DK Renton
@davidkr.bsky.social
Lawyer, historian, disease-ridden leftist. Books include The Story of Jenny Greenteeth, Revolutionary Forgiveness and The Anti-Fascist Novel in Britain 1923–2023. Write for LRB, Guardian, rs21.
A short piece from me to mark the 50th anniversary of "that" Eric Clapton gig in Birmingham to which Rock Against Racism was responding substack.com/home/post/p-...
50 years of Rock Against Racism
It's the anniversary today of that Eric Clapton gig, to which Red Saunders responded with the letter that started everything. Here's a piece for the anniversary
substack.com
In this talk, given at rs21’s Festival of the Oppressed event in London, DK Renton explores the possibilities of Health Communism as imagined by Alexandra Kollontai. revsoc21.uk/2026/08/05/a...
A Communist anticipates … Health Communism
rs21 - revolutionary socialism in the 21st century
revsoc21.uk
I know the chose of Burnham actually introducing rent controls are low, but here’s a piece from me for @tribunemagazine.bsky.social, making the case for a maximum rent of £50 per room per week tribunemag.co.uk/2026/07/rent...
Rent Controls Now
Britain’s new prime minister has promised to reduce the cost of living. Renters must be at the centre of Labour’s policies.
tribunemag.co.uk
Britain’s new prime minister has promised to reduce the cost of living. Renters must be at the centre of Labour’s policies.
Rent Controls Now
Britain’s new prime minister has promised to reduce the cost of living. Renters must be at the centre of Labour’s policies.
tribunemag.co.uk
RU409: DAVID RENTON ON REVOLUTIONARY FORGIVENESS: BEYOND MORALISM, TOWARDS LIBERATION renderingunconscious.substack.com @davidkr.bsky.social
RU409: DAVID RENTON ON REVOLUTIONARY FORGIVENESS: BEYOND MORALISM, TOWARDS LIBERATION renderingunconscious.substack.com @davidkr.bsky.social
Join the Haymarket Book Club! 📚 Join this month and start your subscription with one or more of these 📚 www.haymarketbooks.org/pg/book-club
"If you’re a migrant, if you’re trans, if you want to stop Israel’s war or our complicity, the worst bullies in Britain aren’t Starmer or Farage or the crowd summoned by Robinson. It’s the middle aged men in violet robes, horsehair on their heads..." davidrenton590934.substack.com/p/on-going-b...
On Going back to Work
Reflections on returning to work after a long time away
davidrenton590934.substack.com
"I am interested in left traditions and how they recover from a period of decay into growth. [Reg]rowth comes about through finding a new style of organising, one which fits some part of the period and which your adversary finds hard to resist..." communispress.com/on-political...
On Political Innovation
On finding new ways of showing labour’s power over the bosses.
communispress.com
RU409: DAVID RENTON ON REVOLUTIONARY FORGIVENESS: BEYOND MORALISM, TOWARDS LIBERATION renderingunconscious.substack.com Be sure to also check out: RU394: LARA SHEEHI & CARTER CARTER – FROM THE CLINIC TO THE STREETS: PSYCHOANALYSIS FOR REVOLUTIONARY FUTURES @davidkr.bsky.social
The second and final part of my list of my favourite anti-fascist novels, including books by Eric Ambler, Naomi Mitchison, Jonathan Coe, Frank Griffin, Muriel Spark and Hanif Kureishi... open.substack.com/pub/davidren...
My 50 Favourite Anti-Fascist Novels: 25-1
The second and concluding part of my list the best anti-fascist novels published in Britain over the last century.
open.substack.com
Important new book for anti-fascists - ‘The Anti-Fascist Novel in Britain 1923–2023: 12 Authors Take Sides’ by @davidkr.bsky.social Explores the anti‑fascist novel in Britain: its origins in activists’ experience, its solutions to questions of how to organise. www.routledge.com/The-Anti-Fas...
The Anti-Fascist Novel in Britain 1923–2023: 12 Authors Take Sides
This book explores the anti‑fascist novel in Britain: its origins in activists’ experience, its solutions to questions of how to organise. Some of the works Renton discusses are classics of twentieth‑...
routledge.com
Not the Guardian top 100... Rather, part I of my guide to the 50 best anti-fascist novels ever published in Britain.
My 50 Favourite Anti-Fascist Novels: 50-26
Part I of my list the best anti-fascist novels published in Britain.
substack.com
If fascism is one kind of reactionary mass politics, then there must be other kinds of similar reactionary mass movements. What are their rules of motion; what makes them unlike fascism?... davidrenton590934.substack.com/p/on-reactio...
On Reactionary Mass Movements
A piece in which I recall that there have been very many forms of right-wing politics in recent history, not all of them fascist
davidrenton590934.substack.com
Sharing this discount code for my next book, which is due out in a week. (The cover is by the artist Sophie Carapetian and is a tribute to Book Bloc c2010).
Missed this when it came out, but read @davidkr.bsky.social reviewing @vcwills.bsky.social 's Marx's Ethical Vision ( @academic.oup.com ) on his substack. bit.ly/4vC4oI5
Kollontai was right – under communism time will belong to us again… open.substack.com/pub/davidren...
LONDON! We'll be discussing the rise of the far-right and how we build an alternative next week with Daniel Trilling @trillingual.bsky.social and David Renton @davidrenton.bsky.social at Reference Point with @haymarketbooks.org - free tickets here! events.haymarketbooks.org/events/hayma...
Select tickets – Resisting the Road to Fascism With Daniel Trilling and D.K. Renton – Reference Point
Resisting the Road to Fascism With Daniel Trilling and D.K. Renton – Reference Point, Thu Jul 2, 2026 - Join D.K. Renton and Daniel Trilling at Reference Point on the 2nd of July to discuss the danger...
events.haymarketbooks.org
A piece to honour a long forgotten bit of Mike Kidron wisdom ("...not Trotskyist but Trostkyist-derived...") substack.com/home/post/p-...
On being, and not being, a Trotskyist
Three experiences inform this piece of writing: words Mike Kidron told an interviewer in 1964 (“not Trotskyist but Trotskyist-derived”), a piece a friend of mine Colin wrote last year (“how did these ...
substack.com
AI hasn’t made your toaster smart. It hasn’t trained an army of robot dogs to resist human beings and start World War IV. substack.com/home/post/p-...
Another excellent analysis of the UK Court of Appeal’s judgment in upholding the ban on Palestine Action, and on the despicable actions of the judge who sentenced the Filton 4 as terrorists, even though they weren’t charged with terrorism offences.
DK Renton@davidkr.bsky.social · 2mo ago"The answer to today’s decision is what it was at the time of the Suffragettes. Protesters need to adapt to the reality of a legal system which is hostile to them. We need to keep on with protests, to win outside the courts and against them." On the Ammori case for rs21 revsoc21.uk/2026/06/18/b...
“We must be able to forgive ourselves, our comrades, and our ancestors for the mistakes we have all made so that we can continue to participate in the social movements we are a part of…” thanks to Sean Isaacs and @tempestcollective.bsky.social for this lovely review tempestmag.org/2026/06/rede...
Redeeming the past for a revolutionary future
Sean Isaacs describes how D.K. Renton's new book, Revolutionary Forgiveness, offers meaningful alternatives to the carceral system.
tempestmag.org
Revolutionary Forgiveness: Beyond Moralism, Toward Liberation by @davidkr.bsky.social
Revolutionary Forgiveness
haymarketbooks.org
A piece for Rupture about Makerfield, the constituency, how Reform tried to portray itself the custodian of a kind of working-class identity, the people who resisted, and whether Burnhamism stacks up to a coherent vision of running the country differently... rupture.ie/articles/mak...
Makerfield: Labour’s Turning-Point?
by D. K. Renton Centrist pundits met Andy Burnham’s victory in the Makerfield by-election with a loud sigh of relief. Burnham was fighting two contests at once: the by-election, and the race which w...
rupture.ie
DK Renton covers the Court of Appeals upholding the Palestine Action ban, the past struggles, and the next steps. revsoc21.uk/2026/06/18/b...
Banned But Not Beaten: Palestine Action and the State’s Total Lawfare
rs21 - revolutionary socialism in the 21st century
revsoc21.uk
"The answer to today’s decision is what it was at the time of the Suffragettes. Protesters need to adapt to the reality of a legal system which is hostile to them. We need to keep on with protests, to win outside the courts and against them." On the Ammori case for rs21 revsoc21.uk/2026/06/18/b...
Banned But Not Beaten: Palestine Action and the State’s Total Lawfare
rs21 - revolutionary socialism in the 21st century
revsoc21.uk
Banning leftwing activists from entering Britain: an illiberal move with a long history in this country | DK Renton
Banning leftwing activists from entering Britain: an illiberal move with a long history in this country | DK Renton
The cancellation of Cenk Uygur’s and Hasan Piker’s visas tells us that the home secretary’s powers to police speech are too broad, says campaigner and barrister DK Renton
theguardian.com
Down with the Home Secretary, this one and all her predecessors www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Banning leftwing activists from entering Britain: an illiberal move with a long history in this country | DK Renton
The cancellation of Cenk Uygur’s and Hasan Piker’s visas tells us that the home secretary’s powers to police speech are too broad, says campaigner and barrister DK Renton
theguardian.com