Skip to main content
Work with the NEU
Geopolitical breakdown: lessons from the history of capitalism
ANDREW MURRAY casts an eye over past upheavals and asks whether the left can find a fire escape before the world goes up in flames
US President Donald Trump gestures to the crowd as he departs after welcoming the 2025 College Football National Champions, the Ohio State University football team, during an event on the South Lawn of the White House, April 14, 2025

“WE ARE seeing a simultaneous breakdown in economic and geopolitical orders.”

Thus Gordon Brown, the most interesting of our coterie of eight ex-prime ministers; a low bar to clear for sure.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
LIBERATION: Mission Robinson literacy class in the La Vega neighbourhood of Caracas. Applying the Cuban literacy method ‘Yes, I can!’ - the state provides free textbooks and educational videos / Piv: Oriana Elicabe/orianomada/flickr/CC
Features / 13 February 2026
13 February 2026

ISAAC SANEY points to the global stakes involved in defending the Cuban revolution against imperialism and calls for resistance

A massive gathers in Hyde Park, London, for a meeting during the General Strike, May 1926
History / 1 January 2026
1 January 2026

BEN CHACKO says in different ways, the centenary of the General Strike and that of Fidel Castro’s birth point to priority tasks for the British left in the coming year

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte speaks during a media conference in The Hague, Netherlands, June 23, 2025 ahead of the Nato summit
Features / 24 June 2025
24 June 2025

As US hegemony crumbles and Trump becomes ever more unpredictable, European powers cling to the pact’s militarist agenda in a bid to disguise their own increasing irrelevance, writes CHRIS NINEHAM

ouse of Commons Handout photo issued by the House of Commons of Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons, London, May 21, 2025
Eyes Left / 28 May 2025
28 May 2025

The Tories’ trouble is rooted in the British capitalist Establishment now being more disoriented and uncertain of its social mission than before, argues ANDREW MURRAY