China – end of the boom?
rs21 member Charlie Hore explores how a changing demographic, environmental issues and inherent instability pose serious threats to the growth of the Chinese economy.
Review | The New Cold War
The new imperialist world order is characterised by increasing military tensions between the world’s major powers, but also by economic competition.
Review | The Communist Road to Capitalism and The Left in China
Charlie Hore reviews two important books on struggle from below in China.
Understanding China after Mao
Charlie Hore reviews China after Mao, finding a work with large omissions which fails to explain why China has changed so much since the 1970s.
Back on the streets in China
After a weekend of widespread protests across China, rs21 member Charlie Hore explains the movement’s significance and looks at what might come next.
Review | China in One Village
Charlie Hore reviews China in One Village by Liang Hong, finding an informative and personal account of the contradictions of rapid urbanisation and societal change in China. Liang Hong, China in One Village, translated by Emily Goedde, (London: Verso, 2021) 316 pp, £16.99 China’s meteoric rise to becoming the world’s economic powerhouse was powered by […]
‘It is always the tyrant that should be brought to trial’: repression and resistance in Hong Kong
Charlie Hore considers the onslaught of attacks on democracy in Hong Kong, and reflects on what the Kill the Bill movement can learn from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy resistance.
Review: Hong Kong in revolt and The Art of Rebellion
Two new books provide valuable insight into the huge and defiant revolt in Hong Kong that erupted in 2019.
Obituary: Pete Gillard, 1949–2020
Pete Gillard, who died on 21 April 2020, was a life-long revolutionary socialist, campaigner and trade union activist. Obituary by Charlie Hore.
Video: The decline of America and the rise of China
Charlie Hore, author of The Road to Tiananmen Square and numerous articles about China, talks about the shifting powers in imperialism in the past decades.
Revolt in Hong Kong
Charlie Hore provides some background on the magnificent protest movement in Hong Kong, and discusses the strategic dilemmas ahead.
Beyond 4 June
Last week we published reflections on the 30th anniversary of China’s ‘May of the Masses’. Here Charlie Hore reflects on the massacre of 4 June and its aftermath.
May of the Masses: the Tiananmen Square movement 30 years on
While 4 June marks the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, the inspirational movement that went before also deserves to be remembered, writes Charlie Hore.
Building the Left in the face of Brexit
Charlie Hore responds to Neil Davidson’s discussion of the Brexit crisis and offers an alternative analysis of the Leave vote.
Winter is Coming – on the situation in China
As China’s economic, political and geo-strategic role increases, Charlie Hore assesses the position of China today and outlines a number of key challenges that face the leadership Introduction In October, the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ended with ‘paramount leader’ Xi Jinping becoming seemingly more powerful than any Chinese leader since […]
“My son was killed in the hands of police”
The death of Rashan Charles in police custody has led to the largest anti-police protest in Hackney for some years, and the first large black protest since the riots of 2011, writes Charlie Hore. Several hundred people rallied outside Stoke Newington police station on Monday 24 July in an angry protest after the death of Rashan […]
#GE2017: Tories are ahead, but they’re not invulnerable
For all the attempts to make this election seem like a foregone conclusion, it is clear that Theresa May has called it out of both weakness and strength.
Part of the Union? – What should socialists argue in the EU referendum?
Can socialists take a principled position in relation to the EU referendum on 23 June, or should we wish ‘a plague on both your houses’? Charlie Hore puts the case for a ‘remain’ vote, Christina Delistathi to ‘leave’ and Rob Owen for a ‘radical abstention’ Campaign to remain There’s no dispute that the EU is a […]
‘Refugees Welcome Here: Racism out of the Referendum’ rally report
While some of the pro-remain arguments about the EU itself are naive, the rally showed the importance and the possibility of uniting around a strong anti-racist position, whatever the referendum result. Charlie Hore reports.
Remembering the riots of spring 1976 in China
It’s 40 years since workers, students and school-students broke the oppressive regime that had come out of the Cultural Revolution in China and forced a change of direction on their rulers with mass protests in the spring of 1976. Charlie Hore looks back. 1976 was a pivotal year for China. In September Mao Zedong, the […]
The unofficial cult of Mao: instability in modern China
Charlie Hore places the recent construction and destruction of a giant statue of Mao Zedong in the context of the instability facing the Chinese ruling class Blink and you may have missed it, but there is already a contender for the strangest news story of 2016. In early January, pictures began circulating of a massive […]
MPs vote for bombing – join the protests this weekend and the 12 December demo
Charlie Hore reports from the protest outside parliament on Wednesday night, as MPs voted to bomb Syria. “Tonight, as I put my seven year old to sleep, somewhere in Aleppo or Homs there is a seven year old, waking up to the sound of airplanes.” That Facebook comment from an American friend echoes the sense of […]
Five books you should read on China
Charlie Hore offers some suggestions to help understand what is happening in the world’s largest country China has hardly been out of the headlines in the last few months. In August, the second stock market crash in two months sent shockwaves around the world financial system. China’s government had taken panic measures after the first […]
Support John Burgess in Unison’s General Secretary election!
Charlie Hore discusses why rs21 members in Unison are supporting John Burgess in the upcoming Unison General Secretary election and the battles that the union faces. This autumn Unison will hold an election for its General Secretary. This is the highest position in the union, and the only directly elected national official, so the […]
Bubbles, bounces and soft landings – China’s stock-market implodes
Charlie Hore discusses the dramatic recent crash on the Chinese stock market Even by Chinese standards, the figures are eye-watering – from a high point in early June, Chinese stock markets have lost over 3.5 trillion dollars to date, almost fifteen times the value of Greece’s GDP, and there is no end in sight to […]
EU debate: “The road to defending the right to migrate cannot go through restricting migration rights”
Charlie Hore kicks off debate and analysis on the rs21 site in advance of the referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, set to take place before the end of 2017. Charlie argues for support for a yes position in the referendum, and tomorrow we will be publishing an article that argues for supporting a […]
No nazis in Stamford Hill!
Charlie Hore reports On Saturday afternoon (18 April) a number of small nazi groups tried to hold an antisemitic rally in Stamford Hill, Hackney. They failed, managing nothing more than walking a couple of hundred metres along the pavement, and then back again to their starting point, barracked every step of the way by a […]
Thousands attend Hong Kong solidarity protest in London
Charlie Hore reports from the protest outside the Chinese embassy on Wednesday 1 October. The organisers hoped for three to four hundred people, I was told, but at its height, there were up to 3,000 people outside the Chinese embassy in London on Wednesday night, showing their solidarity with the struggle in Hong Kong. The demonstration […]