MARTIN JENKINS believes Michel Foucault’s analysis of power can inform an ethical understanding of socialism. The French thinker Michel Foucault died 20 years ago in 1984. Lecturing at the foremost European universities, Foucault was briefly a member of the Parti Communiste Francais (PCF). Along with other thinkers, he has been labelled as a post-modernist.(1)...
Articles
Cook’s report
The ILP’s ‘Conversation of the left’ was held in Leeds on 8 May 2004. Martin Cook reports. This meeting was a deliberately low key ‘conversation’ with no big name speakers and a set of themes on the future of the left and our attitude to the Labour Party. The organisers seemed a bit disappointed...
Making the mutual state
The New Economics Foundation is influencing the government’s agenda with its ideas for democratising the public sector. MATTHEW BROWN spoke to NEF’s executive director, Ed Mayo. Last year an “independent think tank”, the New Economics Foundation (NEF), published a small pocket book called The Mutual State: How local communities can run public services, which...
Africa: Imperialism goes naked
SARAH BRACKING and GRAHAM HARRISON argue that imperialism is a far more useful concept than globalisation for understanding Africa’s relations with the global economy. ‘The profound hypocrisy and inherent barbarism of bourgeois civilization lies unveiled before our eyes, moving from its home, where it assumes respectable form, to the colonies, where it goes naked.’...
The left, the war and the obligations of the oppressed
In the wake of September 11th, and opposition to the war on terrorism, WILL BROWN calls for the left to re-examine its knee-jerk responses to international conflict. Writing in the left-wing American magazine, Dissent, Michael Walzer has issued a stark indictment of the left’s response to the events of September 11th and the war...
Behind the Stars and Stripes
America is still gripped by patriotism in the wake of the attacks last September on New York and Washington. But behind the bunting, there are fiery arguments on the US left and right about the uses and abuses of American power. GARY KENT reports. Debate on the US left is bitter after 9/11. On...
The battle for democracy in Iraq
GARY KENT urges the British Labour movement to support Iraq’s emerging trade unions and grassroots democrats. All the Iraqis I know were exiled by Saddam Hussein, as were four million other people. They detested Saddam’s murderous regime, which was modelled explicitly on those of Stalin and Hitler. The victims ran into the millions. My...
In search of the good society
Jonathan Timbers skirted the fringes of Labour Party conference in September listening to versions of the good society The Good Society is the first of three short books from Compass following its consultations with members, left-wing academics and experts on policy priorities for radical social democrats in Britain today. I perused its 100-or-so pages...
Mixed greens
For all its good ideas, says Jonathan Timbers, the Green Party needs to do some serious thinking if it is to be a credible and progressive alternative to Labour The Green Party is often seen by some democratic socialists in England as a left-wing alternative to the Labour Party. There are a growing number...
Stock ideas
Mike Wadsworth finds little support for housing co-operatives at a recent meeting of his CLP All-member meetings, organised by the political education officer, are a regular feature of the constituency Labour Party in Great Yarmouth. Previous topics have included the Labour Party-trade union link and the future of pension and welfare provision. The issues...
Introduction
Independent Labour Publications (ILP) is an educational trust, publishing house and pressure group committed to democratic socialism and the success of the democratic socialist Labour Party. The primary aims of its publications are to contribute to political analysis and the development of democratic socialist perspective and policy; to help stimulate a debate within the...
A socialism for our times
Independent Labour Publications (ILP) is an educational trust, publishing house and pressure group committed to democratic socialism and the success of a democratic socialist Labour Party. The ILP was formed in 1893 as the Independent Labour Party, which became a co-founder of the Labour Party at the beginning of the 20th century. Today we...