Review: The Politics of Everybody
Bill Crane reviews Holly Lewis’ standout book on the relationship between capitalism and oppression. One of the most promising trends on the intellectual left in recent years is the emergence of a strong and sophisticated Marxist-feminist current of academics and activists. The identification of the social reproduction of the working class as the root of […]
revolutionary reflections | On ‘The Crisis in German Politics’ – A Response
In December revolutionary reflections published a piece on the crisis in German politics today, which looked at the rise of the Alternativ für Deutschland and the challenges this poses for Die Linke. In this piece Loren Balhorn provides a response based on his experiences within Die Linke and German left politics. I welcome Adam Blanden’s […]
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 […]
Extract: Order reigns in Berlin
On the 97 anniversary of Rosa Luxemburg‘s murder, Jonas Liston introduces an extract from her final article “Order Reigns in Berlin“. In November 1918, a revolt of German sailors and soldiers sparked a mass workers’ revolution that would see the establishment of democratic workers’ councils, the end of World War One and the abdication […]
Can Corbynomics Work?
Sam O’Brien discusses whether the economic ideas put forward by Jeremy Corbyn when he was campaigning for the Labour leadership could work The election of Jeremy Corbyn has continues to generate a tide of foaming comment from Telegraph columnists, Blairite hacks and Tories alike. As if his views on Palestine, Trident and tuition fees […]
HM 2015: Social reproduction and intersectionality
The Historical Materialism conference that took place in London earlier this month continued important debates around social reproduction and intersectionality. Here, Colin Wilson introduces the concept of social reproduction and summarises the discussions that took place in meetings with Tithi Bhattacharya, Alan Sears, Hester Eisenstein, Kate Davies and Lise Vogel. What is “social reproduction”? The first plenary of Historical Materialism, […]
South Korean Marxist Economics after Soohaeng Kim
Seongjin Jeong, who is Professor of Economics at Gyeongsang National University, pays tribute to Soohaeng Kim, the “Godfather of Marxist economics” in South Korea. Professor Soohaeng Kim, South Korea’s most well-known Marxist economist, died of a heart attack on 1 August at the age of 72. He is survived by his wife and two sons. […]
Turkey: Erdoğan’s Cynical New War Against the Kurds
Coordinated attacks took place on 8 September against the leftwing HDP in Turkey – attacks for which the stage has been set by the ruling AKP party. In an article written before 8 September and originally published by Marx21 in Germany, Erkin Erdoğan writes about the renewed escalation of the conflict between the Turkish state […]
Strategies for the radical left: realistic, but visionary
‘Strategies for the radical left today’ is an excerpt from a talk given by Estelle Cooch at They Don’t Represent Us on 16 May 2015.
The big lie: Some thoughts on ideology and the Tory victory
Joe Sabatini on ideology, fetishism, and 5 more years of Cameron. On Thursday 7 May, The English Tory Party won a shock victory that was utterly unpredicted and yet so predictable. Everything about the result feels like a consolidation of a power grab that took place in 2010, making 2015 the sequel. With the corpse […]
Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale reply to Colin Wilson’s comments on ‘What gender does’
Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale continue a discussion on their article What gender does, responding to comments from Colin Wilson To situate our response to Colin, it is useful to see that there are now broadly three schools of approach to gender in rs21. We think it will be healthy for all three approaches to […]
A reponse to Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neale’s “What gender does”
Colin Wilson responds to Nancy Lindisfarne and Jonathan Neal’s discussion of What gender does in ISJ 139. Nancy and Jonathan’s response to Colin will be published tomorrow. The oppression of women has become a central political topic worldwide. Part of what revolutionaries have to say about women’s oppression is straightforward – that we oppose all […]
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 – […]
The elephant is political
“Anti-politics” has become a phrase widely used to describe the state of politics today. Here, Colin Barker examines what ‘politics’ meant for Marx and what it means for revolutionaries today.
Is Leninism dead?
Phil Gasper member of the editorial board of the International Socialist Review and is editor of The Communist Manifesto: A Road Map to History’s Most Important Political Document continues a discussion on Leninism, responding to a recent article from Ian Birchall. What, if anything, do revolutionary socialists today have to learn from the experience and […]
10 things you need to know about the protests in Hong Kong
The pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong continue. Demonstrators have set a deadline of midnight tonight for Hong Kong’s Chief Executive to resign. German revolutionary magazine Marx21 interviewed Sophia Chan from Left21, Hong Kong about the background to and prospects for the mass protests taking place. The interview in available in German here. 1. When did the protests start and why? What […]
Behind Capital: A Review of Alex Callinicos’ “Deciphering Capital”
Joe Sabatini assesses an important new work of Marxist theory. Deciphering Capital is a long awaited work, which Alex Callinicos has been developing over a number of years. Although stimulated by the resurgence in Marxist political economy since 2008, the book essentially goes back to his PhD in the 1970s. Principally, Deciphering Capital could be described […]
Autumn rs21 magazine out now
The new edition of the rs21 magazine is out now. Since the last issue of the rs21 magazine came out there has been an explosion of protest globally in response to Israel’s latest assault on Gaza. In this issue a series of authors attempt to grapple with the question of what imperialism means today and […]
Paul Le Blanc replies to Ian Birchall on Lenin and Leninism
Paul Le Blanc, author of Unfinished Leninism, has replied to Ian Birchall’s discussion article on Leninism over at SocialistWorker.org. In an article titled Leninism, No? Paul sets out “a sense of what I mean by Leninism, as utilised in my own writings”: In his commitment to a fusion of the struggles of the workers and […]
Lenin: Yes! Leninism: No?
A discussion article by Ian Birchall, historian and author of Tony Cliff: a Marxist for his time It is currently a commonplace on the left and not-so-left to announce that Leninism is dead. Indeed, one might wonder why it is necessary to keep repeating the point. Nobody is writing articles to explain that alchemy or social […]
Capitalism and Crisis: Why vampires shouldn’t feed on themselves
Amy Gilligan explains how the contradictions at the heart of capitalism that mean that it is an inherently unstable system, prone to crises.
Video interview with Darcus Howe
Darcus Howe takes us through his life as a black activist and revolutionary, guiding us though a history of resistance to racism, imperialism and state oppression.
Social reproduction – what it is and why it matters
Reproduction involves more than just the creation of human beings – it involves the reproduction of the “capital relation” itself – the worker and the capitalist.
Profit: A numbers game, but shit don’t add up somehow
By learning about surplus value, or profit, we see how capitalism exploits and appropriates, allowing the rich to get richer and the poor to become immiserated.
Fighting oppression is at the heart of socialism
The fight against oppression needs to be fully integrated into the fight against capitalism and for socialism.
What is social reproduction theory?
In the first of a series of articles looking at and debating social reproduction theory, here we republish Tithi Bhattacharrya’s introductory piece on some of the basics.
Shit Does Not Just Happen: an introduction to historical materialism
The materialist conception of history can be used to understand recent events and shows us how ordinary people, the exploited and the oppressed, can make history.
What might constitute a Marxist philosophical canon?
Selective readings of Marxist theory that favour “guides to action” can lead to a skewed and unhelpful understanding of Marxist ideas
What do we mean by… class?
Terry Wrigley takes a look at the Marxist concept of class, in the first of an rs21 series on the fundamentals of our political tradition.
#M2013: Judith Orr on the definition of class
Judith argued that capitalism is always in flux, constantly revolutionising the means of production, but that exploitation of the majority by the minority remains the core of the system.