The following editorial statements were issued in commemoration of EIR's 50th anniversary edition, released April 26, 2024.
A Platform of True Journalism:
Some Humble Thoughts on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of EIR
by Helga Zepp-LaRouche, EIR Editor-in-Chief
If one looks back at the published record of EIR over the past 50 years, it is amazing to see, judged from the standpoint of today, how the authors were able to identify trends in their germ form, which are now obvious and self-evident. This impressive characteristic of analytical reporting was mainly due to the intellectual influence of its founder, Lyndon LaRouche, who had developed an original economic scientific method, based on the concept of physical economy from Gottfried Leibniz. This enabled LaRouche and his editorial team to recognize the theoretical flaws of the various monetarist theories, ideological confusions, and outright harmful axioms of thinking underlying events of the day.
Naturally, when a magazine publishes views which go against the Zeitgeist, and often in a polemical tone, not everybody is pleased. But for the sake of intellectual honesty, if one compares what EIR said in the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s etc., with how things have played out, one has to take off one’s hat. For example, from its very first editions, the magazine contained sharp attacks on the devastating impact of green Malthusian ideology, which may have been hidden to generations of romantic hippies, but which is now showing its full destructive force in the bungling of the Green Party’s economic and foreign ministers of the present German government.
Or if one looks at the many articles in EIR reflecting the outlook of LaRouche in his criticism of the IMF’s conditionalities in terms of their consequences for the developing sector, and alternatively the proposed policies of cheap, long-term credit for technology transfer for these countries, one can only be astounded by the foresight of what was written. If the programmatic ideas of LaRouche and the other authors of EIR had been followed by the countries of the collective West, rather than rejected, the West would have had no reason to complain that the Global South has turned away from them and is instead working with China and the BRICS.
In a time where “narratives” have replaced the search for actual truth, the track record of EIR in terms of real investigative journalism is a proud one. If one looks at the very large number of unique background stories and original reports published over the course of half a century, it places this magazine in the absolute top echelons of its métier. So, all the best wishes to the editorial team for the next 50 years!
Executive Intelligence Review Celebrates 50th Anniversary
by EIR's Editorial Board
This month we celebrate the 50th anniversary of EIR—the weekly publication of the Executive Intelligence Review News Service (EIRNS), which has run continuously since its founding by Lyndon H. LaRouche, Jr. (1922–2019) and associates. The first issue came out in April 1974, under the name New Solidarity International Press Service (NSIPS). Later that year it became EIR, published in hard copy for decades, in a magazine format which continues now electronically. Ten years ago, the EIR Daily Alert was established; and in 2023, the special EIR.news page went up, with daily reports and special features.
Lyndon LaRouche, statesman and the most successful economic forecaster of his era, was himself the founder of EIR, as well as chairman and contributing editor for decades. EIR published thousands of his invaluable works, from short articles to monographs, and ran critical work he often personally commissioned and guided from associates and friends the world over. He saw—and insisted upon—the publishing of information, intelligence, strategic analysis and reporting, all for the purpose of advancing humanity.
Since 2019, we now have as EIR Editor-in-Chief, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, LaRouche’s widow and collaborator, whose guidance, wisdom and courage continue the intent of the founding of the publication.
The EIR archive has every issue available electronically, beginning with Volume 1, Number 1, April 27, 1974, whose 20 pages had 10 articles, in two categories, “International” and “Continental.”
It is indicative of LaRouche’s mission, that this very first EIR (NSPIS) issue published the “Preamble To Energy Policy Statement,” which was a policy resolution on world economic development, presented to the United Nations April 21, 1974, by the LaRouche movement at that time, the National Caucus of Labor Committees (USA) in New York.
The statement called for a “brute force” program to master fusion energy, and also for concerted action to thwart powers preventing development. It began:
The major difficulty now confronting all nations in respect to industrial development and the well-being of their populations is that a group of interlocking “multinational” interests, effectively beyond remedies of control by any one government, has willfully imposed a “Malthusian crisis” of shortages and de facto technological stagnation upon the masses of the entire world population.
What to do? “The cooperating nations must provide one another mutual support to the end of frustrating the lawless manipulation of stocks and prices of energy and other raw materials by internationals….” There must be development. “A related set of remedies must be provided for those developing countries whose further development is significantly attenuated or even aborted by accumulation of foreign public and private debt-service obligations.” We must act on behalf of “the most urgent interests of the overwhelming majority of humanity.”
We on the EIR Editorial Board and staff gladly commit to the same mission today. We are celebrating the EIR anniversary year of 2024 by drawing attention, from time to time, to many of the singular EIR features and interventions of the last half century. This current issue carries a special review of EIR cartoons, resulting from the collaboration of LaRouche and Claudio Celani, Co-Editor of the EIR European Alert. They raise questions of art and irony.
Why this kind of news coverage? And what kind of news is newsworthy? LaRouche addressed this head-on in a speech in 1995. He explained the metric by which news publications are to be judged. His perspective continues to guide our work and publications today. He said:
The big question: what can we do about it? Is this something which we must face by sitting back and wondering if Santa Claus is going to bring relief in the sack at Christmas time?
Or is this something that we, as individuals, can shape? Is this something that we can effect? Because—and here’s where the real issue comes in—if we have the power to influence the course of history as individuals, and the choice is between the doom of civilization, and the recovery from the grip of this crisis, that each of us has a corresponding moral responsibility to muster within ourself the capacities which enable us to do our part in shaping the course of civilization.
Now, under that rubric, I say: what kind of news is newsworthy?
Because, if what I’m saying is true, then you, as an individual person, represent a force that can change the course of history under conditions of crisis. Then, what kind of news do you need?
And the kind of news you need, to do your job as an individual: first, to understand what is going on, what’s happening to the world, and to locate yourself in such a way as to say, “Now here’s what I can do under these particular circumstances.”
And the idea is, that if enough of us do our particular part, we can get out of the mess.
Then, the only news that’s worth having is news which performs those functions, which enables government, which enables you as an individual, and so forth, better to understand what is happening to this planet. To understand what the developments are that are shaping the course of history.
And finally, this indicates to you, the facts which you need to look at, so that you can judge what it is that you might be able to do which can contribute to bringing about a solution, an escape from collapse of civilization.
This is no pipe dream. This is no fantasy. This is real.
