The two-day national meeting held by the “EPANASTASI” (REVOLUTION) newspaper and the Communist Tendency of SYRIZA over the weekend of 20-21 December, was a big success. The meeting was attended by more than seventy activists, packed into the very welcoming hall of the "Art Garage". The rich content of the discussions and the participation of many young people were particularly encouraging.

Less than two months after assuming office, the Swedish government consisting of Social Democrats and the Greens has announced that they will call new elections. This marks a turning point in Swedish politics. The political instability in the rest of the world – a result of the crisis of capitalism – is now raising its head also in Sweden. This is the beginning of a deep crisis for bourgeois democracy and the capitalist system.

The Norwegian working class got a rude shock this autumn. The right-wing government has brought austerity to Norway, following their counterparts in the rest of Europe. It is clear that even living in the one of the richest countries on the planet will not save you from the crisis of Capitalism.

‘This is the strongest strike ever’ commented the general secretary Marie Hélène Ska of the Christian union CSC. She is right. The national work stoppage on Monday 15^th of December was without doubt the most “general” of 24 hour general strikes in the rich Belgian history of strikes.

A number of far right parties and individuals were elected to the Ukrainian Parliament (Rada) in the recent elections on October 26 in the lists of different parties or standing in single-mandate constituencies. Some are now part of the government majority and many have been elected to different positions in the parliamentary commissions.

Just a few weeks after signing the ceasefire with the rebel republics on September 5th, Poroshenko could be seen on CSPAN, asking a session of the US Congress for more lethal military equipment. It is becoming clearer every day that the ceasefire was a way of creating some domestic calm during the elections last month.

When Russell Brand was living his high-profile drug and party-fuelled life just a few years ago, the moralists in media and government had relatively little to say about him. Now that he has written a book calling for anti-capitalist revolution, bourgeois critics are lining up to insult, patronise and demonise Brand for daring to demand an alternative to the current system. This says a lot about the Establishment’s idea of what makes a good celebrity role-model.

A crisis has taken hold of the political establishment in Britain in recent months. Its latest episode was played out last week in the Rochester and Strood by-election. The UK Independence Party emerged to claim their second parliamentary seat at the expense of the ruling Conservative Party.

Solidarity with the Anti-fascist Resistance in Ukraine (SARU) held a supporters’ meeting on the 11th of November at the Marx Memorial Library in Clerkenwell, London. A packed room heard a series of speakers discuss the current situation in Ukraine and the way forward for the campaign.

Below is the speech by the representative of the Communist Tendency of SYRIZA, Stamatis Karayannopoulos, at the SYRIZA Central Committee meeting that took place during the weekend of 18 & 19 October 2014.

On Sunday, November 9, over 2.3 million Catalans mobilised to vote in a “consultation” over their future status in Spain defying Rajoy’s government which had twice banned the vote. The vote was on two questions, the first asking if Catalonia should have a state of its own and then, if so, whether such a state should be independent. Of those who voted, 80% or 1.8 million said they wanted Catalonia to be an independent state (Yes-Yes), 10% voted for what is interpreted as a federal solution (Yes-No), and 4.5% voted against statehood.

PODEMOS has become the focal point of Spanish politics. There is no party in the establishment that is not panicking about the dangers of ‘populism’. The last words of the one of the biggest bosses in Spain, the recently deceased president of Santander Bank, Emilio Botin, to a selective group of journalists days before he passed away, expressed his concern about the rise of PODEMOS.

On October 24-26, Marxists from all over Sweden gathered for a Marxist Weekend School in Gothenburg under the title "In Defence of Marxism!" The School was organised by Avanti, Swedish section of the International Marxist Tendency, who are fighting for the ideas of genuine, revolutionary Marxism in the Swedish Labour Movement and youth. In total, more than 30 people participated in discussions about Marxism and how we can fight for it today. The mood was enthusiastic, which was clearly visible both during the sessions and after.

It seems a little strange to think that when Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Classwas released in 2011, its author was then relatively unheard of. Three years down the line and you couldn't be faulted for thinking that Owen Jones is the media's go-to-guy for left-wing opinions. As well as being a columnist for The Guardian, he can often be spotted on television, making appearances on shows spanning from BBC Question Time to The Alan Titchmarsh Show. He is also an activist however, being a key figure in the People's Assembly movement and the think tank CLASS, as well as regularly speaking at various public events.

A new official report from Credit Suisse paints a grim picture of the growing divide in the UK between the rich and the poor.