The Coming British Revolution, by Tariq Ali (Cape, 95p paperback) It is hardly surprising that the bourgeois press has attacked this book so violently -the two most hostile reviews being those of Bernard Levin in The Observer and Christopher Hitchens (I.S.) in The Times-as its aim is very clear, namely, of stressing that the socialist revolution in Britain is not only inevitable but necessary and has to be organised. The book doesn't lay any claim to new theoretical discoveries. It is simply what it was intended to be; an introductory volume for large numbers of people who are beginning to question the legitimacy of the bourgeois state and are developing an interest in revolutionary ideas and organisations. While the book clearly represents the political views of the IMG, to which Tariq All belongs, the chapter on the revolutionary left is by no means uncritical of the IM's past and contains a number of pertinent self-criticisms.
The various chapters discuss the decline of British capitalism, the labour movement, the youth radicalisation, brief histories of the British CP. and Trotskyism in Britain, the lack of a Marxist tradition in Britain and the need for revolutionary organisations. One of the appendices contains a little-known text by Lenin on the Labour Party which succintly explains the latter's class nature, and should be read by all those who still have doubts on this score.