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Matías Maiello

Matías is a sociologist at the University of Buenos Aires and a leading member of the Socialist Workers Party (PTS) in Argentina. He is co-author, together with Emilio Albamonte, of the book Estrategia socialista y arte militar (Buenos Aires: Ediciones IPS, 2018).

1923: The Revolution Was Possible

What strategic lessons can we draw from the failed “German October”? An excerpt from the book “Socialist Strategy and Military Art.”

Matías Maiello

November 14, 2023

Means and Ends: A Debate on the Left over Hamas’s Strategy

Support for the self-determination of the Palestinian people does not mean the revolutionary Left should refrain from criticizing the program, strategy, and methods of Hamas.

Matías Maiello

November 14, 2023

The Return of the “Era of Crises, Wars, and Revolutions”

The 12th conference of the Trotskyist Fraction — Fourth International (FT-CI) discussed the prospects for the internationalist revolutionary Left

Matías Maiello

July 11, 2023

Once Again on the Debates Regarding the War in Ukraine

It has been more than a month since the start of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. What should an independent political position of internationalist revolutionary socialists consist of?

Matías Maiello

March 31, 2022

Debates on the War in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has opened a militaristic chapter in the broader capitalist crisis that began with the great recession in 2008. The international Left is divided over what policy to adopt on the Ukrainian question. The following is a necessary debate with the Argentinean Left regarding the ongoing war and the politics that revolutionaries should adopt.

Matías Maiello

March 10, 2022

A Democracy of a Different Class

150 years after the Paris Commune: Was it more than pure democracy or the democratic republic?

Matías Maiello

April 4, 2021

Trotsky, Gramsci, and the Emergence of the Working Class as Hegemonic Subject

Employing the words of Trotsky and Gramsci, the authors analyze the development of the working class as a social and political subject in “Western” countries, with their complex socio-political structures. To argue against the idea of conquering spaces within the regime and coexisting peacefully with the bureaucracies of the mass movement, as well as against the adaptation to administering the state’s social assistance or to the current structure of unions, they draw on Trotsky’s writings on France, in which he introduces the concept of “committees of action” of the vanguard and sectors of the masses as a way to unify and coordinate their struggles.

Matías Maiello

March 13, 2021

Socialism, Technology, and Ideologies of Misery

Why is it that postcapitalists cannot dream of a future, but revolutionary socialists can?

Matías Maiello

January 3, 2021

Engels as a Strategist of Socialism

200 years after his birth, a look back at the "First Red Clausewitz"

Matías Maiello

December 6, 2020

Pandemic and Capitalism: The Two-Pronged Struggle of the Working Class

The coronavirus poses the question of halting nonessential economic activity and converting production to what is needed to fight the pandemic, along with who should be in control. It turns out that what is essential depends on the class from which you view the situation. 

Matías Maiello

March 30, 2020

Revolutionary Theory and Practice after the “End of Ideology”

In the current cycle of the class struggle, revolts are taking place all over the world. But how can these become revolutions? Revolutionary theory is central.

Matías Maiello

February 8, 2020

A Brief History of the Workers Left Front

The revolutionary socialist left in Argentina has gotten up to 1.2 million votes. How did the Trotskyists gain so much influence?

Matías Maiello

February 2, 2020

Making Sense of the Imperialist Attack on Iran

What are the political implications of the recent imperialist attack on Iran?

Matías Maiello

January 23, 2020

At the Limits of the “Bourgeois Restoration”

On the Relevance of the Legacy of Leon Trotsky and the Fourth International (first published in Estrategia Internacional (International Strategy) No. 27, March 2011.)

Matías Maiello

December 24, 2019

The Globalization of the Class Struggle and the Utopia of a Revolutionary Party in One Country

In earlier articles we looked at the relationship between revolt and revolution from a number of different angles. Here we explore the relationship between different national revolutionary processes from an international point of view, in order to focus on the significance of the internationalist struggle today.

Matías Maiello

December 23, 2019

From Fragmentation to Hegemony: Turning Points in Class Struggle Today

With class struggle erupting across the world—from Chile and Bolivia to Iraq and Algeria—how does the working class use this momentum to unite mass movements and build a force capable of toppling existing regimes?

Matías Maiello

December 11, 2019

Bolivia: Class Struggle and Strategic Positions

The confrontations in Bolivia since the recent coup raise the issue of how the working class can best mount its resistance. Just as history has always shown, targeting the strategic positions workers hold in production, services, and transport likely is the key—and offers the potential to unlock a more profound, revolutionary path.

Matías Maiello

December 2, 2019

Revolt and Revolution in the 21st Century

Since the outbreak of the capitalist crisis in 2008, there have been two major international cycles of class struggle. We are now going through the second cycle. Its opening bell was sounded by the eruption of the Yellow Vests in France in late 2018.

Matías Maiello

November 8, 2019

Chile and the New Cycle of Class Struggle in Latin America

The revolutionary days in Chile are the high point of a new political cycle that has begun across Latin America. It is not an isolated case, but falls within the framework of the return of the class struggle at an international level, from France and the Spanish State to Hong Kong, through Lebanon, Iraq, and elsewhere.

Matías Maiello

October 30, 2019

Which Way Forward for the Trotskyist Left?

The Partido Obrero (PO, Workers Party) of Argentina is experiencing a major crisis. In this article, two leading members of the PTS, which is part of the Workers Left Front (FIT) alongside the PO, take a look at the crisis of the PO to begin a discussion about which strategy is needed to build revolutionary parties today.

Matías Maiello

July 18, 2019

Anti-Imperialism and Socialism—A Reply to Charlie Post

The struggle for consistent anti-imperialism is a question of the first order for the socialist movement. A contribution to the current debate about the legacy of Karl Kautsky, focusing on the concept of the “labor aristocracy.”

Matías Maiello

June 23, 2019

Revolution or Attrition: Reading Kautsky Between the Lines

Karl Kautsky argued that one could switch from a “strategy of attrition” to a “strategy of overthrow” as the situation changed. In this piece, one of the authors of “Socialist Strategy and Military Art” argues that these two strategies are irreconcilable.

Matías Maiello

June 2, 2019

Social Democracy and Imperialism: The Problem with Kautsky

The ongoing debate about the legacy of Karl Kautsky has touched on many issues of socialist strategy today. In this article, originally published in the magazine Ideas de Izquierda from Argentina, the author focuses on a central question: imperialism.

Matías Maiello

May 25, 2019

On Yellow Vests, Unions, and Intellectuals

The gilets jaunes (Yellow Vests) are breathing new life into an international scene brimming with “organic crises” but lacking hegemony. Similarities and differences are noted between Macri and Macron according to Argentine literary and cultural critic Beatriz Sarlo, and a comparison is made between Brazil in 2013 and France today with regard to the institutionalist “essentialism” of Brazilian philosophy professor Marilena Chaui.

Matías Maiello

December 17, 2018

Argentina: The National Crisis and the Proposal for a Constituent Assembly

As Argentina’s economic crisis deepens, agreements have been signed behind the backs of working people that ensure the country’s continued plunder. Meanwhile, debate on the left has centered on the call for a Constituent Assembly and the role that this could play in the struggle for a workers’ government.

Matías Maiello

October 12, 2018

Marxism and Military Strategy

How does Lenin's application of Carl von Clausewitz's military strategy run counter to postmodern thinkers like Michel Foucault, as well as neo-reformist political organizations like Syriza?

Matías Maiello

January 16, 2018

Left and Workers’ Front: once again on the United Front

Debates within the Left and Workers’ Front (FIT) in Argentina.

Matías Maiello

July 4, 2015

Debate in the Frente de Izquierda: United Front and electoral front

The Partido Obrero (PO - Workers’ Party) continues to develop its confusion around the concept of the United Front. PO deepens this confusion in his “response” to our new proposal for a common list to take to the PASO (first round of elections).

Matías Maiello

June 24, 2015