150 years on: the relevance of Marx’s Capital
We publish here two video talks by Rob Sewell, editor of Socialist Appeal and co-author of “Understanding Marx’s Capital”, both taken at the recent “Capital in a Day” event.
Labour conference 2017: Fight for party democracy
Labour’s National Executive Committee earlier this week decided on a number of important organisational issues that will have a critical bearing on the future direction of the party. This sets the scene for a wider battle at the Labour Party conference this weekend, as Corbyn supporters seek to consolidate the Left’s position and reclaim the party from the Blairite bureaucracy.
The role of the state and social democracy
This month marks the 100th anniversary of the writing of Lenin’s great work The State and Revolution, written in the midst of the Russian Revolution to prepare the working class for taking power. To mark this important anniversary we reproduce here key extracts from an introduction of a new edition of this pamphlet, written by Alan Woods.
USA: Why were the hurricanes so disastrous?
Two hurricanes have hit the south east of the USA in the last two weeks. The total death toll has surpassed one hundred. Hundreds of thousands of households have lost everything. Hamid Alizadeh looks at these devastating weather events and the systematic factors behind why they have caused so much damage to the lives of ordinary Americans.
Repression against Catalan independence referendum provokes mass mobilisation
We publish here two articles by Arturo Rodríguez in Barcelona and one by Jorge Martin, who report on the latest events in the movement for Catalan independence and provide some background to the national question in Catalonia.
Hurricanes, climate change, and capitalism
The last month has seen a flurry of hurricanes hit the Carribean and the USA, causing untold damage to the region. The frequency of these extreme weather events, and the devastation they cause, reflects the horrendous reality of climate change for ordinary people and the bankruptcy of capitalism.
University chiefs rake it in while students and staff suffer
As the new academic year begins, students and staff are seeing fees rise and wages cut. Yet university vice-chancellors are laughing all the way to the bank. Get these management parasites out of universities and schools. Join the Marxist Student Federation now and help us in this fight!
Students and workers celebrate 150 years of “Capital”
On Saturday 16th September, over 80 students, workers, and activists from across the country gathered for “Capital in a Day”: an event hosted by Socialist Appeal and the Marxist Student Federation to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Karl Marx’s Capital. The day’s event demonstrated the importance of theory and the relevance of Marx’s ideas in this epoch of capitalist crisis.
Welcome to the new look www.socialist.net!
Today sees the launch of our new design for www.socialist.net. This marks another important step forward for the Marxists in Britain, following the move to a fortnightly publication earlier this year, in March. And it is another fitting tribute to celebrate centenary of the 1917 Russian Revolution.
1917: The counter-revolutionary Kornilov coup
In this latest video from our series on the 1917 Russian Revolution, Alan Woods – author of “Bolshevism: from Revolution to Counter-Revolution” – discusses the failed coup attempt by General Kornilov and the impact this had on the political consciousness of the masses.
Once again – Why Marxists should be in the Labour Party
Rob Sewell provides another contribution on the debate about the way forward for the unions and the Left in the fight against the Blairites, the Tories, and the cuts. The position of Socialist Appeal is clear: all forces on the Left should get organised, support Corbyn, and fight to transform the Labour Party into a genuinely socialist party.
10 years on: How the bankers crashed the system
Ten years ago today, on 14th September 2007, Northern Rock customers were forming long angry queues outside the beleaguered bank’s branches. It would turn out to be an historic turning point. Within a year, the whole world financial system was teetering on the verge of collapse, and together with it, the capitalist system. Rob Sewell analyses the beginning of the Great Recession, one decade on.