Christmas and New Year is traditionally a time for celebration and the strengthening of relationships with friends and family. That such warmth between people is rare enough to be termed the “magic” of Christmas says a lot about the alienation of people from their own communities in their day-to-day existence under capitalism.

After the crisis broke out in 2008 workers and youth in Denmark were keeping their heads down in the face of attacks from the government and the bosses. Those struggles which did take place went down to defeats and therefore confidence was shaken. Now, however, with the the government's “fast-track-reform” in the universities, many youth have started raising their heads and are beginning to fight back.

The title "The Strange Death of Tory England", a book published in 2005, might seem an overstatement considering the nasty party has been in power since 2010. However the chronic sickness and decline of British capitalism is doing its best to infect the party that represents this diseased system. So unpalatable is the Conservative Party to huge proportions of Britain, representing as it does endless austerity, privatisation, inequality, and scandal, that it hasn’t won an election outright since 1992.

On December 12th thousands of school students all over Austria went on strike. This is the biggest student movement for years. We publish below a report from Rebellion- the Marxist school student organisation in Austria.

In the mass media, the demonstrations in the Ukraine are presented as the desire of the Ukrainian people for the country to join the European Union. However, anyone who has followed Ukraine in the last two decades can understand that the grievances are not limited to the question of joining the EU.

The “New Trade Unions and the Democratic Left: Historical Roots and Ideological Landmarks” conference occurred November 2-3 in Kiev. The conference brought together around 200 trade unionists, activists and academics for the two day event, mostly from Ukraine and the former USSR. The organizers of the conference included the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU), the Russian Confederation of Labour (KTR), the Belorussian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP), the Confederation of Trade Unions of Georgia (KPG), the social critique magazine Spilne (Спiльне), the Global Labour Institute/the Praxis Centre, the International Memorial and the workshop “Russian Left in

The recent interview between Russell Brand - actor, comedian, and guest editor of New Statesmen - and Jeremy Paxman - presenter and interviewer on the BBC’s Newsnight became an overnight sensation, quickly gaining popularity to become the most watched video on YouTube.

A year of revolutionary uprisings in Bulgaria has culminated this week in further mass protests calling for the removal of the government. On Sunday 10th November students of the country’s largest university in Sofia declared “total and effective occupation” and joined thousands of others on the ‘March for Justice’ through the centre of the capital.

People are becoming increasingly revolutionary, according to the latest polls. A growing hatred for big business and profiteering comes on top of the bankers’ bonus scandals, the Libor rigging scandal, the foreign exchange manipulation scandal, and the callous profiteering of the energy companies. Energy companies are now trusted less than bankers and car salesmen. This backlash against capitalism has rung alarm bells amongst the apologists of big business.

Despite comments on a tentative recovery with improvements in the housing market and banking profits booming once more, there is no doubt that there has been no recovery for the vast majority. Government debt stands at £1.2 trillion; many cuts are still to be made; poverty continues to grow – last year real income fell by 3% and government studies have shown that 52% of people in Britain struggle to pay their bills.

Students coming to London this year face an unprecedented attack on their education. Ever since the Tories and Liberals trebled university tuition fees to £9,000 in 2010, we have seen university funding continually rolled back and the costs of student living soar.

As part of the battle against the “cost of living crisis”, Ed Miliband has announced plans to incentivise businesses into paying a “living wage” through temporary tax breaks. The Labour leader paints a win-win situation, in which both workers and business gain. Every increase in real wages for workers is a step forward that is to be applauded. But what is likely to be the real outcome of Labour's latest pledge if implemented?

The following article is written by comrade Bill Landles, a longstanding defender of the ideas of Marxism, whose activity goes right back to the days of the Revolutionary Communist Party during the Second World War, where he played a role in the apprentices’ strikes. We are publishing  a transcript of a speech by Bill on the apprentices' strikes of 1944.

Grangemouth,situated in Scotland, is one of the most important petrochemical and refinery industries in Britain, employing almost 2300 workers, with about ten thousand jobs inderectly relying on the site. This was a scene of a key showdown for British workers over the past 10 days. The union, UNITE, was faced with an ultimatum from the Ineos bosses, to accept massive cuts and changes to terms and conditions or face drastic consequences. In the end the workers were let down by their union leadership that capitulated to the threats without any fight. This has serious consequences. It is vital that all workers learn the lessons of this dispute.

With the increasing draconian austerity measures being imposed on the Czech masses combined with plentiful kicks in the form of corruption and embezzlement scandals within all layers of the ruling class and the state, this weekend’s elections were an important event.