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I will not cease from mental fight

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand

Till we have built Jerusalem

In England's green and pleasant land.

- William Blake

Culture Matters is part of our cultural struggle or ‘mental fight’ against class divisions, to achieve a cultural commons in a socialist society – a new Jerusalem, as William Blake called it, and not only in England, but across the world. As you can see from the About Us section, we aim to promote a progressive political approach to the arts and all other cultural activities.

You'll find recent material on this Home page, and every piece sent in since our launch a couple of years ago is available under the relevant topic sections in the Arts and Culture Hubs.

Everything on Culture Matters – articles, poems, images, editorial and technical support – has been contributed freely. We are a registered co-operative, rooted in the labour movement, and apart from managing this website we publish books, run Arts Awards in partnership with trade unions. If you would like to help with this work, please visit Shop & Support. You're also welcome to contribute articles, essays, poems and artworks to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

We hope you enjoy browsing the site, and that you find it entertaining, enlightening and inspiring. Culture Matters!

News

Round Up
Please note new guidelines and new deadline for the 'What Rough Beast?' callout for poems about Trump and Trumpism - see Poetry section. Also in the Poetry and Books sections, see details about the new pamphlet by Peter Raynard, The Harlot and The Rake, available as a free downloadable ebook.

Arts hub

Tombstones and Toolboxes Poetry
Written by Fred Voss

Tombstones and Toolboxes by Fred Voss In the corner of our machine shop behind a 10-ton presssits Howard’s toolboxa toolbox Howard got from an old sailor 45 years agoa beautiful hand-made toolbox made of hand-fitted pieces of wood without one nailin ita and a sunflower carved into its center front…
what if war were measured in baby teeth Poetry
Written by Lisa Kelly

what if war were measured in baby teeth by Lisa Kelly the kiloton of bombsdropped in baby teeththe incendiary grief of lives lost in baby teeth all those little enamel baby teeth so pearly like the gates of heavendropping out of mouths of planes raining down baby teeth homes destroyed…
How can we mourn? Poetry
Written by Janet Sillett

How can we mourn? by Janet Sillett how can we mourn a citywho are not its victims?we do not hear the dronesor smell decay we do not feel the shaking of foundations our eulogy a distortion stretched threadbaregaslighting humanity “Don’t scroll past” but I do now, often, nearly twelve months…
'Cobwebs, stinky food and trick mirrors': Review of Caleb Femi's 'The Wickedest' Poetry
Written by Nick Moss

This is a brief review of a relatively brief text, although the brevity of the text does not reflect its significance or relevance. Caleb Femi has already enjoyed considerable recognition as a poet, for his debut collection, Poor (which won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection in 2021.) Prior…
Which is the Dream? Poetry
Written by Anne Irwin

Which is the Dream? by Ann Irwin Last night I dreamedI walked the crunchy grass at Duacheenspeckled purple and yellowragged robin vetch and trefoilsthe scent of rising tide and primrose the air cool, fresh, the sun pale the only sound, the lap of sea, squawk of diving gullthe cry of…
All of You Raising a Glass: Review of 'May Day' by Jackie Kay Poetry
Written by Jim Aitken

May Day is Jackie Kay’s latest poetry collection. It is addressed to her parents, Helen and John Kay, who adopted her as a baby. They had both been members of the Communist Party, with John a full time official with the CPGB in his role as Industrial Organiser of the…
Talking with Mr Strummer about the nature of the world Poetry
Written by Steve Pottinger

Talking with Mr Strummer about the nature of the world by Steve Pottinger “They’d send a limousine anyway…” - The Clash You were right, Joe.More right than either of us couldever have imagined. It’d make your blood run cold to see how they welcomehis private jet into their airspace,send a…
A Beginner’s Guide to 4-D Chess Poetry
Written by Steve Pottinger

A Beginner’s Guide to 4-D Chess by Steve Pottinger, with image above by Martin Rowson Play the man, and not the ball.Sneer about 2019, the impotenceof protest. Say nothing of slaughter. Talk tough on benefits in your free suit, glasses, shoes.Mention veterans. Stop boats. Glastonbury tickets trump digital tax.You have…

MORE FROM THE ARTS HUB

Culture hub

Fair Play Cabaret: shows with a social and political purpose Cultural Commentary
Written by Culture Matters

Fair Play Cabaret With the backing of Equity, a cultural campaign is being launched which is centred around an ongoing series of events across the country. They are attempts, both onstage and offstage, to address aspects of social and cultural changes which have been so detrimental to working people during…
'A deep, poetic beauty': Review of 'This Albion: Snapshots of a Compromised Land' by Charlie Hill Cultural Commentary
Written by Culture Matters

Bobby Seal from the Psychogeographic Review reviews This Albion: Snapshots of a Compromised Land by Charlie Hill I had for some time believed the key to effective writing was to concentrate on the surface of things. Record them faithfully, and they’d do the work for you. After all, the world…
Cultural heritage and cultural democracy Cultural Commentary
Written by Richard Penderyn

Richard Penderyn outlines some of the current problems in the heritage industry, and some ways of introducing cultural democracy Heritage and the historic environment in the UK is rich. It spans millennia and includes amazing sites, from Stonehenge to Caernarfon Castle and from Orkney to Osborne House. Such sites include…
What's the source of alienation? Jim Aitken reviews 'Soil and Soul' by Alistair McIntosh Cultural Commentary
Written by Jim Aitken

Soil and Soul was first published in 2001 and it was a thoroughly well-received book. In his Foreword to it, George Monbiot described it as ‘a ground-breaking book.’ The plaudits that McIntosh was given were indeed wholly justified and it seems that Monbiot was the most perceptive of all McIntosh’s…
Class and Culture: Conference and Social Cultural Commentary
Written by Culture Matters
Review of ‘Left Cultures 2, a Lexicon of stories past and present’ Cultural Commentary
Written by Dermot Foster

In the Foreword to this publication we are asked to reflect on how Left-leaning culture has helped to inspire us. What was the journey we made? What is our story? What were the formative influences in raising our political consciousness? How did we become the people we are today who…
Left Cultures: A Lexicon of Stories Past and Present. Cultural Commentary
Written by Culture Matters

Left Cultures delves deep into the left's cultural past to discuss gems of storytelling within film, literature, music, art, people, place and much much more. Cultures which have influenced and inspired an eclectic bunch of comrades to continue in this tradition by creating new cultural endeavors on the left today.…
Falange Goes to Salo Cultural Commentary
Written by Nick Moss

Nigel Falange MP. He’s ditched the Gieves and Hawkes country squire Master of the Hunt outfit because that race has been won. The “man of the people” who’d far sooner drool spittle into a beggar’s open wound than share a pint with “the people” in a Clacton pub. His Revanchist…

MORE FROM THE CULTURE HUB

Every document of civilisation is a document of barbarism
Walter Benjamin
The arts are just a part of the weapons of life. Art can make us see and feel reality and help change that reality. Art is revelation. Art is hard work. Art is part of protest.
Jayne Cortez
Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.
Bertolt Brecht
The individual will reach full realization as a human creature, once the chains of alienation are broken. This will be translated concretely into the reconquering of one's true nature through liberated labor, and the expression of one's own human condition through culture and art,
Che Guevara Socialism and Man in Cuba

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