Martin Empson
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resolutereader.bsky.social
Martin Empson
@resolutereader.bsky.social
One man's odyssey through the world of books. Author of 'Land & Labour', 'Kill All the Gentlemen', 'Socialism or Extinction', "The Time of the Harvest has Come!" Interested in Marxism, history, ecology, revolution. SWP.
Pinned
Ready for the 500th anniversary, my book "The Time of the Harvest has Come: Revolution, Reformation adn the German Peasants' War" is now available.
⭐️Get it from all good bookshops or direct from the publishers @bookmarksbookshop.bsky.social
bookmarksbookshop.co.uk/product/the-...
My piece for @socialistworker.bsky.social on the failure of Cop30 - unless you work for the fossil fuel industry which had some 1,600 "delegates" in Belem, about 1 in 25 of the attendees. #COP30
socialistworker.co.uk/environment/...
Cop30 is a victory for fossil fuel lobbyists
For the millions of people around the world that are already living through climate chaos, Cop itself must seem like a pointless endeavour
socialistworker.co.uk
November 25, 2025 at 2:13 PM
If anyone happens to be in Wakefield on Sat 6 Dec, I'll be speaking at the Red Shed at the Socialist History Group about the German Peasants' War.
November 25, 2025 at 12:48 PM
"At 82, I feel as though I’ve been ripped in half, a one-legged man in a two-legged story. Not the Indian I had in mind. Not an Indian at all" www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/arti...
Opinion: A most inconvenient Indian
At 82, I feel as though I’ve been ripped in half, a one-legged man in a two-legged story. Not the Indian I had in mind. Not an Indian at all
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 25, 2025 at 8:32 AM
My latest book review looks at a powerful argument against nuclear power that locates the industry, and it's arguments, in the context of capitalism.
⭐️M.V.Ramana's "Nuclear is not the Solution: The folly of atomic power in the age of climate change" resolutereader.blogspot.com/2025/11/mvra...
November 23, 2025 at 7:24 PM
I am reminded today that the old internationalist position on cricket, "anyone but England," seldom disappoints and occasionally offers moments of genuine hilarity.
November 22, 2025 at 6:59 PM
12 percent increase in the number of fossil fuel lobbyists at #Cop30 compared to the previous conference in Baku. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber all Cop30 delegations except Brazil, report says
One in every 25 participants at 2025 UN climate summit is a fossil fuel lobbyist, according to Kick Big Polluters Out
www.theguardian.com
November 22, 2025 at 6:49 PM
UK Labour appealing to Farage for not tackling racism in Reform is not going to make a difference. Racism is Reform is Racism. The trick is to challenge the racism and not fan the flames of racism by copying it.
November 21, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Statement from Manchester @CJ_Coalition
following far-right attack on the #COP30 Climate Justice march in Manchester last Saturday. We are determined to continue to fight against racism, fascism and environmental destruction. t.co/g4FYjecjjy
https://www.manchesterfoe.org.uk/blog/greater-manchester-campaigners-join-millions-globally-to-call-for-climate-justice-as-far-right-thugs-attack-child-led-march/
t.co
November 19, 2025 at 2:19 PM
My latest book review - Thomas King's impassioned, funny and powerful account of North American indigenous history and contemporary struggles: "The Inconvenient Indian". resolutereader.blogspot.com/2025/11/thom...
Thomas King - The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America
One of the first things that struck me about Thomas King's famous account of "Native People in North America" is that The Invonenient Indian...
resolutereader.blogspot.com
November 16, 2025 at 8:41 PM
This is decent on the failures of the COP process. But it's quicker to say that you can't set up a neoliberal process to stop capitalism's drive to accumulate for the sake of accumulation, as Marx would have it. www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Cop30 was meant to be a turning point, so why do some say the climate summit is broken?
Swamped by lobbyists and hobbled by a lack of urgency, there are fears Cop could become a sprawling spectacle that betrays those who depend on it most
www.theguardian.com
November 15, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Putting on my marching boots for Climate Justice in Manchester today.
November 15, 2025 at 9:51 AM
My latest book review looks at one of Karl Marx's more obscure books: "Herr Vogt: A Spy in the Workers' Movement". resolutereader.blogspot.com/2025/11/karl...
November 13, 2025 at 8:10 PM
“That all means the end of agriculture in the UK and across Europe, drought and monsoon failure in Asia and Africa, lethal heat and humidity,” said Hare. “This is not a good place to be. You want to stay away from that.” www.theguardian.com/environment/...
World still on track for catastrophic 2.6C temperature rise, report finds
Fossil fuel emissions have hit a record high while many nations have done too little to avert deadly global heating
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Thanks to Bob Copeland for this review of my book "The Time of the Harvest has Come" in the West England Byline Times.
westenglandbylines.co.uk/society/book...
Book Review: ‘The time of the harvest has come’
At the dawn of capitalism German peasants sought a fairer society; they were slaughtered but the struggle continues
westenglandbylines.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 8:13 PM
Thanks to Nick Matthews for his generous review in the Morning Star of my book on the German Peasants' War: "Time of the Harvest has Come!" morningstaronline.co.uk/article/500-...
500 years since the peasants’ war
BAD FRANKENHAUSEN is a spa town in the German state of Thuringia and is home to one of the most astonishing socialist works of art ever produced.An enormous panorama based upon Friedrich Engels’s 1850...
morningstaronline.co.uk
November 10, 2025 at 3:43 PM
A clear understanding of the nature of fascism is urgently needed. This collection of material by Clara Zetkin "Fighting Fascism: How to struggle and how to win" is very useful. Here's my review of this important book edited by Mike Taber and John Riddell.
resolutereader.blogspot.com/2025/11/clar...
Clara Zetkin - Fighting Fascism: How to struggle and how to win
Editors Mike Taber and John Riddell open their introduction to this short but incredibly useful collection by writing "seldom has there been...
resolutereader.blogspot.com
November 9, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Prince William's PR team misjudged it badly in releasing this photo due to the carbon emitted by his flight to the #COP30 climate talks. But if William contributes nothing to the talks, the 1000s of fossil fuel industry "delegates" hanging around Belem actively destroy them.
November 8, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Tonight's viewing was one of the best Spaghetti Westerns, and one of the best films about revolution: A Bullet for the General. Gian Maria Volontè and Lou Castel are fantastic.
November 8, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Hey Labour Party! What to guess who's really "let voters down"?
November 7, 2025 at 11:26 PM
"A key figure in Your Party has revealed an undemocratic and sluggish vision for the founding of the new organisation." socialistworker.co.uk/news/exclusi...
Exclusive: What Your Party insiders are saying
Karie Murphy spoke at a meeting of Your Party insiders on Thursday night and revealed a sluggish and undemocratic vision for the founding
socialistworker.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Lula da Silva in the Guardian today celebrating the Tropical Forests Forever Facility (TFFF) as COP30 starts. Here's a good piece on why this is the "worst conservation fund ever". We cannot rely on the market to save the planet. reddmonitor.substack.com/p/the-tropic...
The Tropical Forests Forever Facility: “The worst conservation fund ever?”
Another false solution for tropical forests.
reddmonitor.substack.com
November 6, 2025 at 11:27 AM
Mamdani's victory in NYC ought to remind us of the long tradition of US socialism. Including rural states, such as when Communists ran part of Montana. See Verlaine Stoner McDonald's "The Red Corner: The Rise & Fall of Communism in Northeastern Montana" resolutereader.blogspot.com/2024/10/verl...
Verlaine Stoner McDonald - The Red Corner: The Rise & Fall of Communism in Northeastern Montana
If you think of the politics of rural America, you probably think of it in terms of conservativism. A mixture of rugged individualistic poli...
resolutereader.blogspot.com
November 6, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Here's the official advice from the US Army in Bavaria, Germany, about how its soldiers & their families can access German foodbanks during the government shutdown. US imperialism always neglects its own.
home.army.mil/bavaria/abou...
home.army.mil
November 5, 2025 at 11:25 AM
Posterity will ne’er survey
a Nobler grave than this:
Here lie the bones of Dick Cheney:
Stop, traveller, and piss!
November 4, 2025 at 1:17 PM