‘Working Class History’? — None of the above
“Libcom” (short for libertarian communism – read “anarchism”), founded in 2002 by members of the Anarchist Youth Network has, perhaps unsurprisingly given its ideology, had little real world impact. However, since July 2014 they have been subtly undermining the historical record with a populist “on this day” blog on Twitter and Facebook called not “anarchist […]
Poetry Corner: Masses by César Vallejo
César Abraham Vallejo Mendoza was a Peruvian poet, writer, playwright, and journalist. Born the 11th child to parents who were both of mixed Spanish and Quechua Native origins, Vallejo as a child witnessed at first hand hunger and poverty and the injustices done to the indigenous peoples of the region.
Vallejo attended the University of Trujillo, where he studied both law and literature, writing a thesis entitled El romanticismo en la poesía castellana (“Romanticism in Castilian Poetry”; published 1954).
Although he published only three books of poetry during his lifetime, he is considered one of the great poetic innovators of the 20th century in any language. He was always a step ahead of literary currents, and each of his books was distinct from the others, and, in its own sense, revolutionary.
2020 NEU Left and Chicago Teachers Union bilateral discussion
On Wednesday 26 February, members of the NEU Left – the broad left-wing alliance within the National Education Union (NEU) – met in the Marx Memorial Library in London with Debby Pope, representative of the Executive Board of the Chicago Teachers Union.
The aim of this meeting was simple: to discuss common challenges, possibilities, and most importantly, how the rank and file members of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) had managed to successfully build a broad left-wing alliance that achieved power in the union structures and made a difference, including many successful grassroots campaigns.
The Gendered Impact of COVID-19
The ongoing Covid-19 crisis taking place across the world is producing some of the most significant upheavals the world has seen since the Second World War. UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, was first admitted to hospital with the Virus on the 5thof April. His battle with the illness prompted a wave of sympathy, with commentators sending niceties, positing that this highlighted that the Coronavirus can and does affect us all. “We are all in this together”, as Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, argued, and while it is clear that the Coronavirus is affecting us all, it is important to highlight that it is not affecting us all equally. There are obvious class differences in how people are able to cope amid the government lockdown. However, there are also key gender differences, and as usual women are bearing the brunt of both the economic repercussions of the lockdown, and are put at greater risk of infection.
Organising in Social Care during COVID-19
I work as a lifeguard. I sit at the side of the pool and watch people swim up and down. Occasionally, I’ll tell some kids that ‘no’, they can’t dive headfirst into other swimmers, then I go back to watching the pool. When the COVID-19 outbreak began I thought I was going to be out of a job due to being on a zero hours contract. Every casual worker for South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture was in the same boat.
Coronavirus in the developing world and the flaws of pandemic bonds
The worst effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have so far been limited to developed or relatively developed nations. But as the spread of the disease continues at breakneck speed, questions have begun to emerge about the capacity of healthcare systems to cope with the outbreaks. The numbers are staggering and medical equipment to deal with the respiratory effects caused by the virus are in short supply even in the most advanced countries.
Socialist Democracy and Real Human Rights
Robin Talbot discusses the limitations of bourgeois democracy under capitalism, the dictatorship of the proletariat and the promise of real human rights through socialism.
Poetry Corner: Stalingrad by Peter Blackman
Stalingrad by Peter Blackman
Attempts to conflate Nazism with Communism must be opposed
The “European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism” is yet another piece being weaved into the tapestry of anti communist propaganda, which has, in recent times, sought to accelerate the revision of history by eliminating the role of the Soviet Union, her people’s and her communist party’s historic role liberating the working […]
VE Day 75: a living legacy and an unfinished struggle
It is easy for young people in Britain today to overlook the importance of the outcome of the Second World War for world history and the current political situation we face today. It is difficult to comprehend the scale of the sacrifice and the bravery of previous generations in the struggle to defeat Nazi Fascism.
