Socialism

What is the outlook for class struggle in Britain in 2021?

The pandemic was a world-shattering turning point. All the weaknesses of capitalism were laid bare in 2020. But in few countries more so than Britain.

The nightmare which began in 2020 has not been limited to public health, but has infected the already-ailing world economy – with British capitalism the worst hit of all the major capitalist powers. Working-class and young people have already suffered hugely as the bosses try to pass on the pain. The bare-bones Brexit deal will only make things worse for Britain’s capitalist rulers.

Boris Johnson’s Tory government has been completely exposed for its incompetence and craven defence of profit over lives. But Keir Starmer’s Labour offers no opposition whatsoever. Britain’s working class has no political voice – and desperately needs to build for a new, independent, mass workers’ party.

Already this year, the trade unions have overturned the government by forcing part-closure of schools. And young people showed they are ready to explode in protest in last year's Black Lives Matter movement.

British capitalism is not well. Meanwhile, Britain’s working class is angry – but lacks political organisation and leadership.

This episode of Socialism look at Britain in 2021: a new era of capitalist crisis.

Further reading

2020 - a year which drove home the catastrophic failures of capitalism: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31784/30-12-2020/2020-a-year-which-drove-home-the-catastrophic-failures-of-capitalism

Global capitalism at most dangerous conjuncture since the 1930s: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31825/13-01-2021/global-capitalism-at-most-dangerous-conjuncture-since-the-1930s

Workers' action wins Tory U-turn on school safety: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31788/06-01-2021/workers-action-wins-tory-u-turn-on-school-safety

Universities: refund the rent, cancel the fees, for fully funded, publicly owned education: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31792/06-01-2021/universities-refund-the-rent-cancel-the-fees-for-fully-funded-publicly-owned-education

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

Last summer, massive, young, working-class protests exploded around the world after the murder of George Floyd, and other appalling incidents of racism and police violence. But it's not just these issues that 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 last year’s huge, young and working-class uprisings under the slogan of ‘Black Lives Matter’.

Even before the pandemic, wages were low, jobs insecure, housing and education unaffordable - and tomorrow promised nothing but economic and social turmoil, and even climate catastrophe. In 2020, the pandemic multiplied all these problems, as the capitalists and their politicians dumped the burden disproportionately on the working class and youth. Young people on the streets were angry about racism, but they were 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, one of our highlights of 2020, looks at how young people can fight back: a socialist youth charter.

Further reading and listening

Refund the rent, cancel the fees, and fight for fully-funded, publicly owned education: https://socialiststudents.org.uk/2021/01/05/refund-the-rent-cancel-the-fees-and-fight-for-fully-funded-publicly-owned-education/

Socialism 91. Universities in crisis: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/91-universities-in-crisis

A socialist charter for young people: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/txt/555.pdf

The crisis-ridden US has two options: socialism or barbarism.

In the run-up to last year’s election, the United States was faced with a litany of crises. This episode was recorded during the run-up - but Biden’s election changes little.

Like many capitalist economies, the US had to partly suspend production in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The state was forced to inject trillions of dollars into the economy to keep the capitalist system going.

The capitalists were facing these crises with an unreliable representative at the helm: Donald Trump. But they were breathing a bit easier once Bernie Sanders, who came to prominence with his promise of a “political revolution” against the “billionaire class,” endorsed a more reliable representative of big business interests in the form of the Democrat Joe Biden.

Biden narrowly defeated Trump. But the problems faced by “Sleepy Joe’s” administration have no solution on the basis of the capitalist system that both he and Trump defend.

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 more into poverty, on a scale not seen since the Great Depression.

This episode of Socialism, one of our highlights of 2020, looks at US imperialism in decline: coronavirus, Trump, Sanders and socialism.

Further reading

Trump out but not down: http://socialismtoday.org/trump-out-but-not-down

Lesser evil Democrats won’t end Trumpism: http://socialismtoday.org/lesser-evil-democrats-wont-end-trumpism

Revolution or reaction: http://socialismtoday.org/revolution-or-reaction

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/

80 years on from Trotsky’s assassination: can they kill his ideas?

Lev Davidovich Bronstein, better known as Leon Trotsky, was murdered on 21 August 1940. What was Stalin so afraid of? And why do capitalist commentators still try to bury Trotsky’s ideas today?

Earlier this year, the Committee for a Workers’ International published a new book, and Socialism produced a special podcast series, for the 80th anniversary of the revolutionary leader’s assassination. The book is called ‘Leon Trotsky - A Revolutionary Whose Ideas Couldn’t Be Killed’, and you can buy it at leftbooks.co.uk. The podcast series is called ‘Trotsky and Trotskyism’, this episode was its first instalment, and you can find a playlist with all 11 episodes at our SoundCloud page, soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast.

What was Trotsky’s role in Russia’s revolutions? What is the theory of ‘permanent revolution’? How did Stalinism betray it? What were Trotsky’s ideas for defeating Stalinism and fascism? And what can workers and socialists today learn from it all?

This episode of Socialism, one of our highlights of 2020, introduces the co-leader of the Russian revolution: Trotsky’s revolutionary ideas.

Further reading

80th anniversary of Leon Trotsky's assassination: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31220/19-08-2020/80th-anniversary-of-leon-trotskys-assassination

Leon Trotsky - A Revolutionary Whose Ideas Couldn't Be Killed: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=49798530

Leon Trotsky: A revolutionary's life: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/15106/29-08-2012/leon-trotsky-a-revolutionarys-life

My Life: An Attempt at an Autobiography (Trotsky): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/TROT0025

How did Britain's working class fight to overthrow early capitalism?

In the early 19th century, the industrial revolution was rapidly creating a big new social class in Britain: the working class. Workers produced huge amounts of new wealth for the ruling capitalists, but had appalling conditions and no say in politics. Sound familiar?

Trade unions appeared for the first time, formed by workers to fight in the workplace. But they quickly realised that this alone was not enough. The bosses used political power to restrain or reverse what the workers could win by industrial struggle alone.

The Chartist movement was the world’s first working-class party. Its ‘People’s Charter’ demanded a massive extension of democratic rights for workers – with the goal of using that to improve their material conditions.

But increasingly, experience taught Chartist workers that petitioning alone was not enough either. Ultimately, revolutionary struggle was the only way for workers to gain power – or even win more rights within the capitalist system.

How did the Chartists develop their ideas and methods of struggle? What was the outcome of the movement? And what can we learn from it today?

This episode of Socialism looks at Britain’s revolutionary working class: Chartism.

Further reading

Newport Rising 1839: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/8303

Class struggle and the early Chartist movement: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/129/chartism.html

Debate: The class character of Chartism: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/130/chartism.html

Debate: Class, leadership and the Chartist movement: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/131/chartism.html

Newport council destroys workers' mural: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/17541

The Pentrich uprising: revolution and counter-revolution in 19th century Britain: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/25680

What are the roots of women’s oppression?

Thousands of years ago, early human societies lived without economic classes or gender oppression. Life was basic, precarious and sometimes brutal. But all contributed what they could to producing the necessities of life, and men and women had an equal say and social status.

How did humans move from this to ways of organising society which are more advanced – but where a small, pampered minority exploits the hard work and suffering of the majority? How is this connected to women being treated as second-class citizens or commodities? And how does capitalism benefit from it? Friedrich Engels investigated these questions in 1884.

Can patriarchy be analysed and overcome separately from the struggle against the economic ruling class? And what is necessary to end women’s oppression – both by material privations and by backwards social attitudes – once and for all?

This episode of Socialism, part of a short series on Engels, looks at Marxism and women’s liberation: The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.

Further reading

International Women's Day 2020: Fighting sexism and austerity: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/30362/04-03-2020/international-womens-day-fighting-sexism-and-austerity

It Doesn't Have to be Like This: Women and the Struggle for Socialism: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017207

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (Engels): https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/index.htm

What Lies Behind... The Oppression of Women: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/24780

Engels and women’s liberation: http://socialismtoday.org/archive/181/engels.html

How did Engels explain the scientific approach to socialism?

Today, there are socialists who argue that rational arguments, or moral appeals, or new technologies, or localised socialistic community projects, can defeat capitalism. These ideas are not new. Unfortunately, they have all been disproven in theory and practice.

These well-meaning approaches express the yearning of billions for fundamental social change. But they are utopian: they do not take a scientific approach to examining how society works – and therefore, what is needed to change it.

Friedrich Engels came up against similar misleading ideas. His 1877 work Anti-Dühring explained why ‘scientific socialism’ – the original name for Marxism – showed the real way forward. In 1880, Engels reworked key chapters to produce his brilliant explanatory pamphlet ‘Socialism: Utopian and Scientific’.

How did early socialist ideas evolve? What is ‘dialectics’ – the science of change – and how did Marxism put in onto the ‘materialist’ basis of the physical sciences? And how does this approach apply to understanding the development of capitalism – and the struggle for socialism?

This episode of Socialism, part of a short series on Engels, is a re-run of one of our most popular episodes from 2019 - Socialism: Utopian and Scientific.

Further reading

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (Engels): http://leftbooks.co.uk/Socialism-Utopian-and-Scientific-1

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific discussion questions and resources: http://www.socialistbooks.co.uk/socialism-utopian-and-scientific-resources/

The renewed relevance of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/28107/17-10-2018/the-renewed-relevance-of-engels-classic-socialism-utopian-and-scientific

The ABC of Materialist Dialectics (Trotsky): https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1939/12/abc.htm

The Masses Arise: The Great French Revolution 1789-1815: http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017204

Value, Price and Profit (Marx): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/MARX0004

What did Engels have to say about the housing crisis?

Cramped homes. Extortionate costs. Rip-off landlords. Rising homelessness.

Projects to upgrade areas just used to force workers and poor people out. Meanwhile, posh new houses lie empty.

It could be any major town or city in the 21st century. But it was all described by Friedrich Engels back in the 19th century.

Why does capitalism endlessly recreate this social crisis? Why didn’t increasing home ownership solve the problem? What can we learn from Engels’ arguments against anarchists and liberals about housing? And how can socialists start to fix it today?

This episode of Socialism, part of a short series on Engels, looks at the fight for the right to a home: The Housing Question.

Further reading and listening

The Housing Question (Engels): https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1872/housing-question/

Housing crisis: what now and after the pandemic? https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/31110/22-07-2020/housing-crisis-what-now-and-after-the-pandemic

The end of social housing? How can we solve the housing crisis? (2015): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/21777/18-11-2015/the-end-of-social-housing-how-can-we-solve-the-housing-crisis

Socialism episode 45. How renters can beat gentrifiers: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/45-how-renters-can-beat-gentrifiers

Socialism episode 31. Grenfell and Barking: safe homes for all now: https://soundcloud.com/socialismpodcast/31-grenfell-and-barking-safe-homes-for-all-now

What can the horrors of industrialisation teach socialists today?

175 years ago, Britain was the most advanced capitalist country on the planet. Leaps forward in industry created huge productive power and riches for the capitalists.

Radicals looked to Britain as a way forward for society following revolutionary movements against the old feudal rulers in Europe. But despite massive economic progress, which lays the basis for socialism, capitalism came with terrible new social miseries.

What was life like for the working class in 1845? Is there any real comparison with life in the 21st century? And what did it tell Engels about who should run society?

This episode of Socialism, part of a short series on Engels, looks at his first major work: The Condition of the Working Class in England.

Further reading

Socialism 2020: four days of open, online discussion and debate, 20-23 November: https://www.socialism2020.net/

The Condition of the Working Class in England (Engels): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/950002679/Products/ENGE0006

Who was Friedrich Engels and what were his ideas?

Marxism, originally called ‘scientific socialism’, takes its name from Karl Marx. But Marx didn’t work alone in developing his ideas. His co-philosopher – and close friend – shares the credit for that historic work.

How did these two giants of socialism come together? What led Engels to develop revolutionary ideas? What were his most important contributions to socialist thought? And what can we learn from his hands-on approach – not just to ideas, but in fighting to put them into practice?

This episode of Socialism, part of a short series on Engels, introduces the co-founder of Marxism: the revolutionary life of Friedrich Engels

Further reading

Engels: A Revolutionary Life: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/4795/04-06-2008/engels-a-revolutionary-life

The Frock-Coated Communist, the revolutionary life of Friedrich Engels: https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/7401/05-06-2009/the-frock-coated-communist-the-revolutionary-life-of-friedrich-engels

The Condition of the Working Class in England (Engels): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=6651300

The Communist Manifesto (Marx and Engels): https://www.socialistparty.org.uk/manifesto/

The Housing Question (Engels): https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1872/housing-question/

Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (Engels): http://www.socialistbooks.co.uk/socialism-utopian-and-scientific-resources/

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (Engels): http://leftbooks.co.uk/epages/950002679.sf/en_GB/?ObjectID=2017113