Saints of the Fourth International

by Gregory Van Wagenen

On the morning of 20 August 1940, Ramon Mercader made his way from Mexico City to the small town of Coyoacan, where he was ushered into the study of Leon Trotsky.

Foiling Another Palestinian “Peace Offensive”: Behind the bloodbath in Gaza

by Norman Finkelstein

Early speculation on the motive behind Israel’s slaughter in Gaza that began on 27 December 2008 and continued till 18 January 2009 centered on the upcoming elections in Israel. The jockeying for votes was no doubt a factor in this Sparta-like society consumed by “revenge and the thirst for blood,” where killing Arabs is a sure crowd-pleaser.

The Gospel of Redistribution

by Mathew Wappett

The foundations of the U.S. welfare system were laid by FDR during the waning years of the Great Depression. But, what many don’t know is that this system of welfare was directly modeled upon the Mormon Church’s welfare work in the early 20th century. According to a 2008 radio piece on NPR by Ken Verdoia, the Church “developed a very progressive social welfare system in the 1930s that became the envy of the New Deal.

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