Socialist Party magazine
Trump is back in the White House. Much of the world is gripped by fear about what his second term will mean, as are millions in America – particularly migrants, LGBTQ+ people, and others likely to be on the sharp end of his attacks. In Britain one opinion poll reported that 54% of British people think Trump will be bad for their country, compared to only 15% who think he will be good. An even greater majority of Britons think he will be bad for world peace.
Read moreEmotions ran high across the world at news of a ceasefire deal for Gaza. But alongside that wave of relief have been two big questions: Why did it take 15 terrible months before a deal? And will it really lead to an end to the war?
Read moreJubilation among big sections of the population of Syria followed the quick demise of the Basha al Assad regime in early December 2024. After twelve years of civil war that ebbed and flowed, the regime was finally ousted after a short military operation led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from its base in Idlib province. Assad’s support base had dwindled to almost nothing and his impoverished army fled or refused to fight for a bankrupt regime.
Read moreOne million species are threatened with extinction, soils are becoming infertile, and water sources are drying up, creating the possibility of a major breakdown of the ecosystem, with famines and droughts becoming more and more widespread. This was the finding of a document prepared for a recent UN conference on halting the destruction of the natural world. Global warming was reported as being a key factor negatively affecting this process.
Read moreThe government’s announcement last November brings an end to an eight-year period in which tuition fees have stood still. Beginning under prime minister Theresa May, Conservative governments had steered well clear of increasing fees, seen by most Tory MPs as ‘politically toxic’.
Read moreA Dirty, Filthy Book: Sex, Scandal, and One Woman’s Fight in the Victorian Trial of the Century
By Michael Meyer
Published by WH Allen, 2024, £25
A Dirty Filthy Book tells the story of the trial of Annie Besant and Charles Bradlaugh – free thinking, radical publishers based in London – who in 1877 were prosecuted under censorship laws for printing and selling a pamphlet called The Fruits of Philosophy, written by an American doctor, Charles Knowlton. The pamphlet contained information about the ‘mechanics’ of sex, genitalia, methods of contraception, and menstruation. Knowlton had printed it in restricted numbers in a very small, ‘discreet’ format for his young married patients. But Besant and Bradlaugh abandoned ‘discretion’ and openly challenged censorship laws, even telling police and local magistrates where and when they would be selling the pamphlet.
Read morePat Wall: Selected Writings and Speeches of a Socialist MP and Workers’ Leader
Edited by Iain Dalton
Published by Mentmore Press, 2024, £12
Reviewed by Dave Nellist
Iain Dalton has done an important service by bringing together key articles and speeches to celebrate the life and work of Militant MP Pat Wall and his contribution to building the movement for the socialist transformation of society.
Read moreLabour Revolt in Britain 1910-14
By Ralph Darlington
Published by Pluto Press, 2023, £19.99
Reviewed by Iain Dalton
In the years 1910-14 Britain experienced its biggest wave of strikes by trade unions up to that point – 3,000, with 1,200 strikes in 1913 alone. These included national strikes amongst rail workers and miners, as well as many large regional and local strikes. Many of these strikes were not officially called by trade unions, but were unofficial strikes started from below.
Read moreI read with interest Pete Dickenson’s article, A New COP Climate Deadlock Looms (Socialism Today, issue No.282, November 2024). He rightly talks about the controversy regarding CO2 emissions and the reluctance of capitalist governments to challenge the powerful oil industry. Towards the end of the article he says that another highly controversial issue could feature at COP29, that of livestock emissions. He then states that “methane emissions from cattle are major drivers of global warming, since methane is up to a hundred times more damaging than carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas [….] and ending livestock rearing would make a major contribution to tackling climate change”.
The controversy that Pete is rightly concerned about is how a policy of ending livestock would be implemented globally in a fair and just way. However, many people, including scientists, would find his statement itself as controversial.
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