-
Sep 20, 2024 | 
communist.red | Ben Gliniecki
Starmer’s Labour are trying to distance themselves from the genocide in Gaza, with a partial ban of arms exports to Israel. But the truth is that they, and the entire British establishment, have blood on their hands. Overthrow these war criminals!
-
Jul 2, 2024 | 
communist.red | Jonathan Hinckley |Ben Gliniecki
We’re told we live in a democracy, but whether we vote for Starmer or Sunak, we’re going to get pretty much the same thing. What’s democratic about that? We’re told we have rights like freedom of speech and a free press, but the government is banning protests and the newspapers are all owned by billionaires. What’s the point of these “rights” if they don’t actually mean anything? The fact is that the world is run by and for the rich. They decide everything and the rest of us don’t get a say.
-
Jun 25, 2024 | 
communist.red | Ben Gliniecki
This general election, most of us feel like we’re being asked to choose between blue Tories and red Tories. Whatever happens on election day, the next morning we’ll all still have to go to work while the politicians carry on with their lies and their wars. StrategySome people have been asking if voting for the Green Party instead is a good idea. Some of what the Greens say is quite good. They want free education, rent controls, and nationalisation of the energy companies, funded by taxing the rich.
-
Apr 12, 2024 | 
marxist.com | Ben Gliniecki
The deepening crisis of capitalism is causing immense political instability across the world. In this context, a rise in the number of ‘authoritarian’ and ‘populist’ governments has provoked much discussion over the rise of ‘strongman’ politics. But what exactly does this mean?
-
Dec 8, 2023 | 
marxist.com | Ben Gliniecki
The pro-Palestine movement is being attacked through the curtailment of basic democratic rights. Meetings have been shut down. In some countries, demonstrations have been banned. And pro-Palestinian voices have been censored. [Originally published at socialist.net]Communists must fight these attacks. We defend democratic rights, even in a bourgeois democracy. But we do so for our own reasons and in our own way, based on working-class struggle.
-
Sep 26, 2023 | 
socialist.net | Ben Gliniecki
The mouthpieces of the establishment are constantly telling us that abuse, racism, and misogyny in the police are merely a case of a few bad apples. But it’s increasingly clear that this rotten fruit is just part of a bigger crumbly mess. The whole British state is falling apart. The latest example is the armed police, who are refusing to carry their guns. Several hundred of them effectively went on strike this week in protest against the government. But there’s nothing good about this strike.
-
Jul 14, 2023 | 
socialist.net | Ben Gliniecki
There’s been a pungent stink wafting off the front pages of this week’s papers. At the centre has been Huw Edwards: BBC broadcaster; announcer of the Queen’s death; and establishment sock puppet. The news anchor was accused of sex crimes by the phone-hacking, life-wrecking, lie-factory that is The Sun newspaper. The Sun is a screaming spittle-flecked rag, owned by a repugnant billionaire media mogul. The BBC is the sneering face of the British establishment.
-
Jun 29, 2023 | 
socialist.net | Ben Gliniecki
As the working class flexes its muscles on the industrial front today, many have drawn comparisons with the class struggle of the 1970s. After a period of relative class peace following the Second World War, the 1970s saw a rebirth of the labour movement. Workers demonstrated the power that they possessed: whether by toppling the Conservative Heath government, or occupying factories and running production themselves.
-
Apr 12, 2023 | 
socialist.net | Ben Gliniecki
From Xi Jinping to Putin, strong-man leaders who rule with an iron hand appear to be becoming more common. How do such leaders arise? What is the nature of their regimes? And what does that tell us about where they are going? Demagogues and dictators are not a new phenomenon, however. From Caesar and Napoleon Bonaparte, to Stalin and Hitler, history is littered with dictatorships. Marxists have often characterised these regimes as ‘Bonapartist’.
-
Feb 24, 2023 | 
marxist.com | Ben Gliniecki
»Dette var året, hvor det liberale demokrati slog igen,« erklærede Janan Ganesh - en ikke særlig skarp klummeskribent fra Financial Times - den 15. november. Det argument, der blev fremført af FT’s korrespondent for international politik, gik på, at efter en periode med kaos, hvor “det fornuftige politiske etablissement” var blevet kraftigt miskrediteret, havde 2022 været det bedste år for liberalismen længe.
