This world has a lot of misery to offer: poverty, long working hours, stress, unemployment, war, hunger, racism, anti-semitism, sexism, homophobia — to name but a few. Pointing this out does not distinguish us from most people, many even resent these phenomena or at least some of them. However, they also quickly volunteer wrong explanations for why these exist. We claim that modern misery ultimately is the result of the capitalist economy, the nation-state watching over it and the wrong ideas people have about them. This separates us from most other critics.
We have little interest in the preoccupations of much of the left: the precise characterisation of the nature of really existing socialism in the USSR or China, left unity, affirming working class identity, or the correct demands against the State. Instead, we seek to understand this world in order to change it.
We lay no claim to being clever, innovative, original or sophisticated. Our project is to be correct and clear. Hence, writing in a way which is too difficult is an obstacle for our own project. If our pieces are difficult to understand, we would really like to know about it, so we can do something about it. If you think we are wrong, let us know why: