Theory & History- Page 29

Ha-Joon Chang exposes today’s rapacious capitalism, dominated by finance and driven by short-term profit maximisation. He provides a devastating critique of the ideology of ‘free-market’ economics. But while pointing to fundamental contradictions of the system, Chang draws back from a real alternative.

Vladimir Lenin, the main leader of the Russian revolution, made the following insightful observation in mid-1917: “During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred, and the

This week is the 75th anniversary of the start of the Spanish Civil War, on 18 July. We mark this hugely important event in world history with an article first published on socialistworld.net in 2009.

In the hearts and minds of workers particularly black workers, the poor, and youth across the world, Malcolm X remains an icon of revolutionary spirit and commitment to justice, freedom, and liberty for the most oppressed people in the world. May 19 marked

The Spirit Level – now available in paperback – argues that inequality of wealth and income are the biggest determinants of social wellbeing and quality of life. socialistparty.net reviews this work which, in many ways, makes the case for socialism.

Terry Eagleton's "Why Marx Was Right" is a wonderfully written and accessible introduction to the thought of Karl Marx. It is fashionable to dismiss Marxism as "outdated" or "irrelevant" as it pertains to contemporary economic and political problems. Eagleton provides a much

The mass struggles against dictatorships and poverty sweeping North Africa and the Middle East encourage workers and young people in the region and internationally to seek to learn from previous revolutionary movements.

James Connolly was a great Marxist thinker and workers’ leader in Ireland, Scotland and the US. He was executed by the British state for his key role in the 1916 Easter rising in Dublin. Since then, Connolly’s ideas of international, working-class unity