We are told that the Great War was fought to stop German aggression. But the bloody conflict pitted imperial states against each other in a war for colonies.
All along the frontlines ordinary soldiers agreed unofficial truces known as 'live and let live'.
The decision by mass socialist parties in the Second International to support the war cast a long shadow over the continent.
A sense of panic had begun to grip the British establishment as the break up of the United Kingdom looms as a possibility. A sense of panic had begun to grip the British establishment as the break...
The dramatic military advance by Isis militants in the Sunni Muslim areas of Iraq in the early part of the summer pushed the country back towards civil war. The US war and occupation sowed the...
An influential book by Melissa Gira Grant, Playing the Whore, has opened a debate about the nature of sex work, criminalisation and moralism.
The prominent Scottish socialist has been speaking to packed meetings across Scotland as part of his Hope Over Fear tour. Here we print extracts from a speech he gave in Paisley in late June.
As the First World War broke out Lenin called for socialists to oppose their own governments. How his analysis of the war and his defeat slogan were eventually proved to be correct.
A decade has passed since the last time I attended Glastonbury. It seems some things never change, however. In 2004 England had just been knocked out of a major football tournament and concerns...
In the days and weeks leading up to the first week of June this year, Chinese internet censors were at their busiest, blocking any words or numbers which had any reference to 4 June 1989.
...
Poverty in Scotland 2014 is not only the title of the latest book published by a coalition of poverty groups but also the daily reality for over 280,000 Scottish workers.
With the...
Sheila Cohen has written an immensely readable and well-researched book on the history of the British Ford Motor Company, seen through the eyes of leading shop-floor and union officials and...
From the coast of Peru to the fields of Britain the way food is produced is shaping the environment we rely on for our survival.
Intensive farming techniques, pioneered in the US in the...
In a culture where mental illness still carries much stigma Barbara Taylor’s memoir is an important book about pain and treatment.
Taylor, a biographer of Mary Wollstonecraft, describes...
There is a plaque on the wall of a house in Loutra, near Rethymnon in Crete, commemorating the birthplace of Louis Tikas, one of the leaders of the 11,000 Colorado miners on strike in 1913-14...
If you are looking for a book to take on holiday, then look no further. This is a book that is both politically important and enormous fun to read.
Rachel Holmes obviously adores Eleanor...
This deeply moving coming of age film explores the life of an ordinary boy transformed by the world around him. Linklater uses the same actors over 12 years, allowing us to see the protagonist,...
Almeida Theatre, London, until 26 July
If you were given the task of preserving culture for future generations what would you save? Gilbert and Sullivan or Eminem? Shakespeare or the...
Tate Britain, London, until 31 August
Policing the borders of art is a tricky business. They’re porous, and they’re constantly shifting. What passes as “art” today may no longer pass...
Barbican, London, until 14 September
Digital Revolution opens onto a darkened room lit by code that drops Matrix-style towards the floor, the flashing of video games and the blinking...