After the elections, what next for Catalonia?
Andy Durgan outlines the political landscape following Catalonia’s recent elections.
What do we need to do to defend the NHS?
Pete Gillard assesses the limitations of Labour’s manifesto promises on health and argues that enthusiasm for the NHS can be used to build unions among health workers.
The DUP – Last Refuge for Desperate Tories
Connor Kelly exposes the Ulster Democratic Unionist Party. The DUP are the largest unionist party in Northern Ireland. Led by the thoroughly corrupt and devious Arlene Foster, they are a deeply sectarian party who, when not stirring up hatred against Catholics and republicans, vilify gays, women, Muslims, and the poor. The party maintains links with the […]
Disaster for May, opportunity for the left
Amy Gilligan and Colin Wilson offer an initial analysis of the June 2017 election results.
#GE2017: “The future is back”
There are plenty of reasons to feel optimistic going into election day
#GE2017: Amber Rudd and the Magic Money Tree
Home Secretary Amber Rudd’s now-infamous retort to Jeremy Corbyn during last Thursday’s televised debate, that “there is no magic money tree” to solve the food bank crisis, suggests a well-developed sense of fiscal probity. Quite the opposite. Here, in an article first published in Leeds rs21’s Northern Star in October 2016, we look at the path […]
#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.
#GE2017: More police and prison officers won’t make us safer
Socialism requires a belief that building a world without punishment and incarceration is possible.
#GE2017: How radical are Labour’s economic policies?
The limitations of the manifesto are those we would expect to find facing any reformist government operating in the capitalist system today.
#GE2017: Can Labour deliver security at work?
Unite activist and former General Secretary candidate Ian Allinson examines Labour’s third pledge of ‘Security At Work’.
#GE2017: Why does Labour make concessions to the right when it comes to immigration?
Jonas Liston reflects on Angela Rayner’s recent appearance on Question Time. How can she be awful on immigration whilst savaging the Tories on everything else?
#GE2017: One Tory MP in Scotland is too many
Pete Cannell discusses the questions that face socialists in Scotland in the up-coming general election.
#GE2017: How can Corbyn win?
Pat Stack untangles a tumultuous time for Labour, arguing there is only one way for Corbyn to win.
#GE2017: Tories are ahead, but they’re not invulnerable
For all the attempts to make this election seem like a foregone conclusion, it is clear that Theresa May has called it out of both weakness and strength.
Unite after the General Secretary election
Unite member Kate Bradley reflects on her experiences campaigning for grassroots socialist Ian Allinson in this year’s Unite General Secretary election.
Cardiff Corbyn rally shows how to develop confidence during the election campaign
Seb Cooke reports from Corbyn’s rally in Cardiff yesterday.
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 […]
Those who got it wrong in Stoke don’t have the answers for the Labour party
Despite dire warnings about Labour’s prospects in the Stoke by-election, they succeeded in retaining the seat.
Why is Donald Trump the president of the United States?
Amy Gilligan and Dominic Jones crunch the numbers to understand what happened in November’s election in the United States To the surprise of most observers, Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election in the United States. It is clear that an important task at the present time is to oppose his policies and the political […]
Some Thoughts Ahead of the Copeland By-election
The Copeland and Stoke by-elections on Thursday 23 February are drawing national media attention and speculation about what they mean for Corbyn, Brexit and UKIP.
Interview: on the resistible rise of Norbert Hofer
Today (4 December), Austrians go to the polls again to elect their president. Earlier this year, the candidate of the far-right Freedom Party, Norbert Hofer, was narrowly defeated by the former Green candidate Alexander Van der Bellen. However, the Freedom Party successfully challenged the vote in the courts, and there is now a re-run. The […]
US Election: Why Clinton lost and Trump won
Writing from the US, Bill Crane examines the reasons behind Trump’s victory in the US elections and what the future could hold. “Do not weep, do not laugh, do not condemn, but understand.” – Baruch Spinoza Shock. That’s the only word that came to my mind as I numbly watched the returns come in and […]
The Rise of Donald Trump, ‘Anti-Politics’ and the Left
Bill Crane argues that while Trump is a clear threat, this must be understood within the history of American politics. Donald Trump’s race for President of the United States has shocked the mainstream political establishment. Trump, a billionaire real estate mogul most famous as a TV star with his successful long-running reality series The Apprentice, […]
US elections: “Bernie has suddenly given all of us a national stage”
Continuing our series of interviews with socialists in the US discussing the upcoming elections, we spoke to Nivedita Majumdar, Sanders supporter and secretary of the Professional Staff Congress, the faculty and Staff union of the City University of New York. This interview represents her personal views. Where now for the Sander’s campaign – will it […]
Welsh Labour keep going, UKIP breakthrough
Seb Cooke reports on the results of the Welsh Assembly elections, which saw UKIP gain seven seats. He argues that the task for socialists has to be to build a stronger radical left that can relate effectively to issues such as steel, fight racism and utilise Corbyn over anti-austerity The Welsh Assembly is made up of […]
A grudging vote for Labour in the London mayor elections
Anindya Bhattacharyya explains why to humiliate Zac Goldsmith in tomorrow’s London mayoral election, a grudging vote for Sadiq Khan is needed. There are elections across Britain tomorrow – for the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Assembly, various councils in England, among others. London will be voting for its mayor – with Labour candidate Sadiq Khan the favourite […]
US elections: Charlie Post on Sanders, Clinton, and the tasks of American socialists
Charlie Post, a long-time US socialist and active in his faculty union at the City University of New York, talks to rs21 about Sanders, the dangers of ‘lesser-evilism’, and the post-election challenges for American socialists. Also check out responses from Elizabeth Schulte and Alan Maass.
France: How close is fascism?
Already stressed by economic stagnation since the onset of the banking crisis in 2008, and by the interminably threatened, but repeatedly averted, collapse of the Euro, Peter Fysh asks can the French political system survive racist exploitation of the refugee crisis and the shock of deadly terrorist attacks at each end of 2015? In the […]
Understanding Ankara: why many see blood on the hands of the Turkish state
The bombing in Ankara was the deadliest in modern Turkish history. In a country where the state regularly uses violence against protesters, and with an election approaching, much of the left argue that the government bears much of the blame. Phil Buyum Jackson explains the background to the attack and describes events since the bombing. 106 people were […]