The New Democratic Party, fresh on the heels of an historic electoral victory, has just concluded its federal convention in Vancouver. Seven Fightback supporters from four different cities were there to intervene in the convention which, even before it began, was set to be a showcase for the balance of forces between the left and right wings of the party.

The 2011 federal NDP convention is debating a motion to remove all references to socialism in the party's constitution. At a time of the greatest crisis of capitalism since the Great Depression, the mass uprising in the Arab world, and the complete rejection of Liberalism in the federal election, there could not be a more mistimed proposal. At this time of austerity and crisis, we do not need more capitalism — we need more socialism.

The austerity has begun, and workers are the main target. The new Conservative majority government is showing us that all democratic rights and freedoms will be trampled if corporate profits are threatened. Conservative Labour minister Lisa Raitt has stated that she is prepared to put an end to workers’ democratic right to negotiate a new contract and better working conditions by legislating Air Canada and Canada Post workers back to work.

Toronto Centre-Rosedale has long been considered an unwinnable riding by the NDP.  However, by running a grassroots, activist, and socialist campaign in the recent federal election, the NDP more than doubled their vote in Toronto Centre and came within striking distance of defeating Bob Rae.  Solomon Muyoboke and Farshad Azadian, the campaign managers for the Toronto Centre NDP campaign and supporters of Fightback magazine, recount how socialist ideas can lead to victory.

It was not that long ago that Air Canada was facing imminent bankruptcy and placing the burden on its workers. In 2004, the airline wrung concessions from their employees — at the time, estimated to cost each worker $10,000. Aside from wage and benefits concessions, the unions also agreed to allow Air Canada to stop paying into the workers’ pension plan until 2010. In 2009, Calvin Rovinescu took over as chief executive for the airline, with the Globe and Mail remarking, “The Air Canada board is clearly preparing for a showdown with unions.” The two years that followed have been marked by a string of demands for concessions by the four Air Canada unions, even as profits and

We publish here the notes used by John Peterson, National Secretary of the WIL, as the basis for his introduction to the discussion on "Perspectives for the Class Struggle in the United States" at the 2011 WIL Marxist National School. We recommend it be read in conjunction with the U.S. Perspectives 2010 document approved at the WIL's last National Congress.

Yesterday, Sunday, comrade Atilio Jaimes Pérez, General Secretary of SELSA, was released. [See our previous appeal]. However, the charges against him have not been dropped.

The long delayed VI Congress of the Cuban Communist Party took place on April 16-19 in Havana and discussed the Guidelines on Economic and Social Policy for the Party and the Revolution. The Congress was timed to coincide with the 50^th anniversary of the attempted Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, when Fidel Castro proclaimed the “socialist character of the revolution”.

On May 28 Mel Zelaya, the Honduran president removed by a coup in June 2009 returned to Honduras where he was met by a massive crowd. On June 1, the Organisation of American States voted to readmit Honduras as a member, with only Ecuador voting against. The agreements that made this possible have provoked a lot of discussion amongst Honduran revolutionaries in the Resistance Front (FNRP) and throughout Latin America.

John Peterson of the Campaign for a Mass Party of Labor writes an open letter to Richard Trumka in response to Brother Trumka's recent statements concerning the AFL-CIO reducing contributions to the Democratic Party.

Welcome to the “Ninja Generation”--No Income, No Jobs, and No Assets. How does this compare to the idea that under capitalism things are always getting better? History has falsified this claim time and time again. We were promised an ever-increasing standard of living, something which in our parents’ generation may have seemed reasonable. The fundamental instability of capitalism was temporarily stabilized through the manipulation of government policy and by the extension of credit to the general population.

Over the weekend of May 28^th and 29^th, the Second National School of the Workers International League took place at Lake Elmo State Park and Reserve near Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN. Nearly fifty comrades participated in two full days of intense discussions, with topics ranging from the world revolution to the need for a mass party of labor in the United States. Representation from the WIL branches around the country was broad, with comrades from Minnesota, Iowa, Madison, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York, New Jersey, Boston, Washington, DC, Dallas, Northern California, Florida, Idaho, in attendance, as well as visitors from Canada and Britain.

On the 21^st of May, a spectacular meeting of more than 900 worker activists took place at the SIDOR steel works in Ciudad Guayana in the eastern part of Venezuela. The purpose of this encounter was to discuss the ongoing struggle for workers' control in the Bolivarian Revolution.

On Tuesday May 25, the US imposed penalties against Venezuelan state-owned company PDVSA, and another 6 companies from other countries, for conducting business with Iran.  The sanctions are part of an attempt by Washington to step up the pressure against Iran in relation to its nuclear program. They are also an act of blatant bullying directed against Venezuela.

In the wake of a worldwide series of austerity measures, the struggle against cuts in educational funding has intensified in the US. The state of North Carolina faces particularly crippling attacks on its public schools, community colleges, and universities, all of which are in jeopardy as state legislators attempt to reconcile a $3.7 billion budget deficit in the 2010-11 fiscal year.