On September 27 German electors will be voting in the general election. Recent local elections indicate significant growth in support for the Left Party (DIE LINKE). This is also reflected in the beginnings of shift to the left within the ranks of the unions. The crisis of capitalism is leaving its mark on German society.

More than 250,000 school and university students, young workers and teachers participated in a nationwide ''educational strike'' all over Germany last week. The biggest demonstrations of the “comprehensive action day“ on Wednesday could be seen in Berlin (nearly 30,000 participants), Stuttgart (15,000) and Hamburg (13,000). Smaller manifestations took place in over 100 cities and towns all over the country. But the rallies were not the end of the story.

Altogether 55,000 people came out onto to the streets on March 28 in Berlin and Frankfurt/Main as part of Saturday's protests across Europe. The speeches and the comments of workers and shop stewards show that major class conflicts are being prepared in Germany in the coming period.

Last weekend the IMT organised the 5^th Northern European Winter School in Berlin. 150 comrades and sympathisers from many different countries came to a city with a great revolutionary history and tradition. We set ourselves the target of learning from the ideas and lives of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, and to study the successes and the mistakes of the German Revolution. On Sunday we participated with a sizeable block at the traditional Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht commemoration demonstration.

This month marks the 90^th anniversary of the murder of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two outstanding revolutionary leaders of the German working class. To commemorate that tragic day we are republishing Rosa Luxemburg's last article "Order Prevails in Berlin", Karl Liebknecht's famous speech against voting the war credits in the German parliament in 1914 and his 1915 leaflet "The Main Enemy Is At Home!".

The January 2009 commemoration of the assassination of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht at the cemetery where they are buried is expected to be very large. The IMT Winter School is combining a large variety of seminars with participation in the commemoration.