In previous issues of International Socialism, we have covered in some detail events in Syria—the initial uprising in 2011, the interventions of rival imperialisms and regional sub-imperialisms, the fracturing of Syrian politics, the ultimate overthrow of the Bashar al-Assad regime… Continue Reading
Capitalism and war have always been profoundly connected. Max Weber noted the important role that financing the wars of European states played in the development of early modern capitalism.1 The bond remains as tight as ever today. As the illusions… Continue Reading
The advance of the far right internationally has disturbing echoes of interwar Europe.1 Just before Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, NSDAP) came to power in 1933, the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky wrote: Any serious analysis of… Continue Reading
We live in dangerous, disorientating times.1 The world was already a terrifying enough place before Donald Trump returned to the White House in early 2025: with Israel’s genocide in Gaza, a human meat grinder in Ukraine and sabre rattling between… Continue Reading
Turkish politics have been in turmoil recently. Earlier this year, there were mass street protests against the president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Then came the announcement that the country’s main Kurdish militant group would lay down its arms. Şenol Karakaş from… Continue Reading
A review of Palestine, Imperialism and the Struggle for Freedom by Philip Marfleet (Bookmarks, 2025), £10 Publication of Philip Marfleet’s Palestine, Imperialism and the Struggle for Freedom comes in the context of almost two years of genocide enacted against the… Continue Reading
A review of The Future of Revolution: Communist Prospects from the Paris Commune to the George Floyd Uprising by Jasper Bernes (Verso, 2025), £16.99 Jasper Bernes’ fascinating new book is a long history of the workers’ council— long because it… Continue Reading
Donald Trump has won the United States presidency twice by channelling the anger of millions of mainly white Americans towards the neoliberal elite—despite being part of that elite. Conspiracy theories help address and obscure the contradiction between Trump articulating this… Continue Reading
Keir Starmer’s Labour is suffering an identity crisis. His government’s first year in office has combined a resurrection of old Blairite policies with an apparent rejection of Blairism’s embrace of globalisation, a turn to greater state intervention, and lurches to… Continue Reading
Forces on the British left are finally stirring. The announcement of Your Party, albeit long-awaited, organisationally fraught and with an uncertain future, has shown the strong support for socialist politics. At the time of writing, 900,000 people had signed up… Continue Reading