Editorial: Against Faint-Heartedness
As Starmer strides towards power, heedless of the cost of living crisis, the left across Scotland is taking up James Connolly's reply to the faint-hearted: our demands are moderate, we only want the earth.
Issue 136
Class and the Crisis
Sept – Nov 2023
Download PDF
Stopping the Steamroller
Changing the direction of the Starmer project depends on the combined pressure of many campaigns, writes Lauren Harper.
Starmer the Evangelist
Keir Starmer’s Labour is becoming a vehicle for the right-wing politics of US evangelicalism, writes Fanny Wright.
A March for Power Alone
Labour’s current plan will lead them towards irrelevance and decline, warn Bob Thomson and Stephen Smellie.
Real Change, Not Spare Change
Roz Foyer explains how the Scottish Trades Union Congress is countering the right with political education on the cost of living crisis.
A Course Through This Crisis
Francis Stuart introduces a radical education programme that equips learners to uncover why capitalism isn't working.
Welfare Struggles as Class Struggle
Arianna Introna reports on the cross-class resistance to increased harassment of benefits claimants by the DWP.
More Advice to Tackle Poverty
Alan McIntosh explores why Humza Yousaf needs to fund advice and assistance services to address the cost of living crisis.
Collaboration or Collapse
Charities are now critical to the support that local authorities must provide to tackle the cost of living crisis, find Diarmuid McDonnell, Xihua Chen, and João Rafael Cunha.
We Don’t Want Paper Straws
Emma Brown explains why climate campaign group This Is Rigged is shifting its focus to the cost of living crisis.
Stopping Scotland’s War Machines
Huda Ammori, a founder of Palestine Action, discusses the campaign’s Scottish targets.
An Unwinnable War
Bill Bonnar sets out a socialist case for a negotiated peace in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Popular Resistance
Resistance to Russia is the choice of the Ukrainian people, and deserves the support of socialists in Scotland, writes Colin Turbett.
Beyond the Crimson Tide
The poems of Pakistani exile Faiz Ahmed Faiz reflect the people’s longing for a just social order, writes Ali Zaidi.
From the Ashes of Left Populism
Coll McCail reviews The Populist Moment by Arthur Borriello and Anton Jäger (2023, Verso Books).
Strategic Alliances
David Green reviews The Crisis and Future of Democracy, edited by Ada Regelmann (2022, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung).
Kick up the Tabloids
Vladimir McTavish investigates why even the military are alarmed by the team in charge of defence.
Solidarity of a Lifetime
Hazel Marshall pays tribute to John Keenan and his contribution to the trade union movement in South Lanarkshire.
Reigniting Radical Culture
Neil Gray and the Variant editorial board pay tribute to Leigh French, writer and editor.