The following is the text of a presentation I gave last week, as part of the Sydney Historical Research Network seminar series “History Now”. The week’s topic was “The History of Class Now”. It was originally posted at An Integral State. *** If the ruling class has lost its consensus, i.e. is no longer “leading” [or directive: dirigente] but only “dominant”, […]
02 Oct
Comments Off
Left Flank’s Kevin Ovenden has just released his book on Syriza, and its rise as a key party of the European radical Left. Syriza: Inside the Labyrinth is a must-read for those interested in radical politics in Greece, and more broadly across Europe. Many of you will have followed Kevin’s posts on Greece through this blog. We were very pleased to work […]
13 Aug
Comments Off
Sexual and gender oppression is inherently connected to capitalist society, and Left Flank regular Simon Copland has just started crowdfunding his book project on this topic. You can hear Simon discuss his book and make a donation to his campaign, on his page with ByLine. About his book Sexy Capitalism documents the role that capitalism has on sexual and […]
12 May
Comments Off
University of Sydney, 17-18 July 2015 Call for Papers The year 2015 marks a series of conspicuous anniversaries. Three books in particular celebrate significant milestones this year. Raewyn Connell and Terry Irving’s seminal Class Structure in Australian History was published thirty-five years ago, Louis Althusser and his students published Reading Capital fifty years ago, and Silvia […]
08 Dec
Communism is for us not a state of affairs which is to be established, an ideal to which reality [will] have to adjust itself. We call communism the real movement which abolishes the present state of things. The conditions of this movement result from the premises now in existence. —Marx & Engels (1845), The German […]
06 Nov
Comments Off
Historical Materialism’s 11th annual conference — How Capitalism Survives — begins tomorrow at SOAS, Vernon Square, in London. Four writers and contributors to Left Flank are speaking. On Friday morning at 9.45am, Elizabeth Humphrys, Tad Tietze and Luke Stobart are speaking in a session on ‘Anti-politics, social movements & the practical critique of the state’ (Room V121) — along […]
02 Aug
BY TROY HENDERSON We are cross posting this thoughtful post by Troy Henderson, from his blog Radical Blues, on the relationship between anti-politics and neoliberalism. *** Alongside tackling climate change and fighting psycho-capitalism one of the challenges of modern life is keeping up with all the high-qual TV series coming out of the US. I’d […]
12 Jul
On July 22, 2011, Anders Breivik, a Right-wing writer and activist, killed more than sixty young members of the Norwegian Labour Party on Utøya island. Captured alive, Breivik was more than willing to explain his actions as a ‘necessary atrocity’ designed to ‘wake up’ Europe to its betrayal by the Left, and its impending destruction through […]
05 Mar
Tad and I have an article on the state of the unions in the wake of the Qantas job cuts, which has been stirring up some discussion, at The Guardian‘s Comment Is Free section. Here’s a little preview, and feel free to comment below: It is no coincidence that the problems started during the Accord […]
31 Oct
By ELIZABETH HUMPHRYS & TAD TIETZE At a certain point in their historical lives, social classes become detached from their traditional parties. In other words, the traditional parties in that particular organisational form, with the particular men who constitute, represent, and lead them, are no longer recognised by their class (or fraction of a class) […]
13 Mar
0 Comments