Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century
 
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Brexit

Image shows the cover of the book Britain in Fragments, set against the backdrop of a union flag.

Review | Britain in Fragments

Satnam Virdee and Brendan McGeever bring a historic account of racism in Britain over the last century. Colin Wilson reviews Britain in Fragments.

Judges in ornate robes

The limits of the law

We need less law, and better ways to change society

23/12/2020. London, United Kingdom. Boris Johnson Brexit Deal.The Prime Minister Boris Johnson in his office in Number 10 with his key members of staff as they wait for a response from President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen after they spoke on the phone a few minutes earlier with a possible Brexit deal in sight. Picture by Andrew Parsons / No 10 Downing Street

Johnson’s Tory party: how it started, how it’s going

Colin Wilson surveys the resignations, U-turns and scandals of Johnson’s two years in government, the position of the conservative party, and what this means for the left today.

View from the city walls as Loyalists prepare a bonfire in the Fountain estate in Derry

What’s behind the riots in the North of Ireland?

The riots in the North of Ireland must be understood in the context of continued sectarian division and state repression.

Keywords: fascism far right wing nationalism Brexit

Video: Confronting the British state

Three activists speak on the Scottish independence movement, the Tory Party’s right-wing populist strategy, and the political role of migrant solidarity.

Barbed wire above a metal fence

Resist Tory immigration plans

Zareen Taj and Mitch Mitchell look at the effects of the Tories’ proposed new immigration system following Brexit.

Neil Davidson (1957-2020)

We are deeply saddened to announce the death of our comrade and friend, Neil Davidson. We send our condolences to his family, in particular to his partner Cathy Watkins. A full obituary will follow.

Brexit day: what now for the left?

Today the UK leaves the European Union. The question of EU membership has divided and often paralysed the British left. Ian Allinson asks if we can reunite on more productive ground for the struggles ahead.

Redcar blast furnace

The Brexit election – from revenge to resistance

Both sides of the establishment want to bury the legacies of struggle in the communities that abandoned Labour in the 2019 General Election. The left cannot afford to do the same.

Double or nothing

Boris Johnson’s manoeuvre to shut down parliament is a step towards establishing a right-wing populist hegemony in Britain

Prorogue the Tories!

Fight the anti-democratic Tories and their bosses’ Brexit

In the closing weeks before the latest Brexit deadline, Boris Johnson and his Tory Party have suspended parliament in an attempt to enable them to force through a rotten Tory Brexit for which they have no mandate. The rs21 Steering Group argue to build the movement to bring down the government.

Image advertising What future for Ireland meeting

Video: What future for Ireland?

Eamonn McCann and Maev McDaid discuss the future of Ireland, 50 years after British troops went in, as the DUP prop up a Tory British government grappling with Brexit, and in the light of feminist struggles on both sides of the border.

Tories in crisis: what comes next? Neil Davidson

Video: Tories in crisis – what comes next?

Watch Marxist historian and author Neil Davidson discuss the establishment’s triple crisis of strategy, party and state – and its potential outcomes.

It was Corbyn who brought down May

Anindya Bhattacharya reminds us where it all started to go wrong for Theresa May…

May’s last dance

Theresa May has announced that she will finally be leaving on 7 June. She has epitomised the ‘nasty party’ she once criticised.

Some deadlines can’t be extended…

Theresa May’s deal has been rejected again and the Brexit deadlock continues. Meanwhile, the entire ruling class is running down the clock on an even more important issue.

An unsettled status

Immigration lawyer Mikhil Karnik explains how the British state plans to extend its power over EU nationals and their families.

Protest in London calls for a general election

On Saturday, the People’s Assembly called a demonstration calling for a general election and anti-fascist activists rallied outside the Brazilian Embassy.

Building the Left in the face of Brexit

Charlie Hore responds to Neil Davidson’s discussion of the Brexit crisis and offers an alternative analysis of the Leave vote.

No exit from the Brexit crisis

What does the Brexit crisis mean for British politics and the European Union?

2018 in protest photos

Photographer Steve Eason looks back over the movements on the streets in 2018, from the anniversary of the Grenfell fire to the Extinction Rebellion bridge occupation

May stumbles on

Theresa May has narrowly scraped through a vote of no confidence brought by her own MPs. Now pressure from below is needed to bring her government down.

Report: No to Tommy Robinson – No to Fortress Britain

On 9 December, thousands of people gathered to confront the far right’s ‘Brexit Betrayal’ demo in London. 

The Left and a People’s Vote

While the march was mainly organised and led by the neoliberal ‘centre’, there were also socialists on the march. Unite activist Ian Allinson discusses how the left should respond.

How class struggle can bridge the Brexit divide

Seb Cooke argues that only a sense of shared struggle can unite different sections of working class which were divided over last year’s referendum vote.

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.

Why socialists should oppose the single market

There has been much talk of a post-Brexit “transition period” , that prioritises the UK staying in the single market. Seb Cooke puts the view that this could both strengthen capital and weaken the left. The argument surrounding the so-called Brexit “divorce bill” may seem fairly inconsequential, but it does tell us something about the […]

An error of proximity: Labour’s repositioning misstep

Jonas Liston explores the shift of Corbyn’s Labour away from social-democratic policies in the wake of Brexit, here reproduced with permission from his own site. 

Does migration undermine workers’ rights? A case study from waste management

Kate Bradley asks what labour stratification in the waste management industry tells us about British capitalism – and whether ‘managed migration’ would be the answer to the sector’s poor working conditions. Following Jeremy Corbyn’s speech last week on big companies’ abuse of migration, many media outlets including The Guardian have published critical responses. A New […]

#GE2017: Immigration, Labour and the left

Any concession to restricting immigration necessarily involves the notion that immigrants are a problem, and contributes to hostility and racism against all immigrants.