It is encouraging that Sean Leahy has taken up the challenge of defending the Socialist Workers Party’s line on Brexit after my essay in this journal.1 It means we are now openly debating the defining issue of our age. Sound… Continue Reading
The 17th century Catholic thinker Blaise Pascal suggested that we imagine believing in God as a wager: Let us weigh up the gain and loss involved in calling heads that God exists. Let us assess the two cases: if you… Continue Reading
Wayne Asher’s article in the previous issue of International Socialism is a welcome intervention in the debate about the revolutionary left’s position on the European Union.1 It avoids some of the more outlandish claims of the Remain camp in not… Continue Reading
Alex Callinicos correctly asserts that “British capitalism is…heavily dependent on access to European markets”.1 Indeed, some 60 percent of British exports find their way into European markets. There is no doubt that Brexit has unleashed the most serious crisis for… Continue Reading
Through a fog of parliamentary manoeuvres, the British state is shambling towards a no-deal Brexit, crashing out of the European Union without any transitional arrangements agreed on. Maybe this will be averted thanks to Theresa May’s last-minute approach to Jeremy… Continue Reading
“The fighting party of the advanced class need not fear mistakes. What it should fear is persistence in a mistake, refusal to admit and correct a mistake out of a false sense of shame”.1 Thus Lenin, writing on the eve… Continue Reading
The British political elite, grappling with the process of leaving the European Union, face two fundamental contradictions. The first arises from the balance of power between the remaining EU-27 and Britain. Since British capitalism is so heavily dependent on access… Continue Reading
The previous issue of International Socialism included an excellent analysis of the Brexit vote by Charlie Kimber.1 Charlie argued that the vote to leave the European Union was a “bitter blow to the establishment”, that social class was a major… Continue Reading
The British vote on 23 June 2016 to leave the European Union was a bitter blow for the establishment, big business, the international financial institutions, the rich and the politicians.1 With only minor exceptions they had united to support a… Continue Reading
The political situation in Britain is defined by the fractures that have opened up over Brexit and in the Labour Party. This journal supported a vote to leave the European Union on 23 June for two main reasons—first, and as… Continue Reading