While riding the No 3 bus in Glasgow MATT KERR has ample time to dissect the moribund Scottish Labour decline into near oblivion and watch intriguing bus passenger dynamics
THE relationship between religion and Marxism has historically been an antagonistic one, with the former (at least with respect to its hierarchy) typically siding with the interests of the ruling class.
Organised religion helped legitimise and strengthen the position of society’s elites by espousing ideas that justified inequality as God’s will or which promised the poor and downtrodden a reward in the afterlife.
Such heavenly promises served to mollify proletarian resentment about their earthly oppression while duping them into accepting the status quo as part of a divine being’s master plan. Karl Marx wrote: “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”
Dignity is important to all humans, argues the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School, but it does not come about automatically. In a less than perfect world, dignity can accompany suffering, but the collective dignity of working people is achieved through acting together to change the world.
TOMASZ PIERSCIONEK is intrigued by a the changing significance of its vast areas of forest to Russia’s history
BEN CHACKO welcomes a masterful analysis that puts class struggle back at the heart of our understanding of China’s revolution
Your Party can become an antidote to Reform UK – but only by rooting itself in communities up and down the country, says CLAUDIA WEBBE



