What is Marxism?
In this recent talk to the UCLU Marxist Society, Alan Woods explains the main concepts behind the ideas of Marxism, including dialectical materialism – the philosophy of Marxism – and Marx’s economic analysis.
News and analysis
The latest news, analysis, and Marxist theory from The Communist, alongside reports of RCP activity.
UK leads the way…in inequality
A new official report from Credit Suisse paints a grim picture of the growing divide in the UK between the rich and the poor. Britain now tops a shameful league of G7 economies on income inequality. Despite years of austerity – with more to come say the Tories – the super-rich in the UK have done very well for themselves.
Transforming rehabilitation…into profits!
The probation system has undergone a radical transformation in recent months, which has seen the most brutal and systematic dismantling of yet another public service by the Tory-Lib Dem Coalition. Steve Brown looks at the disasterous effects of privatisation of the probation service.
International Marxist School 2014: full schedule announced
The International Marxist School 2014 begins in one week, taking place in the Bloomsbury area of London from 31st October to 2nd November. Hundreds of revolutionary youth and workers will be attending from across Britain and Europe for what promises to be an excellent weekend of discussions about Marxist ideas and their relevance to today. We publish here the full schedule for the weekend, including links to some recommended reading for each session.
Mexico: anger over kidnapped students nears boiling point
Hundreds of thousands marched this week in Mexico city and tens of thousands more in dozens of other cities across Mexico to protest at the kidnapping of 43 student-teachers from Ayotzinapa. They were clear in pointing the finger squarely at the Mexican state. The actions were part of a widespread nationwide 48 hour student strike. Jorge Martin looks at the latest developments in Mexico.
The environment, consumerism, and socialism
With the planet facing environmental crises, some have sought to bring about change through individual efforts, trying to change the environmental practices of corporations by altering individual purchasing choices. We publish here an article by Kevin Harriman and Kevin Nance of Socialist Appeal USA, who look at the question of consumerism and the environment under capitalism, and explain the socialist alternative.
Workers and students – unite and fight: Marxist student on the TUC demo
With banners, fists and voices raised high, the Marxist Student Federation rallied the largest number of student Marxists yet to join our voices with those of increasingly disgruntled workers at the national TUC demonstration ‘Britain Needs a Pay Rise’ on 20th October. There was a sea of new revolutionary faces that had joined Marxist societies in the last few weeks, eager to raise the Marxist Student banners with those of the trade unions.
Review: Owen Jones’ “The Establishment”
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.
Capitalism’s permanent austerity: only bold socialist policies can offer a way out
90,000 demonstrated in London last Saturday, and thousands more in Glasgow and Belfast, at the plight of Britain’s low paid. This followed a week of strike action involving hundreds of thousands of workers. Rob Sewell explains how, in this period of permanent capitalist crisis, the labour movement must fight back with a bold socialist programme.
Blairites resurface; Labour movement must fight back with socialist policies
After a period of silence, the Blairite careerist rump inside the Labour Party has started stirring things up again. Rumours have even been circulating of a plot to remove Ed Miliband as leader and replace him with the Blairite Alan Johnson. Steve Jones looks at the latest machinations of the Blairites.
Mexico: Huge movement of Polytechnic students reveals deep malaise of youth
It is now a month since the beginning of the movement of students at the National Polytechnic Institute (IPN) in Mexico. This is a huge movement involving tens of thousands of students in dozens of schools, mass assemblies with thousands of participants, which has forced the national government to make important concessions in order to prevent a general explosion of the youth movement.
Ayotzinapa incident lifts lid on cesspit of the Mexican bourgeois state
The horrendous incident in which police officers opened fire on students killing six people and injuring 17, and then kidnapped another 43 and handed them over to a drug cartel, has brought out sharply the depth of the rottenness of the Mexican capitalist state, to what degree its structures are linked with those of the drug cartels, and finally, how they stop at nothing in suppressing anyone they perceive as a threat to their interests.