Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century
 
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Socialism in the
21st Century

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Education, healthcare, housing, transport

Train station with platforms only accessible using stairs

Stop the exclusion of disabled people from public transport

Everyone should have access to reliable public transport.

Image shows NEU graphic saying '2 days to post your ballot' in pink and yellow.

School strikes: organise now for the picket lines

Andy Cunningham calls on any NEU members who have not voted to do so now, and discusses the next steps for the strikes.

Drawing of London slum along with the cover of Tenants by Vicky Spratt

The scale of Britain’s housing crisis

Danny Schultz reviews a recent work exploring the scale of exploitative landlordism in Britain, finding an indictment of British capitalism and an urgent call for renter organising.

Image shows a group of protesters holding signs including 'Life is where you live', 'Hold ladnlords accountable' and 'Freeze rents not renters'.

Tenants’ unions fight back against rocketing rents

rs21 members report on December’s tenants’ union protests against some of the largest estate agents in England.

image of a single story red brick building, with a banner hanging that says 'Homes for People, Not for Profit'.

Landlords need us; we don’t need landlords

Kate Bradley and Charlotte Powell look at what underlies Tory rent reforms, and assess how the housing movement can respond.

image of UCU protest in November 2019, pink banner reads 'Students + Workers'

Support the UCU strikes!

UCU workers are escalating industrial action in their disputes. Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal explains why this is a vital move and how to support.

Hundreds gathered to oppose abuse of psychiatric patients, celebrate Mad culture, and call for psychiatric abolition.

Why should socialists think about psychoanalysis?

Following a series of rs21 meetings this autumn, Marianne Kelly considers what we gained from our discussions of therapy, the mental health industry and psychoanalysis as a tool to critique capitalism.

Nurses hold a banner reading "UCH nurses: pay rise now"

We need coordinated action to save the NHS

Health staff, unions, patients, communities and campaign groups must come together to stop the collapse of the NHS.

Image shows an empty classroom from the back, stacked tightly with over 30 chairs.

Work in schools? Vote yes in the NEU ballot!

Teacher and NEU activist Andy Cunningham argues that it’s time for strike action.

Covid – forgotten (by governments) but not gone

Governments have failed to defend us from Covid, but it remains a key issue.

Renters reform – much more is needed

Government proposals to overhaul private renting – not good enough.

Mad Pride campaigns for psychiatric abolition

Hundreds gathered to oppose abuse of psychiatric patients, celebrate Mad culture, and call for psychiatric abolition.

Woem on picket with placards

Support striking care workers!

Health and care workers are striking in Bristol and Blackburn.

Health worker carries placard reading "Heroes shouldn't have to use food banks"

NHS in crisis – fightback on pay can help save it

Health campaigner Gill George analyses the crisis facing the NHS – both nationally and in Shropshire, where she lives – and the campaigns to fight back.

Cover of The Housing Question

The Housing Question today

Gus Woody reflects on the importance of Engels’ pamphlet “The Housing Question” today and how socialists can build on it around housing struggle.

Universities battles ahead – UCU Congress 2022

The University and College Union (UCU), which organises teachers, researchers and some support staff in further and higher education, held its annual congress earlier this month. Two rs21 members who were delegates report on the key debates.

Protest against the Slivertown tunnel

The Silvertown tunnel is a health disaster

On Saturday 11 June, the Stop the Silvertown Tunnel Coalition held a Health Summit for a packed audience in Newham.

The deviant law student

In a piece originally published in Socialist Lawyer, Kate Bradley reviews the Critical Legal Pocketbook, and finds it a useful corrective to capitalist legal education, perfect for socialists who study and work in law. There are many reasons why socialists may be attracted to the legal profession. Though it is an embattled terrain dominated by […]

Striking NEU members with the Girls Day School Trust (GDST) at a rally in parliament square on 22 February 2022.

The GDST pensions strike – a balance sheet

Earlier this year there was a big strike at the Girl’s Day School Trust (GDST) chain of independent schools over attacks on teachers’ pension rights. rs21 and NEU member Luigi Brindisi, one of the strikers, looks at the outcome of the dispute and draws some lessons.

Rally of striking NEU members with the Girls Day School Trust (GDST) in Parliament square in February 2022.

Standing up for education – NEU Conference 2022 report

An unpredictable conference of the National Education Union showed an instinctive aversion to oppression and a desire to take action, but competing visions and priorities about how to deliver it. Conference delegates John Stephens and Andrew Stone report (in a personal capacity).

Municipal politics and the revolutionary left

Danny Schultz reviews Paint Your Town Red, by Matthew Brown and Rhian E Jones, finding an interesting discussion of the possibilities of radical local politics.

Inclusion and equality matter: Why are they missing from our approach to Covid?

Zero Covid Scotland activist Hannah Hassan outlines the many ways in which Covid policies discriminate against people with disabilities and intensifies existing inequalities.

Rally of striking NEU members with the Girls Day School Trust (GDST) in Parliament square in February 2022.

Historic independent schools pension strike at the crossroads

Striking NEU members at 23 schools in the Girls’ Day School Trust will decide this week whether to accept a deal or return to the pickets, Luigi Brindisi reports.

Photo shows a view of Croydon High School, one of the schools in the Girls Day School Trust (GDST) where NEU members have balloted in favour of strike action over pensions. Large bold text overlaid which says 'STRIKE STRIKE STRIKE'

Huge vote to strike for teachers’ pensions in the private sector

Teachers at 23 private schools in the Girls Day School Trust have voted massively in favour of strike action. NEU and rs21 member Luigi Brindisi reports.

Capitalism, debt and feminism

Kate Bradley reviews A Feminist Reading of Debt, finding an insightful account of the relationship between debt, gender, and capitalism, as well as examples of how to fight back against debt.

Omicron – circuit breaker now!

Johnson and Javid must stop prevaricating and introduce an urgent set of measures to dramatically reduce contacts. Every day of delay in introducing a circuit breaker to cut transmission is magnifying the crisis ahead of us.

Photo shows a view of Croydon High School, one of the schools in the Girls Day School Trust (GDST) which is currently balloting for strike action over pensions.

Private sector teachers fight back against fire & rehire

Over a thousand NEU members have voted to strike in an indicative ballot over an attack on pensions in 23 private schools.

A picture of seaglass washed up on the beach.

Patient Humans and other poems

Leila Platt writes on experiences of mental health treatment, Covid and power in ‘Patient Humans’ and other poems.

Image shows four protesters outside Mencap protesting for justice for careworkers in March 2021. Photo credit: Care and Support Workers Organise.

What a way to make a living | Working in care for 16 years

In the latest instalment of our What a Way to Make a Living series, rs21 member discusses their experience of working in care and how wider changes to the care sector have affected the pay, conditions and experience of care workers over time.

A London tower block featuring large graffiti proclaiming Fuck Boris

Review | Red Metropolis

Danny Schultz reviews Red Metropolis, the latest work by acclaimed political thinker and architectural critic Owen Hatherley. Schultz argues it provides an insightful history of radicalism within London, yet falls short in considering the importance of the working class struggles which make municipal socialism possible. Owen Hatherley, Red Metropolis: Socialism and the Government of London […]