Critical Mass

For five years now most of my political writing has appeared on Critical Mass Mag, or its earlier incarnation as Creating Socialism. I am just one writer among many but a small number of us came together to pay the hosting costs and act as editors. The website is no longer sustainable and we are in the process of archiving it while we look for cheaper alternatives. Meanwhile the world goes on and we continue to write. So I have made this space available on my website as an interim measure for Critical Mass authors.

When we started, the left was in total disarray after the 2019 General Election defeat and the Starmerite take over of the Labour Party. We wanted to create a safe space for socialists to debate the way forward without any sectarianism or factionalism. The world has changed immensely since our first articles were published in the autumn of 2021. Alternatives to Starmer’s Labour Party like Your Party and the Green Party are creating new homes for the left. But the infighting and rivalry that bedevil our movement are still there.

So we still have a role to play in maintaining that safe space for non-sectarian debate and comment on a rapidly changing world. It is mainly changing for the worst but we will contribute to building the resistance. Any victory, however small deserves to be celebrated. Please comment below if you want to be involved.

To end on a positive, Bruce Springsteen has just issued a protest song about the ICE murderers and their victims in Minneapolis. Here are the lyrics. But like any good song, its power lies in its performance as much as words upon a page. Will Bruce have the bottle to take this song and perform it on the Streets of Minneapolis? That would be something.

STREETS OF MINNEAPOLIS

Through the winter’s ice and cold
Down Nicollet Avenue
A city aflame fought fire and ice
‘Neath an occupier’s boots
King Trump’s private army from the DHS
Guns belted to their coats
Came to Minneapolis to enforce the law
Or so their story goes
Against smoke and rubber bullets
By the dawn’s early light
Citizens stood for justice
Their voices ringing through the night
And there were bloody footprints
Where mercy should have stood
And two dead left to die on snow-filled streets
Alex Pretti and Renee Good

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
We’ll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
Here in our home they killed and roamed
In the winter of ’26
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

Trump’s federal thugs beat up on
His face and his chest
Then we heard the gunshots
And Alex Pretti lay in the snow, dead
Their claim was self defense, sir
Just don’t believe your eyes
It’s our blood and bones
And these whistles and phones
Against Miller and Noem’s dirty lies

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Crying through the bloody mist
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis

Now they say they’re here to uphold the law
But they trample on our rights
If your skin is black or brown my friend
You can be questioned or deported on sight

In chants of ICE out now
Our city’s heart and soul persists
Through broken glass and bloody tears
On the streets of Minneapolis

Oh our Minneapolis, I hear your voice
Singing through the bloody mist
Here in our home they killed and roamed
In the winter of ’26
We’ll take our stand for this land
And the stranger in our midst
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis
We’ll remember the names of those who died
On the streets of Minneapolis