 August 2024)

For a Class-Struggle Workers Party Break with the Democrats, Republicans and All Capitalist Parties From the beginning of July, the world’s interest suddenly shifted from the horror show of the genocidal U.S./Israel war on Gaza, and the continuing U.S./NATO war against Russia over Ukraine, to focus on the upcoming elections in the United States. The faltering, almost paralyzed performance of Democratic president “Genocide Joe” Biden in the first presidential candidates’ debate on June 27 threw Democrats into a panic. Under pressure from billionaire financiers and Democratic Party grandees, three weeks later Biden withdrew from the race. In two days, Vice President Kamala Harris nailed down the nomination. Meanwhile, Trump picked a fascistic ideologue, JD Vance, as his running mate. So in November, U.S. voters will have the “choice” between immigrant-bashing fascistic Republicans preparing to introduce police state measures, and a Democratic ticket that smears pro-Palestinian protesters as “antisemitic” and is careening toward a thermonuclear World War III. “Pick your poison” is no answer. The Internationalist Group, which calls to defend Russia and China against the U.S. imperialist war drive, and to defend the Palestinians and defeat the Israeli mass murderers in Gaza, says: no vote to any capitalist party or politicians. Break with the Democrats, Republicans and All Capitalist Parties (20 August 2024)

Marjorie Stamberg (1944-2024) Revolutionary Trotskyist, Marxist Educator, A Leader of Struggles for All the Oppressed Our comrade Marjorie Stamberg died on May 29 after a three-year battle with ovarian cancer. She was 79 and had been active in the New Left, was a pioneer fighter for women’s liberation, a Trotskyist activist and leader since her ’20s, a teacher for the last quarter century, and a revolutionary all her adult life. Throughout, she fought tirelessly for the working class, for black people, women, immigrants and all the oppressed. In different arenas, she defended all those exploited and downtrodden by capitalism. She was the candidate of the Spartacist League for New York state assembly and New York City mayor. Later, as an educator and delegate of the United Federation of Teachers, she defended immigrant students and families. Up to her last days, as a central leader of the League for the Fourth International and its U.S. section, the Internationalist Group, Marjorie continued the struggle for international socialist revolution, which was her life. She never stepped back from that goal. It was a measure of Marjorie’s fortitude that in November 2023, when it was increasingly difficult for her to walk, she participated in three Gaza solidarity protests in one week. She was determined to show her opposition to the slaughter by the Israeli Zionists and U.S. imperialists; to refute the slander by the purveyors of genocide who equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism; to speak out on behalf of the Palestinian Arab people under attack, and to defend the rights of others to do so as well. Firm in her communist convictions, she was also a warm collaborator, mentor and friend of so many who worked with her. Her comrades and colleagues cherish her great contributions, which will continue to inspire us and hopefully many others in years to come. Read an extensive account of Marjorie’s revolutionary life. Marjorie Stamberg, Revolutionary Trotskyist, Marxist Educator Who Led Struggles for All the Oppressed (June 2024)  Women’s Liberation and the Class Line A Voyage of Discovery and Rediscovery By Marjorie Stamberg A historical account of the rise of what is now called “second wave feminism” out of the New Left, and what it meant in practice. Marjorie outlines how the most class-conscious fighters against the oppression of women came to grips with the contradiction between feminism and Marxism. Reading Engels and rediscovering the work of pioneering communist women, suppressed by the Stalinists, they were won to the program of women’s liberation through socialist revolution. Women’s Liberation and the Class Line (October 2015)     Marjorie Stamberg Protests Gag Order, Speaks Up for Palestinians In November 2023, when she was already having trouble walking, Marjorie went to three Palestinian solidarity events in one week. She spoke at a protest called by Class Struggle Education Workers on the steps of the headquarters of the NYC Department of Education, against an order by the schools chancellor trying to intimidate teachers, students from protesting the genocidal war on Gaza. Here is what she said (video link in article). Marjorie Stamberg Protests Gag Order, Speaks Up for Palestinians (16 November 2023)

Mobilize Workers Action Against U.S./Israel Genocide in Gaza! “BDS” Dead End: Liberal Divestment Schemes, No Road to Liberation of the Palestinian People Calls for “boycott, divestment and sanctions” (BDS) against Israel were a main demand of just about all of the 100+ encampments that sprang up on college campuses across the United States this spring to protest the genocidal war on Gaza. The encampments served to keep antiwar protests going and even, in a certain sense, represented an escalation from the innumerable marches calling for a ceasefire, which did not diminish the relentless slaughter. Many in the Gaza solidarity encampments were desperately looking for some way to take action against Israel’s oppression of the Palestinians. But the liberal “divestment” call, while it provides a “hook” to raise demands on local authorities, diverts attention from the most immediate issue: the role of the United States in jointly carrying out, together with the Israeli warmongers, a monstrous genocide in Gaza. And it does not point to a way forward in liberating the Palestinian people from Zionist domination. The fundamental issue is what force to look to: the rulers of U.S. imperialism who liberals think can be pressured into being a force for good, or the power of the international working class. “BDS” Dead End (22 July 2024) Israel: Not Just a “Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier” for the U.S. (22 July 2024)

Women’s Liberation Through Socialist Revolution! Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s First Woman President New Face, Same Old Ploy of the Bourgeoisie The landslide victory of Claudia Sheinbaum, candidate of the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) in Mexico’s June 2 presidential elections, has generated enormous enthusiasm in vast sectors of the country. In a country of rampant machismo (male chauvinism), in which the oppression of women takes on blatant forms, the fact that a woman has been elected president represents, and reflects, an important social change. Her election victory also reflects that she is seen as the guarantor of the continuation of the policies of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and his bourgeois populist government, in particular the increases of the minimum wage and the welfare measures of AMLO’s social programs. Nevertheless, in the Mexican elections of June 2, the three candidates for the presidency all represented the capitalists. Their differences are at most tactical. Their common purpose is to maintain the system of exploitation of this semicolonial country, in the service of the imperialists. Thus the Grupo Internacionalista, Mexican section of the League for the Fourth International, called for “Not one vote for the bosses’ parties: MORENA, PRI, PAN, PRD, MC, etc. Whoever wins, the exploited and oppressed lose. Forge a revolutionary workers party!” Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s First Woman President (July 2024)