New Left Blog Round Up

It's the start of the month, which means it's time to have a look at (relatively) new left blogs that have caught my eye.

First up we sail across the Atlantic to look at Left Turn/Virage a Gauche. Offering a "Canadian Marxist viewpoint" this very active blog (919 posts since February!) "is a place where the socialist option engaged within a communist commitment is shared through commentary and by sharing news of national and global struggles". The flavour of the blog is strongly internationalist and mainly carries news and views on events from around the world, with a particular accent on opposition to US imperialism.

Next we move closer to home and toward mainstream politics. Political Scrapbook promises "high politics, low gossip and everything in between" and as such is overly concerned with the goings-ons in the Westminster village. This isn't necessarily bad in and of itself - there's certainly space within pro-Labour blogging for a pursuit that has almost exclusively been the preserve of Tories up until now. Think less Guido Fawkes and more Tory Bear, but without the latter's immaturity and general idiocy.

When you think about the far left, its stated aim of building a a truly human society in which the free development of each conditions the free development of all is often at odds with the grubby reality of competing groups, denunciations and rampant sectarianism. Into this space comes The Friendly Lefty, determined to prove his moniker is no oxymoron. He writes "I hope that the variety of articles featured here point to my various views and allegiances, and present a coherent picture of a politics all too rare on the British left: consistently internationalist, anti-racist and anti-imperialist and with no truck for ultra-left adventurism of any kind."

Back over the Atlantic for the next one. The Spanish Prisoner is written by a supporter of the ISO and is shaping up to be a very welcome addition to Marxist blogging. The comrade writes about a mixture of the political and the cultural, such as this gatecrashing of an ISO meeting in Oregan by morons from the Republican party, and blend of nostalgia and critique of Thanksgiving. Recommended.

Time for a foray into anarchism. Workers' Self-Organisation is about "supporting all attempts by the working class to control our own lives". And, unsurprisingly, most effort goes into publicising and commenting on various disputes such as the Irish General Strike, Visteon and the occupation of Wyndford Primary School in Glasgow.

Ashford Resistance is the blog of "an organisation of the residents of Ashford, Kent, working to challenge the political, economic and cultural structure of the town." Sounds good. There's a distinct SWP flavour to the blog, which is by no means a bad thing in and of itself. If the revolutionary left is going to make headway in Britain it needs to put itself at the heart of local community organising (though I suspect the latest article on the site which describes the fall of the Berlin Wall as a "victory" will be controversial for most of this blog's readers). Unfortunately it has been a fortnight since the comrades last posted, but there is an active Twitter feed here.

Occasionally I do bemoan the appearance of a relative lack of British-based feminist blogging, especially compared to the comparatively large ecology of "general" socialist blogs (perhaps comrades can point me to a few not listed in the AVPS blog roll?). But anyway, Earwicga is a relative newcomer offering contributions on music, anti-fascism and occasional round-ups of feminist thinking from blogs and books. Unfortunately Earwicga appears to be taking a break over Christmas, but her Twitter feed won't be enjoying a smiliar hiatus. Earwicga can be followed on Twitter here.

And that's it for the month. If you know of any new Marxist, green left, feminist, Labour etc. blogs that haven't had a mention previously and deserve a shout, let me know via email, Twitter or in the comments box.