Ian Birchall
Review: Anti-Nazi Germans
As Boris Johnson and others attempt to invoke the ‘spirit of the Blitz’ in response to COVID-19, Ian Birchall celebrates a recent publication that disrupts the national myths of WWII.
The total Marx and the total theory of literature
A lost gem of Marxist aesthetic theory, out of print for over forty years.
There’s nothing so weird as a revolution
Ian Birchall reviews China Miéville's October, a new history of the Russian Revolution.
It seems an odd pairing: the Russian Revolution and China Miéville, whose...
Peter Sedgwick and the British Left
Peter Sedgwick (1934-83) was a lifelong socialist activist and writer. Apart from his work to bring Victor Serge to the English speaking world, and his critical writings...
The story of a Bolshevik worker-intellectual: a review of Barbara Allen’s...
Ian Birchall reviews Barbara C Allen's Alexander Shlyapnikov 1885-1937: Life of an Old Bolshevik, published by Haymarket Books.
"Young Alexander conquered India. He alone?"...
The Somme: Remember…and explain
Ian Birchall reviews Neil Faulkner's new pamphlet, Have You Forgotten Yet? The Truth about the Somme
I happened to be on Waterloo Station on 1st July. When...
Bel Druce 1940-2015
We republish Ian Birchall's obituary for his very close friend, and rs21 member Bel Druce, who died at the end of August. It was...
Alfred Rosmer: A lifelong revolutionary
In the first of a series exploring the lives of some of history's understated revolutionaries, Ian Birchall introduces French syndicalist and communist Alfred Rosmer
The...
Latest articles
Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the future of Trident
On the 75th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, Eileen Cook highlights the danger of Trident remaining in Scotland.
Nurses strike back against attack on pay
Nurses and health workers are fighting back on pay – and kicking off a battle to defend our health and care services
Hearts and stomachs
Last week's vote on the Trade Bill showed how the callous disregard for human life and food safety that Upton Sinclair exposed in his classic novel The Jungle is as relevant as ever.
Report: How to defund the police – strategies for abolition
Jiaqi Kang reports on East London rs21's meeting on police abolition.
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’.
Returning to campus after ‘lockdown’
As UK universities draw up plans for mass redundancies and reopening of campuses, the marketisation of Higher Education is now putting lives and livelihoods at risk.
Resist Tory immigration plans
Zareen Taj and Mitch Mitchell look at the effects of the Tories' proposed new immigration system following Brexit.
VIDEO: climate, coronavirus and capitalism
A video of a discussion on Andreas Malm's forthcoming book 'Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency: War Communism in the Twenty-First Century', introduced by Gareth Dale.
‘I was born a baby not a boy’: sex, gender and trans liberation
Shanice McBean argues for a Marxism with trans liberation at its heart through a materialist analysis of gender and sex.
Defund the police. Disarm the state.
The demand to defund the police should extend beyond reallocating existing government spending. We also need to address the racist ways that the state polices all aspects of working-class life.
Highlights
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’.
Defund the police. Disarm the state.
The demand to defund the police should extend beyond reallocating existing government spending. We also need to address the racist ways that the state polices all aspects of working-class life.
Not one more of us will be sacrificed
rs21 members argue that deaths and job losses are not inevitable and that as we can’t rely on government or employers, we will have to rely on each other to fight for our lives and our livelihoods.
Video: Capitalism is the virus
Video: Brendan Montague looks at how capitalism, colonialism, ecological devastation co-evolved and at what we can do to cure our societies and our planet.
The Black Lives Matter movement in 2020: results and prospects
Jaswinder Blackwell-Pal considers the situation of the BLM movement in Britain and argues for centring the politics of abolition and anti-imperialist solidarity.