New Page: Letter From Europe column (1979-1986)

As promised, new pages for the blog. These new pages of old Socialist Standard columns will eventually be grouped together in one page at the head of the blog alongside the pages for the current Socialist Standard columns, film reviews and theatre reviews.

Letter From Europe was a regular Adam Buick column in the Socialist Standard in the late 1970s and early 1980s which focused on political events in Belgium, Luxemburg and, most importantly, in France. As the eighties wore on, the column applied a forensic eye to the efforts of President Francois Mitterand and his French Socialist Party's government's to enact a left-wing programme to challenge — and transform — French capitalism. It'll be no surprise to regular readers of the blog that it ended in tears.

To access the individual articles, click on the months.

1979

• Jun: Congress of French reformists [Article on the French Socialist Party.]
• Jul: Dictatorship of the proletariat [Article on the French Communist Party.]
• Aug: SOS Longwy [Article on the French steel industry.]

1980

• Feb: The French movement for abundance [Article on Jacques Duboin.]
• Jun: A Shorter Working Week? 

1981

• Feb: Communist Party's racist policy [Racist rhetoric from the French Communist Party.]
• May: France's presidential election [The triumph of Mitterand.]
• Aug: Communists in Government [Article on the French Communist Party.] 
• Dec: The French bomb [Article on the French nuclear programme.]

1982

• Feb: Bordiga and the Idea of Socialism [Article on Amadeo Bordiga and Left Communism.]
• Mar: The French Nationalisations 
• Apr: "Produce French": who benefits? [Article on the French Communist Party's nationalism.]
• May: General Strike in Luxemburg
• Jun: Interpreting Marx [Article on Maximilien Rubel.]
• Aug: Mitterrand clamps down [Austerity and devaluation in France.]
• Sep: Money must go [The Sun newspaper and Herbert Lomas.]
• Dec: Enter the green reformists [The rise of the German Green Party.]

1983

• Jan: Wage-freeze in France [Wage restraint under Mitterand.]
• Apr: Allah under the bed [Islamophobia in France.] 
• Jun: France: from failure to fiasco [Article on Michel Rocard and French politics.]
• Dec: The Belgian public sector strike 

1984

• Jun: Applying the logic of capitalism [Austerity in France.]
• Sep: Exit the "Communist" Ministers [An article on the French Communist Party.]

1985

• Jan: Mitterand organises poverty [Article on the difficulties of the French 'Socialist' government.]
• Aug: Racism and anti-racism in France

1986

• Jan: Greenpeace killing [The sabotage of The Rainbow Warrior.]
• Mar: Whose turn to screw the workers? [Article on the French General Election.]