Capitalism

Capitalism

• The coming jobs slaughter

  

  The government will pass the blame anywhere they can but now, more than ever, we must fight for an economy that works for us, argues Richard Allday

• Explainer: Does human nature make socialism impossible?

  

  In the second of a series of socialist explainers, Lucy Nichols dissects the idea that humans are inherently selfish

• The NHS is 72: why we must fight to defend it

  

  As the NHS turns 72, it is under threat from the free-market dogma that has been underfunding and privatising it, writes John Westmoreland

• Far-right nationalism in Poland: persecution and resistance

  

  Poland's right-wing populists owe their success to liberal capitalism's failure, writes Reece Goscinski

• Garment workers in South India rise up against Covid-linked retrenchment

  

  Hundreds of unionised women workers are combating efforts by the fashion industry to pass the costs of Covid-19 onto the world’s most vulnerable, reports Susan Ram

• The South Sea Bubble: England's first stock market crisis 300 years ago

  

  The South Sea Bubble was not an exceptional event but the first of many crises produced by the inescapable tendencies of capitalism, argues Dominic Alexander

• Explainer: What is socialism?

  

  In the first of a series of socialist explainers, Chris Nineham looks at the concept of socialism itself

• Essential workers today; garbage tomorrow.

  

  As the economic turmoil starts to bite, Goldstar Transport workers show how to organise to fight back, reports Richard Allday 

• Five films on the black struggle

  

  As Black Lives Matter continues to make gains, Counterfire writers discuss a personal selection of films concerning race and class in the US and UK

• Liberalism At Large: The World According to the Economist - book review

  

  Zevin’s history of the Economist magazine opens up a rich angle from which to observe the nature and development of liberalism across 180 years, finds Dominic Alexander

• Racism is systemic, so why are we still talking about privilege?

  

  Locating racism as rooted in capitalism is key to building the kind of movement that can end it, argues Shabbir Lakha

• Black history you can’t be without: Nine books on the struggle

  

  A reading list of nine essential books on black history and the struggle against racism

• Limits: Why Malthus Was Wrong and Why Environmentalists Should Care - book review

  

  Giorgos Kallis criticises Malthus’ ideas and their modern influence, but sustainability requires structural change to move beyond capitalism, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• How Bolsonaro can be beaten - a Brazilian socialist speaks out

  

  Thousands have taken to the streets in Brazil against Bolsonaro's misgovernment. Orlando Hill introduces an assessment from Leonardo Pericles of Unidade Populare

• 'Are there no food banks?' The Poor Laws and Charles Dickens at 150

  

  Dickens’s acute observations of social inequality illuminate the cruelty of our government 150 years after his death, says Katherine Connelly

• Invisible Leviathan: Marx’s Law of Value in the Twilight of Capitalism - book review

  

  Marx’s labour theory of value and the analysis of the falling rate of profit receive a robust defence in Murray Smith’s Invisible Leviathan, finds Dominic Alexander

• Coronavirus: death rate higher if you’re poor and BAME

  

  The report into disproportionate BAME deaths from Covid-19 confirms that structural racism is at the heart of the problem, writes Lucy Nichols

• Brazil: crises, crises and more crises

  

  Covid-19 is yet another crisis to haunt Bolsonaro argues Orlando Hill (in London) and Lilian Hill (in Rio de Janeiro)

• It’s a big deal that the outrage expressed over George Floyd’s death was massive and multiracial

  

  Class struggle doesn’t go away in a pandemic, writes August Nimtz

• The Equal Pay Act at 50: a bittersweet celebration

  

  That women workers’ pay in the UK continues to lag significantly behind that of men underlines the limits of legal change under capitalism, argues Susan Ram

• The Monster Enters: Covid-19, Avian Flu and the Plagues of Capitalism - book review

  

  Mike Davis’ The Monster Entersupdates his earlier book on capitalism and pandemic disease to reflect on the current failure of the neoliberal state, finds Elaine Graham-Leigh

• The China syndrome: why Trump’s obsession could lead to war – long read

  

  The US policy to counter the growing economic and political strengths of China have taken a dangerous turn, says Chris Nineham

• Neither a rigged market nor Vera Lynn will pick the crops

  

  The crop picking crisis is revealing the fundamental failures of free-market capitalism and invoking national spirit won't fix it, argues Kevin Ovenden

• Capitalism as a dynamic system: Marx and the Climate Crisis - extract

  

  In the second of two extracts from her new book Marx and the Climate Crisis, Elaine Graham-Leigh explains why climate destruction is a structural feature of capitalism

• Lives before profit: learning from the struggle for health and safety in the 1970s

  

  John Westmoreland conducted a series of interviews with workers on the front line struggling for health and safety in the 1970s

• The Unknowers: How Strategic Ignorance Rules the World - book review

  

  The Unknowersis a fascinating exploration of the many ways in which our societies are built on strategic lack of knowledge, writes Joshua Newman

• Laura Smith: why we should listen to our teaching unions

  

  Teaching unions are right to set tests for the government to meet to protect their members, children, and families, says Laura Smith

• A failed government in a failed system – weekly briefing

  

  Lindsey German on capitalism committing to its priorities and how we can fight back

• Crisis capitalism: why state intervention is not socialism

  

  Capitalism hasn't been suspended. Change that benefits ordinary people can only come by pressure from below, argues Dominic Alexander

• Engels was right, class society and women's oppression aren't inevitable or irreversible

  

  As part of our series on the revolutionary Frederick Engels, on the 200th anniversary of his birth, Elaine Graham-Leigh looks at Engels' The Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State

• Austerity reloaded: Tories want us to pay for crisis

  

  The Tories are talking about more austerity and we need to shut it down, argues Kevin Potter 

• Why are the police racist? 

  

  Racism is an indispensable tool in the police’s mission to protect a deliberately exploitative system, argues Lucy Nichols

• Marx and the Climate Crisis

  

  Elaine Graham-Leigh shows how Marx's analysis of capitalism explains the climate breakdown and how we fight for system change to protect people and the planet

• The Lie of Global Prosperity - book review

  

  Donnelly’s The Lie of Global Prosperity shows how global institutions use bad data to promote the idea that poverty has declined due to neoliberal globalisation, finds Orlando Hill

• Why are key workers so low paid?

  

  The work of key workers is immensely valuable for a community but not so to a surplus-driven capitalist economy, says Dominic Alexander

• The imperialism pandemic

  

  Imperialism is part and parcel of global capitalism and it can be seen very clearly in the coronavirus crisis, writes David Bush in this repost from Spring Magazine

• To the slaughter: back to work in a pandemic

  

  The reopening of workplaces with no regard for the safety of workers shows the deadly determination of capitalism to protect profits, argues John Clarke

• Reading the Labour Party: book recommendations by and for socialists

  

  How can we explain what has happened in the Labour Party? We asked eight Counterfire authors to tell us about the books that have helped them to understand what the Labour Party is and how socialists should engage with it

• No return to pre-lockdown air pollution

  

  The lockdown is confirming just how damaging air pollution has been, we must demand a Green New Deal to make sure we don't go back, argues Jamal Elaheebocus

• Government failures laid bare by highest death toll in Europe - CounterBlast 5 May

  

  News that the UK has the worst death rate in Europe is a grimly unsurprising indictment of Government inadequacy, argues Mona Kamal

• Corona and the food crisis: how the markets failed us

  

  Corona crisis has exposed how market forces cannot be trusted with our food production, says Kevin Potter

• Workers across the US strike on May Day for their lives

  

  Workers from Amazon and other retail companies walked out on May day to demand protective equipment and hazard pay, reports Alyssa Cassata

• After failing to meet 100,000 tests target, Hancock must resign

  

  After a campaign of deceit and blame dodging to cover up brutal incompetence and disregard for lives, Matt Hancock must walk or be pushed, argues Shabbir Lakha

• Who pays? Socialists and state intervention part 2 – long read

  

  In the second part of his article, Chris Nineham examines the recent development of the state and how the Coronavirus will impact on government policy and the left

• Rebel Minds: Class War, Mass Suffering, and the Urgent Need for Socialism - book review

  

  A Marxist critique of psychiatry puts mental-health issues in the context of the social crises created by capitalism, and argues for socialist solutions, finds Adrian Cooley

• Who pays? Socialists and state intervention part 1 – long read

  

  State intervention is back. In part one of a two-part article, Chris Nineham looks at the myths and politics behind state involvement in the economy

• The hidden history of American radicalism: the campaign for the Workers' Unemployment Insurance Bill

  

  The little-known story of working class organising for a Communist-led initiative in 1930s America challenges assumptions about US workers’ conservatism, argues Chris Wright

• Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism: a short introduction

  

  In the week of the 150th anniversary of Lenin's birth, Morgan Daniels explains the relevance of his 1917 pamphlet, Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism

• Lenin and revolutionary organisation

  

  On the 150th anniversary of Lenin's birth, John Westmoreland, in the first of a three-part series, takes on the myths and distortions to reveal the politics at the heart of the Bolshevik party up to 1917

• We are not expendable: interview with Chris Smalls

  

  Counterfire's Alyssa Cassata interviews Chris Smalls, who led a walkout at an Amazon warehouse in New York to demand protective gear and hazard pay, for which he was fired

• When capitalism turns caring for the vulnerable into a burden

  

  The resurgence of DNACPR should be challenged, the idea that one life is more worthy than another could lead to dangerous consequences, argues Elly Badcock

• Value Chains: The New Economic Imperialism - book review

  

  Capitalism remains interlocked with imperialism, and Suwandi’s Value Chains demonstrates a core aspect of international mechanisms of exploitation, argues Dominic Alexander

• Coronavirus is exposing the gaping class divide in Britain

  

  Working class people are the worst affected by the health crisis and the government's response is geared toward protecting the rich, writes Richard Allday

• New horizons during Covid-19: beyond the limits of capitalist realism

  

  Through the Covid-19 crisis we glimpse the need for change and the possibility of change, argues Mike Wayne

• Engels on nature and humanity

  

  In the third of our series on the revolutionary Frederick Engels, on the 200th anniversary of his birth, we repost this excerpt from an upcoming short book on Engels' contribution to Marxian political economy by Michael Roberts

• Null and void: sport in a time of Covid-19

  

  The Coronavirus crisis has revealed so much about sport-as-business that is bad, argues Mark Perryman of Philosophy Football

• Lockdown crisis in India: a people's perspective of Covid-19

  

  With no access to state support, healthcare or testing, India's working and poor people have been completely abandoned by the government during the lockdown

• The government is prioritising protecting profits - CounterBriefing 28 March

  

  The government should be reorienting production to the urgent needs during this crisis, but instead they’re interested in saving profits, argues Penny Hicks

• Dominic Cummings vs the people - podcast

  

  Following his article Coronavirus: the politics of Cummings' cull, Sean Ledwith speaks to Parallax Views

• Supply chains: a neoliberal crisis

  

  Alastair Cartwright explains how the current economic system is prone to failure and what needs to be done to change it

• The sociopathic calculus of capitalism in a crisis

  

  The ruling class is debating whether or not it's worth saving the lives of those it can no longer exploit; this is barbarism, writes Kevin Ovenden

• Pandemic basic income is not the solution

  

  UBI lets the bosses off the hook and does nothing to challenge a system in crisis, argues John Clarke

• Coronavirus, the market and the state

  

  The state and the market are opposite sides of the same capitalist coin, writes Dragan Plavšić

• Engels' Marxism

  

  In the second of our series on the revolutionary Frederick Engels, on the 200th anniversary of his birth, we are republishing this piece by John Rees which first appeared in the International Socialism Journal in 1994

• No more gambles, put people first - CounterBriefing 20 March

  

  Our pressure on the government is working and we must push harder, argues Shabbir Lakha

• Put people before profit to fight Coronavirus

  

  The government's response to the Coronavirus puts big business first, but we need real solutions that benefit the public instead, argues Richard Allday

• Teachers in New York forced schools to close; we need to do the same

  

  Don't play dice with people's lives. Close schools now, argues Shabbir Lakha

• Laugh through the lockdown

  

  Five of the best novels to keep you laughing while you sharpen your critical faculties from John Rees

• Branson's pickle

  

  Richard Branson tries to be a poster boy for capitalism's supposed humanity but in truth he respresents its worst depravity, argues Morgan Daniels

• Coronavirus is exposing capitalism - video

  

  Kevin Ovenden speaks to Double Down News on how the nature of capitalism is being shown for what it is in this crisis

• Coronavirus, climate, and capital: capitalism's destructive irrationality

  

  Capitalism is subjecting itself to great strain and we must be prepared to help it on its way, writes John Clarke

• Coronavirus: keep calm and carry on is not a policy but an abdication of responsibility

  

  Government response is a key factor in how the virus is affecting populations and we will all pay for the inertia of our own, argues Kevin Potter

• Coronavirus: market failure

  

  In his third note on the Covid-19 outbreak, Dr Yannis Gourtsoyannis examines the role of the market in the apparent crisis on our shelves

• Coronavirus: 8 demands we should make on the government

  

  Any effective response to the virus outbreak will require radical solutions that put human lives before profits and markets, argues Alistair Cartwright

• Coronavirus – the trigger for a slump?

  

  Michael Roberts explains why Coronavirus has destabilised the global economy

• Coronavirus: how effective are facemasks?

  

  In his second note on the political economy of the imminent Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Yannis Gourtsoyannis looks at the antinomies of facemasks

• A flood of anger

  

  Outrage at government inaction is growing in the country's flood-hit areas, reports John Westmoreland

• The socialist argument against the Tory anti-immigrant offensive

  

  The labour movement cannot give any credence to the Tories' arguments and must ferociously oppose this anti-immigration clampdown says Kevin Ovenden

• Coronavirus: an effect of global agribusiness

  

  Growing profit first and food second is the reason for the virus. Look to modern industrial farming for the culprit, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• In the Red Corner: the Marxism of José Carlos Mariátegui - book review

  

  Mike Gonzalez, In The Red Corner, recovers José Carlos Mariátegui’s Marxist understanding of Latin America in the context of the development of capitalism, finds Orlando Hill

• As Australia burns, climate strikes set for a new phase

  

  Lucy Nichols reports on twelve months of student-led protest

• Leaving the EU: this is about what sort of society we want – and it isn’t Johnson’s

  

  As Britain leaves the EU at 11pm tonight, the future is up for grabs, and the fight continues, argues Martin Hall

• How America Became Capitalist - book review

  

  James Parisot’s How America Became Capitalist uncovers the contested and contradictory history of capitalist development in the United States, finds Dominic Alexander

• Our world is burning

  

  As the wild fires rage, Laura Morales gives a personal view of the situation in Australia

• Capitalism and colonialism: hiding the past on stolen land

  

  John Clarke reflects on the legacy of capitalism and the genocidal dispossession of indigenous peoples in Canada

• The Age of Surveillance Capitalism - book review

  

  The Age of Surveillance Capitalism raises important questions about the authoritarian use of digital technologies, but the solution needs to be radical, argues Reece Goscinski

• The Coming Revolution: Capitalism in the 21st Century - book review

  

  The Coming Revolution is an impressive guide for Marxists looking for a way to approach contemporary capitalism, argues Josh Newman

• The Debt System - book review

  

  The Debt System argues that international debt is a system of exploitation of poorer countries, which should be regarded as illegitimate, finds Phil Armstrong

• Our NHS is not for sale - all out to tell Trump

  

  With proof that the NHS is ‘on the table’, we need to make next week’s anti-Trump demo massive, argues Tom Lock Griffiths

• Gold Digger - TV review

  

  The oppression of family and class unite in this taboo-busting drama, writes Sofie Mason

• Neoliberalism, the left and the Crisis of the British State - book extract

  

  In the first of two excerpts from ‘The British State: A Warning’, Chris Nineham examines how neoliberalism has shaped our state institutions 

• Labour's right, billionaires shouldn't exist

  

  Billionaires are evidence of the grotesque inequality in society and Labour is right to say a fair society wouldn't have them, writes Shabbir Lakha

• The British State: A Warning

  

  As the left prepares for the possibility of taking power, Chris Nineham's timely new book analyses the British state and what the left can expect

• Labour must be anti-Establishment not pro-Remain

  

  The buccaneer politics of Johnson’s deal has to be fought tooth-and-nail, argues Chris Nineham  

• Pensions: the system isn't working

  

  We need a radically different system based on needs that works for pensioners and young people alike, argues Reuben Bard-Rosenberg

• William Morris: father of socialist ecology

  

  William Morris is one of the greatest environmentalists of the socialist tradition and his work becomes more relevant by the day, writes Gabriel Polley

• Glasgow strikes for climate justice

  

  This is an issue that unites the class, writes UCU activist Vladimir Unkovski-Korica

• There are no jobs on a dead planet: we want system change not climate change

  

  The message from Newcastle is clear

• The Biofuels Deception: Going Hungry on the Green Carbon Diet - book review

  

  Biofuels turn out not to be a sustainable replacement for fossil-fuels, but just another way for agribusiness to maintain profits, finds Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Labour: these aren't clever tactics, they are the establishment's tactics

  

  The real trap is in playing the establishment's games, writes John Rees

• “Life-long member of the non-pretty working classes” - All Woman review

  

  In All Woman, Kathy Burke has tackled ‘beauty’ and ‘motherhood’ and next up is that big messy hot potato of ‘relationships’, writes Sofie Mason

• The Amazon fire: a neoliberal crime scene

  

  The destruction of the Amazon rainforest is no accident, it is the product of Bolsonaro's neoliberal policies, argues Nathan Street

• Amazon fire: our lungs are on fire

  

  Chrissy Brand joined the demonstrators outside the Brazilian Embassy in London on August 23rd. She is one of millions who realise that climate change can only be held at bay by a fundamental system change

• The caring capitalists of corporate America

  

  When American capitalists pretend to care we know they are afraid, argues John Clarke

• A new global recession is coming

  

  Capitalism expands in booms and slumps and we're due a slump, writes Michael Roberts

• Where is the love?

  

  An anti-arms trade campaigner explains what the DSEI arms fair is and why it is so important to join the protests against it when it comes to London in September

• Can the Working Class Change the World? - book review

  

  If the working class is to change the world, it needs serious strategies to find unity and overcome divisions, not woolly moralism, argues Richard Allday

• The Coming of the American Behemoth - book review

  

  Roberto’s The Coming of the American Behemoth argues that fascist-like processes arose from the essential workings of monopoly capitalism in 1930s America, finds Martin Hall

• What is Modern Monetary Theory, and can it work?

  

  Modern Monetary Theory will not offer us the full-blooded attack on capitalist economic organisation that we need, argues Susan Newman

• From Commune to Capitalism - book review

  

  A valuable analysis of China’s turn to neoliberalism since the late 1970s needs to be put in the longer context of Chinese state capitalism, argues Sean Ledwith

• Nasty but vulnerable: why we can get rid of Boris

  

  Boris Johnson is dangerous and it is imperative we build a movement to stop him, argues Katherine Connelly

• The problem with citizens’ assemblies

  

  As a citizens' assembly to deal with climate change is announced, Elaine Graham-Leigh looks at the idea’s limitations

• Stonewall 50

  

  Marking the half-centenary of the Stonewall riots, Morgan Daniels looks at the history of the Stonewall Inn and what it means for radical queer politics everywhere

• A Canadian genocide

  

  Challenging Canadian colonialism means challenging Canadian capitalism, argues John Clarke

• The London working class have not forgotten Grenfell

  

  The second demonstration in two days about the horrific disaster at Grenfell Tower shows that the anger and solidarity are still strong, reports Orlando Hill

• Grenfell: justice delayed is justice denied

  

  Two years on, the anger and the grief from this urban atrocity is still undimmed, reports Isabel Carr

• The Common Wind charts the black resistance movement that won - book review

  

  Scott’s classic The Common Wind shows the world-historic impact of the Haitian Revolution of 1791, the first successful slave revolt in history, finds Dominic Alexander

• Alastair Campbell isn’t a victim, he’s trying to destroy Corbyn’s leadership

  

  Alastair Campbell is trying to destroy Corbyn's leadership. The left cannot win by capitulating to him, argues Katherine Connelly

• Heineken In Africa: A Multinational Unleashed - book review

  

  Olivier van Beemen’s meticulous exposure of Heineken’s activities in Africa show the damage done by neo-colonial capitalism, argues Ellen Graubart

• Marxism in 30 minutes with John Rees - video

  

  John Rees gives a presentation explaining what Marxism is and why it's still relevant at a London Counterfire public meeting

• William Godwin: A political life - book review

  

  A new biography lauds William Godwin, but some contemporary radicals of the 1790s offer better inspiration for the modern left, argues Dominic Alexander

• Rebels for life: next steps for the climate justice movement

  

  Recent climate activism has shifted the debate but unless the system of profit-seeking is addressed then the ecological danger will remain, argues Bill Perry

• We need the labour movement to win the fight against climate change

  

  The fight for workers' rights and jobs goes hand in hand with the fight against climate change, so we need the environmental movement and trade unionists to work together, writes Richard Allday

• Thank God it's Friday: 300 years of Robinson Crusoe

  

  On the 300 year anniversary of the publishing of Robinson Crusoe, Morgan Daniels analyses what the book really tells us from a Marxist perspective

• Capitalism and climate change - can we avert disaster? - video

  

  At a London public meeting, Elaine Graham-Leigh explains why climate change is a product of capitalism and the solution has to be one that confronts the system

• World in Crisis: A Global Analysis of Marx’s Law of Profitability - book review

  

  Marx’s law of profitability is shown in World in Crisis to explain today’s long depression, but ending capitalism requires a political strategy, argues Dominic Alexander

• Seven demands for stopping climate change

  

  Environmental activist and author, Elaine Graham-Leigh, highlights seven key demands the movement against climate change needs to be making

• The Brexit crisis and the disintegration of Britain's political system

  

  Brexit is a crisis that cuts deep into the ruling class and Theresa May's failures have brought to the fore the cracks in Britain's political system, argues Sean Ledwith

• Why the EU is not internationalist

  

  Seeing the EU as internationalist is a fundamental error rooted in a misdiagnosis of its aims and effects, argues Chris Nineham

• Keywords: The New Language of Capitalism - book review

  

  Leary’s Keywords insightfully updates a classic critique of the use of language by power, to understand the vocabulary of neoliberal capitalism, finds Oliver Eagleton

• A Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank merger spells trouble

  

  The proposed merger of German banks is a disaster waiting to happen and exposes the weaknesses at the heart of European capitalism, argues Chris Bambery

• Climate Leviathan and A Foodie's Guide to Capitalism - book reviews

  

  Two books on environmental crisis say that anti-capitalist politics are needed, but mistakenly reject the existing revolutionary tradition, argues Elaine Graham-Leigh

• Old Gods, New Enigmas: Marx’s Lost Theory - book review

  

  Mike Davis punctures many myths about Marx and shows how important the history of working-class struggle remains for today, finds Dominic Alexander

• Better to overthrow the system than try to outsmart it: review of ITV's Cleaning Up

  

  What’s not to like about humble cleaners taking advantage of massive corporations and making money from insider trading in Sheridan Smith’s latest series Cleaning Up on ITV?

• Marxism and the Brexit crisis

  

  The Brexit crisis is best understood through a strong methodological framework, argues John Rees

• On new terrain - book review

  

  Kim Moody’s book on labour, unions and capitalism, is very valuable, but revolutionary organisation is essential, argues Richard Allday

• For a left populism - book review

  

  Mouffe’s elaboration of a left populist strategy contains some useful insights but ultimately rests on the centrist ideology that it appears to criticise, argues Josh Newman

• Rosa Luxemburg was a revolutionary socialist

  

  Written in 1983, Lindsey German's introduction to Tony Cliff's book on Rosa Luxemburg gives a brief snapshot of her revolutionary life and ideas

• Climate chaos is the most political issue of our time, to stop it we need systemic change

  

  Climate breakdown is a political issue, and to stop it we need to tackle it at the root, argues Jim Scott

• EastEnders at Christmas

  

  The producers may stop short at liberal individualism, but Sofie Mason argues that the viewers of EastEnders may reach other conclusions as to what is to be done

• The Apocolypse of Settler Colonialism - book review

  

  Gerald Horne exposes how the Three Horseman of the Apocalypse - Slavery, Capitalism and White Supremacy gave birth to the rise of the West, finds Adam Tomes

• The rise and fall of neoliberalism

  

  The neoliberal order established since the 70s is collapsing and what comes out of it is down to us, argues Chris Bambery

• England’s Discontents: Political Cultures and National Identities - book review

  

  Mike Wayne’s England’s Discontentsprovides a valuable analysis of how Britain is ruled and the ideology and culture of its elite, argues Chris Bambery

• A Marxist analysis of Eastenders

  

  More than just a sentimentalised view of working class life, Eastenders can often cut through some of the big issues facing working people argues Sofie Mason 

• Stop Tommy Robinson, All out for 17 November - Counterfire Freesheet November 2018

  

  Opposing the far right, people's vote, police racism, precarious workers, climate chaos, universal credit and more in this month's Counterfire freesheet

• Philip Green: an embodiment of the system not an anomaly

  

  Philip Green is a particularly odious example of the exploitation endemic to capitalism, and our response needs to confront the system that enables him, argues Mona Kamal

• The Cry: capitalism ruins families - TV review

  

  BBC One's drama The Cry paints a picture of shame and guilt associated with the family and specifically parenting under capitalism argues Sofie Mason

• 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

• Amazon's pay raise is a tactical retreat as workers fight back

  

  Corporate exploiters like the Jeff Bezos giant are feeling the heat as workers organise, but its pay announcement should be treated carefully, writes John Clarke

• Banksy: the shredding on the wall

  

  Banksy shredding his painting moments after it sold for over £1m at auction showed up the out-of-touch super-rich and everything wrong with modern art culture

• France in 1968: myths, realities and unanswered questions

  

  50 years on from the 1968 crisis, John Mullen gives an overview of events in France, the debates historians are having and the lessons today's anticapitalists should take

• Orange is the new black - analysis

  

  Beyond the sly humour and emotive character interactions lies a story of deep institutional repression and desire for radical new approaches to justice, argues Jago Corry

• The Battle for Paradise - book review

  

  Naomi Klein gives a stirring account of the struggle against disaster capitalism in Puerto Rico after 2017’s Hurricane Maria, finds Ellen Graubart

• No business as usual: Trump’s trade wars

  

  Trump’s trade war is another phase of capitalist crisis that could lead to a harsher world, argues Vladimir Unkovski-Korica

• Learnt nothing and forgotten everything: the next crash is coming - weekly briefing

  

  Finance capital is a game for the rich and when it goes wrong it's our side who are expected to pay the price, argues Lindsey German

• Taking back the city: direct action amid the Dublin housing emergency

  

  Homelessness is on the rise and the state is siding with the landlords. Josh Newman reports from Dublin

• UK wage stagnation is not a puzzle to solve, but an injustice to fight

  

  Wealth redistribution has to become the key priority in our fight against austerity, insists Susan Newman

• Dead-End Lives: Drugs and Violence in the City Shadows - book review

  

  A study of poverty and drug addiction in the slums outside Madrid reveals the callous and destructive nature of the neoliberal city, argues Chris Bambery

• The summer of climate chaos

  

  The heatwave seems to be over, but with floods in Kerala to wildfires in California making history, capitalism still can’t fix climate change, writes Elaine Graham-Leigh

• The dynamics of disaster

  

  Capitalism will destroy humanity. Only working class mass mobilisation and struggle can stop this, argues John Westmoreland

• The Cynical Educator - book review

  

  Today’s education system may be making professionals into Cynics, but the answer is collective struggle, not ancient philosophy, argues Dominic Alexander

• Interest rates, wages and the UK economy

  

  As he analyses the state of the economy, Michael Roberts finds that the capitalist sector of the British economy has failed to deliver for the needs of the people

• Bullshit Jobs: A Theory - book review

  

  David Graeber’s new book raises many questions about the function and worth of work, but doesn’t entirely explain why useless work persists, finds Clare Solomon

• Marxism and human nature

  

  Mainstream conceptions of human nature are rooted in the historical development of capitalism.  Elaine Graham-Leigh argues that we can only understand nature through the dialectic method

• The collapse of everything, and what to do about it - weekly briefing

  

  Two major demos in the next four weeks is a fantastic opportunity to hardwire our politics to the street, argues Lindsey German 

• The Storm Clouds Gather: Is there a future for the European Union?

  

  The gathering crisis in European Union should make it clear the EU provides no haven from racism or austerity

• Karl Marx: before all else a revolutionist

  

  200 years since Marx’s birth and 170 years after the 1848 revolutions, Katherine Connelly reflects on Marx’s revolutionary contribution

• Grenfell one year on - the Tories still don't care

  

  As we approach the anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire, the Tories have learnt no lessons and show only disregard and contempt argues Steph Pike

• Too rich to fail - weekly briefing

  

  “One rule for them and one rule for us” is a key mantra for neoliberalism and it has to be destroyed, argues Lindsey German 

• Two sides of a city: homelessness and the royal wedding

  

  We cannot turn a blind eye to the class cleansing where homeless people are moved on whilst royal wedding fans camp out unhindered

• The limits of Keynesianism part 4: the Keynesian attack on the labour theory of value

  

  In the fourth part of our series, Dominic Alexander looks at the problems with Keynesian critiques of Marx's labour theory of value 

• After Windrush: this racist government must go - Counterfire Freesheet May 2018

  

  Windrush, May 68, Palestine, UCU strike, Marx and more - Counterfire freesheet edition 025, May 2018

• Was Marx an economist? What was his contribution to economics?

  

  In her speech at 'Why Marx Was Right', Susan Newman argues that Marx's analysis of capitalism goes against everything modern economics stands for

• The limits of Keynesianism part three: Marx, Keynes and the analysis of the trade cycle

  

  In the third part of our series on Keynesianism, Dominic Alexander looks at cycles, crisis, and why Keynesianism always looks to fix capitalism 

• Marxism in 800 words

  

  As we approach Karl Marx's 200th birthday, Alex Snowdon summarises Marx's key ideas in as few words as possible

• Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Marx on his 200th birthday

  

  On 5 May, leading Marxists are getting together to celebrate Marx’s 200^th birthday. Chris Nineham argues why the event matters so much.

• The limits of Keynesianism part two: the assumptions Keynes makes

  

  In the second part of our series on Keynesianism, Dominic Alexander outlines the economic and philosophical underpinnings of Keynesian thought

• The limits of Keynesianism part one: John Maynard Keynes and orthodox economics

  

  In the first part of our series considering the merits and pitfalls of Keynesian economics, Dominic Alexander looks at the history of Keynes' contribution

• Basic Income: progressive cloak and neoliberal dagger

  

  BI is not an answer to inequality under neoliberalism. Social transformation will come through collective struggle, argues John Clarke

• A Redder Shade of Green - book review

  

  Ian Angus’ essays range across many issues at the intersection of politics and environmental science, illuminating the meaning of ecosocialism, finds Kevin Crane

• Paris and London: A Tale of Two Radical Cities

  

  Chris Bambery on the history of two great capital cities, and the architecture of power.

• Why we’re heading for another economic crash

  

  Our economy continues to be tied to the vagaries of speculative finance

• Environmental entropy is inescapable in capitalism

  

  No truly effective green politics can do without a coherent argument against the capitalist mode of production, argues Nathan Street

• You don't hate snow, you hate capitalism

  

  As a blast of cold Siberian air has frozen the UK over, Tim Hinson explains how increasing temperatures in the Arctic is to blame

• Studies in Pre-Capitalist Modes of Production - book review

  

  This collection of studies on pre-capitalist societies develops vital debates on the application of the Marxist method to history in general, argues Dominic Alexander

• Brexit: the need for independent working-class, anti-capitalist politics

  

  We build on the schism in capitalist politics resulting from Brexit divisions by putting anti-racism grounded in working class politics front and centre argues Kevin Ovenden

• Unco-operative capitalism - weekly briefing

  

  The showdown between public need and private greed will mean taking on the banks and the City from the get-go, argues Lindsey German

• Automation: the future, but what future?

  

  We cannot consider automation without taking into account the mode of production in which it's operating, argues Nathan Street 

• Carillion, Capita and the death of a dogma

  

  Private companies cannot be allowed to continue running public services. The consensus around this practice is thankfully crumbling, argues Sean Ledwith

• The Economic Struggle for Power in Tito's Yugoslavia - book review

  

  Vladimir Unkovski-Korica locates the roots of Yugoslavia’s bloody collapse in the ‘market socialism’ of the Tito years

• We need real solutions, not tickboxing and tokenism

  

  Jeremy Hunt saying that the NHS doesn't need more funding suggests his idea of a solution is more unpaid labour for working class women argues Kevin Ovenden

• Creating an Ecological Society: Towards a Revolutionary Transformation - book review

  

  Magdoff and Williams provide a powerful case that ecological disaster can be overcome by a revolutionary transformation of social relations

• Frankenstein at 200

  

  Frankenstein was published 200 years ago. It's a horror story but the horrors it described are rooted in capitalism as well as the imagination

• Capitalism and technology: are robots going to take over - video

  

  At a London meeting, Marxist economist Michael Roberts discusses whether or not the robot takeover is inevitable, and would advancement lead to living standards improving or further exploitation

• Marxism, Social Reproduction and Women’s Liberation with Lindsey German and Kate Connelly - video

  

  At an important Counterfire discussion, Lindsey German and Kate Connelly speak on women's oppression and how gender roles are played out within the structure of capitalism

• Trump - Year One

  

  Making sense of the Trump presidency is impossible without a systematic understanding of the forces of reaction and capitalism which paved his way, argues David Bush

• Istvan Meszaros and Marx's theory of alienation

  

  The late Hungarian philosopher explained how alienation can only be overcome by collective action which challenges capitalist relations of production

• On Marx’s account of the commodity

  

  Understanding Marx's Capital requires a clear grasp of his analysis of the commodity, writes Matthew McManus

• Post-modern Trumpism and loneliness: the rise of vulgar authoritarianism

  

  What is at the root of Trump's appeal?

• The Paradise Papers show us the true nature of the monarchy

  

  The Paradise Papers have exposed once more the deep inequalities that plight our country but they also show us a glimpse of the secretive and devious workings of the Crown argues Patricia Pino