New Releases & Upcoming Work #
Supporters of Prairie Fire Publishing,
We thank you for making our relaunch a resounding success. We have reached an important milestone, including the publication of five new titles, the release of our newsletter, and the printing of over 100 physical copies of our books. Additionally, our pamphlets are being successfully used in study groups and discussions in various locations across the United States. We have also engaged in communication, sales, and discussions with groups in the United States, Vietnam, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. We are excited to continue our work and expand our reach in the coming months.
This month, we celebrate the instrumental and unifying role of the Women’s movement in the history of socialist revolution, as well as the ongoing and intensifying struggles for New Brazil. We are proud to announce the upcoming release of several classic texts by Chairman Gonzalo and José Carlos Mariátegui, as well as progressive texts by Nuova Eugemonia and the Palestine Research Center. We have also released an important free pamphlet on the role of Women in the Communist Movement by Clara Zetkin.
The necessity of a unifying publishing house that covers the revolutionary, classic, and progressive works of the international proletariat and oppressed nations is more apparent than ever. We are committed to providing the necessary theoretical materials and historical texts to guide the revolutionary movement in the United States and around the world. Thank you for your continued support.
International Working Women’s Day #
The revolutionary significance of March 8th was forever cemented in 1917, when women textile workers in Saint Petersburg sparked what would become the February Revolution. This historic moment demonstrated how working women—fighting their dual oppression under capitalism—could become a leading force in revolutionary transformation. The women workers’ initiative, which Lenin noted came against the directives of all political parties, showed how the most oppressed sections of the masses can advance beyond the existing level of organization and consciousness, transcending divisions of sex and uniting the entire working class in struggle. Their actions proved in practice what revolutionary theory had identified: that women workers, precisely because of their position as doubly-oppressed, could serve as a catalyst for broader revolutionary movements.
Throughout history, revolutionary women have advanced both theory and practice in the struggle for emancipation. Clara Zetkin’s proposal at the 1910 International Conference of Working Women to establish IWWD showed remarkable foresight in understanding the need for international solidarity. Her theoretical work on fascism and her leadership in the Communist International demonstrated how women revolutionaries developed according to their engagement in the struggle. Rosa Luxemburg’s theoretical contributions, particularly her critique of reformism and her emphasis on the necessity of revolution, combined with her unwavering commitment to working-class emancipation and her fierce struggle against revisionism, continue to inspire new generations of revolutionaries. Her assassination by social democratic forces showed the lengths to which the bourgeoisie would go to eliminate revolutionary leadership.
The theoretical understanding that women’s oppression is rooted in private property relations, rather than abstract patriarchy, remains crucial to the revolutionary movement. This analysis, developed through Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, explains why women’s emancipation cannot be achieved through reforms but requires the complete transformation of property relations through socialist revolution. Chairman Gonzalo further developed this understanding, emphasizing that women’s emancipation must be achieved through people’s war and that women’s participation in revolutionary violence is key to their emancipation. The experience of people’s wars in Peru, India, Turkey, and the Philippines has confirmed this analysis, showing how women’s participation in revolutionary armed struggle transforms both social relations and consciousness. This stands in sharp contrast to bourgeois/petty-bourgeois feminism, which seeks to advance individual women within the existing system of exploitation.
In China’s revolutionary experience, women played crucial roles both in the revolution itself and in continuing the struggle under socialism. Jiang Qing’s leadership of the Left within the Chinese Communist Party represented a principled stand against revisionism, particularly in her fierce opposition to the capitalist-roader cliques of Hua Guofeng and Deng Xiaoping. Her contributions to proletarian culture during the Cultural Revolution demonstrated the importance of transforming not just economic relations but the entire superstructure of society, recognizing that without revolutionary culture, there could be no revolutionary movement. As a member of the so-called “Gang of Four,” she fought to defend and advance Mao’s revolutionary line against those who would restore capitalism.
Contemporary revolutionaries have carried forward the militant tradition of women’s leadership in the international communist movement. Comrade Norah’s theoretical contributions to the development of Gonzalo Thought and her role in advancing the people’s war in Peru demonstrated how women continue to develop revolutionary theory through practice. Her leadership in defending Chairman Gonzalo and combating right-opportunist lines showed the same principled stance against revisionism that characterized previous generations of revolutionary women. Sandra Lima’s work in Brazil, particularly her theoretical developments regarding the application of people’s war to Brazilian conditions and her leadership in building revolutionary organizations, exemplifies how women continue to be at the forefront of developing both theory and practice. These contemporary leaders, along with countless others in India, Turkey, and the Philippines, show how women revolutionaries continue to advance the international communist movement through theoretical contributions, practical leadership, and unwavering opposition to revisionism and opportunism in all its forms. Their examples demonstrate that women’s leadership in revolutionary movements is not merely a question of representation but is fundamental to advancing the struggle for communism in both theory and practice.
Today, IWWD remains a day of militant celebration and recommitment to revolutionary principles. As capitalism continues to draw women into social production while maintaining their oppression, the material basis for revolution grows stronger. This contradiction, which Lenin identified as fundamental to imperialism’s development, creates the conditions for women to become a mighty force for revolution. The experience of people’s wars globally has shown how women, particularly those from the deepest and poorest masses, transform through revolutionary struggle from victims of oppression into communist fighters and leaders. Prairie Fire Publishing stands in unity with this ongoing struggle, recognizing that the battle against revisionism requires both theoretical clarity and practical leadership. By providing essential theoretical materials that defend and develop Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, particularly regarding women’s role in people’s war and proletarian revolution, we contribute to the ideological preparation necessary for the complete emancipation of working women and the working class as a whole. This task takes on special significance in the face of postmodern identity politics and feminism, which seek to divert women’s struggles away from revolutionary transformation and into reformist dead ends.
The Success of Revolution Depends on the Degree to which Women Participate!
Long Live International Working Women’s Day!
Agrarian Revolution and the Struggle for New Brazil #
Lenin, demarcating false and true internationalism, outlined how the only real internationalism is struggling for revolution is one’s own country, and supporting the revolutionary struggles in every other country. We hold the oppressed nations to be the main force, the storm centers, of the world proletarian revolution. It is crucial for revolutionaries of the First World to pay close attention to the revolutionary movements of the Third World, to study them in service of their own country’s revolution and in service of the revolutionary struggles abroad. Every revolutionary struggle is a part of the world revolution. This conception is the basis of our internationalism.
As such, we consider it imperative to propagate the documents of revolutionary movements abroad in an accessible manner to English speakers, and today our efforts are focused on the struggle in Brazil. We do this now for the following reasons:
-
The formation of the Communist Party of Brazil, the product of over 30 years of struggle for its reconstitution, is one of the main organizations struggling on the side of the left fraction of the international communist movement. Firstly, for upholding Maoism. Secondly, through its contribution to the reconstitution of the Communist International by founding the International Communist League. Thirdly, for acknowledging and upholding the universally-valid contributions of Chairman Gonzalo, primarily his definition of Maoism. Fourthly, for standing at the forefront of criticizing Avakianite deviations within the international Maoist movement, most recently seen in its work The New Democratic Revolution is the Main Force of the World Proletarian Revolution.
-
The present revolutionary situation in Brazil, expressed in the old State’s general crisis, where the underclasses no longer accept living the way they have been living, and the ruling classes can no longer rule the way they have ruled. This is evidenced by the rapidly-intensifying struggle for land.
In our assessment, there has been a critical lack of internationalism overall, but especially towards the revolutionary struggle in Brazil, from the U.S. revolutionary movement. Working hand-in-hand with us in carrying out this essential task are our friends at The Worker, who produce a bi-weekly English-language bulletin on the revolutionary struggle in Brazil, called the New Brazil Bulletin.
Long Live the Struggle for New Brazil!
Long Live the Agrarian Revolution in Brazil, Death to the Latifundia!