I agree with Ellen Wood. It is important to start with what we have in common. That’s why, in my review, I described the ‘main thrust of The Retreat From Class’ as ‘one which this journal can only strongly endorse’.1… Continue Reading
This article by Ellen Meiksins Wood first appeared in International Socialism in 1987. It is a reply to a book review by Alex Callinicos of her book The Retreat from Class: A New ‘True’ Socialism. Callinicos’s rejoinder to Wood is… Continue Reading
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
Mark O’Brien’s article in 2014, “The problem of the one-day strike”,1 was an attempt to understand “the dominance of very short (usually one-day) national, public sector strikes that have typified industrial action in the UK for at least a decade”.2… Continue Reading
Ghayath Naisse’s article “The ‘Islamic State’ and the Counter-revolution” is an extremely valuable contribution to the discussion about the nature of ISIS. In particular, Naisse’s emphasis on the devastating impact of war on Iraqi and Syrian societies—in the Iraqi case… Continue Reading
The debate around orientations for revolutionaries in the unions today is the result of an uncomfortable but inescapable fact: the level of trade union struggle has remained historically low for 20 years.1 This is true whether we are considering working… Continue Reading
Simon Joyce’s piece “Why are there so few strikes?” in International Socialism 145 is very welcome. It asks an essential question, and Joyce clearly achieves his aim of opening a discussion.1 For revolutionary Marxists this is not an academic issue.… Continue Reading
Simon Joyce has written a welcome article that seeks to address why Britain’s strike record is at a historically low level.1 Simon’s argument is that the “confidence theory” of strike action, associated with the International Socialist tradition, is insufficient to… Continue Reading
The concept of dialectics is central to Marxism and the fight for a socialist transformation of society. Given this, we should welcome Camilla Royle’s recent article in this journal on the dialectics of nature and in particular biology.1 There is… Continue Reading