Workers' Liberty 6, April-May 1987

The "Perdition" affair

When the Royal Court Theatre decided at the last minute not to go ahead with its scheduled production of Jim Allen's play about the massacre of the Jews of Hungary in 1944, 'Perdition', a flood of discussion, polemic and recrimination was unleashed in the press. It had already been the subject of protests by various prominent Jews and of publicity in the press. The "Perdition" Affair There are at least two issues involved in the 'Perdition' affair: artistic freedom and its limits; and whether or not 'Perdition' is anti-Jewish. Allen and the director, Ken Loach, immediately raised an outcry...

Going out of fashion? Review of "The Retreat from Class"

A review of The Retreat From Class: A New 'True Socialism' , by Ellen Meiksins Wood. "No-one can seriously maintain that any other social movement has ever challenged the power of capital as has the working class... And for all its limitations and institutional conservatism, the labour movement has more consistently than any other social collectivity stood on the side of the various causes which the left regards as valuable and progressive". But "the new reformists are now disillusioned with what they see as revolutionary socialism in China, Cambodia, and Vietnam. They opt instead for reformed...

Reviews: Rushdie, Kowalewski, Heffer, Bornstein and Richardson, Parisot, Badayev and Cliff

Jim Denham reviews "The Jaguar Smile", by Salman Rushdie. Martin Thomas reviews "Rendez-nous nos usines", by Zbigniew Kowalewski. Stan Crooke reviews "Labour's Future: socialism or SDP mark II", by Eric Heffer. Bruce Robinson reviews "War and the International", by Sam Bornstein and Al Richardson. Jane Ashworth reviews "Johnny Come Lately: a short history of the condom", by Jeanette Parisot. Jack Cleary reviews "Bolsheviks in the Tsarist Duma", by A Y Badayev with an introduction by Tony Cliff. Click here to download pdf .

The confessions of Donal R: a reply to Workers' Liberty 5

A reply to Workers' Liberty 5 . "Sinn Fein is the only mass revolutionary body in Ireland, perhaps in the British Isles... It can seek, even despite itself, to operate a strategy of Permanent Revolution, to complete the tasks of the bourgeois revolution over and above that of Irish unity by combining them with Transitional Demands... "Where does this leave Federalism? The answer is in tactics rather than principle... Nobody really knows how Ulster Protestant consciousness will respond to an Irish Socialist Revolution. It may be necessary to allow the community some form of autonomy for their...

Should the Left Celebrate the Revolution of 1688?

Leftists are protesting against plans to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688. In fact the left should celebrate the 300th anniversary, and we can do it without in any way adopting the viewpoint or the politics of the Orange Order. Click here to download pdf .

The new working class in the Third World

"The colour of the revolution in one area after another of India" - and of other ex-colonies - "is steel-grey... An industrial revolution". The problem in most Third World capitalisms is not external domination but capitalism itself... Click here to download pdf .

AIDS: a socialist response?

Socialists have to dispel myths about AIDS... counter the reactionary backlash accompanying the AIDS hysteria, and defend gay rights... oppose health cuts, demand free and easily available condoms... non-water soluble lubricants and spermicides (some of which can help in resisting HIV) should be available on the NHS... How has the left measured up? Militant has kept a low profile... The SWP has been more upfront, but predictably collapses its conclusion into "the Labour Party can't be relied on... The answer lies in the struggle of the working class"... The grotesquely misnamed Revolutionary...

Is Nicaragua socialist?

Seven and a half years after the Sandinistas overthrew the hated Somoza dictatorship, clearly there have been significant gains; but the working class in Nicaragua neither holds power through its mass organisations, nor through a political party which has been built on the basis of working-class struggle... Click here to download pdf.

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