US elections: Charlie Post on Sanders, Clinton, and the tasks of American socialists
Charlie Post, a long-time US socialist and active in his faculty union at the City University of New York, talks to rs21 about Sanders, the dangers of ‘lesser-evilism’, and the post-election challenges for American socialists. Also check out responses from Elizabeth Schulte and Alan Maass.
US elections: “Where the choice is between the greater evil and the lesser evil, you still get evil”
The primary races for presidential nominations in the US elections are now reaching their closing stages. That Bernie Sanders’ campaign has survived to such a late stage, and gained significant support has been a surprise to many. To understand what impact the primary race has had on American politics so far, and what we might […]
Antisemitism row – the real target is Jeremy Corbyn
The media is full of claims about antisemitism in the Labour Party. Jewish members of rs21 set out our view. Naz Shah and Ken Livingstone have been suspended from the Labour Party over accusations of antisemitism. Condemnation of Shah and Livingstone is part of a wider claim – that the Labour Party and the […]
Hillsborough verdict: the only ‘us against them’ that really matters
On a momentous day in the battle for justice for those killed at Hillsborough in 1989 Liverpool FC supporter Dan Swain, who was brought up in Liverpool, offers a personal view. This is what happened at Hillsborough on April 15 1989: 96 fans of Liverpool football club were unlawfully killed, as a result of a […]
Chernobyl 1986: when nuclear power came of age
30 years ago, at 1.23 am on the morning of 26 April 1986 the number 4 reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear generating site near Pripyat in Ukraine went on SCRAM alert. Within 3 seconds all of the reactors safety systems had failed and with control rods jamming the reactor core, the temperature rose by 10 […]
EU referendum: for an internationalist leave position
Recently rs21 members met to discuss and debate our attitudes towards the EU referendum and related issues, in particular migrant solidarity. Migrant solidarity work is central to rs21. Initiatives like London2Calais have illustrated the possibility of combining organising practical solidarity with migrants with a strong anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist politics, as well as reaching out to new […]
Join the French resistance! Resist the right and take on the Tories
Today thousands of people will be marching in London for Health, Homes, Jobs and Education in a demonstration called by the People’s Assembly Against Austerity. If you’re on the demo look out for the rs21 stall and pick up a copy of our leaflet, which can also be downloaded here. The Panama papers show us […]
France rises up in the night
A wave of nightly demonstrations have spread rapidly across France under the slogan “Nuit Debout” (Up All Night). The protests are targeting horrific new employment laws that will destroy social gains won over decades of struggle. We reprint below an article by Olivier Besançenot and François Sabado, members of France’s New Anticapitalist Party (NPA). The translation is by Todd Chretien […]
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 Panama Papers – From revelations to revolt and beyond
Joe Sabatini discusses how the Panama Papers have confirmed what we knew about the ruling class and looks at how they provide an opportunity to re-engage the public discussion over how our economies are being run, by whom and for whom. The leak of 11.5 million documents from Panamanian law firm Mosseck Fonseca is the […]
EU referendum: A crisis of the right, not an opportunity for the left
Rob Owen continues our debate on the EU referendum by arguing the left can abstain from the vote without abstaining from the politics. How to respond to a referendum is a tactical question that requires careful consideration of the political context it takes place in, the questions at stake and whether it presents a chance to […]
Fight Forced Academies
Education is under attack. Jen Wilkinson on why – and how – we have to fight back.
Whose Europe? Theirs or Ours?
Socialists do not have the luxury of choosing the conditions in which we fight; however unfavourable the current balance of forces, our task it to argue for an exit from the un-reformable EU on left terms, write Jen Wilkinson and Paul O’Connell.
Revolutionary socialists and the EU referendum campaign: sorting out the real issues
The EU referendum offers no clear route for socialists; instead, John Walker argues, our focus should be on organising against the attack on migrants and workers which will intensify no matter the outcome.
Six reasons why academisation of our schools should be opposed
George Osborne has announced that all schools are to become academies. The teachers at John Roan School in London are already campaigning to save their comprehensive school from academisation and here explain why. 1. Academies don’t have to follow the national curriculum – the pressures to achieve in English and Maths GCSEs narrows the educational […]
All in this together: IDS drops the Tories in the shit
The resignation of Iain Duncan Smith exposes the deep divisions within the Tories. Now, writes Duncan Thomas, we need to bring them down.
Turkey’s endless war
Phil Buyum Jackson discusses the latest bombing in Ankara, Turkey’s endless war against the Kurds, and the hypocrisy of the EU’s refugee deal.
What we should learn from Clinton’s lies
Colin Wilson puts Hillary Clinton’s comments on Nancy Reagan and AIDS into a personal and historical context.
Climate crisis, jobs crisis, crisis of democracy
Pete Cannell and Brian Parkin discuss how the oil price crisis is leading to tens of thousands of jobs losses in Scotland, and what we could do about it.
Why are the Tories divided over Europe?
David Renton argues that the argument within the Tory party lies in Thatcherite politics, despite changes to the EU over the last 30 years. The way I see it, Europe is the unfinished business of the 1980s. By 1990, there was an emerging Thatcherite critique of the EU. The EU was led by a social democrat […]
Syria: #TheRevolutionContinues
On the fifth anniversary of the Syrian revolution, Mark Boothroyd discusses the how people have recently returned to the streets, once again voicing their commitment to overthrowing the regime Protest in Kafranbel, Idlib With the lull in the fighting brought on by the ceasefire, Syria’s popular revolution has returned to the streets. Demonstrators have […]
EU debate: 38 points on Brexit and the Left
Ian Allinson examines what points the radical left can agree on, and what points remain contentious, concluding that we should not lose sight of the fact that our united campaigning for migrant solidarity, for genuine democracy, against austerity, and against neoliberalism puts in opposition to the establishment in both referendum camps. Now the EU referendum campaign […]
EU debate: A socialist case for leaving the EU
Neil Davidson, in a piece originally published on Bella Caledonia, makes the case from a Scottish perspective about why socialists should support leaving the EU.
We can defend jobs without supporting nuclear weapons
We reprint this article from last September in solidarity with everyone marching today for a missile free future In the wake of recent statements by Len McCluskey, an Aerospace Unite rep argues that unions should support those arguing for a future beyond nuclear weapons. The destruction of the world is not a job creation scheme Len […]
How will EU debate impact migrant solidarity?
A talk given by Anindya Bhattacharyya at the recent London2Calais summit about how the migrant solidarity movement can respond to the debates around migrants in the context of the referendum on Britain’s EU membership. I want to talk in general terms about the political situation in Britain, and the way that debates around migrants are […]
Sexual and domestic violence after austerity: it’s bigger than Roosh V
Kat Burdon-Manley argues Roosh V the unsavoury face of a much bigger problem with structural and institutional racism and sexism Bang, Day Bang, 30 Bangs, Bang Poland, Bang Iceland, Bang Estonia, Bang Lithuania, Don’t Bang Denmark, and Bang Ukraine are just some of the titles of Roosh V’s books, and pretty much sum up his character […]
LBGT organisations close in the face of Tory cuts despite claims of support
Organisations supporting LBGT people are currently closing down at a rapid rate. Colin Wilson discusses why this is happening despite the British ruling class claiming to support LGBT people. The number of LGBT youth groups in the North West has halved since 2010, reports the Guardian recently in an article headlined “Services for LGBT young people […]
Liverpool football fans: why we walked out
Royston Bentham of the Football Supporters’ Federation and Spirit of Shankly explains the protest movement that underpinned Saturday’s walkout by supporters of Liverpool football club and has led to the club apologising to fans, and a freeze on ticket prices. In November 2012, at a public meeting in the Sandon pub, the birthplace of Liverpool […]
Tarantino, Clinton and the “N” word
Lets talk, says Caliban’s Revenge I don’t like the way Tarantino puts the “N” word in the mouths of his white characters. I don’t like it because it seems to me to spring from both a patronising attribution of racism to working class “street” whites as a signifier of ‘realness’ (the hipster cousin of realism), and […]
Carnival – Partying for the right to fight.
Around the world this week carnival celebrations are taking place. Dave Randall looks back at how carnivals developed as acts of political defiance, and argues that we should all bring the politics back to our parties – and the parties back to our politics. Aside from the moving corporate celebration of buttock shaped hearts and red roses, February […]