revolutionary reflections | Marxism and childhood
Estelle Cooch traces the contradictory history of childhood under capitalism. How do we defend childhood and fight for a world where play and creativity are not limited to children?
The Communist Women’s Movement
As we mark International Women’s Day (8 March), Estelle Cooch talks Darya Dyakonova and Mike Taber about the history of the Communist Women’s Movement (1920-22).
The Death of Stalin: first as tragedy, then as farce
Estelle Cooch reviews Armando Iannucci’s latest film, The Death of Stalin
Social histories of 1917
Estelle Cooch, a history teacher in South London, reflects on an unusual series of history lectures that have drawn a new generation into exploring the Russian Revolution. This article was first published in the summer 2017 edition of the rs21 magazine. ‘The percentage of freaks among people in general is very considerable, but it is […]
Interview: Women in the Revolution
Estelle Cooch interviews Katy Turton author of Forgotten Lives – the role of Lenin’s sisters in the Russian Revolution The role of women in the February Revolution is relatively well known about, but how involved were women in the events of October? As you would expect, women were participants in the October revolution, but they […]
Debating the work of sex work
Melissa Gira Grant responds to questions from Estelle Cooch about her work and her understanding of sex work today. Sex work has become the subject of heated debate within feminism. That debate is highly polarised – so much so that the two sides even tend to use different terms, “prostitution” and “sex work”, for the topic […]
Strategies for the radical left: realistic, but visionary
‘Strategies for the radical left today’ is an excerpt from a talk given by Estelle Cooch at They Don’t Represent Us on 16 May 2015.
Feminism from above and below
Estelle Cooch surveys the new feminist movements. This article first appeared in the Spring 2015 Issue of rs21 magazine. 2014 was a year of watersheds and contradictions. The global movement against rape and sexual violence seemed to gain its first major victories. In the UK a series of celebrity abusers faced prison and the horrific […]
Five reasons why Hillary Clinton won’t be good for women
With the launch of Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid last Sunday, Estelle Cooch argues that Hillary’s “feminist family values” will not lead to a breakthrough for the vast majority of women. Standing on a pavement in a generic looking suburb of America, Hillary Clinton launched her candidacy for the 2016 US presidency. “Americans have fought their way […]
Above the law: VIP abuse and the playboy prince
Over the last week allegations of sexual abuse by Prince Andrew have surfaced. Estelle Cooch discusses how, when it comes to VIP abusers, everyone seems to know, but nothing is done. Few could have predicted the whirlwind of abuse allegations that would follow when those against Jimmy Savile started to surface in October 2012. […]
Towards a Marxist theory of gender?
Heather Brown‘s book Marx on Gender and the Family was released to great acclaim. Estelle Cooch interviewed her about Engels, intersectionality and feminism today. This interview was originally published in the Autumn 2014 issue of the rs21 magazine. There has been a shift from looking at Engels’ Origins to looking at Marx’s writings in Capital – […]
Groundhog day for the eurozone?
Estelle Cooch looks at whether the economic optimism pushed by politicians lives up to the headlines. First published in the autumn 2014 edition of the rs21 magazine. On the 14th August amidst much cheering from the media and economists the eurozone emerged from its longest ever recession. In other words the gross domestic product (GDP) […]
Assata Shakur: the world’s most dangerous woman?
Estelle Cooch reports on a lively launch of Assata Shakur’s autobiography at the recently opened Black Cultural Archives in Brixton It may be forty years since Assata Shakur, still the FBI’s most wanted woman, went on the run and sought asylum in Cuba, but the debates and controversy that surrounds her arrest doesn’t look to […]
A bluffer’s guide to boycotting Israel
A handy one-stop-shop for all the arguments you’ll need to argue for the growing Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israeli apartheid
Hitting Hamas hard
Estelle Cooch takes a brief look at the origins of Israel’s latest assault on Gaza and argues there is more to it than humanitarian crisis Amidst the flood of Israeli propaganda that has polluted the papers and news channels this week, few comments have been more revealing than that by the chief spokesperson for the Israeli military, […]
Gaza solidarity from Salford to Sydney
Estelle Cooch reports: Many were astonished by the size and speed with which the Gaza protests emerged last week. The recent crisis has been a turning point for media coverage of the conflict. The New York Times ran on its front page last week a photo of assaulted Palestinian American teenager Tarek Abu Khdeir, shocking […]
Get organised! A guide from Ritzy and Curzon workers
In the past few months the strikes at the Ritzy cinema in Brixton and the growing campaign at Curzon cinema for the Living Wage have been an inspiration for those questioning how we can start to organise young workers or those on zero-hour contracts. Estelle Cooch sat down with Ritzy branch secretary Nia, Ritzy worker […]
Build in, build out, build up! July 10 strike report
Estelle Cooch writes: Over a million public sector workers went on strike today against pay, pensions and cuts. The strike was the biggest in several years and brought together unions that haven’t struck together since the two big pension strikes of 2011 – June and November 30th. It is worth recapping how the action came […]
Mark Steel, Francesca Martinez and Russell Brand back Ritzy campaign for Living Wage
Estelle Cooch reports from the seventh Ritzy strike day since April with support continuing to grow after Russell Brand and comedians Mark Steel and Francesca Martinez lent their backing to the campaign At the picket lines in Brixton workers were asking supporters to consider boycotting all Picturehouse cinemas. Many of the workers I spoke with made a […]
Behind the screens: an interview with two Curzon cinema workers
Ritzy workers in south London recently went on strike for the Living Wage, but they are by no means unique. Rs21 member, Estelle Cooch, caught up with two workers from Curzon cinemas and asked them to explain why everything is kicking off in the cinema industry. How did you get from an informal network of organising to […]
Militancy at Lambeth College strike despite injunction
Estelle Cooch reports from today’s strike at Lambeth College The resistance by lecturers at Lambeth College to the vicious attacks on their pay and conditions is quickly becoming a beacon to trade unionists and activists everywhere. The all-out strike that was meant to begin today has the potential to foster the support and solidarity that […]
Constructing Lads mags – Playboy to Nuts
Estelle Cooch looks at the demise of Nuts and asks what the competition of original porn mags Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler, can tell us about lads mags today. A decade on from its launch, the owners of sexist “lads mag” Nuts announced this week it was due to close, after sales plummeted from 300,000 at […]
rs21 Political Weekend: Social reproduction
Estelle Cooch’s meeting on social reproduction kicked off a debate about the precarious and contradictory positions that neoliberalism tries to straddle when it comes to women. An introduction to the theory was followed by a complex, but useful discussion about the struggle to defend the welfare state, the nature of productive labour, and the pressures facing […]
Social reproduction – what it is and why it matters
Reproduction involves more than just the creation of human beings – it involves the reproduction of the “capital relation” itself – the worker and the capitalist.
Interview: “I won’t be blamed anymore”
Sara is an activist in the Egyptian group Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment (OpAntiSH).
Rennard and the culture of sexism
Estelle Cooch writes on the Rennard scandal and its lessons The Liberal Democrat party inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment against Lord Christopher Rennard – and how it ended – have been headline news for a week. The inquiry found there was credible evidence of “behaviour which violated the personal space and autonomy of the […]
#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.