Social Movement

Climate and Class Struggle

Climate chaos will hit the poor and the working class the hardest. A fighting movement is needed to demand climate justice, argues John Clarke
Policing political speech: the big threat from Big Tech

Writing for Spring Magazine, David Bush looks at the threat Big Tech poses to ideas which challenge the status quo
Social movements can beat attacks on the right to protest - podcast

Chris Nineham speaks to David Jamieson about the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill, and the ways social movements can resist attacks on the right to protest
Latin America: a new ‘Pink Tide’?

In Latin America popular movements rejecting neoliberalism are fusing with a left electoral resurgence to make a second ‘Pink Tide’ possible, argues Jonathan Maunders
Poland’s abortion ruling: collapsing conservatism

The women's movement taking on the Polish government's draconian abortion ruling is developing into a broader political force, writes Reece Goscinski
France rises against the security law: a growing convergence of struggles

Nationwide protests against Macron’s ‘comprehensive security’ law have forced a government retreat while reinforcing links between trade unions and social movements, writes Susan Ram
Don’t give up! Educate, organise and fight

As part of our series on the future of the left in and out of Labour, Laura Smith outlines a path forward
Imperialism is driven back in Bolivia

The return of Evo Morales to Bolivia symbolises the defeat of the Washington-driven coup following the election last month, writes John Clarke
Mary Wollstonecraft statue is a poor representation of her radical ideas

The new statue commemorating Mary Wollstonecraft will disappoint socialists and feminists as it fails to represent what she stood for, argues Lindsey German
Is this the end for Trump?

Donald Trump's approval ratings are low, but can that be converted into an election defeat? Kate O'Neil looks in more detail
The racist brutality of Canada’s police

Police brutality and wider societal marginalisation of people will be challenged as the BLM movement gathers pace, says John Clarke
Marxist Literary Criticism Today - book review

Barbara Foley’s introduction reflects the strengths but also some of the weaknesses of contemporary Marxist writing on literature, finds Dragan Plavšić
Straight talking honest politics - As It Happened book extract

Counterfire Books have published an anthology of Lindsey German’s acclaimed briefing reports. Here we present an extract from the book’s introduction as a contribution to a wider debate on post-Corbynism.
As It Happened: Briefings From Two Years of Turmoil, 2017-2019

A selection of Lindsey German's briefings from the 2017 to the 2019 general elections which present an analysis of Corbynism and the state of British politics as it happened
10 years of Counterfire

Marking ten years since the launch of Counterfire, Alex Snowdon reflects on why the organisation was set up and some of what we have achieved in the last decade
The planet is on fire: build the climate strike

Business as usual makes a climate catastrophe inevitable. It is time to stop business as usual. Join the global climate strike on 20 September, writes Bill Perry
The Mobilization and Demobilization of Middle-Class Revolt - book review

An analysis of hegemony and consciousness among the economically distressed middle class of Argentina provides lessons for activists everywhere, finds Orlando Hill
Extinction Rebellion: a movement recharged

Environmental politics has been given a much-needed shot in the arm, reports Bill Perry
Building Power from Below: Chilean Workers Take on Walmart - book review

The success of trade-union organising in Walmart within Chile shows the potential social power of workers in the most difficult circumstances, finds Orlando Hill
Marx and the fight against climate change - Counterfire Media Podcast

Elaine Graham-Leigh and Tom Lock Griffiths discuss the Marxist perspective on ecology and the fight against climate change in the third episode of Counterfire Media's Podcast
Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump - book review

Mistaken Identity reveals identity politics as the strategy of defeat, but solidarities are built through engagement in existing movements, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh
Corbyn and the mainstream media: a case-study in fake news

Since Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party, the media attacks have been relentless. T. J Coles, author of new book Real Fake News, examines
Corbyn makes defiant speech as thousands welcome him to Liverpool

At a Labour rally at Liverpool's pier on the eve of Conference, Jeremy Corbyn gave a radical speech to rapturous applause and loud chanting
What's wrong with the IHRA definition? - video

A short video explaining why adopting the full IHRA definition would be a mistake for Labour
The dangers we face

The current ascendancy of the left in the UK is beset by serious threats. They must be faced and defeated, argues John Rees
We stopped Trump

Over 250,000 people marched through central London on a Friday, and Pete Morgan argues that together we stopped Trump
Victory as Ireland votes to repeal the 8th amendment

As the results from the referendum in Ireland come in, it looks as though the Irish people have voted overwhelmingly to repeal draconian anti-abortion laws, Elly Badcock reports
The Corbyn Moment - video

Some clips from the speeches made at The Corbyn Moment event in London filmed and edited by Paul Merron
The Corbyn Moment

It is now more than ever the time to transform Labour into a social movement, argues Mark Perryman
The left surge in France: a breakthrough in the making?

On the eve of the presidential election in France, Feyzi Ismail talks to Danièle Obono, a leading figure in the campaign of left-wing hopeful Jean-Luc Mélenchon
Excitement in the French elections: the meaning of Jean-Luc Mélenchon

The leftwinger's inspiring campaign raises crucial questions about the potential and limits of state action in favour of the working class, writes John Mullen
Keeping up: How Corbyn and the left can break through

The fortunes of the Corbyn project and the wider movement are intertwined, argues Ben Myers
Corbyn: how to play the media

Des Freedman considers the pitfalls of delivering a socialist message on a hostile media terrain
Owen Jones has got it wrong about Jeremy Corbyn

Owen Jones is wrong to compare Corbyn's foreign policy to that of Ed Miliband, writes Lindsey German
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth

With Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, we have the possibility of winning millions to radical change, writes Chris Nineham
The fight is on - help us hit our campaign target

We need your help to finance the resistance
Politics is hotting up, not just in Westminster

The Tories and Labour are tearing themselves apart, but looking beyond Westminster, various movements are growing in strength, reports Lindsey German
Black Lives Matter spreads to Britain

As racist attacks escalate in the US, and continue in the UK, the show of solidarity from Britain's streets is inspiring, writes Shabbir Lakha
Brazil: the movement strikes back

The lower house of Brazil's parliament has moved to annul Rousseff's impeachment, but only the movements can stop the coup. Orlando Hill introduces and translates an official statement from CUT
Sticker Campaign: Sticking it to the Tories

#StickItToTheTories is a Britain-wide sticker distribution campaign supported by the People's Assembly
Don’t just watch: The logic of Corbyn’s rise revealed

Corbyn's rise is only the most recent expression of a long term trend towards a more radical and left-wing politics, argues Chris Nineham
Corbyn, electability and the Middle England myth

Chris Nineham challenges the ‘Corbyn just won’t play in Middle England’ argument
Refugees, solidarity and anti-racism

Tens of thousands of refugees have organised and triggered a wave of social solidarity which in some countries is unprecedented writes Kevin Ovenden
Corbyn's enemies are panicked, will they pounce?

As the vote gets underway and particularly if Corbyn wins, what the movement does remains crucial argues Chris Nineham
Jeremy Corbyn calls for mass protests at Tory Conference

Jeremy Corbyn tells John Rees why his campaign aims to be a social movement and urges everyone who opposes austerity to demonstrate at Tory Conference in October
What's behind the Corbyn surge and why it matters

As underdog becomes front-runner Chris Nineham looks at the factors behind the Corbyn surge
South Africa after Marikana: an interview with Trevor Ngwane

South African socialist and anti-apartheid activist Trevor Ngwane is interviewed by Susan Newman
Radical: what’s in a word?

No solution can be really radical that attempts to avoid, diminish or circumvent the direct participation of the masses argues John Rees
On Saturday we became a movement - now we must organise to defeat the government

Saturday's march demonstrated that the People's Assembly is now a genuine mass movement, now we have to take it to a higher stage writes Lindsey German
Why Stop the War supports Jeremy Corbyn's campaign to be Labour leader

We can all help to build Jeremy Corbyn's campaign, to see a strong alternative voice to war and austerity gets the hearing it deserves
What makes a movement?

Change comes from mass action by working people - and as the movement grows, socialist organisation in the movement needs to grow too writes Chris Nineham
Revolutionising reformism

It will be up to the radicals and revolutionaries to make the case for an effective, modern reformism - a minimum set of demands, as a prelude to further radicalization - argues James Meadway
Working together, winning together

Tony Dowling reports from this week's NUT conference
The crisis of British politics

A resolution on the crisis of British politics passed at Counterfire National Conference 2015. Submitted by the Steering Committee
The Contradictions of Media Power

Des Freedman shows how the media is neither a simple monolith of power, nor a free-market of ideas, but that its contradictions allow mass movements to exert real pressure, argues Lindy Syson
Dispatches from hope: a primer on the Greek election

The fight is on for an alternative to neoliberalism. In the first of a regular series of reports from Greece, Kevin Ovenden explains the significance of this month's Greek general election
Movements can make history - but revolutions don’t just happen

Chris Nineham argues that two new Marxist books about social movements reflect a common tendency to downplay the conscious, organised element in the way change happens
The crisis of the British regime: democracy, protest and the unions

The British political regime faces a crisis of confidence. This report presents empirical evidence for the democratic deficit, growing protest, the state of the trade unions and the strategic implications for the left

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Social Movement

Social Movement

Climate chaos will hit the poor and the working class the hardest. A fighting movement is needed to demand climate justice, argues John Clarke

Writing for Spring Magazine, David Bush looks at the threat Big Tech poses to ideas which challenge the status quo

Chris Nineham speaks to David Jamieson about the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill, and the ways social movements can resist attacks on the right to protest

In Latin America popular movements rejecting neoliberalism are fusing with a left electoral resurgence to make a second ‘Pink Tide’ possible, argues Jonathan Maunders

The women's movement taking on the Polish government's draconian abortion ruling is developing into a broader political force, writes Reece Goscinski

Nationwide protests against Macron’s ‘comprehensive security’ law have forced a government retreat while reinforcing links between trade unions and social movements, writes Susan Ram

As part of our series on the future of the left in and out of Labour, Laura Smith outlines a path forward

The return of Evo Morales to Bolivia symbolises the defeat of the Washington-driven coup following the election last month, writes John Clarke

The new statue commemorating Mary Wollstonecraft will disappoint socialists and feminists as it fails to represent what she stood for, argues Lindsey German

Donald Trump's approval ratings are low, but can that be converted into an election defeat? Kate O'Neil looks in more detail

Police brutality and wider societal marginalisation of people will be challenged as the BLM movement gathers pace, says John Clarke

Barbara Foley’s introduction reflects the strengths but also some of the weaknesses of contemporary Marxist writing on literature, finds Dragan Plavšić

Counterfire Books have published an anthology of Lindsey German’s acclaimed briefing reports. Here we present an extract from the book’s introduction as a contribution to a wider debate on post-Corbynism.

A selection of Lindsey German's briefings from the 2017 to the 2019 general elections which present an analysis of Corbynism and the state of British politics as it happened

Marking ten years since the launch of Counterfire, Alex Snowdon reflects on why the organisation was set up and some of what we have achieved in the last decade

Business as usual makes a climate catastrophe inevitable. It is time to stop business as usual. Join the global climate strike on 20 September, writes Bill Perry

An analysis of hegemony and consciousness among the economically distressed middle class of Argentina provides lessons for activists everywhere, finds Orlando Hill

Environmental politics has been given a much-needed shot in the arm, reports Bill Perry

The success of trade-union organising in Walmart within Chile shows the potential social power of workers in the most difficult circumstances, finds Orlando Hill

Elaine Graham-Leigh and Tom Lock Griffiths discuss the Marxist perspective on ecology and the fight against climate change in the third episode of Counterfire Media's Podcast

Mistaken Identity reveals identity politics as the strategy of defeat, but solidarities are built through engagement in existing movements, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

Since Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party, the media attacks have been relentless. T. J Coles, author of new book Real Fake News, examines

At a Labour rally at Liverpool's pier on the eve of Conference, Jeremy Corbyn gave a radical speech to rapturous applause and loud chanting

A short video explaining why adopting the full IHRA definition would be a mistake for Labour

The current ascendancy of the left in the UK is beset by serious threats. They must be faced and defeated, argues John Rees

Over 250,000 people marched through central London on a Friday, and Pete Morgan argues that together we stopped Trump

As the results from the referendum in Ireland come in, it looks as though the Irish people have voted overwhelmingly to repeal draconian anti-abortion laws, Elly Badcock reports

Some clips from the speeches made at The Corbyn Moment event in London filmed and edited by Paul Merron

It is now more than ever the time to transform Labour into a social movement, argues Mark Perryman

On the eve of the presidential election in France, Feyzi Ismail talks to Danièle Obono, a leading figure in the campaign of left-wing hopeful Jean-Luc Mélenchon

The leftwinger's inspiring campaign raises crucial questions about the potential and limits of state action in favour of the working class, writes John Mullen

The fortunes of the Corbyn project and the wider movement are intertwined, argues Ben Myers

Des Freedman considers the pitfalls of delivering a socialist message on a hostile media terrain

Owen Jones is wrong to compare Corbyn's foreign policy to that of Ed Miliband, writes Lindsey German

With Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader, we have the possibility of winning millions to radical change, writes Chris Nineham

We need your help to finance the resistance

The Tories and Labour are tearing themselves apart, but looking beyond Westminster, various movements are growing in strength, reports Lindsey German

As racist attacks escalate in the US, and continue in the UK, the show of solidarity from Britain's streets is inspiring, writes Shabbir Lakha

The lower house of Brazil's parliament has moved to annul Rousseff's impeachment, but only the movements can stop the coup. Orlando Hill introduces and translates an official statement from CUT

#StickItToTheTories is a Britain-wide sticker distribution campaign supported by the People's Assembly

Corbyn's rise is only the most recent expression of a long term trend towards a more radical and left-wing politics, argues Chris Nineham

Chris Nineham challenges the ‘Corbyn just won’t play in Middle England’ argument

Tens of thousands of refugees have organised and triggered a wave of social solidarity which in some countries is unprecedented writes Kevin Ovenden

As the vote gets underway and particularly if Corbyn wins, what the movement does remains crucial argues Chris Nineham

Jeremy Corbyn tells John Rees why his campaign aims to be a social movement and urges everyone who opposes austerity to demonstrate at Tory Conference in October

As underdog becomes front-runner Chris Nineham looks at the factors behind the Corbyn surge

South African socialist and anti-apartheid activist Trevor Ngwane is interviewed by Susan Newman

No solution can be really radical that attempts to avoid, diminish or circumvent the direct participation of the masses argues John Rees

Saturday's march demonstrated that the People's Assembly is now a genuine mass movement, now we have to take it to a higher stage writes Lindsey German

We can all help to build Jeremy Corbyn's campaign, to see a strong alternative voice to war and austerity gets the hearing it deserves

Change comes from mass action by working people - and as the movement grows, socialist organisation in the movement needs to grow too writes Chris Nineham

It will be up to the radicals and revolutionaries to make the case for an effective, modern reformism - a minimum set of demands, as a prelude to further radicalization - argues James Meadway

Tony Dowling reports from this week's NUT conference

A resolution on the crisis of British politics passed at Counterfire National Conference 2015. Submitted by the Steering Committee

Des Freedman shows how the media is neither a simple monolith of power, nor a free-market of ideas, but that its contradictions allow mass movements to exert real pressure, argues Lindy Syson

The fight is on for an alternative to neoliberalism. In the first of a regular series of reports from Greece, Kevin Ovenden explains the significance of this month's Greek general election

Chris Nineham argues that two new Marxist books about social movements reflect a common tendency to downplay the conscious, organised element in the way change happens

The British political regime faces a crisis of confidence. This report presents empirical evidence for the democratic deficit, growing protest, the state of the trade unions and the strategic implications for the left