I agreed with much of Chris Harman’s latest article.1 My comments below will focus on the disagreements in order to further the discussion. (1) As I have argued before, I think there has been a substantial recovery of the rate… Continue Reading
We cannot understand the system we live in or how to fight it simply by the repetition of slogans. We need serious analysis and debate. For that reason, I welcome Jim Kincaid’s rejoinder to my articles in recent issues of… Continue Reading
Chris Harman has invited comment on his recent writings on the world economy and there is certainly much for Marxists to debate. We are confronted with a global economy, hugely uneven to be sure, but which in 2007 was producing… Continue Reading
At some point, quite early on in our revolutionary “careers”, Jewish students of the 1968 generation had to confront On the Jewish Question written by the young Karl Marx in 1843. This was an awesome moment—almost a political virility test.… Continue Reading
A review of Esther Leslie, Walter Benjamin (Reaktion, 2007), £10.95 There has been a growing fascination on the left for the often cryptic work of Walter Benjamin ever since he was first widely published in the 1960s. In 1968 Berlin… Continue Reading
One striking feature of Zimbabwe’s crisis has been the vocal support of the British and US governments for “democratic change”. In April, George Bush’s assistant secretary of state for African affairs, Jendayi Frazer, undertook a whirlwind “democracy tour” to support… Continue Reading
The riots and protests in Tibet earlier this year were the most significant since China’s takeover in the 1950s. Together with the protests that have accompanied the Olympic torch relay around the world, they have shown that Tibetan nationalism remains… Continue Reading
About 20 years ago I spoke on “Marxism and religion” at the Socialist Workers Party Easter Rally in Skegness. I began, roughly, with the words, “Today, in Britain, religion—fortunately—is not a major political issue.” Unfortunately, this is no longer the… Continue Reading
The ancestor of modern cheap food policies, the repeal of the Corn Laws in Britain in 1846, was spurred by growing unrest within the swelling cities of an industrialising economy. In 1848 that unrest burst out into a series of… Continue Reading
In broad terms the story is easily told. Labour’s Ken Livingstone was defeated as Mayor of London by Conservative Boris Johnson because the Labour Party is on the slide and the right in British politics has got its act together.… Continue Reading