An error of proximity: Labour’s repositioning misstep
Jonas Liston explores the shift of Corbyn’s Labour away from social-democratic policies in the wake of Brexit, here reproduced with permission from his own site.
#GE2017: Why does Labour make concessions to the right when it comes to immigration?
Jonas Liston reflects on Angela Rayner’s recent appearance on Question Time. How can she be awful on immigration whilst savaging the Tories on everything else?
Revolutionaries and Labourism
Jonas Liston discusse the relationship between revolutionaries and the Labour Party.
What does it mean to be a revolutionary socialist in the 21st century?
Amy Gilligan and Jonas Liston introduce and reply to a discussion on “What does it mean to be a revolutionary socialist in the 21st century?” for Manchester rs21 on 15 March 2014.
Lessons from the Communist Party USA
Jonas Liston argues we can learn important lessons from the legacy of the Communist Party USA’s anti-racism work in the 1930s.
12 thoughts on racism and anti-racism after the referendum
The racism evident on both sides of the recent EU referendum campaigns, as well as the huge rise in racist attacks following the result, shows the need for a strong, united, radical and popular anti-racism. Jonas Liston offers 12 thoughts on where we are post-referendum and how to build the movement we need.
‘Movin’ on up?’ – extended review of Richard Seymour’s ‘Corbyn: the Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics’
Jonas Liston reviews Richard Seymour’s latest book, Corbyn: the Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics, and gives his own thoughts on the movement around the Labour leader, the history of his party, and the future of the left. The book is available directly from Verso’s website for £9.09.
More radical than reality: A letter to a comrade of an earlier era
Jonas Liston writes about becoming a young revolutionary in the 21st century. Dear comrade, You asked me to talk you through how my generation of militants was radicalised, through what routes we came into struggle and why we found ourselves amongst that minuscule section of society that believed in what were, supposed to be, […]
Extract: Order reigns in Berlin
On the 97 anniversary of Rosa Luxemburg‘s murder, Jonas Liston introduces an extract from her final article “Order Reigns in Berlin“. In November 1918, a revolt of German sailors and soldiers sparked a mass workers’ revolution that would see the establishment of democratic workers’ councils, the end of World War One and the abdication […]
Not doing a Jay-Z
Jonas Liston is delighted by Jeremy Corbyn’s victory. But he’s not going to join the Labour Party. Whilst on the one hand today, I became the dickhead working on a roof in this ghastly torrential rain, who every passer-by pities, on the other hand, I’m delighted by the space Corbyn’s leadership election victory has opened […]
Hundreds attend general assembly of the left in London
Up to 1000 people attended the General Assembly of the Radical Left last night in Logan Hall in London. Called by the activist group Brick Lane Debates, the assembly brought together people from across the radical left to discuss building “a new joined-up radical left movement or network… something that is truly democratic, bottom-up, radical, and […]
#BBCdebate: win for the Nationalists and Greens, demolition for Miliband
Jonas Liston shares his thoughts coming out of tonight’s leader’s debate 1) Farage was isolated and snowed under by the dominance of the left in the debate. However, even though his central, racist focus on migration as the cause of every social problem (housing, NHS, etc.) got outdone in the debate, that and his sheer […]
A critical engagement with the young Bensaïd
This piece was first presented by Jonas Liston at the recent Historical Materialism Conference in London. On first reading Daniel Bensaïd’s memoirs, An Impatient Life, two things stood out to me: a heterodox politics with an absolute confidence in the key tenets of revolutionary Marxism, combined with a willingness to engage with new and old ideas and modes […]
What’s to be done now? A review of Paul Le Blanc’s Unfinished Leninism
Jonas Liston reviews an essential collection of essays on Lenin and Leninism today (photo of Paul Le Blanc by Alex Bainbridge) The difficult experiences of the revolutionary left recently have led many to question core aspects of Marxist politics – in particular the legacy of the Russian revolutionary Lenin and the organisation he played a key […]
The Masters, the Pastors and those they tread on: Review of ‘Jimmy’s Hall’ and ‘Quietly’
Jonas Liston sees important statements about Ireland’s present crisis in these examinations of it’s past. Both North and South Ireland have been at the sharp end of capitalism’s current crisis, with all sections of its ruling class arguing for, and delivering neo-liberal austerity on a massive scale. The picture is often grim, with institutionalized sectarianism […]
Open statement: Resignation from the SWP
The signatories to this statement can no longer remain members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) following events at its annual conference on 13-15 December 2013.
What is intersectionality?
New movements against oppression have brought with them a new vocabulary. The concept of “intersectionality” is prominent among them. Shanice McBean outlines her understanding of the term and its relationship to Marxist theory.
ISJ: Neil Davidson on the neoliberal era in Britain
An analysis of the neoliberal period poses some crucial questions as to how revolutionaries move forward today.