Party & Programme
End the cycle of splits
24 May 2012
If the left is to build a serious political organisation it will have to facilitate internal dissent, writes Mike Macnair. And that will require both majorities and minorities to act responsibly
Sir Keir’s little helpers
30 May 2024
Behind the kitsch leftwing decoration there is anti-anti-imperialism, defence of Zionism and the aiding and abetting of the ‘anti-Semitism’ witch-hunt. Mike Macnair looks at one of those confessional sects calling for a blanket Labour vote
Interview with an opportunist
09 May 2024
Sahra Wagenknecht offers no real alternative to global capital, argues Paul Demarty. But moralism is no response
Another sect is rebranded
09 May 2024
Carl Collins looks at the factors behind the shift from clause four Fabianism to the Madison Avenue ‘communist turn’
Local election barometer
09 May 2024
Things are on course not for a hung parliament, but a thumping Labour majority. As for the left, apart from George Galloway’s WPB, the results were statistically and politically almost irrelevant. Mike Macnair says the way forward lies with principled unity which will allow for effective mass work
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
Applying Bolshevism globally
25 Apr 2024
Comintern came into existence because of, on the one hand, the treachery of most of the social democratic parties and, on the other hand, the inspiration provided by the Bolsheviks and the October Revolution. However, as Jack Conrad explains, the main problem encountered in the early years was leftism - not least when it came to electoral strategy and tactics
Thinking through the options
25 Apr 2024
Vote Labour to get the Tories out? What about the Greens and the various left candidates? Mike Macnair discussed the coming general election at the April 21 aggregate of CPGB members
Two election tactics
18 Apr 2024
The Bolsheviks are rightly famous for their armed street demonstrations and storming of the Winter Palace. But what they are less known for is their use of elections to the duma, the tsar’s toothless parliament. Jack Conrad puts the record straight
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
Lifelong friend and comrade
04 Apr 2024
David Douglass remembers Tom Kilburn, August 25 1946 - March 17 2024
Same old same old
04 Apr 2024
Having abandoned clause four Fabianism, the Woods-Sewell tendency has issued a manifesto with a view to grandly renaming their oil slick international. Mike Macnair asks what, if anything, is new about their Revolutionary Communist International
We deserve better
28 Mar 2024
Owen Jones has a dodgy record and still shows no understanding of what the anti-Zionism equals anti‑Semitism big lie is all about, says Carla Roberts
Repeating past failures
28 Mar 2024
Socialist Appeal’s proposed ‘Revolutionary Communist Party’ claims to offer a ‘clean break with the sects’. In fact, the proposal is a mere repetition of the method of the confessional sects, argues Mike Macnair
Ten thousand years of sorrow
21 Mar 2024
Class exploitation and war go hand in hand. Jack Conrad explores origins, Greek warriors, Christian theology and the widely held idea that Marx and Engels urged the backing of the lesser evil
Delusions of ‘official optimism’
21 Mar 2024
Socialist Appeal has discarded its ‘clause four’ Fabianism and made a ‘communist turn’, all explained by heady talk of a coming revolutionary crisis. Mike Macnair assesses its perspectives