Socialism

Malcolm X said: “You can’t have capitalism without racism.” Why - and what can we learn from that?

Heroic Black Lives Matter protests have swept the US, Britain and the world. Rivers of working-class young people, black and white, have taken up the struggle against racism and police violence.

Sadly, police murder of black people is nothing new. Why has this movement exploded in this way right now? And why do socialists argue that racism is integral to the capitalist system - so that ending racism means overturning capitalism and fighting for socialism?

This episode of Socialism looks at Black Lives Matter: you can’t have capitalism without racism.

Further viewing and reading

Socialist Party Facebook Live broadcast: Lessons from the Black Panthers: https://www.facebook.com/CWISocialistParty/videos/963326150788884

Which way forward for Black Lives Matter protests? https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30917/17-06-2020/which-way-forward-for-black-lives-matter-protests

Lessons from the Black Panthers: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/104/panthers.html

Where was Malcolm X going? http://socialismtoday.org/archive/156/malcolm.html

Oppose racist symbols and the racist system: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30918/17-06-2020/oppose-racist-symbols-and-the-racist-system

Reform or revolt? How was the slave trade abolished? https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30936/17-06-2020/reform-or-revolt-how-was-the-slave-trade-abolished

Martin Luther King: Fighting for a promised land: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/118/king.html

How can the working class defeat the far right?

A magnificent mass movement, overwhelmingly young, working-class and black, but also very multiracial, has erupted in the US, Britain and internationally against racism. Its trigger was the racist police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis on 25 May 2020.

But young people and workers are angry about years of systemic racism, as well as all the class inequality, privations and oppression of the capitalist system.

The Socialist Party and our sister parties around the world have been to the fore on these protests. We've been discussing with young, working-class people about how to fight racism and capitalism, and signing up big numbers interested in finding out about joining the Socialists.

While we carry on this vital work, we are re-running an episode from 22 October 2018: is the far right on the rise?

As far-right groups attempt to organise again, supposedly in defence of public monuments, how can the workers’ movement overcome their violent threat? Where does the far right come from? And what is the record of the Socialist Party on fighting and defeating the far right?

You can hear more about the Socialist Party’s response to the magnificent new mass movement in our recent Facebook on YouTube broadcast on 5 June, and the recent Committee for a Workers' International Facebook and YouTube broacdast on 9 June.

This re-run of Socialism looks at the racist far right: how to fight it.

Further listening and reading

Socialist Party broadcast on the new anti-racist eruption on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/130650380285747/videos/702374690575676/

And on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yvU4KfUcetc

Committee for a Workers' International broadcast on the global explosion of protest on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socialistworld/videos/1237533769971897

And on YouTube: https://youtu.be/2aWAB3hxKz4

Black Lives Matter protests sweep Britain - how can the movement win? https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30874/10-06-2020/black-lives-matter-protests-sweep-country-how-can-the-movement-win

USA - black and white youth rise up against racism: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/06/12/usa-black-and-white-youth-rise-up-against-racism/

Britain - mass protests erupt: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30875/10-06-2020/mass-protests-erupt

US - what’s next for the anti-racist movement? https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/06/07/usa-whats-next-for-the-anti-racist-movement/

“All changed, changed utterly” - A new era of class struggle and capitalist crisis: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/06/08/all-is-changed-changed-utterly-a-new-era-of-class-struggle-and-capitalist-crisis/

What do young people need today - and how can they fight for it?

Massive, young, working-class protests have exploded around the world after the murder of George Floyd, racism and police violence. But it's not just these issues that have angered young people.

In the US, Britain and around the world, the youth are suffering appalling conditions, and a future of crisis and uncertainty. But young people have also fought: in electoral movements through support for figures like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders - and on the streets, in the global climate strikes, and now in the huge, young, working-class uprisings against racism and police violence.

Even before the pandemic, wages were low, jobs insecure housing and education unaffordable - and the tomorrow promised nothing but economic and social turmoil, and even climate catastrophe. Now the pandemic has multiplied all these problems, as the capitalists and their politicians dump the burden disproportionately on the working class and the youth. Young people on the streets right now are angry about racism, but they’re also angry about all of it.

How can young people fight to change things? And what would a socialist programme offer young people in that struggle?

This episode of Socialism looks at young people fighting back: a socialist youth charter.

Further reading

Socialist Party young people's charter: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/txt/555.pdf

Fight racism and class inequality, fight capitalism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30856/03-06-2020/fight-racism-and-class-inequality-fight-capitalism

USA - another cop killing of unarmed black man sparks widespread protests: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30846/03-06-2020/usa-another-cop-killing-of-unarmed-black-man-sparks-widespread-protests

While the influence of the US declines, China’s place in world seems to be rising. The Chinese economy is still nowhere near as powerful as the US, but it’s competing voraciously for international markets, investment, and political influence.

With world capitalism slowing down, international tensions over profit and power are escalating. The trade wars between these two largest powers could well break out again. Is a new Cold War, or even direct military conflict, also a possibility?

And what exactly is the Chinese regime? Its dictatorial government claims the country is socialist - so why are there billionaires, and why do so many workers suffer poverty pay and appalling conditions?

External conflicts with competing nation-states. Internal conflicts with Hong Kong and oppressed national groups. And trillions of dollars of loans and capitalist investments in smaller countries around the globe.

This episode of Socialism looks at national and international turmoil and contradictions: China’s new role.

Further reading

Trump’s insults fuel China rivalry: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/05/08/china-trumps-insults-fuel-rivalry/

Coronavirus crisis shakes Chinese regime: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/02/19/china-coronavirus-crisis-shakes-regime/

70th anniversary of People’s Republic of China – Mao and the Chinese revolution: https://www.socialistworld.net/2019/10/01/70th-anniversary-of-peoples-republic-of-china-mao-and-the-chinese-revolution/

China after the 1949 revolution - the benefits of the planned economy stifled by bureaucracy: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/29730/16-10-2019/china-after-the-1949-revolution-the-benefits-of-the-planned-economy-stifled-by-bureaucracy

China’s hybrid economy (2008): http://socialismtoday.org/archive/122/hybrid.html

Market rule or party rule? (2011): http://socialismtoday.org/archive/154/china.html

Public confidence in the British government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has nosedived.

They’re split over how and when to bully workers back into unsafe workplaces to restart the capitalists’ profit engines. And they’re split over how and when to pay off the massive debts incurred by lockdown relief measures.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party - under its new, pro-capitalist leader Keir Starmer - could hardly be more tame. But the trade unions have a renewed national profile. Tens of thousands are joining and organising to resist the bosses’ unsafe working conditions.

And the turning point seemed to be Boris Johnson’s farcical “stay alert” speech on 10 May, which tried to lift the lockdown and impose new restrictions at the same time.

What’s behind the chaos at the top? And with the bosses squabbling over how best to make us pay for the pandemic, what would help workers coordinate the most effective political response?

This episode of Socialism looks at a political turning point in the coronavirus crisis: the end of ‘national unity’.

Further reading

Confidence plummets in Tory strategy for Covid-19: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30781/20-05-2020/confidence-plummets-in-tory-strategy-for-covid-19

Rich get handouts - workers get pay cuts: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30780/20-05-2020/rich-get-handouts-workers-get-pay-cuts

Stay alert to bosses putting profit before safety: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30753/13-05-2020/stay-alert-to-bosses-putting-profit-before-safety

Johnson's reckless 'back to school' plans threaten everyone's safety: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30782/20-05-2020/johnsons-reckless-back-to-school-plans-threaten-everyones-safety

Transport workers and passengers must not pay the price: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30788/20-05-2020/transport-workers-amp-passengers-mustnt-pay-the-price

Tories put profit before lives - unions must stand firm on workplace safety: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30754/13-05-2020/tories-put-profit-before-lives-unions-must-stand-firm-on-workplace-safety

School workers and the government are set for a stand-off over reopening during coronavirus.

The Tory government is combining absurdly unclear messages about "staying alert" with a rush to reopen more of the capitalist economy. While they are concerned only about restarting the profit machine, workers are concerned this premature, shambolic dash is a Covid-19 death sentence.

The capitalists have one set of guidelines for reopening. The workers have another. So what should the unions do about it?

Are the government's guidelines for "safe" reopening of schools really safe? How can trade unionists force the Tories to take safety seriously? And are there lessons from the lockdown for how education might work differently?

This episode of Socialism looks at lifting the lockdown: schools, safety and super-spreaders

Further reading

No going back to unsafe schools: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30756/13-05-2020/no-going-back-to-unsafe-schools

Tories put profit before lives - unions must stand firm on workplace safety: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30754/13-05-2020/tories-put-profit-before-lives-unions-must-stand-firm-on-workplace-safety

Test and trace - workers need a real plan: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30734/06-05-2020/test-and-trace-workers-need-a-real-plan

Tories using pandemic to shift lab testing out of NHS: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30726/05-05-2020/tories-using-pandemic-to-shift-lab-testing-out-of-nhs

Martin Powell-Davies - teacher, trade unionist and socialist blog: http://www.mpdnut.com/

Donate to help fund Socialism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/main/donate

Join the Socialists: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/main/join

What are the lessons for today from Lenin's revolutionary life?

22 April 2020 was the 150th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanvov, better known as Lenin, the revolutionary workers’ leader and Marxist political theorist. In 1917, Lenin’s Bolshevik Party led the working class of Russia to overthrow the landlords and capitalists and establish the world’s first democratic workers’ state.

Lenin was rooted firmly in Marxism. He understood that only the working class could lead a successful revolution. He fought for a well-organised party and a workers’ press as the essential tools for achieving that. And, in contrast to the butcher Stalin, he stood for international revolution, and maintained that “democracy is indispensable to socialism.”

No wonder his name is feared and slandered by capitalist politicians and their official histories. In particular, they have much to fear at a time when their entire rotten system is wracked by pandemic, economic crisis and social turmoil. To quote Lenin again: “Sometimes history needs a push.”

So what were Lenin’s real ideas? What were his main contributions to the struggle for socialism? And what can workers and young people fighting capitalist misery learn from them today?

This episode of Socialism looks at Lenin at 150: his revolutionary life and legacy.

Further reading

Lenin at 150 - A revolutionary life, and the relevance of his ideas to today's working-class struggles: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30677/22-04-2020/lenin-at-150-a-revolutionary-life-and-the-relevance-of-his-ideas-for-today

Lenin's revolutionary legacy: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/18007/21-01-2014/lenins-revolutionary-legacy

Lenin's April Theses, 1917: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/14702/14-06-2012/lenins-april-theses-1917

The State and Revolution (Lenin): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/books_pamphlets/The_State_and_Revolution

“Left-Wing” Communism - An Infantile Disorder (Lenin): https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/

History of the Russian Revolution (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=6511119

Lessons of October (Trotsky): http://www.socialistbooks.co.uk/product/lessons-of-october/

From Lenin to Stalin (Serge): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017050

Lenin and the Revolutionary Party (Le Blanc): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=32008259

Donate to help fund Socialism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donate/

Join the Socialists: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join/

Chaos in the US presents two options: socialism or barbarism.

In the United States, the capitalist class is faced with a shopping list of crises that are shaking their system almost to pieces. Like many capitalist economies, they’ve had to partly suspend production - and profit - in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

They’ve been forced to inject trillions of dollars into the economy to keep the capitalist system going. And now, the absurd situation of competitive oil production outstripping demand so far that prices have become negative!

The capitalists face these crises with an unreliable representative at the helm: Donald Trump. But they may be breathing a bit easier now that Bernie Sanders, who came to prominence with his promise of a political revolution against the billionaire class, has endorsed a more reliable representative of big business interests in the form of the Democrat Joe Biden. Sanders has even admonished his supporters for saying they won’t campaign for a corporate shill!

Huge anger is growing. Class polarisation sharpens as the divisions between bosses and workers are exposed. Armed demonstrations ratchet up the tensions. Capitalism is threatening to plunge millions into poverty, on a scale not seen since the Great Depression.

This episode of Socialism looks at US imperialism in decline: coronavirus, Trump, Sanders and socialism.

Further reading

Global covid-19 pandemic, capitalist crisis and bitter class polarisation in the United States: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/04/21/global-covid-19-pandemic-capitalist-crisis-and-bitter-class-polarisation-in-the-united-states/

‘Protest-caravan’ held in solidarity with Worcester city nurses opposing furloughing during covid crisis: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/04/23/usa-protest-caravan-held-in-solidarity-with-worcester-city-nurses-opposing-furloughing-during-covid-crisis/

“We have the power” – Staten Island Amazon workers walk out: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/04/06/usa-we-have-the-power-staten-island-amazon-workers-walkout/

The danger of the far right today: https://www.socialistworld.net/2020/03/25/the-danger-of-the-far-right-today/

Join the Socialists: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join/

Help fund Socialism the Podcast: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donate/

Workers are furious, so why aren’t capitalist parties suffering?

Capitalist governments across the planet are presiding over incompetent, inefficient, and inhuman responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, most are riding high in opinion polls.

This is true in Britain too, despite being on course for the worst death toll in Europe. While workers suffer and die on the front line or on furlough, public criticism of the Tories is muted. Even the trade union and Labour Party leaders seem to be backing so-called ‘national unity’.

So is this catastrophe helping the right? Or are there more profound processes playing out beneath the surface?

This episode of Socialism asks: will this help the left or the right? Coronavirus, radicalisation and national unity.

Further reading

Exit strategy? PPE and mass testing and workers' control of workplace safety: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30603/15-04-2020/exit-strategy-ppe-and-mass-testing-and-workers-control-of-workplace-safety

Fight back against the corona propaganda war: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30616/15-04-2020/fight-back-against-the-corona-propaganda-war

Sabotage - the inner workings of Labour's political machine exposed: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30622/15-04-2020/sabotage-the-inner-workings-of-labours-political-machine-exposed

Starmer victory - organise to fight for socialist policies: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30552/06-04-2020/end-of-the-corbyn-era

Join the Socialists: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/join/

Help fund Socialism the Podcast: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/donate/

The capitalist economic system is dysfunctional and obsolete.

In the US, 10 million workers filed unemployment claims in the last two weeks of March. In the UK, a million workers filed Universal Credit benefit claims in the last two weeks of March.

Just over a decade after the ‘credit crunch’ and Great Recession, the Covid-19 pandemic is causing a ‘corona crunch’ and could pitch the world into a second Great Depression.

But the world economy was heading for a serious downturn even before the virus. In fact, capitalism itself has been growing increasingly weak, unstable and dysfunctional over a long period. Why?

Marxism points out the capitalist system is riddled with contradictions, and today has long outlived its historic usefulness. So what are the main economic features of the current nosedive, and what sort of problems - and solutions - could the Marxist toolbox point us to?

This episode of Socialism takes a short look at the world economic crisis: a Marxist analysis of the coronavirus crunch. Plus: we respond to the Labour Party leadership election results.

Further reading

The new crisis and its consequences: http://socialismtoday.org/editorial-the-new-crisis-and-its-consequences

Brexit and British capitalism - why Johnson's juggernaut is set to jackknife: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30184/29-01-2020/brexit-and-british-capitalism-why-johnsons-juggernaut-is-set-to-jackknife

10 years since the financial crash - the socialist answer to capitalist crisis: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/27918/12-09-2018/10-years-since-the-financial-crash-the-socialist-answer-to-capitalist-crisis

Universal basic income - what do socialists say? https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/24401/08-02-2017/universal-basic-income-what-do-socialists-say

Understanding Marxist economics: http://www.marxism.org.uk/pack/economics.html

How a socialist economy would work: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/6012/16-10-2004/how-a-socialist-economy-would-work