Europe

Between Wednesday 27 July and Monday 1st, August national strike action took place in Britain for four days, organised by three trade unions (RMT, Aslef, and CWU) – in defence of their members’ living standards […]

With a 12.9% pay increase and Coventry council agreeing that the bogus charges against Unite the Union’s senior shop steward Pete Randle would not be pursued, Coventry’s HGV drivers have achieved a significant win. This […]

In Norway, we see three trade union conflicts that show what happens when workers are treated badly. Two years ago, at the beginning of the pandemic, we saw every political party in Norway, including the […]

This summer has seen the scandal-ridden Boris Johnson regime collapse. A Tory party leadership contest is seeing the long Tory civil continue to boil over. However, the Tory fratricide is over what weapons to use to brutally […]

The annual Gala has been a feature in Durham almost every year since 1871 – a chance to witness union organisations march for a celebration of workers’ pride. Labour leader Keir Starmer didn’t speak. A […]

Just a day after polls showed that Finland’s public, resigned to but unenthusiastic about NATO membership, overwhelmingly rejected any concessions to Turkey as the price of joining, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö announced an agreement making […]

Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish National Party (SNP)/Scottish Green government recently announced their intention to hold a second independence referendum on 19 October 2023. Socialist Party Scotland (CWI) supports the right to indyref2 and advocates […]

Organise to get them all out All strike together for a pay rise Build a new mass workers’ party Join the socialists On the morning of Friday 13 December 2019, as the country awoke to […]

This year’s National Shop Stewards Network (NSSN) conference takes place at a crucial stage, as Boris Johnson’s Tory government reels from one crisis to another. The RMT rail strike has acted as a lightning rod, […]

The results of the legislative elections were a major blow for Macron. His electoral alliance, named “Ensemble” [Together] in a final panic before the shipwreck, only obtained 245 deputies, compared with 360 in 2017. This […]

The 19 June second round of elections to France’s National Assembly – its parliament – marked a new stage in the political situation that shook establishment circles to their core. Just two months after retaining […]

During the Covid crisis the combined wealth of the billionaires in the UK rose 21.7% to £597 billion. Yet the Tory government and capitalist media complain about workers on the railways fighting for an increase […]

Tens of thousands will take to the streets of  London on Saturday 18 June as part of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) demonstration on the cost-of-living crisis; the first mass trade union demonstration for many […]

The first round of the legislative elections saw good votes for the left alliance NUPES [New Ecological and Social People’s Union, headed by Jean-Luc Mélenchon] and reaffirmed the support for Mélenchon in last April’s presidential […]

There is currently a generation of young workers in Spain who have no idea what “prosperity” means. Those who acquired a consciousness of their surroundings after the 2008 financial crash, which in the Spanish State […]

The problems of the airline industry predate the pandemic and stretch back to privatisation in the 1980s. In the post-war period, governments invested billions in the creation of the worldwide airline industry. This investment was […]

The Scottish National Party/Scottish Green government’s spending review for the next five years has set in stone a regime of brutal cuts to jobs and public services. It is also a declaration of war on […]

One hundred and forty-eight Tory MPs have finally moved against UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson. It is not growing poverty, soaring energy bills, or Johnson’s endless parties and lies that have pushed them to act: […]

According to the Roman poet Juvenal, the ancient Roman emperors aimed to placate their subjects with “bread and circuses”. It would seem that the capitalist class in Britain is hoping for a similar effect with […]

Tory chancellor Rishi Sunak’s screeching windfall tax U-turn was a vain attempt to cut across growing anger at falling living standards, and the mass protests that could result. As even the right-wing Sunday Times pointed […]

The world has changed since the war in Ukraine began. Like the coronavirus – which not only shut down the world but also accelerated profound changes in economic, political and social relations – the war […]

Workers organized in Finnish unions OAJ and JHL, and several smaller unions, concluded a nationwide rolling strike action with a week-long strike that closed schools and disrupted municipal services across the country from 3 to […]

The Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) congress took place from 14 to 16 May in London – the first since February 2020 because of Covid. Congress is the most important democratic decision-making body of […]

The results of the Northern Ireland Assembly election on May 5th mark a significant political turning point. For the first time since the partition of Ireland in 1921, a nationalist party has emerged with the […]

March 17th 2022 will now always be synonymous with P&O as far as trade union activists are concerned, with the vicious assault on the workers’ jobs and contracts carried out on that day. The company […]

Putin’s brutal regime emerged in conditions of economic anarchy as a new capitalist class was forming amidst the collapse of the previously planned economy. Peter Taaffe reviews a recent book that graphically describes what happened. […]

£40 billion. That’s the eye-watering sum oil giants BP and Shell are set to make this year alone. A year that has seen a dire cost-of-living crisis hit the working class so significantly that over […]

On local elections day, 5 May, none of the main parties offered any escape from the escalating, unrelenting cost-of-living crisis. No surprise then that the turnout was low. Those who did vote gave a snapshot […]

Today, 5 May, marks the 12th anniversary of the sad loss of Peter Hadden, a leading comrade of the CWI in Ireland and internationally. Peter’s life in the struggle for socialism and his important contribution […]

Two weeks ago, the editorial of the Socialist commented on the fines given to Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak and other MPs for breaking their own Covid rules, and on the blatant tax avoidance of Sunak’s family. We […]

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused a rapid spike in the Finnish public’s support for joining NATO. Finland’s right-wing political parties are using the opportunity to rush the country into the military pact; Finland’s […]

Emmanuel Macron has won the presidential election against Marine Le Pen. The capitalists’ plans worked, just, forcing a replay of the 2017 second round. Incredibly, Macron was able to win again despite the vicious policies […]

The Socialist Party (C WI England & Wales) is part of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), an anti-austerity electoral alliance, including the RMT transport union. TUSC will be standing hundreds of candidates in […]

In Germany the Left party DIE LINKE has been in a mounting crisis since the disastrous collapse in its vote in last September’s general election. The party saw a a fall in support since the […]

It is now more than eight weeks since the Russian parliament voted for Luhansk and Donbas to be recognised as independent republics and Putin’s tanks began to roll into Ukraine from the North, East and […]

Militant Left supporter Cllr. Donal O’Cofaigh is contesting the Fermanagh-South Tyrone constituency in the 5 May elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. Donal is running as a Cross Community Labour Alternative (CCLA) candidate. In an […]

The brutal war in Ukraine following Putin’s invasion, like all wars, has posed crucial issues for the working class, in the sharpest way.  War and revolution are the greatest tests for Marxists and the working […]

France’s right-wing president, Emmanuel Macron, faces far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the second round of the French election on 24 April. They won 27.8% and 23.2% respectively in the first round on 10 April. […]

Two months ago, there was a rising pile of ‘no-confidence’ letters in Prime Minister Boris Johnson from Tory MPs. Shaken by the Downing Street ‘partygate’ revelations, those MPs felt they had to echo public disgust […]

This year, 2022, is predicted to see the biggest fall in living standards in the UK since 1956. Inflation, according to the Retail Price Index, is already at 8.2% and is expected to rise further […]

Working-class women in Glasgow have once again defeated the Scottish National Party (SNP) -led council over equal pay. Faced with a 48-hour strike on 29/30 March by 12,000 low-paid workers, the council leadership embarked on […]

Bosnia-Herzegovina declared independence from Yugoslavia 30 years ago, on 5 April 1992. However, the referendum vote in favour of that decision was largely without the participation of the Bosnian Serb minority – around a quarter […]

Anger at rising prices, record profits for French multinationals and shareholders, the destruction of public services, the reduction of the rights of the unemployed, and isolated strikes on wages ongoing for several months. As in […]

Russia’s war against Ukraine is a shock and, at the same time, a turning point, because for the first time, in a long time, the question of a military confrontation between great powers is concrete. […]

Just as Gate Gourmet workers were dismissed by megaphone 17 years ago, the cold brutality of the bosses was shown by P&O ferry company last Thursday when they sacked 800 of their employees by Zoom. […]

The Russian state’s invasion of Ukraine marks a sudden rupture in world affairs which will have long-lasting consequences. In the Republic of Ireland, it has been cynically invoked in yet another attempt to undermine military […]

Since the outbreak of the Ukrainian war, Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, has become a ‘war hero’. In the Western media, he has gone from being a TV comic to becoming the face of resistance to […]

The world has been plunged into another catastrophe on top of the COVID-19 pandemic, following the murderous Putin regime’s invasion of Ukraine. The war, which has raged for more than two weeks, has brought with […]

Part of the background to the war in Ukraine has been the decades-long eastward creep in Europe of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) – the US-led western military alliance. Indeed, Putin has attempted to […]

The horror of war, of families fleeing for their lives as bombs fall on their cities and towns, is dominating the news. Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine is being watched with fear and revulsion. His […]

 A television documentary has uncovered new information about spectacular failings in the police investigation into the 2001 murder of Northern Irish journalist, trade unionist and socialist, Martin O’Hagan. The documentary established that a member of […]

Ahead of Russia declaring recognition for ‘People’s Republics of the Donetsk and Luhansk’ and invading Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a televised address where he attacked the Ukrainian government and Ukrainian oligarchs as a […]

The London tube strike in London got off to a solid start on 1 March as workers in the The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) on the Underground in all grades […]

The National Union of Students (NUS) in Britain has called a national student strike on 2 March in response to growing anger at our rotten university system – one in which students are exploited as […]

Fermanagh and Omagh District Council in Northern Ireland has again descended into farce. At the latest meeting, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Chair has muted left-wing councillors. First Donal O’Cofaigh, Cross-Community Labour Councillor and Militant […]

While bad weather batters Britain, another storm is raging. A growing number of workers are taking action as the cost of living squeeze tightens. This is the most significant strike wave for over a decade. […]

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared on Thursday, 24 February, that he has ordered a “special military operation” in Ukraine. Socialists and the wider working-class movement must condemn Putin’s military invasion, which will bring the death […]

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has recognised the ‘independence’ of two Moscow-backed breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine. He declared that ‘peace-keeping’ forces will be sent to the territories. Prospects of a revival of talks arising from […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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”. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 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 11 September 2001 the infamous 9/11 al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on US soil prompted the then US president George W Bush and British PM Tony Blair to instigate a Western military invasion and occupation of […]

Opinion polls in the last weeks before the September 26 German general election have shown rapid changes, especially for the two main contenders – the conservative christian democrat CDU/CSU bloc and the Social Democratic Party […]

NIALL MULHOLLAND reviews a new book that seeks to record what Protestants in Northern Ireland are thinking in these unsettled times. Northern Protestants: On Shifting Ground By Susan McKay The Blackstaff Press, 2021, £16.99   […]

CHRISTINE THOMAS reviews a recent book by FT journalist Philip Stephens charting the post-war demise of British capitalism – and the despair of the class he represents at its prospects post-Brexit, in a crisis-ridden international […]

Sharon Graham has won the Unite general secretary election. Her success is being celebrated by many members who saw her left candidature as the most likely to build and organise the union industrially as workers […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

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.  […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

Labour managed to narrowly hold onto to Batley and Spen in the parliamentary by-election on 1 July, scraping in by 323 votes. The Labour leadership is sighing with relief. In reality, however, this result is […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 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 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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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, […]

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  […]

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 […]

‘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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Our previous article on the Vienna elections was posted just before the murderous 2 November attack on hospitality workers and people out for the evening in Vienna. There can be no justification for this attack, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

‘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.  […]

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 […]

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’ […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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% […]

“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 […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

Twenty-five years ago, in July 1995, 8,000 Bosnian Muslim refugees were slaughtered in and around the Bosnian town of Srebrenica – one of the final atrocities in the 1992-95 Bosnian war. The designation of Srebrenica […]

On July 1 the vote for amendments to the Constitution of Russia ended. The real goal of voting was to extend Putin’s rule until 2036 and give the illusion of widespread support of the population. […]

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. […]

The end of World War Two left behind a world in upheaval. Demobilised troops and a war-weary population demanded a better future. Resistance movements in Europe published programmes demanding nationalisation. Workers’ strikes broke out across […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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: […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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, […]

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 […]

The following ‘workers’ charter’ to deal with the coronavirus crisis and workplace related issues, is produced by Socialist Party (England & Wales section of the CWI). The charter outlines a fighting programme for the current […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Featured article from February 2020 Socialism Today (Monthly journal of the Socialist PArty- CWI England & Wales. The relationship between fighting women’s oppression, identity politics, and the struggle for socialism is a feature of many […]

After dramatic election defeats last September in two East German federal state elections the leadership of Germany’s left party DIE LINKE opened a strategy debate in the run-up to a ‘Strategy Conference’ at the end […]

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 […]

The Labour Campaign for Trans Rights (LCTR) has intervened in the party’s leadership contest, calling on candidates to back its 12-point pledge. Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy have done so. The oppression trans people suffer […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 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 […]

[The] new government means “combination of fiscal restraint and tax cuts with environmental schemes and hard-line immigration policies” (Financial Times) Early January in Austria saw the Greens and the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP) agree to […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Labour activity in Finland is escalating as unions enter into months of negotiations with employers nationwide. The Social Democratic-led “left” government of Antti Rinne has proven to be interested in supporting workers in name only. […]

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, […]

‘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 […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

On the surface little seems to have changed as a result of the election to Portugal’s Legislative Assembly on the 6th October. But, beneath the surface, processes are developing which are likely in the next […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]