Yesterday, one of the leading daily papers in Greece, the left-leaning Eleftheropia (“Free Press”) published a full-page interview with the political editor of Marxist.com, Alan Woods. We publish here a complete English translation of this interview.

The Polish economy was the only European economy to avoid a technical recession in the wake of the global collapse in 2008. But the whirlpool of capitalist crisis continues to grow and as its pull on the creaking ship of the Polish economy intensifies, the strain is beginning to show. From the capitalist point of view, the Polish ship of state appears to be in good working order – the Polish left is weak and neo-liberalism dominates. But below the waterline social unrest and eye-watering inequality reveal the real state of the rotting capitalist system.

Two major UK charities, Church Action on Poverty and Oxfam, today published a report entitled ‘Walking the Breadline: the scandal of food poverty in 21^st century Britain’. The report says that the last five years of violent cuts by the UK government have led to “destitution, hardship and hunger on a large scale”.

Spanish capitalism is caught in a deep crisis. The bosses want the workers and the youth to pay. The only solution is to arm the masses with a revolutionary programme. This is the Editorial article of issue 10 of the Spanish Marxist publication "Lucha de Clases" (Class Struggle)

Public opinion in Britain and throughout the world was horrified by the murder of a soldier on the streets of Woolwich in South London. The gruesome images of a young man with bloodied hands, brandishing a kitchen knife and haranguing passers-by shook the entire nation to its foundations.

Sweden's suburbs are burning again: Husby, Kista, Tensta, Rinkeby Fittja, Vårby, Norsborg Jakobsbergsgatan, Flemingsberg and Skärholmen. Cars have been set on fire, police stations have had their windows smashed and groups of youngsters have thrown stones at the police. This is a symptom of the impasse of the capitalist system, but also a taste of coming revolutionary events. A long suppressed anger has found a desperate outlet when capitalism can no longer offer young people hope of a future.

“We are running a race with Bolshevism, and the world is on fire.” President Woodrow Wilson, Paris, March 1919

On Sunday May 15 2011, 150,000 people marched in about 40 cities throughout Spain under the banner of Democracia Real Ya (Real Democracy Now). The main slogan of the demonstrations was “We are not commodities in the hands of bankers and politicians”. In this article, which was originally published in 2011, Alan Woods explains the significance of this movement and outlines the position of Marxists towards it.

Amidst the onslaught of privatisations, cuts, pay freezes and redundancies emerging from the capitalist crisis, Britain’s environment-conscious Green Party are becoming increasingly torn by political polarisation. Forced to carry out the same agenda of public sector cuts being advocated by the Con-Dem coalition in the interests of capital, the Green Party in Brighton & Hove City Council is beginning to experience inevitable contradictions and conflict regarding its political agenda.

On April 30th, the Netherlands celebrated Queensday as usual. However, this time the ceremony was different, as it was also the day Queen Beatrix abdicated and her son Willem Alexander was inaugurated as the first King of the Netherlands since 1890.

On 5 May, more than 100 000 demonstrators marched through the streets of Paris in answer to a call from the Left Front, around the demand for a “Sixth Republic”. The Left Front is essentially an alliance between the Communist Party (PCF) and the Left Party (Parti de Gauche), led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. The attendance shows the capacity of the Left Front to mobilise massive support, as it did on an even more impressive scale during the presidential elections one year ago.

In an article featured in The Times newspaper yesterday sees former Tory chancellor Lord Nigel Lawson calls for Britain to exit the European Union. This adds to the mounting pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron, and it reveals the deep rifts developing within the Tory party at all levels.

Last week local elections were held in many parts of Britain. The Tories, and their partners-in-crime the Lib Dems, had another bad night at the polls. The BBC now estimate that, based on these results, the main parties would get this share of the vote in a general election: Labour 29%, Tories 25%, UKIP 23%, Lib Dems 14%. A closer look indicates that Labour would do better, but there is still widespread mistrust towards the present Labour leadership.

Thousands of protesters participated in May Day (International Workers’ Day) in London yesterday. The banners and slogans raised were extremely militant, calling for the end of austerity throughout Europe by overthrowing capitalism.

The Danish Social Democratic prime minister was booed off stage in several cities as the country witnessed the most dramatic May Day for the past two decades. Her party is now down to the lowest levels ever in the polls, following massive attacks against workers and youth.