Socialist Appeal

NEW FROM WELLRED

THE CLASSICS OF MARXISM

Four great works in one book

Theory

{Audio} The English Revolution of the 17th Century

By Socialist Appeal
Thursday, 12 January 2012
The English Revolution of the 17th Century is of great importance to Marxists. It is a struggle we have yet to see resolved today. Rob Sewell speaks on the lessons on this event: Click here to download.

{Audio} Lal Khan on Pakistan

By Socialist Appeal
Thursday, 12 January 2012
Lal Khan looks at the unfolding crises in Pakistan and what it means for the masses. Click here to download

Review: Inside Job

By Joe Boustead, Newcastle University Marxists
Wednesday, 11 January 2012
This is an overview of the documentary Inside Job that was recently shown on the BBC. As one interviewee commented regarding the path Iceland had taken from 2000 onwards, “Nothing comes without consequence.”

1912: "The Great Unrest"

By Darrall Cozens

Wednesday, 11 January 2012

The Great Unrest is the term used by historians to describe the period a 100 years ago when Britain saw many industrial conflicts such as the Cambrian Combine Strike, the Tonypandy Riots and many other struggles. In Wales there was also a major dispute in the Cynon Valley and riots in Llanelli during the Railwaymen's strike. Strikes occurred in Clydeside, London, Liverpool, Hull and many other towns and cities throughout the land. Important ideas were developed and discussed during this period which had a profound affect on the Labour and trade union movement.

Darrall Cozens, a member of the UCU and Coventry NW Labour Party, considers what we need to learn from these events.

Miliband’s Fictitious ‘Responsible Capitalism’

By Daniel Morley
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Ed Miliband’s leadership of the Labour Party is turning into an elaborate parody of the emptiness of reformism. With capitalism unable to afford any reforms, he is like the school pupil who works extremely hard to avoid working whilst giving the impression of being studious. He is trying very very hard, tossing and turning, to give the impression that reformism can work without any actual reforms. Unfortunately for Ed, in this case the illusion does not work.

Tories nationalise slavery!

By Socialist Appeal
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
The government has been hard at it coming up with new ideas to punish those who are unemployed and on benefit. The latest such idea involves forcing people to work for nothing or starve. This is now being legally challenged as it breaks laws against bonded labour i.e. slavery!

Marxism and anarchism – Part One

By Alan Woods
Monday, 09 January 2012
The present period is the most stormy and convulsive period in history. Globalization now manifests itself as a global crisis of capitalism. Given the depth of the crisis and the worsening conditions, things are developing very quickly. The stage is set for a general revival of the class struggle, and in fact, this process has already begun.

Fees Undermining Higher Education

By Jason Phillips, Queen Mary's Marxists
Monday, 09 January 2012
This is the year universities in England are allowed to charge their UK based students £9000 for studying for just one year. With most undergraduate courses lasting 3 years this will mean that students may have to pay £27000 for tuition fees. This doesn’t include the cost of living away from home. We probably will see a major increase in students either living from home and going to more local universities, or people will sadly sacrifice university education altogether.

Tony and the tax collector

By Steve Jones
Monday, 09 January 2012
When Tony Blair left office (and then parliament itself) he set about doing what all ex-PMs tend to do - earn a little bit of extra cash. Well, as it happens in Tony's case, quite a lot of extra cash.

Last FTSE 100 company stops final salary pension scheme

By Socialist Appeal
Monday, 09 January 2012
Just 10 years ago, 88 of the top 100 companies in the UK offered final salary pensions. Today Shell is the last company in the FTSE 100 to offer such a pension to its new employees.

Report of Unison meeting

By Ray McHale – Assistant Branch Secretary, West Cheshire UNISON (personal capacity)
Monday, 09 January 2012
Report from a meeting of UNISON Branch delegates in the North West Region, representing members who are in the Local Government Pension Scheme. (This included around 100 delegates from several service groups; mainly Local Government, but also Police and Justice, Environment, Community [voluntary sector] and Transport.)

Ireland: emigration masks the unemployment crisis

By Tony Healy (Fightback Ireland)
Sunday, 08 January 2012
There are many ways to judge the health of a society. The speculators in the European Bond Markets judge the health of nations by the state of their public finances; socialists and trade unionists point to the way that old people and children are treated and especially the position of women in society. Economists look at the volume of imports and exports and at the rate of economic growth. One measure looks at the scale of inequality within society.

Tories blame poor for poverty

By Steve Jones
Friday, 06 January 2012
From time to time governments like to pretend that they are indeed aware of the problems of society and truly wish to resolve them. This normally takes the form of some announced "action" or "task force" aimed at getting to grips with whatever problem they have identified.

As 2012 dawns: Once more on optimism and pessimism

By Alan Woods
Thursday, 05 January 2012
The world is changing rapidly before our eyes. Over the last 12 months events have been unfolding with breathtaking speed.