The responses in the previous issue of International Socialism by Panos Garganas and by François Sabado to my article “Where is the Radical Left Going?” are very welcome.1 As their articles bear witness, the condition of the radical left in… Continue Reading
The International Socialist tradition has made some remarkable intellectual breakthroughs, above all the theories of state capitalism, the permanent arms economy and deflected permanent revolution. A strength of our tradition has been the ability to look reality in the face,… Continue Reading
“Revolutionary socialists today should not be…pontificating on the degree of damage that capitalism has done to itself, on whether we are in 1929, 1992 or whatever… We do not have a crystal ball…but we can see all too clearly what… Continue Reading
Consider these two scenarios. The first is in Ireland in December 2005 when 100,000 Irish, Polish, Lithuanian and Latvian workers demonstrated together against attempts by bosses to recruit migrant workers on worse pay and conditions than Irish workers. The second… Continue Reading
In August 2007 the UK media reported the tragic death of a 17 month old boy (who became known as “Baby P”). In November 2008 two people were convicted of causing or allowing the death. The court was told that… Continue Reading
A review of Martin Wolf, Fixing Global Finance: How to Curb Financial Crises in the 21st Century (Yale University, 2009), £18.99 The great global economic crisis has put many institutions brutally to the test and destroyed them. One of these… Continue Reading
All human beings are prematurely born, helpless and dependent, unable to look after themselves. This applies not just to Oxbridge dons but to the whole of the human species. Later on, if all goes well, we will achieve a degree… Continue Reading
There was a great strike wave in the US in the aftermath of the First World War. It was beaten back with the decisive defeat of a rank and file driven campaign to organise the steel industry.1 Brutal repression was… Continue Reading
“We found out on TV in late November that we were going to close. We just carried on as normal, and it wasn’t until we actually came out and we were all upset when we signed our last bits of… Continue Reading
The year since Silvio Berlusconi’s election victory over the Democratic Party (PD) in Italy has been one in which the right wing agenda of the ruling coalition has been made brutally clear. In the midst of severe economic crisis—officially Italy’s… Continue Reading