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Civilizations fail when they become trapped in a way of looking at the world that no longer works. For many, globalization is pushing us to the edge of disaster - an onward march of blinkered vision, encouraging passivity, moral blindness and a culture of dependency.A Community Manifesto is an elegantly written polemic offering a new way of looking at our social, cultural and economic realities. Tackling the crucial dimensions of personal responsibility, consensus and community, it shows how we can find a new language through which we can reinvigorate our individual and social lives, developing the resourcefulness we need but which proves so difficult to cultivate. The vision it presents is persuasive and very timely - only by building community can human society evolve and progress.

Historiography on the Great Depression in the U.S. evinces a lacuna. Despite all the scholarship on political radicalism in this period, one of the most remarkable manifestations of such radicalism has tended to be ignored: namely, the mass popular movement behind the Workers' Unemployment Insurance Bill. This bill, which the Communist Party wrote in 1930, was introduced in Congress three times, in 1934, '35, and '36, as an alternative to the far more conservative Social Security Act. Its socialistic nature ensured that it never had any chance of becoming law, but it also enabled it to become enormously popular among Americans across the country, who were more enthusiastic about radical social democracy than has often been appreciated. Millions of people belonging to labor unions, unemployment organizations, left-wing political parties, church groups, women's groups, and immigrant societies participated in the movement to get the bill enacted as law. In this article I tell the story of the momentum that accumulated behind the Workers' Bill, a story that challenges any interpretation of the Great Depression emphasizing the relative conservatism of the U.S. population.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to argue for a strengthening of the relational aspect of social work and for initiatives that involve local people and local communities.


Design/methodology/approach
A think piece based on observations of the current situation and supporting evidence.


Findings
Social work has become distanced from those whom it seeks to help. Case management and risk assessment need to be complemented by a more human approach based on positive relationships between professionals and service users.


Originality/value
An informed discussion on the future of social work.

When the UK committed to home refugee children amid the closure of the Calais migrant camp, organisations like Catch22 were asked to help handle reception arrangements. Chris Wright explains the work it did in Devon

The Credit Crunch ushered in an era of austerity with massive cuts and job losses. It highlighted the gulf between the world of real people and the abstraction of high finance. Put simply, to prevent the melt‐down of the global economy, the needs, hopes and ambitions of millions are being sacrificed. Who controls and issues money is key. To be viable any system must be big enough for people to have faith it won't fail, and it has to be administered soundly. Local government is accountable to its electorate and, as such, should put their welfare first. It is essentially an administrative machine and certainly isn't going to go away. A truly local economy could emerge with authorities initially paying part of their staff's wages in local currency and accepting it in payment of rates. At a stroke, job cuts could be reversed and people's skills and experience valued again.

A review essay on a book by Werner Bonefeld & Sergio Tischler [Eds], What Is to Be Done? Leninism, Anti-Leninist Marxism and the Question of Revolution Today (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002). Adapted from the source document.