Reclaiming the territory

BARRY WINTER interviews Jon Cruddas, MP for Dagenham, deputy leadership hopeful, and co-author of a new pamphlet on the democratic renewal of the Labour Party You wish to stand for deputy leader of the Labour party, but not deputy PM. Also, you’ve recently co-authored a very interesting pamphlet on renewal of the party. Are...

A suitable case for treatment

Barry Winter welcomes the call for Labour’s renewal in a new Compass pamphlet. But where are the forces to make it happen? A robust dialogue about democratically renewing the Labour Party has never been more vital. That’s no guarantee, however, that one will take place. Interest in party democracy is still overshadowed by the...

What’s the alternative?

DEXTER WHITFIELD looks at the alternatives to neoliberal policies, and calls for city-wide alliances and coalitions of opposition An alternative modernisation strategy needs to have key themes. It should restate public service principles and values, which should be embedded in all policies, programmes and projects. It should emphasise democratic accountability and transparency, and seek...

The Swedish model

Sweden proves that ‘a better world is possible’, argues a Compass pamphlet. GERRY LAVERY thinks we should take notice. Robert Taylor’s pamphlet for Compass, Sweden’s New Social Democratic Model: Proof that a better world is possible, is not just a record of achievements in social democratic Sweden but also an argument that, compared to...

Land and freedom

On its 70th anniversary, BARRY WINTER lifts the veil of nostalgia that still obscures the Spanish civil war. For Enriqueta Cervera the incident at the telephone exchange in Barcelona on the afternoon of 3 May 1937 remains as vivid as if it happened yesterday. ‘I remember it so well because it was all so...

A football revolution

The success of England’s newest football club is based on a rejection of the free market model that dominates the game, and our culture, says ADAM BROWN. A little over a year ago the newest football club in the league pyramid was officially inaugurated by its members. FC United of Manchester is a fan-owned,...

No direction honed

Judging by its national conference in June, Compass is still searching for a political strategy. MATTHEW BROWN reports ‘The future’s almost here,’ proclaimed the advertising blurb for the 2006 national Compass conference. ‘Come and help shape it.’ It was clearly an enticing prospect, for 1200 people swapped a sweltering Saturday in June for the...

Selling the rebellion

ANDY HANSFORD enjoys an attack on the counterculture and its absorption into consumer capitalism In The Rebel Sell, two Canadian academics pick apart the way the counterculture has morphed into the height – and the pathfinder – of consumer capitalism at its most distasteful. And that’s it really. The canvas is broad, and the...

About Democratic Socialist

Democratic Socialist is the bulletin of the ILP Friends’ Network, a loose organisation of democratic socialists who wish to discuss ideas and learn from each other as a means of creating a living political community. See Introduction to the ILP for further information. It is published three or four times a year by Independent...

An integrated future?

Integrated education is vital to the future of a non-sectarian Northern Ireland, says Gary Kent There was a time when Northern Ireland barely made any impact on mainland and mainstream British politics. It was, to use a phrase popularised by the Sunday Times, John Bull’s slum. After partition in 1921, which Britain accepted rather...

Beggars belief

Ben Turley examines the implications of new laws to tackle religious discrimination The purpose of this article is to look at the new civil legislation and case law around religious discrimination. I am not qualified to comment on the criminal law and therefore have little to say about the controversial incitement to religious hatred...

No logo, no solutions [from 2001]

No Logo has won plaudits a-plenty for exposing the activities of our corporate rulers. But, asks MATTHEW BROWN, is it really as radical as it’s made out? Branding big business is big business these days. In this age when image is everything a change of identity is seen as the fix-all solution for any...