While slashing welfare and public services, Labour’s spring statement delivers a bonanza for death-dealing bomb merchants. We now see the true and terrible face of austerity 2.0, writes MICHAEL BURKE
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The old is dying
GAWAIN LITTLE argues that the prolonged economic crisis we have been experiencing presents opportunities for a working-class fightback
Detailing the deluge of delusion and dishonesty pushed by the pro-war camp, IAN SINCLAIR identifies four key tactics corporate journalists use to confuse audiences and suppress opposition to the proxy war in the east
From ‘moral duty’ to ‘military Keynesianism,’ Labour manipulates language to justify slashing welfare but pouring billions into warfare, condemning communities like Glasgow South West to deeper poverty, writes MATT KERR
With politicians dismissing constituents’ fears of global war, the peace movement must look beyond Parliament to prevent catastrophe, writes TOM MORRISON
The mass movement supporting Palestine represents potential political power that the left must now embrace as central to its strategy, writes HUGH LANNING, ahead of this Saturday’s Socialism or Barbarism day school in London
Health Secretary Wes Streeting taking £53k from Tory-linked recruiter and outsourcer Peter Hearn’s OPD Group is a great example of how Labour’s rich donors shape policies targeting the poor – not their wealth, writes SOLOMON HUGHES
MAT COWARD recalls the communist and pacifist aristocrat whose commitment made a difference in the Spanish civil war, the Blitz and WWII Europe
THE new year is a time to take stock. Over the past decade and a half, we have bounced from crisis to crisis. While the incompetent handling of these crises can be laid squarely at the door of the Conservative government that was in office for the bulk of this time, their roots go much deeper.
From the great economic crisis of 2007-09 to the cost-of-living crisis of 2022 onwards, we have been affected repeatedly by fractures in the economic system, which have hit working people particularly hard.
Each of these individual events has been precipitated by specific factors — most recently, the war in Ukraine, crop failures due to climate change and the destabilising impact of the Tories’ handling of Brexit. However, as Michael Roberts argues in a recent article on The Polycrisis of Capitalism (Theory and Struggle 2024), across the entire period, there are clear underlying factors, amounting to a prolonged crisis of accumulation.
More from this author
After the Gaza genocide and unleashing chaos in Syria, the US and Israel prepare to target Tehran next, leaving the Iranian people caught between foreign intervention and continued theocratic oppression, writes GAWAIN LITTLE
GAWAIN LITTLE urges the labour movement to seize a historic opportunity under the new government, warning that failure to push for real change now could spell disaster for workers and fuel the far-right threat
GAWAIN LITTLE explains how GFTU’s link-up with Strike Map aims to provide high-quality trade union education, support and mentoring to a new layer of activists
GAWAIN LITTLE highlights the General Federation of Trade Unions’ new education programme - to help forge the unity and strength we need to force a change of direction for Britain
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VINCE MILLS reflects on the Scottish independence referendum of 2014 which took place in a period of austerity following the great banking crash of 2007-08 and with deindustrialisation in full swing – a context of relevance today
GAWAIN LITTLE urges the labour movement to seize a historic opportunity under the new government, warning that failure to push for real change now could spell disaster for workers and fuel the far-right threat
WILL PODMORE is intrigued by an analysis of capital that emphasises the deadening impact of financialisation on the US and UK economies