A recurring theme in the science fiction work of Isaac Asimov is the relationship between determinism and freedom. A question which is of particular interest to Marxists: can we really predict human history?

The Name of the Rose invites us to beware of those who reject reason and who seek to obscure reality with idealistic explanations.

Check out The Cassandra Cat if you want an original, artistic view of life under Stalinism, and how the revolution will sweep all bureaucrats aside.

The psychology of the petty bourgeoisie under fascism, its individualist mindset and narrowness of vision, finds powerful expression in Jonathan Glazer’s film The Zone of Interest.

No aspect of daily life is out of bounds for communists, including art and culture. But we don’t approach art as bourgeois critics do. Nor as Marxist school teachers, grading works of art according to how well they expound a revolutionary line. What’s really politically interesting about art is that successful works reflect something about the society they were created in. After all, to gain popularity art has to speak to the masses. 

Once again, it’s Valentine’s Day. For weeks, businesses have been adorned with flowers, hearts, and a thousand shades of pink. Yet, for many, this atmosphere doesn’t really reflect the actual feelings in the air. The overall mood isn’t love, but loneliness and isolation. 

Keith Haring’s commitment to “art for everybody” ran deep, permeating not only the style but the political content of his work. Some of Haring’s most iconic works are those which make bold calls for change, engaging with social crises like South African apartheid, Reaganism, the oppression of LGBTQ people, and the AIDS epidemic which would eventually take Haring’s own life. But today, the appropriation of Haring’s legacy by elite art auctions and ritzy brands poses an important question: under capitalism, can art really be for everyone?

For six months last year, all eyes were on Hollywood—not for the movies they were making, but for what they weren’t making. Hollywood was locked in a labour struggle that brought the $134 billion film and television industry to a dead stop. The WGA strike ended on Sept. 27, the SAG-AFTRA strike on Dec. 5. Now that the dust has settled, we can see what was won, what was lost, and most importantly, how. 

The winter holidays are the perfect time to sit back, relax, and enjoy a good movie. It’s also the perfect time to read up on Marxist theory and history. So why not combine the two? Here are some of our favourite films that deal with revolutionary topics, as well as some texts that  you can read to understand each of them in-depth.

The Lac-Mégantic tragedy, in which 47 people lost their lives following a train derailment, is 10 years old today. Quebec filmmaker Philippe Falardeau’s recent documentary, Mégantic: ceci n’est pas un accident (“Mégantic: this is not an accident”), revisits the events and sheds new light on this huge scandal.