MARXISM AND SEXUALITY.
The Socialist Party has a consistent tradition of fighting alongside Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender people, whether against prejudice and exploitation in the workplace or more generally within society. These days big business is more determined than ever to capitalise from the ‘pink pound’ while assuring the LGBT community that discrimination is a thing of the past. RICH BELL uncovers the reality and looks at ways in which we can develop our programme in this important area and asks what socialism has to do with it?

LESSONS FROM BRAZIL – HOW CAN SOCIALISM BE ACHIEVED?
Throughout the last decade there have been big movements of the working class across this continent, as neo-liberalism has been partially ditched in Venezuela, Bolivia and several other countries. It was the victory of the Workers’ Party in Brazil that ignited this process, but Lula has been a bitter disappointment to the masses as his government has sought to hold back social struggles and do deals with the multi-nationals. Brazil is Latin America’s powerhouse. What happens there next will be decisive. PAUL MOORHOUSE elaborates.

WHAT DO SOCIALISTS THINK ABOUT RELIGION?
MATT GORDON looks tonight at how Socialists respond to religion, both in terms of understanding its historical origins and the effect it has today. While official Christianity is in decline in Britain, the growth of a strident evangelical movement indicates that people are seeking religious solutions to their insecurities. Meanwhile Islam is fought over between those who uphold its peaceful strictures and those for whom it is a political weapon against the ‘godless’ west. How can we skilfully counteract Socialism to these powerful forces?

WHERE IS BRITAIN GOING?
Meltdown for New Labour, Parliament humiliated by expenses scandals, the electoral growth of the BNP and rapidly rising unemployment….just a few things that make this the most volatile period in Britain for over 25 years. By the time we have this meeting, Gordon Brown may have been ditched and Labour looks likely to face annihilation at the general election. The time is ripe for the left to mount a challenge. NO2EU-Yes to Democracy was a good start. National Committee member JIM THOMSON spells out what’s needed next.

THE TOLPUDDLE MARTYRS: PIONEERS of TRADE UNIONISM.
When 6 farm labourers joined a trade union in 1834, they were tried for treason and sent to a penal colony in Australia. The subsequent outrage that erupted from a labour movement still in its cradle shook the ruling class and forced them to allow the Martyrs to return to their beloved Dorset. Still today we celebrate their heroism at the annual Tolpuddle Martyrs rally, this year taking place on Sunday 19 July. What lessons can be learned today from this inspiring defence of unions? CHRIS FARRELL brings the Martyrs’ struggle back to life.

HOW DO WE EFFECTIVELY COMBAT THE BNP?
The BNP is frantically engaged in trying to repackage itself as a right-wing party that takes a very strong stance on issues like immigration, terrorism and ‘political correctness’. It also poses as the friend of working class people, long abandoned by the New Labour. With two MEPs in Brussels and councillors around the country, we have to look again at how we expose the ugly reality behind this attempted makeover. Can we simply reiterate the age-old No Platform stance everywhere when Griffin is given a free ride on programmes like Newsnight?  And what happens in areas like Barnsley if they place themselves at the head of community movements?  TOM BALDWIN looks at the new challenges facing us as the BNP tries to become ‘respectable’.

NATIONAL OPPRESSION AND TURMOIL IN CHINA.
China has deployed thousands of troops to try and regain control of Urumqi, the capital of the western region of Xinjiang after ugly battles between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese. There has long been a series of festering national struggles against Chinese oppression, though many have only heard of the struggles of Tibetans against Beijing’s rule. Recently returned from the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) European school, RICHARD BELL reports on this question and also more generally the volatile social situation in China as the impact of the western recession creates ballooning unemployment in this decisive country. It is clear that China will not face the uninterrupted growth of the past decades. What will the future bring?

WHERE IS THE WORLD ECONOMY HEADED?
The CWI School began with an analysis of the world situation, economically, socially and politically. It is not an exaggeration to state that this is in many ways the most disturbed period in history since the 1930s’ slump. No part of the world has been immune from the hurricanes of unemployment following the near total meltdown of US and British banks in late 2008. Capitalism has been rescued from an immediate calamity, but the repercussions flowing from this mighty shock are only now beginning to make themselves felt. Revolutionaries must understand their role in this period and TOM BALDWIN gives an overview of the inspiring discussion and looks at the growth of the CWI’s forces in the last year.

THE NIGHTMARE OF THE THATCHER YEARS.
Cameron is again trying to sound like Thatcher as he talks about hard decisions on public spending, trade unions and law and order. As she prepares to shuffle off her mortal coil, ROBIN CLAPP looks back on the Thatcher years, the bigotry, the xenophobia and the vicious attacks on the working class, infamously termed the ‘enemy within’ by this rabid representative of the ruling class. The 1980s was a decade of titanic battles – steelworkers, civil servants, print workers and above all the heroic miners and their families. Thatcher’s mission was to cripple the trade unions and make Britain safe for big business, but both in relation to the struggle in Liverpool and the battle against the Poll tax, she reckoned without the Militant Tendency….

STRIKES AND OCCUPATIONS - CLASS STRUGGLE HOTTING UP.
This year we have seen some important industrial disputes and while some of these have been unsuccessful, there have been spectacular victories in the refinery construction industry, the car industry and elsewhere. Occupations are back on the agenda following the action of workers at Visteon and now Vesta on the Isle of Wight. Is this new militancy a sign of things to come? CWU branch activist STEVE WOOTTON investigates.

WHAT’S SOCIALISM GOT TO DO WITH IT?.
An opportunity this week to have a less formal meeting, where members can ask any question they have about any aspect of Socialism and the class struggle. Other members will then take up these issues and seek to clarify the points raised. So for instance, what has happened in Honduras, why are the right lining up against Obama’s health plans and is it the case as the financiers are claiming, that the recession is coming to an end? 

STRIKES AND OCCUPATIONS - CLASS STRUGGLE HOTTING UP.
This year we have seen some important industrial disputes and while some of these have been unsuccessful, there have been spectacular victories in the refinery construction industry, the car industry and elsewhere. Occupations are back on the agenda following the action of workers at Visteon and now Vesta on the Isle of Wight. Is this new militancy a sign of things to come? CWU branch activist STEVE WOOTTON investigates.

ART AND SOCIALISM.
The relationship of art to Socialism is a complex one and can never be crudely reduced to a determinist approach as attempted by the Stalinist states in the past. Music, art, theatre and literature may all reflect the prevalent culture, but can also shock, stagger and scandalise the status quo. All art is in a state of flux, while capitalism continually hampers real freedom of expression. LIZZIE PARKER examines these contradictions.

HOW CAN PEACE COME TO AFGHANISTAN?
Each week more Afghan civilians lose their lives as Britain and the US to to defeat the Taliban. What are the real origins of this bloody war and is the Taliban a homogeneous force or a disparate group of anti-imperialist fighters? As British casualties mount, leading to demands for even more hardware, it is clear the military is unable to quell the rising violence. How can peace be achieved in Afghanistan? CHRIS MOORE answers.

WHO WAS GRAMSCI?
Gramsci was a heroic Italian Communist imprisoned under the fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. His prison diaries reveal an original mind and approach to both some of the contemporary questions of the day and some of the more fundamental aspects of Marxist theory. Imprisonment obviously affected his ability to make nuanced judgements in some areas, but his contribution nonetheless is important as JACK JEFFREY elaborates.

THE RISE OF STALINISM IN THE USSR
ANDREW TAGGART the question of Stalinism, explaining why and how the ideals of the October 1917 revolution became polluted by the cancer of totalitarian dictatorship. Was it all down to the Machiavellian intrigues of Stalin, or were there more profound social forces conspiring against the development and spreading of the revolution?  What was the role of  Leon Trotsky in opposing reaction and why was he out-manoeuvred?