Prometheus
By Chris Strafford
PrometheusJan 18, 2021
Organising in the gig economy
Episode 5 with Prometheus Editors Imogen Woods and Ed Potts, Jack a union organiser and former Deliveroo rider in Leeds and Ed an Industrial Workers of Great Britain (IWGB) volunteer and socialist involved in organising drivers and riders in Sheffield.
Welcome to the fifth episode in an irregular podcast from Prometheus, a journal focused on the discussion of ideas and the debates from across our movement and society to collectively find a way forward. In this episode members of Prometheus’ Editorial Board sat down with trade union organisers with direct experience of organising and working in the gig economy in Britain today.
Party Time for the Democratic Socialists of America?
Episode 4 with Alexander Gallus and Parker McQueeney of the Marxist Unity Slate and Cosmonaut magazine.
Welcome to the fourth episode of our podcast, the fourth in an irregular podcast from Prometheus, a new journal focused on the discussion of ideas and the debates from across our movement and society to collectively find a way forward. In this episode members of Prometheus’ Editorial Board sat down with members of the Marxist Unity Slate in the Democratic Socialists of America to discuss the growing popularity of socialist ideas in the United States and the challenges facing socialists looking to build an independent political project outside of the Democratic Party.
The Labour Party and the Death of the Left
Episode 3 with Lucy Parker and Efraim Carlebach of The Platypus Affiliated Society in London.
Welcome to the third episode of our podcast, the first in an irregular podcast from Prometheus, a new journal focused on the discussion of ideas and the debates from across our movement and society to collectively find a way forward. In this episode members of Prometheus' Editorial Board sat down with Platypus members Lucy Parker and Efraim Carlebach to discuss all things Labour, Marxism and the death of the Left.
Platypus organises reading groups, journalism and public panels investigating tasks and problems inherited from the Old (20s-30s), New (60s-70s), post-political (80s-90s) and Millennial (00s-10s) Left for the possibility of emancipatory politics today. They have chapters around the world, and in the UK are based on campuses in Manchester, Oxford, Goldsmiths and the London School of Economics. If you would like to join any of their regular activities or find out more you can visit the website platypus1917.org or contact the Facebook page PlatypusLSESU. The Platypus Review is published monthly and open to submissions. Platypus' podcast, Shit Platypus Says, is available on Soundcloud and Apple podcasts.
Article: Why do we have a Labour Party instead of a socialist party?
What sort of an organisation is the Labour Party? Its dominance of the left in Britain for over a century has produced no shortage of activists who are members, without being very enthusiastic about their membership. Various descriptions have been formulated but while all have an element of truth, none quite tell the whole story. Is Labour, as the membership cards would have it, a “democratic socialist party”? Or perhaps Tony Benn had it right when he said that Labour is “not a socialist party, but a party with socialists in it”? Is it a unique phenomenon, defined by its own special philosophy of “Labourism”?
Care, Covid and Workers' Control
Welcome to the second episode of our new podcast, an irregular podcast from the irregular Marxists of Prometheus, a new journal focused on finding a way forward for the Left through open debate, re-examining our traditions and histories and confronting capitalism as it exists today.
This episode was recorded two weeks ago with two comrades who are at the coal face of organising during the Covid-19 pandemic. In this episode Prometheus Editors Chris Strafford and Imogen Woods are joined by a stalwart of the Manchester Left, Ali Treacher, she is a care worker for a national mental health service provider and organises with the new Anti-Capitalist Resistance group. Ali's most recent article 'Sympathy Won’t Win Us Better Conditions: Dispatch from the Frontlines of Care' is essential reading for those seeking to understand what is happening and what is at stake in social care today. Imogen works for a national union tirelessly organising care workers across the North West of England and her most recent article 'Eric Blanc "Red State Revolt"' builds on some of the themes from her widely read and commended article 'The Social Care Factory: The conditions that led to the Covid-19 crisis in Social Care'.
The life and lessons of Karl Kautsky
Episode 1 with Ben Lewis author of Karl Kautsky on Democracy and Republicanism
Welcome to the first episode of our new podcast, the first in an irregular podcast from Prometheus, a new journal focused on the discussion of ideas and the debates from across our movement and society to collectively find a way forward.
In this episode members of Prometheus' Editorial Board sat down with Ben Lewis to discuss his new book 'Karl Kautsky on Democracy and Republicanism' that is now available in paperback from Haymarket and the usual places. You can read our review by Rida Vaquas from our Autumn edition here. Ben is also the author of three other books: 'Clara Zetkin: Letters and Writings' with Mike Jones, 'Kautsky on Colonialism' with Mike Macnair and 'Zinoviev and Martov: Head to Head in Halle' with Lars T. Lih. You can also find a large number of his articles and translation in the Weekly Worker archive.
Ben has recently started a Patreon to support his work called Marxism Translated, please make sure you help fund the important work of recovering the history of our movement.