A review of Socialism or Extinction. The Meaning of Revolution in a Time of Ecological Crisis, Martin Empson (Bookmarks, 2022), £10 In 1915, during the First World War, Polish revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg saw two possible futures: socialism or barbarism. In… Continue Reading
In June 1952, Grace Carlson, one of the staunchest members of the United States’ Socialist Workers Party (SWP), tidied her desk in the offices of the organisation’s Militant newspaper and left the building.1 She had been the only woman defendant… Continue Reading
Penguin’s 2022 republication of the seminal and path-breaking 1944 study Capitalism and Slavery in its “modern classics” series is hugely welcome. The reprint of the book, written by black Trinidadian historian and politician Eric Williams, comes in the aftermath of… Continue Reading
On 17 September 2022, there was an unexpected sectarian confrontation in the English city of Leicester.1 Several hundred young Hindu men, many masked, marched through streets primarily inhabited by Muslims and chanted slogans associated with the chauvinism of a ultra-right… Continue Reading
The death of Mike Davis on 25 October 2022 at the age of 76 has deprived us of perhaps the outstanding Marxist writer of my generation. He delved deep into the contemporary history of the United States, especially in Southern… Continue Reading
Despite stronger than expected showings by Democrats in November’s midterm elections, the Republican Party has won control of the United States House of Representatives with a narrow majority.1 The Democrats did pick up one seat in the Senate but then… Continue Reading
The death of Elizabeth II on September 8, 2022, officially “Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of her other realms and territories” and “head of the Commonwealth, defender of the faith”, triggered ten days… Continue Reading
As a part of our ongoing coverage of the emerging strike movement in Britain, Charlie Kimber, editor of the weekly newspaper Socialist Worker, explores recent developments, asking what changed in 2022 and what has stayed the same. His analysis draws… Continue Reading
A wave of protests in Iran has become the largest challenge from below that the Islamic Republic regime has faced in well over a decade. Beginning with protests against a law forcing women to wear the headscarf, or hijab, in… Continue Reading
What are the prospects for left politics as 2023 begins?1 To say that the coming year will be one of crisis is simply to state the obvious, a point now accepted across the political spectrum and echoing through end of… Continue Reading