The Portuguese snap elections of 10 March were a political earthquake. The left and centre-left parties that dominated the country’s politics for almost ten years have suffered a painful defeat. The conservative Democratic Alliance (AD) won the elections, although by a very narrow margin. The real victor was the far-right party Chega, which more than doubled its share of the vote. Impressionists warn this heralds a turn to the right in Portuguese society. However, these results are a harbinger of instability and of major class battles to come.

A recent New York Times article, “based on more than 200 interviews, current and former officials in Ukraine, the United States and Europe” has laid bare some aspects of US imperialism’s intervention in Ukraine. It details a collaboration between the CIA and Ukrainian intelligence services stretching back to the aftermath of the 2013-4 Euromaidan movement, and continuing up to the present war, including the construction of 12 “forward operating bases constructed along the Russian border.”

Last week, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak issued a grave message outside 10 Downing Street: “democracy is under attack”! What led him to draw this dramatic conclusion? The people of Rochdale (formerly a safe seat for the British Labour Party), voted overwhelmingly for an anti-imperialist firebrand George Galloway, with a monumental collapse of support both for Sunak’s Tories and for Keir Starmer and his Blairite ilk.

George Galloway’s victory in the Rochdale by-election is a painful shock for the political establishment. Starmer and the Labour right wing have been dealt a sharp blow – the first of many. Communists must organise to channel this mood of anger.

As we recently reported, comrades of the International Marxist Tendency in Austria are under attack from the state apparatus for opposing the oppression of the Palestinian people. Two comrades have been falsely accused of ‘supporting terrorism’ for promoting the IMT’s statement against the war on Gaza. Below is an update on the legal case against our comrades Alex and Sonja. This is followed by some reports of the incredible wave of solidarity that our comrades have received.

On 16 February in Naples, the comrades of the Italian section of the IMT, Sinistra Classe Rivoluzione (SCR) held a successful launch event at the Sala del Capitolo of the Complesso Monumentale di San Domenico Maggiore, in the city’s historic centre, for the Lenin lives! Campaign – an initiative to reclaim the real revolutionary legacy of Lenin in this, the centenary year of his death.

The announcement by the Russian Ministry of Defence that its forces had full control of the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka represents a devastating blow to Ukraine and almost certainly a decisive turning point in the war.

In yet another scandalous attack on freedom of expression, a number of our Austrian comrades have been summoned by a state prosecutor for their support for the IMT and Palestine. We thoroughly reject the baseless accusations of the Austrian state, and express our complete solidarity with the comrades subject to this attack.

Unrest is spreading across the European countryside, from Poland to Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Romania and Greece. Farmers are on the move, and they have not flinched from using the most militant methods – in stark contrast to the ‘respectable’ methods we are used to from the trade union leaderships. They are getting concessions and millions of workers are taking note.

Two months after his release from jail, left-wing sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky was sentenced to five years in prison by a Russian appeals court. The Russian law enforcement system showed that it had made an uncommon error in releasing him, rather than showing a sign of a thaw.

The British section of the International Marxist Tendency are proud to commemorate the centenary of Lenin’s death by publishing a book defending his life and ideas, and by launching their new paper The Communist and the Revolutionary Communist Party. The ‘Communist’ Party of Britain, by contrast, is promoting articles on Lenin that only mislead and sow confusion.

A spectre is haunting the Swiss media – the spectre of the Revolutionary Communist Party! Its launch on Saturday (10/02) by the Spark (the Swiss section of the IMT) has been picked up by all the major media outlets. Blick ran the headline: “Revolution in Switzerland is completely realistic!” The bourgeois paper NZZ went with: “Lenin to rise again in Switzerland”, and 20 Minuten: “Revolution as the target – 250 new communists wanted”.

In July 1936, General Franco’s coup d’état was defeated through a revolutionary uprising of the working class, and the anarchists emerged as the leading force. However, their programme and perspectives proved impotent in the face of events. They betrayed the revolution several times and, partly due to their mistakes, the Spanish proletariat was crushed. Fascism went on to establish a four-decade dictatorship. It is the duty of all thinking anarchists to analyse events in Spain critically and draw all the necessary conclusions.

Last Saturday, police officers in Britain arrested an IMT member for raising the slogan of 'Intifada 'til victory!'. But the communists won't back down. We need your help to fight back against state repression, and to see an end to this brutal capitalist system.

Tata’s decision to close its Port Talbot steelworks will devastate the town. With no lead coming from the trade union tops, the Communists have launched a campaign for workers to get organised, occupy the plant, and demand its full nationalisation.