One of the most ambitious and combative labor struggles in decades, the UAW strike reflects the growing power of the U.S. working class in a period of increasing political crisis.

Republicans and Democrats are trying to win the working class vote on Tuesday, but neither party represents workers’ interests. Socialists must take advantage of the hunger for reform and fight for independent politics and build the party we need: a working-class party with a socialist strategy.

On Tuesday, March 8, Minneapolis education workers went on strike for living wages, smaller class sizes, and hiring teachers of color. While they have been told consistently that there isn’t enough money to pay educational support workers higher wages, the police budget continues to balloon.

The U.S. is about to hit one million coronavirus deaths, but multiple states have just announced that they are lifting mask mandates, prioritizing (yet again) “going back to normal” over workers deciding how to return safely, using recommendations based on scientific research.

On November 7, Left Voice held a plenary to discuss the national political situation in the United States. The following is a slightly edited transcript of the opening remarks that laid the groundwork for the discussion.

Though there is a growing movement from rank-and-file members to disaffiliate cops from unions, the leaders of the U.S.’s largest unions defend cops’ right to organize alongside workers. Both the union bureaucracy and cop “unions” are means by which the capitalist state maintains control over working class organizations. Mobilizing the power of the working class against police terror and capitalist exploitation requires confronting these two enemies of the working class.

The history of enslaved Africans in Brazil is one of horrific exploitation and violence, but also of heroic resistance and anti-colonial struggle. Nowhere is this as clear as in the experiences of the 16th century settlement of escaped slaves, Palmares, which fought for survival and independence against colonial powers.

This is the introduction to a new edition of A revolução e o negro. It addresses the Black question in Brazil, which has the largest Black population of any country outside of Africa. This is part of our collection on Marxism and Black Struggle.