About

To coincide with the launch of our new magazine, Socialist Resistance is launching this website of the local Birmingham group. Here we publish the statement from the new journal about our political project, which can equally well serve as a mission statement for this site.

“Supporters of Socialist Resistance disagree on all sorts of things but there are some basic ideas that we share. The first of these is a strategic view of what needs to happen on the left of British politics.

We want to help build a class struggle party that fights for the interests of working class people and that supports workers when they are involved in struggles. It also has to be a party that is opposed to imperialist wars and capitalism. The type of party we want defends asylum seekers and women’s rights. That already makes it a very different type of party from New Labour.

None of us accepts that it is possible to create a party of this sort just by persuading single individuals to join. This type of party becomes possible when there are large social movements, struggles and strikes. We got a glimpse of this potential when Respect was born as a result of the mass movement against the war.

That involved established activists and organisations and drew in people who were becoming interested in politics for the first time. Through our involvement in Respect Renewal we are working with many people who disagree with us on many things but want lay the foundation for a new party.

Ecosocialist?

Socialist Resistance defines itself as an ecosocialist magazine. We hope it will help take forward the processes of greening the left, putting more red into green politics, rebuilding the left, and debating ideas and fighting for actions that can help produce a strategy to save the planet. It is necessary to link the local with the national; international and global to amplify the protests, the technical and social ideas, and to save the planet. We want to make this a journal that people will turn to for ideas, debate and information on these subjects. That is the second basic idea that we share.

We agree with Karl Marx’s profound analysis, that human society is divided into two basic classes—those who own the means of production, and those who do the producing. It’s capitalism, and capitalism becomes more ruthless and oppressive as it becomes more globally competitive and less able to provide for social need.

In its drive to increase profit it is creating mass unemployment, poverty and violence, and fast wrecking the environment. As socialists we support the interests and struggles of working people to take control of the way society is run.

And as revolutionary socialists we recognise that history shows no ruling class gives up its power until it is overthrown by revolution. Even though the major job we have given ourselves is to make Respect Renewal a success we do have our own distinct views on a number of questions.

We believe we have something distinctive to say about politics in Britain and internationally and, perhaps even more importantly, about the worldwide ecological catastrophe that capitalism is creating.”