News

Keith Flett looks the history of taxes and puts the new ‘bedroom tax’ into historical context. The Coalition’s bedroom tax that will leave those in social housing facing a significant reduction in benefit income if they have the temerity, for whatever reason, to have an empty bedroom is one of the most vicious examples of […] Read more »

International Women’s Day – 8th March – was originally a socialist holiday established in 1911 by the Socialist International and is celebrated by women’s groups around the world. In many countries, it is a national holiday and has recently been officially recognized by the United Nations, say Margaret Rapp and Susan Pashkoff. However, up until […] Read more »

Nick Wrack is been a leading member of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition [TUSC], previously he was a leading member of Respect. Here he examines the case for a new party of the left in the wake of the disastrous result for TUSC in the Eastleigh by-election. Nick’s call for a broad democratic party […] Read more »

The tragic death of Hugo Chavez is mourned around the world. Kate Hudson explains the social and economic context of his enormous political success and urges solidarity with the people of Venezuela. As devastating structural adjustment policies were inflicted on Latin America by the IMF and the World Bank during the 1980s, the people of […] Read more »

Salman Shaheen reports on a meeting he describes as ‘valuable and productive’. On Thursday, I attended my first meeting of the new Left Unity group. The gathering – refreshingly organised in a circle with all views given time to air – drew a diverse crowd of people from all manner of political backgrounds, but if […] Read more »

The Eastleigh by-election last week saw the best ever vote for the far right UK Independence Party (UKIP) and a very poor vote for the left-wing Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC). Five years into the economic crisis, just entering a triple dip recession and with major cuts to benefits about to be introduced the […] Read more »

Last Saturday’s “Que Se Lixe a Troika” (Fuck the Troika) demonstrations represent a qualitative as well as quantitative shift for the anti-austerity movement in Portugal, says socialist activist Mark Bergfeld, who recently attended the Left Bloc Congress. In more than 40 towns and cities across Portugal, 1.5 million people (800,000 in Lisbon) took to the […] Read more »

Hard on the heels of the social and political protests of 1968 – and the accompanying English psychedelic and art rock scenes – emerged Glamrock. Perhaps most significant for challenging gender stereotypes – think Bolan and Bowie – it had a short but intense manifestation before Punk hit (literally) – followed by Thatcherism – in […] Read more »

Ken Loach is a socialist and a filmmaker who has never hidden his politics and always sought to grapple in his work with very real problems faced by working people and their everyday life experiences. In this respect he is unique. Here Oliver Huitson interviews Ken about his latest film and how he sees politics […] Read more »

04.06.1913 One hundred years ago the Epsom Derby was disrupted by perhaps the most famous protest at a sporting event in history. Britain at the time was bitterly divided. The early Trade Unions and others striking against poverty wages and appalling working conditions. The cause for Ireland’s Freedom was attracting support on both sides of […] Read more »