The Russian Revolution, 100 years ago, had a global impact on political consciousness. In the USA, the period was one of a developing militancy amongst African Americans. Claude McKay represented the overlap between the revolutionary Communist movement and that of the anti-racist, anti-colonial struggle.

Social media has been alight this week with responses to two incidents of racism from prominent politicians: first from a Tory MP and then from liberal poster boy Emmanuel Macron. In today’s world, where sensitivity to racism has never been so acute, how is it – Ben Gliniecki asks – that leading politicians still manage to unthinkingly spout such racist remarks?

With Trump’s electoral victory, cries of “fascism!” again fill the air. But whilst Donald Trump is a crass, bigoted, billionaire businessman, he is not a fascist. The secret to his win was the lesser-evil policy of the “left” leaders. With no class-independent alternative provided by Bernie Sanders, uninspired Americans stayed home, sick and tired of betrayal by the Democrats.