Socialism Today – Page 6 – Socialist Party magazine

The life and struggle of Alexandra Kollantai

3 March, 20253 March, 2025Admin

In a 2003 article CHRISTINE THOMAS looked back at the life and ideas of the Russian revolutionary, Alexandra Kollantai, a pioneer of the struggle for socialism and women’s liberation. The second part, focusing on the post-1917 period, was published in Socialism Today, issue No.73, March 2003. The complete article has only been available online until now.

Alexandra Kollantai is probably the best-known woman among Russian revolutionaries, the first woman elected as a full member of the Bolshevik central committee and the first female commissar (minister) elected after the October 1917 revolution.

The consequences of Maganomics

3 February, 20253 February, 2025Admin

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.

Fragile ceasefire in Gaza

3 February, 2025Admin

Emotions 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?

Syria at a cross-roads

3 February, 2025Admin

Jubilation 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.

The collapsing ecosystem

3 February, 2025Admin

One 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.

Crunch time looms for higher education

3 February, 2025Admin

Late last year the Labour government announced plans to increase university tuition fees from September 2025, by lifting the cap on full-time undergraduate fees in England from £9,250 to £9,585 per year. This won’t solve the crisis of higher education funding, argues ADAM POWELL-DAVIES, and students and campus workers need to prepare for the battles ahead.

The 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’.

The struggle for birth control

3 February, 20253 February, 2025Admin

In the light of a recently published book that gives a glimpse of the social mores of Victorian England regarding birth control and women’s sexuality, ELEANOR DONNE looks at the historical struggle for contraception and, in particular, the role of working-class women within that struggle.

A 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.

Marxist MP’s invaluable legacy

3 February, 20253 February, 2025Admin

Pat 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.

The 1910-14 ‘Great Unrest’ in Britain

3 February, 2025Admin

Labour 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.