Today marks the 69th anniversary of the beginning of the East German uprising of 1953. It was the first of … Continue reading “What Bertolt Brecht had in common with today’s Millennial Socialists”

Do you know who Owen Jones is? You probably find this question bemusing. Jones is the UK’s bestselling political writer, he … Continue reading “The difference between fashionable and unfashionable socialists is not a difference of ideology – it is a difference in style, and PR savvy”

One month after the fall of the Berlin Wall, in December 1989, an Early Day Motion entitled ‘Workers’ Democracy in Eastern Europe’ … Continue reading “Socialism is a terrible idea – both in theory and in practice”

On 04 December 2017, the University College London (UCL) Debating Society organised a debate with the above title. The IEA’s … Continue reading “Motion: “This House believes that the Hammer and Sickle should be considered a hate symbol””

The movie Good Bye Lenin! tells the story of a woman from East Berlin, Christiane Kerner, who falls into a … Continue reading “The Goodbye Lenin Delusion”

A natural experiment The division of Germany into a socialist and an at least vaguely capitalist part was one of … Continue reading “Seumas Milne on East Germany: Historical revisionism at its worst”