The State

Socialist Review Archive

Dispensable human rights

The British government’s treatment of Shamima Begum will not only scare every black and Asian citizen, but will also fail to deal with the root causes of young people’s political disaffection, writes Ndella Paye.
04 March 2020
Socialist Review Archive

Revolutionaries and the state

History is littered with lessons on why workers’ action is the key to real change, and Marx’s insights are crucial.
03 September 2018
Reviews & Culture

Age of Terror: Art since 9/11

This exhibition of artists’ responses to conflict since the terrorist attacks in the US on 11 September 2001 ranges from sculpture to video installations. It includes well known pieces such as Ai Weiwei’s marble surveillance camera on a plinth, Ivan Navarro’s “inverted columns” effect created with mirrors, as well as the vase Grayson Perry was...
26 March 2018
Socialist Review Archive

The state and revolution

In the weeks running up to the October Revolution Lenin took time out to write one of his most important works, a study of state power and who gets to hold it, writes Amy Leather.
04 September 2017
Socialist Review Archive

States of exclusion

The nation state with distinct borders is a recent idea, tied up with the development of capitalism. It is workers and the poor who suffer at its edges, writes Phil Marfleet.
31 October 2016
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Socialist Review Archive

How about a life in politics?

Donny Gluckstein asks what the relationship is between “politics”, the state and radical social change, looking at reformist and revolutionary strategies as well as the rejection of it all in the form of anti-politics.
04 March 2015
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Socialist Review Archive

Don’t Panic!

The fear exhibited by the ruling class at the prospect of the break-up of the British state was a sight to behold. John Newsinger looks at the actions of a state machine under pressure.
01 October 2014
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Socialist Review Archive

Which strategy for the left?

In last month's Socialist Review, Ed Rooksby, a supporter of the Left Unity initiative, put forward his view that a left government can play a key role in the fight for radical change. Mark L Thomas argues this ignores the role of the state.
01 June 2013
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Socialist Review Archive

Why Read The Civil War in France?

The Paris Commune of 1871 was the result of the world's first working class revolution. It survived for only two months but it was the most democratic and liberating government the world had seen up till that point. It offered a glimpse of a model of democracy that goes beyond the limited parliamentary democracy which is the best we can expect under capitalism.
01 June 2013
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Socialist Review Archive

Why read State and Revolution

Lenin finished writing State and Revolution in September 1917. At the time the fate of the Russian Revolution hung in the balance. After the February Revolution overthrew the Tsar, the country was run by a provisional government involving socialists in coalition with bourgeois forces.
01 February 2013
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Socialist Review Archive

States and capital, the banks and the bailouts

Right wingers usually argue that the state should get out of the way of private capital - that economic problems are caused by an overbearing state or regulation. Jack Farmer argues that the state actually serves to prop up the private sector, a role confirmed by the way that capitalism has evolved in recent years
01 July 2012
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Socialist Review Archive

Revolutionary Lessons: Should we aim to smash the state?

Can students challenge the state? Jack Farmer explores the issues.
01 January 2011