Articles by Socialist Action

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Five precedents for understanding Egypt’s July coup

3rd October 2013 Socialist Action 0

The Egyptian army’s July coup was met with widespread confusion on the left. Within Egypt and internationally some socialists actually supported the coup, others were explicitly neutral in the struggle between the Muslim Brotherhood government and the army.

The article by John Riddell that appears below considers these issues from the point of view of the experience of the international communist movement from 1917 to the 1930s, drawing out why these positions are dangerously wrong.

Source: YouGov

Labour support grows when it defends living standards

2nd October 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Paul Roberts and Jane West

As expected Labour conference fired the starting gun for the 2015 election. What was not so anticipated was the Miliband leadership’s announcement of a series of popular policies that are widely perceived as constituting a shift to the left.

The strategy rolled out was for Labour to position itself as the party that defends the living standards of ordinary people. This was a shift in strategy and a welcome one. It is based on a correct understanding that the mass of the population is now more animated by contracting real incomes – the ‘cost of living crisis’ – than the ideology of ‘deficit reduction’.

Party conferences fire starting gun on 2015 general election campaign

20th September 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Nicky Dempsey and Jane West

It is little more than a year and a half until the next general election and already the main issues in each party’s campaign are being delineated.

Labour is still virtually certain to be the largest party after the next election as the long-term decline in the Tory vote will be further depressed by five years of austerity. Electorally the main question is whether Labour wins a majority – and of what size – or whether it is forced into coalition with the Lib Dems.

Review: A season in the Congo

10th September 2013 Socialist Action 0

By Tom Castle

Patrice Lumumba was murdered in 1961. The leader of Congo’s first post-colonial government lasted just weeks in office and was dead within months of his election. A Season in the Congo, playing an extended season at the Young Vic, is a joyous celebration of his life and a poignant record of his death.