Understanding the contradictions of Ukraine
rs21 member Sam O’Brien argues for a more nuanced understanding which sees both the struggle for national liberation and rivalry between imperialist powers as driving the war.
Review | The New Cold War
The new imperialist world order is characterised by increasing military tensions between the world’s major powers, but also by economic competition.
Chernobyl 1986 – when nuclear power came of age
A lethal combination of technical arrogance, corporate and state deceit and human fallibility that will forever lie at the heart of nuclear power.
Mikhail Gorbachev: twin portraits of a failed reformer
Gorbachev was neither a liberal man of peace nor an incompetent who trashed Russia
Inside the Ukrainian Resistance
Interview about the Ukrainian Resistance, the state of war, the dynamics of class struggle and popular consciousness, and the tasks of the international Left in building solidarity with Ukraine.
Striking union organisers raided by Russian security forces
Russian security forces raided the apartments of independent trade unionists in Moscow in a direct attack on the organising of gig workers.
Russia’s war and the West
Gareth Dale responds to an article by Tom Bramble exploring the reasons for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Russian imperialism under Putin
The invasion of Ukraine can be understood only with reference to the imperialist competition that dominates the world system.
How the West made Putin
Anindya Bhattacharyya charts a recent history of links between Putin and key figures in the Western ruling class.
Russia’s invasion and world imperialism
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shows that we have to understand imperialism as a world system.
NATO: the West’s war machine
rs21 member Andy Gammon argues that solidarity with Ukrainians means calling for an end to NATO.
On the invasion of Ukraine
A statement from the rs21 Steering Group on the inter-imperialist war currently being waged in Ukraine.
‘Solidarity is a stream of sparks’: interview with an antifascist political prisoner
‘We are not alone, we are together, and we will win’: An interview with Russian antifascist political prisoner Ilya Shakursky.
Video: Popular Uprisings from Belarus to Lebanon
Mass movements around the world are continuing to upset the status quo. We were joined by activists from Belarus and Lebanon to learn more about the struggles unfolding in both states.
Interview: Organised and disorganised labour in the Belarus uprising
Siarhei Biareishyk speaks to rs21 about the uprising in Belarus following the falsified re-election of Aliaksandr Lukashenka on 9 August 2020.
Interview: Putin’s crisis of legitimacy
A referendum characterised by unprecedented falsification theoretically clears the way for Putin to stay as Russian president until 2036, but popular support for his regime is declining sharply.
revolutionary reflections | Endgames of US petro-imperialism?
Brian Parkin explains some of the contradictions of the energy markets and the process of US imperial decline in an era of climate catastrophe
Review: We Need To Talk About Putin
Mark Galeotti’s alternate perspective on Putin, as presented in his recent book We Need to Talk About Putin, provides an interesting read.
Interview: Ukraine’s crisis of representation
Yuliya Yurchenko discusses the landslide victory of the comedian Vladimir Zelensky over the incumbent Petro Poroshenko in the Ukrainian presidential election.
Repression in Russia: demonstrate on Saturday 19 January
Support anti-fascists and leftists facing repression in Russia this Saturday.
None of them care about Syrian lives
Emma Wilde Botta and Shireen Akram-Boshar provide the background you need to understand the conflicts and consequences of Trump’s Syria withdrawal plan.
The Looming Massacre in Idlib
The regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad is threatening to carry out a massive assault on the province of Idlib, including a potential chemical weapons attack, in a bid to crush one of the last strongholds of opposition. Such an assault would have a potentially devastating impact on civilians, many of them refugees from the […]
Review: Ukraine and the Empire of Capital
Nick Evans finds much of interest in Yuliya Yurchenko’s analysis of Ukraine’s recent history.
Syria and US intervention
Listen to Omar Sabbour on the real nature of the US intervention in Syria and the implications for anti-imperialists and the left.
Russia: antifascists face torture and state repression
Russian antifascists have endured abduction and torture by state security agencies, as authorities use forced confessions to smear the left
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.
There’s nothing so weird as a revolution
Ian Birchall reviews China Miéville’s October, a new history of the Russian Revolution. It seems an odd pairing: the Russian Revolution and China Miéville, whose reputation is based on fantasy fiction which he himself describes as “weird”. But one only needs to read a few pages to realise that this is not a forced marriage […]
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.
How memories of Soviet repression turn Eastern Europe against the left
Hanna Gal offers some personal thoughts on anti-communist political culture in Eastern Europe and how to bridge the divide between Eastern European workers and Western Marxists.