Europe

The Tories have finally been driven from office! Humiliated, they have scuttled from power. It was an earth-shattering defeat that will open a new round of bitter civil war over who will succeed John Major. Every worker who has lost their job, every young person who has been denied a future, all those who have been driven into the ground for the past 18 years will be over the moon. The demise of the Tory government is being celebrated from one end of the country to the other.

An update on the situation in Albania written by Alan Woods on April 27, after the arrival of the international intervention force. This article was included by the Christian Science Monitor in the further recommended reading section for an article about Serbia!! (have a look at it)

Written by Alan Woods on March 16, 1997, this is a complete analysis of the events in Albania. Includes a historical background section and a detailed explanation of the meaning of the Albanian revolution and lessons for socialists internationally.

The uprising of workers, soldiers, peasants and students in Albania is an inspiration for the working class and the youth all over the world. It represents a forceful answer to all those cynicists, cowards and sceptics who doubted about the revolutionary potential of the working class.

First analysis of the Albanian revolution writen by Alan Woods on March 7, 1997, for the Spanish Marxist paper El Militante. The failure of the pyramid schemes is just the accident which started the revolution of the Albanian workers, peasants and youth against the corrupt pro-capitalist regime of Berisha.

In this article in our series on the history of the British Labour party, Barbara Humphries looks at the early years of Labour in parliament and how the development of the class struggle forced the leaders of the party to make the final break with Liberalism. (Originally published in Socialist Appeal, issue 48, February 1997).

December 1996 and January 1997 have witnessed mass demonstrations and protests against election rigging in Serbia. This article analyses the class nature of this movement and offers a way forward for workers in the whole of the former Yugoslavia.

This article by Ted Grant describes the wave of industrial unrest which shocked Russia during Autumn and Winter 1996, including a national day of protest called by the Federation of Independent Unions of Russia. Whether or not this wave of strikes signifies the start of a generalised movement or just a warning shot, we do not know yet. But it is clear answer to all the faint-hearts and sceptics who had written-off the Russian working class.

Following on from our first introductory article on the founding years of the British Labour Party, Barbara Humphries continues her series of articles that look at the issues and characters involved in the British Labour Party’s history and development. This was originally published in November 1996 in the British Socialist Appeal.

The dismissal of judge Connerotte in October 1996 sparked a mass movement which shocked the whole society in Belgium. Ordinary people were no longer afraid of challenging the state institutions: the police, the judges, the government, even the King. A Marxist analysis on the causes and effects of such a movement. The dismissal of judge Connerotte in October 1996 sparked a mass movement which shocked the whole society in Belgium. Ordinary people were no longer afraid of challenging the state institutions: the police, the judges, the government, even the King. A Marxist analysis on the causes and effects of such a movement.

A detailed analysis of the November/December 1995 General Strike in France. On those months millions of workers and youth took the streets of France in a movement which in certain aspects was even bigger than that of the May 1968. The effects of such a movement were felt all over Europe. In June 1996 workers in Germany carried banners saying: "We want to struggle in the French way".

October 1995 saw the signing of the Dayton agreement which had the intention of putting and end to the civil war. At that time Marxists already warned that this agreement, forced by imperialism, could not solve any of the problems of the peoples of the area.

We are republishing this article on the electoral victory of the former Stalinists in Hungary in 1994, first published in Socialist Appeal issue 23, July 1994. Following the trend of much of Eastern Europe Hungary in 1994 placed back in power the leaders and parties it had rejected just five years earlier. This article explains the background to the Socialists' victory.