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First of all, I just want to say that I am honored to be speaking today alongside so many leading comrades with decades of experience in our movement, many of whom were involved in the initial launch of the World Socialist Web Site and from whom Ive learned so much.

For myself and for a whole new generation of comrades, our entire political lives have been guided and shaped by the World Socialist Web Site .

My generation, the millennial generation, has come into political life under conditions of unprecedented economic, social and political crisis. We were graduating from high school just as the 2008 financial crash was taking place. And now, just over a decade later, we are living through a second worldwide catastrophe, the coronavirus pandemic.

The youngest generation, Gen Z, is entering political life under even sharper conditions. Consider for a moment that those just coming into political life in the past year have been confronted with miles-long food lines in the US, a president who is talking about refusing to leave office, and protesters denouncing police violence being beaten in the streets outside the White House, among many other critical experiences.

Even before the current crisis, young workers were living under the conditions created by 40 years of social counterrevolution, which produced staggering levels of inequality, mass unemployment and the lack of basic needs such as health care and retirement.

It was upon these conditions that the pandemic acted, exacerbating all the social ills created by the capitalist system. And now the brutality of the ruling class is on full display before the world, as governments everywhere embrace the policy of herd immunity, that is, sacrificing workers lives to protect private profit.

These are mass experiences on a scale never seen before. Nearly every person on the planet is aware of the coronavirus and has been impacted in some way.

Under these conditions, it is hardly surprising that a defining feature of this period is the immense radicalization of the working class, and, in particular, young people.

One statistic that begins to demonstrate this comes from this years annual survey conducted by youGov, which found an increase in support for socialism over the last year among youth who are part of Gen Z (ages 16-23) of nearly 10 percentage points. Over the course of a single year, support for socialism among these young people rose from 40 percent in 2019 to 49 percent in 2020. This statistic reflects massive shifts in consciousness.

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More on the History of the Fourth International

The International Committee of the Fourth International is the leadership of the world party of socialist revolution, founded by Leon Trotsky in 1938.

What the last yearand really the years before the pandemic as wellhas shown is that young people do not lack anger, they do not lack a willingness to fight, and they have a deep desire to change the world. We have seen this in the mass demonstrations against police violence and many other eruptions of social protest.

However, what is so critically needed is a political perspective and program rooted in historical knowledge and an understanding of the experiences of the past.

Young people looking for answers to all of the pressing questions of today are coming to find that there is no greater resource than the WSWS.

I know I speak for a whole layer of young people when I say that the WSWS is responsible for not only my political education, but, in many ways, my formal education. It is where I learned about art and culture, about science, history, economics and philosophy. It is where I first found a counter to the postmodernist and racialist poison promoted and pushed in the universities.

Like countless youth in the party, when I was first introduced to the website I spent months going through the archives, reading what the movement wrote about every major political event in my lifetime: the stolen election, the events of 9/11, the Iraq War and the protests against it, the emergence of WikiLeaks, the persecution of Julian Assange, the 2008 financial crash and countless other developments.

The real strength of the new site is how comprehensively it is able to bring forward this powerful archive. One can go back and read what the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) wrote the day after the September 11 attacks. The level of political clarity with which the movement responded is unparalleled.

One can find comments like Anti - Americanism : The anti - imperialism of fools , which takes a principled stand against all those demoralized middle-class elements who responded to the September 11 attacks with vulgar anti-Americanism in the place of principled anti-imperialism. The WSWS explained that it was the American ruling class, and not the American population, that was carrying out imperialist policies throughout the world.

Young people who have been profoundly impacted by the wave of school shootings can find in the archives of the WSWS comments like The Columbine High School massacre American Pastoral , American Berserk , which rooted the horrific events of April 1999 in an analysis of the nature of American society and the consequences of social inequality and endless war.

If there are young people watching who have not read these pieces and related pieces, I strongly encourage you to do so.

These are only two examples of issues I know have impacted young people so deeply in the past two decades. However, this exercise can be repeated for every significant political and social event and phenomenon in recent history.

Perhaps most importantly, in the archives of the WSWS young people will find the history of the working classthat is, their own history. It is a history that is kept from workers, distorted and obscured to serve the interest of the ruling elite.

They can learn about the Enlightenment, Marx, Engels, Trotsky, Lenin, and the advent and development of Marxism. They can learn about the Russian Revolution, the development of the Left Opposition, the immense class battles of the 1930s and 40s, including the extraordinary history of the American working class.

They can, and really must, learn about the history of the fight for socialism, which is contained within the history of our movement.

For the ruling class, the WSWS poses the most imminent threat. It is desperate to cut young people off from knowledge of the history of working-class struggle, of revolution, expressed most consciously in the history of the Marxist movement.

It is because of its powerful perspective that the World Socialist Web Site is unlike any other website in the world. It is an organ of education and struggle that will serve to arm workers and youth with the tools they need not just to understand the world, but to change it.

I encourage young people and workers who are listening to this call and who are not already a part of the ICFI to join today, to explore the new website, to help fund the new website, to understand it as your own, to contribute to it and promote it. Dedicate yourselves to a study of history and get involved in the fight for socialism today.

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The role of the World Socialist Web Site in educating a new generation of revolutionaries - WSWS

As others have noted in this meeting, the defense of historical truth is central to the work of the World Socialist Web Site. Our political practice is always based on an assimilation of the lessons of the past. The most powerful weapon the working class has is the knowledge of the historical experiences through which it has passed, in order to know what it has won, what it must defend today and how it must fight to achieve socialism in the future.

From the defense of the Russian Revolution and Leon Trotsky against the Stalinist and Post-Stalinist Schools of Historical Falsifications to the fight against the trivialization of Nazi crimes in Germany, the Trotskyist movement has been, from its founding, at the forefront of the fight for historical truth.

The great historian of the Left Opposition, Vadim Rogovin, explained that Like ideological ones, historical myths are a product of immediate class interestsRefuting these myths is only possible by rehabilitating historical truththe honest portrayal of actual facts and tendencies of the past.

Over the past year, the fight to defend historical truth took a new formthe defense of the revolutionary traditions of the great democratic revolutions in the United States, the American Revolution and the Civil War. It came as a surprise to many when the WSWS emerged at the forefront in opposing the New York Times 1619 Project, a rewriting, indeed falsification of American history, presenting the history of the US as a history of racial conflict.

In fact, we are the only publication that has raised any criticism of the project from the left. This confusion was based on the fact that the genuine principles of Marxism and socialism have been so distorted and misrepresented by the middle class pseudo-left, which is in fact an anti-left.

Our first in-depth exposure of the project was published on September 3, 2019, just two weeks after the project was published with much fanfare in a special edition of the New York Times Magazine. From the start we recognized that the most profound theoretical and political issues were at stake.

The rewriting of history is always related to the political interests of the present. As we noted in our original exposure, the aim of the New York Times is to create a historical narrative that legitimizes the effort of the Democratic Party to construct an electoral coalition based on the prioritizing of personal identitiesi.e., gender, sexual preference, ethnicity, and, above all, race. Above all it erases the struggles of the working class from American history.

We defend all that is progressive in history. We understand history not as a morality tale, but as the evolution of mankind through the development of the class struggle. We understand that the working class cannot conquer new heights if it does not defend what has been won in the past. And we are irreconcilably opposed to all efforts to divide workers along racial, national or gender lines.

Marxism long ago settled its account of the limitations of bourgeois democracy, but it never gave up the fight for equality. The progressive concept inscribed on the banners of the bourgeois revolutionaries of the 18th and 19th century, that All men are created equal, finds its most advanced expression today in the Marxist movement.

In Depth

The New York Times 1619 Project

The Times Project is a politically-motivated falsification of history. It presents the origins of the United States entirely through the prism of racial conflict.

The United States is the center of world imperialism. Its working class has been forged from innumerable nationalities and ethnicities from every corner of the globe. The challenge of uniting the working class in the United States is essential to the victory of socialism worldwide.

We are proud to have provided a mass audience for the best scholars of American history, including Gordon Wood, James McPherson, James Oakes, Victoria Bynum, Clayborne Carson, Richard Carwardine, Adolph Reed, Jr. and Dolores Janiewski, to voice their criticisms of the 1619 Project. They have all devoted their lifes work to the defense of historical truth and the principles of democratically motivated scholarship.

Due to the work done by the WSWS, the 1619 Project has been thoroughly exposed. The material that we have published, all of which can be easily accessed thanks to the relaunch of the site, has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times by readers worldwide. Above all, this powerful response makes clear that workers in this country and around the world are deeply attached to the revolutionary history of the United Statesembodied in the Declaration of Independence and the struggle to smash slavery led by Abraham Lincoln in the Civil Waras well as the monumental struggles out of which the working class emerged.

The relaunch of the WSWS is rooted in an understanding of the relationship of the past to the present. Indeed, in its very form it is aimed at drawing these connections. The WSWS is itself an immense repository of historical truth. What the WSWS has achieved over the last two decades must be brought forward and expanded to arm the international working class for the monumental struggles to come.

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The World Socialist Web Site's exposure of the 1619 Project and the defense of historical truth - WSWS

Pam Griffin|The Destin Log

People living between the Blackwater River in Northwest Florida to the Sabine River on the Texas-Louisiana border have to feel like they joined the Hurricane of the Month club. Living on the Florida coast, it's always a relief when a storm makes landfall away from us, but the multiple strikes west of us do bring a twinge of guilt. Jimmy Buffett wrote "Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season" almost 50 years ago, but that was about one storm, not a series.

By the time this goes to press, all the 2020 election votes will have been cast. Since hurricane season doesn't end until Nov. 30, maybe all the clamor about socialism will end. If a coastal community gets hit by a hurricane, socialism bails them out. Don't you believe me? When Hurricane Sally hit Pensacola, the winds had not died down before politicians had FEMA on speed-dial.

I grew up in rural Georgia, right on the Georgia-Florida line (not the Florida-Georgia line). Folks there would still be picking up debris from Hurricane Michael's 2018 devastation if it weren't for FEMA.Natural disasters overwhelm local and state governments, and a national response is the only suitable option. America tried the other way, and it didn't work.

A hundred years ago, a series of devastating floods wracked the Mississippi Delta. Arkansas suffered so severely the state declared bankruptcy. For decades the state didn't issue bonds and infrastructure withered. The flood's damage was catastrophic, and the region became ground zero for parts of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Critics called it socialism then, too.

South Walton real estate would suffer without the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), subsidized mightily by the federal government. According to a Congressional Budget Office study, the NFIP has a $1.4 billion annual deficit. Premiums collected by the NFIP leave a 25% shortfall annually. It's a government hand-out; deal with it. Even though I don't own an NFIP policy, we benefit since flood insurance props up property values. I'm not fool-hardy; we live on top of a hill.

I listen to Mike's Weather Page more than Jimmy Buffet or local prognosticators during hurricaneseason. Mike blogs about the weather, primarily hurricanes, but all of his data comes from the National Weather Service, along with information gleaned from other countries'weather forecasts. Civilized societies benefit from publicly-funded weather sources.

Americans have ingrained mythology about rugged individualism. We reflexively distrust government;after all, we overthrew one to get things going. But the first decade after the British sailed away was chaotic, and we formed a more perfect union; it's in the Preamble to the Constitution. Private industry can create the proverbial better mousetrap and improve society. Government programs have a place,too. The key is to find the mesh between them. Too often, especially in the heat of elections, we heara lot of misplaced rhetoric. Lots of people complain about socialism but cash the checks.

You can't always get what you want, but Buz Livingston, CFP, can help you figure out what you need. For specific advice, visit livingstonfinancial.net or drop by, masked, 2050 West County Highway 30A, M1 Suite 230.

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JUST PLAIN TALK: Socialism doesn't have to be a dirty word - Destin Log

Anya Taylor-Joy plays Beth in the Netflix series The Queen's Gambit. Phil Bray/Netflix hide caption

Anya Taylor-Joy plays Beth in the Netflix series The Queen's Gambit.

The Netflix series The Queen's Gambit follows a chess prodigy named Beth, played Anya Taylor-Joy, from her childhood in an orphanage through her spectacular career in chess. She learns in a basement from a custodian and grows into a champion.

This year's Tiny Desk Contest winner is Linda Diaz, a musician who, as it turns out, is also a chess expert who had a successful professional career in chess for much of her life. We figured there was no one better to talk to about chess, challenges and what the series does and doesn't get right. Below are some excerpts from the conversation; you can listen to the whole thing below. Her bottom line: "I loved it. I watched the whole thing in two days."

This interview is edited for length and clarity.

On the appearance of Beth's first chess teacher, the custodian at her orphanage

A lot of children's first experiences start with a mentor. So their parents, or their older siblings, or a coach. And I think that is what Beth had, even though it wasn't necessarily called that by name. That was her first coach. Sometimes, especially for young girls who are discouraged from playing chess, I think it really does take someone seeing something in you and motivating you to work harder and be your best. That definitely happened to me at a young age. I had a good disposition to play chess, is what my coaches said. I was really quiet, and I could sit for a long period of time. And I was six years old, so that was a big deal. I was the worst chess player on the chess team, like until fourth grade, from kindergarten to fourth grade, which is a long time. And they were like, "Stick with it, keep her in the game." And then in fourth grade, I just blossomed. I won City's. I got second in State, and then I won SuperNationals, all in a row, and that launched my whole chess career. And that just took people really believing in me and motivating me. So, yeah, I think it's incredibly realistic. I really did relate to that relationship that she had with her coach, the custodian.

On being a young woman playing elite chess

In terms of the show and Beth's experience, a lot of that was similar to me, and even worse in some ways. I think the show definitely gets it right that she's critiqued for having these traits about her that men have and are praised for. She plays a Sicilian [defense]; I also used to play the Sicilian. She's an intuitive thinker; I also am an intuitive thinker. And she's really aggressive. And I was also an aggressive player. And so it comes off as "you're impatient," and really it's that you're creative and you're naturally gifted. And so I really saw that in her. I had a lot of people say, you know, you need to study your openings, study your end game, you need to do X, Y, Z, which I probably should have also done. But I did have these gifts that really took specific people to nurture those gifts.

I definitely have a lot of guy friends, obviously from chess. However, my experience was just being completely sexualized, not really respected as a person, even if I was respected as a player in some ways. I was oftentimes the youngest person in a lot of these rooms. I would travel internationally and grown adult men, sometimes with intentions, sometimes just out of ignorance, not knowing how old I was, depending on the age, would just be incredibly inappropriate to me in many ways. Like make me feel stupid, make me feel small, emotionally manipulate me. And I think a lot of women have this same experience. And so it was cool on the show to see Beth be very smart, very on it, having friends who are kind of looking out for her.

On Beth's issues with mental health and addiction to prescription medications

There are all these lines that kind of glorify it in the show, like "genius and madness go hand in hand." But I really believe that's true. You know, people whose brains think differently are often wired a little bit differently. And they're often if you're very emotional, then you're susceptible to certain things, or if you're obsessed with a game, you usually have an addictive personality to go along with it. So, yeah, substance abuse was really common in chess. Especially because a lot of the culture, it being so male-dominated, and also [alcohol] being so much of a lot of individual countries' cultures. Drinking is huge in some tournaments; you can even drink at the board when you're younger and you're around adults who can drink and have, and it's not really an issue. Alcoholism is a big issue for chess players. But also a lot of chess players are on prescribed substances for whatever reason. And so it's really easy to fall into addiction that way. You're playing eight-hour games and then waking up in the morning and doing the same thing. So some people it's just like, you know, self-medication.

On Beth's visions of the chess board on the ceiling

I think it's different for everybody. I'm an audio learner, definitely, but a lot of chess players are visual, especially because one of the biggest aspects of chess is space and time and then your position and things. So any chess player that's going to be on any kind of expert professional level has to be able to visualize the board. But for me, I guess it's second nature. It's kind of like translating. For me it feels like, I'm bilingual in Spanish, you know, I'm thinking something in English. Maybe that's my primary language, but then it's easily translated in Spanish. That's kind of the way that it feels with chess for me. Like, OK, I'm sitting and looking at a position, and I see all of these permutations. And the thing that I visualize isn't a totally different, you know, on-the-ceiling board that comes and speaks to me or anything. But it is a similar concept. I just don't think it's so visually apparent to me because it's like second nature.

On the scenes of fans closely following tournaments in real time

You know, there's live streaming chess and there's a whole Twitch world now. But back then, those scenes of the little boy running out to the crowd outside to tell them what moves she played? And then there's the demonstration board? That's all real. I used to play in tournaments in other countries. ... When I'd be done with my game, I would go and watch the super amazing chess players. But you can't stand next to the world champion. You can't just go up behind his game in the way that you can go behind your friend's game. So they would have giant demonstration boards. ... And then they would have them on a projector outside of the room for people to watch. And then you can comment in real time.

On chess and music

The more I talk about chess and the more I talk about music, I'm realizing that I think of them the same way. ... When I write a song, I'm like: That was right. There was no other way to write it. There was no other option. I'm one hundred percent sure that that's the way it was. And it's kind of the same way of being an intuitive chess player. So I learned a lot from chess, as I said, about the intentionality that you need to succeed in something that you love. And I'm really lucky to have been naturally gifted at chess and naturally gifted as a musician. So both chess and music are things that you can get better at just by practicing. But I learned from chess that even if you are the cream of the crop, whatever, you can't get by without practicing and keeping your mind sharp. And it's all so much muscle memory. And the same thing is true, especially of being a singer. It's muscle memory.

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We Talk 'Queen's Gambit' With Chess Expert And Tiny Desk Winner Linda Diaz - NPR

Mr. Robinson died suddenly on Oct. 13 at age 43, his family said, declining to say more than that he died of natural causes. His death dealt a blow to the citys chess community, where he had remained a fixture and role model, having taught at Mott Hall, a middle school in Harlem (where he won another national championship, as assistant coach, in 1999), and later at Chess NYC, which offers private chess instruction, and at Success Academy, a network of charter schools.

I wish we had more Charus, said Debbie Eastburn, the chief executive of Chess in the Schools, a city nonprofit, for whom Mr. Robinson also taught.

Mr. Robinson is survived by his two sisters, Stacey and Aisha.

The early 90s success of the Rooks, composed of Black, Latino and Asian students, changed chess in New York City. Until then, scholastic chess had been dominated by mostly white players from elite schools such as Dalton, Hunter College High School and Trinity.

There was no clear evidence that chess could be an inner-city sport, said Jerald Times, a self-taught master who is now the chess director at Success Academy. So when these kids showed up, these Raging Rooks, on the front page of The New York Times, it transformed the landscape of how we see inner-city chess.

As many as 90 percent of participants at national tournaments were white at that time, Mr. Times estimated. The proportion of minorities has grown fourfold since, he said, to 40 percent, because of the example of the Raging Rooks and an I.B.M.-funded research study, the Margulies Report, that tied reading performance to playing chess.

Originally posted here:
A Star of the Raging Rooks, He Helped Change the Face of N.Y.C. Chess - The New York Times