Colin Barker

IS in the 60s: May 68 and after

How can revolutionaries build an organisation from tiny beginnings?

IS in the 60s: two thousand workers with bricks: the Roberts-Arundel...

Colin Barker recalls a key event for Manchester IS, an engineering strike six miles away in Stockport.

IS in the 60s: linking up with Manchester workers and fighting...

Colin Barker recalls how IS grew in 1960s Manchester – making links with engineers and building workers, and campaigning against racist police violence.

IS in the 60s: Building a revolutionary group from the ground...

Colin Barker describes how IS grew from tiny beginnings at Oxford University, and what drew people to the group.

The secret of its weakness: racism and the working class movement...

Colin Barker reviews Satnam Virdee's book Racism, Class and the Racialized Outsider, which is an important contribution to the debates around race and class.

The elephant is political

"Anti-politics" has become a phrase widely used to describe the state of politics today. Here, Colin Barker examines what 'politics' meant for Marx and what it means for revolutionaries today.

Hundreds march against fracking in Eccles

Colin Barker, Ewa Barker, and Anne Saxon report from Sunday’s rally and look at the damage that fracking can do.

Latest articles

Police Trafalgar square

Resist the crackdown on demonstrations

The lockdown has ended but the crackdown on protests goes on and on. We need to share skills and solidarity to resist police repression.

‘The fight of our lives’ | Interview with Marian Mayer

Marian Mayer, candidate for Vice President of UCU, spoke to rs21 about the fightback in the higher and further education sectors

Review: The Covid-19 Catastrophe

Stacey Williams reviews The Covid-19 Catastrophe, by leading UK medical writer Richard Horton
Protests in Minsk

Interview: Organised and disorganised labour in the Belarus uprising

Siarhei Biareishyk speaks to rs21 about the uprising in Belarus following the falsified re-election of Aliaksandr Lukashenka on 9 August 2020.
Trump rally in 2016

Fascism beyond Trump

Historical comparisons can lead to unhelpful conclusions if not used carefully
Beirut port destroyed

Interview: Beirut blast exposed a global system

Rima Majed spoke to rs21 about the blast that devastated Beirut in the context of an existing political and economic crisis.

Reopening schools is bad science

Mike Downham explains the poor science behind the government plans for schools reopening. 

Interview: Neighbourhood organising in Edinburgh

Activists in Edinburgh share their experiences of fighting to save lives, save jobs, and save the planet within a local community hit by Covid-19.

Review: Radical Happiness

Lynne Segal’s most recent work, Radical Happiness, addresses the relationship between political action and personal fulfilment.

Tik Tok: is time running out for Tory style education?

Ava, a sixth form student, describes how she helped to instigate the protests last weekend which led to the government U-turn.  

Highlights

Protests in Minsk

Interview: Organised and disorganised labour in the Belarus uprising

Siarhei Biareishyk speaks to rs21 about the uprising in Belarus following the falsified re-election of Aliaksandr Lukashenka on 9 August 2020.
Beirut port destroyed

Interview: Beirut blast exposed a global system

Rima Majed spoke to rs21 about the blast that devastated Beirut in the context of an existing political and economic crisis.

Review: Fortunes of Feminism

Leslie Cunningham reviews Fortunes of Feminism by Nancy Fraser, a critical account of changes in feminist thought in the era of neo-liberalism.
Ravenscraig

Post-war to post-industrial Scotland

Successive British governments have restructured the Scottish economy in damaging ways. Now we need a radical plan for a de-carbonised and independent Scotland.
Westferry printworks

Johnson’s bonanza for private capital

The Tories are increasing spending, but the money is going to the rich. Adam Blanden argues that this represents the acceleration of Britain’s transformation into a ‘speculator state’.