Jorge Martin, editor for In Defence of Marxism, appeared on Rupture Radio talking about the Cuban Revolution, the recent protests that have broken out in the country, the imperialist blockade, and the tasks facing revolutionaries. You can listen to the entire thought-provoking discussion here.

The 11 July Bulgarian parliamentary elections dislodged the right-wing GERB (“Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria”) party from power. Deep divisions in the ruling class now threaten to transform a crisis of the regime into one of the whole political system.

This document was approved by delegates at the 2021 World Congress of the International Marxist Tendency (full report here). It provides our general analysis of the main processes taking place in world politics, at a time marked by unprecedented crisis and turmoil. With dynamite in the foundations of the world economy and the COVID-19 pandemic still casting a shadow over the global situation, all roads lead to intensified class struggle.

Between 24 and 27 July, more than 2,800 Marxists from over 50 countries around the world gathered online for the World Congress of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT). This congress had originally been scheduled to take place in 2020, but was cut across by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A decade after the 2010/11 revolution threw out the hated dictator Ben Ali, a wave of anti-government protest has rocked Tunisia. The government has been ousted in a palace coup, but there can be no faith in any bourgeois faction. The masses can trust only in their own strength. A new revolutionary upsurge by workers and youth is necessary to win a real future. 

Since 15 July, protests over a severe water shortage in Khuzestan province in Iran have developed into a powerful localised movement, which has now spread to all major cities of the province: Shush, Susangard, Izeh, Dezful, Kut Abdullah, Weiss, Mahshahr, Hamidiyeh, Chamran and several areas of Ahvaz. The regime has declared martial law but this has only had the effect of provoking protests in a further 16 provinces.

Socialist Appeal, the Marxist voice of Labour and youth, has been expelled from the British Labour Party, with the right wing saying they are ‘alien’ and ‘toxic’ to the party’s ‘aims and values’. But Marxism has a long history in the British labour movement, and the Labour Party. This article answers the lies, smears, and slanders.

One of the many slanders hurled at the Bolsheviks is that they were bloodthirsty intriguers who got their way through violent means. This is a criticism shared both by the hypocritical bourgeois, and elements on the left. These pacifists say that we need peace, love and understanding to counter the brutal repression of capitalism, not violent revolution. But will the ruling class ever really relinquish power without a fight? What is the real Marxist attitude to violence and pacifism? This lecture from our 2020 Marxist University explains. 

The shambolic, much-delayed Tokyo Olympics open tomorrow. The Games proceed without fans, and amidst general disapproval from Japanese workers and youth, who rightly fear the danger of spreading COVID-19, and are enraged at the cynical attempts by the bosses to force them to make up their shortfall from ticket sales.

The ebb of the Myanmar revolution has not led the military regime under General Min Aung Hliang to relent in its brutality against the people. The military is determined to drown the mass movement in blood, in part through weaponising the COVID-19 pandemic against the masses. This despicable cruelty will not be forgotten, and will only pave way for new struggles down the road. The following report was shared to us by a Burmese Marxist in order to illustrate the reality of the situation on the ground to the world.

The popular uprising that erupted in June has changed the situation in the Southern African country of eSwatini. Banks are still closed, the media is being heavily censored, foreign media is banned, access to the internet is being tightly controlled, and the security forces are clamping down on innocent and unarmed civilians.

Thousands of Labour members are set to be expelled, following a vote by the party’s ruling body today to permanently ban the British Marxists in Socialist Appeal and other left groups. But we will not be cowed by this attack. Join us in the struggle for socialism.

Heavy rain has caused severe flooding in several regions of Central Europe. Scores of people have died, many have been injured, and even more have lost their belongings. It will take years to repair the damage. Climate change has made extreme weather events like this more likely, which in turn expose the mismanagement of society. The bosses and bourgeois politicians – who failed to prepare for this disaster, despite the warnings; and who undermined emergency services through austerity – are squarely to blame.

Whilst Tory ministers celebrate so-called ‘freedom day’, coronavirus is ripping through society, leading to mounting health problems and pressures on the overstretched NHS. Once again, the Tories and bosses are putting profits before lives.

The Labour right wing are bureaucratically manoeuvring to permanently ban Socialist Appeal from the party. This scandalous political attack is the latest attempt to crush the left. Activists across the left must mobilise and fight back.