100 years ago, under the leadership of the Bolshevik Party, the workers in Russia took power. John Reed called it “The Ten Days that Shook the World”, the beginning of a gigantic struggle to leave behind the ruins of capitalism and build a new society – a task still to be accomplished. A hundred years on, Sinistra Classe Rivoluzione, the Italian section of the International Marxist Tendency, is organising a big event to commemorate the greatest revolution in history on Saturday, 28 October, in Naples.

Theresa May, having ridden high in the nine months following her coronation as Tory leader and prime minister back in 2016, has now met with a dastardly fall. Since the June general election result - which robbed her of her parliamentary majority - everything seems to have gone belly up.

The Brexit negotiations appear to have ground to a halt. “There was nothing, zero, no progress,” said one official last week. Not surprisingly, there is now a deep sense of frustration, not to mention deep anxiety, about where things are heading. Philip Hammond, the current chancellor, has even warned that a “no deal” scenario would ground all aircraft on day one, clog up all the ports and impose a “hard” border in the North of Ireland.

450,000 marched on Saturday, October 21, in Barcelona (according to local police) with tens of thousands gathering in other towns and cities across Catalonia, to demand freedom for the two Jordis (held without bail on sedition charges) and to reject the Article 155 coup announced by Spanish president Rajoy in the morning.

The Revolution 2017 school was held in Göteborg on the 6-8 October – a weekend dedicated to the 100-year anniversary of the Russian Revolution. With 65 participants, great talks with a high political level, and a huge collection of 95,000 Swedish kronor, this was an important milestone in the building of the International Marxist Tendency.

Avui entrevistem a Vidal Aragonés, regidor a l’ajuntament de Cornellà per Cornellà en Comú-Crida per Cornellà, advocat laboralista vinculat a diferents sindicats de classe més combatius especialment als estibadors, professor de dret laboral a la UAB, i uns dels defensors més eloqüents de la independència des d’un punt de vista marxista.

We publish here an interview by the Catalan paper of the IMT, Revolució.Vidal Aragonés is a town councilor in Cornellà, for Cornellà en Comú-Crida per Cornellà; a labour lawyer linked to different militant class struggle unions (especially to the dockers); professor of labour law at the UAB and one of the most eloquent advocates of independence from a Marxist point of view.

Re-visiting the question of the United States of Europe in the wake of the war and the creation of the Soviet Union, Trotsky once again put forward the slogan of a “United States of Europe” in his 1923 article, "Is the Time Ripe for the Slogan: ‘The United States of Europe’" published in Pravda. Again, Trotsky emphasises the revolutionary significance of the demand for the democratic unification of Europe but this time with an even clearer class content, asserting that the demand for a United States of Europe cannot be isolated from the demand for a “Workers’ Government”.

 As Josh Holroyd discusses, the future for both the UK and EU under capitalism is one of stagnation, slump, and austerity. The chaos of Brexit is a precursor to further crises in Europe as the system continues to unravel.

Después de 9 días de euforia españolista desatada en todo el Estado, la crisis en Catalunya podría tomar un nuevo giro con la detención de los máximos dirigentes de dos de las principales organizaciones independendistas, Jordi Sanchez y Jordi Cuixart, de la Asamblea Nacional Catalana y de Òmnium Cultural. En la noche de ayer hubo caceloradas masivas en toda Barcelona y otras ciudades. En Girona, hubo una gran manifestación nocturna y cortes de carretera en algunas poblaciones, como El Masnou. Hoy martes, hay convocadas movilizaciones al mediodía de los estudiantes y

Jorge Martin reports on how the arrest of two Catalan officials has reignited the mass movement for independence. The whip of oppression wielded by the Spanish state has driven the masses back into action, the mood is incendiary, and Puigdemont has been left little room for maneuver.

Monday morning, October 16 at 10 am was the first deadline the Spanish government had given the Catalan government to clarify whether it had declared independence or not. That summons sent last week, was part of the legal requirements to implement article 155, suspending Catalan autonomy. Once again, Catalan president Puigdemont gave another inconclusive answer.

Sembrava che tutto fosse stato preparato in anticipo. Il presidente catalano, Carles Puigdemont, stava per recarsi al Parlamento catalano e annunciare la costituzione di una repubblica indipendente, come avrebbe dovuto fare visti i risultati del referendum del 1 ° ottobre.

On 30 September, a unified chant could be heard from Göteborg’s Korsvägen: “no Nazis on our streets!” Around 20,000 protesters congregated to oppose the fascist sect NMR, who were staging a demonstration to flex their muscles. By the end of the day, the anti-fascist movement stopped the NMR’s demonstration in Göteborg and even the fascists complained publicly that the day was a “victory for [their] opponents”. This was a major victory for the radical left in Sweden that sent the Nazis running with their tails firmly between their legs.

Socialist Appeal (British section of the International Marxist Tendency) will hold its October Revolution festival in one week. Don't miss out on this incredible celebration of Marxist ideas on the centenary of the Russian Revolution.