Essays & Interviews
The false hope of a Biden presidency
It is telling that many of those who have publicly celebrated the election results are those liberals who, in their own words, cannot wait to stop caring about politics again. It is only those aware of Biden’s decades as a senior official of the US empire that understand the implications of his victory.
Imperialism, Colombia's massacres, and what you can do about it
This year alone, at least 223 social leaders in Colombia have been massacred for their political beliefs. But we are not calling for Western society to come and save us. Instead, we want Westerners to understand that they have an active duty to put an end to the violent situation made possible by their governments and businesses.
Against performativity
Biological science must reconcile itself with trans existence. Hodder reminds us that the purpose of dialectical materialism is not simply to recognise what exists, but ‘to recognise it in order to change it’, and we are already changing sex and gender, without Judith Butler opening the door for us.
This is not an aberration; violence is central to the history, and present, of the United States
Contrary to the racist notion that it should not lower itself to the standards of its enemies, it must be stated plainly that the US is in fact the global expert on assassinations, crushing internal dissent, and mass violence.
Keir Starmer and Britain’s Road to Socialism
The Communist Party of Britain’s support for Labour was never unconditional but a necessary tactic for a united working class, and though they could keep up this pretence under Corbyn it is unthinkable under Starmer. And so, although the new programme was only published in April, a new edition of Britain’s Road to Socialism is immediately necessary.
The Progressive International, a Global Green New Deal and the Limits of ‘Left Unity’
The Progressive International stands in marked contrast to the earlier internationalist alliances, and much like the original New Deal in the 1930s it is an attempt to save capitalism and support the very institutions and ideologies that are pushing the planet to the point of no return.
StudyTube and the fetishisation of productivity
During a global pandemic that is exposing the contradictions of global capitalism, StudyTube instead re-frames this as an opportunity to accelerate one’s own productive potential. Ruby Granger, it seems, is committed to going down with the ship of capitalist realism, even as its edifice begins to crumble around her.
Mark Fisher in postmodernity
Though Fisher uses the concept ‘capitalist realism’ with the hope of coming out the other side of postmodernism, he succumbs to its ambiguities and false genealogies as it fetishises what is new; the USSR becomes identical to the US and European powers, and Marx, Lenin, and Stalin become dead white men who may as well be T.E. Lawrence.
Bolsheviks without Soviets
Revolutionary parties in Britain have been overtaken by liberal movements in their demand for citizens’ assemblies and strikes. And although they model themselves on the successes of the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks’ central demand – ‘All power to the Soviets’ – is entirely lost on them, and instead revert to a Blanquism that demands ‘All power to the party.’
When workers shot back
The lasting impact of the Russian Revolution made armed struggle a legitimate strategy for contesting and seizing power. The Bolshevik use of armed struggle was increasingly emulated globally by independence movements, nationalists, anti-colonialists, and the left in the networks of European colonies and home countries across the globe.
Lessons from LulzSec
Before 4chan became a cesspool of fascism, groups such as Anonymous and LulzSec emerged from the fringes of nerd culture promoting radical slogans with a loosely anti-imperialist and anti-police level of distrust of the state.
Social democracy and its discontents: Race and class in the fallout of the UK general election
An insidious narrative surrounding the election result is that Corbyn and the Labour left erred by subordinating ‘authentic’ class issues to identity politics and diversity. One thing is certain: socialists must confront racism head on, and foster working-class unity in all its diversity.
Reflections on Hong Kong
Even among the left, China is a controversial topic but – because of this weakness – the US is able to pounce on it all the more easily. And while it may not be another ‘brown’ country the US can invade, it still bears the same hallmarks of racism, bigotry, and shallowness the imperialist media utilises in its quest for regime change. Hong Kong protesters know this and are using this to their advantage – waving signs in English, American flags, and even singing the US national anthem as they make their way to US consulate.
Why the US tent cities are concentration camps for children
For centuries, children have been used as pawns by governments seeking to control their parents or their leaders. And children have been forcibly relocated in the United States before. Under slavery they were separated from their parents to extort labor and build wealth, while Native American children were taken from their families for re-schooling and to foster the expropriation of land.
Chinese universities and the new Red Scare
The threat to universities in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, and elsewhere comes predominantly from the CIA and other Western intelligence and defense agencies. Based on the long-established practices of the Cold War, they misguidedly seek to control academic research on behalf of the Western capitalist class and deny China access to Western institutions of higher learning and the knowledge they have contributed to.
Inside the last days of the CPGB-ML
Some members had already left, fed up with the ignorance and incompetence of the Central Committee, while others, against their better judgement, stayed to try and correct the course of the party. But still the Central Committee could only picture the working class a caricature, telling members of the party to lose weight and get ‘working class’ haircuts – before going on to unironically describe Tommy Robinson’s hairstyle.
Approaching the ‘Entertainment State’
The US state has a long history of meddling in film and television, reaching back as far as the early 1900s and stemming from every branch of its secret services and military. Though information on this relationship is readily available, it is rarely presented to the public or even discussed in academia.
After ethical consumption
In buying Fair Trade, Apple Red, Nike, or Gillette products, for example, we are still really only seeking to exculpate ourselves from an evil we can never escape, whose taint will always be branded on our souls. Oddly enough, this is not too far from the approach of the resurgent fascist right, which attempts to justify the present evil by leaning into it.
Cuban women in the Special Period
Cubans, and Cuban women in particular, learned to become their own heroes, because standing still was out of the question. Many things were at stake: the survival of their families, the safety of their children, and the future of a Revolution that is far from perfect but that most Cubans prefer and want. It is our right to make our own path.
Subjects
- Imperialism
- British Politics
- Palestine
- Marxism
- US Politics
- Irish Politics
- Sinn Fein
- Racism
- Climate
- Gender
- Critical Theory
- Art and culture
- China
- Labour Party
- Black Power
- Technology
- Covid
- Palestine Action
- South America
- NHS
- Third World
- Green New Deal
- Iraq War
- Ukraine War
- Cuba
- Feminism
- Armed Resistance
- Essays