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
Nick Wrack
No money for war in Ukraine
Oppose GMB Motion 71 The British Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a federation of 48 trade unions, representing 5.5 million trade union members. The 155th annual TUC Congress (conference) takes place in Liverpool on 10-13 September 2023. A motion on the agenda from the GMB union (Motion 71) seeks to commit 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
What sort of public ownership?
Water is essential for life. Provided by nature, it should be accessible and free for all. A functioning system for treating sewage is also one of the most basic requirements for any society; without it we face disease and contagion. Yet, in the UK, one of the richest countries in Continue Reading
Abbott’s own goal
Diane Abbott’s letter to the Observer was offensive, historically illiterate, and an unbelievable gift to her opponents inside and outside of the Labour Party. However, Diane Abbott should not have been suspended by Labour leader Keir Starmer. Her letter was not antisemitic, and I don’t believe that Starmer or any Continue Reading
No short cuts
Should Jeremy Corbyn stand as an independent in Islington North? Should socialists stand candidates against Labour generally and against Keir Starmer specifically? Should socialists be calling for a new workers’ party? If so, what sort of party? None of these questions can be answered without first answering the questions that Continue Reading
The property question
The key question for socialists is who owns the resources of society and decides how to allocate them. At the moment we are fighting to force the owners’ club to give us a few scraps from their enormous wealth. It’s a daily, hourly fight. We need to own the world’s Continue Reading
Where now for the left?
The Labour Party has never been a socialist party. A socialist party would stand for the abolition of capitalism, a system based on the exploitation of the working class for profit. It would stand for the establishment of a completely new system, one based on the common ownership of society’s Continue Reading
The Communist Manifesto
175 years on and still relevant This month marks the 175th anniversary of the publication of The Manifesto of the Communist Party in February 1848. It appeared on the world stage in German, just in time for the revolutionary events that broke out that year across Europe. It is a brilliant, succinct, rallying Continue Reading
Tories out – Fight for socialism
Socialists must demand a General Election now. With the sacking by Prime Minister Liz Truss of her own Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and her own resignation after just 44 days in the job, the Tories are in absolute crisis. Their mandate for government has evaporated. Democracy demands that we have an Continue Reading