The autumn 2015 issue of International Socialism contained two extremely important and erudite articles concerning the issue of the European Union and which way socialists should vote in any potential referendum. In order of appearance they are: “The EU Referendum:… Continue Reading
It came as no surprise that International Socialism could publish, in the last issue, such a dismissive review of Paul Mason’s fascinating and thought-provoking new book.1 Certainly Mason has moved a considerable distance from the Leninism of his youth and… Continue Reading
John Rose argued in his talk at Marxism 2014 that the German Revolution had effectively suffered terminal defeat by January 1919.1 The National Congress of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Councils voted in December 1918 to hand power to the National Assembly… Continue Reading
A review of Paul Le Blanc, Leon Trotsky (Reaktion Books, Critical Lives series, 2015), £11.99 Paul Le Blanc faced a daunting challenge when he agreed to write a book about Leon Trotsky and his life in exile for the Critical… Continue Reading
More than three decades after his death, the ideas of Erich Fromm are enjoying something of an intellectual renaissance. Fromm (1900-1980) was a German-Jewish psychoanalyst, writer, public intellectual and activist whose life-long concern was with developing an understanding of the… Continue Reading
A review of Paul Hampton, Workers and Trade Unions for Climate Solidarity: Tackling Climate Change in a Neoliberal World (Routledge Studies in Climate, Work and Society, 2015), £90 The complete and utter failure of the world’s governments to take meaningful… Continue Reading
Simon Joyce has helped galvanise a long overdue discussion in International Socialism on the state of workplace class struggle in the UK.1 Though I partially disagree both with his claim that shop stewards have lost control of the strike weapon… Continue Reading
Significant discussion has taken place in recent issues of International Socialism, echoing wider debates in the movement, around the persistently low level of industrial struggle in Britain.1 This is part of a wider phenomenon internationally, but the debate in this… Continue Reading
The major global crises of the mid-1970s and 2008-9 provoked debates among the ruling class about the best economic policies to manage capitalism. For socialists and activists the question was different, and debates about whether and to what extent capitalism… Continue Reading
Something remarkable happened over the summer of 2015. Immediately after Ed Miliband resigned following Labour’s defeat in the general election, the grip exercised by Blairism over the Labour Party had seemed set to continue grimly on. The field competing for… Continue Reading