Maxim Gorky rose from poverty to become one of the most celebrated writers of the 20th century, the father of Soviet literature and the heir to Tolstoy. Like Tolstoy, he wrote of the cruelty and insanity of Tsarism, and his… Continue Reading
Many of the great revolutions of modern times continue to be celebrated. This is true, for example, of the American and French Revolutions, which have their national days (4 and 14 July, respectively), of the Irish Easter Rising, whose centenary… Continue Reading
After the terrible fire at Grenfell tower on 14 June and its deadly aftermath, political shock waves are still agitating communities and disturbing politicians.1 Grenfell is a council housing block in west London which burned for 24 hours killing many… Continue Reading
A profound economic, political and institutional crisis is sweeping Venezuela. The economy is suffering a deep recession triggered most of all by the collapse of the international price of oil, which accounts for something like 95 percent of the country’s… Continue Reading
Antonio Gramsci famously wrote in 1930: “The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear”.1 He was writing about an era… Continue Reading