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Socialism Today 114 - December 2007/January 2008

 

Socialism Today 114 - December 2007/January 2008

Problems of building new workers’ parties

One of the major issues facing workers around the world is political representation. Traditional workers’ organisations have been moving steadily rightwards, abandoning the ideas of socialism. Here PETER TAAFFE draws some lessons from history and from the recent experience of Italy and Germany, while focussing on the latest developments in Brazil.


The crisis in Respect

Respect – the Unity Coalition was founded in 2004 by the anti-war MP, George Galloway, and the Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP). Now, Respect has split acrimoniously down the middle: the SWP on the one side, George Galloway and most other forces in Respect, on the other.

Inevitably, the crisis that has erupted in Respect will be used by some to argue that it is impossible to build a mass force to the left of Labour. This is particularly the case because it is the latest in a number of attempts to build new left formations that have ended in failure, including Arthur Scargill’s Socialist Labour Party, the Scottish Socialist Party, and the Socialist Alliance. However, this argument is entirely false. HANNAH SELL reports.


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Updates

The Lib-Dems
Stuck in the middle with Huhne (or Clegg)

Gun crime
The death of Jean Charles de Menezes

No plan B
The danger of looking for a quick fix

Religion & society
Religion seems to be an inescapable part of politics today. Niall Mulholland writes

China's capitalist counter-revolution
We continue our China Debate series with an article by Vincent Kolo

Indicting imperialism
Robert Fisk's, The Great War for Civilisation

Representing the rich        Nuclear's subsidy

Cover picture: P-Sol protesters at the World Social Forum, Brazil 2005