Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century
 
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New rs21 magazine focuses on Korea, social reproduction, the defeat of 1917

The autumn edition of rs21 magazine, out now, includes pieces on Trump’s foreign policy and the legacy of the junior doctors’ strike, while Owen Miller writes on the nuclear crisis and North Korea. Tithi Bhattacharya provides an in-depth look into social reproduction theory, while Gareth Dale charts how the revolutionary forces of the Russian revolution […]

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. […]

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 […]

Lessons from Fawley: From ‘British jobs’ to migrant solidarity

In 2011 the ‘British jobs for British workers’ slogan sent shivers down the spine of anyone championing the rights of migrants. Brian Parkin assesses a recent watershed dispute at Fawley and discusses how – and why – the tide has turned On Wednesday 27 July at 10.00 am, just four hours before workers at the […]

Acting the part: emotional labour in the workplace

Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal explains how emotional labour at work is on the rise Konstantin Stanislavsky was a Russian actor and director who revolutionised theatre at the start of 20th century. Stanislavsky’s system of actor training, which drew on the actors own emotional memory to create a character, ushered in the psychological based form of acting that remains […]

Racism renewed

Anindya Bhattacharyya traces the roots of the current anti-migrant racism back to the contradiction at the heart of New Labour’s immigration policy. Here he argues that changed circumstances necessitate a radical popular movement against racism. Everyone Who Is Here Is From Here, a one-day organising forum against racism and for migrant justice is taking place this Saturday (5 […]

Revolutionary portrait: Claudia Jones (1915–1964)

An early proponent of intersectionality, Claudia Jones’ life and legacy deserves recognition and another look argues Samir Kinks. “I was deported from the USA because, as a Negro woman Communist of West Indian descent, I was a thorn in their side,” Claudia Jones told a 1956 Caribbean News interview after her deportation to Britain. As […]

Review: The Ministry of Nostalgia

Amy Gilligan reviews Owen Hatherley’s book The Ministry of Nostalgia: Consuming Austerity (Verso, 2015) The Ministry of Nostalgia is an exploration of the way a particular version of the past, particularly the austerity of the 1940s and 1950s, continues to be used under neoliberalism. This “austerity nostalgia” is typified in the ubiquitous “Keep Calm and […]

Review – Sex and the Weimar Republic

Colin Wilson reviews Sex and the Weimar Republic: German Homosexual Emancipation and the Rise of the Nazis by Laurie Marhoefer. This book offers a glimpse of a different kind of LGBT politics. Today we’ve made advances, but in the context of neoliberalism. In the Weimar Republic – Germany from 1918 to 1933 – there also existed a […]

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 […]

Reviving the rank and file

Why aren’t we following the example set by the junior doctors? Rachel Eborall looks at the arguments we need to make to revive the rank and file movement and put militant action back on the agenda The fact that the working class is paying for a crisis they did not cause is clear for all to see. According to […]

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 […]

Reclaiming the future

Sølvi Qorda argues the “millennial” generation needs to shoot up a flare and embrace the idea of human liberation if we are not to abandon the future to fear. My most enduring memory of the student movement was of the power and the creativity that it brought. At Millbank, on Day X, in the university […]

Cartoon: Referdendoom

Dismantling the NHS is turbo-charged neoliberalism: Review of How to Dismantle the NHS in 10 Easy Steps

NHS activist Gill George reviews Youssef El-Gingihy’s book How to Dismantle the NHS in 10 Easy Steps The NHS is a milestone in history – the most civilised step any country has ever taken The quote above is what Aneurin Bevin told the first NHS patient ever to be treated, back in 1948; and that’s how Youssef […]

Debating the work of sex work

Melissa Gira Grant responds to questions from Estelle Cooch about her work and her understanding of sex work today. Sex work has become the subject of heated debate within feminism. That debate is highly polarised – so much so that the two sides even tend to use different terms, “prostitution” and “sex work”,  for the topic […]

Future shock for the left: Review of Paul Mason’s PostCapitalism

Rich Belbin reviews Paul Masons recent book, PostCapitalism: A Guide to our Future Paul Mason has become a familiar figure on our TV screens, from his reports on the collapse of Lehman Brothers through to his ’embedded’ interviews with those at the frontline of struggles, from China through Scotland to Greece. His enthusiastic reporting has […]

Five books you should read on China

Charlie Hore offers some suggestions to help understand what is happening in the world’s largest country China has hardly been out of the headlines in the last few months. In August, the second stock market crash in two months sent shockwaves around the world financial system. China’s government had taken panic measures after the first […]

Alfred Rosmer: A lifelong revolutionary

In the first of a series exploring the lives of some of history’s understated revolutionaries, Ian Birchall introduces French syndicalist and communist Alfred Rosmer The name Alfred Rosmer is little known today. Yet his life story sums up both the greatness and the tragic failure of the years after the Russian Revolution of 1917. The […]

Review: Getting By

Tom Haines-Doran reveiws Getting By: Estates, Class and Culture in Austerity Britain by Lisa McKenzie, published by Policy Press (2015) “Do the lower classes smell? Of course, as a whole, they are dirtier than the upper classes” This quote from George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier stayed with Lisa McKenzie since she read it at the […]

Cat’s Credit Crunching: What is quantitative easing?

Regular Robin asks: What is quantitative easing? Dear Robin, Quantitative easing is an economic policy measure used in recessions.  It stems from the belief that the key problem during an economic crisis is lack of money in circulation. For example, when banks refuse to lend money, investors are cautious to buy stocks and bonds. Consumers […]

Paying to work for free

Olivia Arigho Stiles reviews Ross Perlin’s book Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy (Verso, 2012) “Interns built the pyramids”, The Baffler magazine once pronounced. So why do we know so little about this amorphous phenomenon? Ross Perlin’s eminently readable Intern Nation aims to further understanding of the function […]

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 […]

The real effects of racist immigration policy

Kat Burdon-Manley lays out how the current government’s failures around the Mediterranean migrant crisis links to immigration policy at home In the first half of 2015 an unprecedented number of people were killed on the Mediterranean by decisions of our governments. The UK is complicit in the murders of approximately 1750 people travelling from north […]

Cartoon: Not waving but drowning

by Caliban’s Revenge, originally featured in the Summer 2015 issue of the rs21 magazine

Socialism from below

Dan Swain discusses the contested ambitions and leaderships within our movements. This article was originally published in the Summer 2015 issue of the rs21 magazine.  Throughout the history of socialist movements and ideas, the fundamental divide is between Socialism-from-Above and Socialism-from-Below So argues Hal Draper’s 1966 pamphlet The Two Souls of Socialism.  In it, he […]

Getting to grips with the levels of strikes

Simon Joyce recently published an article arguing that ‘lack of confidence’ is an inadequate explanation for the sustained low level of strikes in the UK. He suggests that the strike weapon being taken out of the hands of stewards is the key factor. Hazel C and Ian A discussed with Simon some of the issues raised. This is a longer […]

The State, Power and the Democratic Road to Socialism – The ideas of Nicos Poulantzas

Nicos Poulantzas is frequently cited as one of the strongest influences on the new Syriza government in Greece. Mark Winter offers an introduction to his ideas in an article originally published in the Summer 2015 issue of the rs21 magazine. Alexander Clapp describes how close the Nicos Poulantzas Institute is to Syriza’s headquarters in Athens: Down the street […]

rs21 magazine summer 2015 launches at People’s Assembly demonstration on Saturday

Issue 4 of rs21 magazine will be out on Saturday, and available to buy from stalls and individuals at the People’s Assembly demonstration against Austerity in Central London. The election of a majority Tory government in May was not the result that most of us expected when the UK went to the polls. It will […]

The revolting establishment

Pat Stack reviews two recent books trying to get to grips with changing the world: Russell Brand’s Revolution, and Owen Jones’ The Establishment