Articles by Socialist Action

Combatting rape, assault and harassment of women

9th November 2017 Socialist Action 0

Notes from the front of 9-11-2017

Combatting rape, assault and harassment of women

The case of Harvey Weinstein – who stands accused of rape, assault and harassment of dozens of women in Hollywood over decades – has blown the lid off the rampant level of sexual violence and harassment against women, including in British society. The case has provided the opportunity for women to shine a light on this crisis and provoke a big discussion on how to combat it.

100 Years after the Balfour Declaration

8th November 2017 Socialist Action 0

Last Saturday (4 November) supporters of the Palestinians’ struggle demonstrated in London to mark the one hundredth anniversary of the Balfour Declaration. This declaration, by the Foreign Secretary in 1917, stated that Britain would support the establishment of a ‘national home for the Jewish people’ in Palestine. It represented the first expression of public support for Zionism by a major political power. The colonial project it supported developed into the state of Israel, resulting in the displacement of millions and death of countless tens of thousands of Palestinians. That displacement and loss of life continues to this day.

The article below by Dr. Ramzy Baroud, previously published on Counterpunch, explains how the Balfour Declaration helped destroy the Palestinian’s homeland, but has not succeeded in breaking the will of the Palestinian people.

Helen John

8th November 2017 Socialist Action 0

Socialist Action is sad to learn of the death of Helen John on 5 November 2017 and sends condolences to her family, friends and comrades.

Helen was an outstanding internationalist who dedicated her life to fighting imperialism’s military assaults across the globe. She campaigned for nuclear disarmament and opposed the US and Britain’s frequent resort to war. The British authorities on many occasions arrested and imprisoned her in an effort to halt the protests she organised.

Russia 1917: another world made possible

7th November 2017 Socialist Action 0

On 25 October 1917 (7 November in the Gregorian calendar) the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, organised an uprising that overthrew the weak and vacillating Provisional Government that had emerged from the overthrow of the Tsar earlier that year.

At 10am on the 25th the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies announced that the Provisional Government had been deposed and that state power had passed into the hands of the Military Revolutionary Committee, pending the convocation of the All Russian Congress of the Soviets.

The articles below explore the significance of the October Revolution, the state it created and its contribution to the progress of humanity.

The October Revolution created today’s world

6th November 2017 Socialist Action 0

By Brian Jackson

The 1917 October Revolution created today’s world in both an objective and subjective sense. Objectively, the October Revolution delivered the decisive blow to the four-century old colonial and imperialist system from which it has never recovered. Subjectively, in no country has the working class taken power and held it for any prolonged period other than via a political party that originated in the Third International created by the October Revolution (Russia, Yugoslavia, China, Vietnam) or which fused with a party from the Third International and embraced Marxism-Leninism (Cuba).

October 1917 – Why the Bolsheviks won

5th November 2017 Socialist Action 0

By Sammy Barker

Introduction

The October revolution of 1917 was the single most important event of the twentieth century. For the first time in human history a state was established, and stabilised, that represented the interests of the labouring majority in society. Society’s resources were to be utilised to advance the welfare, living standards and ambitions of the workers and peasants. The old exploiting classes – the nobility, landlords and capitalists – were stripped of the privileges which they possessed through robbery, deceit, arbitrary violence and grinding exploitation.