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
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
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
Modern supply-side economics and the New Washington Consensus
Last month, the US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, outlined the international economic policy of the US administration. This was a pivotal speech, because Sullivan explained what is called the New Washington Consensus on US foreign policy. The original Washington Consensus was a set of ten economic policy prescriptions considered to constitute Continue Reading
Acemoglu, AI and automation
There is a new burst of techno-optimism emerging over the application of ChatGPT and LLMs. One analyst reckons that AI “has huge potential to boost economy-wide productivity” and cited a recent MIT study that showed a massive improvement in productivity while using ChatGPT. Also, much of the productivity gains were seen Continue Reading
In defence of Ken Loach: History is for all of us to discuss
I wrote this short article just over a year ago, before I was myself expelled from the Labour Party. It explores how right-wing Zionists in the Party had somehow succeeded in smearing and vilifying Ken Loach, even amongst broad layers of progressive activists in the Party who you’d have expected Continue Reading
Why do we have a Labour Party instead of a socialist Party?
This article originally appeared in Prometheus. It was also used to facilitate a discussion in a meeting of Talking About Socialism on 12th June 2023 – watch the video here. What sort of an organisation is the Labour Party? Its dominance of the left in Britain for over a century Continue Reading