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ABSTRACTThe recent upsurge in workers' struggles globally has bought labour again to the forefront, despite predictions that the working class was no longer relevant as a force for social transformation. Neoliberal globalization, with the hypermobility of capital, has led to the emergence of new forms of flexible work/labour, the co‐existence of old and new working classes, and an extreme rise in inequality, realigning class structures nationally and globally. Financialization has ushered in a new regime of accumulation and there is a deepening crisis of reproduction. Can a Marx plus Polanyi theoretical integration capture contemporary dynamics of capitalist globalization and the role of labour? What do the trajectories of such struggles in the South tell us about the limits and potentialities for a counter‐capitalist movement? More crucially, is the route to full social citizenship entitlements still possible via employment (with its further extension universally), or is it to be reached by directly demanding citizenship rights, bypassing labour‐based demands? How do recent collective actions express workers' interests/identities as workers, citizens and consumers? What role is the state playing in responding/mediating/facilitating these struggles? The Introduction delineates some of these contentious issues which frame this Forum Debate. The contributors all offer different perspectives and critical insights on the connections between forms of labour, possibilities for action and organization, the relationship between labour struggles and social citizenship and the role of the state in contemporary capitalism. The conclusion reflects on some of the equally controversial proposed alternatives and argues for going beyond minimalism and for the imperative of radical rethinking to ensure dignified work and full social citizenship entitlements as part of a new social emancipatory political project.

A review essay on a book by Robin Archer, Why Is There no Labor Party in the United States? The United States and Australia Compared (Princeton U Press, 2007).

I. The labour question in 1872--II. A strike for wages--III. The arbitrator--IV. Poverty and religion--V. Liberty and association--VI. Education--VII. The agitator--VIII. The landlord--IX. The labour question in 1877. ; Mode of access: Internet.

With the ideological undergirding of Marxism–Leninism, the Communist Party of China (CPC) has claimed representation of peasants and workers in its vanguard role in actualising the socialist revolution. However, as China has developed economically over the past four decades, there has been an erosion in the status of workers and peasants as legitimate stakeholders in governance and ruling practices. This article attempts to map how labour, once a critical component of the CPC's political–ideological invocation, has become peripheral as China transitioned to a market economy with an emphasis on economic rationale for growth and reforms. It examines the changing contours of the CPC's discourse and practice over the past 100 years on the labour question, sandwiched as it is between the need for continued economic growth as a legitimating tool and the continued reiteration of being representative of the working class.