Archive of May Day Manifesto 1968

Raymond Williams, the renowned socialist cultural theorist, was born 100 years ago today in the town of Pandy, near the Welsh-English border. Here, published for the first time, is an extract from his famous ‘When Was Modernism?’ lecture, delivered at the University of Bristol in March 1987, and taken from the forthcoming Culture and Politics: Class, Writing, Socialism – the first Williams book for more than three decades to include new material.

Featuring books on migration, identity politics, the rise of right-wing populism and the struggles of 1968.

Our essential titles on radical histories.

Andy Merrifield discusses the influence of Guy Debord and the Situationist International on the events of May '68.

The radical newspaper The Black Dwarf played a pivotal role in the British left in the late '60s. In this introduction to the magazine by Tariq Ali, it's editor for the first years of its existence, Ali discusses the influences behind the formation of the magazine and the role its played in the events of 1968 in Britain.

In 1969, The Black Dwarf published an issue on "The Year of the Militant Woman". Reproduced below is the centrepiece article of the issue, Rowbotham's powerful manifesto of women's liberation - an article which broke new ground on the left in Britain. As Rowbotham wrote later, "everyday details such as these were not part of the language of politics in 1969."

To mark the bicentenary of the birth of Karl Marx, a range of Marxists choose their favourite book by and about the great man. With contributions from China Miéville, Sara Farris, Mike Davis, Esther Leslie and more!