Blogs

The Russian Revolution 100 Years On: Newcastle Meeting of the CWO

1917

This year marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution and the Communist Workers' Organisation has participated in a number of meetings to commemorate this. On 18 November the CWO held a meeting in Newcastle to discuss its legacy, the revolutionary events of 1917-1918 as well as the process of degeneration. The following document – The Russian Revolution: From Workers’ Inspiration to Proletarian Tragedy – served as the basis of the presentation and was followed by a discussion.

Catalonian Election: Another Example of a Capitalist Impasse

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Translation of a commentary on last week’s election in Catalonia, from the Spanish blog Nuevo Curso.

Bakkavor Factory Newsletter - Issue 2

Factory newsletter for Bakkavor workers. Bakkavor produces ready-meals for all major UK supermarkets. The company runs four factories and one warehouse in west London, employing in total around 3,000 workers.
PDF-version on: www.workerswildwest.wordpress.com

Movements Against Fasicsm: Mark Bray and Shane Burley on Fascism and Resistance in America

Mark Bray (Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook) and Shane Burley (Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It) talk about the growth of the far-right, the rise of Trump, and antifascism in the United states.

From the Heart of Darkness: Anatomy of a March in Poland

The rise of so-called populism and the far right over the past few years has been a global trend. We have written about it before – "reactionary ideologies always feed on social decomposition, atomisation and growing insecurity."

Trump and Jerusalem

Gaza after the previous Israeli bombing

Trump has just offered two early Christmas presents to the imperialist project in Israel. This article briefly explains the wider context for this provocation.

Great Lives - Louise Michel

An audio biography and discussion of the life of Louise Michel.

Anarchist social organization

A piece discussing debates over the role of political ideas within social movements, and the debate within anarchism over political organization applied to the current context of North American anarchism.

Zimbabwe – crawling between imperialist masters

Mugabe and Xi meeting

The removal of Mugabe means only that the ruling elite will seek new imperialist links to solve the economic mess the country is in. Zimbabwe demonstrates for the nth time that "national liberation" in the epoch of imperialism means liberation only for the indigenous bourgeoisie linked to the world order of capitalism.

The effects of the Hillsborough disaster and police cover up

The frontpage on the left is the infamous smear paper

Steve Kelly is the brother of one of the 96 Liverpool FC fans crushed to death in 1989 in Hillsborough, this is his account of how the police treated the families of the victims and the impact of the coverup and media smears.

Living The Dream in Global Union Federations

Latest episode of Living The Dream - a podcast hosted at The Word From Struggle Street blog

Albert Woodfox Black Panther and Prison Organiser in his own words

Albert Woodfox a Black Panther member in Louisiana helped found the Angola Prison chapter of the party to help organise prisoners and resist violence and exploitation from the guards. In retaliation he was forced to spend over 44 years in solitary confinement. The longest solitary confinement term given out in the US prison system.

The Communist Left and Marxist Humanism - Part 2/2 The ‘Unfinished American Revolution’

Raya Dunayevskaya 1963  American Civilization on Trial: Black Masses as Vanguard

Effort to a discussion between the Communist Left and the Marxist-Humanist internationalists, including the latter theoretical-historical source of actual analyses: Raya Dunayevskaya’s 1963 American Civilization on Trial: Black Masses as Vanguard.

Living the Dream whilst #qldvotes2017

Latest episode of that Living The Dream podcast - hosted at the radical Brisbane blog The Word From Struggle Street

Universal Credit - Universal Torment: once more an attack on the conditions of the whole working class

The official line is that universal credit is being introduced to make things easier, simpler, gather a multitude of payments together to benefit people generally. As if fine-tuning bourgeois bureaucracy is a matter for anyone apart from itself and those it serves. The reality for those on the receiving-end is catastrophic to say the least.

Fighting to win: Thoughts on strike tactics

With railway workers, cleaners, cinema workers, food couriers, and posties either having come out on strike or due to, 2017 has seen marginal uptick in industrial action. This is a heartening sign, but with so few of us having strike experience, we need to make sure we're thinking tactically.

Workers' Inquiry: Class War Strategies, San Francisco Zinn Bookfair, 19 Nov 2017

Half Moon Bay Burger King wages

San Francisco's unemployment rate is 2.8%, an all-time low. The causes are various, but it's clearly due to the tech boom and astronomically high housing costs creating a massive labor shortage. This inquiry draws on participants' workplace situation -- borrowing from Silver's Forces of Labor -- to find ways to strengthen workers associational and structural power to leverage this condition for working class advantage.

Solidarity appeal for the renovation of Gondolkodó Autonomous Bookshop, Budapest 2017

Gondolkodó Autonóm Antikvárium

Appeal for financial support of autonomous bookshop in Budapest, Hungary

Liverpool 1981 - An Eye Witness Account of the Toxteth Riots

A personal account of the racist policing which sparked riots in the Toxteth area of Liverpool in 1981.

Dead fascist poets society: why CasaPound are no book club

The liberal commentariat seems to be completely unable to resist the allure of the far-right. The latest example: an article on Literary Hub that portrays violent neo-fascist gang CasaPound as some sort of edgy poetry club.