Tom Bramble, using a wealth of data, refutes arguments which claim that the Australian working class no longer has the power to challenge capitalist rule.
The Labor Party is in crisis. Its branch structures continue to fracture, its active membership continues to shrink, its working class vote continues to decline and year after year the party shifts further to the right. Can it in any sense still be regarded as some form of workers’ party? Ben Hillier argues that the answer is a qualified “yes".
Tom Bramble debunks the theory that there is an aristocracy of labour in Australia.
Mick Armstrong argues that socialists should recognise riots as an important part of working class struggle and shows the role they have often played in Australia.
Cecilia Judge and Adam Bottomley outline how Australian Services Union members won what has been described as the most significant victory for gender pay equity since the 1970s.
Katie Wood looks at the 1969 Clarrie O'Shea strike.
In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, the newly formed Communist International attempted to develop a revolutionary approach to union work in the West. Mick Armstrong looks at the application of that strategy in Australia and Britain.
Diane Fieldes looks at the impact on the family of women's increased participation in the paid workforce.
Max Lane provides an overview of the "rebirth" of a powerful working class movement and the challenges posed for emerging forces of the Indonesian Marxist left.
Liz Ross shows that, in spite of brutal exploitation, women textile and garment workers from the industrial revolution in nineteenth century Britain to Bangladesh today have defied the stereotype of passive victims.
Rebecca Barrigos looks at the frequent government attacks on student unions since the 1970s.
Terry Irving’s book The Southern Tree of Liberty celebrates working people, their grievances, their organisations and the struggle for democracy before 1856 as revealed by working class newspapers, many never consulted by historians before.
Mick Armstrong explores how World War I led to enormous class struggles in Australia, and led to a split in the Labor party, a general strike and a political radicalisation that shaped the next decades of working class politics.
Katie Wood draws together a rich history of working class struggle for equal pay for women. Unlike some historians who present equal pay as a "feminist" issue won by women's mobilisations against men's resistance, she shows that it has been a union issue since the nineteenth century.
Liam Ward has assembled a remarkable history of struggle by Chinese workers in Australia which has mostly been ignored or misrepresented.
Tom Bramble, drawing on decades of research and active involvement in the labour movement, argues that 35 years of passivity and class collaboration rather than an emphasis on militant, class struggle unionism is the core reason our unions are in crisis.
Rebecca Barrigos digs into the history of economic development, ruling class strategies and the labour movement of Queensland to explain why the state has its own distinct political traditions.
Kyla Cassells reviews an important new book by American Marxist Kim Moody which details both the substantial restructuring of capital andlabour through the neoliberal era, and the opportunities available for a new generation of socialist and union activists to rebuild a working class left.
Diane Fieldes reviews a fascinating new work that documents the early formation of working class consciousness in Australia.
Gavin Stanbrook and Diane Fieldes celebrate the life of a pioneering Indigenous activist and trade unionist.
Stephanie Price reviews this excellent new book which documents in great detail the means by which unions and the ALP sold a corporatist version of neoliberalism to the working class.
Shomi Yoon reviews a new work on the rich history of working class anti-war activism in Japan during World War 2.
Ben Reid reviews a newly published work on Indonesia's modern trade union movement.
In this fascinating piece, Mick Armstrong explores the politics of the heroic Industrial Workers of the World, Australia's first mass revolutionary working class movement.
Tom Bramble assesses and rejects the argument that the end of 'fordism' means the end of working class power.
Mick Armstrong looks at the impact of World War I on the class struggle in Australia.
Tom Bramble reviews the weakened state of workers' organisations in Australia after a decade of the Accord.
Veteran socialist Dan La Botz surveys the state of workers' organisations and politics in the US, and finds some signs of hope as a new generation begins to organise against economic enmiseration, a health crisis and racism.
In this wonderful piece, Janey Stone draws upon the outpouring of articles, pamphlets, books, songs and poems produced by participants and supporters, many of which are completely forgotten now, to explore the role of women in the British Miners' Strike of 1984/85.
Mick Armstrong recounts the rise and fall of the NSW Builders Labourers’ Federation, and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of the radical left that turned the union into one of the most impressive examples of socialist unionism in history.
Diane Fieldes and Jordan Humphreys look at how rank and file higher education workers rebelled against attempts by both university managements and their own union to impose job losses and attacks on their wages and conditions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ian Birchall examines how the Communist International engaged with syndicalists in an attempt to build an revolutionary working-class movement in the wake of the Russian Revolution.
Jack Crawford reviews Liz Ross’ new book about workers’ resistance to the Prices and Incomes Accord.
Mick Armstrong surveys the many debates that emerged during the founding of the CPA, drawing out lessons for contemporary revolutionaries.
Tess Lee Ack revisits some highlights of militant struggles by teacher unions in Australia.
Diane Fieldes reviews Sam Oldham's book about radical Australian trade unionism in the 1970s.
Luca Tavan reexamines the revolutionary upsurge in Italy following WW1, drawing out strategic errors made by Gramsci and the leadership of the Italian Communist Party.
Jordan Humphreys excavates the history of the early workers' movement and finds substantial evidence for Aboriginal involvement in the famous shearers' strikes and that the AWU made real efforts to support their struggles.
Nick Everett reviews a recent book documenting an inspiring history of Indigenous class struggle.
Rick Kuhn critically reviews the economic strategies promoted by the left in Australia, in particular the left nationalist ideas popular in the 1970s and ’80s. He argues that such reformist strategies offer no threat to capitalism and no way forward for the working class.
Alexis Vassiley reviews a book that draws on episodes of working-class resistance to situate technological change and automation in the context of class struggle and capitalist social relations.
Phoebe Kelloway surveys the development of the healthcare system in Australia in the post-war years. She recounts how capitalists and doctors fought against universal care, how Labor repeatedly walked away from its progressive commitments, and how nurses have struck to fight back.
Luca Tavan revisits the explosive period of working-class struggle in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and critiques the autonomist ideas that led to the defeat of the movement, and continue to shape the left today.
Duncan Hart reviews a useful book that exposes the systemic exploitation and shameful wage theft faced by workers in Australia.
Sage Jupe reviews a timely book analysing the impasse facing both the ruling class and the working class in the US.
Vinil Kumar explores the little known history of class struggle in Fiji, the Solomon Islands, PNG and Bougainville.