Rob Walsh reviews Iran on the Brink, a book by Andreas Malm and Shora Esmailian, that tells the story of the struggles that have shaped Iran since 1906. It
shows how workers’ independent organisations have formed an important
component of every struggle for democracy, including the revolution that overthrew the
dictatorship of the Shah in 1979.
The world’s stock markets having been hitting all-time
highs in their prices, especially the markets of India and China,
where there seems no end to the upward spiral of the burgeoning capitalists
economies and their accompanying stock markets. Only the US economy is slowing as its
housing market collapses.
Gordon Brown and senior Labour Party officials
have greeted the defection to Labour’s parliamentary ranks of Tory MP Quentin
Davies with joy. But what sort of person are they actually getting?
The ruling class is clearly
finding the state of it’s forces in Iraq in a dire situation. The army relies on young working class
people signing up; unsurprisingly they have not been coming forth in large
numbers after seeing so many others killed. In light of this desperation, efforts at military
recruitment have hit new heights.
In his article (The significance of Lenin’s April Theses
1917 ) Darrall Cozens explained how Lenin rearmed the Bolshevik Party
in 1917. Continuing our series on the Russian Revolution, he tells how the
revolutionaries developed from being a small group when the
February Revolution broke
out, to become the main alternative to the new
establishment by June of that year.
Yesterday the smoking ban came into effect in England. But as socialists, should we be applauding such
state interference in our lives? Smoking kills thousands of people each year, but by supporting a smoking ban are we no better than the New Labour leadership who constantly patronise and blame working class people for the ills of capitalist society?
The fight is on. Postal workers organised by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) are staging a series of national strikes
following a 77% yes vote to defend jobs and conditions – in fact the very service
itself. Post office management have spent the last few years running the post
service down and down and then complaining about lost income!
This audio file, recorded on the 11th June at the Socialist Appeal London aggregate, hears Rob Lyon talk on the National Question in relation to the current and historical situation in Quebec.
The media has always distorted the truth to justify the actions of its big business backers. This article from medialens exposes the myths behind so-called press freedom so prevalent in today’s media.
In the education
field Brown is continuing where Blair left off. In his endorsement of city
academies, Brown has called on Britain’s big business to form partnerships with
every primary and secondary school in order to get the kind of education
capitalism needs.
From more than 10 years the Blairites have attacked the democratic structures of the Labour party and reduced the democratic rights of party members to an absolute minimum. This was part of their campaign to shift the party to the right and turn it into a Tory party mark two. But today there is a growing backlash against Blairism but an urgent need to reestablish the accountability of the leadership.