Marxists must study the history of the class struggle, so that we can apply the lessons in the struggle for communism today. Here, you can find our most recent historical articles. For theoretical articles, click here.
You can also visit our education hub to find a selection of articles, books, talks and reading guides.
On March
20th, 1926, another event similar to the assassination of Liao Zhongkai
took place. It laid the basis for the violent coup of Chiang Kai-shek in
Guangzhou, when his mask of democratic revolution slipped. The uneasy
tension between the Guomindang right wing and the CCP comrades inside
the Guomindang broke out into the open.
The period between 1918 and 1939 was the most revolutionary in world
history. It was touch and go for the survival of capitalism. A
devastating blow could and should have been inflicted against global
capitalism in China in 1925-7, instead the opportunity was frittered
away.
In 1931, Labour right-wingers joined with the Tories to form a National Government. This act had but one purpose: to carry through ruthless cuts to save the profits of capitalism. Rob Sewell looks back at the great betrayal.
In 1972, the Conservative government of Ted Health introduced the ‘Fair
Rents Act’ which sought to push up rents for council house residents.
Labour councillors in Clay Cross knew that working class people could
not afford to pay the new rents and voted to refuse to implement the
increases. As a result, the councillors were taken to court, surcharged
and disqualified from office. Their stand became a symbol of resistance
to Tory attacks, attracting solidarity from all over the country. Rob
Sewell talked to one of those councillors involved, John Dunn, about
the struggle and the lessons it has for those fighting the Tory cuts in
2011.
As the Chinese revolution approached in the mid-1920s, Stalin’s
leadership of the Comintern imposed on the young Chinese Communist Party
a policy of subordination to the bourgeois Guomindang, thus stifling
the Chinese Communists’ ability to bring together the workers and
peasants under the banner of social revolution. In Part Two, Daniel
Morley looks at the background to this situation.
On
the ninetieth anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist
Party, we begin the publication of a series of articles that trace the
origins and subsequent development of this party, which has played a key
role in world history. In this first part Dan Morley outlines the
conditions in China that led to the foundation of the party as part of
the Communist International. The founders of the party looked to the
October revolution in Russia as their model, with the working class
playing the leading role.
This month marks the 85th anniversary of the General Strike of 1926.
This strike, the most epic struggle of the British working class to
date, arose from the deep crisis of British capitalism, reflected most
sharply in the mining industry. As today, the working class were asked
to pay for the crisis. This led to the 1926 General Strike. Political
editor Rob Sewell looks back at the lessons of the nine days in May.
Today (March 18th) is the 140th anniversary of the start of the Paris Commune of 1871. We mark the event by re-publishing Greg Oxley’s account of this important event, first published in 2001. Greg is a supporter of La Riposte, the French Marxist paper.
The Arab world, from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf and from North
Africa to the heart of Sudan, is in flames as one revolutionary movement
after another unfolds. Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Libya, Algeria,
Sudan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Morocco have all seen demonstrations for
democracy and social reforms.
As councils meet to vote through cuts, Ben Peck looks back ninety years to the heroic example of the Poplar councillors.
We conclude our series of articles on the Russian revolution of 1917
with an item first published online in 2007 to mark the 90th anniversary
itself. It is being reproduced here and in the current issue of
Socialist Appeal in a revised form.
As part of our build up to the 93rd anniversary of the Russian
Revolution of Nov 1917, we reproduce the second of two extracts from
Lenin’s widow Krupskaya’s book ‘Reminiscences of Lenin." Dealing wth the
October events and the build up to the revolution itself, this account
provides a marvelous picture of the unfolding struggle.