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Podcast: the Levellers and John Lilburne

A podcast by Londonist Out Loud discussing the Levellers with John Rees
John Lilburne: free-born 400 years ago…and still the man of the hour

Saturday 14 March sees the Lilburne 400 conference in London. The Leveller leader should be remembered for many reasons, not least his commitment to building revolutionary organisation, says John Rees
Debunking the 'clash of civilisations'

We need to refute the idea that we're living through a 'Clash of Civilisations' between the West and Islam - it's dangerous bunkum argues Chris Bambery
Their Magna Carta and ours

Magna Carta was a small but significant crack in the edifice of class oppression which remains to be fully torn down writes Sean Ledwith
Silvertown: The Lost Story Of A Strike That Shook London And Helped Launch The Modern Labour Movement

John Tully’s history of the Silvertown strike reveals industrial and imperial connections, and the nature of the worker’s struggle against them at a crucial period, argues John Westmoreland
Romanticism and Caricature

The tradition of political caricature in Britain, whose classic phase was 1790-1832, is revealed by Ian Haywood’s Romanticism and Caricature, finds Jacqueline Mulhallen
Sylvia Pankhurst's Christmas parties for peace

Katherine Connelly tells of how the radical Suffragette gave East End kids a glimmer of hope in the depths of World War I
Football V War: new film marks 1914 Christmas Truce Centenary

A new film by Philosophy Football explores the potential for sport as resistance. Featuring Grace Petrie, Jimmy Ross, Finlay Allison, Kate Smurthwaite, Simon Munnery and Musa Okwonga
Frederic Jameson: The Project of Dialectical Criticism

Robert Tally's study provides a crisp and coherent guide to the thought of a figure future generations, hopefully, will look back on as one of the prophets of their utopia writes Sean Ledwith
Berlin: the wall that came down and the walls that went up

John Rees was reporting from Berlin 25 years ago as the demonstrations which brought down the Stalinist dictatorship reached their peak. Here he reflects on the consequences of the fall of the Berlin Wall
The Darkest Days: The Truth Behind Britain’s Rush to War, 1914

A new account of the weeks before the outbreak of World War I explodes the myth that Britain played an in any way commendable role in the events that led to the catastrophe of August 1914, finds Dominic Alexander
A Marxist History of the Second World War

Chris Bambery’s account of World War II shows how imperialist schemes and interests meant that it was far from a simple story of a heroic struggle against fascism, finds Peter Stauber
Gough Whitlam – the Australian Prime Minister deposed by the Monarchy

Gough Whitlam, the Australian Social Democratic Prime Minister deposed by Elizabeth II has died aged 98
Hey Wilshaw! Leave them kids alone!

Ofsted head Sir Michael Wilshaw’s ideas about ‘discipline’ have much in common with Victorian methods and little to do with real education writes John Westmoreland
Made in Britain: how the Tories armed both sides in the Iran-Iraq war

Kit Klarenberg looks at how the Thatcher government secretly armed both sides in the war between Iran and Iraq
The People. The Rise and Fall of the Working Class 1910-2010

Selina Todd’s The People is a very welcome and successful assertion of the centrality of working-class experience and power in the history of the twentieth century
A People’s History of Scotland: World War I and Protest

In this final extract from A People’s History of Scotland, Chris Bambery reveals the range of protests during and opposition to the First World War that erupted in Scotland
A People’s History of Scotland: The Radical Wars

In this second extract from A People’s History of Scotland, Chris Bambery discusses working-class movements of the early nineteenth century
A People’s History of Scotland: The Union of 1707

In this first extract of three from A People’s History of Scotland, Chris Bambery describes the social conflict that accompanied the elite deal that was the Union of Scotland and England in 1707
1934: American workers in revolt

In 1934 three mighty strikes brought the bosses and bankers to their knees and ushered in a new era of labour-capital relations in the United States writes Sean Ledwith
Sylvia Pankhurst: Militancy and Mass Mobilisation

Pankhurst’s commitment to working class politics offered a more fruitful strategy for the women’s suffrage movement, compared to the middle class strategy of the leaders of the WSPU
Chavez, Venezuela, and the ‘Bolivarian revolution’

The radical reforms of Hugo Chavez are gains to be defended and a platform for further advance towards a revolutionary transformation of society argues Neil Faulkner
Art and Conflict: Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette, Socialist and Scourge of Empire

As a young artist at the turn of the 20^th century, Sylvia Pankhurst battled discrimination in the institutional art world, while also developing strong political commitments
The Nicaraguan revolution

Neil Faulkner looks at how the US set out to destroy the Sandinista regime and with it any possibility of a wider Central American revolution
Sylvia Pankhurst: War and Imperialism

Sylvia Pankhurst’s activism during the First World War demonstrated her unwavering commitment to anti-imperialism - a thread running through all her activity for the rest of her life
Emiliano Zapata and the Mexican revolution

Neil Faulkner looks at the rise and fall of Zapatismo: revolution from below by the common people of the countryside
Introduction to Sylvia Pankhurst: Suffragette, Socialist and Scourge of Empire

In this extract from her book, Katherine Connelly explains the context and continuities of Sylvia’s many political engagements - too often ignored in standard accounts of her life
Simon Bolivar and the Spanish-American revolutions

Neil Faulkner looks at the rolling wave of revolutions in the Spanish Empire's New World colonies between 1808 and 1826
Toussaint L’Ouverture and the Haitian slave revolution

Neil Faulkner looks at the birth of the Republic of Haiti – an independent black-ruled state created by slave revolution
A Marxist History of the World: Making the future

Historian Neil Faulkner concludes A Marxist History of the World by looking at what that history can tell us about the possibility for radical social change
A Marxist History of the World part 106: The Second Great Depression

Four years after the beginning of the crisis, the neoliberal elite is trapped by the contradictions of the system on which its wealth depends, writes Neil Faulkner
A Marxist History of the World part 105: The 2008 Crash: from bubble to black hole

The financial crisis represents the end of an era in which greed and casino-madness had been given free rein by market deregulation and rising debt
A Marxist History of the World part 104: 2001: 9/11, the War on Terror, and the New Imperialism

The Al-Qaida terror attacks allowed the great powers to justify new imperialist wars to safeguard the interests of global capital, writes Neil Faulkner
A Marxist History of the World part 103: 1989: the fall of Stalinism

The revolutions of 1989 represent great victories for mass action, but they were limited in effect, writes Neil Faulkner
A Marxist History of the World part 102: What is neoliberalism?

The ‘free-market’ theory provides a pseudo-scientific justification for the greed and poverty endemic to the system, and the main beneficiaries are the global mega-corporations of neoliberal capitalism
A Marxist History of the World part 101: The Long Recession

By the early 1970s, the levers of state economic management had stopped working and the world economy entered a long period of stagnation
A Marxist History of the World part 100:1968-1975: the workers’ revolt

As the crisis of capitalism spread around the world, the working class took centre stage – but the revolt did not result in successful revolution anywhere, writes Neil Faulkner
A Marxist History of the World part 99: 1968 - the long sleep ends

The long sleep of the post-war period was brought to an end in 1968, as revolts erupted across the developed world, writes Neil Faulkner
A Marxist History of the World part 98: The Vietnam War

Neil Faulkner explains how an army of peasant guerrillas managed to defeat US imperialism in a full-scale war
A Marxist History of the World part 97: Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution

The reforms that Fidel Castro introduced after the overthrow of the Batista dictatorship were real, but they were bestowed from above and straitjacketed by poverty, writes Neil Faulkner
A Marxist History of the World part 96:1956: Hungary and Suez

1956 was a year of war, revolution, and disillusionment – a year after which nothing could ever be quite the same again, writes Neil Faulkner
A Marxist History of the World part 95: Oil, Zionism, and Western Imperialism

British support for the Zionist movement led to the foundation of Israel in 1948. In conjunction with US imperialism, the Israeli state is an enduring source of oppression in the Middle East
A Marxist History of the World part 94: End of Empire?

In spite of the imperialist powers' attempts to cling on to their colonies, formal empire was finished by the late 1970s. But this was not the end of imperialism, writes Neil Faulkner
A Marxist History of the World part 93: Maoist China

After the revolution of 1949, the Chinese Communists resorted to state capitalism to force the country’s industrialisation. The consequences were disastrous, writes Neil Faulkner
A Marxist History of the World part 92: The Great Boom

In the first three decades after the war, the world economy experienced unprecedented growth rates and falling unemployment. But the boom rested on unstable foundations, writes Neil Faulkner
A Marxist History of the World part 91: The Cold War

The Second World War had created a world divided between two imperialist blocs. Their nuclear arsenals acted as a ‘deterrent’, but rivalry and suspicion meant that war was never far away
A Marxist History of the World part 90: The Second World War: resistance

Large parts of Occupied Europe were liberated by local resistance movements. But the potential for a revolutionary transformation was smothered at birth, writes Neil Faulkner
A Marxist History of the World part 89: 1941-1945: barbarism in a world gone mad

The Second World War was characterised by primeval savagery. Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia and Militarist Japan waged war with unprecedented brutality, but the ‘democracies’ also committed terrible war crimes
A Marxist History of the World part 88: The Second World War

With the great powers fighting to defend their empires, the Second World War would re-divide the world between competing blocs of capitalists, writes Neil Faulkner
A Marxist History of the World part 87: The Causes of the Second World War

As Hitler sought to expand Germany's sphere of influence in Europe, Britain's policy of appeasement reflected the interests of the British ruling classes – until German power became overwhelming
A Marxist History of the World part 86: The Spanish Civil War

In 1936, after General Franco had led an unsuccessful coup against a democratically elected government, revolution swept across Spain. Neil Faulkner explains why the workers were ultimately defeated
A Marxist History of the World part 85: June 1936: the French general strike and factory occupations

In the mid-1930s French workers launched a wave of strikes and occupations. Neil Faulkner explains how the Stalinised Communist Party worked to contain this resistance
A Marxist History of the World part 84: State Capitalism in Russia

By the end of the 1920s, Stalin's party-state apparatus had become the dominant force in Russian society. A bureaucratic ruling class treated all forms of dissent and resistance as crimes against the state
A Marxist History of the World part 83: 1933: the Nazi seizure of power

By the early 1930s, the German ruling class was determined to use the Nazis to make the world safe for German capital. But the fascist victory was not inevitable – it resulted from a failure of revolutionary leadership
A Marxist History of the World part 82: The Hungry Thirties

Beginning with the Wall Street Crash in 1929, the world economy entered the Great Depression. The misguided policies that world leaders pursued ensured that millions of lives were torn apart.
A People's History of London - Part 3

The Mob is A Movement: In the final extract from A People's History of London, Lindsey German and John Rees conclude their explanation of the roots of rebellion and protest in the nature of London as a city
A Marxist History of the World part 81: The Roaring Twenties

Although the 'American Dream' became a reality for millions in the 1920s, it was built on shaky grounds - the huge speculative bubble that was building up on Wall Street was waiting to collapse
A Marxist History of the World part 80: Stalinism: the bitter fruit of revolutionary defeat

Neil Faulkner looks at the time when the Bolshevik regime turned in on itself and morphed into a mockery of its socialist ideals.
A Marxist History of the World part 79: Revolt in the Colonies

The anti-colonial revolts of the early 20^th century were inspired by radical ideas, but, as the examples of Ireland, India and Mexico show, history exacts a heavy price for political timidity.
A People's History of London - Part 2

In the second extract from A People's History of London, Lindsey German and John Rees explain why London has such a vibrant history of radicalism
A Marxist History of the World part 78: The First Chinese Revolution

In 1927, the Chinese nationalists smashed the country's first working-class revolutionary movement – a defeat that would shape the whole subsequent history of China.
A People's History of London - Part 1

In the first extract from A People's History of London, Lindsey German and John Rees explain that the recent Occupy camp outside St Paul's Cathedral lies in a long line of Londoners' gatherings and protests in that very place, stretching back centuries
A Marxist History of the World part 77: World Revolution

In the five years after the First World War, revolutionary contagion spread around the world. It showed the extraordinary possibilities that arise when the masses become active in making their own history.
A Marxist History of the World part 76: Italy’s ‘Two Red Years’

Like Germany, Italy was on the brink of revolution in the summer of 1920, after the strains of imperialist war had levered open deep fractures in an unstable social order.
A Marxist History of the World part 75: The German Revolution

At the end of the First World War, the epicentre of revolution moved from Petrograd to Berlin. Why did the German communists fail where the Bolsheviks had succeded?
A Marxist History of the World part 74: 1918: how the war ended

After four years of carnage, the First World War finally came to an end when the Central Powers collapsed and revolution spread to Germany, writes Neil Faulkner.
A Marxist History of the World part 73: 1917: the October Insurrection

The October revolution was an expression of the democratic will of millions of workers, soldiers, sailors, and peasants writes Neil Faulkner
A Marxist History of the World part 72: February to October: the rhythms of revolution

The situation of 'dual power' that emerged after the overthrow of the Tsar in February 1917 was marked by a series of major political crises.
A Marxist History of the World part 71: Dual power: the mechanics of revolution

The centuries old Russian monarchy was overthrown in a matter of days in February 1917. Neil Faulkner looks at the months of turmoil that followed
Timelines: A Political History of the Modern World

In this extract from the Introduction to his new book, Timelines, A Political History of the Modern World, John Rees looks at some of the forces that gave rise to the world in which we live.
A Marxist History of the World part 70: 1917: the February Revolution

As WWI turned into a protracted, bloody struggle the initial enthusiasm gave way to growing class tensions which exploded first in Russia's February Revolution.
A Marxist History of the World part 69: The First World War

Neil Faulkner looks at how capitalism plunged humanity into an abyss of carnage, destruction, and waste without precedent, as mass production methods produced industrialised slaughter.
A Marxist History of the World part 68: 1914: descent into barbarism

In the summer of 1914 capitalism tipped humanity into an abyss of barbarism that would leave millions dead. Neil Faulkner looks at the First World War.
A Marxist History of the World part 67: Reform or Revolution?

The world Socialist movement was blown apart as its members supported the First World War. Neil Faulkner looks at how the question of reform or revolution lay behind the split.
A Marxist History of the World part 66: The Ottoman Empire and the 1908 ‘Young Turk’ Revolution

Neil Faulkner looks at how the revolution that began in Turkey in 1908 initiated a process that would transform the middle east over the following two decades.
A Marxist History of the World part 65: The 1905 Revolution: Russia’s great dress rehearsal

Neil Faulkner looks at how the Russian Revolution of 1905 helped Leon Trotsky formulate an answer to the century-old riddle of Russian history: what form must the revolution take in order to be victorious.
A Marxist History of the World part 64: What is Imperialism?

Neil Faulkner looks at how the growth of giant monopolies and the fusing of industrial, bank, and state capital created global competition - and the roots of World War I.
A Marxist History of the World part 63: The Rape of China

Neil Faulkner looks at the impact of western imperialism's repeated and bloody attempts to control the wealth of China
A Marxist History of the World part 62: The Scramble for Africa

The imperial competition to control Africa spawned a predatory colonialism of mines, plantations, and machine-guns and propelled humanity towards industrialised world war writes Neil Faulkner.
A Marxist History of the World part 61: The Long Depression, 1873-1896

Neil Faulkner writes about the The Long Depression – an unprecedented economic slump which started the countdown to the First World War.
A Marxist History of the World part 60: The Paris Commune: the face of proletarian revolution

The Franco-Prussian war produced the first proletarian revolution in history, and showed to the world for the first time what a workers’ state looks like.
A Marxist History of the World part 59: The Franco-Prussian War

In this week's chapter of the Marxist History series Neil Faulkner looks at how Germany’s ruling elite brought about a bourgeois revolution ‘from above’.
A Marxist History of the World part 58: The Meiji Restoration

An event which would shape the history of the Far East until 1945, Japan’s bourgeois revolution ‘from above’ is explored by Neil Faulkner in this week's Marxist History.
A Marxist History of the World part 57: The American Civil War

One hundred and fifty years ago North America saw the start of a revolutionary war fought between rival systems and opposing political ideologies. Neil Faulkner looks at The American Civil War.
A Marxist History of the World part 56: The Indian Mutiny

The Indian Mutiny was the subcontinent’s first war of independence, with Indians of different ethnic and religious backgrounds fighting side-by-side despite the divide and rule fostered by the British.
A Marxist History of the World part 55: The Making of the Working Class

The development of capitalism entails two complementary processes. The first, explored in MHW 54, is competitive capital accumulation. The second, explored here, is the making – and continual re-making – of the working class.
A Marxist History of the World part 54: What is Capitalism?

In this critical chapter of his world history, Neil Faulkner explores capitalism and what it means from the Industrial Revolution to the present day.
A Marxist History of the World part 53: What is Marxism?

In his latest instalment, Neil Faulkner explores the complex history of Marxism - and how capitalism produced its own gravediggers.
A Marxist History of the World part 52: The 1848 Revolutions

Even when progress is reversed, some hard-won gains are permanent. Neil Faulkner examines how the counter-revolution in 1848 failed to entirely turn the clock back.
A Marxist History of the World part 51: the origins of the Labour Movement

Capitalism's industrial revolution gave birth to its own gravediggers, argues Neil Faulkner as he examines the rise and fall of Chartism.
Jesus Christ: revolutionary

In this edited extract from his book The Jewish Revolt Neil Faulkner argues that Jesus was a revolutionary.
A Marxist History of the World part 50: The Industrial Revolution

Frederick Engels was sent to Manchester, centre of the Industrial Revolution, to dispel his radicalism. Instead it made him the revolutionary he is remembered as today, Neil Faulkner explains.
A Marxist History of the World part 49: The French Revolution - Themidor, Directory and Napoleon

In his third chapter on the French Revolution, Neil Faulkner discusses the contradictions of bourgeois revolution - but celebrates the gains it won.
A Marxist History of the World Part 48: The French Revolution - The Jacobin Dictatorship

In his latest instalment, Neil Faulkner explores the rise of the Jacobin dictatorship and the ever-present threat of counter-revolution in 18th Century France.
A Marxist History of the World part 47: The French Revolution - Storming of the Bastille

In the latest of his series on the Marxist understanding of history, Neil Faulkner explores revolution and counter-revolution in 18th-Century France.
A Marxist History of the World part 46: The American Revolution

In 1764, Americans thought of themselves as British subjects of King George III. By 1788, they would, by their own decisions and actions, have made themselves the free citizens of a new republic forged in revolution and war.
A Marxist History of the World part 45: The Enlightenment

What gave the Enlightenment its subversive, politically corrosive character was its critique of institutions and practices which appeared comparatively irrational in the light of modern thinking, argues Neil Faulkner.
A Marxist History of the World part 44: Wars of empire

The English Revolution transformed Britain into a capitalist economy engaging in geopolitical competition. Neil Faulkner looks at how Britain became the dominant global superpower of the 19^th Century.
A Marxist History of the World part 43: Colonies, slavery, and racism

Capitalist contradictions were most evident in the 18th century, when the wealth of the merchant-capitalist class of Britain’s port-cities was contrasted with the untold human misery of the slaves, ramping up the historical significance of racist ideology.
A Marxist History of the World part 42: The Army, the Levellers, and the Commonwealth

Neil Faulkner looks at how even the most radical bourgeois forces, if they are to preserve their property and status, must break the momentum of the movement that has brought them to power.
A Marxist History of the World part 41: 1640-1645: revolution and war in England

The attempt to impose Absolutism by Charles I led to a revolutionary civil war in which the King would be executed - Neil Faulkner looks at the English Civil War.
A Marxist History of the World part 40: The causes of the English Revolution

Neil Faulkner looks at the how the unresolved contradictions in English society and the attempt to establish Continental-style absolutism led to the execution of the king, and the establishment of a bourgeois republic.
What do we mean by a General Strike?

Chris Harman, in this article from 1985, summarises the history of general strikes and analyses different forms of mass working class resistance. He also outlines the factors determining when it is appropriate for socialists to raise the general strike slogan.
A Marxist History of the World part 39: The Thirty Years War

Between 1618 and 1648 Germany was wrecked by insecurity, depopulation, disruption to trade, the destruction of property, and military plundering. Neil Faulkner looks at The Thirty Years War.
A Marxist History of the World part 38: The Dutch Revolution

For more than 40 years, with wildly fluctuating fortunes, the Dutch Revolution of 1566-1609 took the form of a protracted popular war of national defence against the Spanish Empire.
A Marxist History of the World part 37: The Counter-Reformation

Neil Faulkner looks at how the Reformation was followed by a counter-revolutionary response which involved a dogmatic reassertion of Catholic orthodoxy: the Counter-Reformation.
A Marxist History of the World part 36: The Reformation

The Reformation after 1521 tore apart church and state. Neil Faulkner looks at how the new social forces formed inside late medieval Europe helped undermine the thousand year domination of the Roman Catholic Church.
A Marxist History of the World part 35: The new colonialism

The Portuguese and Spanish overseas empires founded at the beginning of the 16^th century were soon followed by Dutch, English, and French empires. Neil Faulkner looks at how the transformation of the world by European colonialism began.
A Marxist History of the World part 34: The new monarchies

Neil Faulkner looks at how the transition from feudalism to capitalism introduced a new model of unified states, centralised government, royal armies, internal repression and national-dynastic wars.
A Marxist History of the World part 33: The class struggle in medieval Europe

Despite dominating western Europe in the 11^th century by the 14^th century Feudalism was faced with a crisis that generated a wave of revolutionary struggle. Neil Faulkner looks at the causes and outcomes.
A Marxist History of the World part 32: Lord, burgher, and peasant in medieval Europe

Feudalism is often portrayed as a stagnant system where little changed over centuries. The reality was a system that was more dynamic and productive than anything before it argues Neil Faulkner.
A Marxist History of the World part 31: Crusade and Jihad

The Crusades lasted 200 years and represented the most extreme expression of the futile violence inherent in western feudalism - a murderous attack on the Middle East by western feudal thugs under the banner of religion.
A Marxist History of the World part 30: The rise of western feudalism

Following the collapse of the Roman Empire Western Europe became a politically fragmented region of warring states from which a radically new social, military, and political order developed.
A Marxist History of the World part 29: The peculiarity of Europe

Why Europe? Why was it that the second great transformation in human existence - the development of capitalism and industrial society - was pioneered on the western edge of the Eurasian land-mass?
The cycles and arrows of time: A Marxist History of the World part 28

In Part 9 of A Marxist History of the World, we paused to discuss ‘how history works’. It would be useful to pause again to review some general lessons of the history of the ancient and medieval civilisations we have looked at since.
The Iraq Inquiry - Timeline with John Rees

John Rees looks at the Iraq war and whether the current government Inquiry will be a whitewash.
A Marxist History of the World part 27: New World Empires: Maya, Aztec, and Inca

The early civilisations of the Americas were limited by geography - in only two areas did urban revolution occur and civilisations develop: in parts of Mesoamerica, and in the Central Andes.
A Marxist History of the World part 26: Africa: cattle-herders, iron-masters, and trading states

Neil Faulkner looks at the early civilisations in Africa and how geography ensured the continent would develop differently from Eurasia.
A Marxist History of the World part 25: Chinese History’s Revolving Door

Neil Faulkner examines China's imperial history, where for two millennia political revolution did not lead to social transformation, but simply to the replacement of one dynasty by another.
A Marxist History of the World part 24: Hindus, Buddhists, and the Gupta Empire

More than half a millennium separated the fall of India’s Mauryan Empire in the late 3rd century BCE (before the common era) from the rise of the Gupta Empire in the early 4th century CE (common era). Economic and social change during the interval altered the foundations of imperialism.
A Marxist History of the World part 23: The Abbasid Revolution

Islam created a single overarching allegiance throughout the Arab-ruled world yet the Middle East came to be a divided region of weak and unpopular states. Neil Faulkner looks at the conflicts that lay behind this process.
A Marxist History of the World part 22: Arabs, Persians, and Byzantines

This week Neil Faulkner describes the rise and explosive spread of the third great monotheistic religion, where compassion, charity, and protection became moral imperatives - Islam.
A history of student revolt - Timeline with John Rees

John Rees charts the political history of student movements - from volunteer strikebreakers in the twenties to their more recent role as a catalyst for mass movements of radical social change.
A Marxist History of the World part 21: Huns, Goths, and Romans

Neil Faulkner charts the transformation of the Huns from tribal nomads into continent-straddling militarists.
A Marxist History of the World part 20: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Neil Faulkner examines how the three great monotheistic religions produced by the contradictions of the ancient world owed their extraordinary power to their origins in the myths and rituals of the oppressed.
A Marxist History of the World part 19: Mother-goddesses and power-deities

Neil Faulkner looks at how the growth of private property altered the position of women - from occupying a central role in society to suffering what Engels called ‘the world historic defeat of the female sex’.
The Real History of The Second World War: part 2 - Timeline with John Rees

John Rees introduces part two of his history of the second world war told from the perspective of ordinary people.
A Marxist History of the World part 18: The Crisis of Late Antiquity

Neil Faulkner explains how the Roman Empire entered its terminal crisis as its military imperialism came up against geographical, economic, and sociological barriers to expansion.
The Real History of The Second World War: part 1 - Timeline with John Rees

John Rees introduces the first of a two part history of the second world war told from the perspective of ordinary people.
A Marxist History of the World part 17: The Roman Revolution

Neil Faulkner looks at the Roman Revolution - a complex, distorted, century-long process of class struggle.
A Marxist History of the World part 16: Roman Military Imperialism

Rome represented a unique fusion of Greek-style citizenship with Macedonian-style militarism. The result was the most dynamic imperialist state in the ancient world.
A Marxist History of the World part 15: The Macedonian Empire

Neil Faulkner looks at the defeat of the democratic empire centred around Athens in a protracted counter-revolution led by Greek aristocrats, Macedonian kings, and Roman viceroys.
A Marxist History of the World part 14: The Greek Democratic Revolution

Neil Faulkner looks at the radical participatory democracy which began in Athens between 510 and 506 BCE and spread to virtually every city-state in the Aegean.
A Marxist History of the World part 13: China: the Ch’in Empire

Neil Faulkner looks at the origins of the Ch'in Empire - short-lived, created by conquest and terror and characterised by extreme centralisation, military-style exploitation, and murderous repression.
A Marxist History of the World part 12: India: the Mauryan Empire

Neil Faulkner looks at the growth of the Mauryan Empire which at its zenith encompassed almost the whole of what is today India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
A Marxist History of the World Part 11: Western Asia: the Persian Empire

Neil Faulkner looks at the centuries following 1000 BCE when the scale of civilisation and empire exploded as the productivity of iron tools boosted the surpluses available to Iron Age empire-builders.
A Marxist History of the World part 10: Men of Iron

The constant rise and fall of Bronze age societies was a product of their wasteful, crisis ridden nature. But in the barbarian periphery around 1300 BCE an industrial revolution had begun that was to transform the world.
Trotsky: The Lessons of October | 70th Anniversary

On the 70th anniversary of the death of Leon Trotsky, a leading figure in the 1917 Russian revolution, Alex Snowdon introduces a key chapter from the radical book "The Lessons of October".
How History Happens: A Marxist History of the World part 9

The complex societies that emerged from the division of society into classes also created societies that were wasteful, violent, stagnant and crisis prone. Understanding why is the key to how history happens argues Neil Faulkner.
A Marxist History of the World part 8: Crisis in the Bronze Age

Why did Bronze Age empires rise and fall amid crisis and war? And why did this contradictory social form simply replicate itself over long periods of time? Neil Faulkner looks at the evidence.
A Marxist History of the World part 7: The Spread of Civilisation

This week Neil Faulkner looks at the spread and development of ancient city civilisations around the world, each governed by a new ruling class of priests, city-governors and war-leaders.
Revolution and Counter-revolution in Russia - Timeline with John Rees

In this programme in the Islam Channel's Timeline series John Rees looks at the Russian revolution and investigates how and why it descended into the horrors of Stalinism
A Marxist History of the World part 6: The First Ruling Class

This week Neil Faulkner looks at the rise of the first ruling classes as the surplus created through the increasing productivity of human labour allowed a section of society to live without producing.
A Marxist History of the World part 5: The Rise of the Specialists

The Early Neolithic economy was doomed by insoluble contradictions. Technique was primitive and wasteful. Society lacked reserves against natural disaster and hard times. Virgin land ran out as old fields were exhausted and populations grew.
A Marxist History of the World Part 4: The origins of War and Religion

This week Neil Faulkner looks at the origins of War and Religion in the Early Neolithic world.
A Marxist History of the World Part 3: The Neolithic Revolution

In part three of Neil Faulkner's Marxist history series he reveals how the advent of farming lead to primitive communistic societies who through land depletion and scarcity of resources would be forced into global war.
A Marxist History of the World | Part 2: The Upper Palaeolithic Revolution

In the second of his regular series Neil Faulkner reveals the incredible innovation and adaptability of our ancient ancestors, their unique combination of language and imagination and how cultures formed to fit the different environments in which early societies lived and worked.
A Marxist History of the World | Part 1: The Hominid Revolution

In the first of a regular series, Neil Faulkner charts the evolutionary development of modern day humans from primitive apes to socially co-operative human beings.
The struggle to free Palestine - Timeline with John Rees

Stop the War officer John Rees provides a short history of imperial intervention in the middle east and the ongoing struggle of the Palestinians to regain their homeland
Alexandra Kollontai: Class and women’s oppression

When will someone make a film about the incredible life of Alexandra Kollontai? Born into a rich family, she rebelled with an 'unsuitable' marriage, was radicalised by visits to textile factories, became a political campaigner in the late 1890's and then left her husband and child to study Marxism in Europe.
A brief history of capitalist crisis - Timeline with John Rees

John Rees provides a brief account of the history of economic crises and their causes in this edition of his popular Timeline TV series.
E P Thompson and The Making of the English Working Class

Dominic Alexander defends E P Thompson’s The Making of the English Working Class - one the most debated and influential of all the books produced by British Marxist historians
The first decade of the new century - Timeline with John Rees

John Rees surveys the first decade of this century, from the emergence of the Seattle generation to the Copenhagen climate change protests.
Obama and US power - Timeline with John Rees

There are more hopes resting on the shoulders of Barak Obama than on the shoulders of any US President since John F Kennedy was elected in 1960.
Peasant movements and political agency

Was the Peasants Revolt of 1381 the result of organised political action or a spontaneous response to the hated poll tax?

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