Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century
 
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Review | Mute Compulsion: A Marxist Theory of the Economic Power of Capital

‘The mute compulsion of economic relations sets the seal on the domination of the capitalist over the worker.’

the cover of David Camfield's book 'Future on Fire', with a lowlit forest at sunset in the background.

Review | Future on Fire: mass movements in the climate crisis

What movement do we need? Taisie Tsikas reviews David Camfield’s new book on climate tactics.

Review | The Communist Road to Capitalism and The Left in China

Charlie Hore reviews two important books on struggle from below in China.

Image shows a portion of the front cover of Leo Zeilig's book on Walter Rodney.

Review | A Revolutionary for Our Time: the Walter Rodney Story

Rachel Iboraii reviews Leo Zeilig book on Walter Rodney, finding a compelling account of the life of the great Marxist and pan-Africanist.

United Family and Friends march, October 2022

Abolition Revolution: a vital step into the future

We need to get rid of police and prisons entirely.

Pacer train

Review | Derailed: How to Fix Britain’s Broken Railways

Why is train travel a disaster? How can we fix it?

image of old televisions spreading through two rooms

People Make Television: cultural production, socialism and the state

Tom Schofield on the People Make Television exhibition at Raven Row, London.

Review | Shake the City – Experiments in Space and Time, Music and Crisis

Kate Bradley reviews Shake the City by Alexander Billet, a well-written and thought-provoking book on the role of music in making political change.

‘Adult Human Female’ and the contradictions of left-wing transphobia

rs21 member Úna O’Shea debunks a film that claims to provide a ‘materialist’ basis for gender essentialism. 

Image of the book cover, China after Mao, along with a poster featuring Mao's head

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.

collage of images detailed in piece: Granny Made Me an Anarchist, Squid Game, Ballad of a White Cow and Francis Bacon.

2022 cultural highlights

rs21 members round up some of the cultural highlights from 2022.

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.

‘Workers can win’ and socialist strategy

‘Workers can win’ – important new book

Towards a truly radical Scottish independence movement

Jim Ritchie reviews Scotland After Britain, a new book on the Scottish independence movement.

The Overstory – eco-fiction and capitalism

In the first article of their new Substack Capture the Flag, Caliban’s Revenge considers eco-fiction award winner The Overstory. Whilst it is an impassioned plea for environmental consciousness, they find a novel trapped by individualistic and problematic understandings of capitalist society.  This summer has been, I’m sure you’ve noticed, terrifying. The earth is broiling and the […]

Judges in ornate robes

The limits of the law

We need less law, and better ways to change society

Hating capitalism more than The Communist Manifesto

The Communist Manifesto is one of the cornerstones of Marxism. Neil Rogall celebrates a compelling new account of its importance today by author and activist China Miéville. I first read the Communist Manifesto sometime in 1968, when I was still at school and involved in a School Students Union in Leeds. It was the first […]

Screenshot is in black and white, showing a man in the foregound wearing a light-coloured coat, looking wistfully to his right, while behind him, a blonde woman stands looking up at him, unsmiling. She leans against a wall, which disappears to the left of the photo, against a backdrop of English scenery.

‘Play for Today’: groundbreaking and still relevant

Simon Donohoe reflects on the groundbreaking TV series ‘Play for Today’, re-released this year.

London in revolt – revisiting the English Civil War

Andrew Stone looks at a new history of the origins of the English Civil Wars, finding an engaging account of the class character of the process which ultimately saw Charles I executed. London may not have the same revolutionary reputation of Paris or St Petersburg, but in this new account of the outbreak of the […]

Image of the Eiffel tower next to the Marx in Paris book cover

The Marx family visits the Commune

Leslie Cunningham reviews a new piece of political fiction, imagining Karl and Jenny Marx visiting the Paris Commune. Marx in Paris provides a great introduction to both the Commune and its political significance for socialists today. This short work (100 pages) purports to be a “found document”, a blue notebook discovered in a trunk containing […]

Couple dancing to son music in Cuba

Music of the streets, music of rebellion

The 1920s saw the emergence of new kinds of music around the world, sometimes with links to anti-colonial movements.

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 […]

Review | Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire

Caroline Elkins’ compelling new book makes the barbarity of the British empire in the twentieth century absolutely clear.

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.

Painting of the swiss peasant wars. Right, the cover art for 'A People's Green New Deal' by Max Ajl.

Moving past the graveyard of Green New Deals

Gus Woody reviews ‘A People’s Green New Deal’ by Max Ajl

Image shows the cover of ABOLITION.FEMINSM.NOW by Angela Y. Davis, Gina Dent, Erica R. Meiners, and Beth E. Richie, plus background images of protestors.

Reimagining the relationship between care and power

Abu Leila reviews Abolition. Feminism. Now. in the context of radical politics in Britain.

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.

Lenin reading a book

Revolutionary Reads – What books got us through 2021?

We asked rs21 members what they’ve been reading in 2021, whether new works of revolutionary theory, fiction, or old classics. These were some of the examples our members had. James B – Psychoanalysis and Revolution (2021) Pyschoanalysis and Revolution argues for the relevancy of psychoanalysis as a tool for those of us involved in liberatory […]

Review | Anti-Gender Politics in the Populist Moment

We need a feminism integrated with struggles for economic justice and against racism, homophobia and transphobia.

Review | Let the record show

‘Let The Record Show’ is a pathbreaking history of ACT UP founded to fight the AIDS/HIV crisis in New York in the late 1980s.