Arkivet – Nummervisning

Fra International Socialism Journal nr. 142

Forfatter: Titel

Nr.

Side

Udgivet

Om

Contents (ISJ 142, Spring 2014)

142

1

apr 14

Contributors (ISJ 142, Spring 2014)

142

2

apr 14

Alex Callinicos: Analysis: Imperial Delusions

142

3

apr 14

Once upon a time, after the end of the Cold War, a fairy tale came to prevail, especially in Europe: economic globalisation was washing away national antagonisms and drawing states into a benign system of “global governance” under which the peoples of the world would share freedom and prosperity.
The crisis in Ukraine, demonstrating as it does persisting geopolitical conflicts among the Great Powers, should deliver the coup de grace to this ideology.

Phil Marfleet: Egypt: after the coup

142

13

apr 14

The military coup of July 2013 was a serious setback for the revolutionary movement in Egypt. For army leader Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi it was an act of rescuing the revolution: for Egypt’s radical activists it was a counter-revolutionary offensive aimed to end the uprising that began in January 2011. The coup has been followed by sustained attacks on activists, by mass arrests and the return of torture and abuse characteristic of the Hosni Mubarak era.

Dave Hayes: Thirty years on: The Socialist Workers Party and the Great Miners’ Strike

142

27

apr 14

Thirty years ago the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) faced a brutal assault from a Tory government. As recent cabinet papers reveal, Margaret Thatcher secretly prepared to wage war against “the enemy within”.

Ralph Darlington: The rank and file and the trade union bureaucracy

142

57

apr 14

The crucial problem revolutionary socialists in Britain are confronted with at the moment in relation to trade unionism is the big gap that exists between the level of workers’ anger at austerity and employers’ attacks on the one hand, and the lack of rank and file confidence to engage in struggle without a lead from the trade union bureaucracy on the other.

Esme Choonara + Yuri Prasad: What’s wrong with privilege theory?

142

83

apr 14

Can those who are not oppressed be part of the battles for liberation? Are all white people complicit in racism or can they be part of the fight for the emancipation of black people? Can gay and straight really unite against discrimination? Can men be part of the struggle for women’s rights? These are just some of the issues at stake in discussions about privilege theory and oppression.

Joseph Choonara: Financial times

142

111

apr 14

A review of Costas Lapavitsas, Profiting Without Producing: How Finance Exploits Us All (Verso, 2013), £20
In the substantial body of Marxist literature emerging in the wake of the economic crisis that began in 2007-8, two broad positions have been evident.

Ieuan Churchill: Environmentalism in crisis: neoliberal conservation and wilderness romanticism

142

125

apr 14

A review of Tony Juniper, What has Nature ever done for us? How Money really does grow on Trees (Profile Books, 2013), £9.99, and George Monbiot, Feral: Searching for Enchantment on the Frontiers of Rewilding
(Allen Lane, 2013), £11.99

Alex Callinicos: Stuart Hall in perspective

142

139

apr 14

Stuart Hall’s death removes from the scene one of the most influential Marxists in Britain of the past 50 years. To describe him thus is immediately to invite controversy.

Mark O’Brien: Feedback: The problem of the one-day strike: a response to Sean Vernell

142

149

apr 14

Sean Vernell’s article, “The Working Class, Trade Unions and the Left: the Contours of Resistance” (available on the International Socialism website), is a very welcome assessment of the legacy of the wave of strikes that took place over the issue of pensions across public sector trade unions between March 2011 and June 2012.

Neil Davidson: Feedback: Revolutions between theory and history: a response to Alex Callinicos and Donny Gluckstein

142

177

apr 14

Any author who attempts to reappraise a fundamental concept in historical materialism, in this case bourgeois revolution, can at the very least expect their work to receive close scrutiny from fellow Marxists. If, more specifically, that author is prepared to express doubt about the continued relevance of the most original aspect of Leon Trotsky’s Marxism, the related concept of permanent revolution, then this scrutiny is likely to be tinged with suspicion, at least from those who trace their political lineage back to the Left Opposition and the Fourth International.

Alex Callinicos: Feedback: Continuing the discussion

142

199

apr 14

The issues raised by Neil Davidson’s grand work on bourgeois revolutions are not merely of historical interest, but are of the first importance to the contemporary revolutionary left.

John Riddell: Feedback: Letter to the editor

142

201

apr 14

I would like to question a statement by Sebastian Zehetmair published in issue 136 of your journal in autumn 2012 under the title: “Germany’s Lost Bolshevik: Paul Levi Revisited”. In Zehetmair’s view, the dispute over revolutionary strategy that gripped the Communist International in 1921 was closely linked to a division in the Bolshevik Party over policy towards Russian peasants and towards the NEP (New Economic Policy).

Jack Robertson: Review: Before and after post-Fordism

142

203

apr 14

Sheila Cohen, Notoriously Militant: The Story of a Union Branch at Ford Dagenham (Merlin Press, 2013), £15.95
Along the stretch of the Thames Estuary that runs from Barking and the North Circular at one end, along the A13 to Thurrock Lakeside, the Dartford Crossing and the M25 at the other, lies one of the most bizarre industrialised landscapes in the UK.

John Rose: Review: Early chapters of the Jewish story

142

205

apr 14

Simon Schama, The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words 1000BCE-1492CE (Bodley Head, 2013), £25
This book’s greatest strength is that it tackles the plethora of fresh archaeological evidence that is challenging some taken for granted assumptions about Jewish history.

Zak Cochrane: Review: Unite and fight

142

208

apr 14

Brian Richardson (ed), Say It Loud! Marxism and the Fight Against Racism (Bookmarks, 2013), £9.99
What is racism? Where does it come from? Why has it remained prevalent despite the changes to society? How best can we fight it? These are some of the key questions examined in Say It Loud! Marxism and the Fight Against Racism.

Alice Clark: Review: New book on sport pulls no punches

142

210

apr 14

Michael Lavalette (ed), Capitalism and Sport: Politics, Protest, People and Play (Bookmarks, 2013), £9.99
Modern sport is often criticised by socialists for reflecting, or worse, perpetuating aspects of capitalist culture. While there are chapters in Capitalism and Sport that discuss the problematic elements of commercialised sport, there are others that seek to counteract it with examples of how sport has been used as a political tool to challenge oppression.

Colin Barker: Review: Storming the ramparts of tyranny

142

212

apr 14

Mike Gonzalez and Houman Barekat, (eds), Arms and the People: Popular Movements and the Military from the Paris Commune to the Arab Spring (Pluto Press, 2013), £19.99
In 1870 Otto von Bismarck’s conscript army, using modern means of warfare including the railway, soundly defeated the French army at Sedan and annexed Alsace-Lorraine to the German Empire. The nature of modern warfare had clearly changed. A year later the Paris Commune revealed that the nature of modern revolution had changed too.

Andy Wynne: Review: A history of popular struggle in Africa

142

217

apr 14

Peter Dwyer and Leo Zeilig, African Struggles Today: Social Movements since Independence (Haymarket, 2012), £12.99
African Struggles Today seeks to explain the key role that mass social movements have played in the history of Africa over the last three quarters of a century.

Camilla Royle + Alex Callinicos: Pick of the quarter: This quarter’s selection

142

223

apr 14

New Left Review – Historical Materialism – Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy – Monthly Review – Radical History Review – Irish Marxist Review

Bob Light: Portugal: 1974-5

142

apr 14

Just after midnight on 25 April 1974 a Lisbon radio station played a song called Grandola Villa Morena and Portugal was changed forever. The song was the agreed signal for a coup by junior officers to bring down the authoritarian and geriatric government of Marcello Caetano but it was also the start of an intoxicating period of 18 months when Portugal would sashay to the very brink of a working class revolution.