Book Review: Why Marx was right

Written by Matt Richards, Socialist Alternative Thursday, 30 June 2011 13:34

Terry Eagleton's "Why Marx Was Right" is a wonderfully written and accessible introduction to the thought of Karl Marx. It is fashionable to dismiss Marxism as "outdated" or "irrelevant" as it pertains to contemporary economic and political problems. Eagleton provides a much needed correction to this ignorant viewpoint.

Eagleton takes the many objections voiced by the enemies of Marxism (e.g. Marxism is "great in theory" but only leads to bloodshed; Marxism is utopian; Marxism reduces everything to economics; Marxism is deterministic, etc.) and demolishes them one by one.

Libya: The ‘no-fly zone’ and the Left

Written by Peter Taaffe Monday, 16 May 2011 16:44

By Peter Taaffe, from Socialism Today, monthly magazine of the Socialist Party (CWI England and Wales)

Imperialist powers have implemented a no-fly zone over Libya to protect their own strategic and economic interests and to restore their damaged prestige. Incredibly, some on the Marxist left support this military intervention.

War is the most barbaric of all human activity, invested as it is in the modern era with fiendish weapons of mass destruction. It also lays bare the reality of class relations, nationally and internationally, which are normally obfuscated, hidden by layers of hypocrisy and the moral turpitude of the ruling classes. It is the ultimate test, alongside revolution, of ideas and programme, not only for the bourgeois but also for the labour movement and the different political trends within it.

Is “human nature” a barrier to socialism?

Written by Canyon Lalama, Socialist Alternative, the sister party of the Socialist Party in the United States Friday, 06 August 2010 12:57

The world is a mess. War, poverty, and oppression are now part of the daily lives of billions round the globe. Even during the last boom 80% of the world’s population – 5.4 billion people – lived on less than $10 a day. Now that the world is in the midst of this crisis even the head of the World Bank has said it will result in “a human and developmental calamity… the number of chronically hungry people is expected to climb over 1 billion this year”. The wars in the middle east, enviromental destruction and worsening economic turmoil are only the most recent striking examples of the crises facing humanity.

The Permanent Revolution today

Written by Peter Taaffe Tuesday, 23 February 2010 18:00

We publish below a new introduction by Peter Taaffe to Leon Trotsky’s ‘Permanent Revolution’, which the comrades of Socialist Movement Pakistan (CWI) are to translate into Urdu and publish.

Introduction to new Urdu edition of ‘Permanent Revolution’ by Leon Trotsky

What relevance does Trotsky’s Theory of the Permanent Revolution have to the problems of the workers’ cause or the peasants’ (small farmers) movement today? After all, it was formulated more than 100 years ago during the first Russian revolution of 1905-07. The same kind of question could be posed – and it is – regarding the ideas of Marx and Engels, Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg. But no matter how ‘old’ is an idea – a method of analysis upon which mass action is based – if it more accurately describes the situation today than ‘new’ theories, it retains all its relevance in the modern era. This is particularly the case for the masses in the neo-colonial world – and especially today in the vital country of Pakistan with more than 200 million inhabitants – confronted as they are with all the terrible problems flowing from the incomplete capitalist-democratic revolution.

The tawdry morals of capitalism

Written by Peter Taaffe Saturday, 30 January 2010 19:05

Time to raise the socialist banner – For a society to eliminate the horrors of capitalism

From forthcoming new issue of Socialism Today, monthly journal of the Socialist Party (CWI England and Wales)

Twenty years ago, the representatives of capitalism celebrated the collapse of Stalinism. And the major powers imposed their economic and military dominance across the globe, increasing the exploitation and suffering of billions of people. Today, they want to make the working class and poor pay for the deep economic crisis they have created. This exposed the bankruptcy of the capitalist system, not only economically but also ideologically and morally.

Left co-operation & the building of a new mass party of the working class

Written by National Executive Committee, Socialist Party Thursday, 17 December 2009 14:28

A reply to the SWP

4th November 2009

This is a response to the SWP's reply which appeared on thier website in late August. Their material was in reply to previous Socialist Party material on the issues of left co-operation, new mass workers party and left election slates.

The case for socialism

Written by Gary Mulcahy Thursday, 17 December 2009 13:54

Taken from Socialist View October 2008

The wave of nationalisations and part-nationalisations of banking systems sweeping country after country as a result of the meltdown of the world financial system is hugely significant.