Prisons, probation, and crime: Britain’s state machinery at breaking pointWhen he became Prime Minister in 2019, Boris Johnson promised more police, more prison spaces, longer sentencing, and better prison security. Similar promises were made by Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss before they took the helm. Not wishing to be outflanked by his friends on the other side of the house, Starmer put ‘law and order’ at the heart of his election campaign, praising the methods of Thatcher. He – laughably – promised to restore public confidence in the police. However, at the same time as making these big (and expensive!) promises, these same parties have continuously made cuts to the services they would need to do this. They can promise all they want, but the state’s institutions are too overburdened and underfunded – its staff too overstretched and demoralised – to carry out any of these law and order pledges.
https://communist.red/prisons-probation-and-crime-britains-state-machinery-at-breaking-point/No War but Class War: Revolutionary Defeatism in the Russo-Ukrainian ConflictThe war between Russia and Ukraine is often presented as a clear-cut narrative of imperial aggression versus national defence. In mainstream discourse, Russia is portrayed as the sole aggressor, with Ukraine as a victim bravely defending its sovereignty. However, this oversimplified framing serves the interests of Western imperialism, NATO expansionism, and global capitalist powers, while conveniently ignoring the complexities of the conflict—particularly the long-standing tensions in the Donbas region. From an anarcho-communist perspective, the story is not about good versus evil states but about imperialism, nationalism, and the manipulation of working-class people by ruling elites. A more nuanced analysis recognises that the seeds of this war were planted long before the 2022 invasion, especially in the political and military developments following the 2014 Maidan uprising and the subsequent conflict in Donbas. Acknowledging that Ukraine played a role in escalating this conflict—particularly through its actions in Donbas—does not justify Russian imperialism. Instead, anarchists must reject both Russian and Ukrainian state violence, embracing revolutionary defeatism. In this war
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