425 years ago this month, the East India Company was founded in London. This “empire within an empire” soon ruled almost the entirety of the Indian subcontinent, bleeding its people dry – and laying down the foundations for the development of British imperialism.
Across the Empire, British imperialism enacted and perfected the policy of ‘divide and conquer’ – whipping up ethnic and religious sectarianism to hold back mass struggles. In this article, Sarah Vedrovitch presents the examples of India, Ireland, Nigeria, and Sri Lanka.
Back in the 1960s, Harold Wilson’s Labour government supported American imperialism’s bloody invasion of Vietnam. Today, Starmer’s government is even more subservient to Washington. We need a clean break with reformist betrayals!
While the collapse of the British Empire is often portrayed as the result of benevolence, this could not be further from the truth. This article, from a new RCP booklet, examines the real role of British imperialism during the 1948-60 Malayan “Emergency”.
On this day 140 years ago, the European powers gathered at the Berlin Conference carved up the African continent. This article from the RCP’s new booklet ‘The Crimes of British Imperialism’ lays bare the bloody role played by British capitalism.
We are proud to announce the release of a new booklet, ‘The Crimes of British Imperialism’’. We publish here the introduction, which explains how British imperialism went from being an empire that ruled the waves, to its role today.
Starmer has recently brushed off criticism of British imperialism’s bloody history, and its role in the transatlantic slave trade. This article, from a new RCP booklet, explains how these horrific crimes laid the basis for Britain to rule the waves.
From the Middle East to Ireland, the historic crimes of British imperialism have left devastating scars. As elections get underway in India, Ravi Mistry examines one of the most heinous of these atrocities: partition of the Indian subcontinent.
In this podcast, Josh Holroyd explains the seismic events unfolding in West Africa, as well as the revolutionary way forward: the masses can’t be duped by the cynical Chinese and Russian imperialists, but must rely on their own forces.
Today marks the 75th anniversary of when HMT Empire Windrush landed on Britain’s shores, marking the beginning of the postwar wave of immigration from across the Commonwealth. Then, as now, the ruling class whipped up racism against migrants.
Today marks the anniversary of the Irish Rebellion – a mass revolt against landlordism and colonialism, which began on the dawn of 24 May 1798. Revolutionaries in Ireland, Britain, and beyond should study the lessons of these inspiring events.
Flag-waving Tory chauvinists are increasingly attempting to whitewash the brutal history of the British Empire. But recent studies have exposed this shameless falsification and revealed the true extent of colonialism’s horrific, murderous crimes.