The concept of cooperatives as an alternative to both private and state ownership has resurfaced courtesy of a recent speech by Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell. This article sets out the Marxist critique of the prospects of cooperatives to exist within and act as a focus to overcome a capitalist market economy. In the 19th […]

By Dave Stockton John McDonnell’s speech at the Cooperative Ways Forward Conference in Manchester on 21 January opened his campaign for what he calls “the new economics” – involving a clear break from the austerity-lite policies pursued by Labour under Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband. This was John’s opening gambit in a welcome – and […]

How revolutionaries use elections as a weapon against capital.

The general principles of Leninism-Trotskyism in the 21st century.

Revolutionary communists start from the view that working class women are the central agency in the struggle against their own oppression, aided at every step by class-conscious working class men. As Lenin wrote: “We say that the emancipation of the workers must be effected by the workers themselves, and in exactly the same way the […]

Excerpt from The Degenerated Revolution: The Rise and Fall of the Stalinist States, D. Hughes and P. Main Eds., Prinkipo, 2012 (Revised 2nd edition), 584pp, £10 This article was originally written in 1983. This article from 1991 provides an analysis of the introduction of capitalist market reforms following the dissolution of the USSR, this article from 1997 looks […]

2011 will undoubtedly be remembered as the year of the Arab Revolution. We have seen an explosion of democratic aspiration and courageous struggle as revolutions spread in a few weeks from Tunisia and Egypt to Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, and Syria. Like all such movements, which challenge and topple leaders and systems that had once appeared […]

By Simon Hardy Many people think that the police in Britain are somehow neutral in political matters. But recent events have exposed the real nature of the police force. This article examines the role of the police and the state in our society The role of the police Lord Imbert, ex-chief of the Metropolitan Police, […]

The methods and principles of communist work in the trade unions.

Resolution on the methods and principles of communist organisation, from ideological current to mass party

A political-economic analysis of the working class under capitalism.

Theses on the united front and how revolutionaries use the tactic to win support and leadership within workers' struggles

Is the national question Marxism's achilles heel?

1992 edition of our theses on the nature and principles of Trotskyism.

Theses on the method and principles of the organisation of pre-party communist groups

How should revolutionaries operate in elections and parliament?

Theses on reformism, reformist parties, the united front, and labor, affiliation, entry, and electoral tactics.