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A Communist Teacher Rescued 159 Jewish Children in Buchenwald
Wilhelm Hammann -- image via Wikimedia Commons Junge Welt, May 27, 2026. Translated by Helmut-Harry Loewen. Fabian Lehmann interviews Bernd Heyl, author of a forthcoming biography of Wilhelm Hammann: Why is the life of Wilhelm Hammann (1897-1955), a teacher, antifascist and Communist Party (KPD) member of the Hessian state parliament, worth sharing with a broader readership today? Antifascism is more urgent today than in recent years. It is therefore important to remember peo

The Left Chapter
May 273 min read


Honouring Comrade Joe Slovo on his centennial birth anniversary: SACP
Joe Slovo with Nelson Mandela SACP pays tribute to Comrade Joe Slovo on his centennial birth anniversary Saturday, 23 May 2026: The South African Communist Party (SACP) takes this moment to honour the revolutionary life and enduring contribution of Comrade Joe Slovo on his centennial birth anniversary. From Joe Slovo’s contribution to the liberation struggle, we draw lessons and courage for the struggles that confront us in the present. Joe Slovo was a communist, a commander

The Left Chapter
May 253 min read


The LAZ-697 Soviet Tourist Buses of the Lvov Bus Factory
Soviet LAZ-697 bus, manufactured by the Lvov Bus Factory, 1970 The LAZ-697 “Tourist” was a Soviet two-axle middle-class intercity coach produced in Lvov, Ukrainian SSR, from 1959 to 1985, designed for enhanced passenger comfort on long-distance and tourist routes. The LAZ-697 was developed as a more comfortable variant of the LAZ-695 city bus series, using the same mechanical base but optimized for intercity travel and tourism. Initial prototypes were created in 1958 in colla

The Left Chapter
May 243 min read


Raúl Castro: The loyal Cuban who has lived for the Revolution
Images via the PCC By Angélica Paredes López, translated from the Spanish Raúl Castro Ruz is the loyal Cuban. The tireless guerrilla fighter who, a few days before his 95th birthday, is still in the battle to defend our hard-won sovereignty. Raúl is the brave and loyal patriot who has dedicated his life to the Revolution. From the 1950s to today, there hasn’t been a moment in Cuba’s history where his ideas and actions weren’t part of the story. Over the decades, without seeki

The Left Chapter
May 222 min read


Seventy-Five Years of Transformation: Xizang’s Journey into Modernity
Flag of the PRC in Potala Palace square in Lhasa, the capital city of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region -- image via news video screenshot By Biljana Vankovska As one becomes more familiar with the complexities and civilizational depth of China, curiosity naturally extends beyond its major cities toward regions often obscured by mythology, ideological distortion, and geopolitical propaganda. This has certainly been my own experience. The more I learn about China, the

The Left Chapter
May 215 min read


The Latvija minibuses of the USSR
The "Latvija" (Latvia) minibuses, produced by the Riga Autobus Factory (RAF) from 1959 until 1997, were iconic Soviet vans widely used across the USSR in public transport, as ambulances, and for various state services. The Riga Autobus Factory (RAF) was founded in 1949 in Riga, Latvian SSR, initially producing bus bodies on the chassis of existing trucks, such as the GAZ-51. In 1955, it was reorganized as the Riga Experimental Bus Factory and became a central producer of mini

The Left Chapter
May 172 min read


“We honour the memory of these heroes from the ranks of the Austrian working class and the Austrian people”
Speech by Lukas Haslwanter, Deputy Chair of the Party of Labour of Austria (PdA), at the liberation celebration at the former Mauthausen concentration camp, 10 May 2026 Speech by Lukas Haslwanter, Deputy Chair of the Party of Labour of Austria (PdA), at the liberation celebration at the former Mauthausen concentration camp, 10 May 2026 Dear comrades, Today, one day after 9 May – the day of the great anti-fascist victory of the peoples over fascism – we stand here in Mauthause

The Left Chapter
May 153 min read


What Lenin was like as a man: Krupskaya
Lenin and Krupskaya in Gorky, late summer 1922 From the Soviet Sputnik Magazine, June 1969: Among reminiscences of Lenin appearing in the Press for the first time in connection with the approaching centenary of his birth, are what Lenin's wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya, called "My Answers to a Questionnaire from the Brain Institute in 1935". The questionnaire itself has been lost, but the questions can be reconstructed from the answers: He walked rapidly, without ever swaying or sw

The Left Chapter
May 123 min read


Cuban Revolutionary Celia Sánchez Manduley b. May 9, 1920
The Cuban revolutionary and close confidant of Fidel Castro, Celia Sánchez Manduley was born on May 9, 1920, in Media Luna, Cuba. She grew up with eight siblings and was educated, though she never attended university. Early exposure to social issues and politics shaped her commitment to justice, motivating her participation in revolutionary activities against Fulgencio Batista's dictatorship. After Batista's military coup in 1952, Sánchez joined the struggle to overthrow his

The Left Chapter
May 92 min read


John Brown b. May 9, 1800
The great American hero and revolutionary John Brown was born on May 9, 1800, in Torrington, Connecticut. He grew up in a deeply religious family that valued moral duty and social justice, which influenced his lifelong commitment to abolitionism. By adulthood, Brown was convinced that slavery was a moral evil that required immediate action to end rather than gradual reform. Brown became actively involved in anti-slavery efforts in the 1830s and 1840s. He provided support to e

The Left Chapter
May 91 min read


What Happened at La Mejorana?: Cuban Revolutionary History
By Elier Ramírez Cañedo and Mónica Corrieri, translated from the Spanish One of the most remarkable and enigmatic moments in Cuban history is the famous La Mejorana meeting on May 5, 1895, which brought together three iconic figures of the nineteenth century: José Martí, Antonio Maceo, and Máximo Gómez. The meeting between the three leaders of the Revolution took place at the house of the administrator of the old sugar cane mill of La Mejorana, Germán Álvarez; a site currentl

The Left Chapter
May 57 min read


Pete Seeger born May 3, 1919
Pete Seeger at age 88 at the Clearwater Festival 2007 - Dxede5x Photo taken by Anthony Pepitone, via Wikimedia Commons Iconic American folk singer Pete Seeger was born May 3, 1919. Seeger was widely recognized not only for his music but also for his lifelong advocacy of progressive and leftist political causes. Early in his life, Seeger became involved with socialist and communist movements; in the 1930s, he joined the Young Communist League and later the Communist Party betw

The Left Chapter
May 32 min read


The Ikarus Buses of the Hungarian People's Republic
Socialist-era Ikarus buses represented a blend of utility, robust engineering, and mass production efficiency. Their widespread deployment across the Socialist Bloc and longevity have cemented their place as historic symbols of public transit in socialist states. Ikarus 180 in Berlin, 1970 -- Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J0904-0202-001 / Mittelstädt, Rainer / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons Ikarus buses were iconic vehicles of socialist Hungary, widely exported

The Left Chapter
Apr 284 min read


In Defense of Historical Truth and International Solidarity: On the Spanish Civil War
Crop of a Spanish Civil War poster In Defense of Historical Truth and International Solidarity On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia warns of the increasingly present anti-communist hysteria and the systematic falsification of history aimed at relativizing the struggle of peoples for freedom and erasing revolutionary heritage from collective memory. The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) was not mere

The Left Chapter
Apr 282 min read


Reparations for Slavery: A Legitimate Struggle
Emancipation and Freedom Monument on Brown's Island, Richmond Virginia -- WomenArtistUpdates, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Guillermo Barreto When one person hurts another, common sense dictates that the person should apologize and, preferably, make amends for the harm they may have caused. Apologize, make amends, and ensure it won’t happen again. These seem like basic rules of coexistence. Coexistence among people, but also among sectors of a society and among entir

The Left Chapter
Apr 225 min read


In the Spirit of Dr. Norman Bethune: The Barefoot Doctors of China, 1974
Part 2 of 2. The two doctors making their rounds. TLC Editor's Note: The barefoot doctor program emerged in response to a severe shortage of doctors in rural China, where most physicians were concentrated in urban areas. Before 1949 and the triumph of the Revolution, there were only about 40,000 doctors for a population of roughly 540 million, leaving rural communities vulnerable to diseases such as schistosomiasis. The program was formalized after Mao Zedong’s 1965 directive

The Left Chapter
Apr 216 min read


Commemoration of the 114th Anniversary of the Birth of Great Leader Kim Il Sung
Kim Il Sung Monument in Pyongyang -- Roman Harak, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons By Jason Cohen, Friends of Swazi Freedom April 15th marked a glorious day in the history of the Korean nation’s struggle for national liberation and socialist construction and for the worldwide revolutionary movement writ large. On April 15, 1912 the future Great Leader and emancipator of the Korean nation, Kim Il Sung was born. We send warm greetings and militant solidarity to the Korean wo

The Left Chapter
Apr 193 min read


Sixty-five years since the heroic victory of the Cuban Revolution at the Bay of Pigs: KKE
Sixty-five years since the heroic victory of the Cuban Revolution at the Bay of Pigs Statement by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) In April 1961, the armed people of Cuba, under the leadership of Fidel Castro, crushed the attempted landing of US mercenary forces, inflicting a humiliating defeat on North American imperialism. The revolutionaries, led by the communists, delivered a decisive response to imperialist plans, halting the United States’..

The Left Chapter
Apr 171 min read


The socialist nature of the Cuban Revolution proclaimed: April 16, 1961
By Lissel Pino Ceballos, Communist Party of Cuba On April 16, 1961, at the bustling intersection of 23rd and 12th in Havana, the Cuban Revolution was defined in words that would forever shape the nation’s destiny. Fidel Castro, the Commander in Chief, stood before a crowd mourning the victims of the bombings that took place before the mercenary invasion at the Bay of Pigs and declared that the Revolution would be socialist. With rifles held high and the people's anger raging,

The Left Chapter
Apr 162 min read


Our Party's Press and Literature: Lenin 1905
Lenin Reading Pravda, oil on canvas Vsevolod Medvedev (1912-1985), USSR 1965 From The Workers Monthly Magazine in April, 1926 this is a translation of an article by V. I. Lenin from 1905. The translation is interesting as it is somewhat different from other translations of the same article and it has a different title as it is elsewhere often called something along the lines of Party Organisation and Party Literature: THE socialist proletariat must consider the basic principl

The Left Chapter
Apr 145 min read
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