During the Forging Communist Unity (FCU) talks, one view expressed was that once workers have taken power, the pathway from declining capitalism to communism would be prolonged due to middle-class groups in occupations at the margins of socialisation who will need to be convinced that communism is worth giving up Continue Reading
Capitalism
Live Stream of TAS meeting: Why we need a new Socialist/Communist Party
On Saturday 16 November TAS will be holding an in-person meeting in central Manchester, from 11am – 5pm, to discuss “Why we need a new Socialist/Communist Party. If you’re interested in attending then email us at info@talkingaboutsocialism.org or call Nick Wrack on 07812 063 409. We hope to Live Stream Continue Reading
Far-Right advance shows urgency of building united party to break with capitalism
The hard-line far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) has emerged as the largest party in the Austrian general election, with 29% of the vote. It beat the ruling conservative right-wing People’s Party (ÖVP), which received 26%. The Freedom party stood on an islamophobic, anti-immigrant programme. This follows the growth of the far-right 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
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