Capitalism’s life source: the domestic and social basis for exploitation
US-based socialist Tithi Bhattacharya responds to questions from rs21 on her new book about social reproduction theory.
Harvey Weinstein: when male entitlement meets corporate power
Annie Lord looks at the Harvey Weinstein case as an example of how workplace authoritarianism lets abusive men off the hook The much-publicised Harvey Weinstein case is a perfect example of the ever-present exploitative relationships that emerge in hierarchical institutions. Praised as the darling of indie film-making for his work on The Crying Game, Pulp […]
The Handmaid’s Tale: hope is evident amidst repression
Angela Stapleford argues that the recent adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale holds up a mirror to the worst possibilities within our own world, but also shows the possibility of resistance.
Women and socialism: A conversation with Sharon Smith
Earlier this month rs21 hosted a conversation with American socialist Sharon Smith, author of Women and Socialism: Class, Race and Capital. Listen to audio recording here:
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 […]
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 […]
8 Radical Actions across the UK and Ireland for International Women’s Day
A hundred years ago in Russia, huge numbers of women used International Working Women’s Day to strike for food and better conditions, and sparked a movement that would ultimately overthrow the tsar and completely reorder Russian society. This year, there are many events being organised in the spirit of 1917, calling for mass action from below […]
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 […]
Feeling hopeful on angry London march against Trump’s inauguration: report and photos
Amy Downham writes about why she attended the women’s march against Trump’s inauguration in London. Also see the report from Edinburgh by Eileen Cook For me today was about standing up for the rights that have been fought for by our ancestors that Trump has pompously disregarded and disrespected. It was about equality, equality for […]
Opening up a debate on black America – Beyoncé’s Lemonade
Monique Alicia Bell considers her favourite album of 2016 – Lemonade from Beyoncé I have been a Beyoncé fan since the days of Destiny’s Child, expressing my teenage moods by blasting ‘Emotions’ on repeat. As I watched women freaking out in excitement over this year’s visual album Lemonade, I decided I had to dedicate one full […]
“Ni Una Menos” – No Woman Left Behind
Suzie Wylie writing from Argentina discusses the Ni Una Menos movement On 8 October, 16-year-old Lucia Pérez was drugged, brutally raped, tortured and killed by 3 men in the Argentinian seaside city of Mar del Plata. Her heart stopped as a result of the pain she endured during the brutal attack. The men cleaned and dressed […]
A turning point in Polish politics: the #czarnyprotest and Monday’s women’s strike
Large protests have taken place in Poland against a proposed ban on abortion in all cases. On Monday (3 October) Polish women are taking part in a nationwide strike to defend their basic reproductive rights. Mark Bergfeld, who researches Polish immigrant workers as part of his PhD, spoke to Aleksandra Wolke who is a feminist […]
Review: Lean Out
Kate Bradley reviews Dawn Foster’s Lean Out (Repeater Books, 2016), a book that challenges the liberal feminism promoted by Sheryl Sandberg’s business advice book, Lean In. Lean Out was a book that needed to be written. Liberal feminism is little better than no feminism at all, and now, instead of having to explain why every time […]
The rise of Red Pill philosophy and neo‑misogyny
Ciaran Colleran analyses the emergence of right wing ‘men’s rights’ groups ‘Men’s Right’s Activism’ and Red Pill Philosophy first revealed itself to the public in 2014 when Elliot Rodgers, who was associated with the movement, went on a murderous rampage, killing six people. In his online tirades against women he repeatedly referred to the jargon […]
On consent
Siân Ruddick, an independent sexual violence advocate, unpicks how revolutionaries should understand the politics of consent. In this article perpetrators are referred to as male and survivors as female. This is most common, but in no way seeks to deny that women can be perpetrators of sexual violence, that men can be survivors, or deny […]
Social reproduction: from theory to practice
Sara Bennett discusses the relevance today of Lise Vogel’s understanding of women’s oppression and the dynamics of capitalism Lise Vogel’s 1983 book Marxism and the Oppression of Women is an attempt to bring women’s oppression into the realm of Marxist political economy. She theorises the role of women in the reproduction of labour power, and […]
Review: She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry
This documentary aims to celebrate the women’s movement of the 60s and 70s. But, argues Kate Bradley, it does little to offer inspiration to feminists today. “She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry resurrects the buried history of the outrageous, often brilliant women who founded the modern women’s movement from 1966 to 1971.” So claims the website […]
And so the radical vagina was most patriarchal of them all
Annie Teriba has had enough of a style of identity-politicking that delivers nothing for most women, but beats the war drum against Jeremy Corbyn, This summer, the trajectory of the Jeremy Corbyn surge has been mirrored by the most fascinating but also irritating brand of identity-politicking. After frequent reminders of Yvette Cooper’s radical vagina, comment pieces about how […]
Black leadership: New and old generations
Graham Campbell discusses the crisis of Black leadership, and the new generation that is emerging. After this year’s general election, a record number of Black Labour and Tory MPs will walk down Westminster’s corridors. Black faces have never been more visible in the establishment and in Parliament. Meanwhile Black working class people, who make up […]
Feminism from above and below
Estelle Cooch surveys the new feminist movements. This article first appeared in the Spring 2015 Issue of rs21 magazine. 2014 was a year of watersheds and contradictions. The global movement against rape and sexual violence seemed to gain its first major victories. In the UK a series of celebrity abusers faced prison and the horrific […]
Sexist Tory Austerity: why Sisters Uncut are marching this May Day
A member of Sisters Uncut writes about their May Day action coming up this bank holiday Monday The crisis facing domestic violence services across the UK is one key issue that has been largely overlooked in the run-up to the election. After five years of Tory austerity, hundreds of refuges have suffered cuts, closures and overcrowding at unprecedented levels. The need […]
“I Was Born a Baby Not a Boy”: Sex, Gender and Trans Liberation
In the second article in a series on trans politics, Shanice McBean discusses sex, gender and trans liberation. This piece was originally published on Shanice’s blog sheisrevolutionarilysuicidal. The Severing of Sex from Gender As transgender identities, social spaces and movements have developed over the past 150 years there’s been a sharpening of the confrontation between bourgeois ideological […]
The new grand alliance in the Middle East
Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale explain the changing international alliances in Middle Eastern politics, and how this is connected to rising Islamophobia in Europe. This was originally published as part of a series on Feminism and Islamophobia on their website. In most of Europe and North America now there is only one acceptable form of racism: […]
“Hope in the stubborn instances of resistance” – Assessing the current state of the women’s movement in India
Tithi Bhattacharya recently caught up with Kavita Krishnan on the prospects for the women’s movement in India today and questions of strategy TB: December 2014 marked two years since India erupted in mass protests against gender violence that inspired us globally. Where do you assess that battle for women’s rights to be at this two-year […]
‘Shoot As Well As Cook’: the Black Panther Party, sexism and the struggle today
We need to remember the contributions of black women to past struggles if we’re to take forward the fight for justice today, writes Shanice McBean.
Historical Materialism 2014: Marxist-feminist challenges to neoliberalism
Lois JC reports on the session entitled “Marxist-feminist challenges to neoliberalism” that took place at the London Historical Materialism 2014 conference earlier this month, with Hester Eisenstein, Estelle Cooch and Catherine Rottenberg. The meeting on neoliberalism and feminism at the Historical Materialism conference was a timely and serious contribution towards analysing feminist movements today. Feminism seems […]
Towards a Marxist theory of gender?
Heather Brown‘s book Marx on Gender and the Family was released to great acclaim. Estelle Cooch interviewed her about Engels, intersectionality and feminism today. This interview was originally published in the Autumn 2014 issue of the rs21 magazine. There has been a shift from looking at Engels’ Origins to looking at Marx’s writings in Capital – […]
Why a university finally stood up to misogyny
Last week the men’s rugby club at LSE was closed down for a year after producing a sexist and homophobic leaflet. Lois JC considers why the university finally took action, after years doing nothing to oppose the club’s racism and bigotry. As a former student of the London School of Economics (LSE) I was, unfortunately, […]
Trafficking and sex work in Latin America: are women really being rescued?
Jessica Gutiérrez is a therapist working with survivors of sexual violence based in Buenos Aires. She describes how her experience of a brothel raid in Mexico radically altered her views on trafficking for sexual exploitation. (photo: an “operativo de rescate” [rescue operation] in Chiapas, Mexico, 2010 – see Spanish language report in Prensa Libre) A few […]
Hundreds demand justice over gender and caste violence
Ruth Lorimer reports from a demonstration in London earlier this week demanding justice for women raped and murdered in India. Several hundred people, mostly Indian women from across the UK, demonstrated outside the Indian High Commission on Wednesday, demanding that the men who raped and hung two teenage girls in India last week be prosecuted. The demonstration […]