A review of Simon Pirani, The Russian Revolution in Retreat, 1920–24: Soviet Workers and the New Communist Elite (Routledge, 2008), £20.00 Readers of this journal who have not had the unpleasant experience of wading through liberal studies of the Soviet… Continue Reading
A review of Alex Callinicos, Imperialism and Global Political Economy (Polity, 2009), £17.99 “Knowing Empire is part of fighting it”: this short statement concludes this remarkable 280-page book. It is certainly one of the most outstanding works in Alex Callinicos’s… Continue Reading
If Tony Cliff credited the theory of permanent revolution as Trotsky’s most outstanding and original contribution to Marxism, then Cliff’s own revisions to the theory in 1963 were similarly remarkable. An appraisal of Cliff’s work, ten years after his death,… Continue Reading
The year-long miners’ strike which started in March 1984 marked a decisive turning point in the history of the class struggle in Britain. In the 20th century it is only matched by the General Strike of 1926. Normally presented as… Continue Reading
Aimé Césaire, the late, great Martinican poet and activist, once noted that it was in Haiti that the “colonial problem” was first posed in all its complexity.1 In 1492 the tropical Caribbean island was “discovered” for the Spanish Empire by… Continue Reading
Racism, according to the New Labour communities secretary John Denham, is on the decline. The government’s progress in promoting racial equality in the last decade is, he argues, substantially responsible for this state of affairs.1 Denham’s claim is astonishing in… Continue Reading
The global economic crisis of the last two years has transformed the nature of climate politics in two ways. The turning point was Copenhagen. First, the economic crisis has changed the nature of climate politics at the top. From 2005… Continue Reading
Sartaj Khan of the International Socialists of Pakistan spoke to Yuri Prasad about growing nationalist and ethnic tensions and the need for a working class response. Pakistan’s political elite is desperate to please its paymasters in Washington. Military operations against… Continue Reading
In recent years Venezuela has been the centre of attention for much of the international left, since mass mobilisations defeated a military coup and oil industry lockout, and left wing President Hugo Chávez famously launched his plan to create “socialism… Continue Reading
A tale of two journals This year marks the 50th anniversary of New Left Review (NLR). Not purely coincidentally, this journal also began its regular appearance (after an abortive launch two years earlier) in 1960.1 Launched against the background of… Continue Reading