On Friday, February 20th Greece signed a joint statement with the Eurogroup of Finance Ministers which amounts to an abandonment of the programme on which Syriza won the election on January 25, as well as government policy statements made since then. What are the details of the deal?

Friday’s Eurogroup agreement amounts to the government’s capitulation to the Troika’s blackmail. The agreement provides for a four-month extension, not simply of the “loan agreement”, but, as is expressly stated, of the “programme”, that’s to say of the Memorandum itself.

On February 17th Peter Oborne, one of the UK's most respected journalists, resigned from the Daily Telegraph and publicly condemned its practice of placing advertisers interests above those of the truth. As a conservative liberal, Peter Oborne is concerned that our famed and cherished 'freedom of speech' is being undermined by business interests. Freedom of expression is routinely and uncritically heralded as our society's proudest achievement to be defended at all costs. It is always assumed that, essentially, we possess this freedom, and it is only necessary to preserve it in one way or another. In truth, under capitalism there is no such thing as free expression nor a free press, for

No more retreats! The government must formulate an alternative collision plan with the blackmailers and their local lackeys, a plan that favours the working masses!

The diplomatic negotiations between Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France have led to a cease-fire agreement which will be difficult to carry out on the ground.   We will return to this agreement and the different imperialist interests involved in a future article.   For the moment we are publishing this article which was written on 2 February, which deals with the military and political situation inside Ukraine itself.

Tsipras announced yesterday that former New Democracy Minister of the Interior (2004-2009) Prokopis Pavlopoulos was to be the government's nominee for president. Read here a statement by .

Once again, any illusions that the negotiations with its creditors could ever yield something positive for Greece have now crumbled in the light of the recent Eurogroup meeting. The unanimous ultimatum of Greece’s so-called capitalist Eurozone “partners” to the new government and the overwhelming majority of the Greek people that support the government was once more a provocation.

After the breakdown of negotiations between the Greek government and the EU last week, the produced this article, which provides background information to the present impasse.

This week revelations on BBC’s Panorama have sparked an explosive scandal: HSBC, the UK’s largest – and the world’s second largest – bank, has been caught facilitating industrial-scale tax evasion, committed by some of its wealthiest clients. Thousands of leaked bank account files obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the BBC, The Guardian and others show that between 2005 and 2007 the bank’s Swiss arm colluded with clients to conceal money and whole bank accounts from their respective domestic tax authorities, whilst also marketing aggressive tax avoidance schemes for its wealthiest customers. The accounts involved were worth an estimated $119bn.

Tsipras and his finance minister Varoufakis have toured the European capitals in an attempt to muster support for their debt renegotiation policies but have been met with open hostility. The workers in Greece are rallying around what they regard as their government in a movement that could escalate in the coming weeks.

Since PODEMOS started registering members on its website in July 2014, over 300,000 have joined. Tens of thousands take part in the weekly meetings of over 1000 circles scattered all over the country. With just over a year of life, Podemos has gone from nothing to becoming, according to all opinion polls, the first party of the country, polling at 30% with about 6.5 million votes. One would have to go back to 1977, immediately after the fall of the dictatorship, to find a comparable political phenomenon in terms of enthusiasm, hopes and mass organisation.

Last Sunday's government programme announcement by the Prime Minister did not contain the sort of backtracking that the ruling class and the Troika are seeking. The government and SYRIZA should maintain a dignified and firm position. A confrontation with the Troika and capital is inevitable given that they have no desire to negotiate with the  government. Rather they seek to humiliate it, have no qualms about undermining its commitments to the Greek people and even about expelling Greece from the Euro. Therefore, the important measures contained in the government's programme cannot be implemented unless these are supported by a socialist programme.

Read the statement of the on the latest developments in Greece. The new government should stay true to its commitments and keep away from any new agreement - which would be a trap to keep Greece in the terms of the Memorandum.

The election victory of Syriza in Greece marked a fundamental shift not only in the situation in Greece, but throughout Europe. A week after the elections we interviewed Ilias Kirousis, a member of the Communist Tendency of SYRIZA as well as the leadership of SYRIZA’s youth wing. Here Ilias gives us his analysis of the elections and the perspectives for the SYRIZA government.

The retreats of the Syriza leadership have not forestalled German ultimatums - The solution lies in radical policies; not in diplomacy. Denounce the debt - nationalise the banks - expropriate the oligarchy!