3 February 2021

The Communist Manifesto - A guide to understanding society, and how to change it

The Communist Manifesto today: "A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of communism". In 1848, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels chose these famous words as the opening line of their 'Communist Manifesto'.

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6 January 2021

Engels on the origins of women's oppression

In the final article in our series to commemorate 200 years since the birth of Friedrich Engels, Christine Thomas looks at the relevance of his important work 'The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State' for the struggle today to end women's inequality and oppression.

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16 December 2020

'Socialism - Utopian and Scientific' by Engels

In the fourth article in our series marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Engels, Ross Saunders looks at one of Engels' best known works.

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9 December 2020

The Socialist Inbox

Send your news, views and criticism, in not more than 150 words, to [email protected] - or if you're not online, PO Box 1398, Enfield EN1 9GT

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9 December 2020

Engels and the answer to the housing question

Engels published The Housing Question in 1872 as a contribution to debates about the appalling housing conditions facing the working class in Germany, Britain and elsewhere, and what should be done about it

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2 December 2020

Review: Friedrich Engels - Condition of the working class in England

The second in our series on socialist pioneer Friedrich Engels, on the 200th anniversary of his birth. Socialist Party national committee member Helen Pattison reviews one of the first books he wrote.

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25 November 2020

Friedrich Engels: A revolutionary who played a pivotal role in the development of socialism

28th November 2020, is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). Alongside Karl Marx, Engels was one of the greatest thinkers

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17 April 2019

Engels' classic essential for understanding socialist ideas old and 'new'

As Tony Saunois points out in his foreword to the new Socialist Books reprint, 'Socialism: Utopian and Scientific' remains one of the best introductions to Marxist ideas.

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9 January 2019

'Socialism: Utopian and Scientific'

Socialist Books has announced its next upcoming title

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17 October 2018

The renewed relevance of Engels' classic Socialism: Utopian and Scientific

This short pamphlet by Friedrich Engels is, along with the Communist Manifesto, one of the best and most significant introductions to Marxism. It greatly adds to our understanding of the roots of socialism and the tasks of the working class to fundamentally change society.

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20 June 2018

Inspirational account of young Marx's political battles

Film: The Young Karl Marx (2017): Director Raoul Peck takes us on a voyage through the life of 'The Young Karl Marx'.

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2 May 2018

200 years of Karl Marx: Marxist ideas more relevant than ever

Marx was born 200 years ago on 5 May. Together with Engels, he formulated the ideas of scientific socialism which were to shake the world

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18 October 2017

Russia, October 1917: When workers took power

The centenary of the Russian revolution has led to an outpouring of bile - not mainly aimed at the February revolution, but at October

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9 August 2017

Marx's Capital at 150: an unequalled analysis and critique of capitalism

The Daily Mail reacted with predictable hysteria when, in May 2017, John McDonnell stated: "You can't understand the capitalist system without reading Marx's Das Kapital."

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14 January 2015

Billionaires five times richer than in 2004

Fight inequality with socialism: Eye-wateringly massive inequality. An ever-widening wealth gap between the super-rich and the rest of us. Scandalous tax-avoiding arrangements

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14 January 2015

Book review: Eleanor Marx - a life

Eleanor Marx was an extraordinary woman - youngest daughter of an extraordinary man, Karl Marx, and of Jenny, his lifelong partner through revolution and counter-revolution

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Karl Marx: A Nineteenth Century Life by Jonathan Sperber

31 July 2013

Book review: Karl Marx - How to change the world

In this book Jonathan Sperber says he aims to place the great revolutionary thinker and activist firmly in his times

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14 January 2013

Collapse of Stalinism and the 1990s

If they were to answer that North Vietnam was more 'progressive', then how to explain their position at the time of the collapse of the Berlin Wall, when the liquidation of the planned economy in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union was, for them, not a great negative historical turning point...

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22 June 2011

News in brief

PFI man: Predictably many Tory backbenchers regard the prime minister's cosmetic changes to the government's health and social care bill as a capitulation...

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19 February 2011

Part one A history of women’s oppression
1 Have women always been oppressed?

"Men have broad shoulders and narrow hips, and accordingly they possess intelligence. Women have narrow shoulders and broad hips. Women ought to stay at home; the way they were created indicates this,...

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