Bernie Sanders came out on top in the New Hampshire primary, edging out Pete Buttigieg. The movement behind Sanders expresses a desire for left-wing politics in the USA, particularly amongst the young, who are fed up with the machinations of US capitalism and its two main parties. The establishment is in crisis, and an explosive period is being prepared. 

In this article for America Socialista (published 17 January), Jorge Martin looks back on the tremendous ‘Red October’ that swept Latin America last year, with insurrectionary movements in one country after another. Where did these eruptions come from? What were their limitations? What lessons were learned? And what is the perspective going forward?

On 5 February, two trade union leaders at the Bank Deposit Social Protection Fund - FOGADE, a state institution, received a notification of prohibition of entry into their workplace, a request for qualification of dismissal and a summons before the Labour Inspectorate for today, 7 February. This is a clear case of trade union repression that affects the general secretary of the Sutrabfogade union, William Prieto, and the health and safety delegate William Guzmán. We appeal to all our readers and supporters to send protest messages.

Yet again, necessity has been revealed through accident as the rotten nature of American capitalist democracy was exposed in Iowa. The political importance of the small Midwestern state was built up for months as countless candidate dollars and hours were spent in an effort to generate early momentum for November. Instead, the world was treated to a trainwreck of unimaginable incompetence—or cynical

The debacle around the Iowa Caucus has once again highlighted the true nature of the Democratic Party: a party of the US ruling class whose interests are directly opposed to those of the workers and the youth. We will publish a full comment on these events tomorrow. In the meantime, we are publishing an editorial by the US Marxists of Socialist Revolution, originally written on 24 January. Readers may also be interested in this article on the 2016 Iowa Caucus, which

Join our Canadian comrades for the 10th annual Montreal Marxist Winter School on 15-6 February 2020! The theme for the 2020 school will be “The fight against imperialism.” We have a great line up of presentations based on this theme with a series of international speakers we will be bringing into Montreal to lead these discussions.

"If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going". Up until recently, this was the slogan many pilots and passengers had adopted when flying or boarding an aircraft. It was a nod of respect for the Seattle aircraft manufacturer that brought America into the jet age with airliners like the 707, the three-engine 727 that followed, and the “Queen of the Skies” – the 747. How times have changed!

A line has been drawn in the sand. Finally, a union is defying unjust laws. The 760 workers of Unifor Local 594 and Unifor national president Jerry Dias are holding their ground in the dispute with Co-op Refinery in Regina and are saying that they will not obey a court injunction against hard pickets. This is a decisive turning point in the class struggle in Canada. It is beholden on the entire labour movement to rally to the support of Unifor in this struggle, and spread the movement to defeat this brazen attack.

Hamid Alizadeh (an editor at In Defence of Marxism) explains the recent developments between the US and Iran and why we must oppose American imperialism.

Early Friday morning (3 Jan 2020), in an act of supreme arrogance the Trump administration carried out the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, as well as top Iraqi paramilitary leader Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes in Baghdad airport. Yet again, US imperialism is adding to the instability in the Middle East.

Note: this dramatic development means we have postponed Alan Woods’ new year article, which will be published tomorrow.

Several European sections of the IMT organised a series of public meetings with Cuban Marxist Frank García Hernandez, to answer the question, “Where is Cuba going?”

On 4 December, the chamber of deputies approved the "anti-crime bill", presented by Justice Minister Sergio Moro. Overall, 408 congressmen voted "yes", including almost all of the PT (Workers’ Party) and three congressmen from the PSOL (Socialism and Liberty Party). This positioning from supposedly left-wing parliamentarians exposes the extent to which one can go while working within the system, demonstrating the wrong policy, ignoring the global class struggle, and showing a lack of confidence in the working class.

On 1 December, a feature article about the IMT made the main headline on the front page of one of Japan’s top daily newspapers. The Mainichi Shimbun (“The Daily Paper”) is Japan’s oldest major newspaper, founded in 1872 and published twice daily, with a circulation of 4 million. We publish below for our readers the English translation of the article, entitled The Internationale Resounds in NYC—Socialism Resonating with the Youth.

Lenin once said that “politics is a concentrated expression of economics.” For over a decade, we have been subjected to a deep and systemic crisis of capitalism. The only way out for the ruling class is to ramp up austerity and to intensify our exploitation even further. With inequality already at historic levels and relative standards of living in free fall for billions, this is a finished recipe for explosions of the class struggle. This explains why, just a quarter-century since the “end of history” was declared, the masses are again moving might and main to change their destinies.

Over 90 comrades from nine different countries on the American continent participated in the 4th Marxist Panamerican Cadre School of the International Marxist Tendency, held in Mexico on 28 November to 1 December. The meeting, taking place at a time of turbulence and mass uprisings in Latin America, was a success, being the largest Panamerican school we have ever held: revealing the advances of the IMT across the continent. For additional detail about the first day, click here.