On Thursday 11th April, a packed Socialist Appeal meeting at University College London saw miners’ leaders and trade unionists recall the brutality of Thatcher and the bitter lessons etched into their consciousness.

"España entera es un escrache". Así empezaba un artículo en la web de Público.

El PP y los medios de comunicación de la burguesía han arremetido visceralmente contra la propuesta de la Plataforma de Afectados por las Hipotecas (PAH) de señalar  a los cargos públicos que apoyan las medidas que favorecen los desahucios. Las demandas de la PAH, sin embargo, son apoyadas por la mayoría de la población. Ada Colau, portavoz estatal de la PAH, estigmatizada por los medios más reaccionarios, explicaba correctamente cómo "se envía la policía contra ciudadanos honrados..., pero no contra los corruptos ni bancos que acosan a los más

There was a record participation of 110 attendees at Socialist Appeal sellers’ annual conference over the weekend of 6th and 7th April. The increased quantity was also expressed in a higher quality than ever before. Never has Marxism been as relevant and potentially powerfully as today, and never before have the ranks of the Marxists been as confident and optimistic.

Amongst the victims of Thatcherism include the miners in Britain, who fought a long battle against the Tory government of the 1980s. Here we present a letter from John Dunn of the Justice for Mineworkers campaign, who gives a personal view of hearing the news about Thatcher's death. The letter is entitled: "The day Margaret Thatcher died and ruined my internal decor".

The TV is full of the sycophantic outpourings of right-wing commentators and politicians about the sudden death of Margaret Thatcher. The Establishment has rallied to praise her. The Queen has sent a personal message of condolence to the Thatcher family. The news is full of tributes, portraying Thatcher as some kind of champion of freedom and liberty. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. She was a champion – a champion of capitalism, the ruling class, and all it represents.

Margaret Thatcher, the former Tory Prime Minister and one of the most hated figures in the history of the labour movement, died today at the age of 87. Thatcher, more than anyone, personified the brutal attacks on the working class during the 1980s - attacks that the Tory-led Coalition are continuing today. We publish here a short piece on Thatcher's death, with more in depth analysis of her legacy to follow soon.

In 2010, British students took to the streets in the biggest and most militant display of student anger in decades. At the time, it was clear that this heralded the beginning of a wave of radicalisation in society in response to the crisis of capitalism, austerity and the Conservative government. The protesters even attacked the Conservative HQ in their thousands. This article analyses the perspectives for the student movement in the UK, and deals with questions such as how militant student activists should organise and what attitude they should have to the National Union of Students (NUS).

After the great financial collapse of 2008, we find ourselves in a turbulent period. Mass unemployment and savage attacks on living standards are the order of the day; revolutionary upheavals across the Middle East, Europe and America are the response. Many people have begun to ask fundamental questions about the way society is organised; in particular, the role of banks and financial institutions - ‘finance capital’ - has been put under the microscope.

The credit agency Moody’s has stripped Britain of its triple A credit rating, humiliating the coalition government. It comes on top of news that the UK’s economy shrank in the last quarter of 2012, whilst the other two main credit agencies have the UK on “negative watch”. All this increases fears of the British economy heading for a triple-dip recession.

The Justice and Security Bill, published for debate in May 2012, deals with matters relating to the secret services. Most controversially, it includes proposals to introduce ‘Closed Material Procedures’ (CMPs), also known as ‘secret trials’, to civil damages proceedings in the UK. Such procedures are already used in criminal trials, and some immigration and employment cases. This would prevent one party to proceedings from seeing or challenging evidence when it is deemed necessary to protect ‘national security’.

The question of the border and the National Question in the North have played an enormous role in the history of Ireland. As such the question of a Border Poll is of great importance. Not least as it is some 40 years ago since the last poll of this character was conducted. The result in 1973 was overwhelmingly against a United Ireland, but as Catholic voters boycotted the poll the reality is that the result was a foregone conclusion.

Marx wrote in the 18th Brumaire that history repeats itself first as a tragedy and then as a farce. This is what is happening in Cyprus. We are witnessing a situation similar to two years ago when the EU put pressure on Greece to accept a bail-out, but this time around 56 Cypriot politicians have created a huge problem for capitalists across Europe.

The Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King, once said that it was not rational to start a bank run but rational to participate in one once it started. These words of wisdom have once again become reality.

The leader of Syriza, Alexis Tsipras, visited London last week. On the 14^th March he spoke in the LSE on an event of the Hellenic Observatory titled “Greece’s way out of the crisis” week. On 15^th March, He met with member of the Labour’s shadow cabinet and the TUC and concluded his visit to London with a public lecture at the Friends Meeting House. This event was organised by the Syriza branch of London and attracted over 500 people that packed the venue. Comrade Tsipras started his speech by giving a grim description of the current situation of the Greek economy and society.

In November 2011 Denmark’s right-wing coalition government led by the Liberal party (Venstre) lost the general election to the centre-left coalition led by the Social Democrats. This election marked the end of a period of neo-liberal domination in Danish politics that had lasted ten years. Many working people hoped that this new centre-left coalition government would mean a change in economic and social policy, not least because for the first time ever the Socialist People’s Party (Socialistisk Folkeparti, SF) was participating in the government. Although it should also be said that, along with the Social Democrats and the SF, the government also embraced the liberal-centrist party,