John Rees (activist)

John Rees (born 1957) is a British Trotskyist political activist.

He was born in Wiltshire and was brought up in Chippenham and educated at Frogwell School. A contemporary there was Derek Wall, who was the Green Party male Principal Speaker.

He was the National Secretary of the Respect coalition and is a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party. He is a former editor of "International Socialism", co-founder of the Stop the War Coalition and vice-president (Europe) of the International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq. His partner, Lindsey German, is the convener of the Stop the War Coalition and also a leading member of the SWP.

He was top of the Respect party list in the West Midlands region for the 2004 European Election, and the Respect candidate for the Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election in 2004 but failed to gain election on either occasion. He also stood for Respect in the 2006 local elections, in the Bethnal Green South ward of Tower Hamlets, East London, where Respect came second to Labour.

In 2006, John Pilger said that 'I know of few who speak and write more wisely of the danger we face from rapacious power, and what we should do about it, than John Rees.' [Quoted from acknowledgements in Rees, John (2006) [http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/reader/0415346762?p=S080&j=0#reader-page 'Imperialism and Resistance'] . London: Routledge]

In September 2008, John Rees and his partner, Lindsey German, were removed from the central committee of the SWP due to Rees' mishandling of RESPECT.

elected works

Books:
*"The ABC of Socialism" (1994) ISBN 0906224969
*"In Defence of October: A Debate on the Russian Revolution" (with others including Robin Blackburn) (1997) ISBN 1898876282
*"The Algebra of Revolution: The Dialectic and the Classical Marxist Tradition" (1998) ISBN 0415198771
*"Essays on Historical Materialism" (editor) (1998) ISBN 189887638x
* [http://www.respectcoalition.org/?ite=1081 "Imperialism and Resistance"] (2006) ISBN 0415346762

Articles:
* [http://www.marxisme.dk/arkiv/reesj/1990/trot-dia/index.htm "Trotsky and the Dialectic of History"] (1990)
* [http://www.marxists.de/theory/reeseng/index.htm "Engels's Marxism"] (1994)
* [http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj83/rees.htm "The Socialist Revolution and the Democratic Revolution"] (1999)
* [http://www.marxists.de/intsoctend/rees/cliff.htm "Tony Cliff: Theory and Practice"] (2000)
* [http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj93/rees.htm "Imperialism: Globalisation, the State and War"] (2001)
* [http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj97/rees.htm "The Broad Party, the Revolutionary Party and the United Front"] (2002)
* [http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj100/rees.htm "Socialism in the Twenty-first Century"] (2003)

External links

* [http://progressivepodcast.info/archives/3 Audio lecture - Imperialism and Resistance]

References