Mike Macnair

ON JUNE 8, the London chapter of the Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a panel on the topic “Left Exit or No Brexit?” at the London School of Economics. The panel brought together Neil Davenport, Mike Macnair, and Gerry Downing, and was moderated by Ninad Pandit of the Platypus Affiliated Society. Neil Davenport is the head of sociology at a comprehensive school in North London, and is a NASUWT representative. He is on the organizing committee for the Institute of Ideas’ annual festival, the Battle of Ideas, and is a regular contributor to its associated publication, Spiked Online. [Read More]

ON APRIL 11, 2015, at the closing plenary of the 7th annual Platypus Affiliated Society international convention in Chicago, Chris Cutrone of Platypus, Mike Macnair of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), Adolph Reed, Jr. (University of Pennsylvania), and Tom Riley of the Internationalist Bolshevik Tendency (IBT) spoke on the topic “What is a political party for the Left?” The panel description reads as follows: In spite of many different political currents and tendencies, the most significant question informing the “Left” today is the issue of “political party. [Read More]

ON APRIL 11, 2015, The Platypus Affiliated Society hosted a panel discussion on democracy and the Left at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as part of the seventh annual Platypus International Convention. In conversation were Mike Macnair, member of the Provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain, and author of numerous works including Revolutionary Strategy (2008); August Nimtz, author of numerous works including Marx and Engels: Their Contribution to the Democratic Breakthrough (2000); Aaron Smeaton, a member of the International Communist Tendency and a contributor to leftcom. [Read More]

_ONE OF THE plenary sessions held at the third annual Platypus Affiliated Society international convention, hosted by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago between April 29–May 1, 2011, set about exploring the legacy of Trotsky’s Marxism. Speakers Mike Macnair of the Communist Party of Great Britain, Bryan Palmer of Trent University, Richard Rubin of Platypus, and Jason Wright of the International Bolshevik Tendency were asked to consider: “What is the relevance of Trotskyism for the Left today? [Read More]