Brian Parkin
Obituary: Jean Dorothy Parkin, 1921-2018
Brian Parkin looks back at the life of his mother, Jean Dorothy Parkin, who passed away on 14th November.
Carillion: a chronicle of a blacklisting crook foretold
Carillion wasn’t an exception, but all too typical of the spiv business model the dominates UK construction.
Battle for BiFab: Scottish renewables factory in occupation
Through the combination of the defiance of an occupying workforce and a vision of a green industrial strategy, the prospect of democratic resistance is possible.
Diversify or Die: a new pamphlet from rs21
UK manufacturing workers must reject a continued dependency on defence contracts in favour of a re-dedication of industry to environmentally and socially beneficial production.
revolutionary reflections | Climate Change and Migration in the age of...
How can we trace the interconnections between war, famine, pestilence and conquest that are being unleashed in a new form as the climate crisis unfolds?
Grangemouth: chronicle of a defeat foretold
The union machine has once more been reduced to crying foul and continues to pursue a fatally discredited partnership model of industrial peace and 'responsible' trade unionism.
Review: The Battle of Grangemouth: A Worker’s Story
In late October 2013, workers at the Ineos twin plant at Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, suffered an epic defeat, which in terms of the sacking of...
Robber baron Ineos takes over Forties fields
Brian Parkin comments on the extension of chemical giant Ineos' control over the Scottish energy economy and calls for radical, democratic and green working class resistance.
Review: Blacklisted
Brian Parkin reviews Blacklisted: the secret war between big business and union activists by Dave Smith and Phil Chamberlain
When I was a young engineering draughtsman...
Apocalypse postponed: the oil price crash two years on
The world of hydrocarbons is still driven by the same speculative greed and climate crisis disregard as ever.
Latest articles
On the dissolution of the ISO
The US-based International Socialist Organization (ISO) has recently voted to dissolve itself. The rs21 Steering Group has collectively compiled the following piece in response.
We have to overthrow the system that is eating the planet
Mark Winter was present at the climate change protests in London on 19 April and reports on the sentiments and strategies of Extinction Rebellion (XR) as the group seeks to keep concerns about climate change at the forefront of public discourse.
NEU battles ahead – report from NEU conference
The first NEU conference set an ambitious course for boycotts and strikes over primary school testing, funding and pay, report rs21 delegates.
revolutionary reflections | Popular struggle in Indonesia: the spirit of Bandung
Following the recent Indonesian elections, in which the incumbent Jokowi defeated a descendent of the dictator Suharto, Frans Ari Prasetyo discusses the contradictions of the Jokowi government’s dependence on the World Bank and local capitalists.
Sudan’s revolutionary crisis
The revolution in Sudan gathers pace. Magdi el Gizouli analyses the contradictions at heart of the revolutionary crisis and what institutions and the social forces that will be necessary to resolve them.
The climate rebellion continues
Extinction Rebellion activists have held Waterloo Bridge in Central London for a second day (on Tuesday 16 April), as part of an international wave of protests calling for action on climate change.
Hope and tragedy in April 1919
The Limerick Soviet (13 - 27 April 1919) was one manifestation of a wave of revolutionary crises that confronted British imperialism in the aftermath of WWI.
Review: Green Growth
Stephen Graham reviews Green growth: Ideology, Political Economy and the Alternatives
To the climate strikers: thank you for teaching us a lesson
A message of thanks to the youth strikers taking to the streets to demand action on climate change around the world again today.
Join the climate strikes tomorrow
Tomorrow (Friday 12 April), there will be another wave of youth strikes for climate across the UK and the world.
Highlights
revolutionary reflections | ‘Green capitalism’: a critical review (Part I)
Today, hundreds of thousands of young people around the world have been taking part in climate strikes. Stephen Graham dissects the discourses of sustainability, Green capitalism and the Green economy.
The Communist Women’s Movement
As we mark International Women's Day (8 March), Estelle Cooch talks Darya Dyakonova and Mike Taber about the history of the Communist Women's Movement (1920-22).
revolutionary reflections | Notes on Capital and the State: part 3
In the concluding part of our serialisation of his 1978 essay on the state in capitalist society, Colin Barker considers the theory of the Permanent Arms Economy.
LGBT History in 21 pieces of music
For LGBT History Month, Colin Wilson presents a history of queer music in 21 tracks.
Yellow vests: Macron’s fuel tax was no solution to climate chaos
Why Macron's 'eco-tax' on fuel was never a fair or effective way to tackle climate change