DK Renton

Words of praise for a superb new biography; with my own thoughts on why the Communist historian chose the wrong side in 1956 substack.com/home/post/p-...

Made up that my chat with the one and only DK Renton @davidkr.bsky.social is now out as the first Radical Writers' Club episode on my podcast. Dave talks about his new books on Revolutionary Forgiveness (Haymarket) and The Anti-Fascist Novel (Routledge) and his path to becoming a writer.

Have we forgotten that forgiveness is part of socialism? Exploring past examples of revolutionary forgiveness, @haymarketbooks.org author D K Renton @davidkr.bsky.social considers the socialist value of striving to repair harm. www.redpepper.org.uk/political-pa...

Delighted to announce that the first episode of my Radical Writers' Club featuring the one and only D K Renton @davidkr.bsky.social will be out at 2pm this Sunday 18th October. Dave and I talk about his new books on Radical Forgiveness (Haymarket) and The Anti-Fascist Novel (Routledge).

“If the police do indeed give certain protests sympathetic treatment, then it’s the political right, not the left, who benefit from those double standards.” DK Renton on Patriot Platform: https://goodlaw.social/7cal

‘If the decisions of Labour’s national leadership made the Greens’ advance easier, the initial problem was not Labour in government but Labour in opposition.’ D.K. Renton on Labour v. the Greens in Bristol. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

‘Renters do not feel any reason to be grateful to Bristol Labour because they are having to spend a larger proportion of their wages on accommodation.’ D.K. Renton on Labour v. the Greens in Bristol. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

‘Labour promised that 35 per cent of new developments would be affordable, with most of the homes let at social rents. In practice, “affordable” is a weasel word.’ D.K. Renton on Labour v. the Greens in Bristol. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

A podcast for Red Flare (@redflareinfo.bsky.social) in which we chatted about culture - why the right has been winning online - compared to the 1930s when the left won in books or the 70s when we won in music open.spotify.com/episode/1hLu...

DK Renton: Patriot Platform can’t spread fear and call it protest https://goodlawproject.org/dk-renton-patriot-platform-cant-spread-fear-and-call-it-protest/

There is no way on earth that you can precisely call Labour Fascist. Have a listen to David Renton he’s good on Fascism. David Renton: How do we Stop Nigel Farage and the Far Right? youtu.be/5pl_yzo90c8

In this republished article from June 2013, before rs21 was founded as an independent organisation in January 2014, DK Renton unsettles the notion of a consistent, homogeneous ‘International Socialist’ tradition. revsoc21.uk/2026/10/03/r...

A post about Frank Griffin's novel October Day, a story of Cable Street by one of the day's participants substack.com/home/post/p-...

‘If the decisions of Labour’s national leadership made the Greens’ advance easier, the initial problem was not Labour in government but Labour in opposition.’ D.K. Renton on Labour v. the Greens in Bristol. www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

A piece from me that is ostensibly about the Greens in Bristol but really about the government, the left, and why a group of voters have permanently abandoned Labour. If you want to understand why Labour’s facing such a fight in Camden, then read this.

An old piece of mine about Cable Street; worth sharing again for the appeal it makes to gentile socialists to start researching about all of those people, your forbears, who took part in events - alongside tens of thousands of lefty Jews. livesrunning.wordpress.com/2018/12/06/t...

DK Renton ( @davidkr.bsky.social ) is the author of Revolutionary Forgiveness: Beyond Moralism, Toward Liberation ( @haymarketbooks.org ) www.haymarketbooks.org/books/2755-r...

spectrejournal.com/comparing-th... Read DK Renton ( @davidkr.bsky.social ) compare the ideological balance of power between reactionary hegemons and their allies in the interwar period and today.

Serge had seen the prison camps of the USSR. If he concluded that a socialist revolution was no longer on the cards, no-one writing about him today, should pretend to find that opinion shocking. It was the most natural and obvious conclusion davidrenton590934.substack.com/p/victor-ser...

"I am saying that there is often a wisdom in letting defeated enemies go free. Knowing when to forgive is an art." www.redpepper.org.uk/political-pa...

Here's an interview I gave to a new podcast, 'Fault Lines', with my thoughts about fascism, this moment we're stuck in, and the wisdom of anti-fascist novels from the 20s, 30s and 70s... faultlinespolitics.substack.com/p/what-ficti...

"The hobbits are not the poor and the oppressed of the world", but theirs is "a world imagined as an act of taking sides against fascism — and it deserves to be recognised as such." David Renton on Tolkien's anti-fascism.

@davidkr.bsky.social writing for @overlandjournal.bsky.social

"...the left should not encourage retribution. Rather, he says, “the poor should respond to their former tormentors with kindness – even the former oppressors should be free”..." Thanks so much to Liz Davies for this review of my book. labourhub.org.uk/2026/08/05/f...

The 5th August marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Eric Clapton gig to which Red Saunders responded with the letter that started everything. DK Renton recalls those beginnings here. revsoc21.uk/2026/08/17/f...

The British press bullied a vulnerable person to death, and they had fun doing it. Jason Arday made mistakes. He was publicly humiliate and mobbed for those mistakes purely because he was Black and autistic. Anti-woke ghouls decided to make an example of him. It’s not a ‘tragedy’. It’s a travesty.

A piece defending Tolkien from Musk, Palantir and all the other people who misunderstand him. overland.org.au/2026/08/jrr-...

Tolkien's vision "is not the world that most anti-fascists would create. It is a society of stout property-owners projected both into the indefinite past and into the indefinite future. But it is a world imagined as an act of taking sides against fascism" overland.org.au/2026/08/jrr-...

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-...

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...

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...

Britain’s new prime minister has promised to reduce the cost of living. Renters must be at the centre of Labour’s policies.

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...

"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...

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...

Not the Guardian top 100... Rather, part I of my guide to the 50 best anti-fascist novels ever published in Britain.

New book day www.routledge.com/The-Anti-Fas...

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...

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