Has today's anti-Stalinist left sleepwalked into a Stalinoid conception of 'Bolshevism'? This is an edited and expanded version of the speech delivered by Ben Lewis (CS executive & CPGB) to the March 31-April 1 Platypus convention in Chicago. First published here. I must begin by thanking Platypus for hosting this debate. It is a shame that ...
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 ...
CS executive member Ben Lewis reports on some interesting exchanges at the 'Historical Materialism' weekend The eighth annual Historical Materialism conference held at the School of Oriental and African Studies last weekend was a genuine success, with four days rammed full of papers, plenaries and discussions. While it is hard to tell just how many attended ...
What is the Marxist stance on violence? Is a peaceful revolution against capitalism possible, or must all political power come from the ‘barrel of a gun’? And what do we make of the left-wing terrorists in the 1970’s, or today’s Black Block? Join Communist Students at our next public meeting to discuss these questions. Public Meeting ...
For the first time in English[1], an extract from Karl Kautsky's 'Republic and social democracy in France', translated by Ben Lewis Karl Kautsky: former 'pope' of Marxism The International Congress[2] has had an unexpected aftermath. Following a series of statements they made in Amsterdam, Bebel[3]and Guesde[4] have been accused of indifference to the republic, even of a ...
Below is a statement in response to the article by James Turley 'Against the politics of purity' and the statement by Manchester comrades 'No support for Labour - No support for the LRC'. This is part of the debate in the lead up to our conference in March that will decide our perspectives for the ...
Leaflet distributed in Manchester today during the national day of protest against tuition fees and education cuts.