Walking on the Far Left

  Photo my comrade got of me after the festival. Che Rosenberg perhaps?! Whilst being an avid SWP member and a huge fan of the much awaited Marxism Festival and the many other smaller national events within the party, being on the Marxism team was not something I'd ever done before. In spite of the long hours (starting qt 9:30- long before festival goers arrived- and ending late into the evening) the making of sacrifices of not attending certain meetings, and the effort of stewarding and organising large groups, it was a really enjoyable experience for me and one I would like to have again. From the very beginning helping set up all the chairs in the venue to the final singing of the Internationale by all to close the festival, I immediately felt confident and proud to be representing a party I valued so much, and give something in return for all the many opportunities they had given me in developing my activist profile. I felt a huge sense of pride at being welcomed into such a fa...

TRIGGER WARNING: Some mention of disordered eating and mental health appears briefly in this article. If you are likely to be affected by this trigger, feel free to skip the section as appropriate or read no more. Whether it is in the form of cheap fuel to sustain oneself through a long workday, a nice meal to bond over socially as a family in the evening, or a means of showing off one's decadence and love of luxury through the buying of the finest and most exotic ingredients, food is something we all have the common need of and should act as a given basic right, and so the need for it, the ultimate universal leveller of all classes and groups in society. Its huge variety and the many different forms it takes and cultures it exists in act can help it act as the ultimate visual representation of the unity and diversity of people within society. Or at least, that's what it should be like and it should be enjoyable for all. Sadly, it has turned into a source of conflict and inequa...

With a true revolutionary communist society being loosely considered on a superficial level as a society without any classist hierarchy and emphasis on the collective power of the general masses in the running of society, it would appear that the dismantling of capitalist-led systems through which repression and preservation of these ideals is observed is an important priority in achieving socialist revolution. The aims of the banks would thus appear somewhat counterintuitive and a direct hindrance to effectively bringing about revolution, which begs the question: can they possibly exist in a true socialist society and, if not, what could take their place? When observing the fundamental means by which revolution can take place, it would seem absurd to disregard and refuse to acknowledge the presence of capitalism in society and its existence in the transition (considering socialism would feature the use of the income and products of their operation to the advantage of the lower classes...

From the annual remembrance day parades with every street corner and war memorial showered with paper poppies and the previous year's VE day celebrations (in which Union Jack bunting and celebratory afternoon teas in honour of the UK winning the Second World War gave a superficial sense of "80 years of peace" in a war torn world ruled by corrupt neo-colonial and imperialist warmongering leaders' interests) to the constant arms fairs and attempts at recruitment into the army.... to the ultimate climax of new US air bases in the UK, the presence of the military in the UK is ever more obvious. It appears continually creeping up on us like some grotesque spectre of impending doom of things to come, much akin to a vile version of Charles Dickens' Ghost of Things to Come but clothed in garish green and brown camouflage, hinting at the huge threat and fear for our lives unless we facilitate effective revolution against the global capitalistic and ultranationalist systems...

I visited London today to go to Marxism in a day. A smaller conference than  the annual Marxism festival  and organised by the SWP in Birkbeck University, it featured talks by several prominent activists both from and outside of the SWP (including Wayman Bennet, Geoff Brown, Paul Holborrow, Alex Callinicos and Joseph Choonara), it acted as a pleasant space by which people of many age groups could discuss and gain insight into various pressing political topics alongside a very knowledgeable panel, to which our involvement was highly appreciated.  The conference was opened with with excellent talks by Professor Alex Callinicos and SWP activist Katie Coles on the ever growing importance of Marxism in today’s society, and its evolution in its application economics and political sciences over time. This was then followed by Yuri Prasad’s talk on the need for revolution in understanding and fighting against racism, which inspired a lot of discussion. It was through listening to...

 This weekend, I made my metaphorical pilgrimage to London to visit all the significant places in Marx's life, starting with his first home in London, and ending at Highgate Cemetery, where he was buried. It was through this trip that (along with having walked through three London boroughs and been introduced to parts of the city that I had never seen) I got to appreciate Marx's legacy and respect him as, once upon a time, a London resident who studied in the library, drank at pubs, and shopped in high streets like I do. The feeling gained from walking down the same streets and trying to visualise him living, working, rallying and resting offered a whole other dimension to the socialist movement and truly brought it to life. In this post, I will present photographs and provide commentary on the places I visited that hold significance for Karl Marx. Now a restaurant, 28 Dean Street in Soho was Marx's London home. His blue plaque, erected in 1967, can be seen on the wall. He ...

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. Have been busy sorting out some life stuff, manic university business, and have started work with the Workers Party. Anyways, I'm back now with some more posts. Top: Me on my way to Marxism 2025. Bottom: the festival. Yesterday, I paid a visit to London to attend the Marxism 2025 festival. Set in a Shoreditch studio featuring a pop-up socialist bookshop and talks by a variety of prominent and well-renowned speakers including Jeremy Corbyn, Yanis Varoufakis, and Rima Hassan, the current and ever-changing influence of socialist ideas on society globally, as well as the vast array of forms they exist in in day to day life could be brought to life and celebrated. From technological feudalism and capitalism within AI, to the legacy of global imperial influence on the cultural and economic factors influencing revolutionary ideals within Iran and Palestine, the extent to which we live in a capitalist society, as well as the importance of...

Hegel (left) and Marx (Right) Dialectical materialism is a philosophical and naturalistic view on the distribution of material wealth amongst the people and the physiognomy of the idealised society in which the cultural and economic capital for society is distributed with egalitarian and equitable principles directly in mind so as to allow for economic productivity, capitalist gains and personal wellbeing to all function mutually exclusively and in direct support of each other (something that is rarely observed in many other economic theories. This post sets out to observe this theory in greater depth and compare and contrast the naturalist and idealistic perspective of Hegel on this matter with Marx's more dogmatic approach to the conflicting and yet effective coexistence of the major components of this theory in facilitating social and economic growth and development within a society which has in both past and present times been ruled by capitalist principles. Hegel, according to...

 Today would have been Karl Marx's 207th birthday. In his honour, I thought I would post these lesser known photographs. What is supposedly the earliest known photograph of Marx. Taken in 1861 in London. He would have been 43 years old. https://marx200.org/en/fotografien/index.html The last known photograph of Marx taken in 1882 in Algeria. He sent it to his daughter Laura with the dedication "To my dear Cacadou. Old Nick (as he was known amongst his family), Algiers, end of February". A painting depicting Marx and his comrades. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/photo/marx/index.htm Karl Marx and his daughter Jenny taken in Margate in 1866. When he arrived there, he wrote this letter describing his arrival and accommodation and showing his love of the sea, walking along the coast and the coastal air. Little did he know that two centuries later, a 19 year old communist student and great admirer of his work (who also enjoys living by the sea and going on long coastal wa...

  In quotidian terms, the proletariat is considered by many to refer to those on the lowest wages and most limited influence in the workplace and that do not own, or, alternatively, often being used by some as a term to describe the working classes. With both uses of this term, the interests and positions of the proletariat are considered to clearly be exploited by and opposite to those of the bourgeois (which are widely considered to have greater wealth and influence in society). However, as we can observe when looking at the proletariat in its purest form and upon only observing it without comparison to the bourgeois, it is clear that wealth does not in any way factor into whether an individual can qualify as a proletarian, as well as the proof that it can be entirely possible to qualify as a proletarian yet still have adopted the income and lifestyle of those considered as bourgeois. As observed by Rosa Luxemburg on analysing the Marxist view on the position of the proletariat i...

With many interpretations of feminism and sexual expression being based around Marx and Engels' ideas, and with these ideas being very much in line the radical feminist ideas of women being heavily sexually oppressed with all relations between women and men featuring an exploitation and imbalance in power by the men over them as the lesser sex (or akin to the proletariat while the men function as the bourgeoisie as described by Marx and Engels) with this largely being attributed to their role and position in society, the liberation of women and social progress in understanding their rights can be seen to largely be supported by a more liberal and progressive socialist society. As a result, the development of the theory of Marxist Feminism and the women's revolution against their treatment when working in domestic labour, as can be observed throughout the last century, can lead to the politicisation of feminism and this being associated with socialist movements. In his 1848 Comm...

Mao's understanding of communist principles and the development of his own communist ideology appeared to have grown without him having read any of Marx and Engels' work but by observing the governance and principles of Soviet communist leaders. This form of communism clearly developed through the interpretation of Leninist principles and his setting about of the authoritarian control and dictatorship of the proletariat as with the formation of the Bolsheviks (those dictating the proletariat) to exploit the Mensheviks (the working classes who were repressed by Lenin's dictatorship and supported democratic and liberal way acknowledging the needs of all groups including the proletariat, the bourgeois so as to bring out a socialist revolution) in the Russian Revolution. Mao's values appear to be clearly resemble those of the Bolshevik with his revolution as put by Roger Griffin having been set out with the goal of "overcoming the decadence of the existing liberal demo...

While there has been limited attention paid to sexuality and the action against repression of the homosexual people in Marx and Engels' work (as well as the theory by some early leftists exploring this topic that homosexuality could be viewed as a threat to communism defining homosexuals by "the corruption and decadence of bourgeois society, while they themselves, the left, do their part to fix gays into a position of the qualunquismo" thus reducing productivity and hindering attempts at revolution), communism has, over the centuries, been instrumental in influencing perceptions on the queer community and activism amongst them, as well as in the politicisation of homosexual rights. This has been highlighted through the theories regarding gender by communist activist Mario Mieli in his work Towards a Gay Communism in which, while the promotion of sexuality had been considered as secondary to the revolutionary aims of the communist political groups as well as having homos...