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Socialists in France are choosing their candidate for this years presidential election.

Polls opened at 0700 local time.

The run-off vote pits pro-business ex-premier Manuel Valls against hard-left lawmaker, Benoit Hamon.

Yes.

Hamon is tipped to beat Valls in the head-to-head vote.

He is often compared to the leader of the UK Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn.

However, analysts say, after five years of unpoular Socialist government, he has little chance of winning the actual presidential vote.

The research suggests neither candidate would get enough support to reach the presidential election run-off in May.

The Socialists are currently predicted to come in fifth in the first round behind centrist Emmanuel Macron and left-winger Jean-Luc Melenchon.

The two frontrunners are conservative Francois Fillon and far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Fillon is currently embroiled in a scandal over his wife being employed as his parliamentary assistant.

An official inquiry has been opened into the claims.

He was due to be holding a rally on Sunday on the outskirts of Paris for his supporters.

Polls had shown Fillon beating Le Pen in a presidential run-off vote on May the 7th, with a comfortable two-thirds of the vote.

Ratings have since suggested his popularity has dipped slightly, although there have been no polls on voting intentions since the scandal broke.

Analysts say the winner of Sundays vote could help decide the fortune of other candidates, even if the Socialists have little chance of succeeding President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace.

A victory by Hamon could boost Macrons chances by pushing Valls centre-left supporters into the former investment bankers arms.

Hamon, a former education minister, was kicked out of Valls government in 2014 for differences over economic policy.

Party members have told journalists, on condition of anonymity, that a win by Hamon would accelerate an influx of moderate Socialist lawmakers towards Macron.

This refusal of the most pro-business wing of the party to rally behind a more radical leftist could hasten the break-up of the Socialist Party, some are predicting.

The party has been one of the main political forces in France for decades.

We now know these two different Lefts cannot govern together. It will be harder than ever to cohabit. This is why its true, we can say they have become irreconcilable, researcher Gerard Grunberg from Sciences-Po University in Paris told France Info radio.

He was Valls economy minister until he quit last year to launch his own party.

He has launched his own political movement, En Marche.

He has therefore spurned the Socialist primaries that Valls and Hamon are contesting.

The latest ones show him breathing down the necks of Fillon and Le Pen.

Read more:
Fighting for the soul of Socialism in France - euronews

You are here: Home Monthly Review Press Socialism or Nothing Imperialism in the 21st Century reviewed by PM Press

Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalisms Final Crisis 384 pp, $28 pbk, ISBN: 9781583675779 By John Smith

Reviewed by Gabriel Kuhn

John Smith opens his study Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century with a flashback to the collapse of Rana Plaza in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in April 2013. With more than 1000 garment workers killed, it was one of the worst workplace disasters in recorded history. Smith emphasizes that its occurrence in a country with some of the most exploited workers on the planet is hardly coincidental. Rather, it is a stark reminder of a brutal global regime serving the interests of capital and disregarding the lives of millions of people feeding it, most of whom live in what was once known as the Third World and is today commonly referred to as the Global South.

Read the review at PM Press

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Here is the original post:
Socialism or Nothing Imperialism in the 21st Century reviewed by PM Press - Monthly Review

Frances Socialist Party has chosen leftist firebrand Benoit Hamon as its candidate for the countrys upcoming presidential election.

The primary run-off pitted Hamon against the pro-business, ex prime minister Manuel Valls.

Hamon, a former education minister, was the favourite to win.

Among other things, he wants to establish a universal income of 600 euros a month for all adults.

Polls suggest that, after an unpopular five-year term in office under current President Francois Hollande, the Socialists do not have much chance of winning the presidential election in the spring.

The party is trailing behind conservative Francois Fillon, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, centrist Emmanuel Macron and the far-lefts Jean-Luc Melenchon.

At 1.1 million, organsers say turnout for Sundays vote was up 22.8% on the first round a week ago.

Organiser Christophe Borgel says at least 1.3 million people had voted by 1700 CET in 75% of polling stations which had reported turnout figures.

That is compared with at least one million voters a the same time last week, confirming indications of stronger turnout from earlier in the day.

Borgel said like-for-like figures showed an increase of 22.8% in turnout.

Polling opened at 0900 CET in the runoff.

The two frontrunners are conservative Francois Fillon and far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Fillon, however, is currently embroiled in a scandal over his wife being employed as his parliamentary assistant.

An official inquiry has been opened into the claims.

He was due to be holding a rally on Sunday on the outskirts of Paris for his supporters.

Polls had shown Fillon beating Le Pen in a presidential run-off vote on May the 7th, with a comfortable two-thirds of the vote.

Ratings have since suggested his popularity has dipped slightly, although there have been no polls on voting intentions since the scandal broke.

Analysts say Hamons victory could help decide the fortune of other candidates, even if the Socialists have little chance of succeeding President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace.

Hamons victory could boost Emmanuel Macrons chances by pushing Valls centre-left supporters into the centrist former investment bankers arms.

Hamon, a former education minister, was kicked out of Valls government in 2014 for differences over economic policy.

Party members have told journalists, on condition of anonymity, that a win by Hamon would accelerate an influx of moderate Socialist lawmakers towards Macron.

Some are predicting the refusal of the most pro-business wing of the party to rally behind a more radical leftist could hasten the break-up of the Socialist Party.

It has been one of the main political forces in France for decades.

We now know these two different Lefts cannot govern together. It will be harder than ever to cohabit. This is why its true, we can say they have become irreconcilable, researcher Gerard Grunberg from Sciences-Po University in Paris told France Info radio.

He was Valls economy minister until he quit last year to launch his own party.

He has launched his own political movement, En Marche.

He has therefore spurned the Socialist primaries that Valls and Hamon are contesting.

The latest ones show him breathing down the necks of Fillon and Le Pen.

Continue reading here:
Benoit Hamon wins the fight for the soul of French Socialism - euronews

Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of betrayal of his socialist values for refusing to stand in the way of Brexit.

Almost 2,000 Labour activists signed an open letter published on Saturday night criticising Mr Corbyns stance on the triggering of Article 50.

The intervention appears to indicate a significant disillusionment among part of Mr Corbyns core support, with around half of the signatories understood to have previously backed him for leader.

Labour is enforcing a three-line whip against its MPs at the second reading of the Governments Article 50 bill, with a number of frontbenchers and whips stepping down so they can vote against it.

The party has put forward a number of amendments to the Bill and says it may not whip its MPs at future readings if they are not accepted. However, itsays it will not whip against triggering Article 50.

The stance appears to be calibrated to prevent the Conservatives from claiming that Labour is blocking the referendum result but also give its MPs in Remain-supporting areas flexibility to back their constituents.

The party faces a difficult balancing act over Brexit, with around two thirds of Labour voters having backed Remain but around two thirds of Labour constituencies having backed Leave.

Some MPs have already publicly refused to back Labours stance at the second reading: shadow education minister Tulip Siddiq and at least two whips, Thangam Debbonaire and Jeff Smith, have said they will not vote for the bill.

The letter, published by The Observer,says: We are the grassroots that you have always been keen to represent.

All of us share core Labour values of equality and opportunity for all, and we share a belief in fighting for social justice.

And while we may differ in our beliefs and feelings with regards to your leadership, we are nevertheless united in our belief that you and your leadership team have made the wrong call on the partys policy on Brexit.

It continues: You identify yourself as a democratic socialist. As the noun here is socialist, this means that a socialist is what you are first and foremost.

However, supporting Brexit is a betrayal of your socialist values, because you know that the people who will be hurt the most by it are the people you have spent your entire life seeking to represent and support.

View original post here:
Labour grassroots activists accuse Corbyn of 'betraying socialism' over Brexit stance - The Independent

Democrats and Republicans agree that a republic requires at least two strong political parties to provide checks and balances as provided by our U.S. Constitution.

In the 20th century, Saul Alinsky emerged as the strong operator of the international Socialist Party with a base located in Chicago. After examining the Communist Party in Chicago, Alinsky deemed them too soft to operate and he became a labor organizer. His organization later recruited Barack Obama.

In 1969, then-Hillary Rodham wrote a senior thesis about Alinsky, There Is Only the Fight: An Analysis of the Alinsky Model.

Alinsky never met Obama, but the Washington Post reported that Hillary kept her related connections while she was in the White House as first lady.

When the recent presidential election started looking tough enough to lose, the Socialist Party, headed by Bernie Sanders, put up a fight. However, the truths came out, and our country narrowly avoided being governed by proven socialists.

Thankfully, we still have our republic. And God Bless America.

Dick Bittman

Amarillo

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Letter: Thankfully, America avoided socialism - Amarillo.com