International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

On Ernest Mandel's Contributions

Paul Le Blanc — 2026-01-15T13:52:32Z

“Kellner offers the following critical appreciation: “One hopes that many more people will be inspired by Mandel's verve and let themselves be motivated to live his kind of life, yet without succumbing to ungrounded political confidence or to some of his more questionable ideas.””

- Reviews section / Marxism, Fourth International, Ernest Mandel, Reviews

Learning from the DSA convention

Paul Le Blanc — 2025-08-16T03:21:33Z

A different view on the DSA convention.

- IVP607 - August 2025 / United States (USA)

Why I am rejoining Solidarity and some thoughts on the future

Paul Le Blanc — 2025-03-03T11:55:00Z

A longtime friend, with whom I share a mutual respect, recently sent me an email regarding my decision to rejoin Solidarity.* What follows are the texts (slightly edited) of a two-part answer to him, and then my replies to a couple of emails he sent in response.

- Features / Fourth International, Historical events and figures

Making sense of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Paul Le Blanc — 2023-12-21T11:37:54Z

A momentous development has drawn my attention away from the unfolding climate catastrophe on which I have been riveted. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is a major factor fragmenting the left-wing forces I hoped would become a major force in the revolutionary struggle for climate justice and human survival.

- Features / Russia, Ukraine, Imperialism

Kautsky, Lenin, Stalin and Revolutionary Russia

Paul Le Blanc — 2022-08-11T12:28:39Z

“Two cutting-edge interpretations from U.S. Marxist scholars – Ronald Suny and Eric Blanc – have recently appeared, providing important insights for scholars and activists alike.”

- Reviews section / Marxism, Reviews

Remembering George Shriver

Paul Le Blanc — 2020-05-10T08:34:54Z

George Shriver was born in India in 1936 of missionary parents. He died April 24, 2020 in Tucson, Arizona. Having joined the Socialist Workers' Party in his 20s, he was a lifelong Fourth Internationalist.

- In Memoriam - Obituaries and appreciations / United States (USA), Obituary, Fourth International

The Marxism of C.L.R. James

Paul Le Blanc — 2017-10-08T12:47:13Z

Cyril Lionel Robert James (1901-1989) has begun to enjoy a revival among U.S. and European intellectuals which promises to spread his influence more widely in the present and future than was the case at any time during his life. He is best known for his magnificent history of the Haitian revolution, entitled Black Jacobins (first published in 1938 and reprinted often since then), but a growing number of people are becoming increasingly familiar with many other facets of his work.

- IV513 - October 2017 / Marxism

How is Leninism relevant today?

Paul Le Blanc — 2017-07-16T09:09:57Z

Paul Le Blanc is the author of numerous books, including Lenin and the Revolutionary Party and, most recently, Left Americana: The Radical Heart of U.S. History. In this speech presented in London in February at a conference about the Russian Revolution sponsored by the UK organization Counterfire, he considers the relevance of Lenin and the experience of Russia's Bolsheviks for revolutionary socialists today.

- Features / Marxism

A Reponse on Trotsky

Paul Le Blanc — 2015-12-26T07:53:14Z

My thanks to Alan Wald for his generous and thoughtful review of Leon Trotsky. He raises important questions about violence, terror and authoritarianism in the period (1918-1921) that followed the heroic and inspiring Russian workers' revolution of 1917. Trotsky played a central role in both periods, and Alan asks “whether or not Trotsky's behavior in power aided or undercut his goal of achieving the socialist objective.”

- Reviews section / Marxism, Reviews

Daniel BensaÃ¯d: An Impatient Life, A Memoir

Paul Le Blanc — 2014-05-14T09:18:37Z

Daniel BensaÃ¯d (1946-2010) was one of the most respected theorists to emerge from the 1960s radicals of Western Europe. Always inclined to think “outside the box,” waving aside venerable dogmas and shrugging-off standard formulations, he found fresh ways, energized with the aura of unorthodoxy, to express and apply truths from the revolutionary Marxist tradition.

- Reviews section / France, Fourth International, Reviews, Daniel Bensaid