What is value? This question has perplexed the human mind for more than 2,000 years. The classical bourgeois economists grappled with the question, as did Marx. Rob Sewell looks at Marx’s Labour Theory of Value and provides a defence of these economic ideas against attacks from modern day critics.

As 2013 came to a close, many economists and politicians drew a collective sigh of relief: the Eurozone remains in one piece; the USA has not defaulted; and a triple-dip recession was avoided in Britain- there is even much talk of a recovery! But for the more far-sighted commentators amongst the bourgeoisie, the New Year – far from offering any light at the end of the tunnel – simply brings with it increasing uncertainty, instability, and crisis.

Class struggle is alive and kicking, and it’s the working class that’s getting kicked. Ben Gliniecki reports on the latest economic figures, which show how the working class is receiving an ever smaller slice of the pie when it comes to the wealth created in society – wealth that is created by the working class.