Europe

On 3 June 2023, the Central Committee of the Spanish Communist Party (PCE) voted to expel the national leadership of its youth organisation (UJCE). The latter had been raising a whole series of criticisms of the right-wing, social-democratic drift of the party, and had agreed to convene a special congress of the youth organisation to discuss the way forward. The use of administrative measures in this way represents an unacceptable and bureaucratic response to political issues by the PCE Central Committee. We republish the following statement of the Spanish section of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT).

Boris Johnson has lobbed a grenade into the Tory Party on his way out of Parliament, hoping to accelerate the demise of Sunak’s troubled government. This is the latest episode in the crisis of Britain’s regime. Revolutionary explosions lie ahead.

Billionaire media tycoon and former Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, died of leukaemia today. He will be remembered for his involvement in numerous corruption scandals, sleazy ‘bunga bunga’ parties, child prostitution allegations, and for the attacks perpetrated by his governments against the working class. The liberal wing of the ruling class would like to distance itself from him, but for all that, Berlusconi held up a mirror to the rottenness of his class.

Socialist Appeal’s campaign to organise communists and hit the 1000 membership milestone is going from strength to strength. New branches are springing up across Britain. Join us today, and help build the forces of Marxism in your area.

The world woke on Tuesday 6 June to reports of a new ‘Russian atrocity’. A massive dam in Nova Kakhovka, a Russian-controlled area in Southern Ukraine, was breached, unleashing a torrent of water from the Dnipro River, resulting in devastating flooding in the Kherson Oblast.

The partial and confused reports of clashes on the Donbass front, point to the beginning of the much-heralded Ukrainian counter-offensive. On the basis of sketchy information it is impossible to make a definitive prognosis. The following lines therefore bear an entirely conditional character.

The Marxists in Britain are recruiting for revolution. We are appealing to militant workers and youth to join us in the struggle for socialism. If you’re a communist, don’t wait – get in touch and get organised today.

The Marxists in Britain are calling on communists to get organised and join our ranks. Our recruitment drive to reach the 1000 membership milestone is picking up pace, with hundreds of responses in recent weeks. So don’t wait – join us today!

The victory of the right in the regional and municipal elections has caused a political earthquake in Spain that has resulted in Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez calling early elections for Sunday 23 July. What are the perspectives at this junction?

Whatever its scale, the 14th “day of action” against Macron’s rotten pension reform, scheduled for 6 June, will have no more effect on the government than did the 13th. Even if Macron did not really obtain the ‘appeasement’ he was hoping for, he can conclude that, on the pension reform, he has undoubtedly won the battle, at least temporarily. However, from the point of view of the French bourgeoisie, it is a Pyrrhic victory in which the winner emerges much weaker, overall, than the loser.

On 7 March, the bosses of the Delhaize Group – Belgium’s largest supermarket chain – announced a plan to franchise their 128 stores across the country. As a consequence, 6,500 out of the company’s 10,000 workers risk losing their jobs. The remaining workers will see their wages seriously reduced (by up to a quarter), be robbed of other hard-won benefits, and stripped of union representation. The existing collective bargaining agreement will be unilaterally torn apart. In response, thousands of Delhaize workers have begun an exemplary fight to save their jobs and working conditions. 

With the party’s electoral prospects languishing, the Tories are once again tearing themselves to pieces. The headbangers are looking to ‘take back control’, just as the establishment is seeking stability. Explosive events are being prepared.