Democracy & State > Republican democracy
Republicanism and the form of working class rule
31 May 2012
As the constitutional monarchy state proclaims its commitment to privilege and the status quo, Michael Copestake looks back to a rather different tradition
Case of judicial usurpation
24 Apr 2025
The Supreme Court decision on the legal definition of ‘woman’ poses more questions than it answers, but there can be no doubt that it marks a huge victory for the Tory Party and the rightwing media, says Mike Macnair
Labourism without Labour
03 Apr 2025
Strikes and streets are not the be-all and end-all of class politics, agrees Jack Conrad. But, when it comes to ‘We Demand Change’ and standing in elections, the SWP has nothing that resembles a principled programme
Searching for the master key
06 Mar 2025
Trump’s administration promises to release files on John F Kennedy, Jeffrey Epstein and others - but so far substance is lacking. Paul Demarty delves into the role of pseudo-disclosures in the American mind
Snouts in the trough
26 Sep 2024
Endless freebies, generous donations, lavish hospitality, talk of a ‘nest of vipers’ in No10 - welcome to the new Labour government. Yet again we see how corruption is built into the political system, writes Eddie Ford
End of the beginning
29 Aug 2024
With the Democratic national convention safely wound up, Paul Demarty assesses the presidential race and peers into an uncertain future
At an impasse
22 Aug 2024
Paul Russell looks at the extraordinary difficulties in finding a prime minister who can command a workable majority. However, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally seems quite content to bide its time till the 2027 presidential election
Donald the Führer?
01 Aug 2024
Liberal hysteria about Trump abolishing presidential elections - even being a new Hitler - sees the BBC acting as mere propagandists for the US Democrats, writes Eddie Ford
Minimum programme again
27 Jun 2024
To achieve the global transition to communism the working class must first conquer state power - that requires the minimum programme of economic - but crucially political - demands. Mike Macnair responds to Andrew Northall, Gerry Downing and Steve Freeman
Bookies, mugs and pollsters
27 Jun 2024
As Sunak’s campaign stumbles from bad to worse, Paul Demarty looks at the latest turn in the betting scandal and, in the absence of any differences of substance, the media obsession with the polls
Minimal symmetrical errors
23 May 2024
One upholds only the maximum programme in elections, the other rejects the maximum programme as ultra-leftist, but neither shows the least understanding of the minimum programme. Mike Macnair replies to Adam Buick and Steve Freeman
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
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
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
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
How to be an extremist
14 Mar 2024
Michael Gove and co seek to redefine ‘extremism’. Paul Demarty suggests that we should wear the label with pride