Author: alanjjohnstone

Union Maids (movie)

With These Hands (movie)

It’s human nature, isn’t it?

Imagine this scene: The High Courts of Justice, London. On trial is a 30-year-old man, charged with three armed robberies, three counts of attempted murder, and twelve charges of assaulting police officers and another of incapacitating a police dog. The prosecution has finished summing up. He sits down, satisfied he had done enough to see […]

Only Sheep Need Leaders

At a World Socialist Movement stall at a miner’s gala, talking to a member from one of the many left-wing groups in attendance who had been sent out to try and sell their weekly paper. He was clearly a new member, for he had not yet been told to avoid our stall – an instruction pummelled into the […]

Socialism through the ballot box?

Many detractors of the socialist case criticise Marx and Engels and their early followers as being advocates of violent revolution and are wont to cite statements they made in support of this claim. And it is not uncommon for these same critics to claim that socialists/communists (the words mean the same) of today still hold out […]

Punishment Park (movie)

Salt of the Earth (movie)

The Proletarian in Politics

Socialists are often asked about what would a member do in Parliament if elected. This Socialist delegate answers that question. The Socialist PositionAs defended by C. M. O’Brien, M. L. A. in the Alberta Legislature Written: 1910 The first session of the second Legislature of the Province of Alberta was unique, and its record will […]

The Slave of the Farm

Socialists are often thought of as being concerned with the welfare and interests of the industrial proletariat but as this article shows, the case for socialism also applies to the small farmer. letters from Alf Budden to a fellow farm slave and comrade in revolt. “And the fields that gleam, like a golden streamAnd the […]

Manifesto of the Socialist Party of North America (1911)

In 1910, several branches of the Socialist Party of Canada, located in Toronto and Southern Ontario, split away to form the Socialist Party of North America. The SPNA was strongly influenced by the Socialist Party of Great Britain, and a former SPGB member, Moses Baritz, played a key role in its founding. As the title […]