Theory and Strategy
Reformist tactics within a revolutionary strategy
E. P. Thompson
The question whether objective truth can be attributed to human thinking is not a question of theory but is a practical question
Karl Marx
The project and nascent movement associated with Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership has often been absorbed in the day-to-day business of politics, besieged both inside and outside the party. This is understandable, but it has also proved limiting. In our “Theory and Strategy” section New Socialist aims to provide a horizon beyond the day-to-day struggles in parliament or the party in order to grasp longer-term, strategic possibilities.
Aims
To provide a horizon which goes beyond the day to day business of parliament, opinion polling and elections but remains linked to the Corbyn project and to possible policies.
To provide theoretical perspectives which both draw upon the struggles and experiences of the “movement”, such as it is, especially the struggles of people from marginalised groups, and offer strategic direction to our struggles.
To interact with and support the rest of New Socialist, providing a theoretical and strategic foundation for the tactical side of the project and being nourished itself by being linked to the making of policy whether by left MPs or through the mechanisms of the party.
To challenge the intellectual basis of the positions being articulated by the Labour Right and Soft Left, especially those that make use of our language and concepts.
But also, to be open to what other tendencies both within Labour and outside Labour on the left can offer both in terms of useful criticism and their own theoretical and strategic perspectives.
On Theory
New Socialist understands theory as a step back from the day to day in order to grasp the relations between things as part of a whole, within a longer-term horizon, both in terms of the past and future. We do not, however, understand theory as unworldly; for us, any useful theory will be grounded in a practical view of the world that is dedicated towards changing it. Theory helps show reality as dynamic and contradictory and aids our capacity to understand and work on those contradictions towards collective ends. We aim to clarify how far (and what) theory can help guide positions we take now as well as exploring what is the proper task and form of left intellectualism in our current situation. These considerations will always be rooted in addressing how theory relates to practice, not only in the possibility that theory may guide practice but also, and more importantly, how theory emerges from and clarifies practical struggles.
New Socialist seeks essays of any length in order to grasp our present situation in its contradictions and fluidity to locate and develop strategic openings for the left. As well as essays we are interested in other forms of writing as part of our efforts to nurture and cultivate a new intellectualism of our movement, these may include discussions between various participants or shorter contributions detailing experiences, particularly the experiences of the marginalised, to form part of a general analysis including and organising various perspectives and experiences. These accounts of experiences would be particularly welcome for our series.
Series
We aim to run a number of series featuring connected essays and responses as well collecting experiences relevant to the subjects under consideration. We will begin with two series, “Starting as we mean to go on?”, jointly with the “Beyond Westminster” section of New Socialist, and “The Politics of Contemporary Motherhood”. “Starting as We mean to go on?” will collect and explore experiences of the everyday practices and culture of the movement, addressing how far these reflect and reinforce dominant social practices and values and how far they do and could transcend them, prefiguring new forms of social organisation. “The Politics of Contemporary Motherhood” will draw on a wide and diverse range of experiences in order to grasp the unique and contradictory position of mothers and motherhood in contemporary capitalist society and the political, organisational and strategic consequences of this.
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articles
Freedom Yet to Come
The Labor Republicans offer ways to help us talk about how work makes us unfree
by
Tom O'Shea
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June 7, 2018
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Theory and Strategy
The Society-Mother Relation: A Review of Jacqueline Rose's Mothers: An Essay on Love and Cruelty
We need more books like "Mothers", more passionate outbursts from academics to wider audiences, more wide net castings and weavings.
Labour’s Problem with Police (or, Why Going All-In for Cops is a Cop-Out)
Labour's positioning on the police represents a failure of leadership and a failure to challenge oppression with harmful consequences
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Ashara Peake
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May 15, 2018
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Theory and Strategy
"The sorts of areas that a party has to win": Britain's spatial contradictions and the 2018 local elections
In the wake of the local election results, how should strategies for local government sit in Britain's geography?
Stephen Lawrence and the Hostile Environment
This hostile environment is no mystery. British capitalism developed in symbiosis with empire: a formal structure of violent domination and exploitation of people of colour the world over.
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David Wearing
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April 24, 2018
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Theory and Strategy
Antisemitism and Our Duties as Anti-Imperialists
Antisemitism exists within the left, including among supporters of Jeremy Corbyn. There must be no place for it, it must be condemned without equivocation.
'You are more oppressive than our oppressors': Transphobia and transmisogyny in the British left
It is now more important than ever for the labour and trade union movement alongside the British left, more generally, to take a hard stance against transphobia and transmisogyny.
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Sylvia McCheyne
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March 15, 2018
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Theory and Strategy
Escaping the Black Dog's Shadow
Several weeks ago, Johann Hari told us that everything we knew about depression was wrong.
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Nic Murray
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March 12, 2018
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Theory and Strategy
An Anatomy of the Soy Boy
New Developments in the Abuse and Expression of Effeminacy in Anonymous Online Spaces
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Jules Joanne Gleeson
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Feb. 3, 2018
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Theory and Strategy
Interview with NEF's Lucie Stephens: Reinventing Childcare for the 21st Century
Lucie Stephens is Head of Co-Production at the New Economics Foundation and is currently working with parents to design and deliver parent-led cooperative childcare.
Fully Automated Lush-ery Communism?
As Alice Bonasio tweeted live from the Lush Creative Showcase on 4 September 2017: ‘Jeremy Corbyn says he’s got no bath to use the bath bomb he’s made [in.] “Number 10 has a bath” replies Mark Constantine.’
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Everyday Analysis
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Oct. 15, 2017
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Theory and Strategy
Speech and Fascists on Campus
On U.S. campuses it is increasingly clear that fascist strategy is to hypocritically use notions of free speech to support a racist, reactionary agenda.
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Aaron Jaffe
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Sept. 24, 2017
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Theory and Strategy
Women and Childcare in Capitalism: A Dialectical and Materialist Study - Part 4: Transforming Childcare Now
The last part of a four-part examination of the care of children under capitalism, which draws on Lise Vogel’s (2013) Marxism and the Oppression of Women.
Women and Childcare in Capitalism - Part 3: Domesticating the Social and Socialising the Domestic
The third part of a four-part examination of the care of children under capitalism, which draws on Lise Vogel’s (2013) Marxism and the Oppression of Women.
There Always Was an Alternative
In an exclusive and edited extract from his new book "The Corbyn Effect", Mark Perryman traces the origins and potential of Corbynism.
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The Editors
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Sept. 20, 2017
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Theory and Strategy
Interview with Mark Perryman on "The Corbyn Effect"
Tom Gann spoke to Mark Perryman about the legacy of Stuart Hall, Labour modernity, possibilities for radical organisation, cultural politics and more.
Women and Childcare in Capitalism - Part 2: Women in Capitalism
The second part of a four-part examination of the care of children under capitalism, which draws on Lise Vogel’s (2013) Marxism and the Oppression of Women.
Normietivity: A Review of Angela Nagle's Kill all Normies
Inevitably, Angela Nagle’s new polemical non-fiction book, Kill All Normies, sent me on a trip down memory lane.
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Jules Joanne Gleeson
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Sept. 17, 2017
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Theory and Strategy
Women and Childcare in Capitalism - Part 1: Childcare in Capitalism
The first part of a four-part examination of the care of children under capitalism draws extensively on Lise Vogel’s (2013) Marxism and the Oppression of Women.
Corbynism's Ming Vase Period? Contextualising and Opposing the Line on Immigration
It is necessary to criticise Jeremy Corbyn’s recent comments on immigration, which are not only a problem in themselves but indicative of a general direction of the project which needs to be resisted.
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Tom Gann
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Aug. 18, 2017
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Theory and Strategy
White Marxism: A Critique of Jacobin Magazine
This critique comes from a place of solidarity.
by
Uday Jain
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Aug. 11, 2017
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Theory and Strategy
Reclaiming Common Sense
Arguably, we are at a critical sociohistorical juncture.
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James Trafford
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Aug. 10, 2017
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Theory and Strategy
The Politics of Contemporary Motherhood: Call for Contributions
Mums4Corbyn will be launching at The World Transformed and, working together with this project, New Socialist are publishing a series on 'The Politics of Contemporary Motherhood.'
Labour Party Conference: Call for Contributions
This September, thousands of Labour Party members - including constituency and trade union delegates from across Britain - will descend upon Brighton for this year’s Labour conference.
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The Editors
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Aug. 4, 2017
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Conference 2017,
Westminster,
Beyond Westminster,
Culture,
Theory and Strategy
The Puzzle We Face
This piece follows on from the author's election special essay, "The Hegemon Crack'd".
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David Beer
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July 19, 2017
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Theory and Strategy
Poor Gramsci
In 1987, the late Stuart Hall published an essay titled ‘Gramsci and Us’ in Marxism Today, then (still officially at least) the theoretical journal of the Communist Party of Great Britain.
Understanding and Building on the Manifesto
The General Election result not only settles the question of the Labour leadership but also of the broad contours of the programme, at least in terms of social and economic policy, for the next election.
Women Voting Labour: The Politics of Constructing the Unity of a Class
Women voted for Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party in greater numbers than men, according to research by YouGov conducted with 50,000 people after the election.
Class Interests and Campaigning in 2017
Some insightful comparisons have been drawn in recent weeks between the Labour Party’s platform at the recent general election and their platform in 1983.
No Time For Game Theory
"Credibility" is a sort of shadow-play in which sincerity is always understood to be instrumental, a token, something more or less successfully faked.
Fantasy Politics
What happens when the most firmly held of common senses meet the hard reality of political transformation?
Corbyn's Emerging Class Coalition
After the June 2017 General Election, can we see a new class coalition emerging?
The Hegemon Crack'd
After the election result I couldn’t help being reminded of the classic TV show Columbo. It played out a little like that.
The Stuplime Object of Ideology
