Category Archives: Proletarian politics

“However, our politics must be working-class politics. The workers’ party must never be the tagtail of any bourgeois party; it must be independent and have its goal and its own policy.” — Friedrich Engels, Apropos of Working-Class Political Action

Can Communists Learn to Fly – Book Review: The Tailor of Ulm

Lucio Magri’s The Tailor of Ulm is a fascinating account of the history of the Italian Communist Party (PCI). He begins his account with an anecdote regarding the tailor of Ulm. Ingrao, who had already fully explained his reasons for … Continue reading

Posted in History, Proletarian politics | Comments Off on Can Communists Learn to Fly – Book Review: The Tailor of Ulm

Violence and socialism

Today, more than it has in the past, the topic of violence is one that is being debated hotly, especially in the aftermath of the Occupy Wall Street movement, the workings of SYRIZA in Greece, and the wave of unrest in … Continue reading

Posted in History, Politics, Proletarian politics | 7 Comments

Debate on sortition

On the 27th of August, the IRC ##marxism channel on Freenode celebrated its first team debate. If this doesn’t mean a lot to you, check the ##marxism debates page for more information. Basically, ##marxism is a channel on IRC–a text … Continue reading

Posted in Meta, Politics, Proletarian politics | Comments Off on Debate on sortition

Limited liability: why we should want more of it

On my previous post on corporate personhood I intended to also deal with the matter of limited liability–hence the URL of the post. However, I couldn’t do that in that post, so here it goes. Limited liability is a privilege … Continue reading

Posted in Bourgeois politics, Economics, History, Politics, Proletarian politics | Comments Off on Limited liability: why we should want more of it

The proletarian class party, part 5 (final)

This post (which I have been reluctant to make in the first place given my relative uneasiness this particular topic) is the final part of my series of posts on the “party question.” This post will examine, basing itself on … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Proletarian politics | Comments Off on The proletarian class party, part 5 (final)

The WSM and Anarchism: A Political Analysis

The Workers Solidarity Movement is one of the more impressive anarchist organisations of modern times. While always a small organisation it has been active on the radical left in Ireland for close to thirty years and at the same time … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Proletarian politics | 6 Comments

“Did you try turning it off and then on again?”

Diagnosing where things have gone wrong and what we can do about it As we survey the current state of affairs, it’s hard not to get somewhat demoralised. Despite a massive market failure, a brief flurry of rhetoric about the … Continue reading

Posted in History, Politics, Proletarian politics | 4 Comments

Crime and migration: towards a leftist response

In recent years, and particularly in reaction to the latest wave of austerity measures, we have seen an upswing in the size and importance of parties that are to the left of social democracy, a development that is greeted with … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Proletarian politics | 1 Comment

Corporate personhood

One common complaint in anticapitalist circles is that the system of rights which once was designed to apply to human beings has been, through judicial interpretation, extended to so-called juridical persons–not persons at all, that is. Thus, corporations are given … Continue reading

Posted in Bourgeois politics, History, Politics, Proletarian politics | 1 Comment

Race and Class

The staunchest and most consistent opponents of systemic racism are situated on the left, and a great many of them have been explicitly socialists. Socialists were some of the first to seriously champion the causes of anti-racism as it fits … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Proletarian politics | Tagged | Comments Off on Race and Class

European Minimum Programme

Ever since the German Social Democrats’ rather embarrassed shelving of the Erfurt Programme, the venerable socialist tradition of a basic set of policies that would facilitate social transformation has gone out of fashion. Trotsky was at pains to distinguish his … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Proletarian politics | 8 Comments

Left victimhood and the language of weakness

The working class is exploited and oppressed. This is the central premise for any genuine socialist consciousness. It’s possible to argue whether young Marx‘s notions of alienation, and similar ideas before his complete break with German idealist philosophy and Feuerbach … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Proletarian politics | Comments Off on Left victimhood and the language of weakness

The proletarian class party, part 4

After a short break from dealing with the subject (during which I wrote a post on identity politics) I have gotten around to writing part four on my series on the issue of the proletarian class party. Here are parts … Continue reading

Posted in Politics, Proletarian politics | 4 Comments

The nature of the economic transition

This is the third article in my series on having an economic transition prior to a political seizure of power, which stands in contrast to the dominant view in the radical left that emphasises the seizure of political power from … Continue reading

Posted in History, Politics, Proletarian politics | Comments Off on The nature of the economic transition