Ben Gliniecki reviews the latest book by radical author Naomi Klein, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate, which explains that climate change will not be solved by market mechanisms and individual changes in consumption. What is required is a fundamental change to the way our economy works.
Sussex Marxists reviews Selma, a film that has been praised as “heartbreaking” and “inspiring”; the story of Martin Luther King’s leadership of the Selma to Montgomery marches, poignantly expressed under the backdrop of unrest in Ferguson. But is this really a film that champions the black struggle in the United States?
Steve Jones reviews Breadline Britain, a new book full of startling figures, which reveal the real standard of living faced by millions in the UK as a result of the Tory government, their austerity programme, and the failed capitalist system that they defend.
January 2015 marks 43 years since the 1972 miners’ strike – the first national miners’ strike since the 1926 general strike. Matt Wood reviews The World on our Backs, a vivid description of the ’72 strike, which demonstrated what could be achieved when the working class is united.
Owen Walsh of the Leeds Marxists reviews Soy Cuba, a 1964 film written by Enrique Pineda Barnet and Yevgeny Yevtushenko and directed by Mikhail Kalatazov, which is a living monument to the Cuban Revolution. At a time when the future of the Cuban planned economy lies in the balance, this classic film is a must see for all who defend the Cuban Revolution.
If you are looking for a good Christmas present this year, you could do a lot worse than Dave Sinclair’s book of photographs, ‘Liverpool in the 1980s’. If a good photograph tells a story, then this book covering his photography in those years is a volume of stories, providing evocative images of the class struggle in Thatcher’s Britain.
United We Stand tells the story of the 1972 building workers’ strike and the conspiracy trial that followed, resulting in the imprisonment of three building workers with Des Warren receiving the harshest sentence of three years. However, the most famous of these prisoners is the now actor Ricky Tomlinson, who has collaborated with actor/playwright Neil Gore to tell this story.
Three years on from the release of his first book, Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class, Owen Jones is now a well-known journalist and activist. Ed Taylor of the Sheffield Marxists reviews Jones’ latest book, The Establishment: And how they get away with it, in which the author examines the personalities and interests of those in Westminster, The City, and the media.
Recent release Pride is based on the real story of solidarity between the LGBT movement and the miners during the great strike of 1984-85. Andy Fenwick reviews this uplifting film that is full of joy and sadness in equal measure.
Following on from his last letter describing the attempts to knock down the Cremorne estate in London, we publish here a report by Nico Baldion, a Socialist Appeal supporter on the estate, who describes the mood at a recent meeting of the Cremorne residents association, at which the class hatred of the Tories towards the working class was laid bare.
On the eve of the 2014 Durham Miners’ Gala, we publish here a review by John Dunn – from the Justice for Mineworkers campaign – of a new documentary, Still the Enemy Within, which demonstrates the emotions and events involved during the Great Miners’ Strike of 1984/85.
This weekend sees the 2014 Miners’ Gala take place in Durham – a spectalur festival celebrating the struggles of the miners and the labour movement. To mark the occasion, which this year will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1984 Miners’ Strike, we publish a poem by Guy Howie entitled The Year the Miners Fought.