The capitalist system is in crisis and the capitalists are showing again and again their inability to solve the problems facing society. From runaway inflation, to the housing crisis, to a pandemic that never ends, with each new year this rotten system adds new disasters to the pile. Young people today are facing a future of instability and constantly worsening conditions. There has never been a more urgent need for revolutionary ideas to change the world—but these won’t simply fall from the sky. The Marxists of Socialist Fightback/La Riposte socialiste are steadily building our forces to meet the need for a revolutionary solution.
With that goal in mind, we are launching a subscription drive all across the country to increase the base of supporters to our newspapers Fightback and La Riposte socialiste. We have the goal of reaching 350 new subscribers to our papers over the next couple of months. Help us by taking out a subscription today!
At a time where most of the left in Quebec and Canada has abandoned the idea of a regular physical publication altogether, our press has been going from strength to strength. To keep up with the growing demand for socialist ideas in Canada, last year we doubled the frequency of our English publication, Fightback, to 20 issues a year. To celebrate this important step forward we organized a nationwide campaign which included launch meetings in 10 cities from coast-to-coast and attracted hundreds of enthusiastic socialists. While doubling our rate of publication was a big task, our writers rose to the challenge and we beat our target, publishing 22 issues of Fightback in 2022!
This big step forward has been prepared by years of building up a pool of revolutionary journalists, of being active in the key struggles of the working class and youth, and by the iron determination to spread Marxism in the movement. Together with a fortnightly paper, we were able to maintain a daily website all year long.
On the French side of our work, we have published 10 issues of La Riposte socialiste every year for the past 4 years. We are proud to say that we are the only organization on the left that has a biweekly English paper and a monthly French paper. As we continue to build our forces among francophone workers and youth, we will continue to increase the quantity and frequency of our French-language materials.
In 2022 we were able to put out timely socialist analysis on all the key events of the class struggle in Canada and Quebec. For example when the “Freedom Convoy” descended on Ottawa, we responded quickly. Near the end of the year, when education workers in Ontario took militant strike action, we followed these developments every step of the way bringing our analysis to the picket lines. We also published important historical and theoretical articles, such as a series on the Louis Riel rebellions, an appraisal of the historical role of René Lévesque, and a 10-year anniversary article of the Quebec student strike.
We pride ourselves on our ability to respond quickly to events and our ability to do so without relying on big donors. Unlike most other serious publications we do not rely on big donations from trade unions, corporations or wealthy individuals. Our press is funded solely from the donations our readers give us in exchange for the paper. We are accountable only to our readers and the movement as a whole.
We need you to help us spread these ideas in the movement. If you’re sick of capitalism and want to help build a better world, take out a subscription to Fightback or La Riposte socialiste! The best way to help is with a “solidarity subscription”. When you take out a solidarity subscription of $10, $20, $50, $100 or more a month, in addition to paying for your paper you also support our work.
This money goes a long way. We have our own premises and full-time organizers that make our publications and our work possible, and we rely solely on donations from our members and supporters to sustain this all. If you’re learning and spreading marxist ideas on a tight budget, you can take out a regular subscription, which for $30 for every 10 issues of the paper just covers the cost of printing and postage. For those who prefer to read online, we also offer a digital subscription for $20.
If you’re already subscribed, use your copy of the paper to spread the word, and get a friend, family member or colleague to subscribe! Lend your paper to friends, co-workers, family members and classmates. Show them the articles that would be of greatest interest to them. If they like what we have to say, encourage them to take out a subscription too! They can subscribe by scanning the QR code on the first page of every issue of the paper.
The capitalists have their voice in the media, the working class must have its own. Thousands of working people are looking for a way out of the capitalist crisis, for a revolutionary solution to the poverty and daily indignities this system imposes on our class and we won’t find that on the pages of the National Post or the Toronto Sun. A revolutionary voice that speaks to the interests of the working class has to be built and nobody will do it for us. With your help we will build a strong, revolutionary voice that the working class needs in order to win.
