Partisan • Patriotic • Internationalist
In 1884 Friedrich Engels wrote The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, a work that aimed to bring a materialist analysis of human development within an economic framework. Most notable was his analysis of the development of the patriarchal formation of the monogamous family and how that […]
In our previous article, we dismantled the persistent myth that “planning can’t work,” highlighting how modern computing, artificial intelligence, and realtime data have made largescale coordination more feasible than ever. But theory alone can only persuade so far; the working class demands evidence. This article examines real-world experiences from Soviet […]
In last month’s article1, we argued that public ownership is not enough, but that it must be combined with democratic planning to truly serve the working class. Planning is the linchpin of socialism: the conscious, collective organisation of economic life for the common good. This article takes that argument further […]
For the purpose of this contribution, decadence is primarily demonstrated in class self-indulgence. Media discourse, synchronised with election cycles, demonstrates this well, as the capitalist class and its state clientele put focus on issues divorced from those of the working class. At those few points of convergence, we see the […]
The Illusion of Competition: Why Capitalism Breeds Inefficiency Capitalism, in its idealised form, is built upon the foundation of perfect competition. Orthodox economic models envision a utopia where countless small firms vie for market share, prices reflect the marginal cost of production, and resources flow seamlessly to their most efficient […]
Morality is meant to dictate that personal interests are not in conflict with social interests. Ethics form the framework within which people should act in a society. How does Marxism view moral principles? Marx and Engels placed every moral principle in a historical context, not as an eternal principle […]
Words carry meaning, they carry history and they are influenced by history as well. The meaning of the word “dictatorship” has evolved since Marx used it. Dictatorship acquired a terrible meaning after Hitler’s Nazism and Mussolini’s fascism. Every past society is a dictatorship of some class or the other. The […]
One of the major drawbacks to radical and transformative actions by activists involved in struggle, is the hoary old chestnut of a lack of class consciousness out there in the wider population… or so we like to believe. We say it constantly: why is it that there appears to be […]
A hundred years have passed since the death of Lenin, the name used by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov since 1901. A hundred years is not a long period in historical sense, but a lot of water has flowed under the bridge in the meantime. The Russian Revolution, anti-colonial struggles, the rise […]
The anti-communists tell us that communism cannot work because of human nature or that Marx failed to consider human nature. This has been met with some of those on the left claiming that humans are too complex or simply don’t have an inherent nature. Dr John Edward Terrell, a professor […]
CPI released a statement condemning the Dublin riots which contained the word “alienation”. How is alienation connected to the riots? Alienation is a concept put forward by Hegel, and was also mentioned by William Thompson who according to James Connolly was the first Irish socialist. Alienation literally means separation, and […]
Democracy is a combination of two Greek words, dēmos (people) and kratos (rule). As societies change, some words wither away, some new words come into existence, and some words change meaning. Democracy has a broader meaning today than in ancient Greece. The democracy of the ancient Greeks had its limitations […]
Party education is a continuous process. It is like riding a bicycle: we have to keep pedalling to maintain balance; if we don’t, the momentum will only take us a certain distance, after which we will fall. As the capitalist crisis becomes deeper there will be greater ideological attack on […]
The word “democracy” (from the Greek dēmos, meaning people, and kratos, meaning power) is certainly the most used and abused word in the world of politics—particularly bourgeois politics. It is used to mean whatever capitalist power wants it to mean. It can mean peace; it can mean war, death, and destruction; it can mean […]
Part 2 Last month I wrote an article on the importance of political theory. In that article I explained that it is not enough to read the Communist Manifesto to learn about Marxism properly but that you must examine different points of Marxism. In this article I will examine the […]
Comrade Carroll (Socialist Voice, April) provides an excellent analysis of the role of theory. However, a few points of addition. The concern with Marxism is perhaps not so much theory but science. A central claim of Marxism is that it is scientific. Characterising science is its method: the systematic study […]