This year marks the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Third International—the Communist International (or Comintern), the organisation of revolutionary socialist parties around the world. The Comintern represented the hope of millions that the example of the Bolshevik Revolution… Continue Reading
The recent centenary of the Russian Revolution produced a renewed flurry of interest in the events of 1917 and reminded us of their huge impact. The focus of those discussions for revolutionary socialists was quite rightly the significance of the… Continue Reading
In March 2011 the Arab Spring arrived in Syria. Syrians had lived under the totalitarianism of the Asad family, first with the father, Hafez al-Asad (1971-2000), followed by the son, Bashaar al-Asad, for 40 years.1 This included a state of… Continue Reading
The election to India’s Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament) ended on 23 May 2019 with the stunning success of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies. The BJP is a pro-business and Hindu-nationalist party. It bagged 303… Continue Reading
On 8 August 2019 the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, hailed a former torturer—Brilhante Ustra—as a “national hero”.1 This gesture may be very enlightening, explaining who Bolsonaro is: a genealogy of his own roots in the Brazilian Army would connect him… Continue Reading
International Socialism 163 http://isj.org.uk/in-defence-of-party-building/ Sommer 2019, aus dem Englischen von Rosemarie Nünning *** John Molyneux: “Die Genossen aus Southampton mögen diese Sache mit dem Parteiaufbau nicht so sehr.” Tony Cliff: “Ich mag das auch nicht, es ist schrecklich. Leider ist… Continue Reading
When the manuscript of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four landed on his desk in late 1948, writes a biographer, his publisher fired off an internal memorandum stating that it “represented ‘a deliberate and sadistic attack on socialism and socialist parties generally’.… Continue Reading
John Molyneux: “The comrades in Southampton don’t like this stuff about building the party.” Tony Cliff: “I don’t like it either; it’s horrible. Unfortunately, it is necessary”—conversation with Cliff in summer 1968. In February/March of this year the International Socialist… Continue Reading
The Anti Nazi League and the mass movement it generated in the late 1970s is one of the great achievements of the revolutionary left in post-war Britain. The experience is particularly important today with the growth of the far right… Continue Reading
The far right is on the rise across the globe and the gains made by women since the 1960s are in their sights. The leader of the world’s most powerful nation is a proud misogynist, boasts about the sexual harassment… Continue Reading