Democracy & State
Overcoming the enemies within
17 May 2012
The left must unite in order to change the relationship of forces both within and outside the Labour Party, argues Mike Macnair
Marching towards what solution?
16 May 2024
Steve Freeman gives a Menshevik twist to the old PLO demand for a single capitalist Palestinian state by making the case for a single capitalist federal republic. The perspective of working class rule and socialism is denounced as ultra-leftism
Sir Keir’s Tory bigot
16 May 2024
Natalie Elphicke is welcomed in. Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott are kept out. Meanwhile, the Corbynista left limps on in 57 insipid varieties, writes Carla Roberts
Egging on the mob
09 May 2024
Republicans and Democrats alike brand anti-Zionism as anti-Semitism and unleash police and rightwing attacks. But, warns Daniel Lazare, a second-term Trump presidency will move to crush any opposition to Israel
Third period Bennism
09 May 2024
Should we support George Galloway’s Workers Party of Britain in the coming general election? Carla Roberts gives her take on the politics, programme and perspectives
Debating with Oehlerites
09 May 2024
With the general election fast approaching, Eddie Ford reports on the Online Communist Forum debate. While the Spartacist League fetishises opposition to the person of Sir Keir Starmer and throws in its lot with the Tusc opportunist lash-up, the CPGB emphasises communist unity as the only serious route towards mass work
Sir Keir flies the flag
02 May 2024
Labour told candidates to mark St George’s Day ‘with enthusiasm’. Then there was the England jersey furore. Carl Collins examines the role of hegemony in today’s culture wars
Foibles, fantasies and failure
02 May 2024
For too long much of the left has tailed Scottish nationalism. Yet Humza Yousaf’s fall demonstrates that control is still exercised by Westminster. But it is not just about the legal limits of devolution: there is economic reality too, writes Mike Macnair
Ditch the constitution
02 May 2024
America is in thrall to a dictatorship of the past. That Donald Trump is relying on the Supreme Court to establish his ‘presidential immunity’ from prosecution should act as a clarion call for mass action to achieve a genuine democracy, argues Daniel Lazare
A very Tory ban
25 Apr 2024
With Labour support, the Tories’ smoking ban is likely to pass - but, on historical evidence, prohibition is hardly likely to work, says Paul Demarty
Turning the tide
18 Apr 2024
Ukraine’s summer 2023 offensive was a complete failure and Russia now appears to be making tactical gains. But Kyiv is not going to be a pushover, writes Eddie Ford
Selective memory syndrome
18 Apr 2024
Paul Demarty admires George Galloway’s grand ambitions, but warns about a complete inability to deliver. Meanwhile, a forgetful SWP sticks to ‘strikes and streets’
Gaza and militarisation
11 Apr 2024
Toby Abse reports on the links between Italian universities and Israel’s war machine. Inevitably anyone who dares protest is branded an anti-Semite by the rightwing media
Strengthen those red lines
11 Apr 2024
Left groups are arguing about the class nature of a possible Sinn Féin-led government. Even about joining as coalition partners and getting the perks and privileges of junior ministers. Anne McShane calls for unity around tried and tested principles, not diplomatic fudges
Using every avenue
11 Apr 2024
In what is almost certainly a general election year, Jack Conrad looks at the evolution, limits and possibilities of parliament. We don’t have to settle for Sir Keir’s Labour Party and the lesser evil
Two-party dictatorship
11 Apr 2024
Third parties face a whole series of increasingly impossible hurdles. Daniel Lazare looks at how both Republicans and Democrats oppose democracy