This is an edited version of the introductory talk that Barry Biddulph gave at the Talking About Socialism Zoom discussion on Monday 11 August 2025. The title of the meeting was ‘How can we make YourParty democratic and socialist?’ Stephen Owen gave a second introduction to that meeting. A summary Continue Reading
Barry Biddulph
Forwards not backwards
For some considerable time discussions about the formation of a new left-wing party have been taking place behind closed doors – in the shadows, not in the light of day. However, in a Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) Zoom meeting on the 21 July 2025, called under the title Continue Reading
Fascism is not our fate
Barry Biddulph reviews Richard Seymour, Disaster Nationalism, Verso, 2024. Richard Seymour does not view the rise of extreme nationalism, the politics of Trump, Orban, Modi, Le Pen and Bolsonaro through the lens of classical fascism in Italy in the 1920s and Germany in the 1930s. He avoids the mistake of Continue Reading
The Scottish Clearances – A reign of terror
Review: The Scottish Clearances by T.M.Devine, Penguin 2018. A colossal redstone statue stands 100 feet high, above Dornoch firth, on top of Ben Bhraggie, overlooking Dunrobin Castle, on the East coast of Scotland. According to David Craig, some people describe the statue as the murderer’s monument. Alternatively, it can be seen as Continue Reading
Who was the monster?
Review: Blood in the Machine. The origins of the rebellion against Big-Tech, by Brian Merchant, Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2023. Brian Merchant demolishes the middle-class myth that the Luddites were stupid workers who didn’t understand the new technology. The historical truth is the Luddites didn’t hate the new machines as Continue Reading
Talking the talk
Review of Mick Lynch, The Making of a Working Class Hero, by Gregor Gall, Manchester University Press 2024. Gregor Gall poses this question: is Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT transport workers’ union, a working class hero? His answer is complicated: yes and no. Gregor’s assessment is that “Lynch Continue Reading