John Rees (born 1957) is a British political activist, historian, author, editor, and broadcast journalist who is a national officer of the Stop the War Coalition, and a founding member of the Marxist organisation Counterfire. He was a former leader of the Socialist Workers Party and was involved in Respect – The Unity Coalition. He has written and edited more than a dozen books, including The Algebra of Revolution, Imperialism and Resistance, Timelines: A Political History of the Modern World, and A People's History of London (co-authored with his partner Lindsey German). In 2014 he was named a visiting research fellow at Goldsmiths, University of London. He also produces television documentaries and presents current affairs programmes for the Islam Channel.

Early life and education

John Rees was born into a working-class family in the town of Melksham in Wiltshire, England. His father was from South Wales, and was a Labour Party member and trade unionist. Both of John's parents worked at the Avon Tyre plant. His father then obtained a job at Westinghouse Brake and Signal, and the family settled in Chippenham, where John was brought up and educated.

His first academic degree was a Bachelor of Arts in Politics from Portsmouth Polytechnic in 1978.

Politics

In the early 1980s, Rees was a national executive member of the National Union of Students. He is a former leading member of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), and served on its Central Committee.

He is co-founder and national officer for the Stop the War Coalition, and has been a principal organiser of all its marches, including the massive demonstration ("the biggest demonstration in British political history" At the same time, Rees advocated an unrelenting struggle against pro-Western dictators and, to that end, became vice president (Europe) of the Cairo Anti-war Conference, which rallied opposition forces against the Mubarak dictatorship in Egypt.

thumb|right|At the [[Make Poverty History rally in Edinburgh, 2 July 2005]]

He was at the top of Respect – The Unity Coalition's list in the West Midlands region for the 2004 European election and the Respect candidate for the Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election. He also stood for Respect in the 2006 local election in the Bethnal Green South ward of Tower Hamlets in East London, where he came second to Labour. Rees was not selected by the SWP Central Committee to be on the slate for re-election and did not stand independently at the January 2009 conference. Shortly after his partner Lindsey German resigned from the SWP in 2010, Rees and 41 other members followed; they were disenchanted with the party's direction, internal regime, and approach to united fronts (18 others who had resigned in weeks prior also supported the resignations).

Rees' 2012 book, A People's History of London (co-authored with Lindsey German), recounts the history of London radicalism. It documents working (or lower) class struggles in the city from the ancient Romans to the present day. Jerry White in The Guardian wrote: "Those who continue to uphold London's living traditions of protest will be able to take heart from this fresh and welcome look at the city's history." White described the book as "a very selective people's history" which does not cover the bombings committed by the IRA, or by Islamists on 7 July 2005.

A book (based on his doctoral research) on the Levellers and the English Revolution was published by Verso in 2016. Rees is a founding member of the left-wing organisation Counterfire, for which he has written two short books, Strategy and Tactics (2010) and (with Joseph Daher) The People Demand: A Short History of the Arab Revolutions (2011). Rees participated in and reported on the Egyptian revolution in 2011 about which he made two TV documentaries, Inside the Egyptian Revolution and Egypt in Revolution. For the Islam Channel, he wrote and presented the political history documentary series Timeline, and was also a presenter of The Report and Politics and Media current affairs programmes.

In early 2013, Rees was a founder and organising committee member of the newly launched People's Assembly Against Austerity. In September of that year, Iain Dale and a panel for The Daily Telegraph placed Rees in position 85 in a list of the 100 most influential British left-wingers.

Selected works

Articles

  • "Trotsky and the Dialectic of History" International Socialism, no. 47, Summer 1990, pp. 113–135.
  • "In Defence of October" International Socialism, no. 52, Autumn 1991.
  • "Engels' Marxism" International Socialism, no. 65, Winter 1994.
  • "The Class Struggle Under New Labour" International Socialism, no. 75, July 1997.
  • "The Return of Marx?" International Socialism, no. 79, July 1998.
  • "The Socialist Revolution and the Democratic Revolution" International Socialism, no. 83, Summer 1999.
  • "Tony Cliff: Theory and Practice" International Socialism, no. 87, Summer 2000.
  • "Socialism in the 21st century" International Socialism, no. 100, Autumn 2003.

Books

  • Socialism and War (1991)
  • Marxism and the New Imperialism (1994) (editor and contributor)
  • The ABC of Socialism (1994)
  • In Defence of October: A Debate on the Russian Revolution (with others including Robin Blackburn) (1997)
  • The Algebra of Revolution: The Dialectic and the Classical Marxist Tradition (1998)
  • Essays on Historical Materialism (1998) (editor)
  • Imperialism (Globalisation, the State and War) (2001)
  • Imperialism and Resistance (2006)
  • Strategy and Tactics: How the Left Can Organise to Transform Society (2010)
  • The People Demand: A Short History of the Arab Revolutions (with Joseph Daher) (2011)
  • Timelines: A Political History of the Modern World (2012)
  • A People's History of London (with Lindsey German) (2012)
  • The Leveller Revolution: Radical Political Organisation in England, 1640-1650 (2016)
  • John Lilburne and the Levellers: Reappraising the Roots of English Radicalism 400 Years On (2017) (editor)
  • The Fiery Spirits: Popular Protest, Parliament and the English Revolution (2025)

References

  • John Rees Index of Socialist Review articles by Rees