We are pleased to announce the publication of our seventh pamphlet, “The revolution delayed: a decade of Hugo Chávez”. The pamphlet features the translation of an interview conducted with El Libertario in Caracas by the French anarchist ‘Charles Reeve’, alongside an interview with Loren Goldner, author of Ubu saved from drowning: worker insurgency and statist containment in Spain … Continue reading new pamphlet on chávez’s venezuela
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This month marks the tenth anniversary of Hugo Chávez’s coming to power in Venezuela, and ten years of the “Bolivarian revolution”. This process has included waves of state intervention in the economy and fervent rhetoric against US imperialism. But while some on the left see this Chavista movement as the new “socialism for the 21st … Continue reading the revolution delayed: 10 years of hugo chávez’s rule
by David Broder Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who during his ten years in power has introduced extensive state-capitalist measures based on the country’s oil wealth, has embarrassed his international fan club in recent weeks with a series of gaffes when on diplomatic business. Chávez has long entertained close relations with such “anti-imperialists” as Colonel Gaddafi, … Continue reading hugo chávez the maoist and nicolas sarkozy the socialist
Joe Thorne looks at the evidence, and draws some conclusions The calamity of a people is beneficial to others Libyan Proverb [1] The NATO powers are not intervening in Syria or Bahrain, where pro-democracy movements are also subject to brutal suppression. They did not intervene in Gaza during Cast Lead, or in Tamil Eelam during the … Continue reading what is NATO doing in libya?
David Broder’s thoughts on the cosy ruling-class ties being pulled apart by the Middle East uprising Like many of the great revolutions in history, the current wave of democratic uprisings surprised all the intelligence experts and media pundits. Not only has the hated NUS chief Aaron Porter been displaced in a palace coup, but so … Continue reading a friend in need is a friend indeed…
The next Bristol reading group session is on socialism in Latin America. It will be on Sunday 28th November at Cafe Kino, Ninetree Hill, Stokes Croft, from 6pm. All welcome. See below for suggested reading. It is not expected that you read all the texts – focus on the country or countries you are most … Continue reading bristol reading group 28th november: 21st century socialism in latin america?
The 26th September parliamentary elections saw a fresh clash between President Hugo Chávez’s PSUV and the right-wing opposition. Chávez has won a series of elections since 1998, with the American-backed opposition resorting to military means with their short-lived 2002 coup attempt. However, today Chávez is presiding over a sharp fall in working-class living standards thanks … Continue reading deadlock in venezuela vote
by Nathan Coombs Nowadays it is hard to find many examples of academic leftism crossing paths with real left wing politics. One could even argue that the former might have a negative effect on the latter – the UK is, after all, home to one of the strongest left wing publishing empires and conference circuits … Continue reading maoism meets chavismo? a review of badiou workshop ‘subject and appearance’
The third in a series of interviews with communists from the former Eastern Bloc on the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Can you briefly introduce yourself? I am one of the editors of “Commons” (http://commons.com.ua), a Ukrainian left-wing intellectual web-site aimed at filling the gap in quality leftist analysis that might … Continue reading volodymyr ishchenko: twenty years after the wall fell
by Nathan Coombs In my inaugural review of the Left press in the last issue of The Commune I took us on a journey across what seemed a fairly representative spread of the journals of the Left. On reflection, this taking them one-by-one approach was probably far from adequate: To get a sense of the … Continue reading review of the left press, september 2009
David Broder’s talk to The Commune’s recent Manchester forum The class struggle in Latin America is one that has always roused great interest and a certain romanticism among the western left. The continent has seen a number of heroic struggles against often savage exploitation and state repression, whether by the industrial working class, landless peasants … Continue reading state capitalism and communism-from-below in latin america
We have printed more copies of our series of pamphlets, several of which (in particular the long-unavailable Venezuela pamphlet) were out of print. See below for a list of the seven pamphlets available. They cost £1 +50p postage per copy. To order online, work out the total of your purchases then ‘donate’ the money here, … Continue reading reprints of the commune’s pamphlets – buy online
More copies of our pamphlet series, many of which had sold out, are now available. The text of each of the seven pamphlets is online (see the list of subjects below), but you can also order paper copies – £1 +50p postage per copy. Write to uncaptiveminds@gmail.com to place your order. We take payment by … Continue reading the commune’s pamphlets: reprints now available
by Nathan Coombs In reaction to the global economic crisis, in his cover story for the current issue of Prospect magazine Geoff Mulgan tantalisingly holds out the promise of what life would look like ‘After Capitalism’[i]. The only problem is that his hodgepodge of possible routes beyond capitalism – foremost the vague vision of “servant … Continue reading capitalism, keynes, socialism
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