Socialist Appeal - Philosophy

Philosophy

By Marie Frederiksen

Friday, 12 March 2010

To mark the hundreth anniversary of International Women's Day this week, we are publishing an article which forms the centre pages of this month's edition of Socialist Appeal. The author is a contributor to a recent book on women's rights and class struggle published by the Danish Marxists around 'Socialistick Standpunk'.

Marx versus Bakunin - Part Two

By Alan Woods
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
The Paris Commune put to the test the different currents inside the First International. Its subsequent defeat created an atmosphere where all kinds of demoralised elements thrived. Intrigue was on the order of the day. This led to a questioning of centralised leadership, of the very role of the leadership. Marx and Engels answered all this fully.

Marx versus Bakunin - Part One

By Alan Woods
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
It is fashionable to portray Marxism as the source of authoritarianism. This accusation is raised repeatedly by anarchists, reformists and all kinds of opportunists. Bakunin was one of the more famous exponents of such accusations. But the truth is concrete and the historical facts reveal that those same elements who raise a hue and cry about authoritarianism are themselves the worst bureaucrats and authoritarians... where they manage to rule the roost.

Bolshevism and Stalinism

By Rob Sewell
Tuesday, 12 January 2010
The history of the Russian Revolution is intimately associated with the names of Lenin and Trotsky, its two great leaders. They attracted all the praise and they bore all the hatred. The reason for this is not difficult to understand. The October Russian Revolution, led by the Bolshevik Party, was the greatest event in history. For the first time, the workers and peasant took power into their hands, swept aside the landlords and capitalists, and proceeded to organise a democratic workers’ Soviet Republic. The authority of the new Soviet government rested upon a congress of soviets (workers’ committees) elected from factories and barracks.

Darwin's Science vs 'Intelligent Design'

By John Pickard
Tuesday, 03 November 2009
November marks the 150^th anniversary of the publication of Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. This book revolutionised thinking about the living world because for the first time it provided an explanation for the evolution of species, something that was long suspected by scientists. Darwin’s simple idea – change by natural selection – is arguably the single most important foundation-stone upon which all modern biology is based. The Origin of Species was a triumph of the materialist world outlook, even if Darwin himself didn’t quite put it that way, and for that reason its publication was celebrated by Marx and Engels.

The Crisis of Capitalism and the tasks of the Marxists – Part Three

By Alan Woods
Friday, 02 October 2009
In the final part of his article, taken from a speech made last summer to a meeting of Marxists from around the world, Alan Woods highlights the significance of the Iranian revolution and the impact it will have on the whole of the Middle East and beyond. He explains how all the conditions emerged for a successful revolution, bar one, that of the revolutionary leadership, which must be built.

The Crisis of Capitalism and the tasks of the Marxists – Part Two

By Alan Woods
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
The present world crisis of capitalism means we have entered a new period in which the workers will face a situation of permanent austerity, with cuts in welfare and attacks on working conditions. This is already having a radicalising affect on millions of workers and youth, particularly in Latin America and other underdeveloped parts of the world and it is spreading to the advanced countries also. Alan Woods continues his review (given at a meeting in Europe last month) of the unfolding crisis of world capitalism, (Click here to read part one)

The Crisis of Capitalism and the tasks of the Marxists – Part One

By Alan Woods (www.marxist.com)
Thursday, 17 September 2009
This summer, Alan Woods delivered a speech on the nature of the present crisis of capitalism, in which he deals with the relationship between the economic cycle and the class struggle, and also looks into what kind of recovery we can expect, considering the enormous contradictions that have accumulated within the system.

Leon Trotsky:1879-1940

By Estevan Volkov
Thursday, 20 August 2009
Today marks the 69th anniversary of the assassination of Leon Trotsky. Murdered by the cowardly hands of Stalin's henchman, Trotsky's ideas remain as relevant today as ever. We mark this anniversary by reproducing a statement issued by Estevan Volkov, Trotsky's grandson, ten years ago. In doing so we remember the final words from Trotsky's testament: "Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence and enjoy it to the full."

The Living Thoughts of Karl Marx – a Nigerian point of view

By Didi Cheeka in Lagos
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Marx has been declared dead so many times, and yet he keeps coming back again and again, the reason being that his ideas, his theories, are the only ones that can explain the present crisis of capitalism. Here a Nigerian Marxist gives his views on the relevance of Marx’s ideas today.

Ted Grant (1913 - 2006)

By Steve Jones
Monday, 20 July 2009
Today is the third anniversary of the death of Ted Grant who died on July 20th 2006 aged 93. To mark this we are making available an article on Marxism from 1994.In September Wellred will be publishing the first volume of Ted Grant's writings.

A Coup in Britain?

By Ted Grant in 1981
Friday, 24 April 2009
Ted Grant seizes on evidence of a plot against the right wing Labour Prime minister Harold Wilson to show the real nature of the capitalist state. Behind the democratic façade the state is an organ of capitalist class rule. The establishment will strive might and main to preserve their privileges and will resort to whatever undemocratic measures are necessary to preserve the capitalist system.

From Bolshevism to Bush – exploring the political trajectory of the Jewish people

Monday, 20 April 2009

Leon Trotsky, prominent Jewish revolutionary

Jews throughout the 20th century were attacked as either Communists or rich capitalists. According to this view there was some kind of conspiracy here to overthrow society as we know it. This is pure racist anti-Semitism, which Marxists utterly reject. Jews around the world, and in Israel, belong to different classes and thus have different interests. How does this affect their thinking? Walter Leon looks into the question and connects it to the ups and downs of the class struggle.

Marxism Versus New Fabianism - Part Two

By Socialist Appeal
Tuesday, 07 April 2009
The second main thread in all the New Fabian Essays is a criticism of the totalitarian regimes in Russia, China and Eastern Europe, and the identification of Marxism with Stalinism. Here it is necessary to steer between two fatal mistakes. The one typified by the mixed group who maintained long and discreet silences about the crimes of Stalinism, with only the faintest trace of 'criticism'; and those who fail to make a distinction between the political regimes of Stalinism and the basic economic revolution on which the Stalinist bureaucracy and its satellites base themselves. Either mistake can be fatal for the developing left wing in the Labour Party.

Marxism Versus New Fabianism - Part One

By Ted Grant in 1952
Monday, 06 April 2009
After the reforms of the 1945-51 Labour government, Ted Grant considers the question as to whether capitalism had changed fundamentally. The publication of the New Fabian Essays in 1952 gave him the opportunity to take up the thinking of the Labour leadership.