history
Britain: The 1970s and the movement for workers’ control
[Click for more discussion of workers' control, cooperatives and "green jobs".]
By Andrew Coates
Trade unions have historically bargained for better terms for the sale of labour power; they have not been able to challenge the existence of the labour market itself. Today, however, the relation between "political" and "economic" struggle have changed.” -- Perry Anderson. "The Limits and Possibilities", in The Incompatibles: Trade Union Militancy and the Consensus,1967.
Britain's days of hope -- Ken Loach's 'The Spirit of ’45' reviewed
Ken Loach discusses The Spirit of '45.
South Africa: Chris Hani would be angry at ANC 'adopting our class opponents' policies'
By the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa
(Updated April 14) Thatcher and Thatcherism: Don’t let them re-write history!
For more on Thatcher and Thatcherism, click HERE.
By Dave Kellaway
April 9, 2013 -- Socialist Resistance -- If we need yet another argument about why we must put our political energies into building a fighting alternative to [the Labour Party] then compare and contrast these statements on the death of Margaret Thatcher:
Ed Miliband MP, Labour leader of the opposition, said:
I send my deep condolences to Lady Thatcher’s family, in particular Mark and Carol Thatcher. She will be remembered as a unique figure. She reshaped the politics of a whole generation. She was Britain’s first woman prime minister. She moved the centre ground of British politics and was a huge figure on the world stage.
The Labour Party disagreed with much of what she did and she will always remain a controversial figure. But we can disagree and also greatly respect her political achievements and her personal strength.
Tariq Ali: 'Thatcherism continues'; Gerry Adams: `Thatcher did great hurt'
For more on Thatcher and Thatcherism, click HERE.
April 9, 2013 -- SinnFein.ie -- Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams commenting on the death today of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said:
Margaret Thatcher did great hurt to the Irish and British people during her time as British prime minister.
Working-class communities were devastated in Britain because of her policies.
Her role in international affairs was equally belligerent whether in support of the Chilean dictator Pinochet, her opposition to sanctions against apartheid South Africa; and her support for the Khmer Rouge.
Here in Ireland her espousal of old draconian militaristic policies prolonged the war and caused great suffering. She embraced censorship, collusion and the killing of citizens by covert operations, including the targeting of solicitors like Pat Finucane, alongside more open military operations and refused to recognise the rights of citizens to vote for parties of their choice.
Review: Paul Le Blanc and Kunal Chattopadhyay’s Trotsky selection ‘a missed opportunity’
Review by Michael Fisher
Exclusive excerpt: 'One Day in December: Celia Sánchez and the Cuban Revolution'
The following is an excerpt from Nancy Stout'
Latin America’s Turbulent Transitio
Canada: New Democratic Party poised for power, but to what effect?
For more on the New Democratic Party, click HERE. For more on politics in Canada, click HERE.
By Richard Fidler
February 19, 2013 -- Life on the Left, posted at Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal with permission -- In the summer of 2012 I drafted an article on the New Democratic Party (NDP) for the purpose of introducing a discussion among some comrades seeking information about the party that now forms the official opposition in Canada’s House of Commons. While by no means a definitive study, the article draws on a number of books, academic papers and other documents addressed to the history and nature of Canadian social democracy, all of which are referenced or linked in the text. A French version of this article, addressed to a Québécois readership, is published in the current issue of the left journal Nouveaux Cahiers du Socialisme devoted to “La question canadienne”, a critical analysis of the “Harper revolution”.