The conundrum of socialist organising
Socialists face a conundrum: increasing numbers in the West today say they identify as socialists, but revolutionary socialists remain confined to small groups with little influence, and one of the most important in the US has just dissolved.
When a socialist organization fails: the ISO collapse
In 1981-82 I attended two ISO conferences where American comrades grappled with the need for a fundamental change in methods and, ultimately, leadership in the face of a radical decline in militant struggles. The result was a new leadership committed to a student focused, more propaganda oriented socialist group.
On The Line: A History of the British Columbia Labour Movement by Rod Mickleburgh (Review)
On The Line is an account of BC trade unions by the BC Labour Heritage Centre (an offshoot of the BC Federation of Labour) written by retired Vancouver Sun labour reporter Rod Mickleburgh. In a well illustrated and lively manner he tells the story of workers’ organizations and struggles, from Vancouver Island Coal miners in the 1850s to teachers’ struggles today.
David Graeber. Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. (Review)
In his colourfully titled new book Bullshit Jobs: A Theory, David Graeber expands on an argument he first made in a 2013 essay that first appeared in Strike! That essay, called “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs,” went viral over the internet so quickly that the original web page received over a million hits and crashed the Strike! server.
Labour Pains: Thunder Bay's Working Class in Canada's Wheat Boom Era (Review)
This is a study of working class formation. In particular, it is the story of the most advanced Thunder Bay (then Fort William and Port Arthur) workers from the 1880s to World War One as measured by such forms of autonomous institutional completion as trade unions and political parties.
Is a Planned Economy Possible?
Phillips and Rozworski argue – and demonstrate in The People's Republic of Walmart – that economic life can be organized to meet needs rather than profit by planning through a democratic socialist state.