Category: Contributions

Class struggle is back, but will class politics follow?

Nick Wright argues that despite the disappointing end to the Corbyn era in 2019, the labour movement is not in a weaker place in terms of militancy, membership and motivation — and this can be translated into electoral success once again.

Matchweek 21 Premier League Recap

Just one day removed from all 20 teams playing it out in a full midweek card, we are back to action with an exciting weekend card.

Why LGBT History Month matters

Jamie Perkins explains the history and importance of LGBT History Month and highlights the YCL’s plans including an International Webinar later this month.

Poetry Corner: A Worker Reads History by Bertolt Brecht

A Worker Reads History by Bertolt Brecht.

Bertolt Brecht is an eternal darling of leftist lovers of poetry. As a young man, Brecht discovered Marxism in the process of looking for methods to politicise his artistic aesthetic. Brecht’s work is thus built on historicism and critique of established institutions, as well as the various myths surrounding these institutions.

This artistic methodology of Brecht is best seen in his poem A Worker Reads History. Here, Brecht recounts centuries of historical events, which he exaggerates in order to emphasise the place of the Worker. Brecht shows the historical events as impermanent and transitory, with one constant: mighty buildings and great men change, but cooks and builders remain. The poem contains little description – as most of Brecht’s work, it is intended to alienate the reader and put them outside of the described events so that the reader can adopt a critical attitude.

Copyright collective PRS launch ‘Online Live Concert’ license at expense of the British music scene

Earlier this week British Copyright Collective ‘PRS for Music’ launched their new ‘Online Live Concert’ license to an outcry of disgust and condemnation from many within the British music scene. In short, their new licences require PRS-registered artists wishing to monetise livestreamed sets OF THEIR OWN MATERIAL to pay for the privilege of doing so. The minimum PRS will charge for such a license is £22.50, regardless of how much the livestreamed gig actually makes.

Tottenham v. Liverpool

The feature match of the midweek card was the one that many teams and fans alike had their eyes on as two perennial title contenders took the stage at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with the reigning champions Liverpool taking all three points home with them to Anfield in their bid to become back-to-back Premier League champions since the 1980’s.

Elon Musk: the world’s richest con-man

Recently Tesla’s stock rose by almost 5% per cent, pushing Musk’s net worth up to $183.8 billion. This makes the self-styled celebrity the world’s richest man, surpassing Amazon’s infamous Jeff Bezos. For Musk’s cult of free-market fanboys this simply proves his genius – a fair reward for the world’s most brilliant inventor. But what is really behind the Tesla empire? And what has Musk actually invented?

Premier League recap

Could West Ham continue their impressive unbeaten streak alive? How would Arsenal respond to playing the same team they had lost to in the FA Cup so soon? These questions and more are answered below.

Holocaust Remembrance Day: Remembering the Life and Legacy of Friedrich Wolf

Friedrich Wolf lived in the tumultuous times of social and political crisis in Germany. Born in 1888, Wolf served in the military during the First World War, and the brutality of the war pushed him into left-wing pacifism as a young man. Wolf came from a family of Jewish communists, whose livelihood was threatened after Hitler’s rise to power.