Socialism Today – Page 10 – Socialist Party magazine

Lessons of the first Russian revolution

2 December, 20242 December, 2024Admin

January marks the 120th anniversary of the start of the 1905 Russian revolution, a movement shaped by the working class that shook the world’s then third most populous empire and bulwark of reaction on the global stage. CHRISTINE THOMAS draws out key lessons of 1905. The article is followed by a timeline.

Both Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky described the 1905 revolution in Russia as a dress rehearsal for 1917. Although the mass revolutionary movement that exploded in January 1905 failed to defeat the Tsarist autocracy that sat atop the vast Russian Empire, it was an invaluable learning experience for the working class and the Bolshevik Party, in preparation for leading a successful revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and feudalism twelve years later. The role of the working class; how consciousness changes; the relationship between mass workers’ organisations and the revolutionary party; how the workers’ movement should relate to other social forces; the art of insurrection – all were posed in this ‘prologue’ to 1917.

Russia 1905 – timeline of a revolution

2 December, 20242 December, 2024Admin

Compiled by MARTIN POWELL DAVIES. Dates are given in the old-style Julian calendar used in Russia at the time. This was 13 days earlier than the Gregorian calendar (adopted in Russia in 1918).

Middle East war in the new era

4 November, 2024Admin

‘My name is Ozymandias, King of kings. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’ Faced with the works of twenty-first century capitalism, in particular the nightmare being suffered by the Palestinian masses, despair is an understandable reaction. This famous line by the 19th century poet Shelley, however, does not point towards despair, but to revolution. He describes it inscribed on the pedestal of a broken old statue, once erected to an Egyptian dictator, long since dethroned and his monument abandoned in the desert.

Thirteen years ago, in the ‘Arab Spring’ – the revolutionary movement which swept North Africa and parts of the Middle East – more than one modern day Ozymandias was overthrown. However, because the working class and poor masses did not succeed in taking and consolidating power, the old order came surging back. Current events show beyond all doubt how rotten that order is, and the necessity of bringing it to an end.

Unite’s Labour conference win. What next?

4 November, 2024Admin

The build-up to Labour’s first conference after the July general election saw excited commentary in some corners of the capitalist media about a ‘showdown’ over the early measures of Keir Starmer’s new government, in particular the withdrawal of the winter fuel allowance from more than ten million pensioners.

What way forward in France?

4 November, 2024Admin

France is in an unprecedented political crisis. President Emmanuel Macron’s political party, Ensemble, was beaten in the European election in June. It was an anti-Macron referendum, resulting in a victory for Marine Le Pen’s right-wing populist party Rassemblement National (RN), in an election with little participation and a divided left. Macron then dissolved the national assembly thinking he would be able to find a new majority with the right-wing Republicans and part of the Socialist Party (PS) and the Ecologists (EELV). He lost the parliamentary elections too because he is hated for his anti-social, pro-rich policies.

A new COP climate deadlock looms

4 November, 2024Admin

The annual UN Climate summit, COP29, will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan at the end of November. Like the previous summit in Dubai, the president of COP 29 will be from a petrostate. The COP28 president was quoted as saying there was “no science behind demands for phasing out fossil fuels and this would take the world back into the caves”. Presiding over COP29 will be Muktar Babaev who spent 26 years working for the state oil company in Azerbaijan.

Maximising workers’ ability to fight

4 November, 2024Admin

As conflict with Starmer’s new austerity develops, how best will trade union unity be achieved? In a contribution to the debate PAULA MITCHELL looks specifically at the experience of organising and representing school support staff and the broader issues it raises.

“Strikes are back” declared the Evening Standard, at the announcement of action on London Underground by RMT and Aslef unions over pay. This followed just weeks after members of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) rejected the Labour government’s 5.5% pay award. The public sector pay awards in health, the civil service and to teachers, in the region of 5% and above, were made by chancellor Rachel Reeves in the hope of staving off trade union action.

That is the legacy of the 2022-23 strike wave, and it is a lesson lodged in the experience of hundreds of thousands of workers as they now face new Labour austerity from a government determined to rule in the interests of big business.

The battle for the PCS

4 November, 2024Admin

A major battle is underway in the PCS civil servants’ union, to determine how the eighth-biggest workers’ organisation in Britain shapes up to the struggles ahead, including in the UK civil service. PCS vice-president DAVE SEMPLE writes, in a personal capacity.

Civil servants in UK government departments and agencies might have breathed a sigh of relief on 4 July, as a Labour government swept to power after 14 years of Tory rule. Tens of thousands of jobs have been slashed. Real wages have fallen precipitously. Pensions have been devalued. Trade union rights have been diminished. Office closures have forced civil servants out of local communities, with deleterious economic impact in deprived areas. Many had had enough.

A new turning point in Germany

4 November, 2024Admin

The European elections in June and the three state elections in eastern Germany in September showed very drastically the political upheavals in Germany. These are not snapshots, but indications of longer-term developments explains WOLFRAM KLEIN of Sol (CWI Germany).

The background to political developments in Germany is the deteriorating economic situation. In recent decades Germany distinguished itself from other developed capitalist countries by having a considerably higher share of industrial production in its economy. According to the World Bank, in 2022 this share was 10% higher than in the USA, France and the UK. For years German capitalism was able to achieve high export surpluses thanks to high productivity and low production costs. Those in power in Germany could often boast that they were the ‘world champion in exports’ – or at least runner-up to China.

Alan Hardman’s inspirational legacy

4 November, 2024Admin

Need Not Greed: Alan Hardman 1936-2024

Published by Bluecoat, 2024, £45

Reviewed by Linda Taaffe

Political cartoons appear regularly in the pages of many national newspapers and magazines. Some are quite amusing. But nowhere is there anything like the drawings of Alan Hardman. His cartoons go straight to the heart of the matter of class society, how the greedy few of the capitalist class exploit the downtrodden, hardworking, needy many of the working class. And in the process they inspire people to draw the conclusion that we must use our collective power to turn society upside down in a socialist revolution. Now Alan’s lifework has been brought together in this very impressive and memorable book.