Ndongo Samba Sylla The fair trade scandal: marketing poverty to benefit the rich Pluto Press, pp208, £16 There has been very little discussion around the inadequacies of so-called ‘fair trade’ (FT). As Marxists, we know, from a theoretical standpoint, that capitalistic commodity exchange can never be ‘fair’, but how many of us can provide concrete examples ...
David Cameron’s incompetent campaign against Jean-Claude Juncker has exposed his lack of bargaining power within Europe, says Eddie Ford Just as the Corn Laws haunted the Conservative Party throughout the 19th century, Europe acts as a running sore for the modern-day Tories. Desperate to steal the clothes of the UK Independence Party and appease the Eurosceptics ...
Marilyn J Boxer and John S Partington (eds) Clara Zetkin: national and international contexts Socialist History Society occasional publications, series No31, pp118, £7 It would appear that in historical research we are beginning to witness something of a revival of interest in a figure who must surely count as one of the most outstanding Marxists in ...
The latest developments in German politics should serve as a reality check for the ‘broad party’ advocates in this country, argues Ben Lewis For all the talk of the recent German elections being the most boring in memory, having been met with huge levels of apathy and indifference on the part of the population, the results ...
Jean Frey gives his impressions of the nature and role of the so-called 'Anti-Germans' on the German left. As I became politicised, in particular within Linksjugend, the youth organisation of Die Linke, I came across these militant nationalistic and pro-war activists at an early stage. I first had personal experience of BAK Shalom members at the ...
As the next Greek elections loom, Paul Demarty takes a look at the lines being taken by the left and the current controversy in the SWP On Sunday June 17, the Greek population will march once again to the polls - this time in even more dramatic circumstances. The polarisation of support between the rightwing New ...
Calling on Egyptians to vote for the Muslim Brotherhood is insane, argues Paul Demarty (first published in the WW) The May 23-24 first round of voting in the Egyptian presidential elections produced, as has been widely noted, the worst possible outcome for the masses, lining up the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi against erstwhile Mubarak crony Ahmed ...
Below is an article which appeared on the Iranian website Eshterak reporting on the barbaric treatment of two political prisoners. Communist Students has always been steadfast in defending those fighting the regime in Iran and as the drive towards war increases we all need to remember that opposing imperialist sanctions and war threats go hand ...
Politics is becoming polarised in austerity Europe. We must empower the working class with a revolutionary perspective, says Callum Williamson The results from the first round of voting in the French presidential elections were another indication of a growing rage against the liberal-capitalist political establishment, a rage which the populist right has been the most successful ...
Vahed bus drivers' union executive member Reza Shahabi has been sentenced to 6 years in prison and a further five year ban from trade union activism. He has also been ordered to return around secen million Toman's which had been raised in solidarity to help imprisoned trade union activists. This is after two and a ...
The Syrian left, like the left generally at the moment, is weak and marred by many of the problems familiar with the British left - reformism, nationalism, popular frontism etc. Nonetheless, the left across the Arab world is beginning to organise and discuss the way forward. Syria is no exception, and communists worldwide can only welcome ...
In 2003, Baha Mousa was arrested with nine other Iraqis by British troops in Basra. Two days later, he was dead; in the intervening time, according to the coroner, he had suffered 93 distinct physical injuries. Nine years later, an inquiry into his death - and the treatment he and the others suffered at the hands ...
The anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks coincides with a resurgence in 'liberal interventionism'. James Turley evaluates the bloody harvest of both (first published here) On September 11 2001, a motley crew of Islamist militants hijacked four planes in US airspace. Hours later, the tallest buildings in the country had been demolished, and thousands of ...