Fifty years ago, the miners’ strike for a fairer pay system saw some of the biggest demonstrations of workers’ power in Britain since World War Two. The Tory government, led by Edward Heath, was trying […]
2022 has seen great courage by the Myanmar people, who remain steadfast against the coup carried out by the military Tatmadaw regime. The news of Aung San Suu Kyi’s four-year prison sentence was received with […]
Canadian’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, invoked on Monday 14 February emergency measures to deal with protests against mandatory covid 19 vaccination. Some provincial political leaders criticised the measure, fearing it will stoke up bigger protests. […]
The Sri Lankan economy is at near collapse. Workers and the poor are asked to pay for this crisis. They face increased employment and increased prices of all essential goods. The government is increasingly dictatorial […]
Tens of thousands of nurses and midwives in New South Wales, at 150 hospitals, held a one-day strike on 15 February. They were driven to this after years of understaffing have been acutely worsened by […]
The covid pandemic has opened the eyes of many in Norway. There have been discussions over what the state has to pay to private (profit-making) drug companies for the vaccines. This winter has also seen […]
Europe is in the grip of a new wave of Covid, with the World Health Organisation predicting that, by next spring, two million will have died from the disease continent-wide. Whereas in the first wave […]
The ‘Inequality Kills’ report by Oxfam shines a light on the horrific poverty conditions experienced by billions around the world. It has been further exacerbated during the Covid pandemic – 99% of the world’s population […]
“The Impending Catastrophe and How to Combat It”, the title of an action programme that Lenin wrote just before the 1917 October revolution in Russia, precisely describes the current situation in much of the world. […]
Large areas of the Crown Estate in Scotland are being handed over to energy multinationals and investment funds by the Scottish National Party/Green Scottish government. Climate-destroying big business is being welcomed with open arms to […]
The 13th congress of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) took place from 22-25 January 2022. International travel difficulties because of covid restrictions meant that most comrades participated via zoom. Nevertheless, the congress was […]
In the middle of the Covid omicron wave, Austrian students walked out in a school strike on 26 January, following a ‘warning strike’ on 18 January. Their demands included better health and safety measures in […]
The strike wave that has developed in Britain during the last few months of 2021 is growing in 2022. It has claimed significant victories for workers. The stored-up anger that has developed through the Covid […]
Yesterday’s announcement (1) by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) that their First Minister of the power-sharing Assembly in Northern Ireland, Paul Givan, will resign within hours, has been long anticipated by threats made by the […]
Portugal’s snap general election was won by the ruling Socialist Party (PS) headed by current Prime Minister António Costa. One hundred and seventeen PS members were elected to parliament, making up a majority of the […]
The beating of war drums is getting ever louder. For weeks, Western media and politicians have raised the prospect of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, and are threatening dire consequences for the Putin regime, […]
On Monday 24 January 2022, the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Minister of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Zainab Ahmed, announced the postponement of the planned removal of subsidy on petroleum products till further […]
The Struggle for Justice Continues Half a century has passed since the British Army shot 28 peaceful civil rights demonstrators on January 30, 1972, in Derry city, Northern Ireland. Thirteen innocent people were killed in […]
On Monday 24 January 2022, a group of military officers toppled President Roch Kabore-led government in Burkina Faso. The junta, which is named the “Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR)” and led by Lieutenant […]
Every day Boris Johnson and his government are more and more mired in scandal. As we go to press the findings of the inquiry into ‘Partygate’ revelations have not yet been made public and are […]
Covid-19 has done much to expose the chronic problems within the Irish health service. One such problem is the destructive influence of private healthcare. In its infancy, this was the method by which religious institutes […]
The Covid pandemic and its effects have deepened an already existing social crisis. Ravaged by years of cuts and privatisation, public services have been unable to meet the needs of working-class communities. In a period […]
Transport union RMT members working for London Underground have voted overwhelmingly for strike action to defend jobs, conditions, and our pensions. RMT balloted over 10,000 members on London Underground, getting a 94% yes vote for […]
The future of Boris Johnson’s prime ministership appears to be hanging by a thinner and thinner thread. The revelations of Downing Street parties in 2020 as millions suffered during the pandemic – against a backdrop […]
The sole women-only hostel in Northern Ireland for homeless women, those with addictions, mental health issues or suffering domestic violence, is facing closure on 27 February. Disgracefully, seven workers, members of the Unite union, who […]
In the following eyewitness report, Igor Ushakov, who serves on the Almaty editorial board of the left-wing online magazine, ‘Krasnaya Yurt’, explains the events on 4-5 January in the Kazakhstan city of Almaty, where a […]
2022 opens with confirmation that 2021 was another year of ‘business as usual’ for Irish capitalism. Initial corporation tax returns from the Department of Finance, released towards the end of 2021, indicate that corporation tax […]
Union workers in 2021 were in at least 346 strikes across most sectors of the U.S. economy including manufacturing, transportation, and services. During October, there were 53 strikes of over 28,000 workers. “Striketober” and “Strikesgiving” […]
On 15 January 1919, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, the finest brains of the German working class and its most heroic figures, were brutally murdered by the bloodthirsty, defeated German military, backed to the hilt […]
This week saw the tragic and senseless murder of 23-year-old Ashling Murphy in Co. Offaly, in the Irish republic. The primary school teacher was attacked while she went on a run in broad daylight. Her […]
On New Year’s Eve, Buckingham Palace announced that former Labour prime minister Tony Blair would be rewarded with the Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter by the Queen. Should we be […]
One week after an unprecedented struggle by the country’s oppressed exploded onto the streets of Kazakhstan, an uneasy quiet has fallen in the commercial capital Almaty, where Kazakh state forces, backed by Russian paratroops, enforce […]
There were jubilant scenes outside Bristol Crown Court as four people were cleared for their role in the toppling of the statue of slave-trader Edward Colston. The statue was pulled down and subsequently dumped into […]
Football’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is currently taking place, with millions following the tournament in the continent and worldwide. Egypt is the most successful nation in the cup’s history, winning the tournament seven times (including […]
When Strikes and protests nearly swept a capitalist regime out of power Ten years ago, instead of the festivities that often herald the New Year, Nigerian working people and youth started the year 2012 at […]
Tony Blair has joined current British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer in being knighted – rewarded for his services to the bosses’ establishment. The former Labour prime minister, who was in office between 1997 and […]
Below are letters of protest (in German and English) sent to the Embassy of Kazakhstan and Embassy of the Russian Federation, in Berlin, from socialist activists in Germany. socialistworld.net An die Botschaft Kasachstans – per […]
Campaign Kazakhstan was set up in Britain and Europe to support the workers’ movement in Kazakhstan and oppose the repressive measures of the Nazarbayev regime. Mick Whale, Secretary of the campaign, visited Kazakhstan on two […]
“One more strike and he’s out”, declared longstanding Tory MP Roger Gale in the wake of the kicking his party got from voters in the Shropshire North byelection, previously held by the Tories for almost […]
On Saturday 4 December 2021, 15 NEC members and organizers of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM – CWI Nigeria) from different states and areas of work gathered at a hybrid (in-person and zoom) NEC meeting […]
The president of Sri Lanka, Gotabhaya Rajapaksha, has completed two years in office. He came to power with huge public support from the south of the country, where Sinhala Buddhists predominate. He was defence secretary […]
Socialistworld.net will be publishing less regular during the Christmas and New Year holidays. We will resume our regular schedule on Tuesday, January 4.
To most socialists, it will come as no surprise to find that Christmas is the continuation of very ancient traditions of mid-winter festivals. However, it may be a surprise to learn just how relatively new […]
After being without a government for almost a year, the new Lebanese government of billionaire Nijab Mikati is already beset with crises, just a few months in. There has been no respite from the ongoing […]
The USSR was officially dissolved thirty years ago in 1991. Clare Doyle, who was working in Russia at the time on behalf of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI), looks back at a historic […]
On Sunday, 19 December, the second round of the presidential election was held in Chile. Gabriel Boric, of the Frente Amplio electoral coalition, obtained an overwhelming victory, winning more than four and a half million […]
At its conference on 4 December, Solidarity – ‘Scotland’s Socialist Movement’ – voted to effectively dissolve as a party. This followed a recommendation from its National Executive Committee (NEC), which includes Tommy Sheridan. Solidarity is […]
The weekend of 4-5 December was an important turning point in the race for the presidential election in France. The first round takes place on 10 April 2022. The right-wing party, Les Républicains (LR), officially […]
Having ruled Turkey for almost two decades, Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government is at its most vulnerable. With Turkey staggering on from one crisis to another since 2018, in a highly polarised political environment, a new […]
On Friday, December 10th, a massive weather system struck large parts of the US, producing powerful, out-of-season tornadoes that hit six states in the South and Midwest. This storm wave is the latest headline in […]
The policies of the Tory government, putting profit before safety, continue to punish working-class communities with unsafe workplaces and a cost of living crisis. It is vital that the trade union movement mobilises the strength […]
The first Scottish National Party-Green Scottish government budget was tabled at Holyrood parliament on Wednesday 8th December. Anyone expecting a Green-influenced budget to mark an end to austerity will have been sorely disappointed. As expected, […]
The decision of the British High Court to grant the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States criminalises journalism and is a blow to human rights. The Court granted a US government appeal against […]
As local authorities begin discussing their spending plans for 2022-2023, which they will finally agree on at budget-setting meetings in February or March, we can already see the scale of cuts that are being prepared. […]
Mass protests across Sudan have continued in response to the latest agreement between Abdalla Hamdok and the military tops. Continuing demands for ‘Power to the People’ show this mass movement is determined to end the […]
This week, a proposed ban on hunting with dogs was shamefully defeated in the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont buildings. As we reach the end of 2021, the practice of animals being torn apart by […]
The proportion of voters, 63%, who think that capitalist politicians “are just in it for themselves” is at its highest since the MPs’ expenses scandal in 2009. No wonder. The money-grubbing approach of many MPs […]
Thousands, including CWI members and supporters, braved freezing temperatures to join the annual Helsinki Ilman Natseja (“Helsinki Without Nazis”) demonstration on 6 December, with smaller events taking place across Finland. This year, the march organizers […]
Sinn Féin recently dropped its policy of opposition to the non-jury Special Criminal Court in southern Ireland. Sinn Féin leader, Mary Lou McDonald, said the court should be used in “exceptional circumstances”, including for the […]
Pablo Iglesias, one of the founders of Podemos and its most prominent representative, announced his resignation from politics earlier this year – the tenth anniversary of the movement of the indignados which gave birth to […]
After tens of thousands marched and walked out in Glasgow and across the world in response to the failure of the UN COP26 summit, many are discussing what is next for the climate strike movement. […]
November 30th saw Nigeria’s Lagos State government publish a ‘white paper’ in response to the Lagos State Judicial Panel that held a public inquiry into last year’s murderous assault on #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki […]
New Covid-19 variants are inevitable but the threat to world health comes from profit-driven capitalism. Early reports indicate the Omicron variant is more infectious than Delta. It is not yet known whether Omicron infection is […]
After a year like no other, which has seen record-breaking heatwaves and wildfires that ravaged towns and led to thousands of hectares of land being destroyed, British Columbia (BC), Canada, has faced yet another historical […]
José Antonio Kast, the far-right candidate in the Chilean presidential elections who defends the Pinochet dictatorship, is a threat to the freedoms and social conquests of the people of Chile. Kast does not hide that […]
“Super motivating” was the comment of Christian, a nurse who joined the Sozialistische Organisation Solidarität (Sol, CWI Germany) during the Berlin hospital strikes, about the Socialism Days organised by the Sol on the weekend of […]
The MNA nurses’ strike at St. Vincent hospital is now the longest in Massachusetts history. Nurses first walked out of St. Vincent in March in response to unsafe patient limits, inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE), […]
25 November was International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. Below we print extracts of a leaflet the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) produced for campaigning on the issue of gender violence […]
Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who shot three protestors and killed two during the Jacob Blake protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was acquitted of all charges yesterday. The police shooting of Jacob Blake on August 23rd, 2020 […]
Socialism 2021, a weekend event of debates and discussion in London organised by the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales), brimmed with determination. Determination to overcome the obstacles of time, resources, technical hitches, and the […]
Fearful of the continuing mass uprising across Sudan in opposition to the military coup of October 25th, Prime Minister Hamdok was formally restored to his position, on Sunday 21 November, following an internationally brokered agreement […]
On 19 November, Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, announced the repealing of three farm bills passed last year by his government. It is truly a historic victory of India’s farmers and of the wider […]
On Sunday, 14 November, elections took place in Argentina in which the Peronist government was the main loser. This was despite the big demonstrations they called, mobilizing the trade union federations that they still control, […]
The Sinn Féin chair of a shambolic meeting of Fermanagh and Omagh District Council has excluded independent anti-goldmining Councillor Emmet McAleer from a Council meeting. During most of the meeting, the chair only called his […]
The Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) is hosting Socialism 2021 this coming weekend – the biggest in-person socialist event this year in Britain, which is also available to attend online. We need the chance […]
The political sparring between the regimes in Belarus and Russia, on the one side, and Poland, the EU, USA, and Nato, on the other side, is squaring up for a bruising fistfight. Pressured by Western […]
This week, a report by Nigeria’s official Judicial Panel of Inquiry into the October 20, 2020, state attack on #End SARS protesters at the Lekki Tollgate in Lagos, blew apart the Nigerian state’s continuous attempt […]
South Africa’s 2021 local government elections (LGE21) outcome marks the end of an era. For the first time since 1994, the African National Congress (ANC), the “party of liberation”, has crashed below 50%. The working […]
At the start of October, the International Monetary Fund slightly downgraded its predictions for global economic growth, citing the continued pandemic and the slow progress in vaccinating the world as the major factors. In addition, […]
COP26 has seen a set of headline pledges and agreements made between many of the world’s capitalist nations. Sadly, and expectedly, none of them will come close to resolving the climate crisis, even if the […]
After being in power since 2012, the coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komeito (a conservative party linked to a lay Buddhist organisation) retained its majority in the Japanese Lower House election. The ruling […]
The shooting death of Halnya Hutchins on the set of Alec Baldwin’s film Rust is as heartbreaking as it was preventable. In the weeks leading up to the tragedy, crew members reported multiple misfires with […]
From 5-6 November, Glasgow saw some of the largest political mobilisations since the onslaught of the covid pandemic. The catalyst was the bosses’ summit, COP26, a forum to find ‘solutions’ to limit global warming, but […]
Today, 7 November, marks the 104th anniversary of the Russian Revolution – a world-historic event. The October revolution led to a huge transformation of the former repressive Czarist Empire – politically, economically, culturally, and also […]
For nearly 30 years, capitalist politicians have talked about tackling global warming – since discussions held in the run-up to the Earth summit of 1992. But, as BEN ROBINSON shows in an article first published […]
Portugal is facing a snap general election, two years early, after the ruling minority Socialist Party (PSP) government, headed by António Costa, failed to get its budget passed through parliament. Right-wing President Marcelo Rebelo de […]
“When the leaders speak of peace”, wrote the German socialist artist Bertolt Brecht while living in exile in 1937, “the people know that war is coming”. Brecht’s pithy epigram, from his German War Primer poem, […]
On 31 October, the Sindh Workers’ Alliance organized a discussion at the organisation’s office in Mirpur Khas, regarding Pakistan’s largest private housing project, the ‘Bharia Town’, and the protest movement against it and its aftermath. […]
The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN), Lagos State Chapter, commiserates with the families of those who lost their lives and those injured in another tragic incident of building collapse in Lagos State. According to 2nd […]
It’s been three years since the UN suggested 2030 as the cut-off date to prevent climate catastrophe. Since then – who can say we are on the path away from ecological disaster? Understanding is growing […]
COP26 – the global climate summit taking place in Glasgow from 1 November – will probably agree on something. Promises to hit a ‘net zero’ carbon emissions target by 2050 for example. But actually delivering […]
The Sudanese military regime is facing massive resistance. Faced with the threat of a renewed military dictatorship, across the country millions have protested and gone on strike, most recently a two-day general strike that stopped […]
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) held its biennial conference in the Waterfront Hall in Belfast at the end of October. Militant Left (CWI Ireland) members actively participated in the proceedings raising the need […]
COP26 in Glasgow has begun with a show of working-class power. Over 800 members of the GMB trade union have shut down Glasgow cleansing services on day one of a planned week-long strike. Bin and refuse […]
On 27 October 2021, a hunger strike began by the mothers of political prisoners who were imprisoned as a result of the popular revolt in Chile, which began on 18 October 2019. Millions took to […]
The Tory government have finally published their strategy for the UK to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. According to Boris Johnson, this will see the UK “lead the world in ending our contribution to […]
The proposed extradition of journalist and whistle-blower Julian Assange from Britain to the United States is a threat both to those who expose the wrong-doing of America’s ruling élite, to free speech, and to journalism […]
The UN’s climate change panel, the IPCC, says that it is ‘code red for humanity’; that a rise of 1.5°C in global temperatures is unavoidable over the next few decades and rises above that are […]
A military coup is taking place in Sudan. The army has arrested civilian ministers and their advisors. However, tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in defiance with chants of: “The people […]
Rail, bus and council workers are preparing strike action during COP26. Socialist Party Scotland (CWI Scotland) offers our full support. The RMT rail and transport union has announced 12 days of strike action, from 1-12 […]
The victory of Sharon Graham as general secretary of Unite, amongst the biggest trade unions in the UK and Ireland and undoubtedly the most influential industrially and politically, has struck the labour movement as a […]
Last week, we saw an allocation of €37 million toward mental health in the budget of the right wing coalition government in Southern Ireland. This falls far short of the type of funding that is […]
The world leaders, including Boris Johnson and Joe Biden, will arrive at the COP26 climate conference starting on 31 October in their polluting private jets, to talk about how we must do more to prevent […]
A mass mobilization on Monday, October 18, showed us that the fight against the dictatorship of the capitalist and neoliberal right is still more in force than ever. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets […]
The UK government is hosting the 26th United Nations Climate Change ‘Conference of the Parties’ (COP26) in Glasgow from 31 October to 12 November 2021. The ‘Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’ (IPCC) was formed in […]
On the occasion of the first anniversary of the #EndSARS protest, the Youth Rights Campaign (YRC) salute all radical youth who stood against police brutality and state repression, last October, as well as those who […]
A combination of the rising cost of living, low pay, tax increases, and fuel and food shortages has led some commentators in the British establishment media to talk about the possibility of a new ‘winter […]
Premium Times, along with a few other media organizations in Nigeria, has been publishing daily exposures of the revelations they unearthed, alongside 600 journalists from 150 news organizations around the world, in a global investigation […]
This month completes two years since the social rebellion which began on 18 October 2019. This event, the most important in recent Chilean history, signalled a new chapter in the crisis of the entire political […]
Sebastian Kurz, for five years a shooting star of the European conservatives, had to “step aside” as Austria’s Chancellor on 9 October. His resignation comes amid criminal investigations against those closest to him and with […]
In September, the Tory government in Britain briefly dipped below Labour in opinion polls, as workers faced a winter of Tory rule featuring pay restraint, soaring prices, tax hikes and shortages. Boris Johnson’s Tory Party […]
Workers’ rights in Egypt are harshly repressed under President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi’s brutal regime. There have been very few strikes in recent years. Workplace activists have been jailed, where torture is widely used. However, two large […]
The COP 26 UN climate summit in Glasgow is now only a month away. Over 30,000 official participants, including US president Biden, UK prime minister Johnson, president Macron of France and a legion of elite […]
The recent acute shortages of energy, goods, and labour in some sectors in the UK stem in large part from UK-specific capitalist failings. But the volatile world situation is part of the background to those […]
The Texas ban on abortion has been put on hold by a Federal judge in Texas temporarily blocking its implementation by granting a request by the Biden administration to prevent any enforcement of the law […]
“The decision taken by delegates who predominantly live in what’s regarded as Labour red wall seats shows how far the Labour Party has travelled away from the aims and hopes of working-class organisations like ours”. […]
The Marxist Workers Party (CWI South Africa) stands in solidarity with the steel and engineering workers who began national strike action on 5 October. This action on pay is being led by Numsa, the dominant […]
The explosive leaking of 6.4 million documents and 1.2 million emails, the ‘Pandora papers’, showing the grotesque activities of the super-rich, stashing billions of US$ in offshore accounts to avoid tax and to launder money, […]
For twenty-six days, nurses at the two largest public Berlin hospital chains, Charité and Vivantes, and the technical staff of the latter, have been on strike. More than 2,000 workers have joined the trade union […]
‘Nigeria is a failed state’. This was the headline of an article in the May 2021 edition of the US Foreign Affairs magazine, as two US academics, one of them previously US Ambassador to Nigeria, […]
The Communist Party in Austria, KPÖ, came first in the recent Graz city elections, with 29% of the vote (34,000 votes). This sensational result for the Communist Party in Graz (KPÖ Graz) is a result […]
The person who said New Labour was “intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich” is now intensely happy about the results of this year’s Labour Party conference. Architect of Blairism, Lord Peter Mandelson, is “just […]
On Tuesday, 28 September, the National Union of Journalists in Northern Ireland held vigils in Belfast and Derry to mark 20 years since the murder of journalist Martin O’Hagan. The vigil in Derry was addressed […]
This has never happened before. On 26th September, ‘Super Election Day’, Berliners voted by 56 percent in a referendum in favour of the expropriation of the large real estate companies. This shows that when people […]
Justin Trudeau has been re-elected by the slimmest majority of any prime minister in Canadian history, at just 32%. His government called a special election, hoping to gain seats and secure a majority, but the […]
In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, with fears of rising unemployment as the furlough scheme is wound up, and the full extent of the economic scarring from the pandemic is revealed, there are also […]
The victory for Vladimir Putin and his party United Russia in the three-day parliamentary elections across Russia last weekend was never in doubt. So rigged are the conditions for participation and voting that any genuine […]
In October 2011, unemployment hit its highest level for 17 years, with youth unemployment on the rise and heading for one million. Tuition fees had been trebled and the public sector pensions’ dispute was raging. […]
In addressing TUC Congress, Sir Keir Starmer claimed that “Labour will always stand with the unions”, standing “shoulder to shoulder” with them over vicious attacks such as ‘fire and rehire’. But the reality is very […]
More than thirty organisations and initiatives had called for the demonstration “Together on the street – public instead of private” in Berlin, last Saturday, 18 September. Representatives from almost all movements and campaigns currently taking […]
After the election in Norway on September 13th, a new ‘left’ coalition is set to replace the Conservative government of Erna Solberg. It will consist of the Workers’ Party (AP, Social Democrats), the Socialist Left […]
Two days of strike action were taken on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 September by drivers for Helsinki City Public Transport (HKL Helsingin kaupungin liikennelaitos) in protest against a city council proposal to spin the […]
The National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) rallies and lobbies of the TUC Congress have been an annual fixture since the first in 2010. They have become the most important pre-Congress event, reflecting the demands of […]
On Friday 20 August, Ismail Sabri was chosen by Malaysia’s king to be prime minister – the country’s third in three years. The 17 month-old government of the ‘National Coalition’ (PN – Perikatan Nasional) under […]
The ruling Scottish National Party (SNP) and Scottish Greens have agreed to form a de-facto coalition at Holyrood, the seat of the Scottish parliament. For the first time since the parliament was established in 1999, […]
This year marks the 81st anniversary of the assassination of the outstanding socialist revolutionary, Leon Trotsky, by an agent of Stalin, on 21 August 1940. Last year, the CWI published a new book on his […]
Tragically, a CWI comrade in Nigeria, Nurudeen Alowonle a.k.a Omomeewa, was murdered in Lagos, late on 18 August. It is not clear why comrade Omomeewa, along with a supporter who was wounded and is now […]
“1991 marked a turning point…We have entered a more disturbed period in world history, marked by sharper inter-imperialist rivalries and a deepening capitalist crisis.” (The Collapse of Stalinism) In 1991, the world watched as the […]
It is thirty years since an ill-fated coup was launched against Mikhail Gorbachev, president of what was still known as the Soviet Union (USSR). It was over in three days. By the end of 1991, […]
Every Olympics reflects the sad contradiction of the world we live in, but Tokyo 2020 took this to a whole new level. On the one hand, millions of people enjoyed and were inspired by the […]
On Sunday 15 August, the Taliban reached the capital of Kabul, forcing the US-backed government of Ashraf Ghani from power. Thousands of residents tried desperately to board planes to flee the hard-line Islamic force. After […]
Once again, the Algerian people are left to fend for themselves. Since Monday, 9 August, more than seventy fires have raged throughout Algeria, particularly in Kabylia, where the regions of Tizi-Ouzou and Bejaia are in […]
The Taliban are sweeping across Afghanistan, taking one provincial capital after another. Despite over $80bn spent on “security assistance” from the US, since 2002, along with an annual massive military budget, the Afghan army has […]
Thousands of teachers and students in Sri Lanka have been out every day on continuous protest action, defying the government and braving the Covid 19 pandemic. The latest spike in the Covid crisis is actually […]
First the good news – it is still possible to avoid a climate apocalypse. And the bad news? It is already too late to avoid climate catastrophe! This is the verdict of the United Nations’ […]
The mining company, Flintridge Resources, will be allowed to drill boreholes as ‘permitted development’ at a controversial goldmine at Cavanacaw, four miles upwind of Omagh town centre, in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The five establishment […]
“In the 12 weeks since the [British] Heath and [N Ireland] Faulkner governments introduced internment, the cities and towns of Northern Ireland have become battlefields. This vicious sectarian measure has mobilised huge sections of the […]
LGBTQ+ people have always had to fight to survive, let alone thrive. At the Reclaim Pride protest on 24 July, in London, there were plenty of placards reminding us of this struggle – but that […]
The nationality and borders bill has had its second reading in the UK’s parliament. Home Secretary, Priti Patel, said that this bill will give British people control back over borders and that the Tories’ priorities […]
The African Commission of the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) met by zoom in July. The CWI is an international socialist organization that aims to build national sections which intervene in struggles in individual […]
In recent weeks, New South Wales and other states in Australia have seen lockdowns due to a rise in covid infections. However, in Western Australia covid infections and deaths are low. This aided the state’s […]
A year ago, a huge devastating explosion started at Beirut’s port and ended with the loss of over 200 lives, with 7,500 injured and around 300,000 people made homeless. That evening of 4 August 2020 […]
Following three days of strike action by government hospital ancillary workers, the employers have agreed to cancel the elimination of 200 posts created to handle the Covid pandemic. But there is no concrete agreement on […]
Since coming to power in November 2019, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s government has gone through a severe crisis. Sri Lanka was once the second most powerful economy in Asia, but now it is falling into the […]
The news that Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) has proscribed, aka expelled, a number of left-leaning groups that have clung desperately onto the Labour Party came as little surprise. Since the resignation of Corbyn, and […]
On Sunday 25th July, the president of Tunisia, Kaïs Saied, carried out a coup. This is in a country that has been labelled, “The Arab world’s only democracy”. He sacked the prime minister, Hichem Mechichi, […]
The 23 June Summit of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) agreed to the deployment of a military force to northern Mozambique. This was the belated response of the regional elites to an armed insurgency […]
The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 coming to the shores of Australia in early 2020 certainly came at an opportune time for the Australian government. At the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 (commonly now known […]
Paul Heron looks at the recent victory in the battle for justice for the Shrewsbury pickets. This was a landmark case from the 1970s in Britain – of political policing against the working class movement. […]
On 21 July Marxist Workers Party members visited Zone 3 of Katlehong, Gauteng. We had learned through the media of the brilliant work of residents to defend their community from rioting and looting, in particular, […]
The European Union’s statistics agency – Eurostat – released figures earlier this month demonstrate, in stark terms, how workers in the South of Ireland have been locked out of the massive wealth created here. Eurostat showed […]
On 11 July, Cuba was rocked by the largest protests to have taken place since the “Maleconazo” protests that erupted in 1994. The 1994 protests followed the collapse of the former USSR and the abrupt […]
On the morning of the 22nd July 2011, we all heard on the radio news that a massive bomb had exploded outside of the Regjeringskvartalet, the executive government quarter in Oslo Norway that housed office […]
As Taliban forces conquer large swathes of Afghanistan, the twenty-year occupation by American and allied imperialist forces is ending in humiliation, chaos, and an ignoble retreat. Describing the war against the Taliban as “unwinnable”, President […]
We need political struggle for LGBTQ+ liberation. It is becoming scarier and less safe to be out. One in five British LGBTQ+ people suffers hate crime every year. In Britain, we have seen a spate […]
The extreme weather conditions of the last few days have reached unimaginable proportions in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, as well as in Belgium, the Netherlands and other neighbouring countries. Up […]
With a record 66% abstention rate, the French regional and departmental elections of 20 and 27 June obviously did not excite the mass of the population. And it cannot be said that they give a […]
On July 6, a rally was organised in Almaty by the Kazakhstan Democratic Party (DP) under the slogan, “Against price increases and the participation of Chinese capital in the Kazakh economy”. The DP is an […]
Since the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma, South Africa has witnessed the most widespread unrest in decades. Tens of thousands of the poor, the destitute, and the hungry have raided supermarkets and shopping malls […]
On 8 July, just over two weeks before the games were due to open, Japanese premier Suga Yoshihide announced that the Olympics would be held without spectators. This was the result of a rebound in […]
The late Terry Fields was Labour MP for Broadgreen in Liverpool, and a supporter of Militant, the forerunner of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales). On 11 July 1991, Terry was imprisoned for refusing […]
Latin America continues to be ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic with no end in sight. With 1,300,000 deaths officially recorded in Latin America and the Caribbean, the horrific death toll is likely the worst that […]
The Myanmar military continues to hold on to power through ruthless killing and repression. Since the generals’ February coup, earlier this year, over 800 protesters have been murdered and many more have been injured. Tens […]
In Germany, the Green party is riding a wave of popularity. Following the selection of Annalena Baerbock as its candidate for Chancellor (Prime Minister), it hit 28% in the opinion polls. Since 2019 the Greens […]
The CWI has consistently argued that the working class is the only force that can solve the enormous social and economic capitalist crises in the Middle East, and end the occupation and repression of the […]
On 29 June the South African Constitutional Court found former-president Jacob Zuma guilty of contempt of court. He has been sentenced to fifteen months in prison without the possibility of appeal. Less than 48-hours later, […]
With Pride Month closing at the end of June, Militant Left (CWI Ireland), look at the struggle that the LGBTQ+ community continues to face today. The first pride was a riot. The Stonewall riots began […]
The NHS protests around the country on 3 July should be the start of building a mass campaign for decent pay and to save the NHS. Well over a million people work in the NHS. […]
Ancillary staff at government hospitals in Israel are taking strike action after three years of negotiations with the ministry of finance. An agreement was not reached over the question of workloads. The finance ministry totally […]
July 2021 marks the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. Within a few short years, the party attracted widespread support. The defeated Chinese Revolution of 1925-27 – led by the workers of […]
In the run-up to the 2020 US presidential election, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement swept the US and the world. The brutal murder of George Floyd by white Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was […]
The parliamentary elections taking place in Germany at the end of September will mark an end of an era. Having governed in various government constellations since 2005, Angela Merkel is not standing again. Generally, the […]
Left candidate, Carmel Gates, has won the election for the General Secretary position in Northern Ireland’s largest union NIPSA (Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance) gaining 44% of the vote. Her nearest contender won 34%, and […]
In April of this year, the Ministry of Justice released a report responding to the ‘growing mental health crisis’ for women in prison. It revealed that there was a 13% rise in the number of […]
During the presidential election campaign, Joe Biden and other Democratic Party politicians promised to “undo the damage” of the Trump regime, including pledges to overhaul Trump’s immigration policies. During Trump’s presidency, the US/Mexico border wall, […]
The result of the election for the General Secretary position, in Northern Ireland Public Services Alliance (NIPSA), Northern Ireland’s largest union, will become known on June 25th. The left candidate, Carmel Gates, has mounted a […]
Balloting for the post of General Secretary of the Northern Ireland Public Services Alliance (NIPSA), the largest trade union in Northern Ireland, opened at the end of May. The left candidate is Carmel Gates, who […]
Up to 200 striking workers, trade union reps, campaigners and socialists met virtually on 20 June as the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) held its 2021 summer conference. The NSSN conference is the biggest annual […]
Ebrahim Raisi’s election as president, openly described in Iran as ‘engineered’, revealed the regime’s weak popular support. The mechanics of his ‘victory’ were those of rulers fearful of the population. Facing a rising tide of […]
The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources is an impressive, illuminating analysis of the corrosive rottenness and the corruption of ‘modern’ world capitalism. It couldn’t have come at […]
Edwin Poots, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the largest party in N Ireland, resigned last night, just three weeks after he won the position. This is the latest twist in the ongoing […]
The eleven-day Israeli air bombardment of the Gaza Strip and retaliatory Hamas rockets fired into Israel, ended with a shaky ceasefire and both sides claiming victory. Although suffering large numbers of casualties, Hamas, the Islamist […]
In a recent landmark ruling, the Upper Tribunal – responsible for judicial reviews of the UK’s Home Office decisions – has proposed new ‘country guidance’ used for determining asylum cases of refugees from Sri Lanka. […]
US president Joe Biden’s first international meetings and visit to Europe as US president were certainly different from Donald Trump’s visits, but how much in substance has really changed? Internationally, Trump’s defeat was met with […]
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the gigantic struggle by Clydeside workers to defend their jobs and the communities that were reliant on the shipyards in that part of Scotland. In the summer of […]
The ongoing expansion of Jewish settlements and other Jewish-only infrastructure in East Jerusalem and the West Bank has been destroying Palestinian hopes of having their own state. The area that was designated to the Palestinians […]
Unlike many other aspects of US foreign policy, Biden’s election has not led to a fundamental change in direction when it comes to China. However, instead of Trump’s quixotic and inconsistent unilateral ramping up of […]
Thousands of people, especially the young, have taken to the streets across the world in opposition to the naked greed by the ruling elite and growing impoverishment of the mass of people. The chasm between […]
Since this article was written, the left candidate in the presidential elections in Peru, Pedro Castillo, has edged ahead in the election, winning 50.277% of the vote. The narrowness of the result and bitter opposition […]
After a month of mass mobilizations, protestors and strikers in Colombia continue to struggle against the murderous capitalist government of President Iván Duque Márquez. Widespread protests and strikes began in opposition to a now-withdrawn tax reform […]
It took a vote in Westminster in 2019, initiated by right-wing backbench Labour MP Stella Creasy and backed by virtually all the right-wing parties in that chamber, to vindicate the rights of women in Northern […]
For the first time since the horrific slaughter on June 4th, 1989 of unarmed protesters in Tiananmen Square, there will be no commemoration in any part of China, including Hong Kong and Macau. In Hong […]
US President Joe Biden has rightly described climate change as an “existential threat to humanity.” But tackling that threat will require more than just recognising it – rapid and far-reaching action is needed. Will his […]
When Sebastian Kurz of the conservative ‘People’s Party’ (ÖVP) won the 2017 elections he was voted in as Chancellor as someone who stood for “change”. He had revamped his party, virtually renamed it, changed its […]
Dramatic events a week ago (Sunday 23 May) saw a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania forced to land in Belarus. The military operation has been described as an unprecedented ‘hijacking’ and has seen European […]
There can be no doubt that May’s round of death and destruction in Israel-Palestine will have serious repercussions in the whole Middle East. All the questions relating to the conflict in Israel-Palestine have been thrust […]
Forty years ago, on 21 May 1981, the island of Jamaica came to a halt as the celebrated reggae musician and political activist Bob Marley was given a state funeral. What was the political backdrop […]
Recent days have seen more strikes and protests by workers in Iran, more signs of the general revival of the workers’ movement there since 2017. The May Day statement (below) issued by 15 Iranian workers, […]
6 May 2021 saw the election of a majority of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) committed to a second referendum on Scottish independence. Is an independent Scotland now inevitable? How will Boris Johnson and […]
When a ceasefire took hold after eleven days of the war on Gaza by the Israeli military, Gaza’s traumatised population re-emerged onto the streets to survey scenes of terrible devastation. This was the fourth war […]
The pandemic hasn’t just exposed the class divide here in the UK. It’s also brought many tensions and inequalities between nations in an already fractured world to the surface. If the rapid spread of the […]
“Boris Johnson’s withdrawal agreement with the European Union, which would “effectively leave Northern Ireland within the EU’s economic jurisdiction” following the UK’s exit, “will dangerously escalate sectarian tensions; spilling over into Britain too as in […]
“Working men’s Paris, with its Commune, will be forever celebrated as the glorious harbinger of a new society. Its martyrs are enshrined in the great heart of the working class. Its exterminators’ history has already […]
The turn to devastating bloodshed by the Israeli regime has followed weeks of brutal Israeli policing in and around Jerusalem’s old city, and a number of planned evictions of Palestinian families from their homes in […]
After a decade in opposition in the Southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam – Dravidian Progressive Party) captured power from the AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam- All India […]
An overpass carrying a subway train collapsed in Mexico City on 3 May, killing at least twenty-six people and injuring eighty. The train was travelling on an elevated portion of Line 12 when a section […]
For three decades, the traditional right and the parties of the ‘Concertación’ co-governed in Chile and were also the main ‘opposition’. Both conglomerates agreed to manage and deepen the economic and social model of neoliberal […]
Thursday, May 13 will go down in Glasgow history. Attempts by the Home Office to detain two Indian men – chef Sumit Sehdev and mechanic Lakhvir Singh – prior to deportation, provoked a massive community […]
“Every social movement, every real advance in England on behalf of the workers links itself on to the name of Robert Owen” (from ‘Socialism: Utopian and Scientific’, 1880, by Frederick Engels) Today, 14 May 2021, […]
Almost every evening on the Norwegian National Television (NRK) there are reports of the small farmers and workers in revolt. They are seen blocking motorways and roads with their tractors or dumping manure on the […]
Weeks of repressive, brutal Israeli policing of Palestinian gatherings and protests in East Jerusalem have led to a new round of bloody conflict. Rather than just being confined to Jerusalem, this time the Israeli authorities […]
Weeks of repressive, brutal Israeli policing of Palestinian gatherings and protests in East Jerusalem have resulted in a new round of escalated conflict. In April, Israeli security forces erected barriers to prevent Palestinians from congregating […]
Education Welfare Officers (EWOs) in Northern Ireland work to make sure children from disadvantaged households or vulnerable backgrounds don’t lose out on getting an education through absenteeism. They also have a particular role in supporting […]
Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency reported on 8 May that the country’s largest sugarcane factory, Haft Tappeh, has been re-nationalised. The factory was privatised in 2015. Since then, the workers have been fighting for its […]
Following a highly polarised Scottish election, the Scottish National Party (SNP) will again form the new government at Holyrood. By winning 64 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) – one short of a majority – […]
The postponement of the 2020 elections meant that 6 May 2021 was a bumper election day, including more than 4,000 council seats, thirteen directly-elected mayors, the London assembly, plus the Scottish parliament and Welsh Senedd. […]
Nordic paper and wood products giant, Stora Enso, announced on 20 April that it plans to close two paper mills – the Vesiluoto mill in Kemi, Lapland, and the Kvarnsveden mill in Börlange, central Sweden. […]
Following a highly polarized and bitter election campaign, the right-wing party, Partido Popular (PP), has emerged victorious in the elections in Madrid. Led by the far-right figure, Isabel Ayuso, the PP emerged as the winners, […]
Socialism Revolucionario (Chile) and the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI/CIT) declares our support and solidarity with the social uprising of the workers and youth of Colombia. We condemn the government of Iván Duque that […]
The following English language translation of an interview with Siritunga Jayasuriya was conducted by Samantha Rajapaksa and published on the ‘Left Voice’ (Sri Lanka) website. socialistworld.net Siritunga Jayasuriya (Siri) is General Secretary of the United […]
On 12th and 13th June 2021, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) will reconvene the Working Class Summit (WCS). The WCS was first convened in 2018, in line with a resolution adopted at […]
“A carnival of reaction” Today, 3 May 2021, is officially marked as the hundredth anniversary of the creation of Northern Ireland. With sectarian tensions rising once again, the real history of the tumultuous decades leading […]
The Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) sends revolutionary May Day greetings to all workers, youth and the oppressed fighting against exploitation, injustice and capitalism. On May Day, we stand with all those fighting against […]
More than a year after the start of the pandemic, the government and the business political caste in Chile have proven to be completely incapable of offering a response to the immediate needs of the […]
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, made his ‘State of the Nation’ speech on 21st April as protest demonstrations were taking place across Russia. In April last year, his annual address had included an announcement about a […]
One hundred comrades from the Committee for a Workers International (CWI) attended an extended meeting of its International Executive Committee from Friday 9 April to Sunday 11th April. Due to coronavirus restrictions, the meeting was […]
An unmitigated public health disaster is gripping India. The daily number of people infected with Covid-19 has exceeded 350,000 for a week – the highest of any country since the pandemic began. Health services have […]
Capitalism is increasingly reminiscent of what is called a ‘Royal Rumble’ in professional wrestling. In this sport what is happening in the ring becomes more and more confusing due to the arrival of more and […]
The importance of building a socialist alternative in elections has long been recognised by Socialist Party Scotland. We are currently helping to pioneer the Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition’s challenge for the Scottish parliamentary […]
In the early hours of Friday, 23 April, Gardaí [Irish police] at the behest of big business, KPMG/Debenhams, forcibly removed former Debenhams retail workers and their supporters, including Militant Left (CWI Ireland) members, from a […]
Corrupt politicians with their snouts in the trough are nothing new. From ‘cash for questions’ under Tory prime minister John Major, to ‘honours’ for business people under New Labour leader Tony Blair, and then the […]
Breaking news: Since the article below was written further protests have erupted in Chile. Congress had approved a proposal allowing workers to withdraw another 10% from their pension contributions. The government tried to block this. […]
Many people in the US and around the world are celebrating the conviction of Derek Chauvin, the police officer who murdered George Floyd, last May. The guilty verdict on all three charges—third-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter, […]
The plan to set up a new ‘European Super League’ was met with frustration, anger, and dismay. The proposals have also met with universal disdain and managed to unite normally partisan fans across Europe in […]
More than 1.5 million Berlin households have been dealt a blow by the Federal Constitutional Court. At the request of 284 Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) and Free Democratic Party (FDP) members of the […]
A massive build-up of Russian forces on the borders of Ukraine last week saw the US president, Joe Biden, move swiftly to suggest a summit meeting with Vladimir Putin in the coming months. This was […]
In recent weeks new Covid infections have fallen steeply. Over 32 million people have had their first vaccination. Most of us are looking forward to activities we’ve been deprived of for much of the past […]
Rail strikes stopped travel in the Finnish capital area on 18-19 March and again on 9 April, as conductors stopped work in separate protests over potential job cuts and imposition of worse working conditions. Tero […]
For the last several months, the urgently needed union campaign to organize 5,800 workers at Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama warehouse raised the hopes of many Amazon workers and working people across the U.S. The union drive […]
Images of young people rioting in Belfast and elsewhere, countered by police using water cannon, conjured up scenes from the period of the ‘Troubles’. From the point of view of international audiences, Northern Ireland appears […]
The second round of the presidential elections in Peru, which takes place on Sunday 6 June, will see left candidate, Pedro Castillo, contest right-wing candidate, Keiko Fujimori. Last Sunday, April 12, 2021, Presidential, National Congress, […]
Are ‘green’ and digital technologies environmentally friendly? The transition to green and digital technologies is portrayed as the way to move to zero carbon emissions and a clean environment by reducing our dependency on nuclear […]
On March 22, Worcester Independent Socialist Group (ISG) organized a public meeting in solidarity with the nurses on strike against the Tenet Healthcare Corporation, owner of St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts. ISG supports the […]
Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, launched the party’s campaign for the May local and mayoral elections in England on March 11 by majoring on Boris Johnson’s plan for a 1% rise-but-real-terms-pay-cut for nurses and other […]
April 2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the riots in Brixton, south London, against police racism, unemployment, and poverty. Today, the report from the Tory government’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities dismisses systemic racism […]
The report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities has concluded that claims of institutional racism are “not borne out” and that the UK should be seen as “a model for other white-majority countries”. […]
The recent Revolutionary Internationalist Socialist and Environmentalist (RISE) and People Before Profit (PBP) merger in Ireland attracted media attention. People Before Profit now has four TDs [members of Dail – the Irish parliament], one Member […]
Ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic, Brazil’s far-right government has been plunged into a deeper far-reaching political crisis. Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing president and former military officer, sacked the Foreign Minister, Ernesto Araújo, along with other […]
On 27 and 28 March, the Socialist Party’s national committee met to discuss political developments in Britain and the tasks of the Socialist Party in the coming months. While the Covid pandemic continues to ravage […]
On 23 March, the Court of Appeal exonerated my clients Ricky Tomlinson, Arthur Murray and the ‘Shrewsbury 24.’ They were trade unionists arrested for their involvement in the 1972 national builders’ strike. In 1973, Ricky […]
It took a vote in Westminster in 2019, initiated by right-wing backbench Labour MP Stella Creasy and backed by virtually all the right-wing parties in that chamber, to vindicate the rights of women in Northern […]
The launch of a new pro-independence political party – Alba – by former Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Alex Salmond has dominated the news agenda over the last few days. It comes in the immediate […]
The coming Scottish Parliament elections are poised to open up a new crisis for the Tory Boris Johnson government at Westminster, with the break-up of the United Kingdom a possible ultimate outcome. In edited extracts […]
The birth of the Paris Commune marked the first time in history when the working class took political power directly into its own hands. Karl Marx at the time described it as a “new point […]
The following article by Leon Trotsky was written in 1921 on the 50th anniversary year of the Paris Commune. It is a brilliant analysis of the Commune which draws the most essential lesson from its […]
The following article on the Paris Commune by V.I. Lenin – a “verbatim report of a speech made by Lenin” – was published in the journal Zagranichnaya Gazeta, on 2 March 23, 1908. Lenin studied […]
The Paris Commune – ‘storming heaven’ The lessons for today Sunday 28th March 2021, 15-00 (GMT) Speakers: Cécile Rimboud, Gauche Revolutionnaire, France Peter Taaffe, CWI and Socialist Party England, and Wales Steve Hollasky, Sozialistische Organisation […]
A hundred and fifty years ago, on 18 March 1871, the armed proletarians of Paris set out to “storm heaven” (as Marx put it) and created the very first embodiment of a state ‘by and […]
Over 100,000 Australians recently demonstrated across the country on the March4Justice, demanding an end to sexual violence against women. The demonstrations took place in capital cities across the country, including a large rally at Parliament […]
The unemployment crisis in Nigeria has continued to worsen, together with the worrisome rate of poverty. According to a policy report by the Bureau of Public Service Reforms in 2018, the country needs to provide […]
The British Tory government’s ‘factsheet’ on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill explains that it will “strengthen police powers to tackle non-violent protests that have a significant disruptive effect on the public or on […]
The following text by Pascal Grimbert was published as a short pamphlet by Gauche Révolutionnaire (CWI in France), in March 2011, to mark the 140th anniversary of the Paris Commune. socialistworld.net Historical and political summary […]
Student protests have dominated headlines over the past two weeks in South Africa. The brutal and senseless killing of Mthokozisi Ntumba by police as he exited a clinic, unwittingly stepping into a confrontation between protesting […]
“It is time people understood the true meaning of this Revolution, and this can be summed up in a few words. It meant the government of the people by the people. It was the first […]
Prior to the covid pandemic, the Australian economy entered its first recession in 30 years. Following this contraction, the economy bounced back out of recession. Based on a recent surge in mining exports the economy […]
China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) took place for a week from 5 -11 March. It snuffed out any prospect of democracy in Hong Kong and sounded the death knell for ‘One Country Two Systems’. Any […]
Today, 18 March, is the anniversary of what is regarded as the start of “the 1871 Paris Commune as government”. An insurrection of workers took place to prevent the French army from seizing the cannons […]
Over the last week, protests have re-emerged onto the streets of Lebanon. The increasing collapse of society impels the masses to challenge the continuing misrule of the sectarian establishment. Blockades of roads with burning tires […]
In the last of our series of articles on women’s struggles from across the world to mark International Women’s Day, Rashme Madhavan reports from India. socialistworld.net On the 8th of March, the capitalist media and […]
The challenge to the London Metropolitan Police’s ban on a vigil in the memory of Sarah Everard, who was abducted and murdered last week, was rejected in the high court on Friday 12 March. The […]
On 12 February 2021 news quickly spread that Victoria state, Australia, was once again heading into pandemic lockdown. Like Groundhog Day, the lockdown was required due to the failures of the Daniel Andrews’ (Labor Party […]
Grief, shock and an outpouring of anger have been unleashed by the appalling abduction and murder of Sarah Everard, in London, earlier this week. Her killing has shone a spotlight on the extent of violence, […]
On December 30, 2020, the Argentine Senate voted in favour of a law legalizing free abortion previously approved in the Chamber of Deputies. The approval was resolved with 38 votes in favour, 29 against and […]
The first UK death from Covid-19 was recorded on 2 March 2020. Twelve months and over 120,000 deaths later, most people have been through greater upheavals than since the second world war. The UK has […]
Weeks of protests against the jailing of rapper Pablo Hasél have rocked Catalonia and other parts of the Spanish state, becoming a lightning rod for the anger of a generation whose lives have hit a […]
On International Women’s Day socialists salute the struggles undertaken by working-class women, both past and present, we also prepare for future struggles. We salute the 1917 heroic struggle of women textile strikers from the working-class […]
The Scotland National Party’s (SNP) internal warfare has dominated the political and press agenda in Scotland over recent days. A parliamentary committee of enquiry into the Scottish government’s handling of sexual harassment allegations against former […]
On 11 March 2011, a magnitude 9 earthquake hit north eastern Japan. It was followed 50 minutes later by a 14-metre tsunami, devastating coastal areas. Nearly 20,000 people died in the most costly natural disaster […]
The call for a second general strike in Myanmar, on Monday 8 March, was confronted with a brutal clampdown by the military. According to reports, at least two protesters were shot dead by the military, […]
Despite freezing temperatures and the raging pandemic, thousands of women, men and LGBTQ+ people continue to protest against the stricter ban on abortion in Poland. A similar attack on women’s reproductive rights was defeated by […]
The Covid pandemic has shone a spotlight on all forms of inequality in capitalist society. If you live in a poor area you are twice as likely to die from Covid than if you live […]
In 1909 the Socialist Party of America organized the first National Women’s Day, attracting thousands of people to various rallies and events. One year later, German delegates to the 1910 International Socialist Women’s Conference suggested […]
International Women’s Day rally hosted by the Socialist Party in England and Wales and the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). Sunday 7th March 2021, 15-00 to 16-30 hrs (GMT) Facebook link: https://fb.me/e/gpD0Bxe5Q Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAuc–vrzsjGdR2IMTQRyzEwpCLVI92M9mS With […]
The 8th of March this year marks the 110th anniversary of International Women’s Day (IWD). Over the years there’s been a sustained attempt to remove the socialist origin of the day and for it to […]
In the last years, we have made a number of steps forward in relation to women’s rights and equality in Ireland, North and South. The referendum to repeal the eighth amendment and remove the constitutional […]
Members of the CWI in Sindh are planning to hold their annual convention and the traditional Women’s March on Monday, International Women’s Day, March 8th In recent years, there has been a huge increase in […]
Women workers constitute the vast majority toiling in Sri Lanka’s main export industries – clothing and tea. They are the two main groups facing the biggest risks from the current Covid 19 crisis. Every day […]
The struggle against oppression by the Muslim Uighurs of Xinjiang, China’s westernmost province, is nothing new. Their homeland has been fought over for centuries and the particular suppression of national rights by Han Chinese regimes […]
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune when for a brief but heroic few weeks the working class took power for the first time. In the immortal words of Karl Marx, the […]
Across the globe, at least 2.4 million people have now died from contracting Covid-19. Livelihoods have been wrecked and economies have crashed, with the world economy shrinking by over 4% and the UK suffering a […]
Two members of the Socialist Organisation Solidarity (CWI Germany) and two other left activists are on trial in Lemgo, Germany. They are facing accusations by State Security (the police department for “fighting against politically motivated […]
The announcement of the most vicious cuts in social spending since the fall of apartheid, while simultaneously cutting taxes on big business, is a declaration of war against the working class, especially women. The budget […]
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Rosa Luxemburg (5 March), one of the most famous political figures of the last century. For the international workers’ movement, she is renowned as a […]
A year has passed since the last celebration of working women’s struggle for a better deal in life. What a year of misery, death, and destruction! But what a groundswell of hostility to the system […]
Even before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the Turkish economy was on the brink of collapse as the country was grappling with currency depreciation and high inflation rates since the 2018 economic crisis. The […]
Bill Mullins, a former senior shop steward in the auto industry and later industrial organiser of the Socialist Party in Britain, recounts the mighty struggle of shop-floor trade unionists in Britain 50 years ago in […]
Finland’s government made the surprise announcement of a new lockdown on 25 February in response to spiking rates of COVID infections in the capital region and the dominance in that part of the country of […]
On Saturday 20 February, the Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) conference agreed on an election manifesto for the Scottish elections, set to be held in May 2021. More than 40 attendees from around […]
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer’s speech, supposedly setting out his vision for Britain, did nothing to counter the criticism that he is dull. It contained virtually no policy proposals. Nonetheless, it played another role, more […]
The massive peasant protest of recent months, anchored around India’s capital, Delhi, with wider support across the country, is historic. It is the first time in the seven years of Modi rule that any action […]
The political turmoil in Malaysia, which has lasted for almost a year, has taken a new turn following the Emergency Order declared by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on 12 January. Although the sudden increase in […]
On 14 February, the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) hosted its fifth online meeting of workplace trade union reps and workers during the pandemic. NSSN chair Rob Williams introduced the meeting explaining: “This is a […]
The Communist Manifesto was first published on this day, 21 February, in the year 1848. Why does it continue to hold such appeal to workers, the oppressed and young people everywhere? “A spectre is haunting […]
The film ‘Dear Comrades’, produced by the Russian film-maker, Andrei Konchalevsky, came out last year and won the Special Jury Prize at the 2020 Venice Film Festival. The film brings home in dramatic detail the […]
For a continent often defined to the outside world by corrupt politicians, dictators and the notorious internet scammers, a success story in any legitimate endeavour elicits celebration. This explains the outpour of joy across Nigeria […]
The Biden administration’s January 26 joint agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to sign ‘New START’, a five-year extension to the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, was greeted with some relief. After the US withdrawal from […]
The impending explosive struggle over the right to indyref2 [a second referendum on independence for Scotland] is dominating the outlook of all classes and political tendencies in society. There are widening divisions, both inside the […]
A peaceful protest called by activists over the weekend, Saturday 13 February 2021, to protest the decision to reopen Lekki tollgate to business was openly and brutally repressed. This new repression following widespread protest against […]
Since the beginning of last year, the whole world suffered from the Covid-19 crisis. Though developed capitalist countries seem to ‘manage’ the situation – yet by no means all of them – and are able […]
A violent clampdown took place against protesters on Saturday 13 February 2021 as they were assembling to peacefully protest the decision of the Lagos State Judicial panel to reopen the tollgate where scores of protesters […]
This Land – The Story of a Movement, by Owen Jones, is an important account of the rise and fall of Jeremy Corbyn, his army of supporters, and his colossal effect on the labour movement. […]
The government’s inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire disaster in London, on June 2017, in which 72 people died, has resumed. The inquiry has been agonising for the survivors and bereaved. Fire safety problems are […]
The black and Asian group of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) is producing a Black Workers’ Charter to start a discussion about the demands needed to fight for the rights of black and […]
The ANC presidency of Jacob Zuma (2009-2018) saw already widespread corruption reach unprecedented new heights in South Africa. The media coined the term “state capture” to describe Zuma’s growing brazenness in appointing ministers and other […]
Over 550 attended the online conference of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) on 7 February in preparation for the local elections in May. Dave Nellist, TUSC national spokesperson, was in the chair. He […]
The Covid-19 pandemic ripping out of control was the background to Portugal’s Presidential elections on 24th January. The winner was right-wing incumbent Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, as the far-right gained and the left was punished […]
At the end of December last year, due to the worsened COVID-19 situation, Thailand’s democracy movement, led by students, temporarily ended the street protests that had been going on since last August. The movement has […]
Demonstrations have been continuing at Boğaziçi University since January 2021. Students and university staff are resisting the appointment of a government loyalist, Melih Bulu, as rector, by Presidential Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The reason for appointing […]
Young people in Germany have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and the unfolding economic crisis. For young socialists, these are key issues around which to organise resistance against the various shortcomings of the […]
For the second night in a row, sounds of the striking pots and pans were heard across the streets of the city of Yangon, in Myanmar. Residents in the main capital are showing their dissatisfaction […]
The Tories have made yet another U-turn. This time over their proposed review of employment laws and regulations post-Brexit. The 12 Labour Party-affiliated unions had issued a statement on ‘the Tory threat to our workplace […]
The European Commission has been forced into a humiliating climb-down following its attempts to control exports of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, which threatened a ‘vaccine hard border’ in Ireland. The EU’s threat to stop vaccines […]
On 20 August, last year, seasoned anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny became seriously ill on a flight from Tomsk to Moscow, quickly falling into a coma. The plane made an emergency landing and four days later […]
The Scottish National Party (SNP)-led government’s latest ‘road map’ towards a second independence referendum for Scotland has been unveiled. Boris Johnson’s Westminster government has also launched a five-step plan to save the union. Battle lines […]
Northern Ireland is the only region in the UK where the water service has not yet been privatised. That fact largely reflects the strong campaign fought by the trade union movement, in many cases led […]
This year has seen a further intensification of conflicts and clashes, in different parts of Nigeria, between herdsmen and farmers in some areas and different ethnic groups in others. This has added to the sense […]
With Trump gone, capitalist governments worldwide are queuing up to establish friendly relations with Joe Biden, the new US president. While it is a bit awkward for Boris Johnson, who was once described by Biden […]
President Yoweri Museveni returned to power after claiming victory in Uganda’s 14 January presidential elections. The Uganda Electoral Commission awarded Museveni and his ruling-National Resistance Movement (NRM) 58.64% of the vote (5.8 million votes) and […]
Mass anti-government demonstrations across Russia last Saturday, 23 January, saw tens of thousands of protesters on the streets, confronting the brutal forces of Vladimir Putin’s dictatorial regime. There were mass protests in at least 65 […]
Ten years ago a mighty uprising of Egyptian workers and youth ousted President Hosni Mubarak’s brutally dictatorial regime, an event that resonated around the world. Starting on 25 January 2011, increasing numbers turned out in […]
The year 2011 began with mass protests spreading across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) which shook the ground beneath the feet of the region’s many autocratic regimes. The decades-long dictators – Ben Ali […]
The general election in Myanmar, held last November, saw the National League of Democracy (NLD) – under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi – returned to government in a situation of political, economic, environmental, […]
First the election, now his Twitter account – it’s bad news all round for bigot-in-chief Donald Trump. But the ousted US president’s eviction from social media is also a warning to workers and young people […]
The government of Mark Rutte has collapsed in shame and scandal as anger has risen against its persecution of the poor and immigrants. Economic affairs and climate minister, Eric Wiebes, resigned, as has the leader […]
The resignation of the nominally left Scottish Labour leader, Richard Leonard will, in all likelihood, result in the Blairites winning back the leadership of the party in Scotland. Anas Sarwar, the right-wing MSP and millionaire […]
On top of last year’s PPE-corruption scandal, the African National Congress (ANC) government has made a complete fiasco of vaccine procurement and roll-out. In general, South African capitalism is proving itself incapable of dealing with […]
Amid unprecedented events, thousands of supporters of Donald Trump supporters rallied in Washington on 6 January. Hundreds, some armed, then stormed the congress buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. Donald Trump, promising a “wild” […]
2020 was a tempestuous year for Japan, as well as the rest of the world. In August, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe became the longest-serving prime minister in Japanese history. However, it had been clear for […]
Finland has, for the third year in a row, been declared the happiest country in the world in the “World Happiness Report.” Strong unions and a strong welfare state contribute to this ranking, but these […]
For over a year, the Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across the globe, causing over two million deaths and unleashing enormous economic and social crises. 2021 has ushered in new lockdowns in the UK, Germany […]
Like many countries around the world, 2021 has begun with a new lockdown being implemented across Lebanon, until the end of January. This is a result of a dramatic increase in the numbers of Covid […]
Last Wednesday, January 6th, more than a thousand state forces carried out pre-dawn raids on 73 premises in Hong Kong. They arrested 53 activists and politicians for “subversion” under the National Security Law imposed by […]
On January 6th, the Congress of the United States formally certified the results of the Electoral College, which Joe Biden won. On the same day, President Trump gave a speech to a rally outside the […]
Continuing our series of articles commemorating the 200 years since the birth of Friedrich Engels, we look at the relevance of his important work, ‘The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State’, and […]
As 2020 came to a close, the Swedish health care system reached a point many feared. Nurses in Sweden’s hospitals, strained from months of 13-hour shifts and with no end in sight to the rampant […]
On December 15, 2020, comrade Jörg Winter from Stuttgart, Germany, died at the age of 65. We mourn the loss of our comrade of many years. The nuclear arms build-up at the end of the […]
The British Tory government’s announcement of a new national lockdown in England has left a huge question mark over what university students can expect for the rest of the academic year. At the time of […]
The WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, won a partial victory in his long battle to avoid extradition from Britain to the US. District Judge Baraister, at the Old Bailey court, ruled earlier this week against Assange’s […]
George Nkencho, a 27-year-old Black man, was killed by the Gardaí (Irish police) outside his home in Blanchardstown, a suburb of Dublin, on 30 December 2020. The shooting followed an altercation at a local shop […]
We can’t believe a word this Tory government says. We can’t trust a thing it does. Going into lockdown 3, working-class people can only rely on our own strength and organisation. This is the lesson […]
Eighteen months after the Scottish National Party government declared a public health emergency to tackle shocking drug deaths in Scotland, new figures for 2019, released at the end of 2020, show record levels of people […]
On Wednesday, December 30th, the Worcester Planning Board held their second online meeting about turning the defunct Greendale Mall into an Amazon warehouse. Of the two massive “last mile stations” now announced for Amazon, only one triggered […]
The world was united in misery in 2020. Too many deaths from the pandemic, job losses, pay cuts and poverty were the experience in virtually every country on the planet. Britain, as the year ends, […]
Earlier this year, publishers Pluto Press released a new book looking back at the defeat of Margaret Thatcher’s poll tax – ‘Can’t Pay, Won’t Pay: The Fight to Stop the Poll Tax’ by Simon Hannah. […]
Almost six years after it was set up, the first phase of the Undercover Policing Inquiry – the Mitting Inquiry – finally took place for fourteen days from 2 November 2020. An opening statement to […]
Over the holiday period, socialistworld.net will be publishing less regularly. Normal posting will resume on the week starting 4 January 2021.
In any battle, the tactical details and their timing always have an element of the accidental and unexpected in them. Keir Starmer’s suspension of Jeremy Corbyn from the Labour Party on October 29 and – […]
The trade union of former Debenhams workers in Ireland, Mandate, has been engaged in extensive talks with the liquidator, KPMG, and the Irish government, over the last number of weeks. The same day as the […]
The Metropolitan Police are investigating British mercenaries’ hand in the massacre of over 100,000 civilians and the brutal defeat of the LTTE (Tamil Tigers), who fought an armed struggle for an independent Tamil Eelam nation. […]
Metal workers employed by a factory in Corum, Turkey, joined the United Metal Workers union to improve low wages and bad working conditions in the factory. They have been sacked by the management on trumped-up […]
As the year 2020 comes to a close the turmoil and convulsions that have shaken global capitalism continue. The year has been a turning point in history, affecting every aspect of society. Commentators and historians […]
In a further article in our series marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Engels, Ross Saunders looks at one of Engels’ best-known works, ‘Socialism: Utopian and Scientific’. Engels was very proud of […]
The recent bloody war between Azerbaijan and Armenia has taken a savage toll in terms of lives, homes and livelihoods. The latest round of brutal fighting between these former republics of the USSR has seen […]
Around £320 billion is lost annually to corporate tax abuse and private tax evasion, the equivalent of nearly 34 million nurses’ salaries, according to the Tax Justice Network. Poorer countries are most affected, with tax […]
It is surely the bitterest of ironies that a mere ten years after the arrival of the Troika in Ireland on 28 November 2010, Irish society faces yet another profound economic crisis. While it remains […]
In another article in our series on Friedrich Engels, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of his birth, Niall Mulholland reviews Engels’ pamphlet, The Housing Question, and explains its relevance to today. socialistworld.net Engels published The […]
Covid-19 vaccines in record-breaking times have raised millions of people’s hopes that life will return to normal next year. But speed has also made many worry that corners are being cut in the race to […]
US President Donald Trump’s election defeat, but with a significantly increased vote, has sharply posed the question of what happens next? It is not simply about who will be the next US President. The fact […]
News of the spread of Covid-19 in factory hostels across Malaysia has come at a time when Malaysians are facing the highest number of infections since the start of the pandemic in early March this […]
While the pro-bosses elite who have traditionally betrayed the social movements are forcing through a new fraud to save a broken system that enriches, every day, a small sector of Chilean society, in the prisons […]
An unprecedented ‘occupy’ moment has developed in New Delhi, the capital of India. The authoritarian regime of Modi, for the first time, is caught on the back-foot. Some estimates are putting the number at hundreds […]
“Devolution is a disaster” were the reported words of Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson, referring to the Scottish government and “Tony Blair’s biggest mistake”. In fact, Blair was a reluctant devolutionist. He would rather not […]
Continuing our series of articles to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Engels, Helen Pattison looks at one of his first works, The Condition of the Working Class in England. “Insufficient satisfaction […]
Last Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated across the streets of France, including more than a hundred thousand people in Paris, alone. These demonstrations were originally against a draft law moved by the government, […]
Despite the widespread repression under the blatantly right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party-Modi regime, the all-India general strike on 26 November, involving more than 250 million workers (the Joint Committee of Trade Unions- JCTU claimed the number […]
The Tory government Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s spending review should be a wake-up call to the trade union leaders. Even from the capitalists’ point of view, there was no immediate need to impose a pay cut […]
The following book review of Engels – A Revolutionary Life, by John Green (Artery Publications, London 2008) was first published in Socialism Today (monthly magazine of the Socialist Party – CWI England & Wales) in […]
Despite Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed’s 29 November claim that federal forces had “completed and ceased military operations in the Tigray region” there can be no certainty that the fighting that started three-and-a-half weeks earlier […]
To continue marking the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Engels, we are reposting an introduction (2018) by Tony Saunois to Engels’ classic, ‘Socialism: Utopian and Scientific’. socialistworld.net This pamphlet should be read and studied […]
28th November 2020, marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). Alongside his great friend, collaborator, and comrade, Karl Marx, Engels was one of the greatest thinkers of his time. But he […]
November 25th marked the beginning of the annual international 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. This year it takes place against the backdrop of a global pandemic that has exacerbated the situation and magnified […]
Drunk with the success of a brutal parliamentary majority and with the cunning aid of spin doctors who tweak every failure of the Modi government as a glorious success, the authoritarian regime of Modi built […]
‘Socialism 2020 ‘ – Marxist discussion and debate over four days, hosted by the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) – broke previous records on ticket sales, in the response to the finance appeal to […]
The CWI’s International Executive Committee (IEC) met via Zoom over three days, from 13-15 November. Attended by over 80 comrades from Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, USA, Canada and other areas of the world, the […]
Members of the SIPTU, NIPSA, Unite and GMB trade unions at Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, in Northern Ireland, are preparing for battle. The council have full authority over the pay and terms and […]
‘Socialism 2020’, hosted by the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales), takes place from today, Friday 20 November, to Monday 23 November. It will provide a Marxist analysis and explanation of many of the different […]
COVID-19 infections are exploding. People in the U.S. suffer from the most deaths due to Coronavirus of any country. The recession that is now gripping the U.S. was in process before the pandemic hit. The […]
News that early results from a Covid-19 vaccine – produced by US-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, in conjunction with German company BioNTech – showed 90% effectiveness has been greeted with relief. Another vaccine trial, by US […]
France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, suddenly and brutally decided to launch a second lockdown from the end of October, in a very hurried way, without giving at least a few days for the public services, the […]
A well attended and inspiring online Scottish Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) conference took place on Saturday 7 November. Thirty-five trade unionists, socialists and community campaigners took part. There was unanimous support for a […]
On Saturday 1 November, Village Magazine published an article alleging that the Tánaiste (deputy leader of Irish government) Leo Varadkar – while still Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) – leaked a confidential document containing the copy […]
Almost six years after its establishment, the public inquiry into undercover policing has finally begun. It was set up by Theresa May, then home secretary (interior minister), to head off growing pressure following a series […]
The ‘spycops’ inquiry has finally opened in Britain, six years after Theresa May, then Tory home secretary, set it up. May was forced into establishing the inquiry when one ex-police spy, Peter Francis, went public […]
The day after the national elections, November 4th, vote counts were too close to call for the Presidential election. Anti-Trump protests began in some cities overnight, including in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Oregon, and Seattle. […]
Before the latest quite severe covid-19 lockdown in Sri Lanka, Gotabhaya Rajapaksha’s government mustered its forces to pass the 20th Amendment to the country’s constitution. This replaces the 19th Amendment promulgated in 2015. The change […]
No Tory-negotiated trade deals will defend the interests of the working class. However, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson plays hardball in the eleventh-hour negotiations on what will replace Britain’s current arrangements with the European Union […]
On 30 October, four representatives of the Haft Tappeh Workers’ Union were arrested by the Iranian regime’s security forces and imprisoned in the Shush detention centre. The arrested workers are Ebrahim Abasi Monjezi, Yousef Bahmani, […]
Against a background of a sharp increase in coronavirus infections, there was a ‘warning strike’ at the MAN plant in Steyr (owned by VW), Upper Austria, against the threatened closure of the plant. Meanwhile, the […]
Jeremy Corbyn has been suspended from membership of the Labour Party for saying that antisemitism within Labour has been “dramatically overstated for political reasons”. He has broken no rule and has always opposed antisemitism. He […]
‘Mother and Baby’ homes have left an incredibly dark stain on Irish history. Run by the nuns and funded by the state, these homes are one of many examples of the abusive and oppressive nature […]
Back at the start of 2020, in order to win the Labour leadership, Keir Starmer tried to dress up in some of former leader Jeremy Corbyn’s clothes, claiming he wanted ‘unity’ with all wings of […]
Tens of thousands of women have taken to the streets of Poland in an uprising against living in a “female hell”. The Constitutional Court has effectively banned abortion, by ruling it unconstitutional in cases of […]
Germany’s Chancellor Merkel sounded the alarm. Combatting the Coronavirus is a “task of the century”, but the results of the consultation between the Federal government and the representatives of the regional states on 14 October […]
Nigeria has passed through nearly a month of turmoil. Video footage of the hated SARS police unit killing a man and driving off in his car was the spark for mass protests. Years of frustration, […]
Nurses in negotiations with the employer’s organisations have balloted 95% not to accept a 1.7% percent increase in wages offered to them. This follows an insulting “null offer” (- 0%) by the bosses earlier. The […]
After postponement, a referendum was finally held on the Chilean constitution on 25 October and resulted in a crushing majority in favour of change. After 90.78% of the vote was counted, 78.24% cast to change […]
‘Project Big Picture’ – a plan initially put forward by Manchester United and Liverpool football clubs, and discussed by the English Premier League – is a plan put forward ostensibly to offer the football industry […]
“A new poll has suggested that 58% now say that they would vote Yes in another independence referendum” in Scotland, noted the elections analyst professor John Curtice, writing for the BBC website on October 14. […]
Delayed elections in Bolivia brought a stunning victory of the left-populist MAS and a crushing defeat for the right and “centre” parties representing the Bolivian ruling class. Luis Arce of the Movimiento al Socialismismo (MAS) […]
The Democratic Socialist Movement (CWI Nigeria) produced a special issue of its newspaper, Socialist Democracy, this week, as mass protests take place against repressive police and the Buhari government. Below is the text of the […]
Since Monday, 5th October, when Indonesia’s President Jokowi announced the Job Creation Act or ‘Omnibus Law’, Indonesian youth and working class, together with other sections of society, launched a massive protest nationwide. The government’s move, […]
The military in Nigeria shot unarmed protesters at the Lekki toll plaza, in Lagos, earlier this week. Instead of taking action against the perpetrators, Nigerian President Buhari has remained silent. This follows a spontaneous mass […]
Gauche Revolutionnaire (CWI in France) issued the following statement on 17 October after the beheading of a teacher outside his school in Paris. Re-produced as a leaflet, it has been well received on demonstrations around […]
The latest announcement by the Scottish government of a so-called ‘circuit breaker’, with new Covid restrictions being announced, reflects the growing rates of coronavirus infection in society – approaching 1,000 new infections per day. Even […]
Following a decade of recession and austerity, and as the profit system wreaks havoc with lives and livelihoods during the Covid-19 pandemic, more of the left and trade union movement in Britain and internationally are […]
The 7 October general strike called by Cosatu (Congress of South African Trade Unions) came against the background of an all-out assault on the working class by the ANC (African National Congress) government and the […]
On 28 July, Malaysians heard the news that former Prime Minister Najib Razak was found guilty on seven counts of abuse of power, breach of trust and money laundering. He was sentenced to 12 years […]
Socialist Party members in Liverpool and elsewhere, and Unison activists, members and staff, are shocked and saddened by the death, as a result of coronavirus, of our comrade Raph Parkinson (1958-2020). It is a sign […]
On 7 October, after a trial lasting five-and-a-half years, the neo-Nazi organisation Golden Dawn was found guilty of being ‘a criminal organisation’. Outside the court in Athens, 15,000 anti-fascist protesters celebrated the news, displaying slogans […]
Unite the union’s executive council has voted to cut its affiliation fee to the Sir Keir Starmer-led Labour Party by 10% – the equivalent of 55,000 affiliated members. It is reported that the BFAWU (bakers’ […]
On the 12th of October, workers on the ANC government’s slave-labour Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) continued their struggle for permanent jobs and a living wage. Hundreds of EPWP workers took part in a day […]
When the Covid-19 virus first broke in Northern Ireland, workers were once again told that ‘we are all in this together’. It is no more true today than during the 2008 Bankers’ Crisis where capitalist […]
The Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) welcomes the news of the dissolution of the infamous Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) across the 36 state commands and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by the Inspector General of Police […]
“MI5 confronts terror threat from left-wing extremists,” screamed a headline in the Times on 3 October. This right-wing propaganda is designed to tar socialists with the same brush as the far-right and jihadist organisations. In […]
More than six months of the global COVID pandemic and global crisis have exposed everything that is rotten in this era of capitalist decline. Global capitalism is in a putrefying prolonged death agony, which is […]
A decade ago, following the worldwide financial crash, a Financial Times editorial congratulated capitalism on a bit of luck that “the left” was “missing in action in what should have been its finest hour. In […]
The latest flare-up in the long-running dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh started just over a week ago, on 27 September. Dozens have been killed and hundreds wounded, in and around the enclave, […]
While Tory government ministers warn of an exponential rise of the coronavirus, the same magnitude could be applied to the level of anger against them over their handling of the pandemic. An overwhelming majority of […]
Public sector workers in Germany’s hospitals, kindergartens, civil service, refuse operations, as well as public transport workers, started ‘warning strikes’ in support of their wage demands. Ver.di, the public sector union, is demanding a 4.8% […]
It will be 60 years on 1 October since Nigeria got its flag independence from Britain during the decolonisation process of Africa. Faced with increasing demands for independence throughout its African colonies, British imperialism moved […]
“We need a call to arms. That’s why I call on everyone to write to the press and lobby their MPs”. This was the ‘clarion call’ of Trades Union Congress general secretary Frances O’Grady at […]
A visible wave of anger and disappointment from labour activists and those wanting to defend living standards swept Nigeria as news came out that the country’s trade union leaders had, at the last minute, ‘suspended’ […]
The intimate connections between organised crime, high finance, and the capitalist state have been exposed. Documents leaked from the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) detail over $2 trillion of suspect transactions over two decades. […]
Since 3rd September, Ukrainian metal ore miners have been staging a heroic strike for improved pay and conditions. They occupied the mines to prevent the bosses from replacing them or using scabs to try and […]
After reaching a peak in August, the tensions between Turkey and Greece, both of which are members of Nato, over natural gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean Sea have now entered a new phase, with […]
Thousands of university and college students are returning to further and higher education campuses despite warnings this will lead to significant outbreaks of Covid-19. The University and College Union (UCU) and other education unions are […]
The 2020 presidential election is taking place in the midst of a deep crisis of US capitalism and its political system. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to hammer the US, with a death toll over 180,000—more […]
The long-predicted second wave of COVID-19 is now a fact. In the two weeks up to 18th September, 3001 cases of infections were reported in Ireland. Cases started to grow in August as restrictions eased […]
On July 24th, lightning sparked the first fires of what would become one of the worst wildfire seasons in US history. Just under two months later almost 5,800,000 million acres have burned in California and […]
Governments around the world failed to protect people from Covid-19. Now they are desperately looking to vaccine development. Mass vaccination seems the best way to end the nightmare of further waves of infection, repeated lockdowns, […]
When no less than three former Tory prime ministers line up to attack Johnson’s government, when the Justice Secretary says – while supporting the proposed government legislation – he would resign if it is actually […]
Since the beginning of this year, Thailand has witnessed the rising up of youth and students who have launched massive protests in several major cities, colleges, and universities. Although initially only concentrated in certain higher […]
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) national steering committee, meeting on 2 September, has agreed to resume standing candidates in elections, starting in the contests scheduled for next May. TUSC was established in 2010 […]
As Nigeria is hit by economic recession and Covid, protests are starting to develop against new added burdens of increases in fuel and electricity prices. These price hikes are just adding to the disillusionment and […]
The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) condemns the unjust arrest of members and journalists for protesting against anti-poor policies by the Buhari Government We demand for the immediate release of all arrested protesters We demand […]
Three Debenhams strikers, shop steward, Jane Crowe, Doreen Keegan, and myself, were arrested along with members of Militant Left [CWI Ireland] and other left organisations in Dublin on Tuesday, 8 September, following an occupation of […]
This government is “the blind leading the blind”. It has to stop making “stuff up now on the hoof”. It cannot continue to say “one thing on Monday, changing its mind on Tuesday, something different […]
For the fourth Sunday in succession, on 6 September, there were mass protests across Belarus. Up to a hundred thousand poured onto the streets of Minsk, confronting water cannon, armoured vehicles and riot police wielding […]
Popular support for Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s dictatorial regime is vanishing. Only fourteen per cent of adults took part in August’s Senate election, despite polling stations open for two days and voting is compulsory. […]
Since the beginning of August, Iran has seen more and more workers from different sectors follow the example of the Haft Tappeh sugar cane workers who went on strike on 14 June. These workers started […]
Covid-19 has disproportionately hit disabled people. This is one of the effects of capitalist society, which is disabling and puts profit before lives, including the people it disables. Around one-fifth of the population of England […]
The well-known shipping company, the Viking Line, employs 3,000 workers and is one of Finland’s 50 biggest companies. It has just announced plans to cut 200 jobs. The company, whose income has fallen by 89% […]
Record numbers of 18-year-olds in the UK have applied to go to university this September. Applications are up 1.6% for UK students and 10% for international students. Despite record numbers, university bosses are making massive […]
Northern Ireland’s largest trade union, NIPSA, is seeking a poverty busting pay increase of £3k or 15%, whichever is highest, for each of its health service members. NIPSA will feed its position into the health […]
The Marxist Workers Party (CWI South Africa) published an Open Letter to the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) in three parts on 18 August, 22 August and 24 August, ahead of Saftu’s upcoming […]
Public service workers in Turkey who were expelled in the aftermath of the failed coup attempt against the Erdogan government in July 2016 are continuing their determined resistance. Their struggle sets an example for the […]
July’s EU coronavirus rescue deal was hailed as a qualitative step forward for European integration. But it has not overcome the fundamental contradictions of the bosses’ club – which the workers’ movement must respond to […]
Another round of mass protests dominated the streets of Belarus this weekend. A ‘March for a New Belarus’ brought hundreds of thousands to Minsk and smaller demonstrations took place across the rest of the country. […]
The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) salutes the workers and people of Mali over their steadfast struggle against the corrupt, anti-poor government of Ibrahim Keita, which was removed eventually via a military coup on August […]
Protests and anger by school students have forced the Tories into a humiliating double U-turn over A-level and GCSE exam results’ grade moderation. The retreat arrived like the slow collapse of a set of dominoes […]
Weekend after weekend, the official residence of Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has been besieged by angry protesters demanding his resignation. The loudest chants are “Big business and government are mafia!” On 31 July, over […]
The second wave of the new coronavirus pandemic is washing over Europe, with the Spanish state the first to suffer. Workers are being asked to pay again for the inability of capitalism to solve the […]
Unprecedented numbers have been out on protests across Belarus, with reports of 200,000 on Sunday afternoon. Monday has seen a continuation of mass strikes at major workplaces, like Belarus Potash, and at the truck manufacturer, […]
In the face of daily furious protests on the streets, one by one, Lebanon’s government ministers resigned, until the whole cabinet resigned on Monday 10 August, knowing it had no authority to continue. The government […]
Cuba has one of the lowest Covid-19 death rates in the world – 0.8 per 100,000, compared to 67 in the UK and 44.1 in the US. As well as this, Cuba has sent doctors, […]
The Governor of the Khabarovsk Territory, Sergei Furgal, was detained on 10 July on suspicion of involvement in organising the contract killings of Khabarovsk entrepreneurs in the 2000s. The detention of the governor has since […]
Mass demonstrations are rocking Belarus after President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled since 1994, proclaimed victory in an election which has featured mass protests against his regime in every city and town. These protests have […]
The worst ever explosion in Lebanon’s history, on Tuesday in Beirut’s port, caused horrific devastation of both life and infrastructure. Over 157 people were killed, many are missing and around 5,000 injured. The whole port […]
The Singapore general election took place on 11 July with eleven parties contesting for 93 Parliamentary seats. The People’s Action Party (PAP), which has ruled for 57 years since 1965 (after Singapore separated from Malaysia), […]
Seventy-five years ago, as World War Two was drawing to a close, United States forces dropped two atomic bombs above the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This is still one of the most deadly […]
Today, 5 August 2020, marks 125 years since the death of Friedrich Engels (28 November 1820 – 5 August 1895). To mark this anniversary, we republish a book review of Engels – A Revolutionary Life, […]
Back in March, when the spread of the coronavirus pandemic was accelerating globally, the Socialist newspaper explained that “a newly-spreading virus is a danger that can befall any society. The question facing the world today, […]
With a strike involving thousands of Haft Tappeh sugarcane refinery workers about to enter its third month, other significant strikes began in Iran at the start of August. Some were in the oil industry where […]
Symbolic protests by left activists took place on 1 August in South Africa because of a growing feeling that something must be done. The country has been in lockdown for over four months but we […]
The covid crisis has once again revealed the incapacity of capitalism to meet society’s needs. The former assistant general secretary of the PCS civil servants’ union (UK), Chris Baugh, who during his term of office […]
The local elections in France reveal that Macron and his LREM party are more isolated than ever, holding only 10,000 of the 500,000 elected local councillors in the whole country (or 2%). The government was […]
During the last Great Recession, which started after the 2007/08 global financial crisis, countless workers lost their jobs and homes as the rich and big corporations were protected and bailed out. While many of us […]
The Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, imposed a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country from 25 March onwards. Prime Minister Modi proclaimed he was locking down the country in four […]
Mass protests erupted throughout Chile on the evening of 22 July as the Senate was voting on constitutional reforms relating to the pensions system, called AFP. Due to the mass poverty and hunger gripping the […]
World War One – the result of capitalist nations’ rivalry – led to the slaughter, on an industrial scale, of the working classes internationally. This barbarism was answered by the Russian revolution of October 1917, […]
Workers at Jyväskylä-based IT infrastructure company, Suomen Kotidata, walked off the job on Wednesday 22 July, in protest over the company using the wrong collective bargaining agreement. According to IT trade union, PRO, the company […]
Angry demonstrations have broken out all over Israel, composed of new young activists. After the first demonstrations, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a new plan to distribute economic aid to people. He is acting under […]
“We have been the key workers during the pandemic, but now the Labour-led council is sacking and reappointing all of us on worse terms and conditions. They are attacking us at the earliest opportunity”. These […]
For a new generation of activists involved around the Black Lives Matter (BLM) mass protests of recent months, there has been an exposure to the historic and deep-rooted institutional racism that exists in the US, […]
Like every aspect of the government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Rishi Sunak’s “plan for jobs” is more headline than substance, and doomed to fail in its stated aims. The Tory chancellor’s summer statement set […]
In November 1975, the UK queen’s representative in Australia, Governor-General Sir John Kerr, dismissed the elected Labor prime minister. He replaced Gough Whitlam with the leader of the right-wing Liberal Party, Malcolm Fraser. Documents just […]
The fiftieth anniversary of the election of the Popular Unity government takes place on 4 September 1970 and represents an opportunity for the international working class movement to remember what this victory represented and draw […]
A fantastic virtual meeting of up to 300 trade union reps, workers, campaigners, socialists, and international visitors took place on the 4 July as the National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) held its 2020 summer conference. […]
Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Hong Kong on 1 July to commemorate the 23rd anniversary of the settlement between London and Beijing which marked the end of more than 150 years of […]
We give full support to the workers in Bangladesh fighting to stop the closure, and subsequent privatisation, of state-owned Jute Mills. We condemn the arrest of Jute Mills trade union leaders, Nurul Islam and Waliar […]
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