Special series

Hillel Ticktin: The transition to socialism (3 parts)

• No more historical abortions December 14 2006
  Hillel Ticktin highlights the bogus nature of planning in the Soviet Union and locates the central importance of Europe for the transition to socialism
• Seeds of the new society December 7 2006
  Within the symptoms of decline, Hillel Ticktin argues, there are anticipations of the future
• The transition to socialism November 23 2006
  Hillel Ticktin, editor of Critique, examines some of the central elements of Marx’s theory about the future society

Nationalism and the SSP

• Defending national socialism is not Marxism July 20 2006
  Jack Conrad begins an extensive reply to Bob Goupillot with an examination of the principle of ‘one state, one party’ and its history
• Nationalist myths are not Marxism July 27 2006
  Jack Conrad argues against the Scottish Socialist Party’s claim that Scotland is an oppressed nation, an English colony. Prior to the 1707 Act of Union Scotland was not a nation
• Not oppressed but a joint oppressor August 3 2006
  Was Scotland subject to a takeover by England in 1707? Does Scotland suffer from English cultural imperialism? Jack Conrad questions some more left nationalist myths and assumptions
• British duality and the class struggle August 10 2006
  National consciousness is complex. As Jack Conrad shows, British national consciousness is particularly complex, being at the same time English, Scottish and Welsh. It also involves class and class struggle
• The determination of revolution August 31 2006
  Jack Conrad discusses strategy and contrasts Scottish national socialism with the communist demand for national self-determination
• In revealing company September 7 2006
  Jack Conrad draws parallels between ‘proletarian nationalism’ and the SSP and Solidarity in Scotland today

Ecology, pseudo-science and Marxist answers

• Greenism and neo-Malthusian pseudo-science April 6 2006
  In the first of three articles Jack Conrad argues that the global ecological crisis cannot be explained by crude overpopulation theories. Each social formation has its own laws, including laws of population
• Contours of green thought April 13 2006
  Greenism is hobbled by two fundamental faults. It cannot tame capitalism, nor does it offer a realistic way of superseding capitalism. In his second article in the series, Jack Conrad explores its limitations
• Darker shades of green April 20 2006
  In the third article in the series, Jack Conrad questions the romantic images presented by green primitives and cautions against the seductive lures of ecofascism

80 years since the 1926 general strike

• From world war to councils of action May 4 2006
  Jack Conrad begins a series of six articles examining the 1926 general strike
• Days of black and red May 11 2006
  In the second article on the general strike and its turbulent background Jack Conrad looks at the delayed birth of the CPGB and the course of events from black Friday to red
• A study in bureaucratic inertia May 18 2006
  Jack Conrad shows that, while the Tory government assiduously and ruthlessly prepared for the 1926 general strike, the TUC was content to pass left-sounding resolutions
• Virtues and vices May 25 2006
  Jack Conrad pays tribute to the role of the CPGB in 1926. But as well as heroism there were limitations
• British brakes and Russian disputes June 8 2006
  Jack Conrad argues that the problems of the CPGB in the 1926 general strike did not stem from Stalin alone
• What should have been done June 15 2006
  Jack Conrad concludes his series of articles on the general strike

The revolutionary party

• Floundering towards Eurocommunism February 16 2006
  While Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire theorists flounder towards Eurocommunism, the SWP’s Alex Callinicos can only answer them with evasion. In the first of a number articles, Mike Macnair discusses revolutionary strategy
• Revolutionary strategy and Marxist conclusions February 23 2006
  In the second in a series of articles, Mike Macnair continues his examination of right-moving Ligue Communiste Révolutionnaire theorists and the response of the SWP’s Alex Callinicos
• Reform coalition, or mass strike? March 30 2006
  In the third article in this series, Mike Macnair examines the basis of two contending strategies for working class advance
• The revolutionary strategy of centrists April 13 2006
  In the forth article in this series, Mike Macnair turns his attention to Kautsky’s perspective of patient organisation and party building in the years before World War I. There were undoubted strengths in this strategy. But fatal flaws too
• War and revolutionary strategy April 20 2006
  Mike Macnair puts the record straight on Lenin’s call for defeatism and insists on the necessity of the left taking the democratic question of arms seriously
• Communist strategy and the party form April 27 2006
  Mike Macnair examines the Leninist ‘party of a new type’ and disentangles its advantages and shortcomings from the necessity of splitting from the Second International
• Unity in diversity May 11 2006
  How does the concept of the united front fit into the struggle for a Communist Party? Mike Macnair continues his examination of strategy
• The minimum platform and extreme democracy May 18 2006
  Under what conditions should communists participate in government? Mike Macnair revisits the strategic problem of authority
• Political consciousness and international unity May 25 2006
  What is the link between national and international revolution? What is the role of the workers’ international? Mike Macnair continues his series on communist strategy
• Comintern and the Trotskyists June 8 2006
  What sort of international does the workers’ movement need? Mike Macnair looks at the negative lessons of previous attempts
• Republican democracy and revolutionary patience June 15 2006
  Mike Macnair concludes his series on communist strategy by throwing down the challenge to the existing left

Peaceful revolution?

The 'What we fight for' column of the CPGB states that "workers must be readied to make revolution - peacefully if we can, forcibly if we must." This has provoked some instructive debates amongst CPGB members. References to articles penned by the opposition can be found within the articles below.

• Formulation nine and the possibility of peaceful revolution - part 1 September 19 2002
  Jack Conrad responds to the recent debate over the nature of socialist revolution
• Formulation nine and the dictatorship of the proletariat - part 2 September 26 2002
  Jack Conrad continues his reply to those who have attacked the recently updated ‘What we fight for’ column as a move to the right
• Dictatorship of the proletariat and the Second International - part 3 October 3 2002
  In the third of his articles discussing peaceful and violent revolution Jack Conrad examines the use of the term ‘dictator-ship of the proletariat’ after Marx an Engels
• Russian means and the dictatorship of the minority - part 4 October 10 2002
  In the fourth of his series of articles Jack Conrad examines the background to Lenin’s use of the word ‘dictatorship’ and the role played by the Mensheviks
• Proletarian dictatorship as theory and practice - part 5 October 17 2002
  In the fifth part of his series of articles Jack Conrad discusses the contradictory impact of the October Revolution
• Dictatorship of the proletariat: Bolshevism versus Kautskyism - part 6 October 24 2002
  In the sixth part of his series of articles Jack Conrad discusses the debate between Lenin, Trotsky and Kautsky
• Preparing for power - part 7 October 31 2002
  In the seventh and concluding article in his series Jack Conrad peers into the future