Workers' Liberty 3/33: Alex Callinicos and the future of the SWP

Alex Callinicos and the future of the SWP

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Author: 
Paul Hampton

After the departure from the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) of John Rees, Lindsey German, and now Chris Bambery, and the death of Chris Harman, the SWP's Central Committee now has only one member with a substantial political history on the left or status as a Marxist writer: Alex Callinicos, not only an SWP member but also author of 25 books. Paul Hampton investigates Callinicos' record.

The Quinlan Terry of Marxism

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Author: 
Martin Thomas



The architect Quinlan Terry designs buildings to look classical from the outside, but be modern (structure, materials, floorplans, cabling, ventilation) inside. Above: his 264-7 Tottenham Court Road building. For a revolutionary socialist party, however, Marxism should be not just a "classical" exterior, but the defining structure of politics.

Eleven years after the death in 2000 of its long-time leading figure, Tony Cliff, the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), Britain's biggest left group, is in trouble. Of the main second-rank leaders who worked with Cliff, only one is left on the Central Committee: Alex Callinicos.