Recent titles

AGAINST IMPERIALIST WAR: Writings 1914-16, by Leon Trotsky ISBN 9781916893146. Published November 2024 by Mentmore Press

“The war…..is the fruit of imperialism, i.e., the desire of each nation’s capitalist class to feed its thirst for profit by exploiting human labour and the entire world’s natural wealth” The Zimmerwald Manifesto

When World War One began only a handful of socialists, including Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, stood by their internationalist principles and actively opposed the war. Against Imperialist War is the most extensive publication yet in English of Trotsky’s writings from 1914-16. More than half are first translations.

Trotsky analyses the causes of the war and proposes a socialist internationalist programme to defeat predatory imperialist capitalism. With parallels to present conflicts, the way forward for oppressed peoples caught in the vice of warring imperialist powers is highlighted.

The War and The International, the major article here, is translated into English from the original Russian for the first time. Previous English versions lost much in translation from the 1914 German edition.

…..the international proletariat’s struggle against imperialism………combining the proletarian peace programme with social revolution, lies at the issue’s centre of gravity The Programme for Peace

Pat Wall: Selected Writings and Speeches of a Socialist MP. Edited and Introduced by Iain Dalton. Foreword by Dave Nellist

ISBN: 97819168931 Published October 2024. £12

Pat Wall was an important figure in the workers movement in the post-war era. A founder of the Militant newspaper, he was President of Bradford Trades Council for 17 years, as well as an elected Labour councillor in Liverpool and Bingly, and an MP for Bradford North from 1987 until his untimely death in 1990. This book brings together some of his important speeches and articles he wrote on a wide range of issues

Published November 3, 2023. A Revolutionary's Memoir by Keith Dickinson. ISBN 9781916893122 £13.99

Keith Dickinson is a veteran of the Labour Movement from the 1950s who is still active in the Socialist Party today. After his move to London in 1962, he played a very significant role in the establishment of Militant, and in its subsequent growth and success.

“He traces the origins of his militancy from his working class origins in Merseyside in some quite fascinating detail and the development of British Trotskyism, especially as he knew it in the second half of the last century. Keith’s own experiences of important strikes – of apprentices, print workers and others – will act as an eye-opener for members of the newer generation. Involved as he was in the regular production of the paper Socialist Fight…Keith relates in some detail, the wide range of issues – national and international – covered in its pages…as, in reality, he is the only “survivor” from that period.” – From the Introductory Note by Clare Doyle.

Our first title, on labour history, was published in July 2021. 

The Great Betrayal: Black Friday and the 1921 Miners’ Lockout, is a fast-moving political drama that “…gives a blow-by-blow account of the negotiations and the behind the scenes manoeuvring as well as the militant response of ordinary trade unionists…. ‘Overall the Labour Party’s behaviour was a most lamentable spectacle’...A valuable history lesson written while the events were fresh in the participants minds” Labour Briefing, Dec 2021.

“As the introduction says, many of the lessons drawn about revolutionary tactics and winning over the working class are very relevant for today’s generation of activists" Socialism Today, March 2022.

Describing a dispute compared later by Prime Minister Lloyd George to civil war, The Great Betrayal is a powerful and partisan defence of the British miners. The author, M. M. Borodin, reveals the wide extent of preparations made at local level by key unions backing the miners to take over essential services and food distribution. 

Borodin also criticises the mistakes made by the leaders of the recently formed Communist Party.

A biography of Borodin is included in the present edition’s additional material. After the dispute, in July 1921, he met miners and their supporters at the Moscow founding conference of the Red International of Labour Unions. A few months later he toured the most militant mining areas and was influential in setting up the Miners’ Minority Movement. 

The Great Betrayal was first published in Russia in 1922.

THE GREAT BETRAYAL BLACK FRIDAY AND THE 1921 MINERS' LOCKOUT

£10.99, ISBN 978-1-9168931-0-8 

Author, M M Borodin, Translated by Pete Dickenson