There Rises A Red Star

As a general rule, if you traverse the internet often enough you tend to come across certain criticisms over and over again, criticisms that are often left unanswered. Since joining the Communist Party of Britain, I've seen the same criticisms repeated often enough that I think they warrant addressing. The criticisms addressed below are by no means the only criticisms, just ones that I have personally seen. Some of these come from other socialists whilst others are espoused by any and all political creeds. The Communist Party Isn't Revolutionary! I think this might be by far the most common criticism from those who tire of parliamentary politics. It is not enough for a party to declare revolutionary intent off the bat or as part of a manifesto. Although this would indicate that the party in question intends on revolutionary means to acquire power, it does not speak to the material conditions that'd make such revolutionary action possible. Lenin identified three conditions t...

Now that I've had some time to process it, I think it's fair to say that the Netflix film Don't Look Up does a fair job of satirising the class structure of our modern world. I’m told that it's supposedly satirising the media response to the climate crisis but I think there's more to it than that so I want to look at the film from a different angle to all the other reviews and analyses I’ve seen. There are stark parallels with reality that I want to draw attention to without spoiling the film. Hence this analysis handily doubles as a political analysis of our current state of affairs The film starts off with a joke: “When I die, I want to die like my grandfather who died peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming like the rest of the passengers” In the film, the media are realistically portrayed as incompetent, complicit in our current state of affairs and full of talentless posh wankers. The sort of hack journalists who are hired for their ability to forgo any sort of ...

There are few people these days who care much about the geopolitics of decades past. They see little to no importance in it and emphasis is instead, rightfully, placed on the here and now. But the past has many lessons it can bequeath to us, it holds secrets that have only recently been unveiled by the passing of time. There is a famous quote from Chilean socialist, Pablo Neruda - " You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming ". You may have seen this recently used by the Labour Party under the direction of Jeremy Corbyn. The dream of a democratic socialism, a socialism that is not revolutionary but enacted by currently existing legal and democratic means, was finally realised in Chile in 1970. Despite an opposition that was funded and supported by the US, Salvador Allende and the Popular Unity party was elected to power by the people of Chile. They immediately set about a program of reform - nationalising the commanding heights of the economy including...

Whilst on a jaunt to Camden last Saturday, a mate started talking to a Venezuelan chap at a food stall. Soon enough, the Venezuelan chap bought up how much he hates Karl Marx and socialism. I didn't bother to interject because, well, the guy was working and it wasn't really appropriate to do so. I mean, who wants to be accosted by a hairy Marxist when they're trying to work?! Afterwards, my mate said to me "Did you hear that? How much he hates Karl Marx?" "Yeah", I said, "But Marx or Marxism doesn't really have anything to do with Venezuela. The revolution was based on the values and theories of Simon Bolivar, it's a form of socialism unique to South America". I could've gone on about US imperialism but, frankly, I was more in the mood for going to the pub for a pre-gig drink. The retort was, of course, "That's his lived experience though! How can you dispute it?" It got me thinking about the value of such discourse ce...

I'm honestly getting a wee bit tired of seeing workers attack other workers for committing to industrial action over working conditions. I was in London yesterday with my wife and a mate. I half-joked that I'd join an RMT picket if I saw one. The RMT recently committed to partial strike action due to new contractual terms being imposed upon TfL tube drivers without discussion. You can read more about it here . "Why?", my mate said. "TfL drivers get paid loads!" So what?  Money doesn't reduce or eliminate risk and poor working conditions. Nor does it return the 200 part-time night driver positions that were suddenly abolished without consent. Those night driver roles were originally introduced to prevent the regular drivers from having to frequently change shifts. If you've ever done shift work you'll know that it can severely affect your sleeping pattern, lead to difficulties sleeping, bring on fatigue, and a lack of concentration and alertness. ...

Exactly a month ago, I attended a demonstration in Bury St. Edmunds for the Toothless in Suffolk campaign. I'd only been made aware of the campaign during the interview to join the Communist Party but considering how locally focussed it is, I shouldn't be too surprised that it hadn't crossed my radar. If you've not heard of it, Toothless in Suffolk and now Toothless in England are part of a campaign to pile pressure on local authorities and government to properly fund NHS dentists. Almost immediately after arriving at the demonstration but after a few meet and greets, I was handed the corner of a banner to stand for a photo op . I was totally unprepared for how much media attention the campaign had garnered; a feeling that I think is aptly captured by the deer-caught-in-the-headlights look on my face.  After the march, there was a rally where local residents told their stories of getting access to an NHS dentist. Many have had to wait weeks for access or were told by ...