After 13 years of exile the Conservative Party has returned to office, but weaker than ever and dependent on a coalition with the Liberals. Amid a global crisis, with a weak incumbent and against a widely disliked government, the Tories… Continue Reading
The past has been A mint of blood and sorrow – That must not be True of tomorrow. 1 From appeasement to coordinated strike action Langston Hughes wrote the short poem “History” ,just as the US labour movement rose like… Continue Reading
For a while the high priests of capitalism congratulated themselves on the robustness of the economic recovery. Financial markets soared and there was euphoria about the robust expansion of the “emerging market” economies of the Global South. But in the… Continue Reading
On the BBC’s Weekly Politics programme on 9 December 2010 the historian David Starkey commented on the tuition fees protests in London that day that the capital had seen nothing like it since the Chartist period of the 1840s. Starkey… Continue Reading
One of the most striking features of the new government is the dominance within its ranks of individuals showing every sign of class privilege. The Sunday Times reports that 18 of the 23 full-time members of the cabinet are millionaires,… Continue Reading
The policy of the united front is among the most effective tools for working class action inherited from the era of VI Lenin and the Russian revolution. As originally formulated by the Executive Committee of the Communist International (Comintern) in… Continue Reading
The month-long period between 10 November and 9 December saw the birth of the largest and most militant student movement Britain had experienced for decades.1 A wave of walkouts, demonstrations and occupations shook university managements and the government, bringing it… Continue Reading
The past few months have seen an explosion of debate, blogging, theorising and hype around the role of the Internet in today’s social movements.1 Social media—Internet applications such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube which facilitate the creation and exchange of… Continue Reading
Of all the startling scenes which made up Act One of the Egyptian Revolution, the events in Tahrir Square on 2 February were surely most astounding. When Mubarak sent gangs of plainclothes police to attack demonstrators, the protesters fought like… Continue Reading
On 14 January 2011 Tunisians ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after a month’s revolt. Ben Ali’s removal has changed our perception of revolution. Two things explain this: the change came totally from below; and the reactionary forces have… Continue Reading