On-line discussion: What kind of democracy do we have, and need?

This meeting was chaired by Nick Wrack, on 18th September 2023. Watch the video here. Ed Potts introduces a discussion looking at democracy.  What sort of democracy do we have under capitalism?  What sort of democracy do we need?  What should democracy mean in the workers’ movement? Ed starts by reflecting on the Continue Reading

50 years since Pinochet’s coup in Chile

To mark fifty years since General Augusto Pinochet’s coup in Chile, carried out on 11 September 1973, we carry this poem by Janet Sillett. The disappeared By Janet Sillett Stooping women searching in the arid sand of Atacama Desert bone fragments meticulously cleaned the loudest of silences The baked earth Continue Reading

Online Discussion: After Corbynism, what next for the left? Part Two.

Zoom session on 17th April 2023. Watch the video here. Read Nick Wrack’s background paper here. In the second of our sessions looking at the tasks and challenges facing the left after the demise of the Corbyn project, Nick Wrack introduced the discussion by focussing on our fundamental goal as Continue Reading

Niger and Gabon: Only the working class can offer a solution

The military coup in the former French colony of Gabon (population of 2.3 million) on 30 August 2023 was the eighth in the former French colonies of West and Central African region in three years. It followed the military takeover in Niger (population 26 million) just a month earlier, on Continue Reading

Online Discussion: What sort of public ownership do socialists want?

Zoom session on 29th May 2023. Watch the video here. Read Nick Wrack’s article here. Nick Wrack introduced this session, looking at what sort of public ownership socialists should call for. Socialists often talk about nationalisation, and about the need for state ownership. Nick argues that at root we should Continue Reading

Capitalist Environmental Crises: A Socialist Response

In ‘Revenge of Nature: did the Rain Spoil your Grand Prix?’[1], Will McMahon paints a stark picture of the choices facing humanity under capitalism in the face of environmental catastrophe, but also throws down a gauntlet to socialists regarding our responsibilities in response to the crisis.  What are we, and should Continue Reading

What sort of new party of the left?

A call has been put out by a number of small left-wing groups and individuals for a new party. Left Unity, the Breakthrough Party, the People’s Alliance of the Left, and three Liverpool Community Independents councillors, together with other individuals have put out a call for a new party of Continue Reading

Benjamin Lay: the first revolutionary abolitionist

I was lucky to catch a performance of ‘The Return of Benjamin Lay’ at Finborough Theatre in London, following Tariq Ali’s recommendation on Facebook. The play is billed as “Benjamin Lay – shepherd, sailor, prophet, and the British Empire’s first revolutionary abolitionist – returns from the grave almost 300 years Continue Reading