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Credo of the Labour Left

“What was your original political formation? What special influences were at work?” read more

Politics and War in the Thought of Mao Tse-tung

“War politics, politics war—each ‘continues’ the other: ‘After several decades, the victory of the Chinese people’s democratic revolution, viewed in retrospect, will seem like only a brief prologue to a long drama.’” read more

'Containment and Revolution'

“David Horowitz ed.: Containment and Revolution: Western Policy Towards Social Revolution, 1917 to Vietnam (Studies in Imperialism and the Cold War No 1), Anthony Blond, 35s. hardback 15s. paperback.” read more

Introduction to Glucksmann

“Engels was a military historian; in August 1917 Lenin took Clausewitz’s On War with him into hiding; Mao Tse-tung and Vo Nguyen Giap are famed for their military writings. But in the twentieth century West, Marxists have largely ignored military strategy, and have remained obstinately oblivious of recent . . .” read more

The Three Dreams of Scottish Nationalism

“Modern Scottish Nationalism has led a fluctuating, intermittent existence since 1853. Now, quite suddenly, it has become a more serious political reality. In the past it has gone through many renaissances, followed by even more impressive and longer-lasting collapses into inertia; but the present upsurge looks likely to . . .” read more

Reply to Ernest Mandel

“Ernest Mandel’s reply to my critique of Trotsky’s Marxism requires some comment. It may be most rewarding to consider the three fundamental questions he raises, and focus discussion on these. Most of the local issues at dispute will be resolved in so doing. The whole aim of my . . .” read more

Germany and Marxism

“How do you judge the present trend in Germany towards the possible eruption of a new nationalism, as evidenced by the NPD, and the electoral successes which that party has scored in several of the Länder? Do you really see in this a genuine, and acute, danger for . . .” read more

Trotsky’s Marxism: An Anti-Critique

“Nicolas Krassó’s critique of Trotsky’s political thought and activities, which appeared in issue No. 44 of the New Left Review, provides a welcome occasion to unravel some of the misconceptions and prejudices about the historical role of the founder of the Red Army, which still haunt a large . . .” read more

The Role of Militancy

“Interview with Hugh Scanlon” read more

The Question of Revolution

“First Question: It is said that Marx’s concept of revolution, will not stand up to the new facts of industrial society. It has become an anachronism; it no longer has any constituency. The working class, in Marx’s opinion the historical subject of all future social upheavals, has dissolved . . .” read more

Problems of Revolutionary Strategy in Latin America

“These notes are designed to answer the following question: how has the Cuban Revolution modified the bloody class struggle which opposes the popular masses to imperialism and the national oligarchies in power in Latin America? What is the explanation for the slow tempo and apparent difficulties which revolutionary . . .” read more

The Syrian Enigma: What Is the Baath?

“A few weeks before the Israeli-Arab conflict last June, an uncharitable commentator compared the Baath to Samson. Blinded and weakened like the Biblical hero, he wrote, the party in power in Syria was doing its best to pull down the pillars of the temple which would kill it. . . .” read more

The Marxism of Regis Debray

“As we go to press, Régis Debray is about to stand trial in Bolivia. The military authorities who claim to try him have announced him in advance ‘guilty’ of the fabricated charges against him. The story of his arrest, torture and imprisonment when on a journalistic mission to . . .” read more

Trotsky’s Marxism

“For many years, Trotsky was an impossible subject for a Marxist. The struggle in the Bolshevik Party in the twenties produced such a violent polarization of his image within the international working-class movement that all rational discussion of his person and works ceased. The anathema pronounced by Stalin . . .” read more

Introduction to Poulantzas

“In this issue, we are publishing an essay by Nicos Poulantzas, a young Greek philosopher working in Paris, on the analysis of English history and society pursued by Tom Nairn and Perry Anderson in New Left Review, and contested by Edward Thompson in The Socialist Register, in the . . .” read more

Marxist Political Theory in Britain

“In the last few years an important current of Marxist thought has emerged in Great Britain. The editorial committee of New Left Review, particularly Perry Anderson and Tom Nairn, have undertaken a political study of the structures of British society in a number of articles, which include Anderson’s . . .” read more

Indian Realities

“The world seems suddenly to have woken up to the fact that India is in a mess—because it has been extremely badly governed. British liberals and socialists have been among the chief perpetrators of the myths that India is a democracy and that the forces of democracy are . . .” read more

Inequality and Exploitation

“Britain remains a country where the concentration of wealth is still one of the highest in the world. This is a fact that has significance for all societies of the capitalist type. After all, Britain has had one of the strongest Labour movements of any advanced capitalist country. . . .” read more

Second Thoughts on Ghana

“The interest of ‘Ghana: End of an Illusion’ far transcends its immediate subject. In reality it exposes two ‘illusions’: on the one hand, the absence of lucidity and consistency in the anti-imperialist and ‘socialist’ strategy applied by the Ghanaian political leadership under Nkrumah; on the other, the willing . . .” read more

In My Own Land

“Philip Callow: In my own land. Photographs by James Bridgen. Times Press. 35s.” read more

On Richard Pryke’s 'Labour and the City'

“Ben Brewster writes:” read more

Bolivia

“The inauguration of René Barrientos Ortuño as the ‘constitutional’ president of Bolivia on August 6th, 1966 represented the consolidation of military rule in that unfortunate land-locked Andean republic. More important than the mere consolidation of military rule, however, was the armed forces’ ability to move away from outright . . .” read more

Labour and the City: The Predictable Crisis

“At one point in their lives Labour Party spokesmen must have repeated their criticisms of ‘Stop-Go’ even in their sleep. Yet, on July 20th, 1966 Wilson announced the most savage set of deflationary measures since the war. How did this great repudiation come about?” read more

Socialism, Democracy and the State

“Few problems have been more fiercely debated on the left than that of democracy in a socialist state—and few are so lacking in studies in depth. In a book that appeared in France last year a group of dissident members of the French Communist Party under the pseudonym . . .” read more

Socialism and Pseudo-Empiricism

“In a voice choking with anger, Edward Thompson has denounced the historical and theoretical work on British society developed in this review. In twenty years of public life, no other group or individual has earned the kind of unprovoked attack he has launched over some fifty pages of . . .” read more

Statement of Aims

“For socialists in Britain, no task is now more important and urgent than the reassertion, by word and deed, of socialist principles and purposes.” read more

Guilt by Association

“For many years, the Iranian Secret Police have been angered by vocal opposition to the régime on the part of students in Europe. Recently, a golden opportunity came their way to intimidate dissident students by threatening them with the firing squad when they returned home. In April last . . .” read more

The Trap of an Incomes Policy

“When the Labour Party came to power last year, it was widely believed in the Labour movement that this was the beginning of a long period of socialist construction. Planning would replace the anarchy of the market and Britain would be forced to the left, both by the . . .” read more

Post-Liberal-Democracy?

“It is quite generally thought to be commendable, but only marginally worth-while, for a political theorist to devote any great attention to economic assumptions, much less to economic theory. The general separatist trend of political science is quite understandable. As political science becomes a more confident, more developed, . . .” read more

Latin America: The Long March

“The following notes are the outcome of a long period spent in South America, side by side with revolutionary militants of every kind. I have attempted to understand these men and the beliefs which move them, on the spot—where I knew them: in Venezuela in the guerilla front . . .” read more

'The Challenor Case'

“The Challenor Case. Mary Grigg. Penguin Books. 3s. 6d.” read more

Labour Imperialism

“Unique among governments of the Left, the Labour Government has done more than fail its friends: it has even disappointed its enemies. Disillusion over its foreign policy is almost universal. The liberal opponents of socialism have been criticizing its inert conservatism for some time; now even the pillars . . .” read more

The Ghanaian Road

“Dennis Austin’s recent study of post-war Ghanaian politics, fruit of long residence and activity in Ghana and rich in narrative excitement, deserves a two-fold attention. It is by far the most informed account we have or are likely to have of this exemplary decolonization; and it utterly and . . .” read more

The New Nation-States

“The ‘Third World’ is that vast region, stretching over parts of three continents, which has left behind the past but not yet arrived in the present; which belongs neither to the capitalist camp nor to the communist, but feels the pull of both; which is staring about it . . .” read more

The British Left

“Any analysis of the state of the Left in Britain must begin with an analysis of the nature of the Labour Party. For here is a mass party, based on an essentially undivided trade union movement. For at least the last 20 years, it has been always a . . .” read more

Ethiopia

“The successful overthrow of Abboud’s long-standing military despotism in the Sudan in late 1964 was a major victory for revolutionary forces everywhere in Africa. It transformed, almost overnight, the prospects of the Congolese National Liberation Army—rendering impossible a consolidation of counter-revolution in the Congo. At the same time, . . .” read more

The Left in the Fifties

“For a decade in Britain, under Conservative rule, there was a recognizable and active Left. Now at last there is a Labour Government. But there is no longer, in the same sense, a Left. This paradox must be the starting-point of any consideration of the tasks confronting socialists . . .” read more

'Evolution or Chaos: Dynamics of Latin American Government and Politics'

“Evolution or Chaos: Dynamics of Latin American Government and Politics.” read more

The Nature of the Labour Party (Part II)

“What is the main justification of Labourism, put forward by socialists at its birth and still advanced by its apologists? What is the cry that rings out at every Labour Party Conference, to repress all serious dissent and maintain the incredible system intact? That Labourism attains the unity . . .” read more

The Nature of the Labour Party (Part I)

“The British Labour Party is obviously one of the greatest political forces of the capitalist world. With its six million and more members, it is by far the largest of social-democratic parties. The twelve million votes cast in its favour at the last General Election were the votes . . .” read more

The Limits of the Welfare State

“Social welfare or the social services, operating through agencies, institutions and programs outside the private market, are becoming more difficult to define in any society with any precision. As societies become more complex and specialized, so do systems of social welfare. Functionally, they reflect and respond to the . . .” read more

Critique of Wilsonism

“The relatively stable equilibrium, which defined British politics and society for a decade, has now broken down. The crisis of the traditional English hegemonic class, under whose rule British capitalism has in recent years so visibly declined, threatens the long supremacy of the Conservative Party. It would be . . .” read more

One-Dimensional Man

“The thesis of Herbert Marcuse’s book One-Dimensional Man is as follows. When dialectical rationality was first brought to bear on the historical process in the early 19th century it was clear, to any one who was prepared to look at the facts, that there existed an identifiable body . . .” read more

Capitalism without Classes?

“The years since the early 1950’s have echoed with the claim that the old class structure of capitalism is steadily dissolving. The labels attached to that new order of society which is believed to be emerging from the ruins of the old—the ‘welfare state’, the ‘affluent society’, the . . .” read more

Political Process and Economic Development in Brazil (Part II)

“3. The role of the Class struggle” read more

Political Process and Economic Development in Brazil (Part I)

“In the last 40 years, the people of Brazil have broken stifling traditional constraints on their life, and have begun to develop their productive forces, to renovate their social institutions and to frame innumerable projects for the mastery of their own future. As they turn away from the . . .” read more

Pensions, Equality and Socialism

“Discussions and proposals about pensions seem to increase in number and complexity. But for socialists the criterion by which the effectiveness of any set of proposals is to be judged would, at first sight, appear to be a simple one. Our society is characterized by gross inequalities in . . .” read more

The English Working Class

“The English working class is one of the enigmas of modern history. Its development as a class is divided into two great phases, and there appears at first sight to be hardly any connection between them.” read more

'African Socialism'

“African Socialism. Fenner Brockway. Bodley Head, 12s. 6d.” read more

'The Fighting Task Confronting Workers in Philosophy and the Social Sciences'

“The Fighting Task Confronting Workers in Philosophy and the Social Sciences. Chou Yang. Foreign Languages Press, Peking, is.” read more