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Today's podcast is a discussion with Socialist Students national Organiser Adam Gillman, about the Youth Walkout against Trump campaign. Go to www.socialiststudents.org.uk to get involvedSocialist Students press releaseBuckingham Palace has booked in Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK for 17-19 September.Already hundreds of students have signed up to walk out of their schools, colleges and universities on Wednesday 17 September – the day that Trump arrives in the UK – as part of the Youth Walkout Against Trump campaign.The youth walkouts, initiated by Socialist Students, will be a protest against the chaos that Trump’s presidency represents for young people’s futures globally.Students will be walking out to instead demand a future to look forward to – for free education, a decent job, and the guarantee of a high-quality and affordable home for all; for an end to climate crisis; and for a world free from war, oppression and exploitation.With Trump’s visit taking place while Parliament is in recess, Keir Starmer and his Labour government will be hoping to escape the firing line of mass protests like those which Trump provoked during his first state visit to the UK in 2018.But the Youth Walkout Against Trump campaign will not let Labour off the hook. Adam Gillman, Socialist Students national organiser,said: “By building the youth walkouts, we can send a powerful message to young people and workers in America that we stand with them against Trump – not with Starmer, who issued the invite for this state visit.”TJ, a 19-year-old student in Leeds, said: “Labour has made cut after cut to young people’s futures while bosses make record profits. now they roll out the red carpet for oppressive leaders abroad. I am building for these walkouts to give young people a way to show Starmer’s Labour that this is not what the public voted for.”Lauren from Wrexham said: “Trump’s visit to the UK is an opportunity to fight back; not just against him but the capitalist system he upholds, which puts the interests of big business above the lives of working-class people. These walkouts are a chance to stand up to Trump, as well as our government who welcome him with open arms, and all other leaders who uphold this corrupt system! That’s why I’m building the youth walkouts against Trump.”Penelope, a college student from Preston, highlighted the common attacks facing students either side of the Atlantic: “Trump has cut funding to US universities, and has attacked students and staff standing up on issues like Palestine. Meanwhile Starmer’s government here raises universities tuition fees and continues the rampant underfunding of all levels of education. By walking out when Trump visits we are showing that young people everywhere have to fight for a decent education, in a capitalist world where none of our hard-won rights can be taken for granted”.While the university term has come to a close, and schools and sixth forms break up next week, Socialist Students will be continuing to build the walkout campaign over the summer – including calling public youth meetings in towns and cities throughout the UK to discuss how young people can build the walkouts and get organised to win a decent future under this Labour government.

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Today’s podcast is a discussion with Socialist Party General Secretary Hannah Sell, around the announcement on the 3rd July 2025 that Zarah Sultana MP was resigning from the Labour Party to, together with Jeremy Corbyn, “co-lead the founding of a new party, with other campaigners and activists across the country.”The Socialist Party has been pushing for the trade unions to take a leading role in any new party, and supports the change.org petition launched by 25 current and former senior trade unionists titled: “Time for trade unions to take the lead in forming a new working class party”. Sign the petition here: https://www.change.org/p/time-for-trade-unions-to-take-the-lead-in-forming-a-new-working-class-partyThere will be a national Zoom meeting to discuss the next steps for this campaign on the 21st July at 6:30pm. Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Ma5abmf1SCCE1_aGMZL2JA#/registrationFurther reading:Zarah Sultana MP leaves Labour and announces ‘co-founding a new party’ https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/140532/04-07-2025/zarah-sultana-mp-leaves-labour-and-announces-co-founding-a-new-party/More Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party links: https://linkin.bio/socialistparty/We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/joinThe Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejune2025/Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘The Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

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While it was never true that LGBTQ+ liberation was an inevitability within the system of profit-before-all-else capitalism, the basis for that hope has suffered major blows in the last year. The pace of attacks can feel overwhelming. Donald Trump’s second term has begun with cruel attacks on LGBTQ+ rights in the US on a much bigger scale than in his first term.In the UK, The recent Supreme Court ruling on the legal definition of a woman and the Cass review shows again how tenuous minority legal rights are in a system based on the exploitation of the majority by a small elite, who ultimately can only maintain their power through the methods of divide and rule. So how can we fight for LGBTQ+ rights in the teeth of these attacks?Youth walkout against TrumpWhen Starmer went to the White House, he issued an invitation to Trump from the King. We don’t yet know the date of Trump’s visit, but we need to be ready to protest when he comes!Trump has attacked the rights of women, LGBTQ+ people and other minority groups, and supports the mass deportation of migrants. He has bragged about helping billionaires get even richer, all while millions of Americans live in poverty.Socialist Students is putting out the call for Trump to be met by a massive youth walkout on ‘Day X’ – the day he visits Parliament, which we will know closer to the time. We can start to prepare now, by organising meetings in our schools, colleges and universities on how we can protest and build the walkouts. Let’s get ready to show Trump that we reject him and his politics of exploitation and division!https://socialiststudents.org.uk/youth-walkout-against-trump/Read more:Fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in 2025An editorial in ‘The Socialist’ the weekly paper of the Socialist Party:https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/140155/25-06-2025/fighting-for-lgbtq-rights-in-2025/The Cass Review one year onAn article in Socialism today, the monthly magazine of the Socialist party:https://socialismtoday.org/the-cass-review-one-year-onMore Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party links: https://linkin.bio/socialistparty/We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/joinThe Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejune2025/Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘The Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

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Hannah Sell, the general Secretary of the Socialist Party, discusses the chaos unleashed on the world economy by Donald Trump's ‘liberation day’ tariffs.What is the logic of the massive tariffs introduced by Trump? Despite appearances, it is not simply a question of a crazy billionaire having got the keys to the White House. Trump reflects the decline of US imperialism, still the strongest power on the planet, but increasingly less able to set the framework for the world. During Trump’s first term and under Biden, tariffs and protectionist measures increased, in an attempt to protect US markets from its global rivals. ‘Liberation Day’, however, was on a qualitatively different scale. Trump and his co-thinkers had drawn the conclusion that it is necessary to launch an offensive ‘knock-‘em-down, drag-‘em-out’ economic fight to defend US capitalism against its competitors, above all China.When the theatrics and fantastical hyperbole now associated with the Trump presidency are set to one side, the tariff war launched on April 2 boils down fundamentally to an attempt to appropriate to US capitalism a larger share of value from the world economy at the expense of its ‘trading partners’, “friend and foe alike” as Trump himself puts it.Read more:Trade wars and the workers’ movementAn Editorial of Socialism Today, the monthly magazine of the Socialist Partywww.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/138333/01-05-2025/socialism-today-editorial-trade-wars-and-the-workers-movement/Trump’s tariff turmoilAn editorial of the Socialist, the weekly paper of the Socialist Partywww.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/137831/14-04-2025/trumps-tariff-turmoil/More Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party links: linkin.bio/socialistparty/ We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: www.socialistparty.org.uk/joinThe Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejune2025/Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘The Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

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Dave Semple, Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) national Vice president, speaking in a personal capacity, discusses the issues at stake in the upcoming union elections. From 16 April, ballot papers will go out to PCS members to vote for a new National Executive Committee (NEC) and president. PCS organises workers in the civil service, in government agencies and other public sector bodies, and on outsourced government contracts.Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden’s “radical reforms” and Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement promise “the worst cuts since austerity” – a £2 billion axe to the civil service.This includes 15% cuts to departmental budgets, tens of thousands of jobs to go, the abolition of NHS England with the loss of half the workforce, below-inflation pay rises, unsafe pensions, office closures, increased workload, and attacks on the working environment, including hybrid working. And this catalogue was all promised before the onset of economic chaos and potential downturn following Trump’s tariffs.Elections are taking place this spring in a number of unions – the first time under Starmer’s government. They are all an opportunity for members to elect a fighting leadership that will stand up to Starmer and lead a serious campaign to defend members.Read more:PCS must fight Starmer’s cutshttps://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/137687/09-04-2025/pcs-must-fight-starmers-cuts/The battle for the PCShttps://socialismtoday.org/the-battle-for-the-pcsMore Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party links: https://linkin.bio/socialistparty/ We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/joinThe Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejune2025/Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘the Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

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Sascha Stanicic discusses the recent German elections in February 2025, which saw a drop in votes for the ‘establishment’ parties, and an increase in support for both the leftwing Die Linke and the right wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD).Sascha is the federal spokesperson for– Sozialistische Organisation Solidarität (SOL) – the section of the Committee for a Workers International in Germany. The CWI is the international organization the Socialist Party is a member of, check out their website at https://www.socialistworld.net/Read more:Germany: Election disaster for establishment parties https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/136297/05-03-2025/germany-election-disaster-for-establishment-parties/The Left Party, Trump, Ukraine and the ‘Debt Brake’https://www.socialistworld.net/2025/03/10/germany-the-left-party-trump-ukraine-and-the-debt-brake/More Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party links: https://linkin.bio/socialistparty/ We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join The Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejune2025/Subscribe to our weekly paper, ‘the Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/

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The National Organiser of Socialist Students, Adam Powell Davies, discusses the crisis facing higher education and Socialist Students' new national campaign Funding not Fees. Socialist Students is serious about fighting to end the uni funding crisis, by mobilising students to demand no course cuts, no job losses, and for free, fully funded education, fighting back against cuts and tuition fee rises.Socialist Students has groups in university and college campuses all over the country, and students in many different political groups, including the Socialist Party, take part in fighting for what students need.Read more:Students: Build the resistance to uni cuts!https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/136064/26-02-2025/students-build-the-resistance-to-uni-cuts/Crunch time looms for higher education:https://socialismtoday.org/crunch-time-looms-for-higher-educationMore Info - Click here for all your Socialist Party link: https://linkin.bio/socialistparty/We need your help campaigning! The establishment political parties have the backing of the capitalist elites. We need to build a mass movement of working class fighters to take them on. Find out more details about your local campaigns and how you can help by filling in this form: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/joinThe Socialist Party has no big-business backers, so we rely on your donations to fund all our campaigns. Donate at https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donationsSubscribe to our weekly paper, ‘the Socialist’, and our monthly magazine ‘Socialism Today': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2

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Today’s podcast is a discussion with former socialist MP Dave Nellist, the national chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC). We will be discussing some of the main themes from this year’s TUSC conference, which had the heading ‘Fighting for a new party under the Starmer government. And what role for TUSC?’If you are not yet a member of the Socialist Party and agree with the points raised here, then that’s a very good basis for getting in touch and finding out what being a member will mean for you. Fill in this form for more information: www.socialistparty.org.uk/joinHere is a list of socialist party branch meetings: www.socialistparty.org.uk/eventsYou can also read more of our analysis in our weekly paper 'the Socialist' and our monthly magazine 'Socialism Today,' Here is a link to subscribe: www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/The socialist party has no big business backers, all our campaign work is funded by donations from individual supporters. Make a donation here:www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejan2025/We also recommend checking out the Committee for a Workers International, the international organization the Socialist Party is a part of. With analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world you can get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.net.

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Today’s podcast is a discussion with Socialist Party General Secretary Hannah Sell, introducing the party’s new document on British perspectives produced by the National Committee. This important document is being distributed to all members for reading and discussion ahead of the Socialist Party National Congress in March. At the Congress, the document will be debated with a vote of delegates from the branches. There are many more points in it than can be discussed in one podcast! Socialist Party branches will be organising meetings nationally to discuss it and the chance to discuss it individually too. Here is a list of socialist party branch meetings: www.socialistparty.org.uk/eventsIf you are not yet a member of the Socialist Party and agree with the points raised here, then that’s a very good basis for getting in touch and finding out what being a member will mean for you. Fill in this form for more information: www.socialistparty.org.uk/joinYou can also read more of our analysis in our weekly paper 'the Socialist' and our monthly magazine 'Socialism Today,' Here is a link to subscribe: www.socialistparty.org.uk/subscribe-2/The socialist party has no big business backers, all our campaign work is funded by donations from individual supporters. Make a donation here:www.socialistparty.org.uk/donations/donatejan2025/

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The election victory of Donald Trump opens a new era internationally, and domestically in the United States. This election win is not merely a changing of the guard at the White House. Although the US has had right-wing presidents in the past, for example, Ronald Reagan, who presided over a neo-liberal onslaught, including brutal attacks on the trade unions, which he tried to cripple, Trump’s new regime will be of a different order in an entirely different world situation. Trump’s win will have a decisive impact on the domestic situation and on the geo-political struggle unfolding between rival imperialist and capitalist powers. The working class and socialists must be prepared for the storm that is already crashing down on society to intensify in the coming months and years. In this episode of the podcast, socialist party general secretary hannah sell draws a balance sheet of what the election of Trump represents, and the prospects for working class struggle under his presidency.To contact the Socialist Party about this podcast or to find out about becoming a member visit: www.socialistparty.org.ukCheck out the CWI, for analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world, get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.netFurther reading:Trumpism and its limits - the editorial of Socialism TodayCapitalist opponents of Trump are frightened that he could damage, or even destroy, the current international order – and the US state institutions – through which the US capitalist class rules. In opposing Trump, Marxists do not give one iota of support for the existing ‘world order’, or the Democratic Party government which maintained it on behalf of US imperialism over the last four years.https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/133317/27-11-2024/socialism-today-editorial-trumpism-and-its-limits/Trump’s election victory and the new world order - Analysis by the CWILike the COVID pandemic, the new Trump regime will act as a great accelerator on all of the existing trends, contradictions and conflicts currently unfolding under capitalism in its protracted death agony. World events will now be marked by ‘pre-Trump’ and ‘post-Trump’ benchmarks.Trump’s victory represents the coming to power of a particularly right-wing nationalist, protectionist regime – one that will include aspects of Bonapartism, of repression, rule by presidential decree, and a further weakening of democratic rights for the American people.https://www.socialistworld.net/2024/11/26/trumps-election-victory-and-the-new-world-order/

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In this episode of the podcast, Tony Saunois, General secretary of the Committee for a Workers International, analyses the general trends in the leadup to the US elections and why the outcome will have a major effect on the global capitalist system. Tony will be speaking on Sunday 10th November from 11am-1pm at Socialism 2024, the weekend of socialist discussion hosted by the Socialist Party. Here's the full details of the weekend:•⁠ ⁠SOCIALISM 2024Sat 9 Nov - Sun 10 Nov•⁠ ⁠Institute of Education, London WC1H 0ALA weekend of discussion and debate on ideas to change the world, with a main rally at Saturday 5.30pm on the theme of 'Building the socialist opposition to Starmer's war & austerity agenda'Even if you are free for just one of the days, there are day and rally-only tickets available as well, and also the option to get a 'golden ticket' that includes hostel accommodation. If you can't come at all a donation to the fighting fund appeal is appreciated so that members with low incomes can come along.Here is the website where you can see the brochure and book your tickets: www.socialism.org.ukFurther Reading:Neither Republicans nor Democrats offer a pro-working class agendahttps://www.socialistworld.net/2024/10/28/neither-republicans-nor-democrats-offer-a-pro-working-class-agenda/

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In this episode of the podcast Josh Asker the editor of 'The Socialist,' explains the tactics and strategies needed to build a mass movement against the far right.Socialism 2024Get your tickets for socialism here: www.socialism.org.ukDo you want to be part of building the socialist opposition that we need to end austerity, poverty, climate crisis, racism and discrimination, and war?Taking place on Saturday 9 and Sunday 10 November, the Socialism 2024 weekend will arm you with the ideas to fight back under the Starmer government against the capitalist system it defends.Socialism 2024 will be taking place only days after Rachel Reeves’ autumn budget which will show Labour’s plans to make the working class pay for the crisis of the capitalist system while the rich get richer.Join hundreds of trade unionists, students, community campaigners, and those who just want to find out about socialist ideas to discuss and debate ideas to change the world.The centrepiece of the event will be the main rally on the Saturday evening where you will hear from leading socialists. There will be over 40 workshops running throughout Saturday and Sunday on all sorts of topics. And there will be closing rallies on the Sunday afternoon.Smash racismThe large counter-protests on 7 August pointed to the potential to build an anti-racist movement. We must challenge attempts by racists and the populist and far right to take advantage of the anger at Starmer’s attacks on living standards. The workshops in this theme at Socialism 2024 are an opportunity to look at the ideas needed to do that and include:You can’t have capitalism without racism: The origins of racism and the struggle to end it todayCapitalism and IslamophobiaAfter the riots: the role of the trade unions in a Community Defence Stewards organisationFurther Reading:Lessons from the Fight against the Far Right:The working class has a long history of mobilising to resist attempts by far-right forces to attack and intimidate our communities. The Socialist Party and its predecessor Militant has a long history of taking part in those struggles, including at times playing a leading role.In all these struggles, the fight to stop the far right is completely bound with the fight for a socialist alternative, and mobilising the working class to fight for decent jobs and homes, fully funded services, and all our communities need.https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/130801/02-10-2024/lessons-from-the-fight-against-the-far-right/The first lightning flashes – and what to doOne month after Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party was ‘swept to power’ by a paltry 20% of the electorate – the lowest support base of any government since the introduction of universal male suffrage in 1918 – violent protests and riots, instigated by far-right groups, broke out across the country. For those trapped in asylum-seekers’ hostels or mosques under brutal attack from gangs of rioters, the experience was terrifying. More generally, many Black, Asian and Muslim people feel that their safety is increasingly under threat. Tell Mama, a monitoring group tracking Islamophobic hate crimes, reported a five-fold increase in threats to Muslims compared to the same time last year.https://socialismtoday.org/the-first-lightning-flashes-and-what-to-do

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In August protestors took to the streets in towns and cities across Nigeria in anger at the deepening social and economic crises gripping the country, felt by ordinary Nigerians as a worsening cost of living crisis. But the state, led by the government of President Bola Tinubu, cracked down hard. Hundreds of activists have been detained without charge, such as Daniel Akande in Abuja. Others, including CWI member Adaramoye Michael Lenin, and Mosiu Sodiq, also in Abuja, have been charged with treason, which carries the death penalty. The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), and its president Joe Ajaero, have also been subject to a state campaign of harassment.In response socialists and trade unionists worldwide are mounting an international solidarity campaign.In this podcast, a radio interview carried on the South African channel PowerFM - www.power987.co.za - Weizmann Hamilton, general secretary of the Marxist Workers Party and a member of the Committee for a Workers International’s International Executive Committee, discusses the situation in Nigeria and the Nigerian Solidarity Campaign.- Visit the CWI website for more Marxist analysis at www.socialistworld.net- Download Nigeria Solidarity Campaign material here: https://linktr.ee/nigeriansolidarityuk- Donate to the Nigeria Solidarity Campaign via CrowdFunder: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/cdwr?exp=exp-pledge&expv=B- Contact us by emailing cwi@worldsoc.co.uk

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Trade Union Congress 2024If the trade unions were to take the first steps towards building a political alternative it could rapidly build into a mass force to challenge Labour, the populist and far right, and to fight for the socialist change we need. So far, the union leaders have stubbornly resisted such an initiative. But in this changed political landscape, more and more workers will inevitably come into direct conflict with Starmer’s pro-capitalist government as it is compelled to attack them under the impact of economic crisis. Even those union leaders who are today buying into and sowing the illusions of Labour being the workers’ friend will find it difficult to resist the impact of the stormy events to come.In this Episode of the podcast, Rob Williams, the socialist party’s industrial organiser, discusses the upcoming Trade Union Congress which is taking place on the 8th-11th September in Brighton and what industrial and political strategy the Socialist Party is putting forward within the workers movement.To contact the Socialist Party about this podcast or to find out about becoming a member visit: www.socialistparty.org.uk Check out the Committee for a workers International, for analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world, get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.netFurther readingTrade unions must fight New Labour austerityAs things stand, Reeves is planning a ‘blood and tears’ budget on 30 October. No extra money for local councils facing ‘bankruptcy’ – sacking more workers and decimating more libraries, children’s centres and other services. Nothing to resolve the crisis in the universities. Forcing more children into poverty by refusing to scrap the two-child benefit cap. The horror list goes on.But the message that union leaders should be taking from the first few weeks of this Labour government is that when working-class people organise and fight back through strike action they can win. If given a determined lead, workers in the public sector will be confident that they can fight to win increases that go much further towards restoring what they lost under austerity, while defending public services for everyone.https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/129342/28-08-2024/trade-unions-must-fight-new-labour-austerity/The first lightning flashes – and what to doThe summer riots have brought a new immediacy to the task facing the workers’ movement of building a new, mass vehicle for its political representation, and the debate on the way to achieve this must be urgently stepped up. But to put things in proportion, just weeks into the new situation of a Starmer premiership, they are but the first lightning flashes of the wild and stormy weather to come which will further enormously develop the conditions needed to realise the goal.https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/129342/28-08-2024/trade-unions-must-fight-new-labour-austerity/

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Not just booted out. The Tories have been crushed. The electorate has punished them for 14 years of austerity, attacks on the working class, lies and corruption. The result, in terms of the number of seats, is a Labour landslide, but enthusiasm for Keir Starmer’s Labour was absent from this general election. The absolute vote for Labour was 9.6 million, lower than the 10.2 million vote Jeremy Corbyn-led Labour got in 2019, never mind the 12.8 million he won in 2017. Labour’s vote share, at around 34%, is the lowest ever for a general election victor, whereas in 2017 Corbyn got 40% of the vote, the biggest jump for a national party in one election since 1945. The turnout was less than 60%, reflecting massive disenfranchisement from the mainstream political parties.In this Episode of the podcast, Socialist Party General Secretary Hannah Sell breaks down the main trends we can see emerging from the general election results, and what the tasks are for the workers’ movement under a Starmer governmentTo contact the Socialist Party about this podcast or to find out about becoming a member visit: www.socialistparty.org.uk Check out the Committee for a workers International, for analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world, get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.netFurther readingTories smashed – build the socialist oppositionThe crisis of British capitalism is increasingly being reflected in the volatility of politics. Labour has been swept to power in a ‘landslide’, but so was Boris Johnson at the head of the Tories five years ago. At the time we said it would be a pyrrhic victory, but the same will also be true for Starmer’s Labour. Any capitalist government will face mass opposition – because capitalism is offering only endless austerity for the working-class majority. Therefore, discussions on how the working class can build its own party, armed with a socialist programme, are being posed increasingly urgently.The Socialist Party will argue for such a party to fight for the socialist transformation of society: for the nationalisation, under democratic workers’ control, of the major monopolies and banks that dominate the economy, with compensation paid only on the basis of proven need. This is a vital step to breaking the stranglehold of the capitalist class, and laying the basis for the development of a socialist plan of production, where all the science and technique created by capitalism could be harnessed and developed to meet the needs of all. https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/127135/05-07-2024/tories-smashed-build-the-socialist-opposition-2/TUSC general election report - Everything you wanted to know about the GE 2024 but were afraid to askThis report is a statistical review of the 2024 UK general election. Its purpose is to set the context for a discussion on both the TUSC general election campaign –including the work before the election to prepare for a working class challenge at the polls – and what the tasks are now for the battle to build a new, mass vehicle to politically represent the interests of the working class. Because the one thing that is absolutely clear from the outcome of July 4th – as it was before – is that they won’t find representation in the new government now occupying Downing Street.That the July 4th general election was an historic moment is now a commonplace in media commentary. But what exactly is ‘historic’ about it is being consciously blurred. That is why this report is structured in the way that it is. It includes statistics detailing: alienation from establishment politics, the long-term changes in electoral support for Labour, the electoral history of the Greens and Reform, and the effects of the Muslim vote on 4th July.https://www.tusc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/2024-GE-The-Fact-File.pdf

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Prepare a workers’ general election stand In the local elections on 2nd May, the Socialist Party stood as part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC). TUSC is an electoral coalition which was co-founded by the late Bob Crow, then general secretary of the RMT transport workers’ union. Its primary goal is to enable trade unionists, community campaigners and socialists who are fighting for a new mass workers’ party to stand candidates against pro-austerity establishment politicians under a clear banner. In the 10% of council seats where TUSC stood, voters had the opportunity to support a clear anti-austerity, anti-war candidate.It is no coincidence that these were the best results for TUSC since it was relaunched in 2020 after Corbyn’s defeat inside Labour. In total, TUSC was able to achieve over 40,000 votes on 2 May. In the local elections it had a post-relaunch record 46 candidates who got 5% or more, with ten getting over 10% and two scoring over 30%. While TUSC’s results were still modest, they point towards the growing search for a socialist alternative to Starmer’s New Labour, even before the advent of a Starmer-led government. They are also a positive demonstration of the benefits of democratic collaboration between different forces, around a minimum anti-austerity programme, with trade unionists playing a central role. Check out the TUSC website at www.tusc.org.ukIn this Episode of the podcast, Socialist Party General Secretary Hannah Sell breaks down the main trends we can see emerging from the local election results, and what lessons we can draw from this to prepare a Workers’ General election standTo contact the Socialist Party about this podcast or to find out about becoming a member visit: www.socialistparty.org.ukCheck out the CWI, for analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world, get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.net

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Over the last two years of strikes the working class in Britain has begun to feel its collective power. It is about to face a Starmer-led government that will defend the interests of the capitalist class. Further development of trade union militancy is going to be vital, but our class will also desperately need its own party. Any steps that can be taken in that direction in the pre-election period will put the workers’ movement in a much stronger position for the battles ahead. That’s why the Socialist party is standing in the local elections on 2 May as part of the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), which aims to bring together the strongest possible workers electoral challenge possible. Check out the TUSC website at www.tusc.org.ukThis Special Episode of the Podcast, recorded on the 20th March 2024, is a recording of Hannah Sell, the general secretary of the Socialist Party, speaking at a Socialist Party public meeting in South London.To contact the Socialist Party about this podcast or to find out about becoming a member visit: www.socialistparty.org.ukCheck out the CWI, for analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world, get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.netFurther readingThe fight for workers’ politics nowThere is not so far any sign of a national political expression of the anti-war movement, never mind one based on the workers’ movement. However, a workers’ list – including suspended, expelled and deselected Labour MPs – could get a bloc of MPs elected. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), in which the Socialist Party participates, is campaigning to bring together the strongest possible working-class challenge at both the local and general elections.https://socialismtoday.org/the-fight-for-workers-politics-nowBuilding on Rochdale – the fight for a new workers’ party“Beyond alarming” is how Tory prime minister Rishi Sunak declared George Galloway’s victory in the Rochdale by-election, at a specially convened press conference on the steps of Downing Street. Labour leader Keir Starmer appeared equally alarmed as he apologised for having to withdraw support for the Labour candidate in the by-election, giving Galloway an easier path to victory.Rochdale “raised the confidence of all those looking for a working-class socialist alternative to Labour”. Even in the limited time left before the general election there is the potential to take important steps towards creating such an alternative.https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/122735/25-03-2024/editorial-building-on-rochdale-the-fight-for-a-new-workers-party/

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Sascha Staničić, national spokesperson of the Socialist Organisation Solidarity, Sol, the CWI in Germany, discusses the CWI’s analysis of the crisis and class struggle in Germany, with Sean Figg, from the CWI’s International Secretariat.For a whole period German capitalism has been a bulwark of stability for capitalism on the European continent. Now it has entered a period of turmoil, unprecedented since reunification more than thirty years ago. In this podcast we cover the political crisis of the German ‘traffic light’ coalition, the rise of the right-populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the mass movement against it, the Sara Wagenknecht-led split from DIE LINKE (the Left Party), the protests of the small farmers and the important strike-wave involving workers from multiple sectors.- Visit the CWI website for more Marxist analysis at socialistworld.net.- Support the work of the CWI by donating via PayPal here.- Contact us by emailing cwi@worldsoc.co.uk

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The crisis of world capitalism means war and conflicts, economic stagnation and crises, and political instability on every continent. The working class, young people, and the poor masses around the world are responding with uprisings, mass movements, strike waves and an increased searching for the forms of organisation and the political ideas necessary to challenge capitalism. Tony Saunois, secretary of the CWI, and Sean Figg, from the CWI’s International Secretariat, discuss the CWI’s analysis of the world situation, developed at a five-day meeting of the CWI’s International Executive Committee in January, which brought together comrades from each of the 14 countries in which the CWI is organised. The brutal war of state-terror being waged by the Israeli state against the Palestinians took centre-stage…Visit the CWI website for more Marxist analysis at www.socialistworld.netSupport the work of the CWI by donating via PayPal here.Contact us by emailing cwi@worldsoc.co.uk

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Marion will build an industrial plan capable of winning, including national and selective action and overtime bans. Marion will ensure that PCS takes the lead to coordinate with other unions on pay, jobs and against Tory anti-union laws. Marion will give your reps and branches the tools they need to do the job you elected them to do. Get involved: https://bln.org.uk/Leaflet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Puuc3ZZ5L4cSGjyIqlxeqLGhgO9wbMYc/view?usp=sharingTo contact the Socialist Party about this podcast or to find out about becoming a member:www.socialistparty.org.ukCheck out the CWI, for analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world, get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.net Socialism 2023Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November, Institute of Education, London WC1H 0ALIt will be an in-person weekend of discussion and debate on ideas to change the world hosted by the Socialist Party. Marion will be a speaker at the main Saturday night rally at Socialism 2023. At the event there will be around 40 workshops where you can ask those questions forming in your head as you listen to this, raise your own points, argue if you wish. You will be among hundreds of people who want to change the world. The topics covered will include a discussion on ‘Building Marxism in the trade unions and workplaces’ and ‘How can the anti-union Minimum Services legislation be defeated?’You can buy a ticket that includes hostel accommodation, there’s a free creche throughout, and it will be brilliant. For tickets and info: www.socialism.org.ukFurther readingSocialism Today October 2023 No.273Drawing lessons from the strike waveThe current strike wave, which erupted more than a year ago with national strike action by railworkers in the RMT union, marks the beginning of a new era in the class struggle in Britain. Rob Williams gives an overview of the strike action so far and draws vital lessons for the workers’ movement for the battles to come, especially under, as looks likely, a future Starmer government.https://socialismtoday.org/drawing-lessons-from-the-strike-wavePCS: the real issues at stakeThe dispute within the left of Britain’s largest civil service union raises key issues for the whole labour movement. Above all, the need for democratic, lay-member control of fighting trade unions. Hannah Sell and Rob Williams explain the background to the current situation.https://socialismtoday.org/archive/221/pcs.html

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Capitalism and its political representatives are totally incapable of meeting any of the needs of working-class and poor people anywhere on the globe. All that is on offer is a never-ending diet of war, poverty, oppression and repression.Now the Israeli regime is on the verge of launching a brutal land offensive in Gaza, raising the possibility of war spilling over into a wider confrontation that could inflame the whole region, and adding to the multiple crises the capitalist system is already creating internationally.The Israeli regime’s indiscriminate bombing and starving of 2.3 million people in Gaza, including 1 million children, of food, water, medicines and fuel – “a death sentence” according to the United Nations - has provoked mass protests around the world.This podcast, recorded on 23 October, goes behind the headlines to examine the processes that have brought us to this point – and to offer socialist ideas to build the anti-war movement to end the conflict and deliver peace, security and a decent future for the masses of the region.In this podcast we speak to Judy Beishon who is a member of the Socialist Party’s executive committee and of the International Secretariat of the Committee for a Workers’ International, which is the world socialist organisation to which the Socialist Party is affiliated.Get in touchTo contact the Socialist Party about this podcast or to find out about becoming a member:www.socialistparty.org.ukWe also recommend checking out the CWI, with analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world, get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.net Socialism 2023Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November, Institute of Education, London WC1H 0ALIt will be an in-person weekend of discussion and debate on ideas to change the world hosted by the Socialist Party. The many workshops will include a discussion on ‘Gaza under siege: how can a Palestinian state be achieved?’Judy will be among the many speakers introducing workshops where you will also have a chance to ask those questions forming in your head as you listen to this, to raise your own points, to argue if you wish. You will be among hundreds of people who want to change the world.You can buy a ticket that includes hostel accommodation, there’s a free creche throughout, and it will be brilliant. For tickets and info: www.socialism.org.ukFurther readingSocialism Today September 2023 No.272Is a Palestinian state possible?This article was written in September on the 30th anniversary of the first Oslo accord – and before the eruption of the war. Judy Beishon discusses what conditions would be necessary for achieving an independent stateThe article will be posted here shortly, where you can find previous articles on the issue: https://socialismtoday.orgAnd can be read here: https://www.socialistworld.net/2023/10/07/israel-palestine-30-years-since-the-oslo-accord-will-there-ever-be-a-palestinian-state/Website of the Socialist Party for up-to-date articles: www.socialistparty.org.uk

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In this podcast with Hannah Sell, Socialist Party general secretary, we look at the world economy, how the capitalist system works – or doesn’t work - and draw conclusions for socialists. It is the first time that, across much of the world, a surge in inflation has coexisted with widespread financial vulnerabilities. The longer the inflation persists, the stronger and longer the required policy tightening, and hence the bigger the financial stability risks”. The central banks are walking a tightrope, with little room for manoeuvre.Hannah draws out how, whatever the immediate perspectives are for the world economy, there is no prospect of any new golden era of capitalist progress. That does not mean, however, that the Great Recession is going to be precisely replicated. On the contrary, the capitalists will face crises in the next period that are likely to be even more devastating for their system, both economically and politically. None of the factors which led to the 2007-08 recession have been overcome, while the ‘solutions’ that were adopted to ameliorate its effects will not be possible in the same way next time. Hannah explains how the capitalist classes of the world have no way out of the intractable problems facing their system – economic, political, environmental. Halting climate change would clearly only be possible on a global basis, and yet under twenty-first century capitalism it is a tool for protectionism.Only planning, under the democratic control of the working class, will make it possible to develop production to a higher stage, organising it on a global basis to satisfy social needs and halt and reverse climate change, rather than being driven by the greed for profit. Replacing this rotten capitalist system with democratic socialist planning is the urgent task facing the working class worldwide.Get in touchTo contact the Socialist Party about this podcast or to find out about becoming a member:www.socialistparty.org.ukWe also recommend checking out the CWI, with analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world, get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.net Socialism 2023Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November, Institute of Education, London WC1H 0ALIt will be an in-person weekend of discussion and debate on ideas to change the world hosted by the Socialist Party. Hannah will be a key note speaker at the Saturday night rally and will also be among the many speakers introducing workshops where you will also have a chance to ask those questions forming in your head as you listen to this, to raise your own points, to argue if you wish. You will be among hundreds of socialist fighters at this weekend event – so it will be brilliant.Socialism 2023 takes place on 25 and 26 November in London. You can buy a ticket that includes hostel accommodation, there’s a free creche throughout, and it will be brilliant. For tickets and info: www.socialism.org.ukFurther readingSocialism Today September 2023 No.270The end of Golden ErasThe new lease of life that world capitalism experienced after the collapse of the Stalinist states of Russia and Eastern Europe from the late 1980s has definitively run its course. Whatever the immediate perspectives are for the world economy, argues HANNAH SELL, there is no prospect of any new golden era of capitalist progress. https://socialismtoday.org/the-end-of-golden-erasSocialism Today July/August 2023 No.269China, Mao and the marketsAt a time of intensifying economic and geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China, HANNAH SELL reviews a book that stresses the role of the Communist Party-controlled state in China’s economy.https://socialismtoday.org/china-mao-and-the-markets

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Fifty years since it was crushed, the Chilean revolution of 1970-73 remains a reference point, not only in Chile, but internationally, for both the working class and its organisations - and the capitalist classes. In Chile, in the wake of the 2019 mass movement, the legacy of the coup is again hotly contested. The defenders of capitalism feel compelled to go further than ever before in justifying the bloody repression of the workers’ movement, insisting that, brutal as it was, it was necessary to “save” Chile from a “Marxist dictatorship”. In the English-speaking world too, many capitalist newspapers and magazines have devoted coverage to the anniversary, also repeating this line. This reflects the ruling classes’ fear that in the crisis-ridden capitalism of the 2020s many Chiles potentially lie ahead. Therefore the burying of the real history of the Chilean revolution, and the justification of the horrors perpetrated against the heroic Chilean working class in the years after the coup, is an ideological front in today’s class struggle. From the other side of the class barricades, the working class and radical youth, need to be armed with an understanding of the Chilean revolution, so that in the future, when the working class is again within reaching distance of a successful socialist revolution, it succeeds in conquering power and transforming society. Get in touchTo contact the Socialist Party about this podcast or to find out about becoming a member:www.socialistparty.org.ukWe also recommend checking out the CWI, with analysis of world events, and for those listening in other parts of the world, get in touch to join the fight for socialism in your country, that’s www.socialistworld.net Further readingSocialism Today September 2023 No.270Chile 1973: Heroism was not enough. This article was first published in the September 1998 edition of Socialism Today, issue No.31, TONY SAUNOIS, secretary of the Committee for a Workers International (CWI), explains how this tragedy unfolded and the lessons that persist today. https://socialismtoday.org/NEW BOOK: Chile: The revolution - how and why it was crushed (pre-order)The CWI is publishing a new book to bring the lessons of the Chilean revolution, and its crushing, to the new generation of working class and young activists. Written by Tony Saunois, CWI secretary, from 1984 Tony spent a number of years working in the underground opposition to the Pinochet dictatorship within Chile.http://leftbooks.co.uk/Chile-The-revolution-how-and-why-it-was-crushed-pre-orderAlso available at Socialism 2023Socialism 2023Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 November, Institute of Education, London WC1H 0ALIt will be an in-person weekend of discussion and debate on ideas to change the world hosted by the Socialist Party. Tony will be among the many speakers introducing workshops where you will also have a chance to ask those questions forming in your head as you listen to this, to raise your own points, to argue if you wish. You will be among hundreds of socialist fighters – so it will be brilliant.You will also be able to get your hands on copies of Tony’s book.Socialism 2023 takes place on 25 and 26 November in London. You can buy a ticket that includes hostel accommodation, there’s a free creche throughout, and it will be brilliant. For tickets and info: www.socialism.org.uk

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We sat down with Socialist Party member Dave Nellist to discuss the latest Tory sleaze scandal, how he went about only taking a average worker's wage and how as a supporter of the Militant (now the Socialist Party) he used his position as a Labour MP to give a voice for working class people everywhere and fight for socialist change.

Dave was a ‘Militant’ Labour MP for Coventry South East 1983-92 before being explleed from the Labout Party in 1991 for refusing to pay the Poll Tax and was a Socialist Party Councillor in Coventry between 1998-2012.

Currently Dave is the chair of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), which the Socialist Party is a part of alongside the RMT trade union and others.

TUSC is preparing to stand candidates in the council elections in May against councillors - Labour, Tory or others - who continue to carry out austerity attacks on working-class communities.

We invite trade unionists and community campaigners, who are prepared to pledge to oppose the council cuts, to stand with us as part of TUSC.

We hope this can be a step towards building a new, mass working-class party to fight in our interests, not those of the bosses.

Interested in finding out more or Joining the Socialists? Don't hesitate to get in touch. Its easy to get involved! https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join/

Tory sleaze scandal continues, an ex-workers' MP responds https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/33346/17-11-2021/tory-sleaze-scandal-continues-an-ex-workers-mp-responds

A political voice for the working class https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/16844/05-06-2013/1983-a-political-voice-for-the-working-class

Terry Fields MP, Prisoner DV 3695 - The jailing of 'poll tax' rebel and Militant https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32785/07-07-2021/terry-fields-mp-prisoner-dv-3695-the-jailing-of-poll-tax-rebel-and-militant

Terry Fields: A socialist voice that rocked Whitehall https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/6254/09-07-2008/terry-fields-a-socialist-voice-that-rocked-whitehall

Join the Socialists! www.socialistparty.org.uk

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November 5/6 in Glasgow saw some of the largest political mobilisations since the onslaught of the Covid pandemic. The catalyst was the bosses’ summit, COP26, a forum to find ‘solutions’ to limit global warming, but more importantly, to save the capitalist system.

The first protest on the Friday saw a march of up to 20,000 strong – which was an overwhelmingly youthful demonstration organised by Fridays for Future, with a huge openness to the ideas that a systemic change to the profit-driven rottenness of capitalism is necessary.

The Saturday demo, organised by the COP Coalition, was a larger demonstration of around 70,000 and not so youthful, but nevertheless the widespread lack of faith in COP to deliver a workable solution for the vast majority of humanity was clear to see.

This episode is a recording of the post demo meeting organised by the Socialist Party's sister organisation - Socialist Party Scotland and the CWI.

We hear from Matt Dobson from Socialist Party Scotland and Mark Best from the Socialist Party.

After tens of thousands marched and walked out in Glasgow and across the world in response to the failure of the UN COP26 summit, many are discussing what next for the climate strike movement. The situation is critical. Major capitalist powers, despite all their rhetoric around the Glasgow Climate pact, are stepping up oil production and using reserves to combat an energy price hike. How is mass pressure going to be built to fight for the aspirations of the climate movement when the capitalists meet again in Egypt for COP27? The environmental crisis wrought by unchecked capitalist greed is just one of the clearest examples of how the that system offers no future for the vast majority of humanity.

Workers and youth are increasingly drawing that conclusion. We would appeal to them to discuss with us, join us and fight for the socialist transformation of society.

Growing support for socialist ideas at COP26 protests https://socialistpartyscotland.org.uk/2021/11/08/growing-support-for-socialist-ideas-at-cop26-protests/

After COP26: where next for the climate movement? https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/33401/01-12-2021/after-cop26-where-next-for-the-climate-movement

COP26: Zero trust in capitalist class: Fight for socialism to end climate destruction https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/33265/03-11-2021/fight-for-socialism-to-end-climate-destruction

COP26 begins - workers strike for pay https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/33276/03-11-2021/cop26-begins-workers-strike-for-pay

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Cuban protests – what do they represent?

On 11 July, Cuba was rocked by the largest protests to have taken place since the “Maleconazo” protests that erupted in 1994. The 1994 protests followed the collapse of the former USSR and the abrupt cutting off of aid to Cuba. It resulted in a staggering 30% decline in Cuban GDP and the introduction of what Fidel Castro dubbed at the time the “special period”.

The protests in July 2021 undoubtedly have been trumpeted by imperialism yet they may represent a decisive change in the situation in Cuba. They may have shocked some on the left who have looked towards Cuba as an alternative to capitalism and standing up against the might of US imperialism.

Many have looked to the impressive gains made in Cuba following the revolution in 1959/60 in health, education, literacy and other areas. The Socialist Party and CWI has consistently defended the conquests made by the revolution. At the same time, we have criticized the bureaucratic top-down methods of rule, and the absence of genuine workers’ democracy and democratic workers’ control and management of the nationalised economy. Unfortunately, most of the gains of the revolution have been eroded over the last thirty years. It is, therefore, necessary for socialists to accurately assess what is unfolding in Cuba and draw crucial lessons from it.

What has sparked this latest crisis in the country? What's the nature of the forces involved in the protests and counter protests? Is there a threat of counter revolution? What would that mean for the Cuban working class and poor? What is the nature of the Cuban state that emerged for the 1959 revolution? What is the international relevance of developments in Cuba and the future of the Cuban revolution? What programme should socialists be fighting for in Cuba ?

All articles we have produced on Cuba https://www.socialistworld.net/category/international/americas/cuba/

Cuban protests – what do they represent? https://www.socialistworld.net/2021/07/22/cuban-protests-what-do-they-represent/

Cuba: Covid-19 and the 60-year-old embargo https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/08/13/cuba-covid-19-and-the-60-year-old-embargo/

60th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution https://www.socialistworld.net/2019/01/02/60th-anniversary-of-the-cuban-revolution/

Che Guevara 50 years on – revolutionary socialist and fighter https://www.socialistworld.net/2017/10/09/che-guevara-50-years-on-revolutionary-socialist-and-fighter/

Cuba: At a crossroads https://www.socialistworld.net/2015/09/12/cuba-at-a-crossroads/

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Afghanistan in crisis: A colossal failure of western capitalism.

After two decades of military occupation and trillions of dollars spent by western governments, millions of Afghans are now back to where they were in 2001 - under the brutal rule of the Taliban.

Yet the capitalist politicians responsible for this tragic debacle - Messrs Tony Blair, George Bush, and others - continue to defend this colossal failure. And today's crop of establishment politicians, including Johnson and Starmer, also defend the western invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in 2001.

It's clear from the experience of working-class and poor people in Afghanistan, and indeed in many other countries, past and present, that capitalism cannot guarantee democratic rights or decent living standards. That requires ordinary working-class people uniting behind a socialist banner and fighting for fundamental change.

We talk with Niall Mulholland from the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI) about the situation in Afghanistan.

What does it represent in terms of US and British influence internationally and in the region?

After 20 years of bloodshed, how did the Taliban take back control so quickly?

What and who are the Taliban and what does this mean now for the working class and poor in the region?

What position do socialists take and what did socialists argue at the time of the invasion?

What is the way forward for the working class and poor of the region?

Further reading

Afghanistan: The Taliban takeover - what are the lessons for the workers' movement internationally https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32926/25-08-2021/afghanistan-the-taliban-takeover-what-are-the-lessons-for-the-workers-movement-internationally

Afghanistan in crisis: A colossal failure of western capitalism Fight for a socialist alternative https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32951/25-08-2021/afghanistan-in-crisis

Editorial of the Socialist Afghanistan disaster - Unite to fight for funding for refugees and local communities https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32927/25-08-2021/afghanistan-disaster-unite-to-fight-for-funding-for-refugees-and-local-communities

Historical reprint: The Russian defeat in Afghanistan http://socialismtoday.org/archive/61/repreint.html

The Afghanistan disaster The limits of US power http://socialismtoday.org/archive/205/afghanistan.html

The consequences of 9/11 A world turned upside down http://socialismtoday.org/archive/151/911.html

Afghanistan aftermath http://socialismtoday.org/archive/65/Afghanistan.html

Taliban, Islam and Oil http://socialismtoday.org/archive/59/taliban.html

Check out all our articles on Afghanistan going back to 2001 here https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Afghanistan,all,180

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The future of the NHS hangs in the balance. Nearly five million people are waiting for treatment. Covid has pushed our health services to the limit, but years of underfunding meant it was already in crisis before the pandemic. Waiting lists were already rising, as were the huge staff shortages.

But rather than addressing these problems as a priority, the government is proposing more drastic reorganisation of the NHS.

Thousands of NHS workers, in dozens of towns and cities, protested on Saturday 3 July against the Tories' insulting 1% pay offer. Just days later, on 5 July, it was announced that workers in the NHS will be awarded the George Cross medal. Not something that will pay the bills for the thousands of nurses who are forced to visit food banks.

And then, the next day, the government presented its health and care bill in parliament, spelling out plans for further privatisation and even less democratic oversight of our NHS.

Socialist Party members have been helping to organise numerous protests since.

In this podcast we speak to a number of our members both before and after the 3rd of July about the struggle for a 15% pay rise and what the health and social are bill is trying to do to our NHS.

Further reading

http://socialismtoday.org/trouble-on-the-high-street

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/29523/04-09-2019/what-strategy-can-end-the-retail-jobs-massacre

Website of Usdaw members in the CWI - usdawactivist.wordpress.com

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/25218/05-04-2017/what-would-a-socialist-food-industry-look-like

https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31554/28-10-2020/food-and-a-capitalist-brexit-no-trust-in-tory-deals

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6 May 2021 saw the election of a majority of MSPs to the Scottish parliament committed to a second referendum on Scottish independence.

Is an independent Scotland now inevitable?

How will Boris Johnson and the Tories respond?

Should socialists and the workers' movement fight to lead the struggle for self-determination for Scotland?

Philip Stott, national secretary, Socialist Party Scotland, speaks to Socialism the Podcast

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What can the Palestinians in Palestine and Israel do to develop their struggle? What are the UN and governments around the world doing to try to get a ceasefire? And what about the methods of Palestinian struggle? Do the rockets fired from Gaza help the Palestinians’ struggle? And what about the working class in Israel? How possible is it for Israeli workers to remove warmongering political leaders? How can Palestinians achieve national and democratic rights? What is the socialist solution to the poverty and repression of Palestinians?

Further reading For a socialist solution to poverty and repression of Palestinians: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32530/19-05-2021/stop-the-israeli-state-terror Conflict in Jerusalem widens across Israeli cities and to war on Gaza: https://www.socialistworld.net/2021/05/13/conflict-in-jerusalem-widens-across-israeli-cities-and-to-war-on-gaza/ Socialists fight for Palestinian liberation and workers' unity: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/27320/09-05-2018/socialists-fight-for-palestinian-liberation-and-workers-unity

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The Tories are claiming victory – but what is the perspective for Johnson and his party? The austerity they are planning for the working class and the lack of solutions that they have for all the problems we face will smash any hope-against-hopes there is that they will improve things.

The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) is the electoral coalition in which the Socialist Party participates. Following Starmer’s reclaiming of the Labour Party for big business TUSC was back in action standing no-cuts and socialist candidates for this election. How did TUSC get on?

Why does the working class need a political voice and how can it be built?

This episode of Socialism looks at the 2021 elections in Britain and what they tell us about the crisis in Labour - and the key tasks facing the working class and the fight against the coming post-covid austerity.

Further reading

Hartlepool sums uo Labour crisis https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32480/09-05-2021/hartlepool-sums-up-labour-crisis

Scotland: Pro-independence majority in highly polarised election https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32494/12-05-2021/scotland-pro-independence-majority-in-highly-polarised-election

Welsh Labour holds on to government but new crises loom https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32493/12-05-2021/welsh-labour-holds-on-to-government-but-new-crises-loom

TUSC is back https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32495/12-05-2021/tusc-is-back

Is the Liverpool road still possible? http://socialismtoday.org/is-the-liverpool-road-still-possible

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And what about beyond the US – how will this spending play out on the world stage? What does it mean when Biden says ‘America’s back’? Do these packages represent a new New Deal comparable to that of Roosevelt in the 1930s? What results did FDR’s version achieve? How should the left respond to this turnaround of approach? We ask what role does the left need to play in this era of political, economic, environmental and social crisis? This episode of Socialism looks at Biden’s massive stimulus package and discusses why it can’t solve the problems of US and world capitalism

Further reading An era of capitalist turmoil – only socialism offers humankind a future: https://www.socialistworld.net/2021/04/28/an-era-of-capitalist-turmoil-only-socialism-offers-humankind-a-future/ New start – new hope for peace: http://socialismtoday.org/new-start-new-hope-for-peace How green is Joe Biden: http://socialismtoday.org/global-warning-how-green-is-joe-biden New opportunities in Peru: http://socialismtoday.org/new-opportunities-in-peru

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The withdrawal of the six football clubs in England from the Super League - after protests and action by fans, players and other club staff - will be rightly celebrated. That’s the start. What is necessary now to reclaim football? The billionaire owners who attempted to rob our clubs and game are still in charge. They cannot be trusted and must be removed, along with the rest of their big business mates and structures in football. This episode is a recording of the introduction at a national online meeting hosted by the Socialist Party. The speaker is John Reid, author of Reclaim the Game, a pamphlet that was first written in 1992 at the outset of the Premier League, currently on its 13th edition. This bonus episode of Socialism looks at the football super-league and how we can reclaim the game. Further reading Article - Super League defeated. Football: no trust in billionaire owners - kick them out and reclaim the game https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32411/21-04-2021/no-trust-in-billionaire-owners-kick-them-out-and-reclaim-the-game Article - Football abuse scandal: Reclaim the game for justice and democracy https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32287 Article - Football: Beware the billionaires bearing gifts https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31486 Pamphlet – Reclaim the Game? http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=45581862

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This episode was recorded on Tuesday 23 April 2021 and by the time we’ve published it more revelations have emerged from the murk of Westminster.

Johnson won the last general election by distancing himself from his own party - including Cameron - and ludicrously posing as some kind of champion of the 'little people' against the elites. But this scandal has the potential to wreck any last shreds of that illusion.

What should the workers’ movement put forward given the failure of Starmer’s pro-capitalist Labour Party to offer any serious opposition to Johnson?

Can workers and young people fight on the political plane given how rigged the system is?

This episode of Socialism looks at the corruption and cronyism at the rotten heart of capitalist politics.

Further reading Article - Editorial of the Socialist: Issue 1130 Corrupt politicians with snouts in the trough: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32390/21-04-2021/greensill-scandal-corruption-build-a-socialist-alternative Article from April 2014 - Ending MPs’ expenses scandal requires socialist change https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/18483/16-04-2014/ending-mps-expenses-scandal-requires-socialist-change Article - Tory sleaze is back! https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/13292 Article – Is the Liverpool road still possible? http://socialismtoday.org/is-the-liverpool-road-still-possible

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How can elected positions be used to advance the struggle of working class and young people against the bosses’ and the Tories’ Covid austerity?

The Socialist Party is part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, organising to work with trade unionists and socialists to offer a programme that builds on Corbyn’s anti-austerity stand at the ballot box on 6 May.

Liverpool offers rich lessons of how elected representatives, political organisations and trade unions can link up in struggle against Tory attacks.

This episode of Socialism looks at the fight for a socialist mayor in Liverpool

Further reading Articles - on the situation in Liverpool from the Socialist paper: https://www.google.com/search?q=liverpool%20mayor&sitesearch=socialistparty.org.uk

Articles - Is the Liverpool road still possible? http://socialismtoday.org/

Podcast - Tony Mulhearn, Militant and the city that beat Thatcher: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/43-tony-mulhearn-militant-and-the-city-that-beat-thatcher

Book - Liverpool – a city that dared to fight: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=6428725

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PCS elections – the struggle for fighting trade unionism

How can the trade unions, as the main mass organisation of the working class, be organised to fulfil their full potential in the fight against Tory covid austerity?

In this episode we speak to Marion Lloyd, the socialist candidate for president of the PCS union which organises civil service and national government workers on privatised contracts. Marion is standing on the Broad Left Network list, See details here: https://pcsbln.wordpress.com/

Why do socialists fight for broad lefts in the unions?

Why was it so important to fight the idea of ‘national unity’ put out by the Tories at the start of the pandemic?

Why do trade unions also need political demands and a political arm to their workplace struggle?

This episode of Socialism looks at the major issues confronting the working class – from the fight against Tory covid austerity, to defending the right to protest, to the fight against the oppression, injustice and inequality revealed even more ruthlessly by the pandemic – and the role of the trade unions. We look at the fight within the unions for the leadership required in order for the trade unions to play their potential role in these struggles.

Further reading

Article: Lessons of the 2011 pensions strike: when workers showed their power https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32247/24-03-2021/lessons-of-the-2011-pensions-strike-when-workers-showed-their-power

Article: Preparing for the revolts to come https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32281/31-03-2021/preparing-for-the-revolts-to-come

Article: The struggle needs an electoral arm http://socialismtoday.org/the-struggle-needs-an-electoral-arm

Article: the future of the PCS debate http://socialismtoday.org/the-future-of-the-pcs-debate

Article: The left unions and the Labour affiliation debate http://socialismtoday.org/the-left-unions-and-labour-affiliation-debate

Article: Rebuilding fighting trade unionism http://socialismtoday.org/rebuilding-fighting-trade-unionism

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The Paris Commune 1871 is rich in lessons for the struggles today. Listen to Peter Taaffe, Socialist Party political secretary, discussing the rich lessons for today.

The Committee for a Workers’ International, the world socialist organisation to which the Socialist Party is affiliated, will host an online rally to celebrate the Paris Commune anniversary at 3pm on 28 March 2021. See: https://www.socialistworld.net/2021/03/26/28-march-cwi-rally-broadcast-150th-anniversary-of-the-paris-commune/ The Paris Commune has been described as the working class storming heaven.

Why did Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels have such an interest in the events of 1871?

What was the relevance of the Commune to the leaders of the Russian Revolution almost fifty years later in a different part of the world?

And, what insight can the Commune of 1871 offer those battling the conditions of capitalism in crisis today?

This episode of Socialism looks at the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune, rich in lessons for revolutionaries

Further reading New article: When the working class 'stormed heaven' https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32236/24-03-2021/150th-anniversary-of-the-paris-commune

Historical article: Lessons of the Commune by V.I. Lenin https://www.socialistworld.net/2021/03/27/lessons-of-the-commune-by-v-i-lenin/

Article from our sister party in France: The first proletarian revolution – 150 years of the Paris Commune https://www.socialistworld.net/2021/03/26/the-first-proletarian-revolution-150-years-of-the-paris-commune/

Book: The Masses Arise: The Great French Revolution 1789-1815 http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017204

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What is the socialist approach to ending both violence against women and defending the right to protest?

This bonus episode is a recording of the introduction to a national meeting hosted by the Socialist Party on Friday 19 March, attended by around 150 people.

What are the factors that made the murder of Sarah Everard the trigger for the protests?

Why are the police incapable of delivering justice and safety for women?

How can we defend the right to protest?

How can the sexist ideas in society be challenged?

This bonus episode of Socialism looks at the questions thrown up by the protests following Sarah Everard’s murder and the mass defiance of the ban on vigils – how can we end violence against women and defend the right to protest?

Further reading and listening

Article: Stop police brutality. Justice for victims of gender violence https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32176/16-03-2021/justice-for-victims-of-gender-violence

Article: Defend the right to protest https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32172/13-03-2021/oppose-bans-on-vigils-defend-the-right-to-protest

Article: Spying on socialism http://socialismtoday.org/spying-on-socialism

Article: In defence of socialist feminism http://socialismtoday.org/archive/224/feminism.html

Article: Women: justice denied http://socialismtoday.org/women-justice-denied

Pamphlet: A fighting programme for women's rights and socialism https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32122/03-03-2021/a-fighting-programme-for-womens-rights-and-socialism

Report: Unite the Union opposes all cuts to domestic violence services https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30613/14-04-2020/unite-opposes-all-cuts-to-domestic-violence-services

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What does this mean for the independence movement in Scotland?

How can workers and young people, who overwhelmingly back independence, take their struggle forward?

The Socialist Party Scotland is the sister party of the Socialist Party in England and Wales.

This episode of Socialism looks at the feud within the SNP and what it means for the independence movement in Scotland.

Further reading and listening

Recent article: SNP’s indyref2 ‘roadmap’ no substitute for a mass movement and socialist policies: https://socialistpartyscotland.org.uk/2021/01/25/snps-indyref2-roadmap-no-substitute-for-a-mass-movement-and-socialist-policies/

Recent article: Salmond/Sturgeon warfare exposes rottenness of nationalist leadership: https://socialistpartyscotland.org.uk/2021/03/04/salmond-sturgeon-warfare-exposes-rotten-underbelly-of-nationalist-leadership/

New book: Scotland and the National Question – A Marxist Approach: https://socialistpartyscotland.org.uk/2020/12/03/new-book-available-now-scotland-and-the-national-question-a-marxist-approach/

Podcast: Socialism 49. Scotland and the election: independence and socialism: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/49-scotland-and-the-election-independence-and-socialism

Podcast: Socialism 80. Trotsky and the ‘national question’: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/80-trotsky-and-the-national-question

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What can we learn from the defeat of the Industrial Relations Act 1971?

Capitalist commentators often refer to the 1970s as a kind of dark age, and accuse socialists of wanting to return to it. What they’re frightened of is the huge power of a working class that fought and often won during that decade.

One major victory was the defeat of the Tories’ 1971 Industrial Relations Act, an attempt to smash the power of shopfloor union reps. Unofficial strikes and mass resistance made the act unenforceable.

Why did workers have such power in the 1970s? Can that be replicated? What was behind the bosses’ attacks on their wages and conditions? And can the anti-union laws that shackle workers today be overcome?

This episode of Socialism looks at the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Industrial Relations Act: how workers beat anti-union laws.

Further reading

How militant trade unionism defeated the 1971 Industrial Relations Act: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32086/24-02-2021/how-militant-trade-unionism-defeated-the-1971-industrial-relations-act

On The Track: an account of trade union struggles at British Leyland: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=31445290

Workers' Control & Workers' Management: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=42068461

How to fight the anti-union laws (2015): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/20994/01-07-2015/how-to-fight-the-anti-union-laws

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How can we fight racism and capitalism today?

Black and Asian people have been disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, they are disproportionately affected by austerity, and by all the inequalities and attacks that face the working class.

Meanwhile, working-class youth showed their willingness to fight racism and class inequality in the magnificent Black Lives Matter protests last summer. So what are the next steps for the movement against racism?

The Socialist Party has produced a new charter proposing some key demands in this fight.

This episode of Socialism looks at the struggle against racism: a black workers’ charter.

Further reading and listening

Socialism 72. You can't have capitalism without racism: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/72-you-cant-have-capitalism-without-racism

Black Workers' Charter: A programme to fight racism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/32013/10-02-2021/black-workers-charter-a-programme-to-fight-racism

Black and Asian Covid-19 deaths: an indictment of capitalist inequality: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30804/22-05-2020/black-and-asian-covid-19-deaths-an-indictment-of-capitalist-inequality

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What next for the mass protests in Russia?

Facing down brutal police repression, tens of thousands seized the streets in Russia to oppose the arrest of opposition leader Alexi Navalny. Vladimir Putin's dictatorial regime was shaken.

While working-class Russians suffer ever more misery, Putin has built himself an opulent private palace. The anger against him is enormous. But although Navalny has exposed the kleptocracy's massive corruption, his vision is limited to a more democratic capitalism.

Workers should have greater democratic rights. But would this alone solve their problems? Is it even achievable with capitalism in crisis? And what sort of programme and organisation does Russia's working class need to end both dictatorship and poverty?

This episode of Socialism, taken from a broadcast by the Committee for a Workers' International on 11 February 2021, looks at the Russia protests: what future for Putin's regime?

Further reading

Heavy state repression fails to stop second wave of protests in Russia: https://www.socialistworld.net/2021/02/01/heavy-state-repression-fails-to-stop-second-wave-of-protests-in-russia/

Mass anti-Putin protests sweep across cities and towns: https://www.socialistworld.net/2021/01/25/russia-mass-anti-putin-protests-sweep-across-cities-and-towns/

Russia: Week-long vote, full of falsification: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/07/13/russia-week-long-vote-full-of-falsification/

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How can the National Education Union win for school workers?

During the pandemic, educators and support staff have been on the front line of the Tories’ war for private wealth over public health. Schools became key breeding grounds for Covid-19.

Then, in January, the NEU forced a humiliating government U-turn on school reopening. What are the lessons from that victory, and what are the next steps to achieve safety?

How can teachers reduce their staggering workload? Is there an alternative to Britain’s ‘exam factory’ education system? What is the way to reverse devastating cuts and privatisation?

Socialist Party member Martin Powell-Davies is standing for deputy general secretary of the NEU. Socialist Party members and other fighters are standing for the union’s ruling national executive committee too.

How can school workers achieve a genuinely democratic union, where they are listened to, not talked at? And who stands for the serious strategy of industrial action necessary to change good union policies into real wins for members?

This episode of Socialism looks at the National Education Union elections: school workers need a fighting union.

Further reading

Martin Powell-Davies for NEU deputy general secretary: https://martin4dgs.co.uk/

Socialist Party in Education: https://spined.co.uk/

Martin Powell-Davies for NEU DGS: "We need to use our collective strength": https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31920/27-01-2021/martin-powell-davies-for-neu-dgs-we-need-to-use-our-collective-strength

The NEU's 'big announcement' - lessons need to be learned: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31977/03-02-2021/the-neus-big-announcement-lessons-need-to-be-learned

Schools: 'We have to fight for everything': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31921/27-01-2021/schools-we-have-to-fight-for-everything

Workers' action wins Tory U-turn on school safety: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31788/06-01-2021/workers-action-wins-tory-u-turn-on-school-safety

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What are the 2011 Arab Spring’s lessons for now?

Ten years ago, revolutions erupted in Egypt and Tunisia, and rapidly spread in the Middle East and North Africa. Workers and poor people enraged by their living conditions toppled dictators.

World capitalist governments were taken by surprise. Why did Marxists in the Committee for a Workers’ International foresee that uprisings were coming?

What was the outcome of the Arab Spring movements? Why did some go further than others, and why have none achieved the full aims of protesters?

What is the significance of revolutions in the region since? And what is needed for the further upheavals which are already brewing to finish the job?

This episode of Socialism looks at the tenth anniversary of the Arab Spring: lessons for today.

Further reading

Ten years since the 'Arab Spring': https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31923/27-01-2021/ten-years-since-the-arab-spring

Egypt: The road to the 2011 revolution: https://www.socialistworld.net/2021/01/25/egypt-the-road-to-the-2011-revolution/

Tunisia: explosion of protests against government austerity (2018): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/26747/17-01-2018/tunisia-explosion-of-protests-against-government-austerity

Iran: strike wave marks new stage in revival of workers' movement (2020): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31329/09-09-2020/strike-wave-marks-new-stage-in-revival-of-iranian-workers-movement

Lebanon: mass protests cut across sectarian division (2020): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30278/12-02-2020/lebanon-mass-protests-cut-across-sectarian-division

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How should socialists respond to the dramatic crisis in the US?

On Wednesday 6 January 2021, Trump supporters - some armed - invaded Congress. It was the culmination of the loose-cannon president’s desperate attempts to overturn the election result. But the US capitalist class is used to inflicting humiliations like this on the rest of the world – not losing control at home.

Was this action just a protest-turned-riot, or did it represent some kind of attempted coup? Are Trump and his movement ‘fascists’, or is the real picture more varied and chaotic?

The opposite attitudes of Capitol Hill police officers and US military chiefs show the splits in the US state machine. The big divide between Trump’s supporters and other Republicans shows splits are developing there too.

So can incoming Democrat Joe Biden fundamentally change the fortunes of US capitalism, or the conditions of the mass of the population? Is it right to support social media bans, new anti-terror laws, and the Democratic Party? Or could that actually help Trump and hinder working-class struggles?

Clearly the events of 6 January were a watershed. What do workers and young people in the US need in order to put their own stamp on events?

This episode of Socialism looks at the United States in crisis: the storming of the capital.

Further reading and listening

CWI analysis of the US post-election crisis: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31867/20-01-2021/usa-in-crisis-the-need-for-a-socialist-alternative

US socialists respond to 6 January attacks: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31834/13-01-2021/how-should-socialists-respond-to-the-6-january-attacks-on-capitol-hill

CWI statement immediately following 6 January events: https://www.socialistworld.net/2021/01/07/us-in-crisis-need-for-a-mass-workers-party-and-socialist-programme/

Trump Twitter ban: only independent workers' voice can defeat right: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31884/20-01-2021/trump-twitter-ban-only-independent-workers-voice-can-defeat-right

US imperialism in decline: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/99-2020-highlights-us-imperialism-in-decline

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What is the outlook for class struggle in Britain in 2021?

The pandemic was a world-shattering turning point. All the weaknesses of capitalism were laid bare in 2020. But in few countries more so than Britain.

The nightmare which began in 2020 has not been limited to public health, but has infected the already-ailing world economy – with British capitalism the worst hit of all the major capitalist powers. Working-class and young people have already suffered hugely as the bosses try to pass on the pain. The bare-bones Brexit deal will only make things worse for Britain’s capitalist rulers.

Boris Johnson’s Tory government has been completely exposed for its incompetence and craven defence of profit over lives. But Keir Starmer’s Labour offers no opposition whatsoever. Britain’s working class has no political voice – and desperately needs to build for a new, independent, mass workers’ party.

Already this year, the trade unions have overturned the government by forcing part-closure of schools. And young people showed they are ready to explode in protest in last year's Black Lives Matter movement.

British capitalism is not well. Meanwhile, Britain’s working class is angry – but lacks political organisation and leadership.

This episode of Socialism look at Britain in 2021: a new era of capitalist crisis.

Further reading

2020 - a year which drove home the catastrophic failures of capitalism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31784/30-12-2020/2020-a-year-which-drove-home-the-catastrophic-failures-of-capitalism

Global capitalism at most dangerous conjuncture since the 1930s: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31825/13-01-2021/global-capitalism-at-most-dangerous-conjuncture-since-the-1930s

Workers' action wins Tory U-turn on school safety: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31788/06-01-2021/workers-action-wins-tory-u-turn-on-school-safety

Universities: refund the rent, cancel the fees, for fully funded, publicly owned education: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31792/06-01-2021/universities-refund-the-rent-cancel-the-fees-for-fully-funded-publicly-owned-education

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What do young people need today - and how can they fight for it?

Last summer, massive, young, working-class protests exploded around the world after the murder of George Floyd, and other appalling incidents of racism and police violence. But it's not just these issues that angered young people.

In the US, Britain and around the world, the youth are suffering appalling conditions, and a future of crisis and uncertainty. But young people have also fought. In electoral movements - through support for figures like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders. And on the streets - in the global climate strikes, and last year’s huge, young and working-class uprisings under the slogan of ‘Black Lives Matter’.

Even before the pandemic, wages were low, jobs insecure, housing and education unaffordable - and tomorrow promised nothing but economic and social turmoil, and even climate catastrophe. In 2020, the pandemic multiplied all these problems, as the capitalists and their politicians dumped the burden disproportionately on the working class and youth. Young people on the streets were angry about racism, but they were also angry about all of it.

How can young people fight to change things? And what would a socialist programme offer young people in that struggle?

This episode of Socialism, one of our highlights of 2020, looks at how young people can fight back: a socialist youth charter.

Further reading and listening

Refund the rent, cancel the fees, and fight for fully-funded, publicly owned education: https://socialiststudents.org.uk/2021/01/05/refund-the-rent-cancel-the-fees-and-fight-for-fully-funded-publicly-owned-education/

Socialism 91. Universities in crisis: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/91-universities-in-crisis

A socialist charter for young people: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/txt/555.pdf

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The crisis-ridden US has two options: socialism or barbarism.

In the run-up to last year’s election, the United States was faced with a litany of crises. This episode was recorded during the run-up - but Biden’s election changes little.

Like many capitalist economies, the US had to partly suspend production in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The state was forced to inject trillions of dollars into the economy to keep the capitalist system going.

The capitalists were facing these crises with an unreliable representative at the helm: Donald Trump. But they were breathing a bit easier once Bernie Sanders, who came to prominence with his promise of a “political revolution” against the “billionaire class,” endorsed a more reliable representative of big business interests in the form of the Democrat Joe Biden.

Biden narrowly defeated Trump. But the problems faced by “Sleepy Joe’s” administration have no solution on the basis of the capitalist system that both he and Trump defend.

Huge anger is growing. Class polarisation sharpens as the divisions between bosses and workers are exposed. Armed demonstrations ratchet up the tensions. Capitalism is threatening to plunge millions more into poverty, on a scale not seen since the Great Depression.

This episode of Socialism, one of our highlights of 2020, looks at US imperialism in decline: coronavirus, Trump, Sanders and socialism.

Further reading

Trump out but not down: http://socialismtoday.org/trump-out-but-not-down

Lesser evil Democrats won’t end Trumpism: http://socialismtoday.org/lesser-evil-democrats-wont-end-trumpism

Revolution or reaction: http://socialismtoday.org/revolution-or-reaction

Global covid-19 pandemic, capitalist crisis and bitter class polarisation in the United States: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/04/21/global-covid-19-pandemic-capitalist-crisis-and-bitter-class-polarisation-in-the-united-states/

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80 years on from Trotsky’s assassination: can they kill his ideas?

Lev Davidovich Bronstein, better known as Leon Trotsky, was murdered on 21 August 1940. What was Stalin so afraid of? And why do capitalist commentators still try to bury Trotsky’s ideas today?

Earlier this year, the Committee for a Workers’ International published a new book, and Socialism produced a special podcast series, for the 80th anniversary of the revolutionary leader’s assassination. The book is called ‘Leon Trotsky - A Revolutionary Whose Ideas Couldn’t Be Killed’, and you can buy it at leftbooks.co.uk. The podcast series is called ‘Trotsky and Trotskyism’, this episode was its first instalment, and you can find a playlist with all 11 episodes at our SoundCloud page, soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast.

What was Trotsky’s role in Russia’s revolutions? What is the theory of ‘permanent revolution’? How did Stalinism betray it? What were Trotsky’s ideas for defeating Stalinism and fascism? And what can workers and socialists today learn from it all?

This episode of Socialism, one of our highlights of 2020, introduces the co-leader of the Russian revolution: Trotsky’s revolutionary ideas.

Further reading

80th anniversary of Leon Trotsky's assassination: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31220/19-08-2020/80th-anniversary-of-leon-trotskys-assassination

Leon Trotsky - A Revolutionary Whose Ideas Couldn't Be Killed: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=49798530

Leon Trotsky: A revolutionary's life: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/15106/29-08-2012/leon-trotsky-a-revolutionarys-life

My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0025

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How did Britain's working class fight to overthrow early capitalism?

In the early 19th century, the industrial revolution was rapidly creating a big new social class in Britain: the working class. Workers produced huge amounts of new wealth for the ruling capitalists, but had appalling conditions and no say in politics. Sound familiar?

Trade unions appeared for the first time, formed by workers to fight in the workplace. But they quickly realised that this alone was not enough. The bosses used political power to restrain or reverse what the workers could win by industrial struggle alone.

The Chartist movement was the world’s first working-class party. Its ‘People’s Charter’ demanded a massive extension of democratic rights for workers – with the goal of using that to improve their material conditions.

But increasingly, experience taught Chartist workers that petitioning alone was not enough either. Ultimately, revolutionary struggle was the only way for workers to gain power – or even win more rights within the capitalist system.

How did the Chartists develop their ideas and methods of struggle? What was the outcome of the movement? And what can we learn from it today?

This episode of Socialism looks at Britain’s revolutionary working class: Chartism.

Further reading

Newport Rising 1839: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/8303

Class struggle and the early Chartist movement: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/129/chartism.html

Debate: The class character of Chartism: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/130/chartism.html

Debate: Class, leadership and the Chartist movement: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/131/chartism.html

Newport council destroys workers' mural: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/17541

The Pentrich uprising: revolution and counter-revolution in 19th century Britain: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/25680

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What are the roots of women’s oppression?

Thousands of years ago, early human societies lived without economic classes or gender oppression. Life was basic, precarious and sometimes brutal. But all contributed what they could to producing the necessities of life, and men and women had an equal say and social status.

How did humans move from this to ways of organising society which are more advanced – but where a small, pampered minority exploits the hard work and suffering of the majority? How is this connected to women being treated as second-class citizens or commodities? And how does capitalism benefit from it? Friedrich Engels investigated these questions in 1884.

Can patriarchy be analysed and overcome separately from the struggle against the economic ruling class? And what is necessary to end women’s oppression – both by material privations and by backwards social attitudes – once and for all?

This episode of Socialism, part of a short series on Engels, looks at Marxism and women’s liberation: The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.

Further reading

International Women's Day 2020: Fighting sexism and austerity: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30362/04-03-2020/international-womens-day-fighting-sexism-and-austerity

It Doesn't Have to be Like This: Women and the Struggle for Socialism: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017207

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (Engels): https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/index.htm

What Lies Behind... The Oppression of Women: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/24780

Engels and women’s liberation: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/181/engels.html

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How did Engels explain the scientific approach to socialism?

Today, there are socialists who argue that rational arguments, or moral appeals, or new technologies, or localised socialistic community projects, can defeat capitalism. These ideas are not new. Unfortunately, they have all been disproven in theory and practice.

These well-meaning approaches express the yearning of billions for fundamental social change. But they are utopian: they do not take a scientific approach to examining how society works – and therefore, what is needed to change it.

Friedrich Engels came up against similar misleading ideas. His 1877 work Anti-Dühring explained why ‘scientific socialism’ – the original name for Marxism – showed the real way forward. In 1880, Engels reworked key chapters to produce his brilliant explanatory pamphlet ‘Socialism: Utopian and Scientific’.

How did early socialist ideas evolve? What is ‘dialectics’ – the science of change – and how did Marxism put in onto the ‘materialist’ basis of the physical sciences? And how does this approach apply to understanding the development of capitalism – and the struggle for socialism?

This episode of Socialism, part of a short series on Engels, is a re-run of one of our most popular episodes from 2019 - Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.

Further reading

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (Engels): http://leftbooks.co.uk/Socialism-Utopian-and-Scientific-1

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific discussion questions and resources: http://www.socialistbooks.co.uk/socialism-utopian-and-scientific-resources/

The renewed relevance of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/28107/17-10-2018/the-renewed-relevance-of-engels-classic-socialism-utopian-and-scientific

The ABC of Materialist Dialectics (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1939/12/abc.htm

The Masses Arise: The Great French Revolution 1789-1815: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017204

Value, Price and Profit (Marx): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/MARX0004

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What did Engels have to say about the housing crisis?

Cramped homes. Extortionate costs. Rip-off landlords. Rising homelessness. Projects to upgrade areas just used to force workers and poor people out. Meanwhile, posh new houses lie empty.

It could be any major town or city in the 21st century. But it was all described by Friedrich Engels back in the 19th century.

Why does capitalism endlessly recreate this social crisis? Why didn’t increasing home ownership solve the problem? What can we learn from Engels’ arguments against anarchists and liberals about housing? And how can socialists start to fix it today?

This episode of Socialism, part of a short series on Engels, looks at the fight for the right to a home: The Housing Question.

Further reading and listening

The Housing Question (Engels): https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1872/housing-question/

Housing crisis: what now and after the pandemic? https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31110/22-07-2020/housing-crisis-what-now-and-after-the-pandemic

The end of social housing? How can we solve the housing crisis? (2015): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/21777/18-11-2015/the-end-of-social-housing-how-can-we-solve-the-housing-crisis

Socialism episode 45. How renters can beat gentrifiers: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/45-how-renters-can-beat-gentrifiers

Socialism episode 31. Grenfell and Barking: safe homes for all now: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/31-grenfell-and-barking-safe-homes-for-all-now

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What can the horrors of industrialisation teach socialists today?

175 years ago, Britain was the most advanced capitalist country on the planet. Leaps forward in industry created huge productive power and riches for the capitalists.

Radicals looked to Britain as a way forward for society following revolutionary movements against the old feudal rulers in Europe. But despite massive economic progress, which lays the basis for socialism, capitalism came with terrible new social miseries.

What was life like for the working class in 1845? Is there any real comparison with life in the 21st century? And what did it tell Engels about who should run society?

This episode of Socialism, part of a short series on Engels, looks at his first major work: The Condition of the Working Class in England.

Further reading

Socialism 2020: four days of open, online discussion and debate, 20-23 November: https://www.socialism2020.net/

The Condition of the Working Class in England (Engels): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/ENGE0006

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Who was Friedrich Engels and what were his ideas?

Marxism, originally called ‘scientific socialism’, takes its name from Karl Marx. But Marx didn’t work alone in developing his ideas. His co-philosopher – and close friend – shares the credit for that historic work.

How did these two giants of socialism come together? What led Engels to develop revolutionary ideas? What were his most important contributions to socialist thought? And what can we learn from his hands-on approach – not just to ideas, but in fighting to put them into practice?

This episode of Socialism, part of a short series on Engels, introduces the co-founder of Marxism: the revolutionary life of Friedrich Engels

Further reading

Engels: A Revolutionary Life: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/4795/04-06-2008/engels-a-revolutionary-life

The Frock-Coated Communist, the revolutionary life of Friedrich Engels: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/7401/05-06-2009/the-frock-coated-communist-the-revolutionary-life-of-friedrich-engels

The Condition of the Working Class in England (Engels): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=6651300

The Communist Manifesto (Marx and Engels): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/manifesto/

The Housing Question (Engels): https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1872/housing-question/

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (Engels): http://www.socialistbooks.co.uk/socialism-utopian-and-scientific-resources/

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (Engels): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017113

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How can students fight back against rip-off Covid imprisonment?

Universities have enticed students onto courses with promises of a learning experience that never materialised – then trapped them there under lockdown to suck out fees and rent.

Overcrowding on campus and in housing is causing major material and mental health crises. Jobs and teaching quality have nosedived – after already suffering from years of marketisation.

Meanwhile, the official student organisations have deserted the field. And Starmer’s Labour has ignored the pressing problems of students and young people as it cravenly backs the Tory government’s approach.

This episode of Socialism looks at the crisis in the universities: how can students fight back?

Further reading

Join Socialist Students: https://socialiststudents.org.uk/join/

Covid and the campuses: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31379/23-09-2020/covid-and-the-campuses

Students not to blame for unsafe uni conditions: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31464/14-10-2020/students-not-to-blame-for-unsafe-uni-conditions

Students trapped on Covid campuses speak out: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31402/30-09-2020/students-trapped-on-covid-campuses-speak-out

Solidarity with Manchester students - fight for democratic control of campus safety: https://socialiststudents.org.uk/2020/11/06/solidarity-with-manchester-students-fight-for-democratic-control-of-campus-safety/

Corbyn suspended - Time to fight for a new mass workers' party: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31582/03-11-2020/corbyn-suspended-time-to-fight-for-a-new-mass-workers-party

US: Narrow poll lead for Biden in highly polarised elections: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/11/05/us-narrow-poll-lead-for-biden-in-highly-polarised-elections/

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What next for the uprising in Nigeria?

Millions of youth have been out on the streets in response to the brutal repression and banditry of the Nigerian state’s so-called ‘Special Anti-Robbery Squad’ (Sars). They have the sympathy of millions of workers in this huge, resource-rich west African country.

The scale of the protests shows this is about much more than just police violence. Appalling wages and living conditions, soaring fuel and food prices, and breath-taking levels of corruption, have discredited the whole Nigerian capitalist establishment.

There are widespread calls to bring the government down. The union leaders called – and then called off – a general strike. And Democratic Socialist Movement – Nigerian sister party of the Socialist Party in England Wales – has attracted impressive numbers with its revolutionary programme, and its new youth platform, the Youth Rights Campaign.

The Committee for a Workers’ International spoke to DSM on Wednesday 21 October, following another brutal killing of protesters by state forces, about how the movement can win.

This episode of Socialism looks at the uprising in Nigeria: End Sars, Buhari out, fight for a socialist Nigeria!

Further reading

Nigeria: Buhari must go! https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/10/22/nigeria-buhari-must-go/

Mass protests force government to disband killer cop unit: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31483

Nigerian police repress peaceful anti-government protest: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31358

Nigerian labour leaders postpone general strike at last minute: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/09/30/nigerian-labour-leaders-postpone-general-strike-at-last-minute/

Nigeria protests shake regime: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31568

Solidarity with the movement in Nigeria: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31555

Sixty years since Nigeria’s independence – mass misery in the midst of huge resources: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/10/01/sixty-years-since-nigerias-independence-mass-misery-in-the-midst-of-huge-resources/

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How did Trotsky view revolution and the arts?

Because art holds a mirror up to life, many revolutionaries have taken an interest its role. Leon Trotsky in particular wrote on art, literature, and its role in society and politics.

Art can be insightful because of its politics, or despite them. So how does Marxism, a political theory, have any relation to art?

The Russian revolution led to an explosion in artistic vision. Then Stalinism stamped it all out. Why?

Why did Trotsky struggle to try to bring together revolutionary artists in the 1930s? And what relevance does Trotsky’s approach to art and culture hold today?

This episode of Socialism looks at revolution and culture: Trotsky and the arts.

Further reading

Art and revolution: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/128/art.html

Manifesto for an Independent Revolutionary Art (Trotsky, Rivera, Breton): https://www.marxists.org/subject/art/lit_crit/works/rivera/manifesto.htm

The Social Roots and the Social Function of Literature (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1923/art/tia23b.htm

Surrealism’s revolutionary heart: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/120/manifesto.html

Revolutionary drama: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/203/brecht.html

Literature and Revolution (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1924/lit_revo/

Art and Revolution: Writings on Literature, Politics and Culture (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2075628

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Crumbling capitalism, revolution and counter-revolution

As the capitalist world tears at itself, who stands to gain?

Global capitalism is in its deepest crisis since the 1930s, exacerbated by ‘the great accelerator’: Covid-19 pandemic and depression.

There is turmoil on every continent; class battles and uprisings; rising authoritarianism; polarisation within and between nations. Meanwhile, the trade union and ‘new left’ leaders have more and more accommodated themselves to capitalism’s demands.

The United States is a harbinger for the 2020s. Constitutional crisis is on the cards. Internal and international tensions, conspiracy theory mysticism, and dangerous right-wing forces are on the rise.

Is fascism the same threat it was a century ago? What is the difference between fascism then and right-wing authoritarianism today? Why does this matter? And how can socialists navigate these choppy waters to build the urgent alternative?

This episode of Socialism looks at crumbling capitalism: revolution and counter-revolution today.

Further reading

World perspectives: Revolution and counter revolution – Who stands to gain? https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/10/08/world-perspectives-revolution-and-counter-revolution-who-stands-to-gain/

Worldwide capitalist crisis deepens – step up the fight for socialism: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/10/07/worldwide-capitalist-crisis-deepens-step-up-the-fight-for-socialism/

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How can socialists link day-to-day struggles to the need for revolution?

Global capitalism is in a historic crisis, and offers no future to the majority of humanity. Socialism is the only alternative to bloated billionaires, mass unemployment and ruinous trade wars.

On the one hand, the profit system is in such a mess that even defending existing pro-worker reforms can lead to colossal pitched battles. On the other hand, why would workers bother fighting for new reforms if it seems the economy cannot possibly grant them?

Socialists need demands and slogans which link the struggle over day-to-day problems with the need to overthrow capitalism. So how can we work out such ‘transitional demands’?

What is the difference between a ‘transitional programme’ and a ‘minimum-maximum programme’? Is there a fixed formula we can use to create it? Has one ever worked? And what are some of the problems it would have to address today?

This episode of Socialism looks at the bridge from immediate needs to socialist revolution: what is a ‘transitional programme’?

Further reading

The Transitional Programme (Trotsky) with an introduction by Peter Taaffe: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2333802

The Socialist Party's core programme - What We Stand For: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/partydoc/What_We_Stand_For

Coronavirus - a workers' charter: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/partydoc/Coronavirus_-_a_workers_charter_2020

A socialist charter for young people - we won't sacrifice our future to capitalist crisis: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30868/08-06-2020/a-socialist-charter-for-young-people

Trotsky's Transitional Programme: Winning Support For Socialism (2002): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/24669

The Impending Catastrophe and How to Combat It (Lenin): https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/ichtci/index.htm

The Communist Manifesto (Marx and Engels) - especially final two chapters: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/manifesto/

Discussions on the Transitional Programme (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/tp/tpdiscuss.htm

Third Congress of the Communist International: On Tactics - especially section V: https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/3rd-congress/tactics.htm

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What is the state of world capitalism as it heads into a second wave of Covid-19?

Over a decade ago, the global capitalist system was shaken by a historic financial crisis. It still had not recovered when the coronavirus pandemic caused the worst economic contraction in history.

Pandemic, depression, environmental catastrophe, political turmoil - capitalism is not well. And now a second wave of Covid is gathering pace.

What does this mean for capitalism around the world? Will we see mass protests and revolutions? Isn’t it the right making gains from the crisis? And what will the US elections bring?

This episode of Socialism looks at a world on the brink: capitalist crisis and the second wave.

Further reading

10 years since the financial crash: https://www.socialistworld.net/2018/09/14/10-years-since-the-financial-crash/

Coronavirus plunges capitalism into global turmoil - the need for a socialist alternative: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/03/23/coronavirus-plunges-capitalism-into-global-turmoil-the-need-for-a-socialist-alternative/

What lies behind the US-China trade war? https://www.socialistworld.net/2019/05/24/what-lies-behind-the-us-china-trade-war/

Democratic, Republican, and Peoples’ Conventions: What Way Forward for Workers? https://independentsocialistgroup.org/2020/09/22/democratic-republican-and-peoples-conventions-what-way-forward-for-workers/

Interview with US presidential candidate: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/09/22/interview-with-us-presidential-candidate/

Britain: Tory Prime Minister’s brinkmanship over EU deal deepens capitalist splits: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/09/17/britain-tory-prime-ministers-brinkmanship-over-eu-deal-deepens-capitalist-splits/

Britain: Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition to stand in elections again against pro-austerity politicians: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/09/14/britain-trade-unionist-and-socialist-coalition-to-stand-in-elections-again-against-pro-austerity-politicians/

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What are the lessons for today from the 1926 general strike?

One of the myths about the British working class is that it’s too ponderous and conservative to have a serious fight with capitalism. Actually, centuries of bitter class struggle have shown the real potential again and again.

But arguably the high point came in 1926, during a period of national and international crisis for capitalism not so different from today. Despite the hesitancy and treachery of the official union leaders, Britain’s workers came out on strike in every sector, and without an end date. They even started running parts of society for themselves.

How did Britain’s only general strike so far come into being? What did it show us about revolutionary power of a general strike? Why did it end in defeat? And what can workers and socialists today learn for the huge class battles coming up today?

This episode of Socialism looks at Britain’s ‘almost’ revolution: the 1926 general strike.

Further reading and listening

1926 General Strike: Workers Taste Power (Peter Taaffe): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017077

The general strike today (2003): http://socialismtoday.org/archive/76/generalstrike.html

Towards a 24 hour general strike (2012): http://socialismtoday.org/archive/161/britain.html

Socialism 75. Britain's revolts after WW1: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/75-britains-revolts-after-ww1

Where is Britain Going? (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/britain/wibg/

The Middle of the Road (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/britain/v3/ch02f.htm

75 years since the 1926 general strike: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/8489/04-05-2001/1926-general-strike-a-showdown-between-the-classes

90 years since the 1926 general strike: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/22727/04-05-2016/1926-general-strike-when-workers-tasted-power

1926 general strike debate: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/5276/15-06-2006/1926-general-strike-debate

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What was Trotsky’s advice for revolutionaries on unions?

The trade unions are the basic organisations of the working class. Trotsky, like all who follow the ideas of genuine Marxism, believed the working class was the only social force which can lead socialist revolution.

But the union leaders can be timid, or even hold back struggle by their members. And anyway, the working class today looks very different to working class in 1917.

So how did Trotsky see the unions in relation to the struggle for socialism? And are those ideas - and the unions themselves - still relevant to that struggle today?

This episode of Socialism looks at the organised working class: Trotsky on the trade unions.

The CWI is producing a new book on Trotsky's life and ideas for the 80th anniversary of his assassination, which this podcast series is following. It's called 'Leon Trotsky - A Revolutionary Whose Ideas Couldn't Be Killed'. You can pre-order it now at www.leftbooks.co.uk.

Further reading

Should Revolutionaries Work in Reactionary Trade Unions? (Lenin): https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/ch06.htm

The Nature of the Trade Unions (Peter Taaffe): http://marxist.net/2019/12/11/the-nature-of-the-trade-unions/

Trade Unions and Bolshevism (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/britain/ch07.htm

The Trade Unions in Britain (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1933/09/unions-britain.htm

Trade Unions in the Epoch of Imperialist Decay (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1940/xx/tu.htm

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How did Trotsky help organise international socialist struggle?

Capitalism is a worldwide problem. Since the days of Karl Marx, socialists have worked towards a worldwide solution.

But there have been multiple attempts to organise international associations of revolutionaries. Each rose and then fell for different reasons.

What can we learn from their successes and failures? What was Trotsky’s part in building ‘internationals’? And what are the prospects for building a mass, revolutionary, working-class international going forward?

This episode of Socialism looks at the struggle for a world party of revolution: Trotsky and the Fourth International.

The CWI is producing a new book on Trotsky’s life and ideas for the 80th anniversary of his assassination, which this podcast series is following. It’s called ‘Leon Trotsky - A Revolutionary Whose Ideas Couldn’t Be Killed’. You can pre-order it now at www.leftbooks.co.uk.

Further reading

The Rise and Fall of the Communist International: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/Trotsky/cominternframe.htm

1938 anniversary: Founding the Fourth International: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/124/international.html

A Socialist World Is Possible: The History of the CWI: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017051

In Defence of Trotskyism: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=49575330

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What is fascism and how can we fight it?

In the 1930s, mass fascist movements smashed the workers’ organisations. Today, far-right and right-populist forces are again growing in prominence. So what can we learn from history?

What exactly is fascism? Is a fascist dictatorship possible today? What distinguishes it from other authoritarian regimes?

Do these political differences mean tactical differences in how workers should fight them? What’s the difference between a ‘popular front’ and a ‘united front’? And why do you have to be anti-capitalist to succeed as an anti-fascist?

This episode of Socialism looks at fighting anti-worker reaction: Trotsky, fascism and the ‘united front’.

Further listening and reading

Socialism episode 4. Fighting the racist far right: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/re-run-4-fighting-the-racist-far-right

Socialism episode 42. You can't have capitalism without racism: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/72-you-cant-have-capitalism-without-racism

Fascism: What It Is and How to Fight It (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0001

The Communist International and the fascist threat: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/222/comintern.html

The character of the far-right threat: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/66/farRight.html

The alt-right threat: http://socialismtoday.org/the-alt-right-threat

The danger of the far right: http://socialismtoday.org/the-danger-of-the-far-right

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How did Trotsky explain the rise of Stalinism?

The Russian Revolution began as a mass movement with democratic control of society by the workers and poor. But it ended as a brutal police state which collapsed under its own inefficiency.

What caused this complete reversal? Do revolutions inevitably end in treacherous dictatorship? Was the Soviet bureaucracy the same as a capitalist class? What are a ‘degenerated workers’ state’ and a ‘deformed workers’ state’? And what can it all tell us about fighting for socialism today?

This episode of Socialism looks at the revolution betrayed: Trotsky on Stalinism and the ‘degenerated workers’ state’.

Further reading

Leon Trotsky's struggle against Stalinism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/28804/06-03-2019/leon-trotskys-struggle-against-stalinism

USSR 1989 - the collapse of Stalinism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/8375/18-11-2009/ussr-1989-the-collapse-of-stalinism

What About Russia? https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/russia/r2frame.htm?stalin.html

Lenin: the original dictator? http://socialismtoday.org/archive/80/lenin.html

From Stalinism to New Labour: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/230/hobsbawm.htm

Lessons of October (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0080

The Revolution Betrayed: What is the Soviet Union and Where is it Going? (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/revbet/

Stalin - An Appraisal of the Man and His Influence (Trotsky, unfinished): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1940/xx/stalin/index.htm

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How did Trotsky fight for national liberation?

Socialists aim for a world which doesn’t need borders and ends national divisions. But today, many national groupings are forced into larger states which repress their right to decide their own destiny.

How do Marxists address the complexities of the so-called ‘national question’ - maximising international workers’ cooperation, while supporting the right to national self-determination?

This led to multiple controversies during the lifetime of Leon Trotsky. In our latest instalment on his ideas, we ask how they apply today. This episode of Socialism looks at socialism and national liberation: Trotsky and the ‘national question’.

80 years since Trotsky's assassination: Why couldn't his ideas be killed? Join the international online rally on Sunday 23 August, 2pm London time! Register now: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trotsky-murdered-80-years-ago-why-couldnt-his-ideas-be-killed-registration-115866871933

Further listening and reading

Socialism episode 44. Kurdish national liberation: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/44-kurdish-national-liberation

Socialism episode 27. The national question, Ireland, and Brexit: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/27-the-national-question-ireland-and-brexit

The Problem of Nationalities (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/ch39.htm

The Socialist Revolution and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination (Lenin): https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/jan/x01.htm

On the National Question (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1923/05/natquest.htm

The Right of Nations to Self-Determination (Lenin): https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/self-det/index.htm

Troubled Times: The National Question in Ireland (Peter Hadden): https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/writers/hadden/1995/natq/index.html

Catalonia independence movement two years on: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/29658/02-10-2019/catalonia-independence-movement-two-years-on

Socialists fight for Palestinian liberation and workers' unity: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/27320/09-05-2018/socialists-fight-for-palestinian-liberation-and-workers-unity

Scottish referendum: "Britain will never be the same again" (2014): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/19222/16-09-2014/britain-will-never-be-the-same-again

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How did Trotsky view the relationship between the revolution and its party?

Where countless other revolutions have failed, the workers of Russia succeeded in taking power in October 1917. The decisive factor was the Bolshevik Party. Leon Trotsky likened it to a “piston-box” which could channel the “steam” of mass revolutionary energy.

Trotsky did not start out as a member of the Bolsheviks. But he came to see the role Lenin had played - preparing an organisation capable of leading the working class during revolutionary upheavals - as vital.

But are the Bolsheviks a model for building a party today? What is the difference between a broad workers’ party and a revolutionary party? And is a revolutionary party all we need to make a successful revolution?

This episode of Socialism looks at political consciousness and organisation: Trotsky and the revolutionary party.

Further reading

The Class, the Party and the Leadership (Trotsky): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/Trotsky/cpl/index.html

The role of a revolutionary party: http://marxism.org.uk/pack/party.html

The Transitional Programme (Trotsky) with an introduction by Peter Taaffe: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2333802

The Communist Manifesto (Marx and Engels): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/manifesto/

What Is to Be Done? (Lenin): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/LENI0011

"Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder (Lenin): https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/

The Revolutionary Party and its Role in the Struggle for Socialism (Cannon): https://www.marxists.org/archive/cannon/works/1967/party.htm

The First Five Years of the Communist International: Volume One (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0091

The First Five Years of the Communist International: Volume Two (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0092

The History of the Russian Revolution (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/index.htm

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What is Leon Trotsky’s theory of ‘permanent revolution’?

In the early 20th century, Russia was still a mostly feudal country. Could it achieve socialism without passing through greater development of capitalism first?

Even today, the economic and social advances promised by the capitalist democratic revolutions have not been fully achieved in any country. This is especially true in the ‘neocolonial’ countries, whose development is held by back by wealthier capitalist powers.

What is ‘combined and uneven development’? Why is it only the working class which can lead a successful mass movement for permanent social change? And why does the revolution have to be international?

This episode of Socialism looks at how history moves forward: Trotsky’s theory of ‘permanent revolution’.

Further reading

The striking relevance of Leon Trotsky's Theory of Permanent Revolution: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/29022/24-04-2019/the-striking-relevance-of-leon-trotskys-theory-of-permanent-revolution

100th anniversary of the ‘Theory of Permanent Revolution’: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/5001/09-02-2006/are-trotskys-ideas-of-socialist-revolution-still-relevant-today

Trotsky: The Permanent Revolution today: https://www.socialistworld.net/2010/02/18/trotsky-the-permanent-revolution-today/

The Permanent Revolution, and Results and Prospects (Leon Trotsky): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/Trotsky/permanent/index.html

Nepal: The great general strike – the permanent revolution: https://www.socialistworld.net/2010/06/29/nepal-the-great-general-strike-the-permanent-revolution/

Cuba: Socialism and Democracy: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=27483019

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What was Leon Trotsky's part in the Russian revolution?

The events of 1917, and the years which immediately followed, were a political furnace. Failed parties and leaders melted away as hardened political forces and inspirational leaders were forged in white heat of revolution.

There were huge leaps forward, and crushing setbacks. Through it all, Leon Trotsky was one of the political figures most responsible for helping the workers’ movement to navigate a way forward.

This episode of Socialism looks at 1917 and the young workers’ state: Trotsky during the revolution.

Further reading

February revolution 1917 - what lessons for today?: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/24688/22-02-2017/february-revolution-1917-what-lessons-for-today

July Days 1917: battles with counterrevolution: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/25838/12-07-2017/july-days-1917-battles-with-counterrevolution

Russia, October 1917: When workers took power: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/26314/18-10-2017/russia-october-1917-when-workers-took-power

The History of the Russian Revolution (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/index.htm

The First Five Years of the Communist International: Volume One (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0091

The First Five Years of the Communist International: Volume Two (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0092

The Class, the Party and the Leadership (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2075641

My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017056

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80 years on from Trotsky’s assassination: can they kill his ideas?

Lev Davidovich Bronstein, better known as Leon Trotsky, was killed on 21 August 1940. What was Stalin so afraid of? And why do capitalist commentators still try to bury Trotsky’s ideas today?

This month, Socialism the Podcast will be answering those questions in a series on Trotsky and Trotskyism. What was his role in Russia’s revolutions? What is the theory of ‘permanent revolution’? How did Stalinism betray it? What is a ‘transitional programme’? And what can workers and socialists today learn from it all?

We begin our series with a general introduction. In the months before his death, Trotsky wrote: “If I had to begin all over again, I would of course try to avoid this or that mistake, but the main course of my life would remain unchanged…

“My faith in the communist future of mankind is not less ardent, indeed it is firmer today, than it was in the days of my youth…

“Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full.”

This episode of Socialism looks at Leon Trotsky: an introduction to his revolutionary life and ideas.

Further reading

Leon Trotsky: A revolutionary's life: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/15106/29-08-2012/leon-trotsky-a-revolutionarys-life

Russia 1905: When workers gained a glimpse of power: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/4250/22-01-2005/russia-1905-when-workers-gained-a-glimpse-of-power

Russia, October 1917: When workers took power: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/26314/18-10-2017/russia-october-1917-when-workers-took-power

Leon Trotsky's struggle against Stalinism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/28804/06-03-2019/leon-trotskys-struggle-against-stalinism

My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography (Leon Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0025

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What is scientific socialism, and what can it teach us about the fight for socialist change today?

Labour’s left leadership failed to fight for the urgent political and democratic reforms needed in the party - a missed opportunity for working-class political representation.

In politics, mistakes in tactics begin with mistakes in ideas. That’s why Marxists take ideas so seriously. As Karl Marx himself said: “Practice without theory is blind, theory without practice is sterile.”

In fact, the original name for Marxism was ‘scientific socialism’. In 1880, Marx’s collaborator Friedrich Engels produced ‘Socialism: Utopian and Scientific’, explaining the difference between those two trends in socialist thought.

It was an introduction to some key scientific socialist ideas, from dialectical materialism to Marxist economics. Socialist struggle today could learn much from the mistakes of utopian socialism, old and new, and the rigour of scientific socialism.

The Socialist Party’s publishing house, Socialist Books, republished this classic last year, available from socialistbooks.co.uk.

This episode of Socialism, one of our most popular from 2019, is a re-run of episode 18 - Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.

Further reading

The renewed relevance of Engels' classic, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/28107/17-10-2018/the-renewed-relevance-of-engels-classic-socialism-utopian-and-scientific

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (Friedrich Engels): http://www.socialistbooks.co.uk/socialist-books-presents-socialism-utopian-and-scientific/

'Socialism: Utopian and Scientific' questions and resources: http://www.socialistbooks.co.uk/socialism-utopian-and-scientific-resources/

The Masses Arise: The Great French Revolution 1789-1815 (Peter Taaffe): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017204

Value, Price and Profit (Karl Marx): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/MARX0004

An Introduction to the Logic of Marxism (George Novack): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/NOVA0001

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How will Covid-19’s political consequences compare to the aftermath of World War One?

The pandemic crisis is frequently compared to a war. Marxists agree there are parallels for many reasons - not least the political revolts that follow.

After the Great War, British capitalism entered a period of fast-changing economic and political crisis. Slump and mass unemployment; heroic strikes and mutinies; rapid advances for the new workers’ parties - Labour and the Communists.

What can we learn from Britain’s economic strife and political ructions after the First World War? How can these help prepare the workers’ movement for struggles in the era of coronavirus and a new depression?

This episode of Socialism looks at lessons from history: Britain’s revolts after World War One.

Further reading and listening

1920s Britain: A "country nearer Bolshevism than at any time since": https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30818/27-05-2020/1920s-britain-a-country-nearer-bolshevism-than-at-any-time-since

Building the shop stewards' movement (2008): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/3632/17-01-2008/feature-building-the-shop-stewards-movement

Globalisation and deglobalisation: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/73-globalisation-and-deglobalisation
World economic crisis: a Marxist analysis of the coronavirus crunch: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/64-world-economic-crisis-a-marxist-analysis-of-the-coronavirus-crunch
US imperialism in decline: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/66-us-imperialism-in-decline-coronavirus-trump-sanders-and-socialism
China's new role: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/70-chinas-new-role

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We need to fight for every job. But is such a fight possible?

Thousands of new members are flooding into Britain’s trade unions. But thousands more are losing their jobs every day.

Black Lives Matter and coronavirus inequalities have thrown racism into the spotlight too. Precarious work in the gig economy, and even sweatshop conditions in some areas, are pressing issues for more and more of the working class. How can the unions lead a fightback here?

Meanwhile, as major sections of the union leadership tried to partner up with the government, rank-and-file union members with no choice but to fight have led heroic struggles themselves. What does this mean for how workers need to organise?

This episode of Socialism looks at working-class organisation in the new stage of the pandemic crisis: how the unions need to fight now.

Further listening and reading

Episode 72. You can't have capitalism without racism: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/72-you-cant-have-capitalism-without-racism

Fight for every job: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31025/08-07-2020/fight-for-every-job-fight-for-socialism

NSSN conference: "Fight for our lives and livelihoods": https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31039/08-07-2020/fantastic-virtual-nssn-conference-fight-for-our-lives-and-livelihoods

Southampton UCU - election victory for combative rank and file: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31036/08-07-2020/southampton-ucu-election-victory-for-combative-rank-and-file

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Why are the world's economies pulling apart?

World capitalism in recent decades underwent a process often called ‘globalisation’. Competing national economies became more and more integrated and dependent on each other.

Now, the wheels have come off. Trade wars, political disputes, even rumblings of armed conflict - already happening, but exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic - have marked a process of ‘deglobalisation’.

What is behind these two epoch-defining waves of change? Why are both responsible for worsening conditions for workers, young people and the poor? And is there a way to achieve global economic and political harmony?

This episode of Socialism looks at high and low tides for world capitalism: globalisation and deglobalisation.

Further listening and reading

Socialism 66. US imperialism in decline: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/66-us-imperialism-in-decline-coronavirus-trump-sanders-and-socialism

Socialism 70. China's new role: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/70-chinas-new-role

World Economy - the new crisis and its consequences: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/03/19/world-economy-the-new-crisis-and-its-consequences/

New era of capitalist turmoil and social upheaval opens: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/05/15/new-era-of-capitalist-turmoil-and-social-upheaval-opens-only-a-socialist-alternative-offers-a-way-forward/

What lies behind the US-China trade war? https://www.socialistworld.net/2019/05/24/what-lies-behind-the-us-china-trade-war/

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Malcolm X said: “You can’t have capitalism without racism.” Why - and what can we learn from that?

Heroic Black Lives Matter protests have swept the US, Britain and the world. Rivers of working-class young people, black and white, have taken up the struggle against racism and police violence.

Sadly, police murder of black people is nothing new. Why has this movement exploded in this way right now? And why do socialists argue that racism is integral to the capitalist system - so that ending racism means overturning capitalism and fighting for socialism?

This episode of Socialism looks at Black Lives Matter: you can’t have capitalism without racism.

Further viewing and reading

Socialist Party Facebook Live broadcast: Lessons from the Black Panthers: https://www.facebook.com/CWISocialistParty/videos/963326150788884

Which way forward for Black Lives Matter protests? https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30917/17-06-2020/which-way-forward-for-black-lives-matter-protests

Lessons from the Black Panthers: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/104/panthers.html

Where was Malcolm X going? http://socialismtoday.org/archive/156/malcolm.html

Oppose racist symbols and the racist system: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30918/17-06-2020/oppose-racist-symbols-and-the-racist-system

Reform or revolt? How was the slave trade abolished? https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30936/17-06-2020/reform-or-revolt-how-was-the-slave-trade-abolished

Martin Luther King: Fighting for a promised land: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/118/king.html

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How can the working class defeat the far right?

A magnificent mass movement, overwhelmingly young, working-class and black, but also very multiracial, has erupted in the US, Britain and internationally against racism. Its trigger was the racist police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on 25 May 2020.

But young people and workers are angry about years of systemic racism, as well as all the class inequality, privations and oppression of the capitalist system.

The Socialist Party and our sister parties around the world have been to the fore on these protests. We've been discussing with young, working-class people about how to fight racism and capitalism, and signing up big numbers interested in finding out about joining the Socialists. While we carry on this vital work, we are re-running an episode from 22 October 2018: is the far right on the rise?

As far-right groups attempt to organise again, supposedly in defence of public monuments, how can the workers’ movement overcome their violent threat? Where does the far right come from? And what is the record of the Socialist Party on fighting and defeating the far right?

You can hear more about the Socialist Party’s response to the magnificent new mass movement in our recent Facebook on YouTube broadcast on 5 June, and the recent Committee for a Workers' International Facebook and YouTube broacdast on 9 June.

This re-run of Socialism looks at the racist far right: how to fight it.

Further listening and reading

Socialist Party broadcast on the new anti-racist eruption on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/130650380285747/videos/702374690575676/

And on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yvU4KfUcetc

Committee for a Workers' International broadcast on the global explosion of protest on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socialistworld/videos/1237533769971897

And on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2aWAB3hxKz4

Black Lives Matter protests sweep Britain - how can the movement win? https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30874/10-06-2020/black-lives-matter-protests-sweep-country-how-can-the-movement-win

USA - black and white youth rise up against racism: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/06/12/usa-black-and-white-youth-rise-up-against-racism/

Britain - mass protests erupt: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30875/10-06-2020/mass-protests-erupt

US - what’s next for the anti-racist movement? https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/06/07/usa-whats-next-for-the-anti-racist-movement/

“All changed, changed utterly” - A new era of class struggle and capitalist crisis: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/06/08/all-is-changed-changed-utterly-a-new-era-of-class-struggle-and-capitalist-crisis/

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What do young people need today - and how can they fight for it?

Massive, young, working-class protests have exploded around the world after the murder of George Floyd, racism and police violence. But it's not just these issues that have angered young people.

In the US, Britain and around the world, the youth are suffering appalling conditions, and a future of crisis and uncertainty. But young people have also fought: in electoral movements through support for figures like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders - and on the streets, in the global climate strikes, and now in the huge, young, working-class uprisings against racism and police violence.

Even before the pandemic, wages were low, jobs insecure housing and education unaffordable - and the tomorrow promised nothing but economic and social turmoil, and even climate catastrophe. Now the pandemic has multiplied all these problems, as the capitalists and their politicians dump the burden disproportionately on the working class and the youth. Young people on the streets right now are angry about racism, but they’re also angry about all of it.

How can young people fight to change things? And what would a socialist programme offer young people in that struggle?

This episode of Socialism looks at young people fighting back: a socialist youth charter.

Further reading

Socialist Party young people's charter: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/txt/555.pdf

Fight racism and class inequality, fight capitalism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30856/03-06-2020/fight-racism-and-class-inequality-fight-capitalism

USA - another cop killing of unarmed black man sparks widespread protests: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30846/03-06-2020/usa-another-cop-killing-of-unarmed-black-man-sparks-widespread-protests

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While the influence of the US declines, China’s place in world seems to be rising. The Chinese economy is still nowhere near as powerful as the US, but it’s competing voraciously for international markets, investment, and political influence.

With world capitalism slowing down, international tensions over profit and power are escalating. The trade wars between these two largest powers could well break out again. Is a new Cold War, or even direct military conflict, also a possibility?

And what exactly is the Chinese regime? Its dictatorial government claims the country is socialist - so why are there billionaires, and why do so many workers suffer poverty pay and appalling conditions?

External conflicts with competing nation-states. Internal conflicts with Hong Kong and oppressed national groups. And trillions of dollars of loans and capitalist investments in smaller countries around the globe.

This episode of Socialism looks at national and international turmoil and contradictions: China’s new role.

Further reading

Trump’s insults fuel China rivalry: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/05/08/china-trumps-insults-fuel-rivalry/

Coronavirus crisis shakes Chinese regime: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/02/19/china-coronavirus-crisis-shakes-regime/

70th anniversary of People’s Republic of China – Mao and the Chinese revolution: https://www.socialistworld.net/2019/10/01/70th-anniversary-of-peoples-republic-of-china-mao-and-the-chinese-revolution/

China after the 1949 revolution - the benefits of the planned economy stifled by bureaucracy: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/29730/16-10-2019/china-after-the-1949-revolution-the-benefits-of-the-planned-economy-stifled-by-bureaucracy

China’s hybrid economy (2008): http://socialismtoday.org/archive/122/hybrid.html

Market rule or party rule? (2011): http://socialismtoday.org/archive/154/china.html

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Public confidence in the British government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has nosedived.

They’re split over how and when to bully workers back into unsafe workplaces to restart the capitalists’ profit engines. And they’re split over how and when to pay off the massive debts incurred by lockdown relief measures.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party - under its new, pro-capitalist leader Keir Starmer - could hardly be more tame. But the trade unions have a renewed national profile. Tens of thousands are joining and organising to resist the bosses’ unsafe working conditions.

And the turning point seemed to be Boris Johnson’s farcical “stay alert” speech on 10 May, which tried to lift the lockdown and impose new restrictions at the same time.

What’s behind the chaos at the top? And with the bosses squabbling over how best to make us pay for the pandemic, what would help workers coordinate the most effective political response?

This episode of Socialism looks at a political turning point in the coronavirus crisis: the end of ‘national unity’.

Further reading

Confidence plummets in Tory strategy for Covid-19: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30781/20-05-2020/confidence-plummets-in-tory-strategy-for-covid-19

Rich get handouts - workers get pay cuts: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30780/20-05-2020/rich-get-handouts-workers-get-pay-cuts

Stay alert to bosses putting profit before safety: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30753/13-05-2020/stay-alert-to-bosses-putting-profit-before-safety

Johnson's reckless 'back to school' plans threaten everyone's safety: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30782/20-05-2020/johnsons-reckless-back-to-school-plans-threaten-everyones-safety

Transport workers and passengers must not pay the price: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30788/20-05-2020/transport-workers-amp-passengers-mustnt-pay-the-price

Tories put profit before lives - unions must stand firm on workplace safety: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30754/13-05-2020/tories-put-profit-before-lives-unions-must-stand-firm-on-workplace-safety

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School workers and the government are set for a stand-off over reopening during coronavirus.

The Tory government is combining absurdly unclear messages about "staying alert" with a rush to reopen more of the capitalist economy. While they are concerned only about restarting the profit machine, workers are concerned this premature, shambolic dash is a Covid-19 death sentence.

The capitalists have one set of guidelines for reopening. The workers have another. So what should the unions do about it?

Are the government's guidelines for "safe" reopening of schools really safe? How can trade unionists force the Tories to take safety seriously? And are there lessons from the lockdown for how education might work differently?

This episode of Socialism looks at lifting the lockdown: schools, safety and super-spreaders

Further reading

No going back to unsafe schools: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30756/13-05-2020/no-going-back-to-unsafe-schools

Test and trace - workers need a real plan: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30734/06-05-2020/test-and-trace-workers-need-a-real-plan

Tories using pandemic to shift lab testing out of NHS: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30726/05-05-2020/tories-using-pandemic-to-shift-lab-testing-out-of-nhs

Martin Powell-Davies - teacher, trade unionist and socialist blog: http://www.mpdnut.com/

Donate to help fund Socialism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/main/donate

Join the Socialists: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/main/join

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What are the lessons for today from Lenin's revolutionary life?

22 April 2020 was the 150th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanvov, better known as Lenin, the revolutionary workers’ leader and Marxist political theorist. In 1917, Lenin’s Bolshevik Party led the working class of Russia to overthrow the landlords and capitalists and establish the world’s first democratic workers’ state.

Lenin was rooted firmly in Marxism. He understood that only the working class could lead a successful revolution. He fought for a well-organised party and a workers’ press as the essential tools for achieving that. And, in contrast to the butcher Stalin, he stood for international revolution, and maintained that “democracy is indispensable to socialism.”

No wonder his name is feared and slandered by capitalist politicians and their official histories. In particular, they have much to fear at a time when their entire rotten system is wracked by pandemic, economic crisis and social turmoil. To quote Lenin again: “Sometimes history needs a push.”

So what were Lenin’s real ideas? What were his main contributions to the struggle for socialism? And what can workers and young people fighting capitalist misery learn from them today?

This episode of Socialism looks at Lenin at 150: his revolutionary life and legacy.

Further reading

Lenin at 150 - A revolutionary life, and the relevance of his ideas to today's working-class struggles: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30677/22-04-2020/lenin-at-150-a-revolutionary-life-and-the-relevance-of-his-ideas-for-today

Lenin's revolutionary legacy: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/18007/21-01-2014/lenins-revolutionary-legacy

Lenin's April Theses, 1917: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/14702/14-06-2012/lenins-april-theses-1917

The State and Revolution (Lenin): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/books_pamphlets/The_State_and_Revolution

“Left-Wing” Communism - An Infantile Disorder (Lenin): https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/

History of the Russian Revolution (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=6511119

Lessons of October (Trotsky): http://www.socialistbooks.co.uk/product/lessons-of-october/

From Lenin to Stalin (Serge): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017050

Lenin and the Revolutionary Party (Le Blanc): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=32008259

Donate to help fund Socialism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donate/

Join the Socialists: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join/

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Chaos in the US presents two options: socialism or barbarism.

In the United States, the capitalist class is faced with a shopping list of crises that are shaking their system almost to pieces. Like many capitalist economies, they’ve had to partly suspend production - and profit - in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

They’ve been forced to inject trillions of dollars into the economy to keep the capitalist system going. And now, the absurd situation of competitive oil production outstripping demand so far that prices have become negative!

The capitalists face these crises with an unreliable representative at the helm: Donald Trump. But they may be breathing a bit easier now that Bernie Sanders, who came to prominence with his promise of a political revolution against the billionaire class, has endorsed a more reliable representative of big business interests in the form of the Democrat Joe Biden. Sanders has even admonished his supporters for saying they won’t campaign for a corporate shill!

Huge anger is growing. Class polarisation sharpens as the divisions between bosses and workers are exposed. Armed demonstrations ratchet up the tensions. Capitalism is threatening to plunge millions into poverty, on a scale not seen since the Great Depression.

This episode of Socialism looks at US imperialism in decline: coronavirus, Trump, Sanders and socialism.

Further reading

‘Protest-caravan’ held in solidarity with Worcester city nurses opposing furloughing during covid crisis: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/04/23/usa-protest-caravan-held-in-solidarity-with-worcester-city-nurses-opposing-furloughing-during-covid-crisis/

“We have the power” – Staten Island Amazon workers walk out: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/04/06/usa-we-have-the-power-staten-island-amazon-workers-walkout/

The danger of the far right today: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/03/25/the-danger-of-the-far-right-today/

Join the Socialists: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join/

Help fund Socialism the Podcast: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donate/

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Workers are furious, so why aren’t capitalist parties suffering?

Capitalist governments across the planet are presiding over incompetent, inefficient, and inhuman responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, most are riding high in opinion polls.

This is true in Britain too, despite being on course for the worst death toll in Europe. While workers suffer and die on the front line or on furlough, public criticism of the Tories is muted. Even the trade union and Labour Party leaders seem to be backing so-called ‘national unity’.

So is this catastrophe helping the right? Or are there more profound processes playing out beneath the surface?

This episode of Socialism asks: will this help the left or the right? Coronavirus, radicalisation and national unity.

Further reading

Exit strategy? PPE and mass testing and workers' control of workplace safety: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30603/15-04-2020/exit-strategy-ppe-and-mass-testing-and-workers-control-of-workplace-safety

Fight back against the corona propaganda war: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30616/15-04-2020/fight-back-against-the-corona-propaganda-war

Sabotage - the inner workings of Labour's political machine exposed: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30622/15-04-2020/sabotage-the-inner-workings-of-labours-political-machine-exposed

Starmer victory - organise to fight for socialist policies: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30552/06-04-2020/end-of-the-corbyn-era

Join the Socialists: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join/

Help fund Socialism the Podcast: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donate/

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The capitalist economic system is dysfunctional and obsolete.

In the US, 10 million workers filed unemployment claims in the last two weeks of March. In the UK, a million workers filed Universal Credit benefit claims in the last two weeks of March.

Just over a decade after the ‘credit crunch’ and Great Recession, the Covid-19 pandemic is causing a ‘corona crunch’ and could pitch the world into a second Great Depression.

But the world economy was heading for a serious downturn even before the virus. In fact, capitalism itself has been growing increasingly weak, unstable and dysfunctional over a long period. Why?

Marxism points out the capitalist system is riddled with contradictions, and today has long outlived its historic usefulness. So what are the main economic features of the current nosedive, and what sort of problems - and solutions - could the Marxist toolbox point us to?

This episode of Socialism takes a short look at the world economic crisis: a Marxist analysis of the coronavirus crunch. Plus: we respond to the Labour Party leadership election results.

Further reading

The new crisis and its consequences: http://socialismtoday.org/editorial-the-new-crisis-and-its-consequences

Brexit and British capitalism - why Johnson's juggernaut is set to jackknife: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30184/29-01-2020/brexit-and-british-capitalism-why-johnsons-juggernaut-is-set-to-jackknife

10 years since the financial crash - the socialist answer to capitalist crisis: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/27918/12-09-2018/10-years-since-the-financial-crash-the-socialist-answer-to-capitalist-crisis

Universal basic income - what do socialists say? https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/24401/08-02-2017/universal-basic-income-what-do-socialists-say

Understanding Marxist economics: http://www.marxism.org.uk/pack/economics.html

How a socialist economy would work: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/6012/16-10-2004/how-a-socialist-economy-would-work

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Unprecedented state intervention - but still workers suffer?

The British government has pledged hundreds of billions in funding during the Covid-19 pandemic. The US Congress has approved trillions.

Capitalist governments in multiple countries seem to be abandoning privatisation and market competition for nationalisation and central coordination. It looks quite a lot like some of the policies socialists call for.

But corporate profits are being subsidised. The big banks and finance sector are untouched. And workers are receiving too little too late when it comes to income and safety protections. In fact, lack of personal protective equipment is killing frontline health workers in the UK, and 10 million workers have joined the unemployment lines in just two weeks in the US.

What does this U-turn in policy direction by the capitalists, amid a complete failure of their system, say about capitalism - and the socialist alternative?

This episode of Socialism looks at coronavirus and state intervention: is this socialism?

Further reading

International statement - as coronavirus crisis intensifies, class antagonisms deepen: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/03/31/as-coronavirus-crisis-intensifies-class-antagonisms-deepen/

International statement - coronavirus plunges capitalism into global turmoil - the need for a socialist alternative: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/03/23/coronavirus-plunges-capitalism-into-global-turmoil-the-need-for-a-socialist-alternative/

All the latest frontline reports, socialist analysis and working-class demands in the latest issue of the Socialist newspaper: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1080

Donate to help us keep producing independent content: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donate/

Join the fightback - join the Socialists: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join/

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How can workers look after their interests in the pandemic?

Schools in Britain are part-closing, workers in almost every sector are being sent home with or without pay, and there are shortages of equipment for safe and hygienic working everywhere. The day after we recorded this podcast on 19 March 2020, the government was due to announce plans to support workers.

But whatever is promised, the track record so far is that workers everywhere are pulling out all the stops to fight the pandemic - while big businesses and their politicians only seem interested in their bottom lines.

What should workers demand to solve these problems? Was the Trade Union Congress right to declare for ‘national unity’ with the employers and the government? And how can workers make sure their interests are looked after in this period, whether or not they’re in a union?

This episode of Socialism looks at the Covid-19 pandemic: workers’ rights during coronavirus.

The coronavirus pandemic is a rapidly escalating global crisis affecting every part of the capitalist system. As well as following this weekly podcast, you should check the Socialist Party’s website, socialistparty.org.uk, and our Facebook page, for regular statements on working-class demands, socialist analysis, and reports from the frontline.

Further reading

National Shop Stewards Network coronavirus workers' support Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/814163955758626

Latest issue of the Socialist including more coverage on coronavirus: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1078

Socialist Party Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CWISocialistParty

Coronavirus latest on the Socialist Party website: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/keyword/Health_and_welfare/Coronavirus,filter

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How can workers' action help overcome the Covid-19 crisis?

The new coronavirus, Covid-19, is sweeping through the world's population - exposing capitalism for disastrous weaknesses in healthcare systems,social infrastructure, and the global economy. Capitalist politicians and the capitalist state are torn between protecting public health and defending private profit.

The official number of cases in the UK as of 12 March 2020 is 590. But the British government's chief scientific advisor has said the real number could be up to 10,000. The local elections planned for May have been postponed.

Hospitals are facing overload. Workers are facing lost pay. The economy was already heading toward recession. But workers have also fought back with demands and with strike action to force a response in the interests of the majority.

Why did capitalism get us here? What action can workers take to improve things? And how could socialist change resolve the underlying problems?

This episode of Socialism looks at the coronavirus: the socialist response.

Further reading

Latest updates and demands in the Socialist: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/1077

Covid-19 - a socialist response to the coronavirus crisis: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30353/04-03-2020/covid-19-a-socialist-response-to-the-coronavirus-crisis

Coronavirus crisis shakes Chinese regime: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30290/19-02-2020/coronavirus-crisis-shakes-chinese-regime

Coronavirus exposes capitalism's weaknesses in healthcare and economy: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30203/05-02-2020/coronavirus-exposes-capitalisms-weaknesses-in-healthcare-and-economy

Coronavirus - capitalism limits response to viral outbreaks: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30176/29-01-2020/coronavirus-capitalism-limits-response-to-viral-outbreaks

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What could a socialist campaign for London achieve?

The London mayor and assembly are up for election in May. The Labour Party’s Sadiq Khan is the incumbent and Labour’s candidate for 2020 - but is a supporter of the pro-big business wing of Labour and an opponent of Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-austerity politics.

Low pay, a housing crisis, disappearing council services, knife crime and air pollution are all major issues in Britain’s capital. Khan has presided over their continuation.

So how should trade unionists and socialists approach the London elections? How would a socialist Greater London Authority behave? And what could a campaign raising those ideas achieve - whether or not it was elected?

This episode of Socialism looks at the London elections: socialists into City Hall.

Further reading

London Socialist Party's website: http://www.londonsocialistparty.org.uk/

We need socialists in London's City Hall: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30035/19-12-2019/we-need-socialists-in-londons-city-hall

Strike wave around London: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30357/04-03-2020/strike-wave-around-london-this-is-why-we-need-so#cialists-in-city-hall

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Trans rights: a socialist programme for united workers' struggle.

Transgender rights have recently become a point of contention in the ongoing Labour Party leadership contest. The Socialist Party fights exploitation, discrimination and oppression in every form.

The workers’ movement must fight for the resources necessary to guarantee all sections of the working class a decent life. If it does not, there is a danger that debates can be falsely framed as battles between supposedly irreconcilable competing rights.

By fighting instead to expand the provision of jobs, homes and services for all, the workers’ movement can resolve differences on the basis of common struggle and democratic discussion.

The following episode is a re-run of episode 14, first aired on 15 January 2019, on the Gender Recognition Act (GRA) - much of which has now been kicked into the long grass by the Tories. But we think the general approach we lay out here on the question of trans rights is entirely relevant to the debates of today.

This episode of Socialism looks at GRA reform: the fight for trans rights.

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Major strikes in the civil service and National Health Service have shaken the capitalist establishment in Northern Ireland. These enormous workers’ action followed watershed struggles in the private sector at the Harland and Wolff shipyard and Wrightbus factory.

The rival sectarian parties are required by the Good Friday Agreement to agree to govern together. They had refused to reach such an agreement after a supposed renewable heating scheme collapsed due to incompetence and alleged corruption three years ago. The strikes forced them back into the Assembly to make concessions to the workers.

But having tasted some of the power of collective working-class struggle, will workers allow a return to business as usual? More strikes seem likely. But how about a political alternative to austerity, sectarianism and capitalism?

This episode of Socialism looks at Northern Ireland: the strike wave.

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Divisions and surprises abound as the main parties eye an angry working class in Britain.

The Tories’ decade-long grip on power continues for now - but what about their programme? The government has announced more cuts, but has also promised infrastructure investment. They have restored their majority, but their catastrophic divisions are already re-emerging. In fact, Sajid Javid, the chancellor of the exchequer, resigned in between recording this podcast and it airing.

Meanwhile, the anger in the working class, documented each week in the Socialist newspaper, continues to simmer. The ongoing Labour Party leadership contest is asking: how can Labour win back the confidence of the working class?

So - what is the way forward? This episode of Socialism looks at Britain: the new situation.

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Do the setbacks in the 2010s mean the unions can't fight today?

The 2010s were a period of major attacks on workers in Britain. But the bosses and their politicians didn’t get things all their own way. The trade unions - the basic self-defence organisations of the working class - fought many important battles, shutting down production to try to force the bosses back.

There were many setbacks in those fights, but there were also victories. Marxists try to learn from both.

With a new decade opening up alongside a change of era in politics and world relations for Britain, what are the lessons of the 2010s for trade union struggle in the 2020s?

This episode of Socialism looks at the trade unions: new decade, new challenge.

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Councils have the power to resist continued Tory austerity.

It’s budget-setting season again for local authorities in Britain. The Tories in central government have succeeded in making local councils do their dirty work and implement savage austerity for a decade.

In fact, so successful was this strategy, that the lack of any practical distinction between Labour and Conservative at a local level was a significant factor in Jeremy Corbyn’s general election defeat in December. From the perspective of many in working-class communities, nothing ever seems to change. So why bother voting for Labour?

But the general election is behind us for now. Council jobs and services are utterly threadbare. And there is major economic uncertainty ahead. Councils have a choice.

Either carry on acting as managers of austerity - as tame local representatives of Tory central government. Or set no-cuts budgets, and demand the stolen millions back from Westminster - as fighting representatives of local workers and residents. This could even paralyse and eventually overturn Johnson’s unstable government.

The Socialist Party calls on Labour councils to fight, and for Labour leadership candidates to commit to pushing for such a fight. It’s the same road taken successfully by the famous socialist Liverpool Council in the 1980s. Now is the time to take the Liverpool Road once more.

This is a re-run of episode 16 from January 2019. The situation has changed, but the need for council to fight has not. This episode of Socialism asks: are no-cuts council budgets possible?

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After more than 45 days of strikes, workers in France are still furious about President Emmanuel Macron’s attack on pensions. His so-called reform would mean: work longer, get less.

But there’s no clear strategy from the union leaders. And there’s no clear political alternative to Macron and his politics, including from left-wing political leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

Understandably, after almost two months of upsurge, the movement is starting to slow down - for the moment. So what happens next?

Socialism the Podcast was in Paris for events including one of the national days of action, 16 January. We spoke to a striking teacher and member of Gauche Révolutionnaire, the Socialist Party’s sister party in France, about the struggle.

This episode of Socialism looks at France: how can the strike win?

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