A review of Geoffrey Swain, Trotsky (Pearson Longman, 2006), £14.99 ‘Readers of this biography’, writes Geoffrey Swain, Professor in Russian and East European Studies at Glasgow University, ‘will not find their way to Trotskyism.’ Well, some might despite the author’s… Continue Reading
A review of Jill Liddington, Rebel Girls: Their Fight for the Vote (Virago Press, 2006), £14.99 The front cover of this book shows a picture of a furious 16 year old Dora Thewlis being arrested by two huge policemen after… Continue Reading
A review of Paul Blackledge, Reflections on the Marxist Theory of History (Manchester University Press, 2006), £14.99, and Matt Perry, Marxism and History (Palgrave, 2002), £13.99 Why does history matter? Two interconnected reasons present themselves for the serious study of… Continue Reading
A review of Michael Mann, Fascists (Cambridge University Press, 2004), £15.99, and Robert Paxton, The Anatomy of Fascism (Penguin, 2004), £8.99 Fascism has always been the hardest of political movements to understand. This is largely because of its complex relationship… Continue Reading
A review of John Lynch, Simon Bolivar: A Life (Yale University Press, 2006), £25 The Communication and Information Ministry of the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela has recently published a short pamphlet called Simon Bolivar: Liberator of Nations, Homeland Creator. It… Continue Reading
I have long believed that a very great revolutionary is a great artist, and that he develops ideas, programmes, etc, as Beethoven develops a movement. C L R James Cyril Lionel Robert James (1901-1989) was a towering intellectual of what… Continue Reading
For some years prior to 1956 the British labour movement was in overall decline. The 1945 general election had been the crest of the wave for the development of the left in Britain. The British Labour government, which took office,… Continue Reading
The birth of the New Left in 1956 marked an important turning point in post-war British history.2 For the first time since the Second World War a political space opened within which socialists could hope to make headway building a… Continue Reading
‘Tell me what you think about Hungary and I will tell you who you are,’ said a Polish writer in late November 1956. So in this spirit let us make a declaration. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was an authentic… Continue Reading
July 26, 1956. A crowd, tens of thousands strong, gathered in Manshiyya Square in Alexandria, to hear a speech by Egypt’s president, Gamal Abd-al-Nasser. The atmosphere was tense—only days before Nasser had received a humiliating rebuff from the US Secretary… Continue Reading