Hilary Wainwright

Hilary Wainwright is a member of Red Pepper's editorial collective and a fellow of the Transnational Institute. @hilarypepper

Swords into ploughshares; planes into ventilator parts

5 June 2020 The speedy switch in from producing airplane wings to ventilator parts at a north Wales factory holds out an example for a transition to a low-carbon economy, writes Hilary Wainwright

Democracy in focus: a post-austerity state

8 January 2020 The UK needs a people’s constitution to defend rights and enable us to fulfil our potential, writes Hilary Wainwright

What do we do now?

13 December 2019 After knocking on so many doors, the movement built in support of Jeremy Corbyn needs to stay present particularly where people feel abandoned or under attack

Radical Roots – Corbyn and the Tradition of English Radicalism

14 October 2019 The ideas underpinning Corbynism are deeply embedded in the English radical tradition. Reclaiming this tradition can play a key part in reinvigorating our ambitions for the future. By MICHAEL CALDERBANK with HILARY WAINWRIGHT

Photo of the the Houses of Parliament over the river

It’s time the UK had real democracy

5 September 2019 Under the UK’s constitutional monarchy, we are subjects not citizens. Rewriting the constitution should be an urgent priority for a Labour government, argues Hilary Wainwright

The Harland and Wolff workers want to make renewable energy. A Labour government would help them

24 August 2019 In the 1970s, Lucas Aerospace workers had a plan to make socially useful products and went to minister for industry Tony Benn for help. Do the workers occupying their shipyard in Belfast have a similar ally in John McDonnell? By Hilary Wainwright

Out of the gloom

8 August 2019 By Hilary Wainwright

The right’s looming challenge to democracy in Greece

15 January 2019 By Dionysia Pitsili-Chatzi, Aris Spourdalakis, Jodi Dean Leo Panitch, and Hilary Wainwright,

Critical tradition: Tribune then and now

23 December 2018 As the relaunched Tribune prepares its second issue, Hilary Wainwright assesses the history of the paper and the left Labour MPs who rallied around it – and the lessons it offers today’s Labour left

Socialism beyond borders

6 November 2018 A left government cannot hope to succeed through British isolationism, writes Hilary Wainwright. It must make a new kind of pan-European alliance

Labour and reselection: the panic last time

5 October 2018 As anti-Corbyn Labour MPs kick up a fuss in the press about possible reselections, Hilary Wainwright looks back at the strikingly similar alarm in the parliamentary establishment in the 1970s and 1980s

The economics that came in from the cold

24 August 2018 Tory-supporting media have been portraying Jeremy Corbyn as a Soviet fellow-traveller, while unnoticed the shadow chancellor sets out a vision that breaks with the old bureaucratic state model. By Hilary Wainwright.

Beneath the Pavements, the Beach?

1 May 2018 Hilary Wainwright explores the turbulent history of 1968 social movements - and what they can teach us about building counter-power today.

Creating an economy that works for all

21 April 2018 A Labour government could overhaul a struggling, unjust economic system: A manifesto by Hilary Wainwright.

Believing in ourselves

13 April 2018 Holly Rigby speaks to Hilary Wainwright about her latest book, A New Politics from the Left, and its application for flourishing new social movements.

There is no ‘cult of Corbyn’ – this is a movement preparing for power

2 October 2017 The pundits still don’t understand that Labour’s new energy is about ‘we’ not ‘me’, writes Hilary Wainwright

New model activism: Putting Labour in office and the people in power

22 September 2017 Hilary Wainwright examines how the ‘new politics’ needs to be about both winning electoral power and building transformative power

A very social economist

14 September 2017 Hilary Wainwright says the ideas of Robin Murray, who died in June, offer a practical alternative to neoliberalism

On the life of Robin Murray, visionary economist

1 June 2017 Hilary Wainwright pays tribute to the life and legacy of Robin Murray, one of the key figures of the New Left whose vision of a modern socialism lies at the heart of the Labour manifesto.

We need popular participation, not populism

27 February 2017 Hilary Wainwright argues against reclaiming populism for the left and for a leadership that supports people’s capacity for self-government

What if the workers were in control?

21 November 2016 Hilary Wainwright reflects on an attempt by British workers to produce a democratically determined alternative plan for their industry

Putting the people back in politics

12 October 2016 The new politics is about much more than protest, writes Hilary Wainwright. But it’s about much more than parliamentarism too

A question of leadership

18 July 2016 The ‘new politics’ Jeremy Corbyn proclaims must be an explicit agenda of institutional change, not simply a change of style at the dispatch box, writes Hilary Wainwright

So you think the EU can’t be reformed?

17 June 2016 A look at history will show you otherwise argues Hilary Wainwright and Mary Kaldor

‘How we will miss that chuckle’: my friend, Doreen Massey

15 March 2016 Hilary Wainwright on the life, theory, activism and humour of Doreen Massey, the great feminist geographer, who has died

Democracy is dead, long live democracies!

23 January 2016 In this essay, Hilary Wainwright argues that building a real democracy in the face of corporate and financial power will require a rethinking of power and agency

'What we've achieved so far': an interview with Jeremy Corbyn

21 December 2015 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, in conversation with Hilary Wainwright and Leo Panitch, talks about the meaning of ‘new politics’, Tony Benn’s legacy – and opening up Labour’s policymaking to the people

Postcapitalism: A Guide to Our Future by Paul Mason

20 October 2015 Hilary Wainwright reviews Paul Mason's latest book and questions how far information technology is leading us towards a post-capitalist economy

My support for Jeremy Corbyn is about much more than ‘reclaiming Labour’

17 July 2015 Hilary Wainwright says she is backing Jeremy Corbyn for Labour leader as part of a transition to organisation beyond parliamentary politics

Higher aspirations: politics beyond the ballot box

8 June 2015 As with the Scottish referendum, electoral defeat can be transformed into political success. A new movement is rising, says Hilary Wainwright

The IF Project Summer School: a free experiment in alternative higher education

15 May 2015 As the government attacks education, IF brings together those who want to teach and those who want to learn just for the love of it, writes Hilary Wainwright

How a hung parliament could lead to a new anti-austerity alliance

21 April 2015 The right is horrified by the rise of the SNP – because it raises the prospect of a progressive coalition, argues Hilary Wainwright

Greece: Syriza shines a light

31 January 2015 In 2012 Hilary Wainwright visited Athens to report on the rise of Syriza, the radical left coalition who have stormed to power Greece.

Editorial: Power to transform

1 December 2014 Hilary Wainwright asks: Could the election be turned into an 'enough' moment?

The long shadow of the 1970s

5 November 2014 The 1970s marked a turning point in left fortunes worldwide and the origins of today’s neoliberal ascendancy. A Red Pepper roundtable with Hilary Wainwright, Andy Beckett, John Medhurst and Suresh Grover looks back

Independence without borders

16 August 2014 Introducing Adam Ramsay's new book, '42 reasons to support Scottish Independence', Hilary Wainwright outlines the radical case for independence.

The tragedy of the private, the potential of the public

19 June 2014 Communities around the world are defending public services, making them more democratic and responsive to the people's needs and desires, writes Hilary Wainwright in a new report.

Can the birthplace of democracy provide the seeds of its renewal?

24 May 2014 The Syriza candidate for mayor of Athens is not promising to govern on the people's behalf, writes Hilary Wainwright, but together with a wide range of citizens' social organisations

Tony Benn really was ‘dangerous’ – to the establishment

15 March 2014 Hilary Wainwright looks back at how Tony Benn's frustrations in government spurred him to spend his life fighting for real democracy

The spirit of Stuart Hall

19 February 2014 Hilary Wainwright remembers the power of Stuart Hall’s being and thought

‘We are as Gods.’ The legacy of the Whole Earth Catalog

1 October 2013 Steve Jobs said it was like ‘Google in paperback’. Hilary Wainwright reports from an exhibition and conference centred on the Whole Earth Catalog, first published in 1968

Footage from occupied Greek TV station

3 September 2013 Earlier this summer Red Pepper co-editor Hilary Wainwright joined the occupation of Greek public broadcaster ERT.

Ructions in Rio

20 July 2013 The scale of the protests rocking Brazil took everyone by surprise - even the demonstrators themselves. Sue Branford and Hilary Wainwright investigate where they came from and where are they going

The day Greece’s TVs went dark

17 June 2013 Hilary Wainwright reports from Thessaloniki on what happened when the state ordered Greece’s state broadcaster to shut down

Resist and transform: the struggle for water in Greece

21 May 2013 A combination of opposing privatisation and putting forward practical alternatives is helping water campaigners mount an effective challenge to austerity in Greece. Hilary Wainwright reports

We need to challenge the myths that poison attempts at progressive change

16 April 2013 Hilary Wainwright introduces the first in a series of mythbusters produced by Class, in collaboration with Red Pepper.

Essay: Political organisation in transition

3 January 2013 Hilary Wainwright opens the new year ambitiously! She discusses how to transform the state and why radical politicians find it so difficult to maintain their radical momentum once in parliament or the council chamber. How could this change?