On 28 December 2013, West Bromwich Albion strike Nicolas Anelka made an anti-Semitic “quenelle” gesture. Anelka says the gesture was an “anti-establishment” tribute to his friend, the comedian Dieudonné M’bala M’bala. Describing himself primarily as an “anti-Zionist”, Dieudonné has become increasingly politically associated with the fascist far-right.
Trotsky was a warrior of internationalism. He did not conclude his analyses with the tired yawn of a dilettante who has just turned out a literary essay and has nothing further to do. The organisation of groups of intelligent, devoted, and zealous men of action to carry out a programme of struggle was not the least of his preoccupations.
If your school-age son is somewhat better than clever in any field
of science, you may have heard the expression: "He's an Einstein."
It is indeed unprecedented that the name of a scientist working in
highly specialized mathematical physics has become a by-word in the
homes of his adopted land. This unique status of Albtrt Einstein rests
not only on his scientific pre-eminence but also upon his keen interest
in social and political affairs.
Dr. Einstein's great scientific works—the Special Theory- of Rela-
The experience of all ages and nations demonstrates that the work done by slaves, though it may appear to cost only their maintenance, is in the end the dearest of any ... [The slave] can have no other interest but to eat as much and to labor as little as possible. Whatever work he does beyond what is sufficient to purchase his own maintenance can be squeezed out of him by violence only, and not by any interest of his own. (Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations)
The British Center of the Socialist Movement for the United States of Europe, in its London conference, October 22-23, attended by delegates or observers from local Labor Parties, the Independent Labor Party, the Commonwealth and Fabian Societies, as well as several unions and
pence organizations, produced a series of resolutions which are of importance to the world socialist movement.
The outbreak of the Second World War has once more put prominently at the top of the order of the day the “Russian question”. The signing of the Hitler-Stalin Pact was followed by the joint invasion of Poland; by the reduction of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to the state of vassals of the Kremlin; by the invasion and seizure of part of Finland by the Red Army; and by speculation and prediction of coming events which, a year ago, would have been waved aside as preposterous.
James P Cannon still has a lot to teach Marxists today and the balance sheet on his life and politics is largely positive (Solidarity 3/56 and 3/57). There is no doubt his decision to support Trotsky in 1928 was of enormous significance in creating the international tendency opposed to Stalinism, on whose shoulders we stand today.
The full pamphlet, "Workers' Power: a tale of kitsch Trotskyism" is now available to download here.
This article was written in 1993 by Martin Thomas and Jim Denham as an introduction to a large collection of documents dealing with Workers' Power
Workers' Power, a tale of kitsch Trotskyism. Documents 1973-93 (available in paper form for £5 post-free from the AWL office).
What Do the Socialists Want? What is socialism? The simplest way to find the answer to these questions is to ask yourself: "What do I want? What do the tens of millions like me throughout the world want?" Everyone has different tastes, different ambitions, different hopes. But almost all are agreed in wanting durable peace in a world free of the scourge of war; security and prosperity in place of unemployment and low standards of living; freedom and equality in place of special privileges, special rights and special powers for the minority, in place of the rule of the many by the few.
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