Joel Emmanuel Haaglund (1878-1915), more commonly known as Joe Hill, was – and remains – the guiding force of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and stands as a vision of revolutionary arts for all of the labor movement.

On the 9th of this month, the late John Lennon would have celebrated his 69th birthday. A deranged assassin’s bullet in 1980, of course, forever sealed him into a certain age, place and time. The John Lennon of 1980 was a husband and a father and a quite touchable New Yorker who’d just released his first record album in several years.

The association of Italians with Communism in the United States has been obscured by the unfounded assertion that in 1927 Italian American radicalism along with Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti died. This perspective predominates despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

The art of rebellion is a tradition as old as dissent itself. Radical writers, musicians, painters, actors, dancers and other creative activists have long used their artwork as a tool in the fight for social justice. If the very nature of expressive freedom lends itself toward a revolutionary voice, then it is arguable that the arts gave birth to radicalism, or in the least offered a vision toward its path.

In this episode, we play a portion of our recent interview with historian Gerald Meyer about his current article in the Columbia Journal of American Studies on radical painter Alice Neel.

Alice Neel was someone I was aware of for some time, specifically since 2002, when there was a large exhibit of her work at the Whitney Museum in New York. I knew her name, of course, but I really didn’t know her work very well. A friend of mine said you have to go and check this out, so I did, and it just knocked my socks off.

It’s a muggy late August evening in Woodstock. The scent of hours-old summer rain breathes new life into the earth around the Colony Café. As I walk up to the Spanish-style façade of the club I see a group gathered in the alley. They’re standing around a smallish man recognizable by his large, white cowboy hat. It’s Ramblin’ Jack Elliot.

A group of Cuban and American theater actors will premiere "A Midsummer Night’s Dream," by William Shakespeare, on Friday night at the Bertolt Brecht cultural complex in Havana.

Early this summer another Black man died with needle marks in his veins. It's not that I was shocked when I heard the news that Michael Jackson had passed. I was really surprised he lived this long. Sure, like many others I became misty-eyed.

Hollywood screenwriter Budd Schulberg passed away Wednesday at the age of 95, and the press is filled with obituaries noting his work and commenting on his most famous off-screen moment — as a "friendly witness" before the House Un-American Activities Committee "naming names" in the early 1950s. 


American writer Ernest Hemingway was forced to leave Cuba suddenly on July 25, 1960, by the US ambassador in Havana, asserted a Cuban expert on the work of this outstanding figure of American literature.

I am the host of StarTalk. I’m an astrophysicist, and I have a co-host, Lynne Koplitz, who is a professional standup comedienne. I had seen her work and saw how creative and progressive she was in her commentary about life, politics, social mores, and the like.

Who needs Shakespeare? Apparently the stage needs him, for he is the most staged dramatist of our times. There has hardly been a period since his death in 1616 when his plays have not been shown.

Puerto Rican actor Benicio del Toro received on Thursday the Tomas Gutierrez Alea Award, granted by the Cuban Union of Writers and Artists (UNEAC). The award, consisting of a work by painter Agustin Bejarano, was given to del Toro by UNEAC president Miguel Barnet, in a ceremony held at the Martinez Villena Hall in this institution.

A recent poll showed just about half of Americans think capitalism is better than socialism. With the collapse of the financial system and the economy, the ideology of the free market has fewer and fewer adherents.

The beginning of the week was the fortieth anniversary of the successful outcome of the Apollo project to put a man on the Moon. (And doesn’t it make those of us who watched it live on TV feel old?)

Canadian readers of Political Affairs will find the new issue of Labour/Le Travail of interest. The current issue of the Labour Journal offers several invaluable, engaging articles on the history of the Communist Party of Canada (CPC) and more.

On this episode, the government is now saying that the swine flu may not be as bad as expected, plus, we interview scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson about his new radio show, Star Talk Radio, and we talk with up and coming hip hop band Junkyard Empire about politics and music.

Are you a Discovery channel junky? If so, a new radio show hosted by renowned astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson will hit the spot. Tyson has teamed up with Comedy Central's Lynn Koplitz for a new science-based radio talk show called Star Talk.

A recent poll showed that only about half of Americans think capitalism is better than socialism, while the rest are unsure or see socialism as a better idea. With the collapse of the financial system and the economy, the ideology of the free market has fewer and fewer adherents.