London Edinburgh Weekend Group (2020) In and Against the State, London, Pluto Press, pbk, 192 pages, 9780745341811, £14.99

Abstract

In and Against the State began as a pamphlet published in 1979 on the eve of the election of the Conservative government led by Margaret Thatcher. It was then
published as a book by Pluto Press a year later. The 2021 edition is both a reprint of the Pluto Press book and a look at how its arguments still hold up in a very different context. The writers of the book were a group of socialists working within the state who were questioning the contradictions and potential opportunities of their position. The members of the group travelled between Edinburgh and London and hence the group name, The London Edinburgh Weekend Return Group.
The 2021 edition updates the book with a forward by John Holloway, one of the London Edinburgh Weekend Return Group, an introduction by editor Seth Wheeler and an interview with John McDonnell. McDonnell was part of the Greater London Council until its demise in 1986 and is now a Labour MP who was in Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet.