Category: Iva Valley Free Pamphlets

Tressell’s novel is about survival on the underside of Britain in the early 20th Century, about exploitative employment when the only safety nets are charity, workhouse, and grave. Following the fortunes of a group of painters and decorators and their families, and the attempts to rouse their political will by the Socialist visionary Frank Owen, […]

This essay was written by the author of “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” in the late 1970s after the independence of Angola and Mozambique, but before the liberation of Southern Africa, including Zimbabwe and then South Africa from Europe rule. Walter argues that the people in this area giving their lives for liberation were “not principally […]

What do we want from socialism? How will we deal with our problems under socialism?

The short pamphlet “Marxism and the National Question” written by Alex Callinicos a leading British Marxist, who was born in Zimbabwe, explains the general approach to this issue by Marxists. In the introduction, we try to apply these principals to the current situation in Nigeria and conclude that socialists should not support independence for any ethnic group or region.

In No Shortcuts, Jane McAlevey argues that progressives can win, but lack the organized power to enact significant change, to outlast their bosses in labor fights, and to hold elected leaders accountable.

Drawing on years of labor activism and study of labor tradition Joe Burns outlines the key set of ideas common to class struggle unionism and shows how these ideas can create a more militant, democratic and fighting labor movement.

October – China Miéville
Multi-award-winning author China Miéville captures the drama of the Russian Revolution in this “engaging retelling of the events that rocked the foundations of the twentieth century” (Village Voice) In February of 1917 Russia was a backward, autocratic, monarchy, mired in an unpopular war; by October, after not one but two revolutions, it had become the world’s first workers’ state, straining to be at the vanguard of global revolution.

We have seen a massive expansion of university education in most countries. At the same time the work of university lecturers has been more tightly controlled and they have suffered at least a relative pay cut. As a result, we have seen more strikes by university lecturers and other staff in Britain and in Nigeria.

What makes change happen? What makes some people struggle actively to change the world while others remain passive? For those who want change, what sort of political organization could make it happen faster?

The General Strike of 1926
by Tony Cliff and Donny Gluckstein