Articles by Solidarity statement

Leading representatives of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) met online over the weekend, 27/28 June. The International Executive Committee (IEC) meeting was attended by 70 comrades, from CWI sections from across the world. […]

Belarus saw two days of mass protests during the third week of June as people took to the streets to demand an end to rigged elections. President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country since […]

The Northern Ireland Public Service Alliance (NIPSA) is the largest trade union in the North of Ireland, did have a strong reputation as a democratic union but the recent actions of NIPSA ruling body, the […]

When Keir Starmer was elected Labour Party leader in Britain, the Socialist Party warned that it represented “a qualitative step in the capitalist class’s campaign to make the Labour Party once again, as it was […]

“Let me speak frankly. The Lebanese do not expect fruitful results from this meeting. In the view of the Lebanese people, this meeting will be like those that came before it. And after, it will […]

On 25 June voting began in the referendum to decide the future fate of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. Voting on a long list of amendments to the constitution will last almost a week, ending on […]

Since 14 June, workers at the Haft Tappeh sugar cane factory, near the Iranian city of Shush in oil-rich Khuzestan Province, have again taken strike action. Led by their independent trade union, the workers carried […]

Mark Drakeford’s Welsh Labour government has made much of the “four nations approach” to tackling the Covid-19 crisis, claiming to plot a different course to the UK’s Tory Westminster government. But the reality is that […]

“China’s Belt and Road strategy is acknowledged to be the most important geopolitical initiative of the age”, write the publishers of this fascinating book by Bruno Maçães. “It symbolises a new phase in China’s ambitions […]

At the 8 February general election in the South of Ireland, the electorate decisively moved to consolidate their rejection of the two main capitalist parties of corruption and misrule: Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Fed […]

Given the Covid-19 situation, though not with the same enthusiasm, nevertheless the entire world celebrated workers May Day recently. Ironically, here in India in the same month of May, antithetical to the ideal of May Day the major states […]

On 17 June workers marched in Johannesburg, South Africa, demanding permanent jobs and a living wage of R12,500 ($700). Over 200 braved the severe winter cold snap gripping the country and the continuing lockdown restricting […]

The devastating impact of coronavirus in Scotland was underlined on 11 June when National Records of Scotland reported that 4,000 people had so far died from confirmed or suspected Covid-19. Scotland’s ‘excess mortality’, while slightly […]

Last year saw a split in and the re-foundation of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI), as outlined in ‘Rebuilding the CWI, Lessons and tasks‘. Since the July 2019 re-foundation conference, the debate which […]

Finland’s ruling Social Democrats are riding high in the polls as the country emerges from the first wave of coronavirus, not untouched, but far less stricken than its neighbors, Sweden and Russia. The Social Democrats […]

Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests have continued across Britain. Boris Johnson’s announcement of yet another review – revealingly into what he calls the “sense of victimisation” of black, Asian and minority ethnic people – will […]

As the repercussions of the uprising in the US against racism and police brutality continue to reverberate around the world, 800 attended a BLM rally in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Organised by a handful […]

Interview with Vincent, an activist from the US who has been living in Ecuador for the past several years and working as an English teacher and freelance journalist. Vincent, you have been documenting in photographs […]

The current Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement is the biggest wave of protests against racism since the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. The most radical leaders of that movement drew the conclusion, as Malcolm […]

Emery Addams from the Independent Socialist Group (US) talks about the significance of the mass anti-racist protests shaking the US, outlining the programme and organisation necessary to end racism. This is the biggest anti-racism mobilisation […]

Young people and workers have protested across the world. In France, an inquiry verdict on 29 May cleared three gendarmes (military police) of killing 24-year-old black man Adama Traoré. Up to 20,000 people rallied in […]

Anatoly Chubais, the Russian oligarch, Chairman of Rusnano and one of the main initiators of privatisation in the 1990s, warned Forbes magazine recently about the consequences of the pandemic and the global crisis of 2020 […]

“We have outgrown you, despite your best efforts to keep us in the same place. You are in power, but you are outmoded. You’re the old form of human. And the new form is coming […]

After two and a half months, the lockdown is now over in France and it is time to draw a first balance sheet. There is not one single aspect of the way Macron’s government managed […]

The words of W.B Yeats, from his poem ‘Easter 1916’, sum up the current world situation: “All changed, changed utterly.” 2020 is the opening of a new era, as we have explained in the previous […]

“In my opinion, the young generation of whites, blacks, browns, whatever else there is, you’re living at a time of extremism, a time of revolution, a time when there’s got to be a change. People […]

Covid-19 recognises no borders. It has killed hundreds of thousands, ravaged economies across the world and is not finished yet. All governments have been put to the test and poured billions into protecting their economies, […]

The Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) collectively is grieving deeply the loss to cancer of our much-loved national treasurer, Ken Douglas (22.9.61 to 4.6.20). Since the day he joined us, over 35 years ago, […]

On Wednesday over five thousand gathered in Helsinki’s Senate Square on just two days’ notice for a rally in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter mass protests in the United States. The rally, which far […]

Just six months ago, Boris Johnson swanned into office as British Prime Minister, with the biggest Tory parliamentary majority since 1987. The Socialist newspaper, in our special edition produced the day after the general election, […]

Following the killing on 25 May of unarmed black man George Floyd by Minneapolis police, there has been an outpouring of anger against systemic racism and widening inequalities in the USA. It was only after […]

On May 11, Vladimir Putin ended the “non-working days” regime and local authorities are gradually ending the self-isolation rules. This is happening while Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Putin’s Press Secretary, Dmitry Peskov, and the head […]

During the spread of coronavirus into Malaysia in the middle of February, the ruling government – the Pakatan Harapan (Coalition of Hope) – which was in power for one and a half years, collapsed. A […]

On 25 May, police in Minneapolis choked George Floyd, an unarmed black man, who subsequently died. His death was disturbingly reminiscent of the NYPD killing of Eric Garner in 2014. A released video recorded by […]

Workers at the Instant Upright company, based in Dublin, are locked in a battle with their employer, like the Debenhams’ shop workers also in Ireland. Billy Flynn from CWI Ireland reports from the picket line: […]

According to the Iranian regime, towards the end of May, the number of people in Iran infected with covid-19 was over 140,000, and the number of people who have died as a result of the […]

The figures for Covid-19 deaths in Britain, broken down by ethnicity, caused widespread shock and anger when they were released on 7 May by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). After adjusting for age, black […]

Tens of thousands of angry demonstrators poured onto the streets of Hong Kong last weekend, not only defying social-distancing regulations, but confronting police armed with tear gas, pepper spray, and water cannon. The sudden announcement […]

Few could have imagined when the Tories won the 2019 general election in Britain that five months later they would be carrying through measures of state intervention beyond the scale even of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour […]

It is with great sadness and regret that the Socialist Party has lost a dedicated comrade and friend of many members, Mick Cotter (21/09/1957 – 20/05/2020). Until the recent party congress, Mick had been a […]

It was always unavoidable that mistakes would be made during the handling of this pandemic. No public health threat on this scale has existed in any developed economy for many decades – and given that […]

Five months after Covid-19 reached the United States, the Trump administration and US capitalism have still failed to mobilise an effective response to the pandemic. Parts of the country began reopening for business on 1 […]

Laura Spinney’s book, Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World (published by Cape), on the 1918 flu pandemic, was first published in 2017. Now in the midst of a […]

During the Covid-19 crisis, many commentators have talked about a ‘new Bretton Woods’ and the need for post-crisis international capitalist cooperation and reconstruction. War and global crises led to the reconstruction of global relations after […]

The corona crisis has entered a new phase, in terms of health, the economy and geopolitical relations. It has confirmed the main trends outlined in previous statements produced by the CWI. A new era of […]

With planning, personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, and other key products should have been easy to provide. Yet as each day goes by, the scale of the government’s unpreparedness for the Covid-19 crisis becomes more […]

“Meet the new messaging: same as the old messaging. Only even vaguer and more confusing. Not so much 15 minutes of TV fame as uncomfortably like watching someone have a breakdown in front of you. […]

After a pause for a little over a month with the covid-19 lockdown, new protests have erupted in Lebanon, as the situation for workers has become desperate. Unemployment has reached 30%, while hyperinflation is worsening, […]

Like many ruling administrations internationally, the Scottish National Party (SNP)-led Scottish government has seen an increase in approval ratings and support during the Covid-19 pandemic. A recent YouGov poll found 74% of Scots held the […]

Koronavirüs ile birlikte dünya ekonomisi 2007/8 finansal krizinden daha da derin bir krize girerken, Türkiye’deki egemen sınıf Erdoğan’ın önderliğinde krizin faturasını işçilere çıkarıyor. Hükümet, çark dönsün patronlar kar yapmaya devam etsin diye işçiler fabrikalarda, madenlerde, […]

As the world economy enters a deeper crisis than that of the financial crisis of 2007/8 with the outbreak of COVID-19, the ruling class in Turkey, led by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is already […]

Donald Trump’s latest outburst against China over the origins of the coronavirus does not come as a surprise. As deaths from the disease and mass unemployment continue to mount and the US economy faces its […]

World War Two saw both civilians and soldiers exposed to the horrors of total war. When it was over there was a determination not to return to the horrors of poverty that had characterised the […]

Commemorations marking the 75th anniversary of  ‘Victory in Europe’ (VE) day are taking place in Britain, and throughout the world, though many public events are cancelled or downgraded due to the covid-19 pandemic. The official […]

The cost of the Covid-19 industry-wide shutdown is being passed to workers in unpaid wages, compulsory leave, and retrenchments. Comair has followed SAA and SA Express into business rescue. Cabin crew and pilots are under […]

This week will mark seven weeks since Britain entered lockdown. It appears that the death rate from Covid-19 is finally starting to fall. Nonetheless, the official number of deaths is now higher than every European […]

There is a growing scientific consensus that successful management of the coronavirus crisis requires a comprehensive plan – combining mass testing, contact tracing, and supported isolation of potentially infected individuals. But a managed plan of […]

Two mile queues for food parcels. Corruption and patronage in their distribution. Shops being looted. Schools vandalised and burned. Collapsing household income. Confusion over accessing social grants. Tens-of-thousands of arrests and fines. Harassment, beatings, and […]

Using the covid-19 pandemic as an excuse, the criminal Chilean government, led by Sebastian Piñera, gave a blank cheque to the police – carabineros – to brutally repress a protest of the working class on […]

Last Friday, on 1 May, workers took action to mark May Day – international workers’ day – where they were could, despite the Covid-19 lockdowns. CWI comrades participated in and also initiated May Day actions, […]

Lenin once said that with the 1917 Russian revolution, “Imperialism broke at its weakest link”. Today, the deadly combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and the rapid development of an almost unprecedented worldwide economic catastrophe is […]

A recent report that an enormous amount of taxpayers money is being used to bail out the bad debts of the super-rich has shocked workers and the poor in India, while the Modi government is […]

Overworked, underpaid, struggling to afford the basics – this is true of the situation facing many ‘key workers’ that the Covid-19 lockdown has so clearly demonstrated society is dependent on. This was also the situation […]

Celebrate May Day 2020 with the Committee for a Workers’ International by taking part in this Facebook Live rally hosted by Socialist Party Scotland and the Socialist Party (England & Wales) on 1st May. Hear […]

In the space of one week, the trade union movement is marking two of its most important annual days – International Workers’ Memorial Day, on 28 April, and May Day on 1 May. Coming as […]

The Nigerian federal government ordered the lockdown of Lagos, Abuja and Ogun State as a measure to contain the spread of coronavirus, with effect from March 31, 2020. Lagos is the epicentre of covid-19 in […]

On 3 April Sweden’s Radio P3’s news programme ran an article relating reports from anonymous medical workers who claimed that covid-19 patients who would have survived with intensive care were being denied it. Johan Styrud […]

The Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) extends revolutionary socialist greetings to workers and the oppressed everywhere. This year’s May Day takes place in extraordinary circumstances. The covid-19 pandemic has fully exposed, in the words […]

Since October 2019, the political and social situation has changed in a very favorable sense for the Chilean working class and other parts of the population. The country saw a mass uprising which was a […]

Today, 25 April, marks the 46th anniversary of the ‘carnation’ Portuguese revolution. A half-century of brutal right-wing dictatorship rule was swept aside in a day. The revolution started at 12.25 am, on Thursday 25 April […]

As is the case the world over, the coronavirus crisis has exposed all the inadequacies, incapacities, and the insoluble contradictions of India’s capitalist state. In popular terminology, India is labeled a “democracy” because the world’s […]

Twenty six transport workers have died from covid-19 in London, the majority were bus drivers. Now London bus drivers have forced Transport for London (TfL) and bus companies to implement safety measures to protect them […]

The US is facing an unprecedented historic crisis with the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. The economy is in ruins, as over 22 million Americans file for unemployment, which is expected to rise to 30% unemployment in […]

In the main, there is support among the working class for the lockdown measures in Ireland. Workers recognise the imperative of defeating covid-19 and that this will necessitate often severe constraints on daily life. Social […]

Today, 22 April 2020, marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (10th April according to the Old Julian calendar used in the Russian Empire, at the time; or 22 April 1870, […]

The devastating consequences of the covid-19 pandemic and the unprecedented economic global capitalist crisis which it triggered, has continued to ravage all continents. It could cause the onset of one of the deepest recessions, with […]

The deep crisis in Russia arising from both the ‘oil war’ and the covid-19 pandemic will soon be widely felt. However, Russia is not ready for it. According to analysts, the consequences of the crisis […]

In this unprecedented time of the Covid-19 pandemic and rapid economic collapse, the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) believes that capitalism and the ruling classes cannot be trusted to defend and provide for the […]

We are re-publishing below a joint statement produced by various trade unions, union activists and New Socialist Alternative (CWI in India) regarding the covid-19 crisis in India.  It is a scandal that private hospitals across […]

The following joint declaration was initiated by trade union figures, and left organisations, in Chile, including members of Socialismo Revolucionario (Chilean section of the CWI): Once again, the workers and the peoples of the world […]

A leaked internal Labour report, a mammoth 851 pages in length, has detailed internal sabotage by senior party officials of former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn’s attempts to radicalise Labour policies. The report – ‘The […]

The coronavirus pandemic in the UK has not yet passed its peak. Hundreds are still dying every day, and yet the pressure is mounting for the Tories to announce an ‘exit strategy’. But where is […]

The public campaigning of Socialist Organisation Solidarity (Sol, CWI in Germany) is, like all left organisations, greatly affected by the covid-19 crisis. We were involved in tenants’ protests and campaigns for free public transport. With […]

Below is the first of two articles on Germany and the covid-19 crisis. The second article, which will be published on Wednesday 15 April, will discuss the campaigning work of Sozialistische Organisation Solidarität (CWI Germany) […]

The first cases of Covid-19 appeared in France, in late January, but the government waited until March to take the epidemic seriously, after it had already been declared as a pandemic by the World Health […]

As coronavirus deaths continue to mount at a terrifying rate – the UK Tory government’s responsibility for worsening the crisis is becoming clearer every day. We are reading heartbreaking stories of NHS staff dying in […]

Presently, there is no escape from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The world is going through a huge turning point. Tens of thousands have died and tens of millions have lost their jobs and […]

There is growing concern over police and military brutality in the enforcement of South Africa’s twenty-one-day lockdown regulations. Videos have circulated on social media of soldiers beating up and kicking residents in informal settlements, forcing […]

Over five hundred people in Sweden have now died from COVID-19, more than in Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland, combined. Far too late, the Swedish government is slowly planning to implement lockdown of the kind […]

Vilma Alvarez is a supporter of Socialismo Revolucionario (CWI Chile) and a leader of a trade union at the Jumbo supermarket company. The leadership of the union confederation Vilma belongs to, Co-ordinadora de Sindicatos del […]

Up to now, the Ecuadorian port city of Guayaquil has been better-known to the world as a picturesque holiday destination. Its mixture of tropical vegetation, colourful colonial architecture, charming cafes and the extensive walkable waterfront […]

Keir Starmer, as was widely predicted, has been elected leader of the Labour Party. He won on the first round with 56.2% of the vote. Almost half a million people voted in the election, and […]

“And to Mr Bezos [plutocratic billionaire owner of Amazon] my message is simple. I don’t give a damn about your power. You think you’re powerful? We’re the ones that have the power. Without us working, […]

Migrant workers from north India, in an area of Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore, blocked roads and broke a new curfew, demanding that food, shelter and sanitary facilities be provided to them. The local administration made vain […]

In response to the coronavirus epidemic, the Algerian government opened at least five bank accounts at the External Bank of Algeria (BEA) to enable Algerians to “participate financially in the fight against the coronavirus”. This […]

Covid 19 is spreading extremely rapidly across the globe. Countries have taken various steps to curb it but have still not been able to stop the virus from going further. The Sri Lankan government of […]

The popular myth about Finland is that of a socialist paradise. It is true that, unlike in other countries in Europe, much of the social-democratic welfare state has been preserved. The coronavirus pandemic, however, has […]

In the early stages of a war or national emergency, there is often a mood to pull together in the ‘national’ interest, and the idea that ‘party politics’ should be put to one side. An […]

Anger is building at Boris Johnson and his Tory Westminster government over the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. The lack of widespread testing, hundreds of thousands of workers losing their jobs, the fear over the […]

The Covid-19 pandemic is everywhere exposing the dirty underbelly of modern capitalism. In  Northern Ireland, decades of attacks by Tory and New Labour governments in Westminster, and from local parties, on NHS services, have left […]

On the other side of the coronavirus pandemic crisis, things will never be the same again. This will be similar to the situation after the two world wars of the twentieth century. The general situation […]

On 31 March 1990, a massive demonstration surged into central London. It was the culmination of months of organisation and defiance of the Tory government’s hated poll tax by millions of overwhelmingly working-class people. The […]

Even during a global pandemic, profit is the top priority for capitalists. On the one hand, our freedom of movement is restricted, and, on the other hand, we are supposed to continue working with numerous […]

In late 1934 and early 1935, parts of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) were plagued by an epidemic of malaria. This followed huge floods in 1934. The British colonial rulers and the ‘Ceylonese Council of Ministers’ […]

All that seemed solid now seems to be melting. This is the effect of the coronavirus crisis. The governing Tories in the UK cut – but now they spend. They privatised – but now they […]

The 26 March countrywide lockdown South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced in an emergency attempt to contain the spread of the coronavirus, has been hailed as the decisive intervention the pandemic required. Worldwide the number […]

Even though the figures are rising daily, it is not certain yet how disastrous the ravages of COVID-19 will be for Nigerians in terms of the number of infections and deaths. Economically, however, there is […]

Coronavirus continues to spread in the United States, with new confirmed cases in West Virginia completing the virus’ spread to all 50 states and three U.S. territories. As the crisis seems to plateau in China, […]

At the beginning of the coronavirus lock-down in France, Macron gained some support, trying to appear as the ‘strong man’, taking action to stop the virus from spreading. But this is very fragile. By the […]

With right-wing politicians, like Hungarian premier, Viktor Orbán, not slow to blame ‘foreigners’ for the coronavirus crisis, the looming world downturn could provide new opportunities for the far right to develop. The continuing murderous activity […]

Like most of the world, Southern Ireland has been hit hard by the COVID-19 ‘coronavirus’ crisis. By mid-March schools, colleges, pubs, creches etc., were on an initial two-week shutdown. Transport links have been severely curtailed. […]

On Friday 13 March, the Japanese Upper House approved a bill granting Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, the power to declare a state of emergency to fight coronavirus. Unfortunately, the two major opposition parties, the […]

Many frontline local authority workers, including in Belfast, Northern Ireland, will be asked to maintain essential services throughout the coronavirus crisis. In doing so, they need to remember their first priority is their own survival […]

A newly spreading virus is a danger that can befall any society. The question facing the world today, however, is what kind of society can best meet such a challenge. As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, […]

As global markets reel in the face of the developing coronavirus pandemic, it is difficult to see how these events will not be the trigger for a new world capitalist economic downturn, with all the […]

The coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the inadequacies of capitalism internationally, and the problems with private healthcare in the United States, in particular. After months of the corporate media blaming ‘socialism’ for food and consumer […]

On 15 March, Leïla Messaoudi of Gauche Révolutionnaire (CWI France), was elected to the local council of Petit-Quevilly in the city of Rouen, where she has lived for 14 years and worked for 23 years. […]

“We are at war!” President Emmanuel Macron declared in his speech to the nation on the evening of Monday, 16 March. It came just one day after less than a third of voters turned out […]

A new stage of the economic crisis in Lebanon was reached on Monday 9 March, as the state defaulted on a £1.2bn euro-bond – the first default in the country’s history. This debt will prove […]

Italy is in lock-down in the fight against coronavirus. Bars, restaurants and shops are closed, with the exception of supermarkets, pharmacies and newsagents. And yet, under pressure from the bosses’ organisation, Confindustria, workers are still […]

British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, won the general election, last December, by trying to pose as a ‘man of the people’. Despite the rhetoric the first budget of his premiership showed clearly that, like all […]

South Korea has been held up as a model by some commentators for its containment of coronavirus. It’s far from perfect, but a rapid supply of resources shows that the capitalists do have the money […]

With confirmed coronavirus cases in the thousands, the government of Italy has placed the entire country on lockdown. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte first quarantined 16 million of the country’s 60 million population in infected ‘red […]

Nine weeks after the first Covid-19 coronavirus patient was identified in Wuhan it had spread to 98 countries. This is much faster than the 2003 Sars coronavirus outbreak, which eventually spread to 37 countries. However, […]

The biggest one-day fall in stock markets since the financial crisis; an oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia; and the fastest drop in the cost of oil for 30 years. The impact of […]

Last Saturday, a ‘stop the stitch-up’ demonstration took place in Dublin, opposing attempts by the two main establishment parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, to form a government despite faring badly in the recent general […]

International Women’s Day, with its history of being rooted in struggle, has, in recent years, been diminished – much like the Pride marches for LGBTQ+ rights, have. Big business increasingly uses it as a cynical […]

Girls and young women involved in research into sexual harassment say they aren’t shocked by its results (The State of Girl’s Rights in the UK at plan.uk.org). The research found that as many as two-thirds […]

The Socialist Party national congress on 29 February and 1 March was a big success. Three hundred branch delegates and visitors attended and participated in the democratic discussion and debate. They included members with decades […]

Women’s oppression is not new. It is as old as the division of society into classes. It takes many forms and so does the fight against it. It is significant that women who feel the […]

Nowhere is the failure of the EU institutions to bring about genuine ‘unity’ of the continent or the arguments of pro-EU politicians more exposed than in the current refugee and migrant crisis in Greece. Thousands […]

As new coronavirus infections gather pace – in Britain and around the world – British Tory Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, claims the country is “well-prepared with a fantastic NHS.”  Who’s he kidding? NHS performance this […]

Northern Ireland’s government was suspended between 2017 and 2020 after the sectarian parties refused to reach a power-sharing agreement following the ‘cash for ash’ scandal. Now a strike wave has forced them and the bosses […]

The racist murders of Hanau are part of a chain of right-wing terror attacks and racism. They are not caused by the sick brains of the individual perpetrators, but by a capitalist society that produces […]

A widely-reviewed recent book by David Wallace-Wells, ‘The Uninhabitable Earth – A story of the future, presents a grim picture of the future consequences of continuing global warming. But the real story of the future […]

Labour’s vote fell further in Scotland, proportionately, than in England and Wales in December’s general election. What conclusions should be drawn for how working class political representation will be secured now? December 2019 saw Scottish […]

After the UK general election, last December, the unions and their members are facing serious challenges – not least a Boris Johnson-led Tory government with a working majority. What is the state of play with […]

Last year, a mass, non-sectarian protest movement in Lebanon arose over the burdens of crippling taxes, a lack of services, high unemployment, and government corruption. The daily protests and street blockades forced the resignation of […]

The general election in Ireland saw a seismic change in the electoral landscape, with a big surge in support for Sinn Féin. Presenting itself as a radical, anti-establishment alternative, Sinn Féin was able to channel […]

The Socialist Party of Nigeria (SPN) vehemently condemns and rejects the action and decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), to deregister the SPN and other seventy-three political parties, allegedly for failing to win […]

Brexit Day has been and gone. Now Johnson is promising the “dawn of a new era”. According to the Tories’ optimistic script, a ‘Brexit bounce’ will mean more investment, more jobs and more money to […]

Tragedies like the deaths from novel coronavirus, over 400 at the time of writing, are never just ‘natural disasters’. They are not isolated from society. They are impacted by capitalism and also have an effect […]

Austria used to be a country in which the time lost in strikes was counted in minutes. This is beginning to change. Last year saw an increase in strike threats, particularly during last autumn’s wage […]

The recent ‘deal’ announced by US President Donald Trump, and enthusiastically endorsed by Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was billed as a ‘Middle East peace plan’. But as the Economist journal wrote: “As a blueprint […]

On 14 January, many Russians celebrate New Year’s Eve (according to the pre-revolutionary Gregorian calendar). On 15 January, this year, Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, in his annual State of the Nation address, announced the summary […]

As expected, UK Tory Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, approved Chinese tech giant Huawei gaining licences to build 5G web network infrastructure in Britain. Huawei is currently the largest provider of 5G technology, and already provides […]

It is almost nine years since the Nato-led military intervention in Libya, and the country is still a mess, split between conflicting forces, backed by western capitalist powers, Russia, and regional powers, Turkey and Saudi […]

Monday evening, 27 January, saw a vibrant, local protest take place in Balbriggan, north county Dublin, against far-right general election candidate for the area, Gemma O’Doherty, and the public meeting she was hosting. O’Doherty’s decision […]

Tory Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, elated by his election victory and refreshed from his Caribbean holiday, now faces, in the words of a newspaper journalist, a long-postponed “rendezvous with reality”. Having secured a predictable majority […]

The nomination stage of the Labour leadership contest is in full swing, but without the enthusiasm within and beyond the party’s rank and file that marked the surge behind Jeremy Corbyn when he stood for […]

For the third time in 20 years, a new virus has spread from animals to humans. It began on 29 December in Wuhan, a Chinese city of eleven million, probably crossing to humans at a […]

The general election in Ireland, on 8 February, is a chance for the working class to give their verdict on four years of misrule by this big business government – Fine Gael supported by Fianna […]

The Progress Party (FrP) – a right-wing populist party – has pulled out of Norway’s “blue-green” minority government of four parties. On the NRK national television news programme on Monday, 20 January, the FrP announced […]

The Guardian newspaper has revealed that the logos of over eighty different left-wing, environmental and animal rights groups – including that of the Socialist Party – have been included in a guidance document circulated by […]

The start of 2020 saw the assassination of the top Iranian general Qasem Suleimani by US forces, recklessly destabilising the Middle East region. In the immediate aftermath of Suleimani’s assassination, millions poured onto the streets […]

On 11 January, the incumbent president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), was re-elected with a landslide. She won 57.1% of the popular vote – the highest figure ever recorded […]

The strike movement against the French government’s wholesale attack on pensions has gone on for almost two months. Many transport workers downed tools for 45 continuous days, joined by some other sectors on the unions’ […]

Tory Prime Minister Boris Johnson says austerity is over. But who believes this pathological liar? As London mayor and Tory MP, Johnson promoted cuts to council services and supported tax cuts for the super-rich. The […]

Hardly a day goes by in Germany without a new announcement of job cuts, dismissals in car plants and components industry and in companies such as Thyssen-Krupp or Siemens. The planned loss of hundreds of […]

After more than 45 days of strikes and 62 weeks of ‘gilets jaunes’ protests, French workers’ appetite for struggle endures. The trade unions counted 250,000 on the national day of action in Paris on 17 […]

In relation to the plebiscite that has been called for the 26 April 2020, it is necessary to make clear some issues before marking a Yes or No on the ballot paper. The result of […]

Another day of mass demonstrations of strikers all over France on 17 January 2020. The determined battle to stop Macron’s pension attacks goes on! The following photo gallery is by Gauche Révolutionnaire comrades from Paris and […]

The process to elect a new leader of the Labour Party is underway and poses an essential question. What will happen to the potential, opened up by Jeremy Corbyn’s unexpected leadership victory in 2015, to […]

After the biggest and most widespread strikes and demonstrations last week in the current fight over pension rights in France, Prime Minister, Edouard Philippe, announced the suspension of the government’s proposal to increase the pension […]

At least 80,000 marchers packed the rain-soaked streets of Glasgow in a mass Scottish pro-independence demonstration, on Saturday, January 11 January 2020. The date for the mobilisation was set hours after Boris Johnson’s general election […]

Strikes and demonstrations took place yesterday, 9 January 2020, throughout France against President Macron’s pension cuts plans. Large protests took place in Paris and other mass demonstrations across the country – the biggest and most […]

On Saturday 11 January, many thousands are expected to attend a pro-independence demonstration in Glasgow. The Socialist Party Scotland (CWI) has produced the following leaflet text to hand out on the mass demonstration. socialistworld.net   […]

The nomination process for the Labour Party’s leadership and deputy leadership contests has begun, with the ballot to take place from 21 February to 2 April. After doing its best over years to denigrate Jeremy […]

The mass strike movement in France against government attacks on pension rights is now the longest since the revolutionary general strike of 1968. After more than a month, it has also lasted longer than the […]

In December 2019, the Modi-led BJP government imposed a new citizenship law that threatens the rights of millions of people in India. By introducing the CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act), the NPR (National Population Registry), and […]

Germany has entered an unstable period in which economic, political and international developments can produce rapid changes. Already the first signs of this are visible economically and politically. Just recently fourteen hospital workers have been […]

Essential debates facing Marxists and the Left today – socialism and ‘identity politics’; the role and character of trade unions and the working-class movement; the national question; and the programme needed to overcome oppression, austerity […]

Today’s developing mass movements of workers and youth in many countries against the ‘establishment’ and capitalism will spread around the world in 2020. On a world scale, 2019 has ended in the tumultuous manner in […]

The CWI has been publishing online for over 20 years. We will continue to provide Marxist analysis and commentary, and put forward a fighting programme for fundamental socialist change, as the working class and radical […]

To meet an ever-growing questioning of capitalism since the crisis of 2007-08, the system’s defenders look to theoretically justify its continued rule. The latest effort is by the renowned former World Bank economist, Branko Milanović, […]

The Queen’s Speech in parliament on Thursday 19 December, outlining the policies of the new Tory government, included an outrageous attack by prime minister Boris Johnson on the right to strike. Johnson intends to introduce […]

Faced with mobilisation on the streets, which remains massive, the Algerian regime is in a state of panic. With no support from the people, it has tried relentlessly to stop the revolutionary uprising. The regime […]

On 5 December thousands of people marched through the streets of Dublin in opposition to the growing housing crisis and increasing homelessness across the country. The middle of the day protest made its way to […]

Caroline Wheeler, a prominent anti-cuts activist and trade unionist, was the only candidate standing on a genuine cross-community, labour and trade union platform in the recent Westminster election in Northern Ireland, in the Fermanagh and […]

Boris Johnson and the Tories’ election victory will have angered and disappointed many workers and young people. He may have been elected promising ‘an end to austerity’ and to serve the ‘nation’, but in truth […]

As upheavals and revolutionary movements have erupted around the world, a major clash of the classes has opened up in the heart of Europe. An angry working class in France is locked in a Gargantuan […]

The Tories have won a substantial parliamentary majority in the general election in the UK. Tory leader Boris Johnson’s victory speech talked about being a ‘one-nation Conservative’ and promised increased spending on the NHS. This […]

Whatever the result on 12 December, polling day in the general election in Britain, we know one thing for certain – for working-class and young people the fight will not be over. Across the world, […]

After Finnish postal workers secured parcel sorters’ pay and conditions with a large, escalating strike, events moved fast in Helsinki. The State Ownership Minister, Sirpa Paatero, resigned in disgrace as evidence mounted she had known […]

The sharp political crisis in Maharashtra seems to have come to an end with yet another coalition being put together to get a majority in the legislative assembly on 3 November. Maharashtra is in the […]

The issue of allowing US corporations access to the NHS and the affect this could have on the cost of drugs has featured prominently during the election campaign. Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, recently announced […]

Yesterday’s strike and protest in Paris were huge, with more than 200,000 people taking part in the demonstration in the capital against President Macron’s policies. Strikes by transport workers, teachers, nurses and many others took […]

Friday 29 November saw the broadcast of the first ever election debate over climate change – no doubt arranged in response to the global mobilisation of young people protesting for immediate action to be taken […]

While the week before, a You Gov poll pointed towards a 68 majority for the Tories, on 2 December an ICM poll put them on 42% and Labour on 35%, just seven points behind. A […]

Following two months of a sweeping revolt across the south of Iraq, and the capital, Baghdad, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi announced his resignation, after just over a year in office. His removal is seen by […]

French President Macron is under very serious pressure. A one-day national strike of all sectors – both public and private – has been called and prepared for 5 December. It will probably be the biggest […]

The November general election has failed to break Spain out of the political impasse, in which it has been locked for over a year. The revolutionary events which have shaken Catalonia have taken place while […]

Weeks of escalating strike action by Finland’s 10,000 postal workers came to an abrupt end on the morning of Wednesday, 27 November. The postal and logistics union, PAU, reached an agreement with the semi-privatised national […]

Last Sunday’s massive vote for anti-government candidates in Hong Kong’s District Council elections, coming on top of the heroic struggle of the university students, has shaken the rotten Beijing dictatorship to the foundations. The results […]

Corbyn’s manifesto offers a glimpse of jobs, homes and public services for the 99%, protection for our environment – and making the capitalist class pay. No wonder the boss class and their representatives in politics […]

The outcome of the South African Airways (SAA) strike is a victory. The Cabin Crew Association of South Africa and National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA) deserve the applause of all aviation […]

For the first time in the Royal College of Nursing’s 103-year history, nurses have voted for strike action. They have been joined by the Unison union, and likely, the Nipsa and Unite unions, which are […]

“The only certain outcome of the general election”, argued the Socialism Today editorial published two weeks before the last contest (issue No.209, June 2017), “is that none of the contradictions besetting the political and social […]

This year, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (25 November) is taking place during the UK general election campaign. With the possibility of the election of a Corbyn-led Labour government, this […]

Iran has been shaken by a new nationwide wave of anger and protests after a sudden overnight government announcement that imposed 50% fuel price rise on the cost of fuel. This measure, accompanied by a […]

South Africa is going through its most serious economic crisis of the democratic era. What this crisis shows, probably more than any other before it, is that there is no solution on a capitalist basis. […]

The year, 2019 has, so far, been marked by a relative resurgence in industrial action by workers in the South of Ireland. In 2018, there were 4,340 strike action days across all sectors of the […]

The ruling by the High Court against the Communication Workers Union (CWU) voids its national strike ballot in Royal Mail. It is a massive attack on the union, its postal worker members, and the whole […]

All of Chile’s political parties have signed up to the misnamed, “The Pact for social peace and a new constitution,” with the exception of the Communist Party, which has vacillated on the issue. The Chilean […]

A study into the press coverage of Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s left leader, in 2015 by the London School of Economics media department has found, unsurprisingly, that is was overwhelmingly biased against him. Of all the […]

We are facing a combined crisis in Chile, in terms of the political regime that uses the Constitution of 1980, and the neo-liberal capitalist model that has exploited that Constitution. The emergence of popular protest […]

The attempt by bosses of Amazon and other companies to effectively buy control of Seattle city council was defeated by a city-wide reaction against their takeover attempt. Despite the big business dominated Seattle Chamber of […]

Tuesday, 12 November, saw an estimated three million workers, youth and students, take to the streets throughout Chile, in yet another mass protest and strike. After nearly one month of protests and brutal repression, this […]

One of the largest strike waves in Middle East history swept across Egypt in the years before the mighty demonstrations that erupted in Tahrir Square in January 2011, part of the ‘Arab spring’. As a […]

For millions of people, the 1989 opening of the Berlin Wall was rightly celebrated as a great victory for democratic rights. But the build up to the official celebrations to mark its 30th anniversary have, […]

The following statement was agreed at a meeting of European CWI sections and supporters, along with visitors from the USA and Nigeria, which was held earlier this week, in London. socialistworld.net The world situation is […]

‘Socialism 2019’, a weekend of discussion and debate, held in central London on 2 and 3 November, came as the parliamentary logjam finally burst apart into a general election. As Paula Mitchell told the opening […]

Today marks the 102nd 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 concerning questions of […]

Boris Johnson and his bosses’ Brexit deal remain suspended in mid-air. Unable to govern, Johnson’s only way out has been a high-risk gamble on a general election, hoping against hope that it will win him […]

Angry mass revolts have been erupting in many countries across the globe. On Friday 25 October, up to two million people demonstrated on the streets of Chile’s capital Santiago (see page 15). That was the […]

A sea of Chilean workers, youth, students and others flooded onto the streets of central Santiago, on Friday 25 October. It was the largest demonstration in Chilean history. Up to two million demanded the end […]

A UK general election is, it seems, rapidly approaching. The Brexit disaster – a reflection of the utter incapacity of capitalism to resolve its multiple crises – is creating a nightmare scenario for the bourgeois. […]

Recent weeks have seen major cities and entire countries around the world shaken by mass revolts. The ruling classes are challenged by populations angry and embittered by combination of threats of oppression, years of austerity, […]

The Tory party chose Boris Johnson as its leader because he promised to deliver Brexit by 31 October 2019, even if it meant leaving without a deal. When push came to shove, however, in a […]

During the night of September 25th, a massive fire broke out in the depot of Lubrizol chemicals on the outskirts of Rouen, Normandy. There were no personnel at the depot and no deaths at the […]

Following a month long trial, the Supreme Court of the Spanish state pronounced brutal prison sentences on nine leaders of the Catalan independence movement. In total, prison sentences of over 100 years have been imposed […]

The decision by US president Donald Trump to give the green light to the Turkish army to launch a land and air invasion against Kurdish-held areas in north-east Syria is now spiralling into a wider […]

After a decade as Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has failed in both of two general elections this year to gain a parliamentary majority and secure a fifth term of office. These two inconclusive results […]

The following leaflet text will be distributed by Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) members at a protest in central London, this coming weekend, against the Turkish invasion of northern Syria. socialistworld.net Scores of civilians, […]

Last Saturday’s mammoth march in Edinburgh, attended by up to 100,000 people, was the latest in a series of mass protests demanding a second Scottish independence referendum. The multiple crises tearing at the fabric of […]

As ‘Brexit Day’ on 31 October approaches, the roller coaster crisis for British capitalism intensifies. Spokespeople of big business – the majority of whom want to remain in the EU – are ramping up the […]

Donald Trump drew sharp criticism from high level Republican Party figures after he gave the green light for Turkey to make a long planned military attack against Kurdish areas in northern Syria. Last Sunday, the […]

We are sad to inform our readers, members of the Socialist Party and the broader labour movement, of the death, at 80 years of age, of Tony Mulhearn; a titan, a courageous leader of the […]

The September 29th Austrian elections saw a surge by the Greens and losses by both the far right Freedom Party (FPÖ) and the social democrats (SPÖ). The former Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, whose conservative people’s party […]

The Socialist Party described the Leave vote in 2016 as a revolt against the capitalist establishment, a working-class ‘cry of rage’ against mass poverty and savage austerity while the rich get richer. A Tory-led Brexit, […]

The empty seats at the National Sports Stadium in Harare at the official funeral ceremony for Robert Mugabe on 14 September, spoke volumes about the views of the Zimbabwean people. The circumstances of Mugabe’s death […]

Wrightbus is one of the last remaining bus manufacturers in the UK and produced the Routemaster, also known as the ‘Boris bus’ (when Boris Johnson was mayor of London), for the London Transport Authority. The […]

Today, 1 October, marks the 70th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader, Mao Zedong, proclaiming the People’s Republic of China. Below, we republish a book review by Peter Taaffe (first published in The […]

The 1st of October marks the second anniversary of the independence referendum called by the Catalan government. This followed an upsurge in the demand for independence fuelled by the repressive, neo-liberal Partido Popular (PP) government […]

Street protests in Cairo and several other Egyptian cities broke out on Friday and Saturday 20/21 September. Although only involving dozens or a few hundreds, at first, they grew in numbers and spread to other […]

The drone missile attacks on two oil installations in Saudi Arabia, on 14 September, threw more incendiary material into the volatility and instability of the Middle East. The world’s biggest crude oil processing plant was […]

Around 48,000 General Motors workers are on strike nationwide in the United States for the sixth day. The United Auto Workers union walked out of all 55 US plants on 15 September, for the first […]

The Supreme Court ruling that Johnson’s prorogation of parliament was unlawful has, for now, knocked the dramatic events preceding it at Labour Party conference off the top news spot. This swirling of events is the […]

Over the past month, capitalism has once again bared its barbaric underbelly in South Africa in a wave of xenophobic violence. Thirteen have died, so far. Struggling small businesses, foreign national and South African alike, […]

The deep crises in the world economy and political establishments are not only reflected in attempts to resurrect Keynesian-style policies. Other capitalist economists are proposing that an even harsher neoliberal model should be applied – […]

 “Even an entire society, a nation or all simultaneously existing societies taken together are not owners of the earth, they are simply its possessors, its beneficiaries, and have to bequeath it in an improved state […]

The routine is pretty well routine now. At Trade Union Congress, Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, attempts to break through the Brexit fog with a stance that has the potential to unite Leave and Remain […]

Recent images of the Amazon rainforest ablaze highlighted the scale of change currently underway. At the height of the fires, an area the size of a football pitch was destroyed every minute. Greenland’s ice sheet […]

On 22nd August South Korea gave Japan notice that it would not be extending the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA). The 2016 agreement allowed for the direct sharing of military intelligence between Japan, […]

Brutal neoliberal policies and austerity has created growing mass anger. The growth in Trump-style populism is one consequence of this, as is an increased interest in ‘New Deal’ style reforms. A recent book contrasts different […]

The rape and murder of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana was the final spark that lit a new wave of protests demanding an end to violence against women. She was killed by a Post Office […]

Northern Ireland is a society scarred by its history. The legacy of the conflict over the national question is everywhere apparent; painted flags, kerbstones and murals mark territories and promote narratives. But just as the […]

The terrorist attack on the Twin Towers in New York in 2001 was not the first ‘9/11’. In Chile on 11 September 1973, a bloody coup, led by General Pinochet and backed by the US […]

The British Conservative Party, once among the most successful capitalist parties on the planet, are shattering into pieces before our eyes. The Tory party’s weakness and splits are far from new. Now, however, quantity has […]

The Indonesian government has sent more than 3,700 police and military forces into West Papua following nearly three weeks of protests and mass demonstrations in the region. These were triggered when the Indonesian National Army […]

This editorial was written at the start of a week which promised one of the biggest battles in parliament ever – a major showdown between parliament and the prime minister. Since the following editorial was […]

Less than two months before a general election, in the middle of the tourist season, Portugal was brought to a standstill by a five-day strike of fuel-tanker drivers. Strikers are members of new union, Sindicato […]

The following world perspectives document was discussed, amended and passed by delegates and visitors at an international conference, held in London from July 22-25 2019, to reconstitute the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). Global […]

Boris Johnson, the Eton-educated millionaire and Trump wannabe, got to number ten with the votes of just ninety thousand members of the Tory Party, less than 0.25% of the electorate. Now he is using his […]

The Amazon rain forest in Brazil is battling massive fires. They are so extensive they can be seen from space. The Amazon has been called the ‘beating heart of the earth’ and the ‘lungs of […]

Mid-August saw tens of thousands of Sudanese come onto the streets to welcome the launch of the “sovereign council” and a transitional government. This was in relief at what they felt was an important step […]

A rising sense of panic is gripping the strategists of British capitalism as the 31 October Brexit deadline draws ever closer. “Britain’s exit from the European Union without a withdrawal deal would be an unequivocal […]

The Upper House elections held on 21 July in Japan were a minor set-back for the Shinzō Abe government. Along with their coalition partners, the Buddhist Komeito, they lost their two thirds majority in the […]

Christine Thomas, CWI After just 14 months in power, the populist coalition government of the far-right Lega and Five Star Movement (M5S) in Italy has collapsed. Matteo Salvini, Lega leader and interior minister, pulled the […]

On 21 August 1940, Leon Trotsky, the Marxist thinker and fighter, and co-leader of the Russian Revolution (along with Lenin), was murdered by one of Stalin’s agents. The article ‘Trotsky’s Assassination’ originally appeared in the […]

Around 40 Unite members who work as Pharmacy Support Workers for NHS Tayside began an all-out strike yesterday. These heroic workers voted 100%, on a 90% turnout, to strike for grading and pay justice.

The decisive defeat of President Mauricio Macri in election primaries (PASO) in Argentina, something that virtually nobody anticipated, was a massive blow against the ruling elite. The right-wing neo-liberal, Macri, representing “Cambiemos”, was defeated by […]

Holiday notice: Over the August holiday month, socialistworld.net will publish less regularly. We will resume normal publishing on 1 September. Editors, socialistworld.net

On Sunday 21 July over 200 delegates at a special conference of the Socialist Party in England and Wales voted overwhelmingly, 83.2% to 16.8%, (173 – 35 with 0 abstentions), to sponsor an international conference […]

Up to 20,000 civil servants across Northern Ireland took strike action on 26 July. 

Two weeks of almost continuous mass protests have forced the resignation of the governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello’. Monday 22 July culminated in a general strike and the largest protests in the history of […]

Boris Johnson’s victory in this summer’s Tory party leadership election will probably turn out to be the most predictable political event of 2019.

Harland and Wolff is the sole remaining shipbuilding business in the Belfast shipyard.  The shipbuilding industry in Belfast has a four hundred year history and was most famously associated with the construction of the ill-fated […]

Harrowing scenes are now coming out of Sudan of the 3 June massacre, where doctors report well over 100 people were murdered by the Transitional Military Council (TMC) and general ‘Hemeti’ Dagola’s brutal Rapid Support […]

The results of the 7 July general election in Greece saw the defeat of Syriza (“Coalition of the Radical Left”). This follows four years during which the Syriza-led government-approved mass privatisations and cuts at the […]

Mass protests blocked roads across Israel after the killing of 19 year old Ethiopian-Israeli Solomon Tekah by an off-duty police officer in the Kiryat Haim area of Haifa on 30 June.

Ever since the initial warnings of global warming 70 years ago, the starkest feature is capitalism’s inability to act on this existential threat. The Environment: a history of the idea tracks this trail of systemic […]

And then there were two. The Tories are entering the final stage of their leadership contest, with the choice between Boris Johnson, the want-to-be British Trump, and Jeremy Hunt, the NHS wrecker. Given this crisis, […]

The Indonesian general election, held in April, this year, saw another head-on collision between Joko Widodo (known as Jokowi) and the opposition candidate, Prabowo Subianto. Once again, the parties in the ‘Working Indonesia’ coalition of […]

On 24 June over 10,000 workers in the Irish health service took strike action, ignoring Taoiseach (prime minister) Leo Varadkar’s last minute plea to call it off. This was the first day in a campaign […]

Pride events around the world this year are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, widely seen as the birth of modern LGBT+ rights movements.

Voters in Istanbul on 23 June struck a big blow to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the authoritarian leader of Turkey, amid a deepening economic crisis. This is the first time in Erdogan’s 17-year rule that […]

The G20 meeting which took place in Osaka on 28th and 29th of June was another indication of the severity of the present crisis facing the capitalist class internationally. While issues of equality, women’s empowerment […]

Over the last eight months, in an attack upon a labour union unprecedented in the recent past in Japan, the prefectural police of Osaka, Shiga and Wakayama have arrested over seventy members of the Kansai […]

Since February, every month this year, there has been a big protest of young people outside Parliament and in town centres around the country. The “youth strikes 4 climate” have brought thousands of young teenagers […]

These are complicated, contradictory times. The capitalist system is in crisis, unable to recover fully from the decade-long great recession. Mass revolt has erupted – the ‘Arab’ spring, protests in Latin America, Sudan, Algeria and […]

The apparent last minute cancellation by Donald Trump of US military retaliation – after Iran shot down an unmanned surveillance drone – has not significantly lessened the chances of new military clashes given the continuing […]

Skilled jobs are going and more are threatened with the possible closure of the St Rollox ‘Caley’ historic railway yard in Glasgow. Owner Gemini is now issuing compulsory redundancies.

First there were 13. As the Socialist went to press at least one of the remaining six candidates will be knocked out of the Tory leadership election. By the end of the week, votes by […]

Political pressure arising from a mass protest movement, including a demonstration estimated at two million people, forced a humiliating climb-down by the pro-Beijing executive in Hong Kong over its infamous ‘extradition bill’.

Nearly two months after the overthrow of the former dictator Omar al-Bashir, who ruled Sudan for 30 years, the struggle between revolution and counter revolution has entered a critical stage. Protests against the former dictator […]

The results of the European elections, as well as the Bremen state and various local elections, on 26 May, will continue to stir up the German party system, increase political instability and pose the possibility […]

The end of austerity in Finland has been loudly proclaimed by the new Social Democratic prime minister, Antti Rinne. The announcement came as talks were concluded between his party and  Keskusta (the Center Party), Vihreät […]

At the end of May events moved fast in Austria after the then vice-Chancellor HC Strache was seen in the leaking of the “Ibiza Video”. He was seen and heard plotting to take over the […]

For media commentators and pundits the big story of the local and European elections in Southern Ireland was the surge in support for the Green Party. The party tripled its percentage vote to 5.6% in […]

The first elections since Macron came to power, the European elections were anything but exciting. Electing representatives who have no power, in an institution, the European Union, which primarily serves the interests of banks and […]

Days before the 30th anniversary of the massacre, on 3-4 June 1989, of hundreds, possibly thousands, of unarmed demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, China’s Defence minister, General Wei Fenghe maintained that the crackdown was absolutely justified!

Last week, US President Donald Trump announced that under the rarely invoked International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei and seventy of its affiliated companies are set to be added to the […]

Protests against climate change and capitalism’s degradation of our environment have been growing. Now the world’s leading scientists warn that human society is in jeopardy from the accelerating decline of Earth’s natural ‘life-support systems’.

The promise of the Corbyn insurgency that began in 2015 is in danger. The triumph of the left-wing backbench outsider in the Labour leadership election four years ago opened up the prospect of overturning Tony […]

Bernie Sanders’ 2016 bid for the presidency shook up US politics. Attracting hundreds of thousands of people around a radical programme, it showed the potential for a working-class-based alternative to the two main parties. Tony […]

Bernie Sanders’ 2016 bid for the presidency shook up US politics. Attracting hundreds of thousands of people around a radical programme, it showed the potential for a working-class-based alternative to the two main parties. Tony […]

When some time ago a commentator compared the pose of the far right Freedom Party (FPÖ) politicians, HC Strache and Harald Vilimsky, on posters for the EU elections with Frank Underwood from the TV drama […]

“There is a real question about whether democratic capitalism is working, when it is only working for part of the population”. This was the warning of capitalist economist Angus Deaton launching his review for the […]

“For me, this is not a personal victory but a political one – it is a victory for cross-community, socialist politics. It reflects a growing opposition to the sectarian games, cuts and backward social policies […]

Socialist Party members in civil service union PCS are disappointed to announce that Chris Baugh did not get re-elected to the position of PCS assistant general secretary.

The recent meeting of Labour’s national executive committee, called to finalise the party’s European Union election manifesto, brought out the division over the EU bosses’ club.

The Scottish Socialist Party began with a strong base in working-class areas and the trade unions. But, over time, it saw its support slide – as it watered down its programme and working-class orientation, making […]

The overthrow of Omar al Bashir by the Sudanese masses on 11 April is one of the most momentous events in the modern history of the Sudanese masses, on the continent and in the Middle […]

The television, radio and Chilean press are permanently attacking and accusing the Mapuche people of “violent and terrorist” acts. All of this avalanche of false information is aimed at discrediting the mass mobilisations of the […]

On 30th April, Emperor Akihito abdicated and handed over to his son Naruhito – something that has not happened for 200 years. But it will change nothing for the vast majority of the population in […]

Egypt’s authoritarian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has attempted to strengthen his powers with a rigged referendum campaign lasting 72 hours! The tame Parliament approved his proposals – 485 MPs out of 596 voting for them […]

The general election which took place on 28 April in the Spanish state, like elections throughout Europe, at this time, was marked by a deep polarization. The election came on the heel of the revolutionary […]

The general election which took place on 28 April in the Spanish state, like elections throughout Europe, at this time, was marked by a deep polarization. The election came on the heel of the revolutionary […]

The Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) sends revolutionary May Day greetings to all workers and oppressed people fighting against capitalism worldwide. We commemorate the struggles and sacrifices of past generations of fighters and martyrs in […]

The huge exercise of India’s 2019 General Election is under way across the country’s 29 states and seven Union territories.

Hundreds of flights in Norway, Sweden and Denmark have been canceled as 1400 pilots for Scandinavian carrier SAS began strike action this Friday. Pilots took the step of escalating to strike action after collective bargaining […]

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the ‘carnation’ Portuguese revolution. A half-century of brutal right-wing dictatorship rule was swept aside in a day. The revolution started at 12.25 am, on Thursday 25 April 1974, […]

Although violence has remained at a relatively low level in Northern Ireland since the ending of the ‘Troubles’, the recent killing of the young journalist, Lyra McKee, in Derry city, by a republican armed group, […]

The killing of Lyra McKee on Thursday 19 April sent a wave of shock across Northern Ireland. Lyra was only 29 years old but had already made a name for herself as a journalist, an […]

What force is needed to end the discrimination and division rooted in the capitalist system? Can the global women’s movements become the main agency for change? Is the organised working class now redundant? Christine Thomas […]

Courage, determination and ingenuity have been on display among the thousands of people coming together in the creative and colourful protests coordinated by Extinction Rebellion in London and elsewhere.

Working class people from across the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland were revulsed by the shooting and death of a young female journalist, Lyra McKee, in Derry city, last Thursday evening. Anton McCabe, National Executive Council […]

Last week, thousands took part in Extinction Rebellion protests in central London, with over 1,000 people arrested. Mark Best looks at the background to the campaigning group and what socialists think needs to be done […]

The United Socialist Party in Sri Lanka, the Tamil Solidarity campaign and the Socialist Party in England and Wales strongly condemn the atrocious attacks that took place in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday (21-04-2019). Well-coordinated […]

  The United Socialist Party in Sri Lanka, the Tamil Solidarity campaign and the Socialist Party in England and Wales strongly condemn the atrocious attacks that took place in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday (21-04-2019).

After seven years of self-imposed exile in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was dragged from his place of asylum and arrested by the Metropolitan police. This followed the revoking of his […]

After 30 years of dictatorship in Sudan, historic mass protests have achieved the fall of President Omar Al-Bashir in a forced ‘palace coup’ by the generals. Following this, a ‘transitional military council’ was established, with […]

After 30 years of dictatorship in Sudan, historic mass protests have achieved the fall of President Omar Al-Bashir in a forced ‘palace coup’ by the generals. Following this, a ‘transitional military council’ was established, with […]

The Social Democrats have been made the biggest party in Finland’s parliament for the first time in 20 years. Looking more deeply, all signs in the 2019 Finnish parliamentary elections point to a working class […]

The revolutionary movements shaking Sudan and Algeria, and mass upheavals in other parts of the neo-colonial world, underlines the relevance of Leon Trotsky’s ‘Theory of Permanent Revolution’. This is particularly the case for the international […]

  The revolutionary movements shaking Sudan and Algeria, and mass upheavals in other parts of the neo-colonial world, underlines the relevance of Leon Trotsky’s ‘Theory of Permanent Revolution’. This is particularly the case for the […]

It has been reported that politicians across Europe are glued to their TV screens watching the disaster movie unfolding in Westminster. “It is better than anything on Netflix”, one former Polish president declared. A more […]

Bouteflika, the hated president of Algeria, is gone! But the Algerian people are by no means giving up their struggle. This is despite the way the regime is constantly taunting the demonstrators, trying to frighten […]

Yet again as we go to press, the immediate future of the plans for Britain leaving the EU remains unclear. Three attempts at passing May’s Withdrawal Agreement couldn’t resolve it. Two rounds of MPs voting […]

The prolonged countdown to the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union has thrown the Conservative government into a profound crisis. The chaos is such that an anonymous European source has compared the UK to a […]

Every Friday, since 22 February, hundreds of thousands of Algerians have been protesting against their infirm president – the figurehead of a decades’-long ruling clique – who is standing for a fifth term of office.

The Tories imploding over Brexit: general election now! For a Corbyn government with socialist policies One in ten British adults says they trust MPs to do the right thing by the country over Brexit. Why so […]

Postal workers in Serbia are on strike. Socialistworld.net has written before about the difficult conditions workers are faced with, followed with solidarity actions. Workers in Serbia feel isolated, so any messages of solidarity will be […]

The First World War was ended, in large part, by the Russian and German revolutions. Revolutionary uprisings followed in many other countries thrown into turmoil by the war. In March and April 1919, revolution shook […]

With just ten days until the date of departure from the EU at the time of writing, there is unprecedented daily turmoil in parliament on what will happen. The government’s position has become so intractable […]

Millions woke up on the morning of 15 March in shock to learn of the mass shooting at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. It soon became clear this was a brutal far-right terrorist act, which […]

Ukraine has become one of the most crisis ridden states in Europe. Now a new round of elections is looming in which workers, the youth and all those who want a democratic and free society, […]

International Women’s Day 2019 was celebrated by women workers from the “Sindh Workers Alliance” and “Socialist Movement Sindh” (CWI in Pakistan) at the Digri town of Mirpurkhas, in the Sindh, on 8th March 2019. The […]

In Italy, all of the ‘unions of the base’ responded to Non Una Di Meno’s call for strike action on 8 March. Female and male workers walked out in hundreds of private workplaces around the […]

President Muhammadu Buhari is the winner of the 2019 presidential election, held on February 23, having officially had 15 miliion as against 11 million votes garnered by his capitalist main challenger Atiku Abubakar of the […]

Since 22 February, Algerians have been protesting against their sick, frail, president who is standing for a fifth term of office. President Boutefika had a stroke in 2013 and has seldom been seen in public […]

This week saw two important historical anniversaries – the first conference of the Communist (Third) International, held on 6 March 1919, established to help organise Marxist revolutionary forces on an international basis and, after years […]

Thirty five years ago, on 5 March 1984, Yorkshire miners walked out on strike against Tory government plans to impose a massive programme of pit closures. They saw it as the first step to a […]

For almost a month, the daily front page news for Canadians has been the story of political intrigue at the highest level of government involving, on the one hand, a major multinational, Montreal-based company ensnared […]

On Friday, 8th March, women across the globe are striking, marching, protesting and celebrating International Women’s Day in unprecedented numbers. In a welcome development, they will be accompanied by more men than in the past […]

Leon Trotsky’s classic work, ‘In Defence of Marxism’, which recorded Trotsky’s struggle against a petty bourgeois opposition in the American Socialist Workers Party (a section of the Fourth International) in the late 1930s, on the […]

From 23rd to the 24th February, around 200 young people and workers from all the territories in Spain participated in the 19th Congress of the Student’s Union. In an electric atmosphere of struggle, enthusiasm and […]

2018 marked ten years since the collapse of Lehman Brothers bank which plunged the world economy into the deepest economic recession since the 1930s. The financial virus spread quickly, causing production and trade to seize […]

On 15 February, tens of thousands of school and college students walked out of their lessons to join protests across Britain to demand action over climate change and environmental destruction.

On 14 February, British prime minister, Theresa May, suffered her tenth parliamentary defeat over Brexit. The Tory party is split down the middle. May’s government is on the brink of collapse. Yet it is at […]

Forty years ago, a great revolution against a dictatorial monarchy was in progress in Iran. Recalling the heroic scenes of those days still inspires us; scenes of comradeship despite the shortage of goods and fuel […]

Nurses and midwives are taking strike action in southern Ireland over pay and workplace conditions. A national rally is taking place today, in Dublin, as the nurses’ union, INMO, plans a third week of strike […]

Talk of a split by Blairite Remainer MPs has increased, with the Observer newspaper reporting on 3 February that “rebel Labour MPs are set to quit the party and form centre group”.

The social, political and economic crisis which is currently rocking Venezuela poses crucial questions and lessons for socialists and the international working class.

Last weekend, CWI Marxist Schools were held in Chile and Taiwan, discussing national and international perspectives and pressing issues facing the workers’ movement.

The Iranian regime has once again arrested Esmail Bakhshi, the representative of the Haft-Tapeh sugar cane agro-industry workers, and an activist Sepideh Qolian.

Belgium School student strikes hit a record high in Belgium, as around 35,000 marched through Brussels on Thursday, tripling the numbers taking part in a protest the week before. On 2 27 Sunday, more than […]

The unprecedented budget showdown between the Italian government and the European Union, which risked provoking a serious eurozone crisis, has ended with a compromise. However, all of the economic and political problems underlying this latest […]

Undoubtedly India’s recent 48 hour General Strike in January 2019, when nearly 220 million workers, peasants, agricultural labourers, street vendors etc. struck work will go down in history as a record-breaking one. Interestingly the previous […]

Igor Yashin, a leading member of Socialist Alternativa and Co-President of the Trade Union of Journalists and Media Workers, together with Nikolai Kretov, Dmitrii Borisenko and Mikhail Komrakov, who came to Igor’s assistance during his […]

The “yellow vest” movement in France has involved hundreds of thousands of people in demonstrations, blockades of roundabouts, main roads and toll booths all around the country, in big cities and in the countryside. Begun […]

A three day general strike in Zimbabwe was set in motion on 14 January in response to the deteriorating economic situation in the country. Called by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) and local […]

The following article was published prior to last night’s vote in the House of Commons, which saw a huge defeat for the Tory government’s attempt to pass its Brexit deal.Socialistworld.net The Tories are at each […]

Parliament reconvened after the Christmas break with no let-up in the government’s crisis over the coming Brexit vote. Theresa May’s deal with the EU is still opposed by most MPs, most members of the Tory […]

After telling civil servants that they would not be getting a pay rise, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asked, “Do you want to build your country … or are you going to look for potatoes?”

1 January 2019 marked the 60th anniversary of the victory of the Cuban Revolution. Tony Saunois looks at the Cuban Revolution and the life of its main leader, Fidel Castro. The article also discusses what is […]

Vladimir Putin rose to power after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as gangster capitalism seized hold of Russia. Emulating aspects of Stalin’s ‘strongman’ image, he has sought to reassert Russian power on the world […]

On 10 November, 10,000 workers took part in a union demonstration in the Netherlands, for a fairer distribution of wealth, against tax breaks for multinational companies, for investment in the public sector, against ‘flexi-work’ and […]

For the last two weekends, drawing a parallel with the ‘Yellow vests’ protests, in France, there have been anti-government protest marches in Belgrade. The second one was much bigger than the first, with, according to […]

If there would be a European competition for the least stable government, it would be a very close run. The Belgian government made a move bringing it back to the front of this competition: in […]

The Iranian regime arrested around 30 steel workers in Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan Province. This happened on 36th day of a workers’ strike and walkout over unpaid wages.

Capitalism in Europe is marked by a growing class, political and social polarization with the possibility of mass movements breaking out anywhere.

This article was published on the day of a recent ‘women’s strike’ in Israel to protest femicide and violence against women, and before a mass rally of 30,000 people took place in Tel Aviv. Socialist […]

The underlying crisis of world capitalism has, as we predicted, significantly deteriorated in the year. In the decisive sphere of the world economy a new crisis looms, the timing and character of which are not […]

For more than a month now, since 17 November, France has seen an apparently unstoppable revolt from below. A massive tide of very visible protest has swept the country, initially against a rise in the […]

In a warning laced with ironies, former warmongering US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger – who presided over many of the atrocities of the Vietnam war in the 1960s and 1970s – warned in an […]

The clock is continuing to tick for British Prime Minister Theresa May and the Tories. The stakes are high for everyone – May and the Tories and behind them the British capitalist establishment. But also […]

After three weeks of increasingly angry mass protests, French President Emmanuel Macron suspended the massively contested tax on diesel. It remains to be seen whether this will defuse the mass movement calling for his government […]

More people are concerned and anxious: the future of our planet is on the line. The recent IPCC-report claims we have only 12 years to avoid irreversible environmental disaster. Despite the warning signs, the political […]

Over the last weeks, France has witnessed widespread protest against neoliberal president Emmanuel Macron and his government. Close to 500,000 people blockaded roads and roundabouts on Saturday 17 November.

As the age of austerity arising from the great crash of 2007-2008 enters its second decade, a new movement of women struggling against their oppression is taking shape. But mistaken ideas on how oppression can […]

May’s government is on the brink of collapse. The prospect of May getting her Tory Brexit deal through parliament currently appears slim.

The Iranian economy is in downfall, and Iranian working class is the main target of this slump. Prices of staples are increasing day by day. The regime has only delivered empty words, and its explanation […]

On 27 October a successful conference, “Socialism and Feminism”, organised by Socialist Alternative (CWI), was held in Moscow. Over 50 people participated in lively discussions, linking the two main themes throughout the day.

Dundee workers have been devastated and angered by the announcement from French multinational Michelin that they will shut their Dundee factory by 2020. Michelin is one of the biggest private sector employers in the city. […]

PCS civil service union Assistant General Secretary (AGS) Chris Baugh, elected three times since 2004, has won at least eight nomination meetings in his campaign to be the Left Unity AGS candidate for a fourth […]

#MeToo hit the tech world as hundreds, possibly thousands, of Google employees, led by women, organized a historic walkout from work on November 1 at 11:10 AM. Spurred by a October 25 New York Times […]

On 27 October, 137,000 people marched in Taiwan’s capital in the 16th annual Taipei Pride demonstration. The number of participants broke the record in Taiwan, making the demo once again the biggest LGBT+ demonstration in […]

On Saturday morning, 27 October, a man shouting anti-Semitic slogans opened fire at the Tree of Life Synagogue in the historically Jewish Squirrel Hill neighbourhood, in Pittsburgh. Eleven people were killed during the morning shabbat […]

For the second time this year, workers took to the streets in a massive show of collective strength. The 23 October rally saw more than 100,000 people bring central Melbourne to a standstill, demanding that […]

Sri Lanka is experiencing a dramatic constitutional crisis – an unprecedented parliamentary coup. It has seen the president – Maithripala Sirisena – break his coalition with Ranil Wickramasinghe, suspend parliament and appoint the former dictator/president […]

Jean Swanson’s election to Vancouver City Council is a step toward a ‘political revolution’ in Vancouver city, British Colombia (BC), Canada. News of this historic victory is already rippling around Canada and further afield. Swanson […]

“Our Corpses were the Fertilisers for your Tea Plantations…The Hot Teas you sip in your Mornings were Strewn with our Blood” (lines from the Tamil Nadu poet, Aadhavan Deetchinya) The town of Nuwara Eliya, in […]

In April 2018, the number of available jobs was for the first time more than the number of (officially) unemployed people in the Czech Republic. Unemployment, according to September figures, stands below one quarter of […]

Around 8,500 Glasgow working class women made history on 23-24th October, when they took industrial action. As the BBC news commented, it was the “one of the biggest ever strikes in the UK on the […]

On 16 August this year, after a term of six and a half years in Kazakhstan’s nightmare penal system, human rights lawyer, Vadim Kuramshin, walked free. His first words to the Committee for a Workers’ […]

There is no reason to celebrate the election of a Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) majority government. Not since Maurice Duplessis’ rule has there been broad electoral support for a political party that is both intolerant […]

Much of the German media is understandably discussing the “historical event” that took place last weekend – last Sunday’s regional elections in Bavaria. The decline of both the CSU (Bavarian counterpart of Merkel’s Christian-Democrat CDU) […]

If a variant of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Chequers proposal eventually becomes a Brexit deal, it will mean Britain remaining subject to much of the EU’s austerity-promoting and privatising neoliberalism. On the other hand, […]

‘Socialism: Utopian and Scientific’ should be read and studied by socialists, worker-activists and young people interested in socialist ideas, as it greatly adds to our understanding of the roots of socialism and the tasks the […]

Ten thousand people attended a lunchtime protest outside the Dail (Irish parliament) on Wednesday, Oct 3 to protest government inaction on the growing housing crisis and demand change.

Ten pounds an hour minimum wage; workers’ rights from day one of employment; end of zero-hour contracts; an end to council cuts. Thirty hours free childcare. Water, rail, mail and energy brought into public ownership; […]

Following a recent documentary on a Flemish language TV station in Belgium, widespread disgust and anger roared through society. The documentary exposed the fact that some students were organising a group along the lines of […]

The UK is scheduled to formally withdraw from the structures and treaties of the European Union (EU) on 29 March 2019, less than six months’ time.But Brexit, a summary term for the renegotiation of British […]

The Workers and Socialist Party (WASP), the South African section of the CWI, held a National Committee meeting, in Johannesburg, at the beginning of September. Delegates discussed the working class responses to the attacks of […]

This week saw the 80th anniversary of the founding conference of the Fourth International, on 3 September, 1938. To mark this historic event, we republish below a brief 2013 introduction to an article by Peter […]

Turkey held snap elections on 24 June, out of which the ruling AKP and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arose seemingly triumphant. But at the heart of Erdoğan’s decision to call an earlier vote was his […]