Blog

The Tories have a millennial problem. That's the conclusion of a series of interventions in the past few months from a range of Conservatives, not least Liz Truss free-market conservatism to  “Uber-riding, Airbnb-ing, Deliveroo-eating freedom fighters". But what's behind this appeal to the lifestyle freedom of the "Boohoo generation"? In this article, Orlando Lazar argues that debating the left on the terrain of freedom is dangerous territory for the Tories, and one which elides the dynamics of modern capitalism.

In response to the increasing iniquities of contemporary capitalism, Michel Aglietta argues that the only way out is through increasing political democracy, and a radical democratisation of the economy. 

Enzo Traverso interviewed by Vincent Martign about the current state of the international left and its future prospects.

The first annual Christopher Hill Memorial Lecture was given on November 3rd 2018 in Newark and 27th March 2019 in London by Professor Justin Champion, and titled "Heaven Taken by Storm: Christopher Hill, Andrew Marvell and the Dissenting Tradition". In this, the text of the lecture, Champion defends Christopher Hill's Marxist method against its revisionist detractors and seeks to extend Hill's reading of Andew Marvell, particularly his reflections on Marvell's topical satires in verse and prose of the Restoration.

Bhaskar Sunkara explores socialism’s history and presents a realistic vision for its future.

An essay from Communal Luxury by Kristin Ross

The following essay is by Gail Lewis and is taken from "Black Women's Employment and the British Economy" from Inside Babylon.

In State of Insecurity, Isabell Lorey explores the possibilities for organization and resistance under the contemporary status quo, and anticipates the emergence of a new and disobedient self-government of the precarious. In this extract she looks at care crisis and care strike.

What is the capitalist democratic state and how should it be confronted? The left has typically seen the state either as an instrument of class rule that needs to be "smashed" or, as with social democracy, as a neutral medium which can be wielded by functionaries with the correct ideas. In this, a series of seven theses on the nature and function of the capitalist state, Michael A. McCarthy argues that both are wrong and that we need a reinvigoration of the late work of Nicos Poulantzas for a full, democratic understanding of the state.

Open letter signed by theorists, critics, and scholars calling for the removal of Warren B. Kanders – CEO of a company responsible for the manufacturing and marketing of weapons such as the tear gas used against migrant families at the U.S./Mexico border, Water Protectors at Standing Rock, protestors in Ferguson, Oakland, Palestine, Puerto Rico, Egypt – from the board of the Whitney Museum.

Now updated with the signatures of more than 100 artists, including a number of artists participating in the upcoming 2019 Whitney Biennial.

Our Autumn 2019 Catalogue, jam packed with hot takes, current analysis and our new Verso Fiction Imprint! 

Since Jeremy Corbyn became leader of the Labour Party, the language of treason has returned to British political discourse - notably so with the recent video footage of soldiers in Afghanistan firing at a picture of Corbyn and Nigel Farage's claims that he would ‘pick up a rifle’ if Brexit was not delivered. In this article, Eleanor Penny analyses what it at stake in this new language of treason and what that means for British politics and society.