When Empires End R ticle in the journal, Foreign Affairs. Penned by the

Socialist Action, Vol. 28, No. 5, May 2010 · scan pp. 2–3 · Christian Whittall · about 1,129 words

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55. Provide unemployment and retirement payments at the level of union wages and 6) To combat inflation: A sliding scale of wages and pensions that matches the rises in comsumer prices. To combat high medical costs: A free, universal, public health-care 7) Immediate citizenship for all undocumented workers. No job discrimination; equal pay for equal work — regardless of gender, sexual orientation, skin color, or national 8) Nationalize manufacturing, big agribusiness, energy, and transportation corpora9) To mobilize support for the demands it adopts, the EMERGENCY CONGRESS should organize ACTION COMMITTEES in every workplace and neighborhood threatened by the crisis. These committees can draw up more concrete demands than the 10) To put all these measures into effect, we need a LABOR PARTY — based on a fighting union movement and all people who are oppressed and exploited. For a warming. Name City Phone he Free Times Cafe was packed to the gills on 24th Annual Socialist May Day Celebration. The lively, convivial atmosphere may have seemed in sharp contrast to the rather dire-sounding theme for this year: “Eco-Socialism or Extinction”. But what was really on display was great hope and excitement for the first of these two alternatives.

Jorge Soberon, Cuba’s consul general in Toronto spoke about challenges facing his country and its militant resolve in the face of them. He deflated the wishful thinking of Cuba’s enemies that the revolution would die with Fidel, citing the vast resource represented by the country’s young generation.

The Venezuela consul general in Toronto, Mirna Quero de Peña, sent a written statement that was read aloud by emcee Elizabeth Byce. De Peña emphasized that the environmental crisis we are facing is an economic rather than a technological one.

B.C. Holmes of the Toronto Haiti Action Committee talked about her visit to the subsequently earthquake-ravaged nation on the anniversary of its independence, Jan. 1 of this year. “Haiti needs solidarity, not charity,” she insisted. Vice president of the Canadian Arab Federation Ali Mallah spoke next, also giving voice to revolutionary sentiments overseas, especially in the Middle East.

A WORKERS’ ACTION PROGRAM TO FIGHT THE CRISIS implement the following demands — Against Poverty member Leslie Wood celebrated the noisy optimism and numerical strength of the No One Is Illegal march held earlier that day (with several hundred participants)—defiant in the face of the province’s inhumane cut to welfare spending in the middle of a recession.

Finally, Socialist Action Federal Secretary Barry Weisleder drew all these threads together in a “State of the Revolution” address. The evening was rounded out by a line-up of performers, leaving the crowd infused with rebellion and hope. n Socialist Action activists and friends coneducational conference on the important political issues of our times. About 65 people attended the weekend event. Topics ranged from the critical necessity of eco-socialism to a critique of academic writings on the “young Marx,” from how to mobilize the antiwar movement to the role of art in revolution.

Participants discussed Cuba, Venezuela, and revolution in Latin America. They got a look at the real working-class politics of Pakistan.

They discussed the role of the African American struggles in history and the challenges faced today. And, they witnessed the critical importance of work in defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Lynn Stuart, and the Cuban Five—along with undocumented immigrant workers and Muslim Americans.

There were 13 speakers, including muralist Mike Alewitz; historian Cliff Conner; Black activists Glenn Ford, Colia Clark, and Lenore J. Daniels; Pam Africa of the International Friends and Family of Mumia Abu-Jamal; Pakistani commentator Adaner Usmani; and Socialist Action Nat. Secretary Jeff Mackler. n benefits.

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Address State Zip E-mail tions and place them under the control of elected committees of workers. • Ashland, Ore.: damonjure@ earthlink.net • Ashland, Wis.: northlandiguana@ gmail.com • Boston: bostonsocialistaction@ gmail.com (781) 630-0250 • Carrboro, N.C.: (919) 967-2866, [email protected] • Chicago: P.O. Box 578428 Chicago, IL 60657, [email protected] • Connecticut: (860)478-5300 • Duluth, Minn.: P.O. Box 16853 Duluth, MN 55816, [email protected], www.the-red-raven.blogspot.com • Florida: socialistaction_tampa@ hotmail.com • Kansas City: [email protected] (816) 221-3638 • Minneapolis/St. Paul: (612) 8021482, [email protected] • New York City: [email protected] Recently, there was published an extraordinary arconservative British historian, Niall Ferguson, of Harvard and Oxford Universities, he surveys the trends that spelled an end to half a score of great Empires. His basic thesis is that great and powerful empires can fall with amazing rapidity, often in the space of a lifetime—or even less.

Citing the works of historians and scholars, Ferguson notes the Roman, British, French, Ottoman, Ming, Qing, and Russian Empires (among others). Many lasted centuries and exercised almost global power.

How did they fall? Some fell from economic crisis, often spurred on by military adventures, as the French example. The French gave money and troops to the fledgling Americans trying to repel their British occupiers, France’s historical enemy. Within two decades, they were virtually broke, and people were in the streets in rebellion against the nobility. In a few brief years, a revolution raged through France, and a king, Louis XVI, would lose his noble head.

Rome, the glory of Europe, fell to forces both internal and external. Within 50 years, its population fell by 75%. Vandals tore at its borders, as its former soldiers turned brigands. The East-West split, between Rome and Constantinople, weakened imperial unity. According to Ferguson, Rome’s great fall took less than a decade.

Ferguson wasn’t just giving a bland history lesson. His article pointed to the U.S. Empire—one of the wealthiest and strongest in history. His point? That Empires—even those which seem impregnable—can suffer from a convergence of ills, financial, military, environmental and otherwise, and crack like an egg.

That’s history’s lesson—no Empire lasts forever.

For info about Socialist Action and how to join: Socialist Action National Office, P.O. Box 10328, Oakland, CA 94610, [email protected], (510) 268-9429 Socialist Action newspaper editorial offices: [email protected] Website: www.socialistaction.org WHERE TO FIND SOCIALIST ACTION • Philadelphia: [email protected] • Portland, Ore.: (503) 233-1629 [email protected] • Providence: P.O. Box 40573, Providence, RI 02940, adgagne@ yahoo.com, (401) 419-1706 • San Francisco Bay Area:

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