The History of an Idea

  by Ben Soton

The West - The History of an Idea by Georgios Varouxakis, Princeton University Press 2025, 512 pp, Hbk: £35:00

The West is more of an idea than a place  and in this book Georgios Varouxakis traces its history. The concept of ‘The West’ can be traced through a series of historical events; the Greco-Persian Wars of the fifth century BC; the division of the Roman Empire into East and West in the fourth century AD and with the Empire of Charlemagne in the ninth century becoming Western Christendom. The idea crystallised in the 18th  and 19th centuries with the Enlightenment and the development of liberty and democracy. There has to be some reference to geography as it is a point on a map; its core is Western Europe and later came to include North America and Australasia. 
According to Varouxakis the idea of the ‘West’ was developed by the French philosopher Auguste Comte.  Comte developed the idea of Occidentalism in which he saw The West as in the vanguard of humanity that, due to its superiority, had been given a leadership role over the rest of the world. Although Comte was a critic of imperialism his ideas have been used to justify actions of imperialist powers from the 19th century onwards whilst the ‘West’. as distinct from Europe, stood in opposition to Russia – which then and still today was seen as Eastern and despotic.         
Varouxakis traces how the idea of the West evolved from the 19th  and 20th centuries to today’s modern world.  He explains how Russia became excluded from the West and how the whole concept came unstuck during the First World War when Turkey and Russia joined the fray. Germany claimed to be defending the West against ‘Asiatic’ Russia while the Entente Powers pointed to the German alliance with Ottoman Turkey. These problems continued through the inter-war years with talk of the decline of the West while toward the end of Second World War the entry of the United States led to increasing talk of the ‘Atlantic Community’ as distinct from the West.  The chapter on the Cold War covers the twists and turns of European and American foreign policy; both in relation to the socialist camp and towards each other.  
The Second World War has often been viewed as a conflict between pro and anti-Enlightenment ideologies with liberalism, represented by Anglo-American and French imperialism,and socialism led by the Soviet Union having their roots in the 18th century ‘Enlightenment’.  Fascism, on the other hand, is opposed to the Enlightenment and the ideas of the French Revolution. 
This is touched upon in the chapter on the post-Cold-War era which states there is a traditional West based on classical civilisation and Christianity and a modern West based on the Enlightenment. It  has even been said that the Cold War was a conflict between the two pro-Enlightenment ideologies of socialism and liberalism – a conflict between liberty and democracy.  
The chapter on the post Cold War era focuses on Samuel Huntington’s Clash of Civilisations and the End of History by Francis Fukuyama. Huntington believed that with the end of the Cold War the West faced new challenges from rival civilisations, which he lists as Islamic, Orthodox, Hindu, Japanese and possibly African and South American. Fukuyama simply claimed that fall of the Soviet Union was the final triumph of the West.            
This book is a history of the idea and not a critique of it. However the twists and turns around what constitutes the West indicate serious flaws with the concept. Some of worst conflicts in history have been between Western powers; not just the first and second world wars but also the Napoleonic wars, the Thirty Years War and the Hundred Years War to name but a few. In living memory the ‘West’ has been used as a euphemism for US-led imperialism and the self-styled Western ‘democracies’ who have been more than willing to support feudal tyrants opposed to secularism or socialism to maintain their hegemony over much of the Global South.

Requiem for a War-Criminal

by Ben Soton

What’s it like to sit down and talk to a mass murderer? To have a chat with Harry Truman, Benjamin Netanyahu or in the case of the film Nuremberg, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring.
The film is based on the book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist by Jack El-Hai and its main focus is the relationship between the US Army Psychiatrist Dr Douglas M Kelly, played by Rami Malek and Hermann Göring, played by Russell Crowe.
When reviewing this film it is worth comparing it to a previous incarnation; the two-part mini-series Nuremberg released in 2000. In the earlier version all twenty-two defendants were mentioned. In this film there was only mention of five; the lead defendant Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess, Julius Streicher, Admiral Karl Doenitz and the head of the German Labour Front, Robert Ley. 
At the Nuremberg Nazi war-crimes trial the prosecution team was drawn from all four members of the victorious Grand Alliance – the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France. In this film only two of the prosecutors are depicted –Justice Jackson from the USA, played by Michael Shannon and Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, played by Richard E Grant, from Great Britain. Russell Crowe gives an excellent depiction of Herman Göring as a vanquished foe who has lost none of his arrogance emanating from being Hitler’s deputy.
But this is more than just a court-room drama.The film includes a scene where footage of the atrocities committed in the concentration camps is screened as evidence in the trial of the top Nazis to remind the audience, now far-removed from the dark days of the 1940s, of what the Allies were up against in the Second World War.
The psychiatrist Dr Kelly tries to get inside  Göring’s head and is asked to use his understanding to aid the prosecution. He initially argues against this on the grounds of doctor-patient confidentiality. However he then goes on to give information about his interviews to a not unattractive British journalist played by Lydia Peckham while planning to use the information to write a book.
But Kelly’s views on the Nazis were not popular with the US military establishment. He was sidelined and later replaced by Dr Gustave Gilbert, played by Colin Hanks. Although he later became the head of the Department of Psychology at Berkeley his book 22 Cells in Nuremberg did not give him the fame he had hoped for. Though this did not affect his post-war career he  had a drink problem and committed suicide in 1958.
In the final analysis Kelly claimed the Nazis were not unique and that there are people like them in every country, including the United States. On this point he has been proved right more times than I can count.

Same old story...

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves,  says Labour is cutting NHS waiting lists, the cost of living and government debt while boosting productivity, investment and growth. But this week’s budget contained few surprises with spending plans that had largely already been floated in the media by Starmer aides eager to prepare the public for a mediocre financial review that does next to  nothing to end austerity or reverse the decline in the living standards of working people. 
Sure there were some sweeteners in the Reeves budget like the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap. The state pension will rise by 4.8 percent – £440 a year – and by £575 for people on the newer pension scheme.  And the national living wage and national minimum wage will also be increased.
Starmer & Co call on everyone “to make a contribution” to protect public services and help people struggling with the cost of living. But in reality workers will continue to bear the burden of the capitalist crisis in higher taxes and further cuts to what’s left of the public services.

A step too far...

“Trial by jury is a cornerstone of our democracy and an essential safeguard against authoritarianism “ says Jeremy Corbyn. “It is truly frightening that such a fundamental freedom is now under attack. Once rights are lost, they are not easy to win back. We must resist this with all we’ve got”. 
But, incredible it as it may seems,  the Starmer Government is indeed thinking of scrapping jury trials in England and Wales for all but the most serious of cases. Starmer’s deputy, the Justice Minister David Lammy,  is proposing to massively restrict the ancient right to a jury trial by only guaranteeing it for defendants facing rape, murder, manslaughter or other cases passing a public interest test.
The plans, obtained by BBC News, are allegedly an attempt to end unprecedented delays and backlogs in the courts. But juries are founded on the principle of a fair hearing and a trial of one’s peers. They are considered by many, including legal professionals, to be the cornerstone of our criminal justice system. Judges and barristers have joined in the chorus of opposition to this attack on jury trials forcing Lammy to think again.  He now says that “no final decision” had been made amid rumours of a U-turn in favour of  more modest plans for jury-less super-magistrate courts to hear to cases likely to receive a maximum sentence of three years that was originally floated in the independent review by Sir Brian Leveson. 
Abolishing jury trials would clearly dismantle a core constitutional safeguard that has existed for more than eight centuries. It is the first step towards a police-state. But, at the moment,   it also seems to be a step too far for the bourgeoisie as whole to take if the response of the legal community is anything to go by. 

Dramatic Developments in People’s China

by John Maryon 

China's plan to double Per Capita GDP and reach the personal income level of a moderately developed nation in 10 years is a remarkable ambition. The success of the current 14th  Five Year Plan has raised technical excellence to a level that will lay the basis for China's progress.  Currently the average people’s income is equivalent to approximately £13,500.  However a direct comparison is difficult because prices for most things are much lower in the Asian nation. In meeting its goals China has had to face difficult challenges which have included Covid and trade wars imposed by the United States. It has however managed to exceed a yearly five per cent target.  Under the wise leadership of the Communist Party of China the people can look forward with confidence to the future.
China has the second largest world economy in terms of GDP but in reality when measured in real industrial output it is way ahead.  China has comprehensive trading relations with over 150 countries. It has developed its infrastructure and is able to employ advanced logistics to achieve great efficiency. To avoid threats by imperialists to contain China the  People’s Republic has started seasonal operations on the Arctic sea route and each year thousands of cargo trains transverse between Asia and Europe. Stable development with its partners and friends is enhanced through the Belt & Road Initiative. Education continues to play an important role in China's development with the number of university graduates exceeding 12 million each year. The number of engineers trained each year exceeds that of Germany, Japan and the USA combined. 
China takes a long term approach to investments by supporting projects which will achieve great potential in the future rather than a short term get rich quick project of little lasting value. No wonder they are able to play such a major role in Green and sustainable development.  In the USA today companies are more likely to use their profits to buy back share stock rather than to invest in the future. 
The American response to China's rise has not been to invest, embark upon joint development projects or talk constructively about co-operation. It has  been one of aggressive attempts to cripple and destroy China – or anyone else who in their panic mode they may regard as a threat. The new Comac 919 Chinese commercial aircraft  has been a major target in the West's trade war against competition from Asia. The aeroplane is seen as a direct competitor to Boeing and Airbus. Currently the plane uses Western LEAP 1C engines but with threats to restrict supplies Chinese engineers are now developing their own alternatives. The biggest obstacle however to its success is the refusal to quickly certify the aircraft to fly on important international routes by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency.   Attempts to hold back progress are doomed to failure as China is responding by developing its own engines and control systems and is all ready selling to non-Western markets. Development work on an advanced larger long range aircraft, such as the Comac 929, which will have Chinese engines and avoid Western supply chain threats, is well underway. 
On 23rd October recommendation documents for the 15th Five Year Plan were adopted by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. The proposals focus on high quality development, rather than just economic expansion, as a step towards achieving a leading position in modernisation by 2035. Particular emphasis will be given to sustainability, green growth and technological innovation. 
The documents recognise the demographic challenges that lie ahead and makes provision for health care and social support for an ageing population with increased  investment. The impact of artificial intelligence and further automation upon the job market is taken into account.  In the early stages of building socialism the basic needs include more tons of steel and greater electricity generation. As the economy develops and industry expands, the new phase of socialist progress demands quality development with limited carbon emissions and full respect for the environment.  For society to advance progressive evolving social policies that  reinforce a true socialist ethos are also absolutely essential. 
Efforts by the imperialist states to stifle China's economic, technical and industrial growth are increasing every day. Under American pressure the craven politicians of many leading Western nations, without thought, respect or accountability rush to find favour with their masters in Washington. They replace mutually beneficial trade, diplomacy and co-operation with insulting, ill-conceived and often illegal actions that harm trade, destroy trust and make the world a more dangerous place.  I can imagine future history students being shocked as they learn how Europe's second-rate imperialist states collapsed from self-inflicted stupidity.  The banning of quality and trusted Huawei equipment and its replacement with more expensive Western alternatives is justified by claiming, without convincing evidence, that it is a security risk. The very recent debacle in Holland in which the Dutch government was forced to hand back Xperia to its Chinese owner shows how nasty little schemes can come unstuck. 
People's China has grown from being a poverty-stricken country humiliated by colonial forces to become a powerful modern socialist state. This has been made possible by the leadership of its Communist Party. With the aid of its successful Belt & Road Initiative it is now helping others to throw off their own colonial legacy and advance forward.  The lies of the Western media are shown for what they are with every success that is achieved.