Articles
Saturday, May 20, 2017
Politics are dominated by constitutional issues - Brexit and Scottish independence - despite the Labour leadership's attempts to shift the debate to an attack on Tory austerity. It has not been helped either by attacks from within the Parliamentary Labour Party. Against this background the Tories made gains in recent local and mayoral elections, however, the results were not uniform across the country.
Friday, May 19, 2017
The Spanish civil war is still of live significance today. The coming of the Second Republic in Spain posed a challenge to the reactionary forces which had dominated the country and offered hope workers and peasants. European capitalism, still reeling from the Russian Revolution, preferred to side with the fascist military coup against the democratically elected government. In doing so it not only ensured the defeat of the republican forces, but also paved the way for further fascist aggression and the Second World War.
Thursday, May 18, 2017
The desire of the people of Haiti for progressive change has been thwarted over decades by the ruling elite and external intervention. Recent elections have had low turn outs and been subject of endemic manipulation and fraud. Though people are disillusioned just now things will not stay that way.
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Wolfgang Streeck's book "How Will Capitalism End?" considers the structural problems of capitalism which culminated in the financial crisis. This is to be welcomed, however, there are weaknesses in his approach including a neglect of big economies outside the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the continued impact of technological development. Is capitalism really approaching its end?
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Extracts from the work of the writer Georgi Kublitsky who travelled the Soviet Union over the years and described its economic and social development. These extracts deal with the development of the different nations in the Soviet Union and focuses on Azerbaijan as one example.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
The interests of Leave and Remain voters are not very different. It is up to the left to put forward a unifying vision of what can be achieved freed from the constraints of the EU.
Monday, December 12, 2016
Obituary of Fidel Castro commemorating his life as leader of the Cuban Revolution.
Sunday, December 11, 2016
The finding by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia that Slobodan Milosevic was not responsible for major war crimes was buried in its report on Radovan Karadzic. The finding has been ignored by the media who vilified Milosevic as a pretext for US and NATO intervention in the region.