Anxious to work out why the oldest working class, the British, had avoided moving to revolution, external commentators at the height of empire concocted a false argument in an effort to explain away this behaviour. In some circles it is still lazily dispensed a century or so later.
The devastation of the rail network that began in the 1960s was a conscious decision to move away from a state-owned industry to private profit – led by a transport minister whose family ran a road-building company…
The Suez Crisis and ensuing war saw a fundamental change in both imperialist alignments and nationalist movements in the Middle East.
When they talk of a health market they mean health chaos. That, and a nice little earner for someone. We should begin by understanding what is being proposed.
How do we counter capitalism’s relentless and absolute decline? How do we gather together our power (recently often left dormant) and commence our absolute rise?
In Britain, there are only two classes – those who sell their labour power and those who exploit the labour of others, in other words workers and capitalists.
The International Workingmen’s Association united a variety of different political groups and trade union organisations to further the prospects of the working class.
The question of change (and what determines it) is a fundamental part of philosophy. In spite of appearances, nothing can remain the same – all life is development, or motion, and all development involves a series of changes.
Luddite machine breaking began in 1811 in the hosiery districts of the Midlands counties but quickly spread. More and more factories began installing machinery and increasingly handloom weavers were thrown out of work.
In 1917, after three years of world war, Lenin identified the nature and function of the state. He declared that a partnership exists between the state and the dominant ruling class with the former charged with serving the interests of the latter.
Nothing is more insulting to the history of working class struggle than the notion, born of ignorance and malevolence, that workers have to be instructed and commanded to do the correct thing. Indeed, according to some of the disconnected, to do anything at all.
At the heart of the birth and development of our working class – and hence of the nation itself – is making things, “manufacturing”. Revitalising it, reinvesting in it, is essential for the health and strength of both our class and nation.
