Donald Trump and the transition to Bonapartist rule
The Twitter Bonaparte casts a shadow – second of two parts Donald Trump was elected to the US presidency in a world different in countless ways from the world of […]
Category Archives: class struggle
The Twitter Bonaparte casts a shadow: two articles on Bonapartism
Part 1: the second Bonaparte (and the first) In 1848 the continent of Europe was engulfed in the flames of revolution. Absolute monarchies, princes and dukes were overthrown in Denmark, […]
Fidel Castro’s ‘moral armour’ and courage under fire
In one of the videos of Fidel Castro that have been circulating since the revolutionary leader’s death, a reporter is accompanying Fidel on the plane trip to New York, where […]
Cultural appropriation, race-baiting, and the power of fiction: in defence of Lionel Shriver
US novelist Lionel Shriver ruffled a few feathers – to put it mildly – when she spoke at the Brisbane Writers Festival in September. Shriver took aim at ‘identity politics’ […]
Why the founding of the Labour Party was a historic advance
“The first great step of importance for every country newly entering into the [working class] movement is always the constitution of the workers as an independent political party, no matter […]
A city built on the bones of prisoners
Komsomolsk-na-Amur is an industrial city in the Russian Far East. Founded in 1932, it was from 1937 unmarked on maps and off limits to foreigners – not just in Soviet […]
The difficult birth of independent Mongolia
“Let every Mongolian, Russian, Tibetan, and Chinese person know that we have heard that the Chinese have revolted against the Manchu and the Qing empire is presently in collapse. Mongolia […]
A visit to the museum of propaganda posters in Shanghai
I have never been very keen on Maoist poster art – not even in the period of my life when I was attracted to Maoism – and I probably would […]
The two golden ages of Shanghai
First impressions linger, maybe longer than they should. I arrived in Shanghai late on a rainy night. People were scurrying about with umbrellas and flapping raincoats. Here and there a […]
Selective outrage and class consciousness: taking care with the words ‘we’ and ‘you’
The recent terrorist atrocity in Paris, like that of ten months earlier, has produced a range of political responses. First off the mark were the imperialist politicians. Instantly sensing an […]
