The SWP – one of the most successful organising forces on the British left over the last few decades – is close to death, its good work sacrificed on the altar of the cult a flawed model of democratic centralism created. I will spend no time mourning for there is no time to mourn. The [...]
Following the news that the UK is in the worst double-dip recession for half a century, today’s hot trending Twitter topic is #OsborneExcuses. A few of my personal favourites include: SofiaE3 @SofiaEfree I can explain: I hate poor and working people and this is class war. #OsborneExcuses Mark Bowler @Charisma_Effect I heard he saw a [...]
“There is nothing necessarily dignified about manual labour at all, and most of it is absolutely degrading…To sweep a slushy crossing for eight hours on a day when the east wind is blowing is a disgusting occupation. To sweep it with mental, moral, or physical dignity seems to me to be impossible. To sweep it [...]
Meet Eric. He’s an ordinary schoolboy who lives at 29 Acacia Road. But what most people don’t know about Eric is that he leads something of a double life. For whenever Eric eats a banana, an amazing transformation occurs. You see, Eric is Bananaman. I felt a bit like Eric today, running from my city [...]
One of the most frequently repeated myths on the left is that we are fighting for the representation of this vast number of people who lie to the left of the Labour Party. In fact in nearly every single demonstration or large public meeting I attend I am told about this by some faux-psephologist with [...]
As the Labour leadership contest enters its final leg, party members will be receiving their ballots in the post today. But while the national media is zooming in on a two-horse race between the two Milibands – one the candidate of continuity, the other of modest change – The Third Estate talks to Diane Abbott, [...]
A letter from Tony Benn and 72 stalwart class warriors… It is time to organise a broad movement of active resistance to the Con-Dem government’s budget intentions. They plan the most savage spending cuts since the 1930s, which will wreck the lives of millions by devastating our jobs, pay, pensions, NHS, education, transport, postal and [...]
For the second year in a row, The Third Estate would like to blow workers everywhere a big wet sloppy kiss and offer them lots of solidarity. In six days’ time, we could have a Tory government. Or a Labour one. Either way, you’re going to need all the hugs you can get. xxx www.salmanshaheen.com
A few months ago I wrote a post promoting some of the fascinating live debates going on in contemporary Marxist journals, in a bid to puncture the myth that Marxism was had become ossified dogma with nothing to say about the modern world. So it seems only fair that I plug the latest issue of [...]
