Letters

I am puzzled by a kink in the otherwise fine fabric of Andrew Jones’s review of the excellent Dorothea Lange exhibition at The Barbican (July/August SR).

In his excellent review of John Kelly’s Contemporary Trotskyism (June SR) Joseph Choonara quotes a couple of paragraphs from a document written by the distinguished historian Sam Farber in 1973.

Social Reproduction Theory, edited by Tithi Bhattacharya, has much more to offer than Sue Caldwell suggests in her review (July/August SR).

The essays provide a serious and rigorous attempt to extend a fundamental Marxist concept, the role of labour in creating value, to areas of life which have been neglected by many Marxist theoreticians, centrally the role of unpaid domestic labour in the reproduction of labour power.

An important addition needs to be made to Phil Marfleet’s excellent article on US anti-migrant campaigns (July/August SR).

Like all borders the US-Mexico border is entirely artificial. Mexico had won independence in a revolutionary war against Spain in 1821. At that time Mexico included Texas, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California and part of Colorado.

Concerning Bob Light’s review of the subversive films of 1968 (May SR), I agree that Pontecorvo’s Battle of Algiers is a fantastic film, but not as impressive as his film Queimada (Burn! 1969), which stars Marlon Brando and was said to be influenced by Trotsky’s notion of permanent revolution.

I read Peter Keighron’s letter, “Is Marxist theory on religion still relevant?” (April SR).

I had to write an article recently about the Quaker families Fry and Cadbury and their chocolate products. I ended up saying “they may have been Christian evangelists but they did campaign against the slave trade in the 18th century, so let’s give credit where it’s due.”

It was Christians, led by William Wilberforce, who finally ended slavery in Britain and Ireland.

I disagree with Emma Davis’s call for tighter gun controls in the US (May SR).

Firstly, anyone who is intent on killing does not need a gun — homemade bombs, Molotov cocktails, machetes and cars driven at high speed are generally effective.

The constitutional right to bear arms should be defended because it ensures that the state does not have a monopoly on being armed. The same state that Emma quite rightly says would not be touched by any restrictions.

The extraordinary nature of the alliance between Donald Trump and the evangelical right in the US was once again put on display at the opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem. Two evangelical pastors preached at the event, John Hagee and Robert Jeffress.

They both believe that the adherents of Judaism are damned to the fires of hell for all eternity and Hagee has, in the past, actually described Adolf Hitler as having been chosen by God to force the Jews to settle in Palestine.

I would like to thank Peter Keighron for his letter (April SR) responding to my article on the Bolsheviks and Islam.

To answer your first question regarding the socialist political theory of religion and whether it has been maintained, I believe that in Britain it has — this can be seen in the fight against Islamophobia. However, in some places, such as France, it has not, and that is very much reflected in the rise of Islamophobia. The left in France has sided with the oppressor against the oppressed in the name of secularism.

Simon Guy’s article, “We don’t want your thoughts and prayers” (April SR), looks at the huge movement in the US for action over gun control. The protests have been progressive and mainly led by young people. They have been a cry of rage against the Trump administration and the NRA.

But in order to tackle the gun violence in the US we have to go beyond the demand for tighter gun control, and look at the conditions which drive young people to commit such horrifying atrocities.