The Virginia Worker

The Richmond Tenants Defense Council is an organization in the Richmond area which brings together working-class tenants and community members to build power.  The following interview is a conversation between two founding members of RTDC about the organization’s history and its future.  It was originally printed in the first issue of RTDC’s tenant newsletter. L:…

FROM THE EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE VIRGINIA WORKER The Virginia Worker recently published an article by the Communist League of Richmond (CLR), and a response by Shama Bismas, the latter of which contained harsh criticisms of the Shenandoah Socialist Collective (SSC). In the interest of fairness, we are publishing a brief response by SSC.  SSC’s…

The Hidden History of Richmond’s Labor Movement For 150 years, Richmond’s place in history has been as “the capital of the Confederacy.”  But this label hides a rich and complex history, a history that, when placed in conversation with the present, can provide insight, inspiration, and direction.  Join Peter Rachleff for a presentation of one…

Amalgamated Transit Union Organizing Director Chris Townsend offers this article on past electoral failures by the Democrats showing the cyclical nature of liberal electoral politics and the dead end they remain for the Virginia working class The Democratic Party collapse in the 2009 Virginia statewide elections will come as a surprise only to those loyalists,…

For years now the only efforts within the NRV to hold the Radford Army Ammunition Plant to account have been based around the concerns of pollution and health risks for those living close to it. Some even adopted the name “patriots” in an attempt to give a sort of legitimacy to their efforts. Efforts have…

When bad faith debaters have difficulty debunking their opponents’ arguments, they turn to the “Gish gallop.”  The Gish gallop seeks to provide a surfeit of poorly constructed, dishonest, trivial, and illogical arguments– in other words, it seeks to bury the opponent in so much nonsense that it is impossible for them to respond to all…

“In the era of imperialism, there can be no other salvation for most of the world’s nations than through revolutionary action undertaken by the proletariat of the Great Powers, spreading beyond the boundaries of nationality, smashing those boundaries, and overthrowing the international bourgeoisie … The overthrow of the bourgeoisie will enormously accelerate the downfall of…

How BAE Systems destroys lives and why we must stop it Since 2011 BAE Systems has been managing production over the Radford Army Ammunition Plant. While the British multinational isn’t responsible for building RAAP, it does play an integral role in the continued production of explosives and propellants at the RAAP site for almost a decade now.…

(editor’s note: this piece, written by the Communist League of Richmond, weighs in on the recent controversy of DSA politician Jamaal Bowman’s support for the apartheid state of Israel against the supposed principles of the DSA and its national leadership’s support of Bowman over their own organization’s principles) For decades after its founding the DSA…

The Grandin Holiday Parade, with local school bands, community groups and others, was last week and some of Roanoke City Council walked in it. What many people watching it on the sidewalks may not have known or realized is that while councilpersons were waving and spreading holiday cheer that day the city had also just…