Marxist theory question of the week
Here’s one for all you Marxist theory buffs out there. I’m currently reading Doug Henwood’s 1997 book ‘Wall Street; how it works and for whom’. It’s a little out of date, naturally, but still head and shoulders above the two bourgeois textbooks on finance I am forced to plough through for academic reasons. On page [...]
Not everything can equal fascism
If you went on any of the big anti-war demos, you’ll have seen the stickers featuring the star of David and the swastika. That’s justified, because Zionism equals Hitler’s national socialism. Obviously. On the other hands, several currently popular liberal-left authors make the case that radical Islamism can properly be described as ‘islamofascism’. The idea [...]
Foot and mouth: What is to be Done?
Obviously one of the tricks of the blogging trade is to pretend that you’ve got a worked out opinion on everything that makes the headlines. But the truth is, I have no expertise whatsoever in animal diseases, and accordingly, not a clue as to the correct Marxist line on foot and mouth outbreaks. Orthodoxy on [...]
Marxism in the Anglosphere
One of the books I am reading right now is Meghnad Desai’s ‘Marx’s Revenge: the Resurgence of Capitalism and the Death of State Socialism‘. That’s the jacket, pictured left. It’s currently remaindered at the Economist’s Bookshop and presumably elsewhere, and is well worth the price of two pints. Labour peer Lord Desai is well-known as [...]
Reasons to be cheerful
The Financial Times recently hailed the return of Marxism. Sadly, I suspect that Britain’s only serious paper was having a bit of a laugh. You would have to go back beyond the birth of the First International 140 years ago to find the Marxist project in worse organisational shape than today. The historic experience of [...]
The return of Marxism
The spectre is still haunting Europe, it seems. Marxism’s back, particularly in France, writes John Thornhill in today’s Financial Times. And he’s not exactly delighted about it, either: ‘One would have thought that several decades of experimentation with communism would have convinced most observers that it was a murderous and economically sub-optimal creed. Even its [...]
Nationalism in socialist theory
Nationalism is easily the most influential political ideology on the planet right now, and only getting stronger. But just how well does the left understand what is going on? Bear in mind that many countries exist in permanent ongoing crisis, with national tensions now hidden, now flaring up with sometimes bloody results, now hidden again. [...]
