At the last minute, when it seemed that a break was inevitable, the Greek government made a new proposal which included substantial additional concessions to the demands of Europe’s bankers and capitalists. It is not only that the Syriza government has been forced to abandon substantial points of its own election program, but even the famous “red lines” have been crossed.

“Young people are completely tired of the situation in Poland. The endless political war between the two main parties that never produces anything. They want change. I want change.” These are the words of a 21 year old student in Warsaw in the aftermath of the presidential election in May 2015.

Saturday’s End Austerity Now demonstrations defied all expectations. Prior to these events, the protest’s organisers, the People’s Assembly Against Austerity – a national coalition of local community campaigns, trade unions, and activist groups – had estimated that the attendance in London would be between 50,000 and 100,000. In the end, police estimates for the London demonstration alone gave a figure of around 250,000, with likely numbers exceeding this. Thousands more took to the streets in Liverpool and Glasgow. From the title of the protest to the placards on display and the slogans being shouted, the message was loud and clear: we reject your austerity!

To the shock and surprise of mainstream political commentators, Jeremy Corbyn, the left-wing Labour MP, has emerged as the clear winner in the first televised Labour leadership hustings. 82% of respondents on an online poll by the Daily Mirror considered Jeremy to have won the debate. Even the arch Tory paper, the Daily Telegraph was forced to admit he ‘wowed the audience with his Left-wing agenda’.

The protracted negotiations between Greece and the troika which started after the election of Syriza on January 25 this year seem to have reached a dead end to which there seems to be no negotiated solution. This perception has accelerated the withdrawal of deposits from the banks which in turn brings the outcome closer. The troika is tightening the noose and unless the victim manages to break free it will choke.

Ruslan Onyshchenko, the commander of the Tornado Volunteer Battalion of the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior and seven of his men were arrested on June 17 accused of rape and torture. In turn, the men accused the Luhansk Oblast police chief Anatoly Naumenko (an authority in the Kiev controlled part of Luhansk) of running a protection racket for smuggling cast iron from rebel occupied territory and said that the arrest is linked to those accusations. This case gives a glimpse into the brutal methods used by the volunteer battalions, composed of far right thugs and criminal elements, as well as the corruption of officials at all levels.

On Wednesday, June 17, police arrested Alfonso Fernández “Alfon” who will spend 4 years in jail for his struggle and political ideas. Hundreds of people, youth and working class activists, came out to the San Borromeo parish church in the Madrid working class district of Vallecas to protest his arrest. He had been denied the right to hand himself over voluntarily. This is yet another person jailed in Spain for his political ideas.

The party leadership must respond to Manolis Glezos’s appeal for the “dialogue” with the extortionists to end! (First published Monday, 15 June, 2015)

The Communist Tendency of SYRIZA agrees with the general spirit of support for an independent, class-based, anti-capitalist struggle that is expressed in the appeal on the part of META – Syriza’s faction inside the trade union movement – with regard to the mass gatherings across Greece on Tuesday, 17 June.

Not only a move to please the far-right, the primary reason for new law against the memory of communism (passed by parliament April 9th) is another step by the oligarchy in trying to legitimise itself.

Thousands came out to cheer the swearing in of new mayors in Spain on Saturday June 13, in scenes not seen since 1979 or perhaps 1931. The May 24 municipal and regional elections represented a serious setback for the ruling right wing PP. But the extent of their defeat was not clearly visualised until June 13, when mayors representing parties and alliances to the left of social democracy were sworn in, in 4 of the 5 largest cities in the country: Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza and Valencia. The fifth, Seville, was taken over by a PSOE mayor, with the support of Podemos-backed “Participa Sevilla”, and United Left (IU).

Jeremy Corbyn, the left wing Labour MP, has got on the ballot paper for Labour leader. This is a remarkable and welcome turn of events, despite being achieved by the slimmest of margins.

The EU and IMF sharks have dropped their mask and revealed their real intentions, removing any illusions there may have been that an "honourable compromise" with the Greek government was somehow possible. The question is: what should be done now? What programme and policy should the government adopt in breaking with the creditors? Here we provide a statement of the .

“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776.

On 27th May, the Queen announced, on behalf of the new Tory government, the latest vicious attacks on workers, youth, and the poor that can be expected in the coming period: a raft of cuts to benefits, particularly aimed at young people; the depletion of the publicly owned housing stock, relied upon by those most in need; and the most serious assault on trade union rights in decades. The scene is now set for an intense class struggle in the period ahead.