Race, Gender and Social Reproduction in British Capitalism 1945-78
How can we understand the ways that capitalism comes to be gendered and racialised?
One year on: Manchester and English nationalism
Since last year’s bombing, Manchester’s tradition of radical politics has come to the fore again
‘It was like a rocket: a fantastic display’: Reflections on May ’68
In a speech to Manchester rs21, Colin Barker reflects on the “madness of May ‘68”, when, for a brief moment, everything seemed possible.
Accuser of capitalism: speech from the dock
A hundred years ago today, John Maclean, hero of “Red Clydeside”, assailed the imperialist slaughter of World War One as he stood trial for sedition
Queer emancipation in early Soviet Russia
A long letter from a gay man highlights the emancipation which touched LGBT people across Russia after October 1917.
Images of Russia from liberation to oppression
Steve Eason reviews Red Star Over Russia and Not Everyone will be Taken into the Future by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, both at Tate Modern.
Review: The Kaiser’s Holocaust
Mark Winter reviews David Olusoga and Casper W. Erichsen 2010 book The Kaiser’s Holocaust: Germany’s Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism David Olusoga is a British-Nigerian historian, writer and broadcaster who has championed the unearthing of black history in series such as the BBC’s “Black and British: a Forgotten History”. “My family’s history is part of a long, […]
Workers and the Soviet state: lessons from the 1920s
The centenary of the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia provides an opportunity to open up debates on the nature of revolutions and post-revolutionary politics.
Six Red Months in Russia: Louise Bryant’s view of the revolution
Louise Bryant’s Six Red Months in Russia, with its nuanced and enlightening discussion of women’s lives, is a vital eyewitness account of the Russian Revolution.
Half a millennium away: Martin Luther’s 95 theses 500 years on
On the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s 95 Theses, Andrew Stone looks at the context in which Protestantism arose and the global impact it had. On 31 October 1517 an Augustinian monk nailed a list of complaints – known to posterity as the 95 Theses – to a church door in Wittenberg. This austere professor of theology […]
Reviewing BBC Radio 4’s coverage of the Russian revolution
Martin Crook analyses the presentation of the Russian revolution by the BBC, questioning the accuracy of a review that blames the revolution for the sins of Stalinism.
After 1917: Civil war and ‘modernising counter-revolution’
The Russian Revolution not only provides the most far reaching example of a socialist revolution in history, it also changes our understanding of counter-revolution.
The Death of Stalin: first as tragedy, then as farce
Estelle Cooch reviews Armando Iannucci’s latest film, The Death of Stalin
The remarkable story of Margarete Klopfleisch
rs21 member Sonja Grossner tells the story of her remarkable mother Margarete Klopfleisch, an artist and communist during the Nazi period in Germany who spent time in hiding in the UK. The full biography The Troubles to Greet Beauty is available to buy from Waterstones or Amazon. Margarete (‘Greta’) Klopfleisch (nee Grossner) was born in […]
Gracchus Babeuf revisited
Historian Doug Enaa Greene reviews The Spectre of Babeuf by Ian Birchall. Often unfairly dismissed by socialists, Gracchus Babeuf represents a break from utopianism towards direct, practical action and all the challenges that implies, and he has much to teach revolutionaries today. Spectre of Babeuf is published by Haymarket Books and is available now.
Harmonies and dissonances: Russia in revolution
In a piece originally published in the rs21 magazine, Mike Haynes illuminates the contested histories of the Russian revolution The bookshelves creak. But does it matter? No-one who remembers the Russia Revolution is still alive. You would have to be at least in your 40s to even have much of a memory of what the USSR was. […]
Remembering Lewisham
Forty years ago, British fascism suffered a historic defeat, as several hundred members of the fascist National Front (NF) were successfully beaten back by thousands of socialists and local residents, despite a huge deployment of police in defence of the NF. The confrontation became known as the Battle of Lewisham. As racism and support for […]
Review: Struggle or Starve
Pat Stack reviews Struggle or Starve: Working-Class Unity in Belfast’s 1932 Outdoor Relief Riots by Seán Mitchell, arguing that this look into Northern Ireland’s forgotten past has much to teach activists looking to build anti-sectarian working-class movements today. Struggle or Starve is published by Haymarket Books and available now at a reduced price through rs21.
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 […]
Intolerants not welcome – The Battle of Lewisham 1977
13 August 2017 will be the 40th Anniversary of the “Battle of Lewisham” when thousands of local people and other anti-racists refused to allow the fascist National Front to intimidate them with a provocative march through the community. Lewisham poet Mark ‘Mr T’ Thompson has written this poem in remembrance and celebration of the historic event. […]
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 […]
Video: the global rise of the far right
A political discussion hosted by rs21 with David Renton and Jairus Banaji
Did the 1967 Act start acceptance of LGBT people?
Looking back on the1967 Sexual Offences Act, which partly decriminalised sex between men, we ask: what really started to change things for LGBT people?
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 […]
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.
We burned the cop cars one by one: a review of ‘When We Rise’ by Cleve Jones
Colin Wilson reviews an inspiring memoir of decades of LGBT activism
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 […]
Re-reading Reed: Ten Days that Shook the World
Lisa Leak considers John Reed’s classic book on the Russian revolution, Ten Days That Shook the World. The centennial of the October Revolution later this year will be a windfall for booksellers. Possibly no other event in history has been written on so extensively, or from such a vast variety of ideological perspectives: there’ll be […]