Part of the World Socialist Movement
April 14, 2020
Sixty-five years ago a myth was born. A Dictatorship of the Russian Proletariat had been set up amid the chaos of World War 1. The simple slogan Peace, Land and Bread echoed from the cities to the remotest villages. As the dust settled, facts emerged. The peasants had seized whatever land they could while the …
April 13, 2020
In declaring war on the working class of Poland, General Jaruzelski played his only trump card. His coup was prepared months in advance. While he and other politicians like Deputy Prime Minister Rakowski deceived workers, negotiated with Solidarity and even pretended to welcome the wind of change, secret contingency plans were being made to restore …
March 13, 2020
The Anarchist Movement in Japan by John Crump (BM Hurricane, London WC1N 3XX. 1995.)This is a brief, but informative, account of anarchism in Japan by the author of The Origins of Socialist Thought In Japan. Crump traces the origins of anarchism in that country to Kotoku Shusui who first edited an anti-war journal, Common People’s Newspaper, …
Read more “Pamphlet review: Anarchism and the failure of direct action”
July 1, 2016
Who needs leaders?
‘Being Red: A Politics for the Future’, by Ken Livingstone, (ed. Anna Minton). Pluto Press, 2016
August 23, 2010
Oil and the Rest
‘Armed Madhouse’. By Greg Palast, (Penguin £8.99)
There are three main themes in this book: the relation of oil to the US invasion of Iraq, the plight of American workers, and the way in which US elections are manipulated. Despite its American emphasis, it’s well worth a read.
April 19, 2023
I am going to quote two items of historical interest: “Suraj-ud-Daulah, possibly at the instigation of the French, chose to take offence because the British at Fort William were strengthening their fortifications in case they should find themselves involved in hostilities with their French neighbours at Chandernagur. The Nawab ordered them to demolish the fortifications, …
June 27, 2022
A sympathiser sets out the history of ‘socialism’ in Myanmar. Myanmar is a ‘Global South’ country with long borders shared with India and China. Before its independence, it was ruled by the colonial British as a province of British India. It was also known as Burma. The earliest record of Marxism in Myanmar is 1923, …
March 29, 2022
Ruthless The Truth About Trotsky. Anarchist Communist Group. ACG/Stormy Petrel, 2021. 81pp. In 1937 Leon Trotsky, from his exile in Central America, wrote an account of the murderous rule of Stalin in Bolshevik Russia. He entitled it The Crimes of Stalin. This new ACG pamphlet also deals with the brutal acts of Bolshevism but those …
Read more “Book Reviews – The Truth about Trotsky / Trump and Berlusconi”
January 4, 2021
RUSSIA WAS NEVER SOCIALIST. “An Illustrated History of the Russian Revolution” (Vol. II). Publisher: Martin Lawrence, 15s. “Preparing for Revolt,” Lenin, 5s. (Modern Books, Ltd ). “Lessons of October,” Trotsky. 3s. (Labour Publishing Co.). The first volume of the “Illustrated History” was noticed in these columns in June, 1928. The second volume carries the story …
April 24, 2020
2020s ⮞ ⮜ Full Index ⮜ 2000s 2010 ⮞ 2011 ⮞ 2012 ⮞ 2013 ⮞ 2014 ⮞ 2015 ⮞ 2016 ⮞ 2017 ⮞ 2018 ⮞ 2019 ⮞ 2010 No. 1265 January 2010 Editorial: Capitalism and the New Decade 50 Years Ago: Labour’s Lost Chord Book Reviews: Letters Cartoon: The Ire of the Irate Itinerant Cartoon: …