Canada: the standing ovation for a Nazi in parliament was not just a mistake Canada’s Parliament has made the PR gaffe of the century by inviting a known Nazi collaborator into the House of Commons and giving him a standing ovation. While certainly an embarrassing blunder, this was more than a one-off mistake. The incident puts the full spotlight on the pattern of Canadian imperialism of whitewashing Ukrainian fascists; and on the complete...
USA: Biden’s cynical calculations at the UAW picket line The ongoing UAW strike represents a historic opportunity for the labor movement, which all workers and all revolutionary youth must vigorously support. In a new twist, Joe Biden—an enemy of workers the world over, and head of the most reactionary imperialist power on the planet—showed up in Michigan yesterday to “support” striking workers.
USA: will the “Stand-Up” strike lead auto workers to victory? In our recent article on the UAW contract battle, we said that this would be a big test for Shawn Fain and the new UAW leadership. We explained that the key question would be whether the new UAW leaders would try to lead a struggle within the limits of what is acceptable to the capitalist system, or whether they would challenge the very system that demands poor wages and conditions. The Flint Sit-Down strike of 1936–37 and other class-struggle plant occupations threw down the gauntlet to the employers: Who really runs the factory—the workers or the owners?
USA: the UAW and the fight for a new contract Autoworkers have endured decades of eroding wages and worsening working conditions as the Big Three auto companies—General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis—have shored up their profits by taking it out of the hides of the workers. But these workers are saying “enough is enough!” As a result, 150,000 union auto workers are gearing up for strike action in the US, as their contract with these companies approaches a September 14 expiration date.
Young people in Texas are organizing for communism The state of Texas is often viewed as an impenetrable cesspool of conservatism. Texas and other Southern states are known for the frequent attacks by the ruling class and their state governments against workers, women, immigrants, LGBTQ people, etc., and many people write off the state entirely, thinking that this stranglehold can’t be broken.
Chile: 50 years after the coup d’etat It has been 50 years since the coup d’état against president Allende in Chile. In this article, Carlos Cerpa Mallat describes the events that preceded the coup, how the transition from dictatorship to the current regime took place, and draws the main political conclusions of that tragedy, which are necessary to arm the new generations.
Chile: the threatening catastrophe Monday 11 September marks the 50th anniversary of the coup that overthrew president Salvador Allende in Chile. This article, written in 1971 by Alan Woods two years before these events, warned against the threat of a military coup if the Popular Unity government failed to mobilise the masses and carry out a genuine socialist programme. We have also republished a longer piece, written by Alan Woods after the coup, which can be found here.
Lessons of Chile 1973 Monday 11 September marks the 50th anniversary of the 1973 coup that overthrew president Salvador Allende in Chile and installed the brutal Pinochet dictatorship. We will be publishing a series of historical and contemporary articles analysing the events of the coup, starting here with a document written in 1979 by Alan Woods, analysing the history of the Chilean labour movement and the period of the Popular Unity coalition government of Allende. Who was behind Pinochet's coup? What interests was he defending? What were the policies of the Allende government and why despite all warnings was he unable to prevent the coup?
$10,000 for the 5th Pan-American Cadre School of the International Marxist Tendency From 30 November to 3 December, dozens of communists from across the American continent will be gathering in Mexico for the 5th Pan-American Cadre School of the IMT. We are expecting over 100 comrades from Canada, the US, Mexico, El Salvador, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Chile and Argentina will participate in the school, which is being organised around the theme of the life and ideas of Lenin, marking the 100 anniversary of his death in January 1924. The opening rally will take place at the Trotsky House Museum in Mexico City and the rest of the school will be held at a residential venue outside of the Mexican capital.
USA: capitalism’s cancer treatment crisis The United States is rife with crises: from the economy to the environment to student debt—and the problems facing workers don’t stop there. The country is now suffering a ...
Are you a communist in the US? Our comrades say: get organized! The following article and podcast was produced by the US comrades of Socialist Revolution. As the crisis of American capitalism continues to bear down on the working class and youth, we say: there is a better future to be won! Join the communists and get organised! The comrades also have a slate of events taking place across the USA in coming months, shared below. We have IMT sections and groups throughout the world. Follow the links on this page to find the communists nearest to you.
USA: Trump’s mugshot – more turmoil and instability on the horizon On August 24, Trump was arrested for the third time in recent months, this time in Atlanta, on felony charges stemming from alleged efforts to manipulate Georgia’s vote count during the 2020 election. He was booked, fingerprinted, and photographed in Fulton County Jail. While the Democrats and their liberal hangers-on lauded the mugshot in celebration of bourgeois “justice,” Trump monetized it. Within 24 hours, his campaign raised $4.18 million in political donations and sales of mugshot merchandise. This broke the campaign’s one-day fundraising record and is well over half of the amount raised since he officially announced his candidacy ...
Blood and Gold: the Spanish Conquest of the Americas When the Spanish arrived in the Americas 500 years ago, they encountered diverse cultures across the continent, including powerful civilisations such as the Mexica and the Incas. This article, first published in issue 40 of In Defence of Marxism magazine (click here to subscribe), takes a look at the material foundations of these rich cultures, their internal contradictions, as well as the conditions of contemporary Spain itself at the time of the conquest. Only by understanding these conditions can we in turn understand the devastation that the conquest wrought, and the wider role of these events in the ascent of...
Supreme Court approves assault on Communist Party of Venezuela Lucha de Clases – the Venezuelan section of the International Marxist Tendency – expresses its firm opposition to the recent attack on the Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV), orchestrated by the leadership of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) and carried out by the judiciary. This manoeuvre has stripped the PCV’s membership and the legitimate leadership of the party of legal control of its name, symbols and legal identity.
Wildfires devastate Hawaii: capitalism’s latest climate horror The Hawaiian island of Maui has been devastated by wildfires, leaving nearly 100 dead at the time of writing. The inferno has been described as the deadliest natural disaster in the history of the state of Hawaii. But in fact, there was little natural about this tragedy. It was an accident waiting to happen, facilitated by the capitalism-created climate crisis, and disproportionately affecting poorer neighborhoods on an island treated as a luxurious plaything by the wealthy.