When Thatcher was elected in 1979 the fortunes of British capitalism were lagging behind its competitors after decades of poor performance. Her economic policies as a package reflected the desire of the British ruling class to break the power of the workers' movement in the workplace and, through higher unemployment, to increase the profitability and competiveness of British capital.
The struggle in South Yemen for independence from the North continues to be way down the agenda of the international media. Mirfat Sulaiman reports on a rising revolutionary tide which no amount of repression seems capable of stemming.
Radical left parties such as Syriza in Greece and the Front De Gauche in France have made significant gains recently. But what about Britain? Socialist film maker Ken Loach has recent issued a call for a new left party to be formed here too. Ed Rooksby, one of the supporters of the call, explains why he thinks the time is right to launch such a party and what its aims should be. Socialist Review will respond in our next issue.
Jerry Hicks stood as a rank and file candidate in the recent elections for the general secretary of Unite, the biggest union in Britain. He received 79,819 votes, 36 percent of the vote. Socialist Review spoke to Jerry about why he stood and the lessons of the campaign
There are two conflicting accounts of what has happened in the labour market since the onset of the Great Recession. It will amaze Socialist Review readers but there is a story doing the rounds that we are in the middle of a "jobs boom".
Fifty years ago this month a few committed activists from Bristol's 3,000-strong black community launched a remarkable and ultimately successful campaign. As in the rest of post-war Britain, housing was difficult to find. A "colour bar" existed in many places with signs in windows proclaiming "No Blacks or Irish". Young black men on a night out would run the gauntlet of "Teddy boys".
Wage-Labour and Capital is online at http://bit.ly/187qEer
At the time of writing it is still unclear whether Cyprus's banks will finally re-open. What has taken place on this small island state seems part of a by now familiar pattern of financial speculation, real estate boom and resulting collapse of a banking sector - one that had ballooned to around eight times the size of the economy it was attached to.
"Good morning, what a relief it was to see your leaflet come through my letterbox. Thank you." It has not been often that we get that response to the campaigning work we do.
Turkey's ruling Islamic AKP party has been committed to neoliberalism and expanding Turkey's regional influence. But, argues Roni Margulies, there has also been a major reshaping of the relationship between society, the state and the once all powerful Turkish military
What does Marxism say about ethics? Mark L Thomas argues that Marx had a coherent theory of ethics that can overcome the contradictions of bourgeois morality, which is the subject of a new book by Paul Blackledge
