Workers and the Soviet state: lessons from the 1920s
The centenary of the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia provides an opportunity to open up debates on the nature of revolutions and post-revolutionary politics.
‘But we will stand upright’ – migrant hunger strike in Athens
Migrants awaiting reunification with their families in accordance with EU law have been on hunger strike in Greece and Germany for several days. Ida-Sofie Picard and Will Searby report from Athens. The hunger strike in Syntagma square has been ongoing for eight days now. In Lesvos migrants have been on hunger strike for 15 days. […]
How class struggle can bridge the Brexit divide
Seb Cooke argues that only a sense of shared struggle can unite different sections of working class which were divided over last year’s referendum vote.
50 years on from 1967 Abortion Act
Throughout the fifty years that the Act has been on the statute book pro-choice activists have had to repel repeated attempts to curtail its provisions.
A statement on the centenary of the October Revolution
rs21 celebrates the Revolution as a high-water mark in human history.
The Daily Mail and sexual harassment: a statement
Today the Mail on Sunday published an article about sexist remarks made to Kate Bradley by a Unite staff member and her complaint about them.
Six Red Months in Russia: Louise Bryant’s view of the revolution
Louise Bryant’s Six Red Months in Russia, with its nuanced and enlightening discussion of women’s lives, is a vital eyewitness account of the Russian Revolution.
The Tories, sexual violence and institutional cover-ups
Reflecting on allegations towards 36 Conservative MPs, Kate Bradley argues that we should look past the big scandals and dodgy politics of the list itself – it’s the violence and the cover-ups which should concern us most. Reports of inappropriate sexual behaviour in the Conservative Party have dominated headlines for the past few days, the […]
Moving the centre: The Marxist squatters and the populist mayor
Joe Hayns interviews the organisers of a ‘House of the People’ who are facing similar questions in Naples.
Half a millennium away: Martin Luther’s 95 theses 500 years on
On the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, Andrew Stone looks at the context in which Protestantism arose and the global impact it had. On 31 October 1517 an Augustinian monk nailed a list of complaints – known to posterity as the 95 Theses – to a church door in Wittenberg. This austere professor of theology […]
Reviewing BBC Radio 4’s coverage of the Russian revolution
Martin Crook analyses the presentation of the Russian revolution by the BBC, questioning the accuracy of a review that blames the revolution for the sins of Stalinism.
Harvey Weinstein: when male entitlement meets corporate power
Annie Lord looks at the Harvey Weinstein case as an example of how workplace authoritarianism lets abusive men off the hook The much-publicised Harvey Weinstein case is a perfect example of the ever-present exploitative relationships that emerge in hierarchical institutions. Praised as the darling of indie film-making for his work on The Crying Game, Pulp […]
After 1917: Civil war and ‘modernising counter-revolution’
The Russian Revolution not only provides the most far reaching example of a socialist revolution in history, it also changes our understanding of counter-revolution.
The Death of Stalin: first as tragedy, then as farce
Estelle Cooch reviews Armando Iannucci’s latest film, The Death of Stalin
Trans* rights and the Gender Recognition Act
Emma Rock, a queer activist living in Germany, offers a socialist analysis of the recent debate. Trans* rights have increasingly moved from the fringes and into the spotlight for the Left. While this attention should be something we could all applaud, it has not been characterised by support for the rights of gender nonconforming people […]
Video: Charlton Park Academy picket line 17th October 2017
Tony Aldis and Colin Revolting speak to GMB members at Charlton Park Academy on strike defending equal sick pay for all staff.
Video: Charlton Park School strike public meeting
Watch a short extract of a public meeting to explain the strike action and to organise support for these workers under attack.
3 perspectives on rs21’s A Day Without Men
The day of discussion included sessions on Corbyn and ‘Corbynomics’, social reproduction and struggles for healthcare and housing, and repression and resistance in Catalonia.
Video: Mike Haynes – dreams, utopias and messy realities of Russia in 1917
Watch Mike Haynes’ humorous and enlightening talk for Leicester rs21 on the dreams, utopias and messy realities of the Russian revolution.
A silent march for Grenfell, in pictures
A silent march to commemorate the Grenfell disaster. Photos by Steve Eason Repeat marches are scheduled to take place on the 14th of each month.
Atlas Shrugged: the world’s most boring cult novel
On 10 October 1957 Random House published Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, a book now regarded by many as the ultimate expression of capitalist greed, as well as perhaps the worst novel ever written.
Catalonia: crisis puts the working class centre-stage
Seb Cooke argues that the level of ongoing mass struggle will determine the result of the current stand-off in Catalonia. ‘It was the red vision of the revolution, which, inevitably, would one day carry them all away, on some bloody evening at the century’s approaching end.’ This is how Emile Zola describes a march of […]
Exposing the far-right in Austria’s Freedom Party
Austria prepares for elections on 15 October which are likely to result in the far-right Freedom Party helping to form the next government. Nick Evans reviews a new book documenting the extremist groups that now dominate the party. Review of: Hans-Henning Scharsach (with Christa Eveline Spitzbart), Stille Machtergreifung: Hofer, Strache und die Burschenschaften [Silent Coup: […]
‘Quite an experience’, Blade Runner, Marxism and Postmodernity
With the theatre release of Blade Runner 2049, Red Wedge Magazine have given rs21 permission to republish an interview with Matthew Flisfeder author of Postmodern Theory and Blade Runner (2017). The original interview was carried out in September, and focuses solely on the ‘original’ film and its context. A review of the Blade Runner 2049 […]
New rs21 magazine focuses on Korea, social reproduction, the defeat of 1917
The autumn edition of rs21 magazine, out now, includes pieces on Trump’s foreign policy and the legacy of the junior doctors’ strike, while Owen Miller writes on the nuclear crisis and North Korea. Tithi Bhattacharya provides an in-depth look into social reproduction theory, while Gareth Dale charts how the revolutionary forces of the Russian revolution […]
A photo report on the Football Lads Alliance
Mitch Mitchell writes on Saturday’s march of the self-described “anti-extremism” group the Football Lads Alliance. Photos by Steve Eason.
Video: Breaking the silence – voices of the British children of refugees from Nazism
Merilyn Moos speaks on her book Breaking the Silence: Voices of the British children of refugees from Nazism.
Review: ‘The Impossible Revolution’ in Syria
Lebanese writer Joey Ayoub reviews Yassin Al-Haj Saleh’s The Impossible Revolution: Making Sense of the Syrian Tragedy. Barely a year after the start of the Syrian revolution, in May of 2012, the intellectual and dissident Yassin Al-Haj Saleh was hiding somewhere in Damascus and writing an essay entitled ‘the rise of militant nihilism’. He had […]
Scottish solidarity with Catalunya
Pete Cannell of International Socialists Scotland (Scotland rs21) reports back from recent solidarity protests with Calatunya.
Islamophobia in Europe: fuel for the far right
As the encroachment of far right parties grows throughout Europe, with the deployment of overtly racist rhetoric creating those who are deemed ‘real’ Europeans and those deemed a threat, Seb Cooke argues an authentic movement against fascism can only come from working class resistance. The far right and fascists of Europe were celebrating on Sunday […]