The first round of the French presidential election has turned out as Macron had hoped, and as he had prepared for a long time. In 2017, Macron won 66% of the vote against Le Pen in the second round. Millions of voters who had voted for Mélenchon or Hamon at that time in the first round, mobilised to “block the far right” in the second round. For five years, the Head of State has been aiming for the repetition of this scenario.

The main peculiarity of the present war in Ukraine is that it has been completely overshadowed by an unprecedented war of information. This has served to generate a lot of heat, but very little light. In fact, its principal objective is not to inform, but to conceal the real situation. In this, one has to admit, it has been highly successful.

Three days before the first round of the presidential election in France, one thing is for certain: Jean-Luc Mélenchon is the only left-wing candidate with any hope of reaching the second round. In a few weeks, he went from 10 percent to 16 percent in the polls. However, the same polls put Marine Le Pen in second place behind Macron, with a lead over Mélenchon that varies from between four to six points. What is the position of the Marxists?

Last weekend, over 50 comrades took part in the national political conference of the Spanish section of the IMT. It was our first face-to-face meeting in three years and our largest in-person national conference to date.

Workers at the Greek rail company TRAINOSE in Thessaloniki have forced the bosses to back down, after refusing to assist with transporting NATO tanks from the port of Alexandroupoli to Ukraine. The following statement was originally written in Greek on 5 April 2022, prior to the general strike that commenced the following day.

With the British monarchy mired in crisis and scandal, calls for republicanism are growing across the Commonwealth. The struggle for genuine independence must be linked to the struggle against imperialism and capitalism – and for socialism.

In the April 2017 French presidential election, Révolution, the French section of the International Marxist Tendency, critically supported the candidacy of Jean-Luc Mélenchon of France Insoumise (FI). Five years later, the French Marxists will again support FI in the upcoming elections (which begin on 10 April), despite maintaining their criticisms of its and Mélenchon’s limitations. In this article (written at the beginning of the year), they explain their position.

Over the weekend, over a hundred Marxists gathered for the national congress of Revolution, the Swedish section of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT), in preparation for the revolutionary events that lie ahead of us both in Sweden and on a world scale.

The impact of the war in Ukraine will be felt far beyond European shores. With Russia and Ukraine together being responsible for 12% of all calories traded, and natural gas forming an important component in fertilisers, the war is exacerbating food inflation. Coming at a time when many of the dominated capitalist countries have built up massive debts in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the war is adding to a perfect storm that will provoke class struggle on a global scale.

We have received this report on the rising repression within Russia, as the “special operation” (i.e. the war in Ukraine) drags on. Even the mildest criticism of the invasion is being shut down, on pain of arrest and imprisonment. Independent news sources and social media platforms are shuttered, and anyone voicing disapproval of the war is labelled a “national traitor.” These measures are a sign of President Vladimir Putin’s weakness, not his strength, and will only cause the masses’ resentment to accumulate. 

Over three million people have now fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion on 24 February, with the UN declaring the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War. There has been an outpouring of sympathy for those fleeing war from millions of people. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary people have even offered to open up their homes to those displaced. But the ‘generosity’ of the governments of the West reeks of hypocrisy.

As people around the world watch the war unfold in Ukraine, many are left asking: “What can I do to stop it?” Following in the footsteps of state sanctions, the answer provided by politicians and official organizations has been: exclude Russians from international events, ban Russian products, and boycott Russian businesses.

Last week, P&O Ferries sacked hundreds of workers, replacing them with agency labour. With this savage attack, the bosses have declared war on the whole working class. The trade unions must respond with a call to arms – and prepare for battle.

This weekend, hundreds of Socialist Appeal supporters met for this year’s national conference – not only to celebrate the organisation’s 30th birthday, but to prepare for the revolutionary events that lie ahead in Britain and beyond.   

We have received a brief report about the political struggle taking place in the Moscow organisation of the Komsomol (youth wing of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation) about the question of the war in Ukraine. As a result of their opposition to the official, chauvinistic line of the leadership of the party, supporters of the Marxist Tendency and others have now been expelled.