communists must organise as communists

by Chris Ford

The coalition government has been heralded as the start of a ‘new politics’ and a ‘new era of pluralism’. But for many the buzzwords offer little consolation, there is dread at the return of the Conservatives and resentment amongst those who voted Liberal-Democrat to stop them, some thinking they were ‘to the left of Labour’.

Far from marking a new beginning the election and the coalition has been a demonstration of deception, a deception that there is a ‘national interest’, a deception of political-pluralism and the reality of Parliamentary democracy.

the commune issue 14

The May issue of our monthly paper The Commune is now available. Click the image below to see the PDF or see individual articles as they are posted online in the list below.

To purchase a printed copy for £1 + 50p postage, use the ‘donate’ feature here. You can also subscribe (£12 a year UK/£16 EU/£20 international) or order 5 copies a month to sell (£4) online here. If you want to pay by cheque, contact uncaptiveminds@gmail.com.

beyond resistance: the commune’s 19th june summer school

A day of communist discussion and debate. From 11am-6pm on Sat 19th June at 96-100 Clifton St, London EC2. Details and ticket purchase information below. Download double-sided A5 leaflet or A3 poster.

The last few years have seen a series of crises for our rulers. Millions of us are angry at the ongoing economic crisis, the scandalous behaviour of ‘our’ MPs and the endless wars in the Middle East.

All of these crises are part and parcel of capitalist rule, but rarely is this system itself challenged. We are constantly told there is no alternative to capitalism. Every day at work and in our communities we live out the same capitalist order, the same hierarchies, the same alienation.

the commune issue 13

The April issue of our monthly paper The Commune is now available. Click the image below to see the PDF or see individual articles as they are posted online in the list below

To purchase a printed copy for £1 + 50p postage, use the ‘donate’ feature here. You can also subscribe (£12 a year UK/£16 EU/£20 international) or order 5 copies a month to sell (£4) online here. If you want to pay by cheque, contact uncaptiveminds@gmail.com.

‘we are fighting for now and for our future’ – speeches by Jerry Hicks, Steve Kelly, Juan Carlos Piedra

striking against labour’s budget – by Steve Ryan

recession and solidarity in france – by Ramate Keita

anarcha-fems meet – by Bahar Mustafa

royal mail deal: a post mortem – by ‘Postman Pat’

BA strike: against the race to the bottom – by Gregor Gall

obamacare: the nuns strike back – by Ernie Haberkern

ESOL students and staff defend childcare – by Sally Haywill

20 years of namibian independence – by Jade McClune

terre’blanche, ‘black boers’ and the class war – by Adam Ford

gender, nation, class and the first intifada – by Aitemad Muhannah

the deficit! the deficit! but what about unemployment? – by Oisín Mac Giollamóir

‘blair plus’: a future fair for all? – by David Broder

flying the flag for socialism in scotland – by Ewan Robertson and Angela Gorrie

anna walentynowicz: an inspiring class fighter – by Chris Ford

questions of communist recomposition – by Ed Griffiths

for a league of communists – by Allan Armstrong

political platform of our communist network

upcoming events

global commune day school, edinburgh, 22nd may

Following the success of January’s Global Commune day school (see here) we are holding a further day of discussions in Edinburgh on 22nd May.

There will be workshops on ‘After the election – what next?’; ‘Internationalism from below – a communist perspective’; and ‘How do communists organise?’

questions of communist recomposition

Ed Griffiths of the Communist Corresponding Society contributes to the debate on communist recomposition today.

"The whole period that began in 1917 is over—and the ‘political traditions’ that emerged from it now belong to history"

At times we are doctrinaire, at times we are frivolous,
Plastering over the cracks…
— Louis MacNeice

sheffield communist discussion group, 14th april: alienation

The next Sheffield Communist Discussion Group meeting will be held at 6:30pm, Wednesday 14th April in The Rutland Arms. The topic of the discussion is “Alienation”.

Below is a reading list to give you a general introduction to the topic, but by all means also look elsewhere for further information to enrich the discussion. All welcome, email uncaptiveminds@gmail.com for more info.

issue 12 of the commune

The March issue of our monthly paper The Commune is now available. Click the image below to see the PDF or see individual articles as they are posted online in the list below

To purchase a printed copy for £1 + 50p postage, use the ‘donate’ feature here. You can also subscribe (£12 a year UK/£16 EU/£20 international) or order 5 copies a month to sell (£4) online here. If you want to pay by cheque, contact uncaptiveminds@gmail.com.

a labour of love? – editorial of The Commune

english defence league march on parliament – by Amanda Latimer

strong pickets in two-day PCS strike – by Steve Ryan

turbulent times for public sector – by David Huckerby

student anti-cuts movement has managers running scared – by Tali Janner-Klausner

the lynch mob and our ‘broken society’ – by Adam Ford

michael foot: ‘not here to find elegant solutions’ – by Sharon Borthwick

recession bites in united states – by Dennis Marcucci

lightning strikes twice in greece – by David Broder

dawn of the crisis generation in california – from IndyBay

tory co-ops mean privatisation – by Gregor Gall

no surprises as rat boards sinking ship – by Chris Ford

defend migrant cleaners at UBS! – speeches by Jerry Hicks, Andy Higginbottom, Dave Esterton, comment by Alberto Durango

why does unite employ ISS at its HQ? – letter from Kwasi Agyemang-Prempeh

workers’ councils: red mole of the revolution – by Sheila Cohen

migrant workers across italy strike as one – by Andrea Strippoli

more hunger strikes at yarl’s wood – by Victoria Thompson

the cuts consensus and the general election – by Dave Spencer

should communists stand for parliament? – by Mark Harrison

twenty years after the poll tax – by Allan Armstrong

what is militancy? – by Nathan Coombs

why don’t we side with the humans in avatar? – by Sam Parsa

urgent proposals for dealing with global warming – letter from Chris Miller

another look at the organisation question – communist bulletin group

The following text was published in 1982, over the name “Cormack”.  It is an attempt to draw lessons from the Bolshevik experience, not only for the abstract “theory of the party”, but also for the concrete problems of communist organisation we face in the here and now, when any  emergence of anything you might call a revolutionary party is far, far over the horizon.

The article was written by a member of the Communist Bulletin Group, a group which had split with the British section of the International Communist Current.  The article is therefore framed in part as a critique of the ICC and, tangentially, the Communist Workers Organisation, another group in the “left communist” milieu.  We are not republishing this article, however, for what it says about intra-left debate (the criticisms may or may not have been valid for all we know).  However, the criticisms raised will be familiar to many who have adopted dissident positions within any of the major revolutionary left organisations.

the london commune: introduction to marx’s communism

This spring The Commune in London will be holding a series of educational discussions on the communism of Karl Marx as part of our organising meetings.

On each of the following Mondays (separated by three week intervals) we will have an hour’s discussion on a theme or text followed by an hour of planning for movement events and organising in the capital. See below for the list of dates and texts.

what is ‘militancy’?

by Nathan Coombs

The word militancy’s usage generally refers to non-state military groups pursuing an ideological programme. In the way in which the term is deployed in the media, it is thus used as an ambiguous half way house between more legitimate terms such as, say, activist group, and the more loaded term extremists, or terrorists.

the global commune: communism for the 21st century

On January 16th Edinburgh played host to the ‘Global Commune’ day school, hosted by Scotland’s Republican Communist Network and supported by The Commune.

Although we are faced with the greatest crisis of capitalism for decades, the majority of socialists today are not prepared to make the case for a viable alternative social order to get us beyond the ever-deepening capitalist crisis.

The objective of the day school was to develop communist thinking on what kind of society we want to create and how that relates to our activism and our slogans in the context of today.

beyond the party-state, beyond the big bang

A paper by Nathan Coombs for Sunday’s Communist Theory Forum

Wherever we look in the history of communist politics we see states which in one form or another have become dictatorships; the economic and political structures reduced to stifling bureaucracies. Can this be explained merely by recourse to contingent factors: the fact that revolution did not break out in Europe in the 1920s, imperialism against the socialist states during the Cold War, and so on?

The tempting answer for communists is to focus on these facts, lump the blame at the feet of Stalinism, or the leaderships of the Communist parties. This way guilt is apportioned and we can rest secure that the fundamental idea is fine; it is just the flawed implementation at the source of the problems, or the external pressures at work. Such an approach can be surmised by the optimistic refrain: ‘never mind, things will work out fine next time!’

issue 11 of the commune

The February issue of our monthly paper The Commune is now available. Click the image below to see the PDF, or see articles as they are posted online in the list below.

To purchase a printed copy for £1 + 50p postage, use the ‘donate’ feature here. You can also subscribe (£12 a year UK/£16 EU/£20 international) or order 5 copies a month to sell (£4) online here. If you want to pay by cheque, contact uncaptiveminds@gmail.com.