Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century
 
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revolution

1936: revolution in Spain

Andy Durgan is author of The Spanish Civil War (Palgrave 2007) and Comunismo, revolución y movimiento obrero en Cataluña 1920-1936. Los orígenes del POUM (Laertes, 2016). In the latest of a series of articles marking the anniversary of General Franco’s military coup against the Republican government of Spain, he argues that the revolution was always up […]

Sherrl Yanowitz: 1942 – 2016

Jonny Jones looks back on the life of a tireless fighter against injustice and for a better world. Sherrl’s funeral will take place tomorrow, 1 July, at 2pm, Mortlake Crematorium, Richmond TW9 4EN Sherrl Yanowitz, who has died aged 74, was a lifelong revolutionary socialist and anti-racist fighter. Sherrl was born Shirley Grosse – she hated the name […]

The democratic wager: why the Left must support the Syrian Revolution

Nick Evans Reviews Jules Alford and Andy Wilson (eds.) Khiyana. Daesh, the Left and the Unmaking of the Syrian Revolution. Essays by Muhhamad Idrees Ahmad, Javaad Alipoor, Leila Al-Shami, Mark Boothroyd, Joseph Daher and Shiar Neyo, Sam Charles Hamad, Bodour Hassan, Michael Karadjis, Louis Proyect, Eyal Zisser. London: Unkant, 2016. 278 pp. £9.99. The title of this book means “betrayal”: […]

Tributes to Sherrl Yanowitz (1942-2016)

We are deeply saddened by the loss of our friend and comrade Sherrl Yanowitz, who passed away this week after a short battle with cancer. Sherrl was, and will continue to be, an inspiration for all of us fighting for a better world. She was an activist, trade unionist and a fighter against all forms […]

More radical than reality: A letter to a comrade of an earlier era

Jonas Liston writes about becoming a young revolutionary in the 21st century.   Dear comrade, You asked me to talk you through how my generation of militants was radicalised, through what routes we came into struggle and why we found ourselves amongst that minuscule section of society that believed in what were, supposed to be, […]

‘I was a shop steward and I had a duplicator’ – IS in the 1970s

As the battles of the 1970s intensified Norman McLean became an electrician working in factories and on building sites. Norman spoke to us about his experiences of being a revolutionary activist in an exciting period of working class history. Part 1 can be found here Part 2 Getting Organised What did it mean to be […]

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 […]

Long read: What do Syrian and Lebanese activists think?

Miriyam Aouragh introduces interviews with activists Syrian and Lebanese that aim to cut through the confusion that has clouded much of the British left in recent months. The activists’ responses to questions about the nature of Daesh, the role of sectarianism and whether class can still be a source of analysis in the uprising, how we should regard the Kurdish […]

International statement: We fight dictatorships, imperialist aggression and Daesh. We reject the politics of “national security”, racism and austerity. It’s time to mobilise!

Over recent months, people across the Middle East have been hit by an intensification of conflict in Syria and Iraq. That escalation has been sponsored both by global imperialist powers – chiefly the USA, Russia and European countries – and regional imperialist actors including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Iran. These conflicts are the product […]

Ten Days That Shook The World

In celebration of the 98th anniversary of the Russian Revolution we are publishing this short extract from John Reed’s brilliant eye witness account, Ten Days That Shook The World. Reed was a socialist journalist from the USA, who described the revolution as: “Adventure it was, and one of the most marvellous mankind ever embarked upon.”  […]

Arguments for revolution

Jack Farmer argues that we need revolutionary ideas more than ever now that Jeremy Corbyn is Labour leader  The unthinkable has become real: a socialist is leader of the Labour Party. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Labour’s history is littered with right-wing leaders who have betrayed the hopes of those who voted for them. As I […]

Migration in the age of Imperialism’s four horsemen: part 3

For over three decades neoliberalism has run rampant at the expense of the working class and poorest of the world. But such a dismal interpretation of the world just will not do. The point is to change it. This requires us honestly to recognise the scale of the crisis while identifying those symptoms of resistance […]

The De-commissioned Army

Carlisle rs21 put forward a revolutionary perspective on the Corbyn victory Jeremy Corbyn’s victory is a milestone in the fight for a better society. It was a day when people who had been silenced by austerity found their voice and bellowed. We witnessed the death and burial of the Blair project. We got the conclusion […]

The Syrian Revolution and the crisis of the anti-war movement

Suddenly, everyone is talking about Syria. Saturday’s demonstration will be in solidarity with all refugees, but a Syrian refugee is one of the key organisers. Campaigners from the Syria Solidarity Movement UK and Stop the War Coalition are among those involved in the planning, along with many other organisations. Everyone should welcome this commitment to […]

IS in the 60s: May 68 and after

How can revolutionaries build an organisation from tiny beginnings?

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 […]

The idea of revolution in the 21st century

Video of Neil Davidson and Colin Barker speaking on The Idea of Revolution in the 21st Century.

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 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

Laboratories Of Hope

An invitation to build a ‘laboratory of hope’… When things are difficult, and we all feel that twinge of desperation. When the Media is full of scaremongering about the imminent threat of ISIS, and you can’t see any way, or any time, to actually change anything. That’s when we need ‘Laboratories of Hope’. It’s what […]

Leninism?

Charlie Post, a supporter of Solidarity, a US revolutionary socialist organisation, continues a discussion on what is meant by ‘Leninism’ today Two developments have sparked a renewed debate on revolutionary socialist organisation. On the one hand, the emergence of “new left parties” and the continued crisis of the self-identified revolutionary left, of which the recent […]

Climate change has revolutionary potential

Tabitha Spence discusses how the movements against climate change open up a space to wider radicalisation

Video: Capitalism vs the climate

In the run up to Saturday’s Time to Act demonstration, Jonathan Neale spoke in Carlisle about climate change and revolution.

How to learn from Lenin

Barnaby Raine examines the relevance of one of Lenin’s key works ‘The State and Revolution’. Originally published in the Autumn 2014 issue of the rs21 magazine.  Just months before stunning the world with its first socialist revolution on a national scale, a rebel leader returned from exile in Switzerland to the upheavals of Russia in […]

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 […]

Muslim Brotherhood Supporters Remain Under Sentence of Death in Egypt

The new regime in Egypt has been handing out mass death sentences to Muslim Brotherhood supporters. General al-Sisi has exploited hostility to the Brotherhood to crack down on mass street protests more generally and to excuse his betrayal of the people of Gaza. More needs to be done to defend the Brotherhood supporters, writes Peter […]

Video: Barnaby Raine and Mona Dohle comment on the Gaza solidarity movement

Two rs21 activists have appeared on TV in the past 24 hours discussing the situation in Gaza and how best to deliver solidarity to Palestinians under attack from Israel.

Moroccan activists renegotiate power: a new stage in a forgotten uprising

Miriyam Aouragh reports from Morocco, where she is currently on fieldwork. She researches the role of new media in the (counter) revolutionary movements in Syria and Morocco.

25 de Abril, Sempre! Portugal 40 years after the Revolution

Mark Bergfeld speaks on the legacy of Portugal’s revolution of 1974, and its relevance to today’s struggles against austerity.

Memoirs of a revolution: Portugal 1974

On the 25th April 1974, against every expectation, a revolution broke out in Portugal. On the 40th Anniversary, Brian Parkin recalls what it was like for a young British engineering worker, arriving in the midst of a city in the process of revolution, where momentarily everything seemed possible. Lisbon. An imperial city. A city as […]