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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

An important resource for researchers and students in labour movement history.

Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Originally published in 1974, Harry Braverman's book Labour and Monopoly Capitalism is still relevant, interesting, and very readable today. In fact, I think I'll put it on my "to read" list and read it cover to cover again in the near future.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

I just looked through the 10 titles of the papers. This is excellent, interesting and important work.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

I very much enjoyed reading Matt McManus' book *The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism* , which I reviewed for Historical Materialism. My review is available to read online.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

My review of the very impressive book The Political Theory of Liberal Socialism by Matthew McManus @mattpolprof.bsky.social has just been published online in the book review section of the Historical Materialism website: www.historicalmaterialism.org/liberal-soci... It is open access.

historicalmaterialism.org

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Indeed, Deleuze is an important and interesting philosopher of the left.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

I wonder if in your first sentence we should replace 'substitute for" with "symptom of". By all means argue about the wealth and power of the oligarchic class; but if in the meantime we chip away at the symptoms then surely this is a useful thing to do.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

This is a very interesting passage. The first three sentences look as though Horkheimer has an awareness of developments in quantum mechanics, and is weaving this into Marxism.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

This looks like an important article. It explores a crucial aspect of legitimation as a means of consolidating support or at least acceptance by significant sections of the populace.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Its refreshing to read cases of justice in today's world: paydayreport.com/rio-police-c...

paydayreport.com

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

This makes Gramsci on hegemony as important and significant as ever or, perhaps, more important and significant than ever.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

This paper should be read not only by academics researching the far-right in contemporary politics, but also by mainstream politicians.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 15/02/2026

Rubio's neglect of and disrespect for the indigenous peoples of North America in his speech was disgraceful.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 08/02/2026

This new book by George B. Radics looks very interesting, innovative and likely to generate much debate.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 12/12/2025

Good focus on structure but without neglecting agency in this short, concise explanation that will be useful for teaching purposes.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 10/12/2025

A problem is that before capitalism eats itself, its vested interests defend it. Sometimes capitalism will resort to authoritarianism to defend itself. So if democracy has to be diluted in order to save capitalism, that is considered a price worth paying. Capitalism avoids eating itself.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

Good to see Matt McManus' concise revival of R.H. Tawney, whose work was so influential on both Christian and non-Christian socialists.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

I keep half-expecting to see a horse in the US Senate.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

We see the fascist manipulation of the concept of freedom very starkly If we go back to Italian fascism in the 1920s, where we find Mussolini and the fascist writers Rocco and Gentile arguing that the fascist state determines what freedom is at any particular time in any situation.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Also listen to Paul Robeson's great rendition of "Joe Hill" www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8Kx...

youtube.com

Paul Robeson, "Joe Hill"

YouTube video by Backroom Window Press

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

I'm always pleased to hear about new work published about the great socialist theorist and activist Harold Laski. Hence, I am delighted to announce the publication of a new monograph in Italian language by the brilliant scholar Pier Giuseppe Puggioni. See www.edizioniets.com/scheda.asp?n...

edizioniets.com

L’obbligazione inesistente - Pier Giuseppe Puggioni

9788846772787 | L’obbligazione inesistente - Pier Giuseppe Puggioni - Il volume propone una lettura filosofico-giuridica dell’opera dello storico britannico Harold J. Laski (1893-1950), cercando di ri...

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

"The fact is that any Bill of Rights depends for its efficacy on the determination of its people that it shall be maintained." This quote from Harold Laski, "LIBERTY IN THE MODERN STATE (1930: p.53) is very topical today.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

This is a very good article, making a great point very clearly and concisely.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

Sorry, I meant the Times rather than the Telegraph. So I meant: It was also only three months after Thatcher became leader of the Conservative Party and thus leader of the opposition. So wasn't this stuff in the Times in 1975 part of the campaign to unseat the Labour government at the next election?

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 14/11/2025

It was also only three months after Thatcher became leader of the Conservative Party and thus leader of the opposition. So wasn't this stuff in the Telegraph part of the campaign to unseat the Labour government at the next election?

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

For a good and very readable book on John Ball as a communist see William Morris, A Dream of John Ball www.marxists.org/archive/morr...

marxists.org

William Morris - A Dream of John Ball

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Yes, preset hierarchies. The old adage of computing, 'Garbage In Garbage Out', still applies in the world of AI.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 17/09/2025

Those out there who are interested in the History of the British left will find the following piece on the Chartist Ben Rushton of interest, on the Web site of Friends of Lister Lane Cemetery @listerlanecem.bsky.social . Rushton's interesting grave stone is in the Cemetery.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

The focus of this book on Marx's work on a wide range of parts of the world really makes very clear the worldwide scope of his revolutionary ideas.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 10/08/2025

Having read the abstract I think this looks like a great article. Perhaps an interesting issue arising from the article is whether, and if so how, the openings mentioned at the end of the abstract will require the left to be ready to win a competition with the right to harness the moral disapproval.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 05/08/2025

Yes, indeed, and Marx should also get more credit than he does for saying that such hollow phrases are the foundations of society.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 24/07/2025

Indeed, a key role for the local public sector is important. What is also worth mentioning is that it could be part of Community Wealth Building project, such as that in Preston (which is not far from Manchester).

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 22/07/2025

Important research and article.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

Indeed, whatever one's political stance and beliefs, this editing of Hansard could make it almost useless as a primary source for historians, especially if they expect it to report parliamentary discussions verbatim.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

A person of Hegseth's position should know the US constitution off by heart. Its only a short document after all.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 21/05/2025

One way to consider this is as follows: Early theorists in a field are not necessarily better or worse than later ones. The early ones are, however important. By reading them we can see ideas the later ones built on, revised etc. So we thus get a fuller understanding of what later ones are saying.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

It is very important that these issue concerning the conditions of platform gig workers is being discussed.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 30/04/2025

Great blog piece (or whatever a piece in a blog is called) by Phil Burton-Cartledge. As I read it I thought the following: Data as bourgeois morality (as Phil suggests) Data often as an important part of a commodity Data as bourgeois morality often involves commodity fetishism.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

The Politics of Care Work by Emma Amador looks brilliant!

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

This new book by Emma Amador looks brilliant!

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

This new book looks great. I've just read the description. Were I still running my MA Foreign Policy Analysis module, which followed me into retirement, I would certainly be updating the module and using this book.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

As its the anniversary of Marx and Engels' Communist Manifesto, published 21 February 1848, perhaps the following book of mine published in 2015 might be of interest: www.bloomsbury.com/uk/marx-and-...

bloomsbury.com

Marx and Engels' 'Communist Manifesto'

Introducing the most famous work of the nineteenth-century radical thinkers Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, this comprehensive reader's guide to the Communist M…

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 15/02/2025

Please excuse me commenting from the UK. As I reflect on what is happening in US politics and international relations, I am reminded fn a famous paragraph by Thomas Hobbes. Click this link to his book Leviathan, search for: nasty, brutish, and short. www.gutenberg.org/files/3207/3...

gutenberg.org

Leviathan | Project Gutenberg

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Yes, fascism uses myths as a means to gain and build support. If science conflicts with their myths, it is science that gives way. Lets remember this on International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

Great words in a Guardian editorial today. Trump, the editorial suggests, "postures like a monarch because he's too weak to govern as a president." Add Discuss after the quote and I think that would be a brilliant exam question.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

"Yet, after all, the main problem for the President is his relation to that queer, shifting, labyrinthine amalgam we call public opinion" Harold Laski, "The American Presidency: An Interpretation" (London, 1940, p. 264). Perhaps Laski's words will be prophetic. (In 1940, by queer, he meant strange.)

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 29/01/2025

If governments, businesses etc don't start taking the exponential nature of climate change more seriously, by 2032 the world will have become such a hell hole that Asteroid 2024 YR4 will put us out of our misery.

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Peter Lamb @peterlamb1.bsky.social · 26/01/2025

I think this post by AOC, incorporating one by New York City Democratic Socialists of America, is brief but brilliant.

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