About John Green
Based: londonHas been working as a journalist in one form or other for all his working life. He has also written several books - in 2009 he published a biography of Friedrich Engels and has recently written A Manifesto for Modern Times. He writes regular reviews and articles for left-wing journals and newspapers. Was co-editor of the Marxist arts magazine Artery in the seventies.
For twenty years he was a television documentary film-maker and subsequently worked as a Communications Officer with the trade union UNISON. He now works as freelance journalist and writer.
For twenty years he was a television documentary film-maker and subsequently worked as a Communications Officer with the trade union UNISON. He now works as freelance journalist and writer.
Articles Written
Why has the Russian government let loose its secret service on the West?
by John Green
Sun 13th Jan 2019Most of us were convinced that the collapse of communism in 1989 would see an end to the Cold War that continually threatened to become a hot one.... [read more]
Art for All : British Socially Committed Art c.1939 - c.1962
by John Green
Sun 6th Jan 2019John Green reviews a new book by Christine Lindey... [read more]
Obituary: Felicia Langer
by John Green
Sun 19th Aug 2018The life of Felicia Langer, who died this year, is a shining example of a Jewish Israeli who championed the cause of the Palestinian people... [read more]
Quo Vadis, Venezuela?
by John Green
Sat 31st Dec 2016Even if highly exaggerated in the western press, the economic and political crisis in Venezuela is real... [read more]
Inconvenient truths
by John Green
Fri 18th Mar 2016Aldous Huxley once said: ‘Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.’ The British government in 1945 and, half a century later, the government of a reunited Germany both chose to hide and ‘rebrand’ the realities of nazi concentration camps in order to fit political needs over the principle of truth. John Green reports ... [read more]
Replacing reality by fantasy
by John Green
Fri 8th Jan 2016John Green tales a look at the recent, much-hyped German series Deutschland 83... [read more]
Conscience and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War
by John Green
Tue 25th Nov 2014John Green reviews an exhibition focusing on British artists’ contribution in support of the Spanish Republican government in its struggle against General Franco’s fascist coup in 1936... [read more]
Taxi story
by John Green
Fri 7th Nov 2014Reams have been written about how awful and oppressive East Germany was - a virtual slave state with Stasi surveillance informers everywhere. That image was rudely demolished in a curious way the other day... [read more]
How the world was saved from a nuclear catastrophe
by John Green
Sun 2nd Nov 2014In 1983 the world stood on the brink of a nuclear holocaust. War between NATO and the USSR was prevented by a high ranking NATO official secretly working for the GDR foreign intelligence service... [read more]
From hope to despair- why the Soviet Union collapsed
by John Green
Wed 25th Jun 2014John Green reviews a book written by Hans Modrow, the last prime minister of the German Democratic Republic... [read more]
The making of the Grenada Revolution
by John Green
Sat 24th May 2014John Green reviews two books that detail the lead up to and aftermath of the Grenada Revolution... [read more]
Homo Sapiens - a Liberal’s Perspective
by John Green
Thu 24th Apr 2014John Green reviews Homo Sapiens - a Liberal’s Perspective by Ron Newby... [read more]
Bread and Circuses in a Digital Age
by John Green
Thu 27th Feb 2014Bread and circuses have always been a central aspect of ruling class hegemony and a means of keeping the masses in a soporific state... [read more]
An economy ruled by the mob
by John Green
Wed 29th Jan 2014It is not easy for any of us to get our heads around the complexities of modern economics. Many capitalists themselves and certainly most politicians no longer understand how the system really works... [read more]
Red Love – the story of an East German Family
by John Green
Sun 21st Jul 2013John Green reviews Maxim Leo’s Red Love – the story of an East German Family... [read more]
Venezuelan elections
by John Green
Sun 14th Apr 2013John Green provides an analysis of and background to today's election in Venezuela... [read more]
Out of it
by John Green
Mon 31st Dec 2012John Green reviews Palestinian author Selma Dabbagh's debut novel... [read more]
Cypherpunks – freedom and the future of the internet
by John Green
Thu 27th Dec 2012John Green reviews Cypherpunks – freedom and the future of the internet – a book By Julian Assange with Jacob Appelbaum, Andy Müller-Maguhn and Jérémie Zimmermann... [read more]
Call Mr Robeson – a Life with Songs
by John Green
Wed 14th Nov 2012John Green writes about the life and work of one of America’s greatest singers who was ‘disappeared’ from public life and airbrushed out of the history books... [read more]
The Spectre of Communism
by John Green
Wed 10th Oct 2012The eulogies in the media for the late Marxist historian, Eric Hobsbawm, praise his historical insight yet express bemusement at his adherence to the Communist cause. Why is there a lack of understanding as to why so many of his generation remained loyal to the cause of their youth? John Green explains.... [read more]
Decoding Assange
by John Green
Tue 28th Aug 2012John Green reports that Julian Assange is the new bête noir, the man to be vilified, smeared and slandered. In all the media hysteria about the rape allegations made in Sweden against Assange by two women he slept with, the real issue is being conveniently buried.... [read more]
CIA and MI5 linked to assassinations in the Congo in sixties
by John Green
Fri 4th May 2012Shortly after progressive Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba was overthrown by a Western backed coup in 1960, the former UN secretary general, Dag Hammarskjöld, died in mysterious circumstances. John Green asks if the two events were in any way connected.... [read more]
The Last to Fall (the life and letters of Ivor Hickman – an International Brigader in Spain)
by John Green
Thu 12th Apr 2012John Green reviews a book by John L. Wainwright about the life of international brigader Ivor Hickman... [read more]
Alfred Russel Wallace: Socialist and co-founder of evolutionary theory
by John Green
Wed 7th Mar 2012Next year will see the centenary of the death of Alfred Russel Wallace. Simultaneously with Darwin the discoverer of evolution due to natural selection, but history has largely eclipsed his name under Darwin’s immense shadow, writes John Green.... [read more]
Penny Red – Notes from the New Age of Dissent
by John Green
Thu 16th Feb 2012John Green reviews the latest book from an up and coming journalist who describes herself as a journalist, author, feminist, socialist, utopian, general reprobate and troublemaker... [read more]
New beginnings
by John Green
Thu 5th Jan 2012John Green asks whether we need a mass party to represent the unions and the left and to advance the interests of the entire working class (Part 2)... [read more]
New beginnings
by John Green
Wed 4th Jan 2012John Green asks whether we need a mass party to represent the unions and the left and to advance the interests of the entire working class (Part 1)... [read more]
Why capitalism likes us to behave irrationally
by John Green
Mon 19th Dec 2011It’s a great irony that although human beings, as distinct from other animals, are characterised by their ability for rational thinking, so much of our behaviour is irrational, argues John Green.... [read more]
The Banker who knows his Kapital
by John Green
Sun 5th Jun 2011John Green translates and reflects on an interview with Edgar Most formerly of Deustche Bank and of the GDR State Bank, where he considers capitalism vs. socialism.... [read more]
Introducing ... British Government Plc
by John Green
Sun 19th Dec 2010John Green on the growing preponderance of unelected advisors from the business sector in senior government roles. ... [read more]
Book review: The Tolpuddle Boy
by John Green
Wed 27th Oct 2010John Green reviews "The Tolpuddle Boy", a timely tribute to the struggles of early trade unionism.... [read more]
Modern Football: Money, Hype and Hysteria
by John Green
Fri 18th Jun 2010John Green looks at how the status of the 'beautiful game' has changed in recent years.... [read more]
BA Strike is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
by John Green
Fri 26th Mar 2010The trade union movement is taking a lead in the struggle against the false panacea of austerity; John Green reckons the British Airways dispute is just the beginning.... [read more]
Book of the Month: Fenner Brockway's 'Inside the Left'
by John Green
Fri 12th Mar 2010John Green reviews Fenner Brockway's autobiographical account of a long and dedicated political career.... [read more]
Election 2010: Whoever Wins, We Are in for Cuts
by John Green
Fri 5th Mar 2010Decades of compromise have left the Labour party unfit to meet the challenges of the present crisis, writes John Green.... [read more]
Book of the Month: 'The Lacuna' by Barbara Kingsolver
by John Green
Fri 19th Feb 2010John Green recommends this witty and evocative political novel set in 1930s Mexico.... [read more]
Book of the Month: 'Common Wealth' by Martin Large
by John Green
Fri 29th Jan 2010John Green reviews this month's recommended read, which takes a critical look at the increasing dominance of corporate interests over civil society.... [read more]
Product Placement – Why UK Television Viewers Should be Worried
by John Green
Fri 22nd Jan 2010The UK government is bowing to business pressure and looking to lift the ban on product placement in television programmes, as John Green explains.... [read more]
Return to Family Values is Way Out of Crisis say the Tories
by John Green
Fri 15th Jan 2010The Conservative Party started their election campaign on familiar ground, as John Green explains.... [read more]