News and Letters Committees
Encyclopedia
News and Letters Committees is a small, revolutionary-socialist organization in the United States
. It is the world's most prominent Marxist-Humanist organization.
Founded in 1955 by Raya Dunayevskaya
, the Committees trace their origin to a split in the Correspondence Publishing Committee
, which had been led by C. L. R. James
and Dunayevskaya. The organization publishes a newspaper, News & Letters, that tries to unite activist struggles to transform the world with what it calls the "philosophy of liberation" of Karl Marx
and Marxist-Humanism.
News and Letters Committees is committed to the abolition of capitalism, the establishment of what it calls "a new human society," and women's liberation. It supports freedom struggles of workers, African-Americans and other people of color, women, and youth, and it opposes heterosexism against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals. It has opposed both "private" capitalism and the former Stalinist states, which it regarded as state-capitalist, and has opposed the imperialism of both. In recent years, it has opposed what it regards as imperialist wars waged by the U.S. (and its allies) in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as Islamic fundamentalism and non-state terrorism. Arguing that a new, human society is the only viable alternative to permanent war and terrorism, it supports the struggles of what it regards as democratic, secular, anti-imperialist organizations of women and workers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Partly as a response to the past decade's movement against global capitalism and its slogan, "Another World is Possible," News and Letters Committees calls for and seeks to help develop what it calls a "philosophically grounded alternative to capitalism," rooted in the theory of post-capitalist human development that Marx sketched in his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Program. The organization has also paid particular attention to the rights of prisoners in the United States and published a short book, Voices from Within the Prison Walls on the topic in 1998.
There are News and Letters Committees in a small number of cities in the United States, including Chicago
, Detroit, Los Angeles
, Memphis
, New York
, and the San Francisco Bay Area
.
Members of News and Letters Committees occasionally contribute to other political journals with somewhat related outlooks, such as New Politics
, and to theoretical journals. In addition, one of the two Co-National Organizers, Olga Domanski, is listed as an editor of Lexington Books' Raya Dunayevskaya Series in Marxism and Humanism, which includes books by Dunayevskaya and others including The Power of Negativity, a posthumous collection of Dunayevskaya's writings on the dialectic in G.W.F. Hegel and in Marx.http://lexingtonbooks.com/Series/Description.shtml?command=Search&db=^DB/Series.db&eqTITLEdatarq=The%20Raya%20Dunayevskaya%20Series%20in%20Marxism%20and%20Humanism
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It is the world's most prominent Marxist-Humanist organization.
Founded in 1955 by Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya was the founder of the philosophy of Marxist Humanism in the United States of America. At one time Leon Trotsky's secretary, she later split with him and ultimately founded the organization News and Letters Committees and was its leader until her death.-Biography:Of Jewish...
, the Committees trace their origin to a split in the Correspondence Publishing Committee
Correspondence Publishing Committee
Correspondence Publishing Committee was a radical left organization led by C.L.R. James and Martin Glaberman that existed in the United States from approximately 1951 until it split in 1962.-History:...
, which had been led by C. L. R. James
C. L. R. James
Cyril Lionel Robert James , who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J.R. Johnson, was an Afro-Trinidadian historian, journalist, socialist theorist and essayist. His works are influential in various theoretical, social, and historiographical contexts...
and Dunayevskaya. The organization publishes a newspaper, News & Letters, that tries to unite activist struggles to transform the world with what it calls the "philosophy of liberation" of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
and Marxist-Humanism.
News and Letters Committees is committed to the abolition of capitalism, the establishment of what it calls "a new human society," and women's liberation. It supports freedom struggles of workers, African-Americans and other people of color, women, and youth, and it opposes heterosexism against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transsexuals. It has opposed both "private" capitalism and the former Stalinist states, which it regarded as state-capitalist, and has opposed the imperialism of both. In recent years, it has opposed what it regards as imperialist wars waged by the U.S. (and its allies) in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as Islamic fundamentalism and non-state terrorism. Arguing that a new, human society is the only viable alternative to permanent war and terrorism, it supports the struggles of what it regards as democratic, secular, anti-imperialist organizations of women and workers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Partly as a response to the past decade's movement against global capitalism and its slogan, "Another World is Possible," News and Letters Committees calls for and seeks to help develop what it calls a "philosophically grounded alternative to capitalism," rooted in the theory of post-capitalist human development that Marx sketched in his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Program. The organization has also paid particular attention to the rights of prisoners in the United States and published a short book, Voices from Within the Prison Walls on the topic in 1998.
There are News and Letters Committees in a small number of cities in the United States, including Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Detroit, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, and the San Francisco Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
.
Members of News and Letters Committees occasionally contribute to other political journals with somewhat related outlooks, such as New Politics
New Politics (magazine)
New Politics is an independent socialist journal founded in 1961 and still published in the United States today. While it is inclusive of articles from a variety of left-of-center positions, the publication leans strongly toward a Third camp, democratic Marxist perspective, placing it typically to...
, and to theoretical journals. In addition, one of the two Co-National Organizers, Olga Domanski, is listed as an editor of Lexington Books' Raya Dunayevskaya Series in Marxism and Humanism, which includes books by Dunayevskaya and others including The Power of Negativity, a posthumous collection of Dunayevskaya's writings on the dialectic in G.W.F. Hegel and in Marx.http://lexingtonbooks.com/Series/Description.shtml?command=Search&db=^DB/Series.db&eqTITLEdatarq=The%20Raya%20Dunayevskaya%20Series%20in%20Marxism%20and%20Humanism