On Thursday 10^th October the Marxist Student Federation hosted a fiery debate between Alan Woods, editor of In Defence of Marxism, and Orlando Figes, Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London, on the topic of The Russian Revolution: Triumph or Tragedy?

On Thursday, 7pm, a joint meeting of the London Marxist societies is taking place, hosted by the SOAS Marxist society. Alan Woods, author of “Bolshevism: The Road to Revolution will debate Orlando Figes, author of The Russian Revolution: A People’s Tragedy, on the true nature of the Russian Revolution, what it meant for the people of Russia and the class struggle internationally. The meeting will also be broadcast live.

An enthusiastic crowd of over 60 recently gathered at the University of Toronto for a discussion on the threat of imperialism to bomb Syria. Many students expressed an interest in this, as well as the roots of the current situation in the county. We are publishing notes of the main presentation from the discussion, outlining the historical role played by imperialism in undermining the interests of the Syrian masses, the different sides currently embroiled in the conflict, and how the revolutionary movement against the Assad regime ended up being hijacked by reactionary elements.

In late July, more than 200 Marxist revolutionaries from all over the world gathered in Greece for the bi-annual Marxist summer school of the International Marxist Tendency. The fact that this year's event took place while revolutionary events were unfolding throughout the world was reflected in the interventions of all comrades who showed a high understanding of the process that we are passing through on a world scale.

The Socialist Kashmir Conference was organized by the Jammu Kashmir National Students Federation on 6th July. Speakers at the conference expressed their views that socialism is the only historical truth today which can guarantee a safe and prosperous future for humanity. Socialism is the only way forward which can put an end to the national and class oppression in Kashmir and all the sufferings of the people of the world by finishing off capitalism so that a classless and oppression free society can be built.

On 7th and 8th July 2013 the ‘National Marxist School (Summer)’ was held in the city  of Rawalakot, Kashmir, and attended by more than 270 comrades from all across Pakistan. The 2-day long school consisted of 4 sessions. 

More than 200 hundred people from 28 towns and cities from the very north of Italy to the deep south of Sicily gathered for the national meeting organised by FalceMartello over the weekend of July 6-7. “The Left, the working class and revolution” was the main theme of the gathering, which proved to be a huge success, with a rich and fruitful discussion.

This year marks the 100^th anniversary of the birth of Ted Grant. As part of commemorating his achievements, In Defence of Marxism is launching an appeal to all our readers and supporters to raise €2,000.

The 13th national conference of the Marxist journals, Fightback and La Riposte, reflected the growing appeal of Marxist ideas in Canadian society.

This year the World Social Forum (WSF)will take place from March 26^th until March 30^th in Tunisia, the country where the Arab revolution started in 2010. 50.000 people will participate, many of them coming from the countries of the Middle East who have been in the forefront of the revolutionary struggle to overthrow the dictatorships.

With the last few comrades registering on Sunday morning (March 10^th) the total number taking part in the congress went over 2800. The main discussions of the day were on the coming election campaign, an organisational discussion and a report on the work of the IMT internationally.

The 32^nd congress of the Pakistani Marxists opened on Saturday, 9^th March and was well beyond expectations in terms of the number of comrades and sympathisers attending. With 2769 comrades registering for the first day, this makes it the biggest congress ever. Comrade came from all over the country in a mood of enormous enthusiasm, as this country is plunged into the deepest crisis in its history.

Preparations for the largest ever Congress of the Pakistani Section of the IMTare in full swing and all is set for the historic occasion on 9-10^th of March 2013 in the Aiwan-e-Iqbal Hall in Lahore.