Bøger udgivet af Iskra Books

In 2023, numerous labour uprisings occurred-and Ireland was not immune to this strike wave. Over the course of the months of September and October, 2023, a series of interviews were conducted with Independent Workers' Union (IWU) members involved in the high-profile Iceland Trade Dispute. In this volume, in addition to workers' interviews, we include an essay from a member of the IWU, as well as three supporting, classic pieces written by Irishwomen Trade Unionists, including one from James Connolly's daughter, Nora, who proudly continued her father's work.A recurring theme of the interviews present in this book is the presence of a large number of women, especially mothers, in the frontlines of Irish labor struggles. Taken together, classical writings from Irishwomen Trade Unionists and contemporary writings such as those from the Iceland workers, emphasize the ongoing, interconnected struggles of women who, across time, bear the brunt of exploitation. Women are providers for their families; they pay mortgages, and they have children to raise. The second volume in Iskra Books' Let Us Rise: Trade Unionism in Ireland series reveals the voices of women in the Irish struggle; it also reveals the immense amount of union pride present among women workers. This volume works to demonstrate that, across time, there exists a deep solidarity among rank-and-file union members who know the power of the collective voice; who know that, as workers, we have, through struggle, nothing to lose but our chains.

With brilliant and poignant revolutionary poetry and photography from Georgia-based cultural worker, journalist, and organizer, D. Musa Springer, Alive and Paranoid, the first book in Iskra's Red Poetry Series, is available as both a low-cost, black and white, softcover edition and as a full-color, resplendent hardcover."This book was written in the hamster wheel, in the sense that D. Musa Springer penned these poems not in leisure but in labor-in spite and because of the sleepless hustle Amerika demands. Such hustle-against the backdrop of a racist, capitalist society-was only survivable because of the poet's own impulse for writing verse. [...] Springer's 'poetry of purpose, ' is personal and incendiary, it gloats and it weeps, and, most importantly, it is not neatly-trimmed to fit within the borders of a sparkly billboard screen in Times Square. It is blunt and unconcerned with platitudes. Alive and Paranoid journeys through Atlanta, Cuba, dreamscapes of Palestine, and the sonic values of hip-hop, offering a kaleidoscopic look, even a sense of liberty, into Springer's life in the hamster wheel." -Mohammed El-KurdFrom the Foreword to Alive and Paranoid"For us, Alive and Paranoid is more than the artistic ramblings of a friend.It is hours and hours of ki kis, criticisms, and disagreements passed back and forth on WhatsApp and in person. In these pages, you will find many reflections that Musa wrote live and direct from Havana, Cuba, where people have been struggling under the weight of 60-year-old economic sanctions placed on the county-with the intent to kill."-Erica and SalifuFrom the Foreword to Alive and Paranoid

Internationalism in Practice is a timely exploration of Claudia Jones' tireless advocacy for international, anti-imperialist, and anti-war solidarity during the pivotal, tumultuous years of the early 1950s. This new scholarly collection from Iskra Books unveils Jones' enduring legacy and continued relevance through her original writings, blending sharp theoretical critique, an approachable and accessible wit, and a poignant focus on the unique exploitations experienced by women of historically oppressed ethnicities in the United States."American mothers" of all ethnic and cultural groups, Jones wrote, must "emulate the peace struggles of their anti-fascist sisters worldwide to end the bestial Korean war." This impassioned plea resonates across time, inviting modern readers to reflect on the enduring necessity for a united, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, anti-imperialist front in a world where hostilities against the peoples of the Global South increase by the day.With excellent new contributions from Gerald Horne, Denise Lynn, Tionne Parris, and Betsy Yoon, as well as a classic piece of lesser known writing from Kim Il Sung, Internationalism in Practice bridges past and present-a testament to Claudia Jones' fearless dedication to justice, her unyielding stance against imperialist aggressions both abroad and at home, and her foundational advocacy for revolutionary intersectionality and peace. Internationalism in Practice is an indispensable resource, offering profound insights into the past and present struggles for organizers, workers, educators, and students alike.

Peace, Land, and Notes: For a Free Palestine is a thoughtfully crafted, large-sized, hardcover study journal and notebook (7" x 10") that draws inspiration from the ongoing struggle for the liberation of Palestine. Featuring inspirational words and art, the notebook is designed with a user-friendly approach, ensuring easy navigation and notes-retrieval through its well-defined and easily labeled sections, as well as a thoughtful indexing approach for book, section, and page alike. Designed for comrades navigating overlapping, complex lives as organizers, students, educators, and workers, Iskra's Peace, Land, and Notes is designed to help organize the multi-topic and multi-directional notes that inevitably acquire - and collide - over the course of a quarter (or semester) of study, practice, work, and activism.Beyond its practical utility, Peace, Land, and Notes: For a Free Palestine contributes to a spirit of deep solidarity with the ongoing struggles of the Palestinian people. Contributing to a collective liberatory narrative that is at once empathetic and supportive, and in acknowledgment of the complexities and the material needs of the journey towards justice and liberation, 100% of the profits earned from the sale of For a Free Palestine will be donated to the Middle East Children's Alliance (https://www.mecaforpeace.org/).

The Dark contains selected writings and talks from former Irish Republican Army volunteer, political prisoner, and Hunger Striker, Brendan Hughes. Focusing on the time after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, this new collection amplifies a voice the political mainstream worked doggedly to silence. With incredible wit, Hughes' words illustrate the struggles of revolutionary life after the GFA, and describe how the Agreement was never intended for his class-the working class. In addition to a carefully curated selection of Hughes' own writings, The Dark includes new essays from Republican veterans close to Hughes, as well as two previously unpublished communications to Hughes' brother, Terry, dating from the 1980 and 1981 Hunger Strikes, graciously donated by the Hughes family."At different times of the year Brendan will be remembered for different things. But during the week of the Good Friday Agreement, he is remembered for his swift distillation of what the Agreement meant. It was he who coined the phrase Got Fuck All, a play on the GFA acronym. For someone who went under the moniker of The Dark, he brought remarkable light to bear on situations others tried to obfuscate. The Dark has bequeathed to posterity many of his thoughts, whether on the Irish Republican struggle, the poor, or the Palestinians. A man with faults, foibles-and feet not grounded in clay."-Anthony McIntyre, Ph.D., Former Provisional Irish Republican Army Volunteer and Political Prisoner, Writer, and Historian¿"Announcing the start of the 1980 Hunger Strike in Long Kesh, IRA OC Brendan Hughes stated, 'We come in search of a 32-county Socialist Republic.' He called the Strike off on December 18th, saving the life of Sean McKenna, who had fallen into a coma. Above all else, Brendan Hughes was a freedom fighter with tremendous courage. He defied the British both insde and outside the prisons. And he died broken-hearted that his struggle had been sold out so cheaply by his former comrades." -Tony O'Hara, Lifelong Republican Socialist Activist, Former Political Prisoner, Author, and Musician"Just as Brendan, we [...] must continue the unfinished struggle of our ancestors, who smashed the Vikings at Clontarf in 1014, who massacred the English lords at Glenmalure in 1580, who littered the streets around Mount Street Bridge with the bodies of British soldiers in 1916, and who, being deprived of any other weapon in the concentration camps of Long Kesh in 1981 decided to use their bodies to show the British they were not defeated. We must remain true to the Republic and honour Brendan Hughes's memory by fulfilling the cause for which he sacrificed so much. Just as the mortally wounded Cú Chulainn refused to die lying down, and bound himself to a tree, succumbing to his wounds warrior like with his sword in his hand, The Dark refused similarly. Although scarred in body and mind from years of torture in Britain's concentration camps he stood true to the Republic and refused to sell out. He remained unbowed, unbroken, and the name of The Dark will live on in the hearts of all those who believe in a 32-county Socialist Republic forever."-D. Óg, "GFA Generation" Republican, Organizer, and Writer

For over two decades, philosopher Tyson E. Lewis has produced an impressive and sprawling body of work organized around the pursuit of alternative forms of educational life. By doing so, he's staged radical interventions in fields such as educational philosophy, aesthetics, political theory, and cultural studies, inventing new theoretical vocabularies and pedagogical practices to disrupt and suspend systems of oppression and exploitation. Reading and rewriting authors from diverse political orientations in surprising and unique ways, Lewis charts constellations of educational concepts and protocols that move beyond the dominant organization of our lives and our world. As Stefano Harney and Fred Moten wrote once, "Lewis prepares us to improvise by showing us how [...] we already do just that." In this first collection of his previously unpublished lectures, Educational Potentialities provides an opening for all of us-as organizers and educators, theorists and artists-to access and engage the revolutionary potentialities present in every moment.¿¿"¿Educational Potentialities offers expansive alternatives to marketized, deterministic educational thought and practice. Lewis' talks invite critical educators to courageously delight in the possibilities of curiosity, unknowability, and distraction. As Derek Ford's brilliant introduction reminds us, we need more than critique to transform learning spaces; Educational Potentialities presents teachers and theorists with ways we can move towards risky, joyful, and open educational encounters."- Khuram Hussain, Associate Professor of Education, Middlebury College"Lewis' talks offer an alternative view of education as a site of revolutionary potential. Refusing the economic and productive functions of educational practice under capitalism, he instead envisions education as a set of critically imaginative activities capable of challenging racism, sexism, and classism. Lewis is a generous guide through discourses of educational philosophy, drawing on examples that organizers, cultural workers, popular educators-or anyone frustrated with the limits of humanist and capitalist models-will find helpful."- Sarah Louise Cowan, Assistant Professor of Art History, DePauw University

This edition of the English translation of J. V. Stalin's Works has been reproduced faithfully from the text of the English-based on the Russian edition-prepared by the Marx-Engels-Lenin Institute of the Central Committee, C.P.S.U. Iskra Books, the imprint of the Center for Communist Studies, has chosen to publish the full series of the Collected Works due to an academic scarcity of the materials, an increasing inaccessibility of used copies of the original Foreign Languages Publishing House editions of the 1950s, and a growing scholarly and practical interest in the writings and ideas of one of the Twentieth Century's most impactful socialist heads of state. Stalin's Works are both pedagogically accessible and theoretically important, and they deserve to be studied not only as world-historical and practical applications of the development of Marxist-Leninist political theory, but - especially in an era where the rise of hegemonic imperialism and the decay of capitalism lead to an increasing global fascism - also as political-theoretical texts in their own right; as the core theoretical works underpinning extant socialist state governance, policy, legislation, and practice.

Publishing the selected works of Kim Il-Sung on education is a controversial move in the United States. In fact, there''s almost a proportional relationship between the demonization of the DPRK and the level of ignorance one has about the state, the country, its government, its people and society, and its history. This is particularly striking given the recent interest in decolonial and anti-colonial education, in socialist and communist educational methods, and in socialism and communism more generally. Given these recent activist and scholarly interests, Riley Park and Cambria York''s new collection, Socialist Education in Korea, is a welcome contribution. Their book not only provides key insights into the socialist educational project in Korea-including its pedagogical philosophies and practices, organizations, purposes, government institutions, and more. It also helps provide a more accurate description of the DPRK''s socialist project as articulated by the state''s founder and, for almost five decades, central leader. "Academic and public libraries in the West should expand their collections with revolutionary education. Socialist Education in Korea delves into the history and educational praxis of North Korea in a way that is rarely studied in the US, as this work counters many of the western media narratives against North Korea. As librarians, it is our duty to build collections with a wide range of ideas, and the research in this book presents a challenge to our current institutionalized education systems. Only through the study of a socialist pedagogy, can we really see that the education of the working class is paramount to our collective liberation."-Stephen Lane, Reference and Outreach Archivist, Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis"As decolonial and anti-racist educational projects gain global prominence, especially in the epicenters of imperialist power such as the U.S., it is high time critical educators reject the racist, Cold-War anti-communism so viciously aimed at North Korea, and open our minds to the rich pedagogical lessons taught by one of the DPRK''s most important historical figures, Kim Il-Sung. Since the U.S.''s so-called Pivot to Asia in 2015, escalating military aggression, and increasing crisis and white supremacist backlash in the U.S., Riley Park and Cambria York''s important collection of Kim Il-Sung''s writings is a welcome contribution to the field." -Donna-Marie Cole-Malott, Assistant Professor of Professional and Secondary Education, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania