#M2013: John Molyneux’s meeting on the IS tradition
Estelle Cooch reports from a critical debate at Marxism 2013 on the crisis in the SWP.
#M2013: Sarah Creagh on raunch culture
Colin Wilson reports on a session at Marxism 2013 on new kinds of sexism.
#M2013: Sai Englert on Bolshevik history
Jamie Woodcock reports on a meeting in a course on the history of Bolshevism that will hopefully be the start of a crucial debate on Leninism in the 21st century.
#M2013: Judith Orr on the definition of class
Judith argued that capitalism is always in flux, constantly revolutionising the means of production, but that exploitation of the majority by the minority remains the core of the system.
Lenin and Cliff on party discipline
David Hollings has responded to comments on his previous article with some thoughts on the nature of party discipline.
Peter Fryer’s Hungarian Tragedy
John Walker compares the crisis within the SWP to a crisis of the British Communist Party in the 1950s.
Reformism, the united front and anti-fascist strategy
Phil Tsappas has written an article looking at the state of reformism today and its implications for our united front work, and anti-fascism in particular.
Left Unity and the People’s Assembly
Charlie Hore writes on the emergence of new ‘reformist’ left groups.
The evolution of democratic centralism in the SWP
Pat Stack examines how the SWP came to adopt its internal structures, how they led to a “democratic deficit” in the organisation, and what needs to be done to transform them today.
Oppression and democratic centralism
A short response to Alex Callinicos’s Socialist Review article from Shanice McBean’s blog.
Organising the fight against oppression
Hanif Leylabi looks at the rise of new liberation movements, along with associated theories such as intersectionality, and examines their relationship to Marxism.
Leninism for the 21st century
Jack Farmer examines the SWP’s theorisation of the revolutionary party and argues that our “current practice diverges sharply from the ‘continuous creative renewal’ required by our political tradition”.
In defence of intellectuals
Luke Evans has written an article examining the role of “intellectuals” within a revolutionary organisation, and drawing on Gramsci’s notion of an organic intellectual.
Hunt for Red October
The disaffected within the SWP are united, we are clear about what we need: clarity. How we get it remains anyone’s guess.
The role of debate in democratic centralism
David Hollings argues against the idea that democratic centralism can be “reduced to a three stage formula of debate, vote and unity of action”.
Ian Birchall replies to his critics
Ian Birchall has written a comprehensive reply to the criticisms of his article “What does it mean to be a Leninist?” that appear in the current issue of Socialist Review.
Workers’ inquiries and the working class
Workers’ inquiries could fill gaps in our knowledge, as well as being a political project in their own right
Mark Bergfeld responds on the Pop-Up Union
Mark Bergfeld argues for a positive approach to the pop-up union.
Notes on the balance of class forces
The decline in workplace organisation is more than falling membership.
Postgraduates v marketisation
Graduate students often work as adjuncts, what is their role in struggles within the university?
Towards a Marxist analysis of rape
Ruth Lorimer and Shanice McBean have written an important article outlining some initial thoughts updating the Marxist view on rape.
Reflections on the ‘IS tradition’
It is wrong to focus merely on the form of democratic centralism without having a sense also of the different quality of the decisions taken by a leadership.
‘You did hear me’ – miscommunication and rape.
Comrades have written a couple of important articles on the attitude socialists should take to allegations of rape, one of the central dividing lines in the dispute that sparked the crisis in the SWP.
The most advanced ideas?
Dan Swain has pitched in to the debates around what “Leninism” means today and historically.
What does it mean to be a Leninist?
Ian Birchall surveys the history of Leninism and critically assesses the SWP’s current approach to questions of democracy and struggle.
Revolutionary organisation and the united front
Rob Owen writes criticising the SWP’s trajectory over the past few years, arguing that it has been based on a false assessment of the working class and is incubating sectarian attitudes to the movement.
Who will teach the teachers?
There is a revolutionary method – one part of which acknowledges that the teachers must themselves be taught by those they set out to instruct.
Some notes on the British working class
A major part of the grassroots activity of socialists who accept the centrality of workers self-organization must be to recapitulate – in new ways – basic ‘from the bottom up’ tactics.
On the Pop-Up Union at Sussex University
The Pop-up Union is a symptom of wider political radicalisation on campus.