China
What lay behind Mao’s Cultural Revolution?
The Cultural Revolution – a period that is generally considered to have spanned the ten years from 1966 to the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 – is one of the most confusing and misunderstood […]
Around the world
Britain
Why is Black unemployment so high and what can we do about it?
Statistics recently published by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) show unemployment among black and minority ethnic (BAME) people was at 6.9% in 2022, over double the unemployment rate of white people – 3.2%. The unemployment […]
Book review
‘The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way for Fascism’
The age of austerity is clearly not over as capitalist politicians of all persuasions compete to manage economic crisis in the interest of the capitalist class. PAUL KERSHAW reviews a book that places economic austerity […]
Britain
Welsh devolution – a case study of Labour in power
The next UK government is likely to be a Labour government led by Keir Starmer. The huge lead that Starmer currently enjoys is not a vote of confidence in him, the current leadership of the […]
Ireland North
Ireland North: 25th anniversary of the Omagh bombing
The Omagh bomb of 25 years ago was the end of any significant republican armed campaign in Ireland or elsewhere. The backlash ruled such out for many years. The Omagh bombing was one of the […]
South Africa
SA general election approaches – a crisis of political representation for capitalist class and working class
One of Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci’s most quoted phrases is his 1930 statement in the ‘Prison Notebooks’: ‘The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; […]
Britain
Broad Left Network of UK civil service union, PCS, calls for continuing pay campaign
The UK civil service trade union, PCS, is balloting its members on its response to a government pay offer. Socialist Party (CWI) members in PCS are part of the Broad Left Network (BLN), campaigning for […]
Britain
Desperate Tory government drives environmental destruction
Facing a potential electoral landslide against them, the Tories are desperate. Hundreds of Tory MPs threatened with losing their jobs are desperately clawing to find a ledge to cling onto. Narrowly holding onto Boris Johnson’s […]
USA
Court cases mount for Donald Trump
Donald Trump attended a federal court in Washington DC on 3 August in which he faced a 45-page criminal indictment accusing him of conspiracy to overturn the democratic outcome of the 2020 US presidential election. […]
Scotland
Scotland’s council workers set to strike
Scotland’s council workers are heading towards another autumn of strike action over this year’s annual pay rise. All three trade unions’ members overwhelmingly rejected an offer of 5.25% – 5.5%. Unite has returned strike majorities […]