2013
31 December 2013 · · 2 comments
Death of an idealist
image no longer in the archive “Death of An Idealist: In Search of Neil Aggett” by Beverley Naidoo, Jonathan Ball publishers. 432 pages. Tony Traub reviews a moving account of the white Sout…
31 December 2013 · · 2 comments
Nationalise the power companies
image no longer in the archive Nationalised and democratically acount While there may be some considerable doubt about whether Goebbels was, as the ditty claims, deficient in the testicular …
30 December 2013
Britain's smashing of Greek democracy
image no longer in the archive Saving Greece from barbarism “Britain and the Greek Colonels: Accommodating the Junta in the Cold War” by Alexandros Nafpliotis (I.B.Tauris) Reviewed by Piers …
28 December 2013 · 2 comments
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership: Putting the neo back into neoliberalism
Don't screw with Chevron “We can’t let little countries screw around with big companies like this - companies that have made big investments around the world.” These were words recently spok…
17 December 2013 · · 3 comments
Chatting with an old Trot
Dave Kellaway reviews Conversations with Charlie Dec. 2013 pp192 available from Resistance Books for £6 including postage and packing As a 25 year revolutionary South African born Charlie Va…
11 December 2013 · 1 comment
Regroupment - our letter to the International Socialist Network
About that regroupment Dear comrades, We said that we would give you a more considered response to the decision of your Politics conference to call for a wider regroupment involving Workers …
8 December 2013 · 2 comments
Greece: violence against women
image no longer in the archive VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: a strategic weapon in the hands of the rulers in a time of class war in Greece. by Sonia Mitralia, Athens We already knew that violence…
8 December 2013
People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising
The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising, by Gilbert Achcar, Saqi books, London Review by Farooq Sulehria Brushing aside a host of fashionable narratives to explain the Ar…
5 December 2013 · 12 comments
Nelson Mandela - an African nationalist
image no longer in the archive The death of Nelson Mandela removes a renowned political leader and world figure from the South African and international stage writes South African socialist …
3 December 2013 · · 6 comments
Ireland isn’t England
English based progressive parties, including Left Unity, should not organise in Ireland. Liam Mac Uaid explains why that’s a matter of principle for socialists. There are about 1.5 million p…
1 December 2013 · · 18 comments
Left Unity launched
The first indication that Left Unity is different from most other left wing organisations came very early in its November 30th founding conference writes Liam Mac Uaid . Ken Loach, the perso…
29 November 2013
Issue 3 of exchange is now out
http://anticapitalists.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/exc3-final-web.pdf
29 November 2013
International Insight - What we can learn from the latest IPCC report and COP19
Campaign against Climate Change Public Meeting Report-backs from campaigners, NGO’s and the ITUC delegation at the Warsaw talks, with a speaker from the Philippines Speakers include: Dr Doug…
28 November 2013
Typhoon Haiyan and global warming
Typhoon Haiyan: Inside each newborn violent storm is the DNA of the fossil fuel industry and capitalism By Alexandre A. Costa. Thursday 21 November 2013. After the typhoon While I write this…
18 November 2013 · · 2 comments
Grangemouth - a major defeat
Nationalise it! One thing is clear from the recent dispute at the Grangemouth, on the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh, writes Alan Thornett: a major defeat has been inflicted on one of the bes…
18 November 2013
New from Resistance Books: Green Capitalism - why it can't work
GREEN CAPITALISM: WHY IT CAN'T WORK by Daniel Tanuro Price: £11 from Resistance Books, 163 pages. Published in association with Merlin Press, London, and the IIRE, Amsterdam. What should be …
15 November 2013 · 3 comments
The crisis in Syria today – how should the Left respond?
image no longer in the archive The devastation facing the people of Syria is appalling. After two and half years of war, there are over 100,000 dead, 2 million refugees that have fled the co…
15 November 2013 · 1 comment
Greece - The rise of the neo-Nazi movement
The rise of the neo-Nazi movement and its results Monday 11 November 2013, by Jan Malewski Since the assassination by the neo-Nazis of Chrissi Avghi (“Golden Dawn”) on the night of September…
13 November 2013
After the super-typhoon Haiyan - Solidarity urgently needed
image no longer in the archive The super-typhoon Haiyan has just devastated the Visayas, at the centre of the Philippine archipelago as the 19th international climate conference opens in War…
9 November 2013
Exclusive recording of John Lennon and Yoko Ono talking about revolution
image no longer in the archive …against British imperialism In the late 1960s and early 1970s the John Lennon and Yoko Ono began to move towards revolutionary socialist positions. Like many …
8 November 2013 · · 1 comment
God’s gravitational pull
image no longer in the archive George Clooney is probably the most consistently artistically adventurous mainstream Hollywood star and his new film Gravity takes him in a pleasingly unpredic…
3 November 2013 · 3 comments
Why the state matters and the USA still dominates capitalism worldwide
The Making of Global Capitalism - The Political Economy of American Empire By Leo Panitch and Sam Ginden (Verso Books 2012) Reviewed by Dave Kellaway. The 'Making of Global Capitalism' is th…
3 November 2013 · 12 comments
The Fourth International and Socialist Resistance
The long march continues Socialist Resistance (SR) is currently in the process of seeking to build a new socialist organisation with the Anti Capitalist Initiative (ACI) and the Internationa…
30 October 2013 · 3 comments
Lou Reed - Transgressive Troubadour
"One chord is fine. Two chords is pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz." Over the last few days my Facebook timeline has been littered with tributes for Lou Reed, who died on Sunday…
24 October 2013
Nationalise Grangemouth
image no longer in the archive Richie Venton, an activist in the Scottish Socialist Party, makes the case for nationalising Grangemouth on his blog which we are re-posting. The devastating a…
24 October 2013
Labour's limited radicalism - Socialist Resistance editorial
The new issue of Socialist Resistance is out this week. This is the editorial. "Under our compulsory jobs guarantee if you refuse that job you forgo your benefits". Landlord checks on prospe…
18 October 2013 · · 9 comments
A wake-up call on Climate Change
Alan Thornett reviews the latest report from the International Panel on Climate Change, which confirms that there are no cpaitalist solutions to the climate crisis. This article first appear…
15 October 2013
Building Unity, Taking Power: Left Histories and Contemporary Practice
SATURDAY 2 NOVEMBER, 1pm - 5pm Building Unity, Taking Power: Left Histories and Contemporary Practice Speakers: John Riddell - editor of books on the international revolutionary movement fro…
14 October 2013 · 2 comments
Scottish Socialist Party lays down marker on Scottish independence and the referendum
image no longer in the archive In its recently published pamphlet “The case for an socialist independent Scotland” written by its co-convenor Colin Fox ,the SSP, one of several left currents…
13 October 2013 · 1 comment
Noam Chomsky's lacuna
ON WESTERN TERRORISM. From Hiroshima to drone warfare. Noam Chomsky and Andre Vltchek. Published by Pluto Press 2013. Reviewed by Jane Shallice On Western Terrorism is a printed version of a…
3 October 2013 ·
What’s behind Tory onslaught on our NHS?
They're up for a fight The privatisation of health care services is racing ahead in Britain, outstripping the pace of change in comparable countries: last year almost 9 percent of England’s …
2 October 2013 · 3 comments
Syria between Revolution and Counter-Revolutions
image no longer in the archive The monarchies want to make a sectarian war out of a democratic uprising. Gilbert Achcar, author of the new book The People Want was interviewed by Terry Conwa…
2 October 2013
Why are Cameron’s Tories the nastiest ever?
Yeah, and then we'll cut all their benefits. Prior to the 2010 election, David Cameron worked hard to “detoxify” the Tory Party in public eyes, breaking from the Thatcherite image: there wer…
30 September 2013 ·
Miliband tacks slightly left
Power house of the Tory recovery Ed Miliband’s speech at the Labour Party conference has opened up the political situation and has started a debate on the left on the direction Miliband lead…
30 September 2013 · 4 comments
Fukushima's toxic legacy
Devastation at Fukushima “The one thing certain about this crisis is that Tepco does not have the scientific, engineering or financial resources to handle it. Nor does the Japanese governmen…
29 September 2013
Gezi Park and Taksim Square: Reflections and Reactions
Islamic Conservatism, Predatory Neoliberalism and the Continuing Courage of the Resistance Dave Hill, author of Marxist Essays on Education: Class and `Race’, Neoliberalism and Capitalism, a…
29 September 2013 · · 1 comment
Italy - send in the clowns?
image no longer in the archive Giorgio Napolitano and Enrico Letta cling together Dave Kellaway describes the events that have led up to the fall of the Italian government and the shifts in …
20 September 2013
An activist's experience of the Egyptian revolution - videos
Photo by Mosa'ab Elshamy, murdered by the counter revolution HANNAH ELSISI, socialist activist from Cairo on the experiences of the Egyptian revolution at a meeting organised by the Anti-Cap…
20 September 2013 · · 1 comment
Socialists must give solidarity to the Syrian uprising! Video
Gilbert Achcar explains why socialists have to give their solidarity to the uprising against the murderous Assad dictatorship at a meeting organised by the Anti-Capitalist Initiative, Intern…
12 September 2013
Meeting: Syria and Egypt- Are the Arab revolutions in retreat? What are the results and prospects?
image no longer in the archive MEETING: THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 7:30pm, at ULU, Malet Street, London, WC1E 7HY Speakers: GILBERT ACHCAR , author of The People Want: A Radical Exploration of th…
12 September 2013 · 1 comment
Sunday 29 September - National Demonstration at the Tory party conference
National demonstration at the Tory Party conference Assemble 11am, Sunday 29 September Assemble Liverpool Road, Manchester, M3 4FP marching to a rally in Whitworth Park Trade-unions, the ant…
12 September 2013 · 4 comments
La Grande Bellezza
image no longer in the archive Cretinism critiqued La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty) 2013 written and directed by Paulo Sorrentino. Reviewed by Dave Kellaway Towards the end of the film …
11 September 2013 · 4 comments
Five Reasons to be cheerful or why we shouldn’t be beating ourselves up too much…
Dave Kellaway suggests we should hold our nerve with regard to the Left Unity political project. This article is also available in the new platform debate section of the LU website. 1. The f…
7 September 2013
We Stand Behind the Syrian People’s Revolution - No to Foreign Intervention
Russia and the US stay out of Syria Statement by: Revolutionary Socialists (Egypt) - Revolutionary Left Current (Syria) - Union of Communists (Iraq) - Al-Mounadil-a (Morocco) - Socialist For…
30 August 2013 · 12 comments
Solidarity with the people of Syria
image no longer in the archive Solidarity, not interventions This is a joint statement by the International Socialist Network and Socialist Resistance. The defeat of the government pro-war r…
29 August 2013 · 1 comment
Imperialism, sectarianism and Syria’s revolution
Syria's omnipresent mafia boss Joseph Daher is a member of the Syrian Revolutionary Left Current and runs the blog syriafreedomforever.wordpress.com . He spoke with Solidarity’s Mark Goudkam…
28 August 2013
In Women’s Liberation, the first step is self-consciousness
Nadia De Mond is a feminist writer and militant living in Italy. Nadia was, until its recent dissolution, a member of the radical left party, Sinistra Critica. She remains a militant of the …
22 August 2013 · 3 comments
A rare opportunity
Let's take the plunge If there’s one thing the Trotskyist left is known for, it’s splitting. "What if we could do something different?" asks Tom Walker. I write as a member of the Internatio…
16 August 2013 · 1 comment
The Left must talk – and act - about the Congo
image no longer in the archive This article first appeared on Phil Hearse’s site Crisis and Revolt . Once again the militias backed by Rwanda and Uganda are on the march in the eastern Congo…
11 August 2013 · · 4 comments
What July's international rail disasters have in common
Mark Findlay looks at some of the things that the recent spate of train disasters have in common: This last few weeks has seen an exceptional run of transport disasters; from the toxic fire …
11 August 2013
Repression in Russia: solidarity message from FI Youth camp
We, the participants of the 30th Revolutionary Youth International Camp of the Fourth International, are aware of the huge political repressions of militants who took part in the democratic …
9 August 2013 · 4 comments
Inventive illiteracy amidst petty sectarianism
Gilbert Achcar’s reply to the article about him in the CPGB’s Weekly Worker I haven’t previously had any experience in dealing with the CPGB, but was regularly told by various friends on the…
2 August 2013 · 6 comments
Which way for Left Unity? The case for the Left Party Platform
A debate has begun inside Left Unity – the project to set up a new party of the left in Britain – about what kind of party it should become. Here Tom Walker argues the case for the Left Part…
2 August 2013 · 1 comment
Left Party Platform Statement
In the run-up to Left Unity’s founding conference in November, it’s clear the fullest possible debate and discussion about what kind of party is needed in today's conditions . At its meeting…
1 August 2013 ·
The Arab Spring - results and prospects
Phil Hearse reviews The People Want by Gilbert Achcar, Saqi Books, 2013, £17.99 Is the Arab Spring heading towards what more than one commentator has called ‘Libyan winter’? Was it after all…
26 July 2013 ·
A tour de force on the state of health care internationally
Alan Thornett reviews John Lister’s Health Policy Reform – Global Health versus private profit published by Libri Publications at £22.00 June 2013. John Lister’s new book is an impressively …
15 July 2013 · 1 comment
Revolutionary realignment, democracy and the new left
Hetero what? A joint public meeting of the Anticapitalist Initiative, International Socialist Network and Socialist Resistance. 7pm Tuesday 23rd July at the University of London Union, Malet…
12 July 2013 · · 1 comment
Mission Impossible?- Fight to reconquer Labour or build a broad left party?
No one said it was easy A supporter of the Morning Star/CPB, under the pseudonym ‘Michael Ford’, has written the most substantial rebuttal of the proposal to found a new Left Party – “Left U…
11 July 2013 · 9 comments
Taking steps towards revolutionary unity
Socialists don't split shock! This joint statement was agreed by the International Socialist Network, Anticapitalist Initiative, and Socialist Resistance delegations to recent unity talks. T…
11 July 2013 · 7 comments
A contribution to the discussion: two brief comments on What kind of radical organisation by Simon Hardy and Luke Cooper
Alan Thornett (July 7 th ) This contribution comments on just two aspects of the many issues which Simon and Luke raise in their document called “What kind of radical organisation do we need…
8 July 2013 · 5 comments
Trouble in Indonesia
Fire-setting to clear land for palm oil Phil Ward makes a not-very-subtle attempt to link the film “The Act of Killing” and the fires raging in Sumatra. It might be thought that it is stretc…
6 July 2013 · · 4 comments
If they come for Muslim Brotherhood in the morning....
Key link between Egyptian ruling class and American imperialism A lot of comrades in Egypt and elsewhere are saying that the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi is a victory both for the revolution a…
4 July 2013 · · 2 comments
The Coup in Egypt
A movement that would scare any ruling class The near equality in strength of the two camps contending for power in Egypt led the army to stage a Bonapartist coup writes Sungur Savran It is …
3 July 2013 · 1 comment
Dave Packer was right to be optimistic
Dave Packer, a revolutionary optimist Today (3 July) is the first anniversary of our comrade Dave Packer, who was a leader of the Fourth International in Britain for more than 30 years, in t…
29 June 2013 ·
North West teachers' strike
Standing up for education The first step of the joint NUT/NASUWT strike campaign - a one day regional strike in the North West of England - was a big success writes Roy Wilkes . Over 2000 sc…
23 June 2013 · · 7 comments
People's Assembly - success, challenges and politics
image no longer in the archive Len McCluskey isn't fond of Tories If anyone has made a film about a delegate's day at the People's Assembly it probably starts with her listening to the day's…
20 June 2013 · · 10 comments
Forward to a broad party of the left
Phil Hearse reports on the first meeting of Left Unity’s National Co-ordinating group which took place in Doncaster on Saturday June 15. This was a highly successful in preparing the ground …
15 June 2013 · · 22 comments
The night before the Dawn: historical roots of Greek fascism
image no longer in the archive Nationalism; xenophobia, racism and anti-Semitism. Last year’s dramatic elections in Greece were marked by a significant political polarisation writes Piers Mo…
9 June 2013
Turkey "to rebel is something to be proud of"
It's kicking off everywhere Özlem Onaran* gave this interview to Anastasia Giamali of Avgi (The Dawn), Syriza’s daily paper. -Erdogan has been promoting a fully neoliberal agenda with privat…
8 June 2013
New Socialist Resistance out now
The new issue of Socialist Resistance is now available. It's cover "Feminism: Now more than ever!" gives pretty good idea of what to expect inside it. You can take out a subscription here . …
4 June 2013
Eve of Euro 2013 Film of Palestinian Football
In the autumn of 2011 Philosophy Football met Honey Thalijeh, then captain of the Palestine Women's Football team. Inspired by what she told us about what football meant to her country we pr…
4 June 2013 ·
Riots and police violence in Turkey
image no longer in the archive We're staying! The spontaneous movement that started in Istanbul is unprecedented in Turkey's history. It's now spread to sixty-seven of the eighty-five major …
4 June 2013 ·
Confronting an Elected Dictator: Popular Mobilisation in Turkey
Is this the queue for ice cream? Mass demonstrations and harsh governmental crackdowns are not new in Turkish political history writes Yunus Sözen , Antikapitalist Eylem (Anticapitalist Acti…
31 May 2013 · 2 comments
People's Assembly offers prospect of resistance
Meetings around Britain in advance of the People’s Assembly Against Austerity have been huge. Nottingham People's Assembly had over 400 people attending; a 200 strong rally for the Assembly …
24 May 2013 · 4 comments
Soldier killing and the "war on terror"
Horrific as war The killing of a soldier in Woolwich on May 22nd was horrific. The indiscriminate murders of thousands of unnamed civilians in Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan by armed drones…
21 May 2013 · 5 comments
A hard rain’s a gonna fall…….
So that's what they mean by "an extreme weather event". Bob Dylan remarks somewhere that “you don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows”. He forgot to add: you might need one …
19 May 2013 ·
Feminism and living breathing Marxism
Sharon Smith re-evaluates feminism Terry Conway explains how the ideas of American socialist Sharon Smith have developed in relation to feminism. Sharon Smith’s article “Domestic Labour and …
17 May 2013 · · 3 comments
Labour loses election in its heartland to UKIP
A potential Labour candidate? The Labour Party sensationally lost a council by-election to the UK Independence Party in one of its heartlands of Rotherham this week. Harry Blackwell examines…
17 May 2013 · · 5 comments
Broad parties and the fight for Left Unity in Britain
Alan Thornett This text below was written by myself and John Lister in July 2011 as a chapter on Britain in the book New Parties of the Left , published by Resistance Books book a month late…
17 May 2013 · · 3 comments
Thoughts from the first national meeting of Left Unity
Terry Conway assesses the first national meeting of Left Unity, held in London on May 11: Over a hundred people from fifty five local groups, as well as members of the day-to-day organising …
6 May 2013
Confronting the Climate Crisis Conference
Climate change is a class issue An event bringing together climate scientists, trade unionists and environmental activists Saturday June 8th 11.00-17.00 London Metropolitan University, Stapl…
6 May 2013
An essential new book on China
China’s Rise: Strength and Fragility by Au Loong Yu (with contributions from Bai Ruixue, Bruno Jetin & Pierre Rousset) Published Resistance Books, Merlin Press and International Institute fo…
3 May 2013 · 7 comments
UKIP results shame the left
Phil Hearse wrote this piece for his site Crisis and Revolt . The worst possible response to the local council elections in which UKIP won 25% of the vote would be complacency. For this resu…
1 May 2013 ·
The Great University Open-Cast Mines
Education for competition Ian Parker reviews Andrew McGettigan’s book The Great University Gamble: Money, Markets and the Future of Higher Education (ISBN: 978-0-7453-3293-2), published by P…
1 May 2013
Italy – “we are in a mess and the politicians are doing nothing”*.
Enrico Letta - member of Bilderberg group and Italian prime minister Words attributed to Luigi Prieti, lone shooter arrested outside the parliament in Rome after shooting two policeman and i…
28 April 2013 · · 1 comment
USA: A woman's right to choose under intense attack
By Susan Pashkoff: image no longer in the archive In the first three months of 2013, 694 provisions restricting a women’s right to choose have been introduced in different US states. The fac…
28 April 2013
Ecosocialists meet in New York
image no longer in the archive This article by John Riddell first appeared on Socialist Worker (US). THE ECOSOCIALIST Conference, a broad and enthusiastic all-day meeting in New York City on…
27 April 2013 · 1 comment
A rare opportunity
That question seems to be getting answered This position was agreed at Socialist Resistance's conference last weekend. An important situation has opened up on the left, both in terms of the …
27 April 2013
An eyewitness report of the racism of the greek police and system
Giorgos Karistinos reports on the shocking realities he witnessed: I feel obliged to speak about the things I witnessed with my own eyes at the Police Station of Drapetsona, a close-to- the …
27 April 2013
Feminist radicalism against capital in Spain
Current grassroots mobilizations in Spain, known as 15M or Indignados movement involves and benefits a great deal from feminisms. It is refreshing to see various feminist currents flowing th…
26 April 2013 · 1 comment
Hong Kong Dockworkers strike continues into 4th week despite management attacks
Bai Ruixue and Au Loong yu 24th April 2013 The strike by around 450 dockworkers at Hong Kong International Terminals (HIT) to demand for higher wages, which began almost one month ago, conti…
25 April 2013
Turning the world upside down - Women and campaigning to Save the NHS
Liz Peretz recounts a local case study: Women, as we know, are bearing the brunt of the cuts – as workers, carers (daughters, mothers, wives). For most of us the attack is coming at us from …
25 April 2013 · 3 comments
What we can learn from Beppe Grillo …and what we can’t
I hate being the centre of attention! Should we invite someone from the M5S (Five Star Movement) to speak about how they built their movement in Italy? This was an interesting and relevant q…
24 April 2013 · · 1 comment
What does a (young) woman want?
Family life has its down sides The notorious question posed by Freud, ‘What does a women want?’ is not as ridiculous as it seems writes Jane Kelly . Quoted by his biographer Ernest Jones in …
21 April 2013 · 10 comments
Build a Broad Left Party, fight for Marxist Unity
Sclerotic archaeo what? (Graphic by Josephine Sams) Phil Hearse made this submission to the April 2013 Socialist Resistance conference. The position it sets out was accepted by the organisat…
19 April 2013 · · 1 comment
The People v Tony Blair - a review
Fred Leplat reviews "The People v Tony Blair", an account of the anti-war movement in Britain by Chris Nineham, one of its main organisers. The People v Tony Blair (politics, the media and t…
18 April 2013
Feminism, education and work - a video
Girls' "vocational" education in 2013 In this video, which was recorded at a recent Socialist Resistance seminar on feminism, Jane Kelly begins by discussing the gender stereotyping explicit…
14 April 2013 · 5 comments
Local Elections: Prospects for the left
TUSC is contesting Eastleigh again Thursday May 2 nd 2013 will see local elections for councils in parts of England. Harry Blackwell sets out his own views on the significance of these elect…
12 April 2013 · 1 comment
What some of the left groups are saying about Left Unity
This article by Dave Kellaway first appeared on Left Unity's site . My dad used to say that if the other side are ignoring you then you are failing or not working hard enough. The activists …
12 April 2013 · 2 comments
Rejoice! The T shirt
Rejoice SPECIAL OFFER! Low price until the Ceremonial Funeral, just £17.99 Order before 12 April for pre-funeral delivery from Philosophy Football End of an era? This one is for the miners, …
9 April 2013 · 4 comments
Thatcher and Thatcherism – Don’t let them re-write history
Dave Kellaway reflects on Thatcher's death. image no longer in the archive If we need yet another argument about why we must put our political energies into building a fighting alternative t…
9 April 2013 · · 1 comment
The Tories' relentless war on the poor
There is an old ruling class saying,”never let a good crisis go to waste” writes Andy Richards. It refers to the way in which economic meltdown and social breakdown can be used to make publi…
9 April 2013
Discussion and Debate on Women's Liberation
Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99" LatentStyleCount="267"> UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="tru…
7 April 2013
NUT conference moves left
While the agenda for National Union of Teachers (NUT) conference 2013 seemed very inward looking, the actual debates and decisions marked a significant step in committing the NUT to a fight …
7 April 2013 · · 2 comments
Italy, ‘politics’ is stalled but austerity continues and kills…
image no longer in the archive Driven to suicide by austerity Dave Kellaway reports from Salerno, Italy , Sat 6 th April, Two days ago Romeo Dionis 62, and his wife Annamaria Sopranzi 68, le…
2 April 2013
The Great Benefits Robbery
image no longer in the archive Some people think he's a sanctimonious hypocrite "The great benefits robbery" could be a more accurate description of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 and the Pensi…
30 March 2013 · 5 comments
Ken Loach’s new party appeal takes off
An individual membership party, please. Last Thursday’s well attended meeting of the Left Unity project in London, at which a number of Socialist Resistance comrades were present, reflected …
30 March 2013
Mobilise the majority of teachers
Supporters of Socialist Resistance will be distributing this statement at this weekend's conference of the National Union of Teachers (NUT). Unite the majority of teachers Conference takes p…
29 March 2013 · · 3 comments
Future Left
Phil Hearse reviews Beyond Capitalism? by Luke Cooper and Simon Hardy (Zero Books 2012) image no longer in the archive There could hardly be a more timely book for the socialist left, facing…
25 March 2013 · · 5 comments
A new left party must be both democratic and ecological
image no longer in the archive What is posed today is not just socialism but ecosocialism. Alan Thornett explains why any new party of the left must have democracy and ecology at its core. T…
24 March 2013
Reflections on Ken Loach, The Spirit of 45
Nye Bevan was no Ed Miliband ‘We have been the dreamers, we have been the sufferers, now we are the builders’ Nye Bevan, May 1945 What a remarkable achievement by Ken Loach to produce a film…
24 March 2013 · · 1 comment
Sack Littlejohn! End media monstering of trans* people!
Gathering online campaign against hate journalist Nobody will ever know for sure what desperate thoughts Lucy Meadows may have had in the hours leading up to her suicide last Tuesday writes …
23 March 2013 · 2 comments
Democratic centralism & broad left parties
This document by the Socialist Resistance steering committee was first published in 2008 and addresses the question of the type of organisations socialists need to build now. We are re-publi…
23 March 2013
Germs and Market Failure - Apocalypse Soon?
image no longer in the archive Staphylococcus aureus has a "no borders" policy Revolutionary Marxists have often been ridiculed by bourgeois commentators for “predicting the apocalypse*”, or…
20 March 2013
International Youth Camp
FOURTH INTERNATIONAL YOUTH CAMP 2-9 August 2013 - Greece image no longer in the archive Another world is possible, be part of it! Each year, the Fourth International hosts an international y…
18 March 2013
Councillors against cuts meet in Birmingham
Voters not yet questioning the existing political structures. George Barratt, an independent socialist councillor in Barking and Dagenham reports from last Saturday's meeting of Councillors …
18 March 2013 · 4 comments
Spirit of 45 hits the mark
Ken Loach’s Spirit of 45 hit cinemas up and down Britain on March 17 and was appreciated by packed audiences from Edinburgh to Brighton. Loach has long been an important part of the radical …
18 March 2013
Teaching unions to strike together
The much admired and respected Michael Gove In a press conference on Monday 18th March the two largest teacher unions announced a series of joint strikes starting on Thursday June 27th and c…
17 March 2013 · 3 comments
Alexis Tsipras speaks in London - videos
image no longer in the archive The future of Greece, the future of Europe depends on our success. Alexis Tsipras, the leader of Syriza spoke to an audience of several hundred people in Londo…
16 March 2013 · 12 comments
Let's get some good out of this, comrades
Just give us some truth! The comrades who have resigned due to the Socialist Workers' Party's handling of claims of rape and sexual harassment against prominent activists acted in accordance…
15 March 2013 · 3 comments
“Mother” Mary Harris Jones (b. Cork, Ireland, 1837-d. Maryland, US, 1930)
Janet Ray reflects on the life of this extraordinary woman: image no longer in the archive Mother Jones was both a trade union and community organiser, a tiny woman dressed always in black. …
8 March 2013 · 3 comments
A Maltby Spring? TUSC wins first election!
Win for TUSC in Maltby Hard on the heels of their drubbing in the Eastleigh by-election last week, comes the news that the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition have won their first ever el…
8 March 2013
Chronicle of a Death Foretold: The Post-Chávez Venezuelan Conjuncture
image no longer in the archive He made the right sort of enemies On live television, Venezuelan Vice-President Nicolás Maduro choked on his words. Hugo Chávez, the improbable President, born…
7 March 2013
Is the left coming together ....?
image no longer in the archive Blimey! They're getting the point. Since Socialist Resistance 72 was published last month, with its front page headline asking whether the left was falling apa…
7 March 2013 · · 8 comments
Socialist feminism: hidden from history
image no longer in the archive It is usual that, for International Women’s Day on March 8, this and other web sites commemorate the role that women played in the Russian revolution, in celeb…
4 March 2013
Wear your colours for Emily's centenary
image no longer in the archive Available from Philosophy Football. 04.06.1913: One hundred years ago the Epsom Derby was disrupted by perhaps the most famous protest at a sporting event in h…
4 March 2013 · 1 comment
“The British Left needs to start again…we need a new party” Ken Loach
Ken Loach talking sense Ken Loach is a socialist and a filmmaker who has never hidden his politics and always sought to grapple in his work with very real problems faced by working people an…
3 March 2013 ·
‘Silent Grinding, Bit by Bit’: in the Occupation at the University of Sussex
After three weeks, an impressive student occupation at the University of Sussex against the privatization of services on campus is still in full-swing, even expanding, with flash occupations…
3 March 2013 · 18 comments
Time for the left to take UKIP seriously
UKIP - making racism mainstream You've probably never heard of the Christian Party (Proclaiming Christ's Lordship) but in the Eastleigh by election last week their 163 votes was more than th…
27 February 2013 · · 3 comments
What does the UK’s new AA credit rating mean?
Bank of England running a Ponzi scheme The most surprising thing about UK’s credit downgrade is that it took so long, even by credit ratings’ agencies standards, for Moody’s to move the UK t…
27 February 2013 · · 8 comments
Italy: No backing for austerity but no political alternative either
The 'jaguar' really did bite the backside of the Italian political caste writes Dave Kellaway . Beppe Grillo was flippantly caricatured as that wild cat by a patronising Italian media. After…
27 February 2013 · 2 comments
Support grows for People's Assembly
The People's Assembly Against Austerity on the 22 June, initiated by the Coalition of Resistance, is becoming the main focus for every local and national campaign against cuts and in defence…
25 February 2013
Privatising Higher Education
image no longer in the archive Queue here to pay debts. This article has been sent to us by a trade union activist who, due to the climate of intimidation prevailing in the sector, has asked…
23 February 2013 · 1 comment
Syria, intervention and the Arab revolution - video
In this extensive video interview with Socialist Resistance Gilbert Achcar, author of Eastern Cauldron: Islam, Afghanistan, Palestine and Iraq in a Marxist Mirror and The People Want: A Radi…
22 February 2013
Crisis, new parties and the grassroots
We need a new, grassroots movement A society in crisis The world economy is struggling through a period of intense crisis writes Phil Kane in a piece that he wrote for his site The New Life …
21 February 2013 ·
Four things we should know about the Italian elections
image no longer in the archive Beppe Grillo, a sort of Italian Frankie Boyle. Italy votes next Sunday 24 th and Monday 25 th February in a general election after just over a year of the so-c…
20 February 2013
The plastic princess and the pathetic politicians
Our royal correspondent, Dave Kellaway, draws a couple of lessons from the current fuss about a recipient of public money the right adores. "I think she writes great books, but I think what …
19 February 2013 · 5 comments
Support Jerry Hicks for Unite General Secretary
An election for General Secretary of UNITE will take place in March and Len McCluskey will be seeking a second term of office. Jerry Hicks, who has obtained at least 120 valid nominations (m…
16 February 2013 · · 3 comments
Horses for courses
The horse-in-processed-meats scandal is, in many respects, one of the least important of the many indignities imposed on working class people by the food industry writes Phil Ward. Nonethele…
15 February 2013 · 1 comment
Support the NHAP in the Eastleigh election.
The newly formed National Health Action Party (NHAP) announced its candidacy in the Eastleigh by-election, set to take place on February 28, just a couple of days after the election schedule…
15 February 2013 ·
The day that London felt like ours
An anniversary is generally regarded as a good moment for reflection writes Philip Kane . Ten years on from the great millions-strong demonstration that tried to stop the Iraq War, this seem…
13 February 2013
“Les Miserables”: A Critique of Capitalism and its Relevance to Chinese People
Au Loong Yu ( Translated by Bai Ruixue) reviews the news musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel and draws a comparison with modern China. Some critics did not like the new film version “L…
13 February 2013
How Chile voted Pinochet out of office… but kept most everything the same
NO (Chile 2012 directed by Pablo Larrain) is reviewed by Dave Kellaway. ‘Happiness is coming’ was the main campaign slogan and jingle of the anti-Pinochet campaign in the 1988 plebiscite. At…
11 February 2013
New Socialist Resistance Out Now
The new issue of Socialist Resistance is out now. It has an exclusive interview with Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, our statement on the situation in the SWP, Simon Hardy's re-examinati…
11 February 2013
Revolt in Syria - Solidarity, Prospects and Strategy
A public meeting jointly organised by Socialist Resistance and the Anti-Capitalist Initiative . image no longer in the archive Download the flyer here . Monday 25 February at 7pm ULU, Malet …
11 February 2013 · 1 comment
Support South African farmworkers
The statement below was issued by the Democratic Left Front(DLF) , a united movement of trade unions, community organisations and political formations in South Africa , formed to resist the …
9 February 2013
Defend London's NHS - Week of action
DEFEND LONDON'S NHS WEEK OF ACTION 09-16 FEBRUARY HOSPITAL CAMPAIGNS UNITE TO CALL ON GOVERNMENT TO SAVE LONDON’S NHS An unprecedented coalition of London residents, NHS staff, trade unions …
8 February 2013
Preparing the entrepreneurial individual artist
A review of ‘Art of Change’, an exhibition of contemporary performance and installation art from China in the Hayward Gallery, London, 7 September - 9 December 2012. Andy Kennedy and Au Loon…
8 February 2013 · 24 comments
National Health Action party to contest Eastleigh by-election
The National Health Action party will field a candidate in the Eastleigh by-election following the disgrace and resignation of leading Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne. The election comes in the…
7 February 2013 ·
Gove isn’t invincible
Michael Gove, the hard right Tory ideologue Education Secretary, is doing everything he can to provoke all out war with the teaching unions but his turnaround in the E-Bacc shows he is vulne…
6 February 2013 ·
After the collapse, Russia’s new capitalist wonderland?
Dave Kellaway reviews Elena , (Russia, 2011) Directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev I went along to see this film on the recommendation of one of my Russian students. As the film opened with a nearl…
6 February 2013
Django - slavery and spaghetti
Quentin Tarantino's new film is reviewed by Dave Kellaway . Lincoln, the Spielberg film currently doing well at the box office, has deservedly been reviewed on this website by Liam Mac Uaid …
1 February 2013 ·
Stalingrad - a dark grenade
image no longer in the archive Seventy years ago, on 2 nd February 1943, the guns at last fell silent at Stalingrad writes Philip Kane . The shattered remnants of Hitler’s Sixth Army stumble…
31 January 2013 · 11 comments
What does it mean, ‘bullying at work’?
image no longer in the archive An activist who wants to be known as TP writes about ‘bullying’ at MMU, and the background to Ian Parker’s resignation. An automated reply from Ian Parker in D…
29 January 2013 · 1 comment
Democracy and socialist organisation - two videos
image no longer in the archive What type of organisation do we need and what sort of internal culture should it have? In these two videos Simon Hardy of the Anti Capitalist Initiative and Ph…
29 January 2013 · 5 comments
Is the left coming together or falling apart?
image no longer in the archive This is the editorial from the new issue of Socialist Resistance which is out soon. Recent events on the left give the impression that it is falling apart. Las…
28 January 2013 · · 4 comments
Scottish independence - it'll be the economy that decides
image no longer in the archive The economy will be the major issue that will decide if Scotland votes yes for independence in 2014¹ writes Ralph Blake . This is hardly surprising as the UK a…
28 January 2013
Socialist organisation and democracy today - public meeting
image no longer in the archive Manchester Socialist organisation and democracy today Organised by the Anticapitalist Initiative, Independent Socialist Network and Socialist Resistance Manche…
27 January 2013 · · 1 comment
Lincoln - impressive cinematic myth making
In the 1930s the United States government commissioned large numbers of artists as a way of giving them work during the New Deal writes Liam Mac Uaid . If Obama were running a similar progra…
27 January 2013
Teachers' leaders frozen in headlights
Roy Wilkes is NUT school rep and argues that Michael Gove is doing everything he can to provoke all out war with the teaching unions. Michael Gove is doing everything he can to provoke all o…
25 January 2013 ·
The Triple Dip Explained
image no longer in the archive Sitting there looking vainly at the growth, or lack of it to be more precise, of the British economy quarter by quarter following the introduction of austerity…
24 January 2013
The struggle for women's liberation
Two days of discussion and debate hosted by London Socialist Resistance Saturday 23 February, 1pm – 5pm The attacks on women’s rights today The women’s liberation movement Speakers: Susan Pa…
24 January 2013 · 2 comments
How an organisation becomes a cult
Barry Sheppard’s The Socialist Workers Party 1960-88 (Volume 2: Interregnum, Decline and Collapse, 1973-88) reviewed by Patrick Scott. When reading the political memoirs of bourgeois politic…
23 January 2013 · 1 comment
Climate change is a political problem - interview with Green Party leader Natalie Bennett
SR: It's evident now that climate change is going to have a big impact, in the relatively short term, on the way we live. However, the level of mobilisation and campaigning around it is pret…
23 January 2013 · 5 comments
World Social Forum – Free Palestine
Rafeef Ziadah reports from the World Social Forum on Palestine held at the end of last year: The first World Social Forum (WSF-FP) designated specifically for the Palestinian struggle for fr…
21 January 2013
Catastrophism: The Apocalyptic Politics of Collapse and Rebirth
Sasha Lille, David McNally, Eddie Yuen, James Davis. Published by PM Press 2012. £13.95. image no longer in the archive Reviewed by Jane Shallice Over the last twenty or thirty years there h…
19 January 2013 · 39 comments
On the situation in the SWP: No Marxism without feminism
The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) has been the largest organisation on the far left in Britain for more than two decades. It has achieved this by a single minded focus on the recruitment of …
18 January 2013 · · 1 comment
A Short History of the Euro Zone
With the crisis of the eurozone raging and no solution in sight Alan Thornett examines how the whole European project was driven from the outset by big business; how the contradictions which…
17 January 2013 · 7 comments
Whose Democratic Centralism?
image no longer in the archive Jane Kelly sets the record straight on how democracy is guaranteed and minorities' rights are protected in the Fourth International. In Alex Callinicos’ articl…
17 January 2013 · · 1 comment
Birmingham gets ready to fight the cuts
Last night's meeting (January 16th), organised by supporters of Communities Against The Cuts in Birmingham , may well prove to be a watershed in the anti-cuts struggle in the city, writes Ro…
16 January 2013 ·
Ten Years since the Gulf War
image no longer in the archive In the year 2000 the Project for the New American Century, a rightwing coalition of politicians, generals, business people and academics, published its keynote…
15 January 2013 · · 2 comments
Gun-control in the United States: a coded debate about racism
The shooting of 20 six and seven year olds and four of their teachers at a primary school in Newton, Connecticut by a lone gun man sent shock waves around the world writes Piers Mostyn. To r…
15 January 2013 · 2 comments
How socialist democracy can protect the gains of the Cuban Revolution.
image no longer in the archive A review of Cuba since the revolution , Samuel Farber Haymarket Books 2011 Dave Kellaway The victory of the Cuban revolution in 1959 and its subsequent radical…
14 January 2013
Cuts privatisation and resistance
Neoliberalism and the local state 1974 to 1987 David E Lowes, Published Merlin Press, 2012, RRP £15.95; ISBN. 9780850366334 Reviewed by Fred Leplat The local state, or councils as it is popu…
13 January 2013 · 4 comments
Monopoly politics
image no longer in the archive Simon Hardy of the Anti-Capitalist Initiative offers a reassessment of democratic centralism. Many revolutionaries look to the Bolshevik tradition within the R…
9 January 2013 · 1 comment
Hope in Medway - a review
Unauthorised Person is the latest collection of work by Medway poet and activist Philip Kane. It brings together poems and photographs from a period of nearly thirty years, and serves as a f…
6 January 2013 · 1 comment
The Three Rs: Readin’, ‘Ritin’, and Reloading
What's it like to be a teacher in an American school in the aftermath of a mass killing? Abra Quinn works in a school in Oakland California and offers a teacher's perspective. image no longe…
5 January 2013
Feminisation, of power and resistance, in Manchester
An activist who wants to be known as TP has sent us another article on the new management culture now prevailing in higher education. image no longer in the archive The recent events unfoldi…
4 January 2013 · 1 comment
Barking and Dagenham - a rotten borough
George Barratt is an independent socialist councillor in Barking and Dagenham. He was expelled from the Labour Party for refusing to support a cuts budget. The term “rotten” or “pocket” boro…
2 January 2013 ·
Revolution and Imperialism in Syria
Fred Leplat argues that socialists cannot be neutral or ambivalent about Bashar al-Assad's bloody dictatorship. A recent Guardian article “Russian military presence in Syria” (23 December 20…