Socialism

What does this mean for the independence movement in Scotland? How can workers and young people, who overwhelmingly back independence, take their struggle forward? The Socialist Party Scotland is the sister party of the Socialist Party in England and Wales. This episode of Socialism looks at the feud within the SNP and what it means for the independence movement in Scotland. Further reading and li...

What can we learn from the defeat of the Industrial Relations Act 1971? Capitalist commentators often refer to the 1970s as a kind of dark age, and accuse socialists of wanting to return to it. What they’re frightened of is the huge power of a working class that fought and often won during that decade. One major victory was the defeat of the Tories’ 1971 Industrial Relations Act, an attempt to sma...

How can we fight racism and capitalism today? Black and Asian people have been disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, they are disproportionately affected by austerity, and by all the inequalities and attacks that face the working class. Meanwhile, working-class youth showed their willingness to fight racism and class inequality in the magnificent Black Lives Matter protest...

What next for the mass protests in Russia? Facing down brutal police repression, tens of thousands seized the streets in Russia to oppose the arrest of opposition leader Alexi Navalny. Vladimir Putin's dictatorial regime was shaken. While working-class Russians suffer ever more misery, Putin has built himself an opulent private palace. The anger against him is enormous. But although Navalny has ex...

How can the National Education Union win for school workers? During the pandemic, educators and support staff have been on the front line of the Tories’ war for private wealth over public health. Schools became key breeding grounds for Covid-19. Then, in January, the NEU forced a humiliating government U-turn on school reopening. What are the lessons from that victory, and what are the next steps...

What are the 2011 Arab Spring’s lessons for now? Ten years ago, revolutions erupted in Egypt and Tunisia, and rapidly spread in the Middle East and North Africa. Workers and poor people enraged by their living conditions toppled dictators. World capitalist governments were taken by surprise. Why did Marxists in the Committee for a Workers’ International foresee that uprisings were coming? What was...

How should socialists respond to the dramatic crisis in the US? On Wednesday 6 January 2021, Trump supporters - some armed - invaded Congress. It was the culmination of the loose-cannon president’s desperate attempts to overturn the election result. But the US capitalist class is used to inflicting humiliations like this on the rest of the world – not losing control at home. Was this action just a...

What is the outlook for class struggle in Britain in 2021? The pandemic was a world-shattering turning point. All the weaknesses of capitalism were laid bare in 2020. But in few countries more so than Britain. The nightmare which began in 2020 has not been limited to public health, but has infected the already-ailing world economy – with British capitalism the worst hit of all the major capitalist...

What do young people need today - and how can they fight for it? Last summer, massive, young, working-class protests exploded around the world after the murder of George Floyd, and other appalling incidents of racism and police violence. But it's not just these issues that angered young people. In the US, Britain and around the world, the youth are suffering appalling conditions, and a future of c...

The crisis-ridden US has two options: socialism or barbarism. In the run-up to last year’s election, the United States was faced with a litany of crises. This episode was recorded during the run-up - but Biden’s election changes little. Like many capitalist economies, the US had to partly suspend production in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The state was forced to inject trillions of dollar...

80 years on from Trotsky’s assassination: can they kill his ideas? Lev Davidovich Bronstein, better known as Leon Trotsky, was murdered on 21 August 1940. What was Stalin so afraid of? And why do capitalist commentators still try to bury Trotsky’s ideas today? Earlier this year, the Committee for a Workers’ International published a new book, and Socialism produced a special podcast series, for th...

How did Britain's working class fight to overthrow early capitalism? In the early 19th century, the industrial revolution was rapidly creating a big new social class in Britain: the working class. Workers produced huge amounts of new wealth for the ruling capitalists, but had appalling conditions and no say in politics. Sound familiar? Trade unions appeared for the first time, formed by workers to...

What are the roots of women’s oppression? Thousands of years ago, early human societies lived without economic classes or gender oppression. Life was basic, precarious and sometimes brutal. But all contributed what they could to producing the necessities of life, and men and women had an equal say and social status. How did humans move from this to ways of organising society which are more advance...

How did Engels explain the scientific approach to socialism? Today, there are socialists who argue that rational arguments, or moral appeals, or new technologies, or localised socialistic community projects, can defeat capitalism. These ideas are not new. Unfortunately, they have all been disproven in theory and practice. These well-meaning approaches express the yearning of billions for fundament...

What did Engels have to say about the housing crisis? Cramped homes. Extortionate costs. Rip-off landlords. Rising homelessness. Projects to upgrade areas just used to force workers and poor people out. Meanwhile, posh new houses lie empty. It could be any major town or city in the 21st century. But it was all described by Friedrich Engels back in the 19th century. Why does capitalism endlessly re...

What can the horrors of industrialisation teach socialists today? 175 years ago, Britain was the most advanced capitalist country on the planet. Leaps forward in industry created huge productive power and riches for the capitalists. Radicals looked to Britain as a way forward for society following revolutionary movements against the old feudal rulers in Europe. But despite massive economic progres...

Who was Friedrich Engels and what were his ideas? Marxism, originally called ‘scientific socialism’, takes its name from Karl Marx. But Marx didn’t work alone in developing his ideas. His co-philosopher – and close friend – shares the credit for that historic work. How did these two giants of socialism come together? What led Engels to develop revolutionary ideas? What were his most important cont...

How can students fight back against rip-off Covid imprisonment? Universities have enticed students onto courses with promises of a learning experience that never materialised – then trapped them there under lockdown to suck out fees and rent. Overcrowding on campus and in housing is causing major material and mental health crises. Jobs and teaching quality have nosedived – after already suffering...

What next for the uprising in Nigeria? Millions of youth have been out on the streets in response to the brutal repression and banditry of the Nigerian state’s so-called ‘Special Anti-Robbery Squad’ (Sars). They have the sympathy of millions of workers in this huge, resource-rich west African country. The scale of the protests shows this is about much more than just police violence. Appalling wage...

How did Trotsky view revolution and the arts? Because art holds a mirror up to life, many revolutionaries have taken an interest its role. Leon Trotsky in particular wrote on art, literature, and its role in society and politics. Art can be insightful because of its politics, or despite them. So how does Marxism, a political theory, have any relation to art? The Russian revolution led to an explos...

88. Crumbling capitalism, revolution and counter-revolution As the capitalist world tears at itself, who stands to gain? Global capitalism is in its deepest crisis since the 1930s, exacerbated by ‘the great accelerator’: Covid-19 pandemic and depression. There is turmoil on every continent; class battles and uprisings; rising authoritarianism; polarisation within and between nations. Meanwhile, th...

How can socialists link day-to-day struggles to the need for revolution? Global capitalism is in a historic crisis, and offers no future to the majority of humanity. Socialism is the only alternative to bloated billionaires, mass unemployment and ruinous trade wars. On the one hand, the profit system is in such a mess that even defending existing pro-worker reforms can lead to colossal pitched bat...

What is the state of world capitalism as it heads into a second wave of Covid-19? Over a decade ago, the global capitalist system was shaken by a historic financial crisis. It still had not recovered when the coronavirus pandemic caused the worst economic contraction in history. Pandemic, depression, environmental catastrophe, political turmoil - capitalism is not well. And now a second wave of Co...

What are the lessons for today from the 1926 general strike? One of the myths about the British working class is that it’s too ponderous and conservative to have a serious fight with capitalism. Actually, centuries of bitter class struggle have shown the real potential again and again. But arguably the high point came in 1926, during a period of national and international crisis for capitalism not...

What was Trotsky’s advice for revolutionaries on unions? The trade unions are the basic organisations of the working class. Trotsky, like all who follow the ideas of genuine Marxism, believed the working class was the only social force which can lead socialist revolution. But the union leaders can be timid, or even hold back struggle by their members. And anyway, the working class today looks very...