Blogs

There is an ever-growing stream of media commentary on the Grenfell fire, increasing daily as the public enquiry unfolds. There are some elements in the media with the goal of obscuring or excusing the plain facts as part of a pre-emptive defence manoeuvre to protect those most implicated in what caused the fire and the 72 deaths. That they feel the need to use such distortions to defend the Grenfell landlords and those who ordered and oversaw the Grenfell refurbishment that fitted the lethal cladding only increases the suggestion of a general doubt on all sides about their innocence.

Self-defence against bosses, migration police, racist scumbags and other enemies of the working-class doesn’t fall from the sky. Weekly drop-ins and individual support are first necessary steps - and they can be laborious. If you live in London and want to get involved in our west-London solidarity network or want to set up your own network, please get in touch.

Under the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Saudi’s policy has become more aggressive both against Iranian influence and Turkey’s and it is in this context that the fate of Jamal Khashoggi should be understood.

My notes on the UK IWW's organising summit in Sheffield.

“We will chase them out!” Alexander Gauland bawled straight after the entry of the Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) to the Bundestag. It should be clear, at least after the racist riots in Chemnitz and Köthen, that this was no empty threat. The AfD’s rise has lent wings to the entire extreme right and is increasingly being translated into racially-motivated violence on the street.

On 12th October, the Financial Times (FT), described the Brexit situation as an "Unpredictable Muddle". We would not disagree.

The new populist “government of change” made up of the anti-European Five Star Movement and the racist Lega (The League, formerly the Lega Nord or Northern League) has begun to adopt some of the same empty rhetoric of the past. Their target is not much different from the fascist anti-semitism of the past. Whilst their main guns are today trained at the EU they also point to the nefarious activities of “financiers like Soros”. George Soros is of course the target of the anti-semitic campaign of Orbans in Hungary. According to these “populists” the problem is not capitalism but only some aspects of it.

An article for the upcoming issue of WorkersWildWest, a free working class paper from west London

The same-sex marriage plebiscite was an amazing victory against conservative forces in Australia. Yet most of the Left treat it as a horrible defeat. What's this all about and what impact does it have on radical politics in Australia? Also we chat about the alt-right in Australia. Living The Dream is an anticapitalist podcast from Brisbane host at The Word From Struggle Street.

The fall out from the financial collapse of 2007-8 continues. Its latest tremor is in Brazil. The commodities boom before 2007 allowed the Brazilian Workers' Party [PT] to claim that it was redistributing income but in reality it did little. Once the commodity prices fell (and especially that of oil in 2014) the state finances were in a mess. And just about every major political figure from Lula to Temer has been tainted with corruption. Enter Jair Bolsonaro.

Statement about recent pension reform in Russia written by the Krasnoyarsk Marxist Workers’ Group.

The leaflet below was issued by the Emancipation League whose appearance as a nucleus of the communist left we first welcomed in June this year. It demonstrates not only that the bosses are getting worried about rising class militancy (it’s a longtime since we heard the “selfish workers” line) but also that Liga Emancipación aim to have an impact on the wider working class as part of their formation as a nucleus of future world proletarian party. This is only to be welcomed. The brief introduction that follows here is from the Nuevo Curso blog from which this leaflet is translated. - CWO

With the publication of these two articles we are completing our translation of the first issue of Kommunist, the journal of the “proletarian communists” or left communist faction of the Bolshevik Party in the Spring of 1918. We have already published articles by Radek, Bukharin and Ossinsky in our last three issues and all can be found on our website. Here we turn our attention to a final review by Bukharin, and an economic analysis of the state of the Russian Revolution in April 1918 by one of the least well-known of the Kommunist contributors.

A friend of ours summarised his experiences about working at two west London workplaces as a temporary worker…

An account of the events of the Hungarian Revolt in 1956 from one of the participants, Peter Pallai who was a student demonstrator.

Deriving lessons for the modern Anarchist movement from one of the most important revolutionary events in history.

The second Living The Dream episode on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. This time we chat about how it has impacted those working in the sector and the shape and dynamics of care work. Hosted at The Word From Struggle Street

在性别去自然化、再生产劳动商品化的时代，借用马克思的价值理论重新思考21世纪的资本主义为何仍然需要将人类“深深印刻着这种或那种性别”。这篇马克思主义女权理论的重要作品终于翻译成中文。

Capitalism must be overthrown before a transitional period can be initiated. There must be a total rupture with value production. In order for this to happen the working class must capture political power and set about consciously transforming social production relations. Ticktin’s conceptions seem like those other aficionados of a seamless transition to communism, who have long lost hope in the working class being the agent of revolution.

We live, and have been living, in an epoch of capitalist decadence. Notwithstanding longer life expectancy, technological advance, and the claims of its defenders, the capitalist system is incapable of addressing existential questions such as the destruction of the environment via man-made climate change. After all, to do so would get in the way of making profits. Short-term expediency portends long term disaster.