EDITORIAL

The promise we made in our first issue of September 1993 to publish at least every six months has proven to be unrealistic. It has taken 16 months to publish the second issue, and the third is likely to take 12 months. For this we apologise to our subscribers. The frequency of the journal depends entirely on the supply of suitable articles. Given the small number of contributors at present this can only be a trickle.

In this issue

This issue has the following diverse range of articles:

The Revolution Lives on Long after Mao celebrates Mao Tsetung's 100th birthday. It was originally published in The Age, a major Melbourne daily, The author is keen to point out that the politics of Mao, communism and revolution has nothing even remotely in common with the politics that is usually described as 'left'.

Taking a Closer Look at Workers' Control examines workers cooperatives and industrial democracy, and the role they can play in the development of rebellion and struggle in the work place.

Sorting out the Family is mainly a response to conservative thinking but also looks critically at certain 'ideologically sound' shibboleths. The article points to the emergence of a new more advanced form of family.

Is Small Really So Beautiful? is an attack on the small is beautiful perspective.

Wild Swans is a Dead Duck is a Maoist reply to the best seller.

Deskilling Debunked challenges the view that capitalism deskills labour and argues that capitalism creates a working class capable of dispensing with the bourgeoisie and the division of labour.

Revolution is the only Solution! is a revised version of the pamphlet that appeared in the first issue.

Revolution, the only solution unemployment was orgininally published in September 1982 and is the final section of a paper entitled Unemployment and Revolution . While the preceding sections dealt with why unemployment is an inevitable part of the capitalist system, this final section examines how a revolutionary government would eliminate unemployment. It also touches on the question of what it means to transform the relations of production.

The Lizards Strike Back deals with attempts by the Electoral Commissioner for South Australia to prevent people from publicly advocating a lawful vote against all the parties and their candidates.

Aims

Red Politics aims to:

assist in the development of revolutionary theory and analysis;
raise the level of discussion and debate on issues relevant to revolutionaries; and
defend the Russian and Chinese revolutions.

Contact

Red Politics is available in electronic form on the Internet. It is located at the following two sites:

union3.su.swin.edu.au in the sub-directory /pub/publications/political.
etext.archive.umich.edu in the sub-directory /pub/Politics/Red.Politics.

Articles and drafts will be occasionally posted on alt.society.revolution and other appropriate news groups. In the future we hope to make increasing use of the Internet as a tool for discussing and debating revolutionary ideas. We would be keen to hear from Internet users.

Email address through the Internet: davidm@union4.su.swin.edu.au

Postal address: 2/77 Holden Street, Nth Fitzroy, Vic 3068, Australia.

Subscriptions

Australia: A$3 per copy. Other counties: US$5 or £3 per copy.

Lower rates can be negotiated for large orders.