Martin Empson
@resolutereader.bsky.social
640 followers 430 following 1K posts
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.
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resolutereader.bsky.social
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-...
The cover of Martin Empson's book "The Time of the Harvest has Come!" depicting the Battle of Frankenhausen, with soldiers storming a town in the style of a 16th century print.
Reposted by Martin Empson
robertmackey.bsky.social
The Oregon Republican Party tried to help Donald Trump make the case for military intervention in Portland with an image of a fiery protest — but since Portland is calm, they had to fabricate one by merging old photos of police in Ecuador and protesters in Brazil www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Republicans post fake image of Oregon protest – using photos of South America
A federal judge had blocked Trump’s request to deploy California national guard to Portland
www.theguardian.com
resolutereader.bsky.social
I've been busy organising for a Manchester Climate Justice march and rally on Sat 15 Nov, 1.30pm. Here's the graphic, with support from local environmental groups and trade unions.
resolutereader.bsky.social
DOJ’s statement said, “We urge you therefore to choose to prioritise protecting the community, rather than arresting those peacefully holding signs in opposition to the absurd and draconian ban of a domestic direct action group.” socialistworker.co.uk/palestine-20...
Defend Our Juries defies Labour’s draconian call to stop Palestine protests
Labour home secretary Shabana Mahmood demanded Defend Our Juries (DOJ) call off their protest in Trafalgar Square
socialistworker.co.uk
resolutereader.bsky.social
My latest book review looks at @nicolawriting.bsky.social's wonderful "Ghosts of the Farm". It tells the story of Julia White, a woman farmer in the 1940s, together with Nicola's own story and ponders land, gender, politics and much more. Read it.
resolutereader.blogspot.com/2025/10/nico...
resolutereader.bsky.social
I think the left should return to describing the likes of Starmer as "criminals of yellow social democracy" as in this Leon Trotsky quote from January 1919.
resolutereader.bsky.social
Why are any of you still in the Labour Party?
resolutereader.bsky.social
"Revolutionaries should try to forge unity in action... This is the best guarantee of struggles winning, and in the process raising the level of combativity and class consciousness of workers­—so as to create more favourable conditions for revolutionaries" isj.org.uk/hegemony-and...
Revolutionaries, hegemony and the united front • International Socialism
The working class is fragmented in its politics, including its support for different parties or no party at all.1 The existence of these divisions is not an accident of history that can be wished away...
isj.org.uk
resolutereader.bsky.social
"Vietnam: The (last) war the US lost" by Joe Allen. My review of an interesting book that explores the nature of the US antiwar movement and why US imperialism was defeated in Vietnam. Much of relevance for today resolutereader.blogspot.com/2025/09/joe-...
resolutereader.bsky.social
Labour and tariff crisis for US farming. Statistics in this report as staggering. "US agricultural workforce fell by about 7% between March and July." www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPh2...
'It's a 5-alarm fire for our industry': Soybean farmer on tariff struggles | NewsNation Now
YouTube video by NewsNation
www.youtube.com
resolutereader.bsky.social
Tonight's film was Akira Kurosawa's Ran (1985), a stunning film visually, full of clever set pieces, but shaped by remarkable character acting and inspiring use of Shakespeare. King Lear will never be the same.
resolutereader.bsky.social
I liked that book a great deal. Helped me frame events before I began to read deeper on the history of the era.
resolutereader.bsky.social
Here's the current altarpiece in the church at Mühlhausen. This is a replacement for the one destroyed in 1525, but the space is where Thomas Müntzer preached from, and where he would have spoken at before leading the rebels towards Frankenhausen in May 1525.
resolutereader.bsky.social
Operation Paperclip, from 1944 to 1959, took over 1500 German scientists, including the Nazi Werner von Braun to the US to launch the American Space Programme.
resolutereader.bsky.social
Whenever I think of Claudia Cardinale I will always think of this scene from Once Upon a Time in the West which combines superb cinematography with Leone's wonderful theme & Cardinale's character moving through the centre of all the chaos and bustle. www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdL_...
Once Upon a Time in the West 1968 Jill's Themem4v
YouTube video by Edson Barbosa
www.youtube.com
resolutereader.bsky.social
In January 1986 seven astronauts were killed when the space shuttle Challenger exploded. The story of the corporate and bureaucratic failures that led to this tragedy is brilliantly told in Andy Higginbotham's brilliant book Challenger. My review
resolutereader.blogspot.com/2025/09/adam...
resolutereader.bsky.social
It's nothign to do with education or lack of education. It's about a world view that starts from racist assumptions about immigrants and generalises from that and has no comprehension of solidarity or resistance.
resolutereader.bsky.social
In all of the photos I've seen of the Tommy Robinson march not one of those supposed "concerned citizens" carries a banner mentioning cuts to libraries, school & NHS funding, low pay or disability payments. They don't care about those things. Racist politics dominated.
resolutereader.bsky.social
What's the best way to celebrate the Christmas season, a period of the Christian calendar dedicated to peace and kindness towards everyone?
Capitalism: Let's sell people an advent calendar of model tanks.