Why the Working Class?
“The emancipation of the working classes must be conquered by the working classes themselves” – so reads the first sentence of the rules to of the First International Workingmen’s Association, one of the first ever organizations to unite workers internationally. This formulation is at the heart of Marxist and socialist politics, but what does it […]
Euchred; eclipsed: Ralph Hotere (1931 – 2013)
Ralph Hotere – painter, sculptor, collaborator – is a hugely important figure in the art and culture of Aotearoa. His death, as well as being a great and personal loss to his whanau, fellow artists, and community, has historical significance for us all. He was, with his close friend and comrade Hone Tuwhare, one of […]
Marxism, feminism and women’s liberation
Sharon Smith, author of the soon-to-be-republished Women and Socialism: Essays on Women’s Liberation, examines how the Marxist tradition has approached the struggle to end women’s oppression, including its attitude toward other theories, in this article based on a talk given at the Socialism 2012 conference in Chicago. INESSA ARMAND, the first leader of the women’s department of […]
Militant Classics: Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou
Ka Whawhai Tonu Matou by Ranginui Walker (revised edition 2004) Ranginui Walker presents a history of Aotearoa/New Zealand from the perspective of Maori fighting for self-determination. In this way the book has a ‘bottom up’ or ‘people`s history’ feel too it – it is an indispensable resource for activists today. Walker has been an engaged intellectual, […]
On “Australia Day” / Invasion Day
Black Panther Billy X Jennings and Aboriginal activist Gary Foley will be speaking at Marxism 2013 28-31 March in Melbourne. Jeremy Gibson introduces these two anti-racist heroes. In the wake of Invasion Day on the 26th of January, questions of racial identity and racial discrimination in Australia have once again been thrown into the spotlight of discussion. Despite […]
Order Prevails in Berlin! Remembering Rosa Luxemburg
94 years ago today Rosa Luxemburg was murdered. She was one of the great leaders in the history of the socialist movement internationally – a fierce opponent of imperialist war, suffering in jail for her opposition to the carnage of World War One, an original and innovative economist, a theorist of workers’ democracy. Her book […]
Socialist Summer Readings: the best of 2012
We asked some left-wing writers, journalists and performers, as well as some Socialist Review writers and readers, to tell us about their highlights from 2012. Whether you’re interested in novels, theater, films or texts, we have you covered. Dean ParkerIn the first week of May this year I picked up two books of recent NZ history […]
China’s leaders have no solutions
The 18th congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) closes in Beijing this week. Its main purpose was to demonstrate an orderly transition of power at the heart of China’s ruling class. Under Mao Zedong such meetings were rare—just two took place between 1949 and 1969. Leadership and policy issues were settled by brute force. […]
How the 1 Percent conjured a monster storm
Chris Williams, author of Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis, examines the man-made factors contributing to the disaster of Hurricane Sandy. “If the study to which you apply yourself has a tendency to weaken your affections, and to destroy your taste for those simple pleasures in which no alloy can possibly mix, then that […]
Review: We Will Work With You!
This is a wonderful exhibition, and is bound to fascinate every left-wing person interested in art and design, or just curious to see some of the history of the many social and political struggles from the past decades in Wellington. Some of the work and originality that the work building activist campaigns demands – in […]
