
Doug Enaa Greene
Doug is an independent communist historian from the Boston area. He has written biographies of the communist insurgent Louis Auguste Blanqui and DSA founder Michael Harrington. His forthcoming book, The Dialectics of Saturn, examines Marxist debates about Stalinism.
Liberalism with Extra Steps
G.A. Cohen and Analytical Marxism: We read it so you don’t have to.
Doug Enaa Greene
December 11, 2022One Way Out: The Revolutionary Hero of Andor
Not just another Star Wars story set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, Andor is a mature science fiction series about radicalization and rebellion against fascism and imperialism.
Doug Enaa Greene
December 2, 2022Lessons of the Commune
The Paris Commune, founded 150 years ago, ended in a bloody defeat. But this defeat offered lessons to revolutionaries around the world. Marx, Engels, Lenin, Trotsky, Luxemburg — all drew strategic lessons that were applied in the Russian Revolution.
Doug Enaa Greene
March 21, 2021The Resolution of the Communards
The Paris Commune was founded 150 years ago today. The working class took power for the first time in history. This new government fought for workers' control and women's liberation.
Doug Enaa Greene
March 18, 2021Insurgent Communards: The Road to Revolution
The Paris Commune was founded on March 18, 1871. A few days before the 150th anniversary, we look at how the ground was prepared for the first working-class government in history.
Doug Enaa Greene
March 14, 2021The Politics of AOC
Socialists must call for an independent investigation into right-wing violence and threats against Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, while also recognizing her role in providing a liberal cover for imperialist policies.
Doug Enaa Greene
February 13, 2021Engels Against Reformism in Germany and France
Friedrich Engels was born 200 years ago today. Modern reformists like to cite Engels as an authority. But until his very last day, Engels fought against reformist ideas and for revolutionary principles.
Doug Enaa Greene
November 28, 2020Book Review: How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century
When it comes to fighting for socialism, strategy is everything. Here we present a review of Erik Olin Wright's immensely popular "How to Be an Anti-Capitalist in the 21st Century," and discuss the pitfalls of trying to "erode" capitalism.
Doug Enaa Greene
November 14, 2020Remembering Trotsky’s Contributions
For revolutionary militants today, Leon Trotsky not only serves as an example, but his Marxism is a necessary tool in the struggle for communism. The following are some of Trotsky's contributions.
Doug Enaa Greene
August 21, 2020Enlightenment Betrayed
The historian Jonathan Israel’s criticisms of Marx are not new. They have a long history in liberal Cold War anticommunism.
Doug Enaa Greene
August 16, 2020The Jacobin Enlightenment
Jacobinism was not a betrayal of the Radical Enlightenment and the French Revolution. It was a historically necessary effort to defend both.
Doug Enaa Greene
August 9, 2020Marx and the Communist Enlightenment
Marxism is the completion of the Radical Enlightenment project.
Doug Enaa Greene
August 2, 2020Hegel, Enlightenment, and Revolution
Hegel’s dialectical analysis of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution provides the groundwork for Marx’s theory of historical materialism.
Doug Enaa Greene
July 26, 2020Spinoza’s Radical Enlightenment
The Radical Enlightenment starts with Baruch Spinoza’s materialist philosophy. There is a direct line from Spinoza to Marx and Engels via the French Revolution.
Doug Enaa Greene
July 19, 2020Enlightenment Betrayed: Jonathan Israel, Marxism, and the Enlightenment Legacy
Jonathan Israel is one of the most important scholars of the radical legacy of the Enlightenment. But a look at Israel’s scholarship shows that his Radical Enlightenment is not radical enough.
Doug Enaa Greene
July 14, 2020We Had to Tear This Mothafucka Up: The Legacy of the L.A. Uprising
The mass demonstrations that have erupted since the police murdered George Floyd echo the fierce militancy and revolutionary art of the 1992 Los Angeles Uprising. While the rebellion was quickly suppressed, its legacy offers lessons and hope for the present wave of protests that are fighting back against police violence.
Doug Enaa Greene
June 11, 2020Things to Do in Quarantine: Read Marx!
The thought of reading 150-year-old books on political economy might sound daunting. But Marx was a surprisingly accessible and entertaining writer. If you have already checked out introductory works like the Communist Manifesto, here are eight more short-ish books to continue your studies.
Doug Enaa Greene
May 3, 202010 Revolutionary Books to Read under Quarantine
Many people can't leave the house to COVID-19. But we can prepare for coming struggles. Here are 10 books to learn about Marxism. "You who starve, reach for a book: it will be a weapon." — Bertolt Brecht
Doug Enaa Greene
April 12, 2020Not on Our Side: On Bernie Sanders and Imperialism
Bernie Sanders presents himself as an anti-war candidate. But he has voted in favor of almost every single U.S. military intervention in the last two decades. A look at his record…
Doug Enaa Greene
June 18, 2019Lenin, the Labour Party, and Democrats
Many socialists in the U.S. are aligning with the Democratic Party, hoping to ride the Bernie Sanders bandwagon. And why not? Didn't Lenin argue that communists should join the Labour Party in the UK? The cases are completely different, and Lenin was consistently opposed to the idea of supporting bourgeois parties.
Doug Enaa Greene
March 27, 2019Looking for Loopholes: On the Misuses of Lenin’s “‘Left-Wing’ Communism”
Lenin's "'Left-Wing' Communism" is often misinterpreted to justify betrayals of revolutionary principle, here we set the record straight.
Doug Enaa Greene
March 20, 2019Karl Kautsky: From Pope to Renegade
In the last few years, there has been a revival of interest in Kautsky's politics in both academia and on the political left.
Doug Enaa Greene
October 3, 2018More Than Universal Healthcare: The Meaning of Socialism
Young people are turning to socialism, and Democratic Party politicians are adopting the term. But what is socialism?
Doug Enaa Greene
July 29, 2018The Relevance of Marx at 200
Two centuries after the birth of Marx, the ideas of the German revolutionary are as important as ever.
Doug Enaa Greene
May 7, 2018The Relevance of Marx at 200
Two centuries after the birth of Marx, the ideas of the German revolutionary are as important as ever.
Doug Enaa Greene
May 5, 2018Menshevism: The Girondins of 1917
Menshevism was committed to gradualism and opposed to the “historical impatience” of a socialist revolution.
Doug Enaa Greene
April 18, 2018Blanqui and the Communist Enlightenment
Louis-Auguste Blanqui understood that bourgeois society is incapable of realizing the universalist principles of “liberté, égalité, fraternité” and that their fulfillment requires the establishment of communism.
Doug Enaa Greene
December 28, 2017The Oath: The Story of the Jewish Bund
In the early twentieth century, the largest socialist organization in Russia was the Jewish Bund, numbering tens of thousands, who were willing to fight, arms in hand, for the liberation of Jews. While the Bund fostered the national identity and dignity of Russian Jews, they were also committed Marxists, who viewed Jewish emancipation as intimately linked to a worldwide socialist revolution.
Doug Enaa Greene
July 3, 2017Theory and Popularization
Socialist and communist parties have often blurred the line between theory and popularization. Marxist theory is not simply sociology -- the study of political economy or history -- but a guide for revolutionary practice.
Doug Enaa Greene
February 15, 2017Trotsky and Gramsci on Revolutionary Strategy
“Whereas other writers often see these two Marxists in conflict, Albamonte and Maiello view them not as adversaries, but as comrades-in-arms who have points of convergence alongside their differences.” Marxist historian Doug Greene discusses the main topics presented in a new book by two national leaders of the Partido de los Trabajadores Socialistas (PTS).
Doug Enaa Greene
September 15, 2016