Review: Naomi Klein, No is Not Enough
Naomi Klein draws on her past analysis of capitalism in arguing how to defeat the “new shock politics” of Trump, writes Andrew Stone. Donald Trump’s threat of ‘fire and fury’ against North Korea might just have easily described his domestic agenda – an incendiary politics that, while emerging out of the US establishment, still expresses […]
Review: China Miéville’s October
Charlie Burton reviews China Miéville’s retelling of the story of the tumultuous months 100 years ago leading up to the October revolution. October is published by Verso and available now. In July 1914, deputies of the largely ineffective parliamentary body, the Russian Duma, voted in favour of war credits and confirmed Russia’s entry into the arena […]
Rethinking the Concept of Revolution Part 1
The centenary of the Russian Revolution provides an opportunity to reflect on what we mean by revolution, and reconsider its relevance today. In the first of a two-part exchange Chris Wright makes the case for a gradualist theory of revolution based on the emerging ‘solidarity economy’ and a repudiation of theories that focus on rupture and the taking of state […]
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 […]
We’re all off to Glasgow in the Green: in defence of the Green Brigade
Jamie Lewis comments on the two-match ban imposed on Celtic supporters the Green Brigade. I don’t think I have seen anything like the Celtic fans in all the stadiums I have played. – Xavi Parkhead, Celtic FC’s home ground, has a well-earned colloquial moniker: Paradise. The best players in international football regularly speak in awe […]
A ‘total’ movement: what next for Morocco’s Hirak after 20 July?
Morocco, and in particular the serially repressed and neglected Rif region, has been rocked since late last year by a series of enormous, and almost entirely non-violent, protests. rs21 offers its unqualified support to the adherents of the Hirak (Popular Movement), and has done since the protests broke out. We also endorse the efforts of […]
Keep On Keeping On! – the Redskins and me (part 2)
In the second part of his recollections on the Redskins, Colin Revolting recalls being a revolutionary during the miners’ strike and its aftermath during the Redskins’ growing popularity, including TV appearances, being attacked by fascists and touring against apartheid with their radical rock and soul music. (To read the first part of Colin’s reflections, click […]
Morocco: an interview with Hirak activist Yassmin B
Yassmin B is an activist who has been actively involved in The Popular Movement (al-Hirak) in Morocco since October, in al-Hoceima and elsewhere. A further interview with an al-Hirak militant can be read here. This interview was originally published at avalancheofdust. Al-Hirak involves women at the leadership and base levels, who have organised with and, on occasions, ‘besides’ their […]
Politicising Populism
As the neoliberal model of capitalism has been attacked from left and right, the notion of Populism has become increasingly the currency of mainstream political commentary. In this piece Cam Scott looks at what is driving this process, and whether we can draw on the ideas of populism as developed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal […]
Major demo calls for an end to Tory government
The People’s Assembly demo reflected the level of anger against May – and the new hopes people are placing in Jeremy Corbyn. The Not One Day More march, called by the People’s Assembly for 1 July, was a major success. Some 50 to 60 thousand people marched through central London demanding an end to Theresa […]
“Riots are the language of the unheard”: reflections on the protests after the death of Edir Frederico Da Costa
Rosa Soros reflects on the protest after the death of Edir Frederico Da Costa. What a farce! There was a state-sanctioned murder of another young black man in police custody (and, inevitably, another cover-up), yet it is the protest against this killing that is accused of turning “violent”. The very moment Edir Frederico Da Costa […]
How we can finish off this rotten government
Thousands of people will join a major national demonstration tomorrow, Saturday 1 July, raising the slogans Not One Day More, #toriesout and No More Austerity. Here we publish the text of rs21’s leaflet for the demo – we’ll have a report from the march during the weekend. The general election has turned British politics on […]
The Legacy of Antonio Gramsci
Key ideas and theories need revaluing and upgrading for our times. Gian Luigi Deiana from the Casa Gramsci institute discusses the life and legacy of Antonio Gramsci and the question of popular sovereignty today.
Grenfell and the instrumentalisation of suffering
The traumatised Grenfell community is being treated as a security problem
revolutionary reflections | A take on the political situation in France
In 2017 the sense of political crisis has deepened across much of the developed world. From the Trump presidency to Corbyn’s stunning march on the Tories, the centre ground is crumbling under forces to the left and right. In this piece Roderick C assesses the French presidential election in the light of this trend and […]
revolutionary reflections | Climate Change and Migration in the age of Imperialism’s four horsemen
How can we trace the interconnections between war, famine, pestilence and conquest that are being unleashed in a new form as the climate crisis unfolds?
The General Strike of 2017 and the Brazilian political crisis
By Mariana Tamari and Miguel Borba de Sá, militants of the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) and post-graduate students in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.1 The General Strike that stopped Brazil on Friday April 28 was the first of its kind for 20 years. According to the Workers Central Trade Union (CUT) 40 million people from […]
revolutionary reflections | The KPD and the United Front during the Weimar Republic
This article by Marcel Bois was originally published in a collection of essays in German by Marx21 on the German Communist Party (KPD). It sets out the history of the United Front in Germany from the years 1920 to 1926. The United Front was a tactic developed by the Communist International in the early 1920s and this […]
revolutionary reflections | How Trump took the Midwest: Conversations with a worker from Michigan.
During the first few months of 2017, Sebastian Cooke conducted a series of interviews about the US election with David Koch, a labour activist and retired worker from central Michigan. David was involved in the election from start to finish and his experience provides a fascinating insight into the vote and its aftermath. This is a write up of those interviews, […]
revolutionary reflections | The Upturn/Downturn Debate: An Introduction
Ian Allinson summarises a debate on the development of capitalism since 1968, and how this has impacted the working class and its struggles, in an attempt to address the question of what revolutionaries should do. This summary was written early in 2015 and is published here for the first time. While pre-dating the failure of […]
revolutionary reflections | Critical Theory in the Age of Trump Part 1: Organised Pessimism
The election of Trump has raised the stakes in terms of how the left should respond to the growing crises of economics, politics, ecology and geopolitics. Joe Sabatini explores the work of the Frankfurt School in this context. Photo courtesy of iamyouasheisme.wordpres.com Footnotes to this piece are included in the PDF. 20170330_Critical Theory Part 1 Methodological introduction […]
revolutionary reflections | Perspectives on the crisis
Today the world is gripped with a sense of crisis to a degree that is as a great as in living memory. In this piece Sebastian Cooke provides a perspective on the nature of the crisis and how we should respond politically. A pdf of this piece can be accessed below: Perspectives on the crisis […]
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 […]
Fidelity to February: The People’s revolution
In days where revolution can seem more remote than ever, Dan Swain explores the height of the February revolution and reflects on its relevance to revolutionary politics today In 1917 Russia was a vast empire covering much of modern day Poland in the west, Armenia and Azerbaijan in the south, and Kazakhstan and Siberia in […]
Uneven and Combined Development: Modernity, Modernism, Revolution (4): Continuities and Changes
In part 4 of his series on Uneven and Combined Development Neil Davidson looks at its relevance in the contemporary world.
The flight of the young eagles – art of the Russian revolution
Mike Thompson visits Revolution: Russian Art 1917-1932 at the Royal Academy and finds amazing art in an establishment exhibition. Photo: Tom Michaelson Artists under Russia’s Tsarist regime operated in a contradictory society. They had access to the most innovative ideas of the avant-garde, but within a context where the vast majority had no access to art. […]
Uneven and Combined Development: Modernity, Modernism, Revolution (3): Cartographies And Chronologies
In the third of his five pieces on Uneven but Combined Development, Neil Davidson looks at the application of the theory to England, Scotland, Germany and Japan before looking the Soviet transition to state capitalism.
Uneven and Combined Development: Modernity, Modernism, Revolution (2): Causes, Consequences, Constraints
In this second part to his series of five pieces for revolutionary reflections Neil Davidson explores the aesthetic and political dimensions of the theory of Uneven and Combined Development.
revolutionary reflections | On ‘The Crisis in German Politics’ – A Response
In December revolutionary reflections published a piece on the crisis in German politics today, which looked at the rise of the Alternativ für Deutschland and the challenges this poses for Die Linke. In this piece Loren Balhorn provides a response based on his experiences within Die Linke and German left politics. I welcome Adam Blanden’s […]
Keep it broad, keep it radical – building a movement to beat Trump
Sarah Levy, a member of the International Socialist Organization in the US, argues we need a broad movement to beat Trump. Those millions of people who took to the streets on Saturday – many chanting “We won’t go away! Welcome to your first day!” – they’re on our side. More importantly we’re going to need […]