The Left Chapter

09/06/2026

Comrade Brezhnev enjoying a smoke and a tea, October 1973 -- Daily LIFT #1987

09/06/2026

Xi Jinping arrives in Pyongyang

"Chinese President and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, arrived in Pyongyang on 8 June 2026, where they were greeted by Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol-ju. This marked Xi’s second state visit to the DPRK and his first international trip of 2026, with his previous DPRK visit in 2019. During this visit, Xi and Kim began talks aimed at reinforcing bilateral political trust, economic cooperation, and regional strategic alignment. The visit coincides with the 65th anniversary of the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance between the two countries in 1961."

Images via the KCNAVarious SourcesChinese President and Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping, accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, arrived in Pyongyang on 8 June 2026, where they were greeted by Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol-ju. This marked Xi’s second state visit to the DPRK and his fir...

09/06/2026

Defend World Peace!, peace poster, People's Republic of China, June 1950

09/06/2026

Images of the PRC #27: Blasting Reefs out of the Wu Jiang River, 1974

09/06/2026

09/06/2026

Images of the USSR #27: American university student Harold Swayze studying at Moscow University on a bicycle ride through Lenin Hills.

09/06/2026

Revolutionary Pyongyang, 1961 -- Images of Socialist Construction in the DPRK #51-56: New building designs. "Our designers have made remarkable innovation in designing more handsome, durable, cozy buildings, socialist in content and national in form. Recently they have designed new types of dwelling houses to be built without using iron, steel and lumber. Pictures show various types of dwelling houses."

09/06/2026

The heroic life of American Communist revolutionary John Reed.

One of Us, The Story of John Reed #9

"The pageant was scarcely over when Mabel Dodge swept Reed away to Europe in company with Carl Van Vechten and Robert Edmond Jones. Paris, Florence, work on a play, a speech to Italian socialists, a walking trip through Italy, Germany, and then home again, to be managing editor of the Masses. In December the Metropolitan, for which Reed had already written, wanted to send a correspondent to Mexico, and Steffens recommended Reed. Villa, in arms against the usurping Huerta, had marched into Chihuahua City. Reed reached Chihuahua by the end of the month, and not only interviewed Villa but became his friend. He was an eye-witness of the battle of Torreon, risking his life to see the successive stages of the attack. He lived with Villa’s soldiers, drank with them, rode with them, gambled with them, danced with the women. He made friends and saw them killed in battle. His life was threatened, and he was challenged to duels. He saw a miracle play and speculated on the possibilities of a Mexican renaissance. So completely did he identify himself with the landless Mexicans whom Villa was leading that he told friends he would join Villa’s army if the United States invaded Mexico. And immediately on his return he wrote a letter to the Times and an editorial for the Metropolitan pleading against intervention. Later he conferred with both Wilson and Bryan."

08/06/2026

Joe Zuken - The Man for Cathedral (1971)

Yesterday we looked at a 1971 election leaflet for legendary Winnipeg Communist politician and activist Mary Kardash who was running for school trustee at the time on the Labor Election Committee municipal ticket.

Also on that ticket was another legendary Winnipeg Communist politician and activist Joe Zuken. Zuken served for 20 years on the school board and then from 1961 to 1983 as a City Councillor. He was part of a remarkable era in leftist and Communist politics in the city.

This was one of Zuken's election leaflets in 1971.

For the full leaflet see the comments.

08/06/2026

Norman Bethune in China #42