revolutionary reflections | Notes on Capital and the State: part 1
The relationship between the state and capital is a major problem in Marxist theory. In the first of a three part series Colin Barker investigates how Marxists have addressed this question.
revolutionary reflections | The Roberts-Arundel strike
A never-before-seen pamphlet dating from 1968 tells the fascinating true story of the Stockport Roberts-Arundel textile strike.
Choosing or refusing to take sides in an era of right-wing populism
In the decade following the banking crash, the protracted crisis in neoliberal governance is taking a number of striking forms. Neil Davidson sets out the case for ‘rejecting the lesser evil’ option when faced with a choice between the radical right and the neoliberal centre.
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?
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 […]
Uneven and Combined Development: Modernity, Modernism, Revolution (5): China: Where All Roads Meet
In this last of five pieces on Uneven and Combined Development, Neil Davidson looks at its applicability for China today and concludes on how we think about revolutionary conjunctures in the 21st Century.
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.
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 […]
Uneven and Combined Development: Modernity, Modernism, Revolution (1): The Classic Forms of Uneven and Combined Development
In this first of five pieces, Neil Davidson explores Trotsky’s history of combined and uneven development and how it helps us understand capitalist modernity.
revolutionary reflections | You can’t stop Wapping by marching past it: An Interview with Sherrl Yanowitz
Sherrl Yanowitz, who sadly died in June last year – Obituary Sherrl Yanowitz 1942-2016 – played an active role in the dispute at Wapping in 1986-87 when workers fought against Rupert Murdoch’s attempt to smash the print unions. As part of a research project, rs21 interviewed Sherrl a few months before she died about her […]
revolutionary reflections | The Crisis in German Politics and the Rise of the Radical Right
2016 has been a year in which right – wing and authoritarian agendas have been in the ascendant. With the French and German elections next year we will see if this trend continues. By focusing on the case of Germany, Adam Blanden puts forward an argument for the left to counter-pose the right with a […]
revolutionary reflections | A Hot Winter in South Korea – an historic opportunity in the face of the impeachment of Park Geun-hye
South Korea is being racked by arguably one of the biggest protest movements in the country’s history which has culminated in today’s impeachment of the president. Jeon Ji-yun from the South Korean anti-capitalist group Solidarity for Another World sets out the background to the crisis and an update on the rapidly changing situation. Introduction to the […]
revolutionary reflections | For Another Europe (Part 2) The European Social Model (ESM), Social Partnership and the ETUC
With Brexit the EU has never been a more controversial and critical issue for left political strategy. In the second of a two part piece, a Unite activist looks at the incorporation of the leadership of the labour movement within the EU project and draws conclusions for left strategy. Introduction In part 2 we will move […]
revolutionary reflections | For Another Europe (Part 1)
With Brexit the EU has never been a more controversial and critical issue for left political strategy. In the first of a two part piece A Unite Rep reviews Guglielmo Carchedi’s classic Marxist analysis of the EU. The second part looking at the incorporation of the labour movement within the EU project will appear in […]
revolutionary reflections | Towards a Socialist Health Service
The crisis in the NHS has never been greater and resistance is taking new forms as we have seen with the Junior Doctors and Student Nurses. In this piece Mike Downham reflects on his experience as a paediatric doctor in Newcastle in the 1970s to explore what a socialist health service might look like. Dedication […]
revolutionary reflections | Rank and File Organising – Lessons from America Part 2
The International Socialist tradition has always believed in socialism from below – which means that socialism can only come about by the self-activity of the working class. In this interview Anindya Bhattacharyya and a Unite rep spoke to labour organiser Kim Moody about his experience of rank and file organising in the US since the 1960s, […]
revolutionary reflections | Rank and File Organising – Lessons from America 1
The International Socialist tradition has always believed in socialism from below – which means that socialism can only come about by the self-activity of the working class. In this interview Rob Owen spoke to labour organiser Jane McAlevey about her experience of rank and file organising in the US since the 1960s, and their views […]
revolutionary reflections | From the War on Drugs to Black Lives Matter: exposing the discourse on drugs in the history of US racism
The war on drugs has played a significant part in the creation of the prison-industrial complex that has condemned the lives of millions of Black Americans. In this article for Black History Month Laura Clark explores the history of the discourse around drugs in the creation and maintenance of racism in the US. You can […]
revolutionary reflections | ‘The movement as a whole’ – Waves and Crisis of The Social Movement
Colin Barker provides a framework for revolutionaries to think about their engagement in the politics of social movements.
revolutionary reflections | Venezuela: for sale to the highest bidder?
The theory of state capitalism has played a critical role in the International Socialist tradition’s critique of regimes claiming to be socialist. In the first of the new Revolutionary Reflections articles, Mike Gonzalez presents an account of the latest developments in Venezuela which draw on that tradition to make sense of changes that are taking […]
Welcome to Revolutionary Reflections – a new site for the publication of longer pieces
We are pleased to announce that from October we will be launching a new section of the website called Revolutionary Reflections. The site will be dedicated to longer more in-depth articles, and we are putting a call out for people to send us contributions. An outlet for revolutionary ideas Revolutionary Reflections aims primarily to develop […]