Review: Constructing Worlds: Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age
Olivia Arigho Stiles reviews a new exhibition at the Barbican. The Barbican’s new exhibition explores the relationship between photography and architecture in the epoch of modernity. The exhibition is testament to the enduring power of the city (for here it is urban architecture which predominates) in the artistic imagination, exposing the aching desolation of the […]
Who killed Blair Peach? Call for new inquest into antifascist protester’s death
Defend the Right to Protest and the NUT teachers’ union have teamed up to launch a pamphlet about Blair Peach, the antifascist protester killed by police in 1979. Anindya Bhattacharyya reviews it in the latest issue of rs21 magazine. One of my earliest memories of TV news was watching footage of Anti Nazi League protesters demonstrating […]
Review: How can we save the NHS?
Sophie Williams, a health activist in London reviews Mark Broothroyd’s pamphlet How Can we Save the NHS? recently published by the International Socialist Network Recent weeks have seen a large vote for strike action by NHS England workers against real-term pay cuts. Although this is the first national NHS industrial action to be taken over […]
Behind Capital: A Review of Alex Callinicos’ “Deciphering Capital”
Joe Sabatini assesses an important new work of Marxist theory. Deciphering Capital is a long awaited work, which Alex Callinicos has been developing over a number of years. Although stimulated by the resurgence in Marxist political economy since 2008, the book essentially goes back to his PhD in the 1970s. Principally, Deciphering Capital could be described […]
Stop global warming: change the world
Bettina Trabant reviews a book which puts the fight against capitalism at the heart of the struggle to stop climate change. Stop Global Warming: change the world Jonathan Neale, Bookmarks (2008) ISBN 9781905192373 Unlike most books about environmental issues, which seek to locate the problem within individual human consumption, this book is quite clear about […]
There is no Planet B: how do we stop climate change?
How do we stop climate change? Nancy Lindisfarne assesses The Burning Question. The Burning Question: We Can’t Burn Half the World’s Oil, Coal and Gas. So How Do We Quit? Mike Berners-Lee and Duncan Clark, 2013 ISBN 9781781250457 From £6.99 ‑ £9.99 There are now plenty of books about climate change. This is a […]
Review: ‘Late Turner’ shows an artist ahead of the tide
A new exhibition at the Tate Modern shows a visionary painter who anticipated much modern art, argues Colin Wilson A few years ago, in a particularly sentimental episode of Doctor Who, the doctor met Van Gogh. There is no evidence of Turner encountering a time lord, but that he travelled to the mid-twentieth century and back […]
Pride: How solidarity in struggle changed the world for British LGBT people
The new film Pride shows the solidarity between the miners and a group of lesbian and gay supporters during the strike of almost thirty years ago. Struggle can change the world in ways we never thought possible, writes Luke Evans. Full disclosure; I am neither gay nor a miner. I also feel compelled to state that I […]
‘Disobedient Objects’ for a ‘Multitude of Struggles’
Amy Gilligan reviews ‘Disobedient Objects’, on until 1 Feb, and ‘A World to Win: Posters of Protest and Revolution’ on until 2nd Nov, exhibitions at the V&A Museum, London . Both are free to visit. Disobedient Objects is a new exhibition at the V&A which showcases a large number of items from grassroots social movements, […]
What’s to be done now? A review of Paul Le Blanc’s Unfinished Leninism
Jonas Liston reviews an essential collection of essays on Lenin and Leninism today (photo of Paul Le Blanc by Alex Bainbridge) The difficult experiences of the revolutionary left recently have led many to question core aspects of Marxist politics – in particular the legacy of the Russian revolutionary Lenin and the organisation he played a key […]
Review: ‘Salt of the Earth’ 60th Anniversary release
Joe Sabatini re-examines the 1951 film ‘Salt of the Earth’ and argues for its contemporary relevance and importance. “Anything worth learning hurts, these changes come with pain.” 2014 marks the 60th anniversary of the release of the political classic: The Salt of the Earth. Salt dramatises a strike that took place in 1951 against the […]
The Other Side of the Commonwealth: ‘Emancipation Acts’ Review
Christine Bird reviews a new performance exploring Scottish links to slavery Who knew that Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art is housed in the 18th century mansion of tobacco merchant William Cunninghame? There is not so much as a plaque to commemorate the thousands of enslaved people who grew the crop that brought so much wealth […]
Malevich: new art for a new world
Lois JC (Brixton) reviews the Tate Modern’s new show Malevich: Revolutionary of Russian Art at the Tate Modern is the first retrospective of the Russian avant garde artist Kazimir Malevich (1879-1935) in 25 years. The exhibition illustrates, beautifully yet subtly, the contours of a time of revolutionary upheaval: from his early influences and the formation of […]
Review: The Muslims are Coming!
Hsiao-Hung Pai reviews Arun Kundnani’s latest book The Muslims Are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism and the Domestic War on Terror (Verso, 2014) In a period when racism is on the rise and the far right is growing across Europe, ethnic minority and migrant communities are feeling increasingly under attack. This timely and important new book by […]
Review: Playing the Whore
Becky Gardner reviews Melissa Gira Grant’s book “Playing the Whore” (Verso, 2014). This review was originally published in the Summer 2014 edition of the rs21 magazine. In her new book Playing the Whore, journalist Melissa Gira Grant brings the voice, experience and politics of sex workers into the current debates about the sex industry. In […]
Review: Skylight
Jack Farmer looks at the current revival of David Hare’s political play. It’s perhaps unsurprising that David Hare’s Skylight has been revived now, 18 years after its debut. At its heart, this is a play about inequality and the political values that excuse or condemn it. But Skylight is also a play about love, in […]
Marxism 2014 in review: “There are no new ideas”?
Rob Owen reviews the largest conference of the revolutionary left this year. Marxism 2014, the annual political festival organised by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), maintained its place as the largest Marxist conference in the UK. Although at 2600 registrations it was slightly smaller than in 2013 and half the size of previous years. The […]
Review: Strike for America
Tomorrow over a million public sector workers will go on strike. Amy Gilligan reviews Micah Uetricht’s recent book Strike for America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity which looks at how teachers in Chicago organised and won. Originally published in the Summer 2014 edition of the rs21 magazine The story of the victorious Chicago teachers’ strike […]
The Masters, the Pastors and those they tread on: Review of ‘Jimmy’s Hall’ and ‘Quietly’
Jonas Liston sees important statements about Ireland’s present crisis in these examinations of it’s past. Both North and South Ireland have been at the sharp end of capitalism’s current crisis, with all sections of its ruling class arguing for, and delivering neo-liberal austerity on a massive scale. The picture is often grim, with institutionalized sectarianism […]
Remaking the Working Class and its Power
Ian Allinson summarises the key ideas in this useful book about workers’ power. Forces of Labor, Workers’ Movements and Globalization since 1870 by Beverly J Silver (Cambridge University Press, 2003) Forces of Labor was greeted with positive reviews upon its release over a decade ago, but there has been little discussion of this brilliant book since, […]
A View from the Bridge : A modern classic stripped to its tragic roots
Jack Farmer reviews a new production of Arthur Miller’s play, currently running at the Young Vic Director Ivo van Hove’s production of A View from the Bridge strips away all distractions, distilling Arthur Miller’s classic tragedy down to it’s hard and bitter essence. With no set, no props and no interval, the emotional punch of the play […]
Review: The Pajama Game strikes a chord
Even for those who usually baulk at the idea of seeing a musical, the new production of The Pajama Game is a treat not to be missed, argues Jaz Blackwell-Pal It may seem strange to step into a West End show and be greeted by an actor telling you that this is a story ‘about […]
Review: Comics unmasked
Adam DC reviews a new exhibition at the British Library, Comics Unmasked, which illustrates how in a period of austerity and social degeneration, the politics of the comic is moving leftwards again. Politics is an ever present theme from the very start of the British Library’s new exhibition, with the the ‘V’ (for Vendetta) […]
‘I wouldn’t mind turning into a vermillion goldfish’ – Matisse’s cut-outs reviewed
The latest exhibition at the Tate Modern is of the cut-outs created by Henri Matisse in his later years. Mitch Mitchell shares his thoughts.
Film review: Starred Up
What gives the prison film its tension is a dynamic between trapped, animalistic energy and the dream of liberty.
Review: Blurred Lines
Jaz Blackwell-Pal reviews the play Blurred Lines, a political piece of theatre that highlights how powerful women are in the face of misogyny and a sexist onslaught.
Jeremy Deller on the impact of industrialisation
‘All That Is Solid Melts Into Air’ is a multimedia exhibition by artist Jeremy Deller that attempts to demonstrate the impact of industrialisation on the British workers’ culture and psyche.
The darkest corners of US military strategy
“If the Americans do this again, we are ready to shed our blood fighting them.”
Participation, resistance and betrayal among car workers
A Unite rep reviews Militant Years, Alan Thornett’s political memoir of his life as a radical car plant worker in Oxford – and draws out some political warnings about ‘participation’ then and ‘partnership’ today.
DOC-CON
(Audience watches ‘Başlangıç’. Photography by Ted Mendez) Wednesday saw the second instalment of DOC-CON, a bimonthly event showcasing documentary films by established directors, held this time at the Hackney Attic, East London. The night promised five short films from four directors, with the makers present to introduce them and answer questions afterwards. Arjun Mahadevan reports. […]