Peter Sedgwick and the British Left
Peter Sedgwick (1934-83) was a lifelong socialist activist and writer. Apart from his work to bring Victor Serge to the English speaking world, and his critical writings on psychiatry, Sedgwick produced a series of political pieces covering the 1950s to the 1980s (many of which are being rediscovered and published). In this piece Ian Birchall demonstrates Peter Sedgwick’s independent approach to handling changing political […]
Living with depression under capitalism
Kate Bradley looks at her experience of depression, the interplay of austerity and mental health problems, and the ambivalent role of state services
Spanish state out to smash Catalan independence referendum
Andy Durgan writes from Catalonia On 1 October the people of Catalonia go to the polls to decide if their country will become an independent republic or not. The Spanish government insists that the referendum is illegal and have unleashed a wave of repression unprecedented since the end of Franco’s dictatorship 40 years ago, meaning […]
Review | The Rise of Hindu Authoritarianism by Achin Vanaik
Bill Crane reviews The Rise of Hindu Authoritarianism, written by Achin Vanaik as a critical response to the political developments in India following the election of the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in 2014, as well as the consequences and future travails for the Indian left. The Rise of Hindu Authoritarianism is published by Verso Books […]
On the march for working people’s housing
The growing campaign against privatising council homes in Haringey shows an alternative to privatisation and gentrification, writes Colin Wilson. Over 350 people joined a lively march through north London on Saturday against the privatisation and demolition of Haringey council homes. As the march headed down Green Lanes, a busy shopping district, marchers’ chants, drums and […]
Reflections of a reluctant transsexual
Evren Filgate gives their perspective on the reform of the Gender Recognition Act and the struggle that trans people face in their daily lives. We heard news a few weeks ago that the Gender Recognition Act is being reformed. Hooray! Surely that is a good thing. We have Made It; it is just like 2013, […]
Join this march – stop social cleansing in London
This Saturday will see an important protest over housing and gentrification in London, writes Colin Wilson. If you can, come and join the march. It won’t be news to people reading this report that council housing is under attack in London. The Heygate estate in Elephant and Castle, in the south of the city, was […]
Choosing or refusing to take sides in an era of right-wing populism
In the decade following the banking crash, the protracted crisis in neoliberal governance is taking a number of striking forms. Neil Davidson sets out the case for ‘rejecting the lesser evil’ option when faced with a choice between the radical right and the neoliberal centre.
Why socialists should oppose the single market
There has been much talk of a post-Brexit “transition period” , that prioritises the UK staying in the single market. Seb Cooke puts the view that this could both strengthen capital and weaken the left. The argument surrounding the so-called Brexit “divorce bill” may seem fairly inconsequential, but it does tell us something about the […]
Kill All Normies: a missed opportunity to analyse fascism
After the murderous gathering in Charlottesville, there’s a real need for insightful analysis of the American far right – but, argues Lisa Leak Kill All Normies fails to provide it. It’s unsurprising that many of the left on both sides of the Atlantic were excited at the publication of Kill All Normies, Angela Nagle’s new book […]
The contradictions of Corbynism
Support to mainstream parties of the left must be made tactically alongside work to organise a mass revolutionary party.
The remarkable story of Margarete Klopfleisch
rs21 member Sonja Grossner tells the story of her remarkable mother Margarete Klopfleisch, an artist and communist during the Nazi period in Germany who spent time in hiding in the UK. The full biography The Troubles to Greet Beauty is available to buy from Waterstones or Amazon. Margarete (‘Greta’) Klopfleisch (nee Grossner) was born in […]
Gracchus Babeuf revisited
Historian Doug Enaa Greene reviews The Spectre of Babeuf by Ian Birchall. Often unfairly dismissed by socialists, Gracchus Babeuf represents a break from utopianism towards direct, practical action and all the challenges that implies, and he has much to teach revolutionaries today. Spectre of Babeuf is published by Haymarket Books and is available now.
Stop the Arms Trade – Stop Arming Israel
Next week thousands of members of the military from around the world will gather in London’s Docklands for an arms fair. Illegal weapons and torture equipment have been sold at the event in the past – and governments which abuse human rights are buying. Steve Eason brings us this photo report from the first of […]
#McStrike: Lively pickets and London rally mark first UK McDonald’s strike
Mitch Mitchell reports from the Cambridge picket lines and London rally of McDonald’s workers taking strike action for the first time.
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.
NEU radicals?
Andrew Stone, Joint Secretary of the Wandsworth branch of the newly formed National Education Union, writes in a personal capacity on prospects for trade unionists in education after the merger of the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. Numeracy: On 1st September the UK’s fourth biggest trade union was born […]
Anti-globalisation or anti-imperialism? A left case for global de-linking
When the right comes out against free trade, the left must persist in its critique of the global capitalist economy.
People vs Cuadrilla: fighting against fracking
In the UK the fight against fracking is the front line of resistance to climate change, writes Ewa Barker.
Houston – a very capitalist disaster
The aftermath of Hurricane Harvey isn’t a “natural disaster”. The misery of millions of people is down to capitalism in general and Trump in particular.
Harmonies and dissonances: Russia in revolution
In a piece originally published in the rs21 magazine, Mike Haynes illuminates the contested histories of the Russian revolution The bookshelves creak. But does it matter? No-one who remembers the Russia Revolution is still alive. You would have to be at least in your 40s to even have much of a memory of what the USSR was. […]
‘You strike a woman, you strike a rock’
Luke Hodgkin reviews Aliki Saragas’s new film Strike a Rock, which follows the fight for justice of the women widowed by the 2012 Marikana Massacre in South Africa. On 16 August 2012, 34 striking miners were shot dead by the South African security forces, in what has become known as the ‘Marikana massacre’. There has been no […]
Ende Gelände – direct action against climate change
“We cannot seriously tackle climate change or provide global social justice without overcoming capitalism, its obsession with growth and its mechanisms of exploitation.”
Review: The Reproach of Hunger
Mike Downham reviews leading expert on humanitarian aid and development David Rieff’s book The Reproach of Hunger, which addresses the burning question of why have we failed to address the crisis of hunger in the twenty-first century. Food banks erupted across the UK following the 2007-2008 financial crisis, their number surging in late 2010 when […]
The Handmaid’s Tale: hope is evident amidst repression
Angela Stapleford argues that the recent adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale holds up a mirror to the worst possibilities within our own world, but also shows the possibility of resistance.
Women and socialism: A conversation with Sharon Smith
Earlier this month rs21 hosted a conversation with American socialist Sharon Smith, author of Women and Socialism: Class, Race and Capital. Listen to audio recording here:
McDonald’s workers set to strike for first time in UK history
Employees at McDonald’s are taking a stand against bullying, poverty pay and zero-hours contracts writes Lisa Leak Workers at two McDonald’s outlets in Cambridge and Crayford have voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking industrial action for the first time in the history of McDonald’s in the UK. The workers are members of the Bakers’, Food […]
Kefaya – sounds of a new world
Lois C reviews a musical project that captures the energy and excitement of the latest wave of global resistance. For most readers of this review the word “kefaya” might conjure up images of a pre-Arab Spring Egypt still in the grips of Mubarak’s dictatorship. Kefaya, the Arabic word “enough”, became the rallying call for a grassroots […]
Review: Naomi Klein, No is Not Enough
Naomi Klein draws on her past analysis of capitalism in arguing how to defeat the “new shock politics” of Trump, writes Andrew Stone. Donald Trump’s threat of ‘fire and fury’ against North Korea might just have easily described his domestic agenda – an incendiary politics that, while emerging out of the US establishment, still expresses […]
Remembering Lewisham
Forty years ago, British fascism suffered a historic defeat, as several hundred members of the fascist National Front (NF) were successfully beaten back by thousands of socialists and local residents, despite a huge deployment of police in defence of the NF. The confrontation became known as the Battle of Lewisham. As racism and support for […]