On 17 May 1649, three soldiers were executed on Oliver Cromwell’s orders in Burford churchyard, Oxfordshire, England. They were the leaders of 300 men who belonged to the movement known as the Levellers. They had decided to fight against Cromwell who they considered was betraying the ideals of what the “Civil War”, i.e. the English Revolution, had been about.
Yesterday was Bill Landles’ 85th birthday. He is an active supporter of the Socialist Appeal in Britain and the IMT. His activity goes right back to the days of the RCP during the Second World War, where he played a role in the apprentices’ strikes. He is a living link to those early pioneering days of our movement.
Members of the trade union IMPACT have voted 86% to 14% for strike action on a 69% ballot. This marks a dramatic shift over the past 7 months. But that’s hardly a surprise given the imposition of the levy, the slash and burn budget and the threats of cuts and redundancies and the general economic chaos and political crisis that threatens public sector workers.
On Thursday October 24th 1929 the great New York stock exchange panic began. 12,894,650 shares changed hands, many at fire sale prices. The following Black Tuesday October 29th Wall Street began its long meltdown. The Wall Street crash divides two eras: the jaunty ‘jazz age’ of the 1920s and the 1930s – the decade of depression.
The rich senators, having killed Tiberius, found that that was not the end of the matter. Powerful class forces had been unleashed from below. Such was the strength of the movement that the senate was forced to accept at least a partial implementation of Tiberius’ reforms. But this was only a means of controlling the masses and eventually overturning those very same reforms. The destruction of the small free peasants and the concentration of land in the hands of the wealthy was an unstoppable process.
The struggle of Mexican workers in defense of the Mexican Electricians Union (SME) has become one where at stake is not just this single union, but the position of the entire Mexican labor movement. It poses questions that go well beyond the realms of the Electricians’ Union. Here Ruben Rivera explains what is required to fight back and push the whole movement forward.
Up to half a million people turned out in Mexico City to demonstrate their support for the Mexican Electricians Union (SME) on October 15. In spite of all the government and media campaign, the workers were not intimidated. On the contrary, they came out with even greater force. This marks a major turning point in the situation in Mexico.
UK Postal workers are out on a national two-day strike over management plans in effect to destroy the Royal Mail. Picket lines are being staged at sites up and down the country. The bosses, backed by Lord Mandelson, who is looking to hit back at the union over his failed attempt to privatise the mail, have refused to negioate.
It might have started out as a strategy, but the ICTU leadership’s profound belief that they can wrest some concessions out of Cowen and Lenihan would be better described as an illusion or perhaps a death wish. We’ve pointed out many times that in a slump social partnership is like the partnership between a cat and a mouse. But at least in Tom and Jerry the mouse was a master of tactics.
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Se ha armado mucho ruido ante la supuesta “reinstauración de Zelaya”, ¿pero qué está sucediendo realmente? Ha habido todo tipo de maniobras e intrigas pero no se han dado pasos concretos para reinstalar a Zelaya como legítimo presidente. En los próximos días veremos cual es el contenido real de este “acuerdo”.
El 18 de septiembre de 2009 hubo manifestaciones masivas en Irán que confirman que el movimiento contra el fraude electoral no está muerto. Este movimiento sacudió a la sociedad iraní y, aunque haya altibajos, continuará hasta que se derribe el denostado régimen actual. La cuestión clave para nosotros es el papel de la clase obrera y la necesidad de una verdadera dirección revolucionaria.
El capitalismo, internacionalmente, parece salir de su peor crisis desde los años treinta. Existe un alivio palpable en las filas de la clase dominante pensando que han evitado el cataclismo financiero. Sin embargo, a pesar de todo lo que se habla sobre brotes verdes, existe una pesadumbre universal ante la situación actual.
New from Wellred USA! The first US edition of Bolshevism: The Road to Revolution by Alan Woods. This monumental 500+ page study of the history of growth and development of Bolshevism demolishes the myths of both Stalinist and pro-capitalist historians of the Russian Revolution. Read More
The Pakistan Revolution of 1968-69 was one of the greatest revolutionary movements of the 20th century. It is rich in lessons and Lal Khan's book is an outstanding summing up of these lessons. It deserves most careful study by every revolutionary.Read More
A new book has come out recently, written by Maziar Razi of the Iranian Marxists' Revolutionary Tendency, with an Introduction by Alan Woods. It is a collection of articles on the crisis of the Iranian regime and the perspecti...
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The crisis capitalism has entered globally is having a deep impact on the real living conditions of billions of workers all over the world. With this comes a growing consciousness among ordinary working people and youth that something is seriously wrong with this system, that this cannot be the way human bei...
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This book by Alan Woods is a polemic against a well-known (in Latin American terms) intellectual Heinz Dieterich. Dieterich claims to have invented a new "Socialism of the 21st Century" and much else into the bargain. He offers a great deal of advice to those involved in the Venezuelan Revolution dressed...
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Wellred Publications is pleased to announce the publication of a new book on Trotsky's famous theory of the Permanent Revolution, written by John Roberts. This work critically analyses and compares Lenin and Trotsky's writings in relation to the theory of the Permanent Revolution and defends that theory against revi...
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This book, by Ted Grant and with a preface by Trotsky's
grandson Esteban Volkov,
covers the key developments
in Russia since the Revolution right up to the present day. It
traces the elimination of
workers' democracy, the rise of Stalinism, the advances of
planned economy and the
eventual collapse of the bureaucratic sy...
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In 1918-33 revolution and counter-revolution followed hot on each others' heels. The barbarity of the Nazis is well documented. Less well known are the events that preceeded Hitler's rise to power. Rob Sewell gives a picture of the tumultous events - the 1918 revolution, the ...
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This book by Ted Grant is a unique contribution to the history of British Trotskyism. It begins with the debate on Trotskyism in the British Communist Party in 1924 and ends with the break-up of the Revolutionary Communist Party in 1949 and the beginning of more than thir...
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There have been many books and potted histories of Russia, either written from an anti-Bolshevik perspective, or its Stalinist mirror image, which paint a false account of the rise of Bolshevism. For them, Bolshevism is either an historical "accident" or "tragedy". Or it is portraye...
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It is now more than thirty years since the publication of the first edition of this work. It was written as a reply to Monty Johnstone, who was a leading theoretician of the Communist Party of Great Britain. Johnstone had published a reappraisal of Leon Trots...
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This book represents an important contribution to our understanding of the Iranian revolution. This work will be particularly useful in the West where it is universally believed that the revolution of 1979 was a movement of Islamic fundamentalists led by the Ayatollah Khomeini to push Iran b...
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This text was originally written by Alan Woods as a part of the book Reason in Revolt: Marxist Philosophy and Modern Science, but eventually the book became too long and this part had to be left out. Therefore this history of philosophy is published here for the first time. With chapters on: Do we Need Philosophy?, The ...
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The comrades in Pakistan were just about to publish a new book on Kashmir when the devastating earthquake hit a month ago. The comrades have been hard at work on their solidarity and relief operations. Given the current crisis in Kashmir, they have decided to go ahead with the publication of the book. Over the weeks we will pu...
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There are many narrative histories of the struggles of British workers. However Rob Sewell’s book is different. The purpose of this history of British trade unionism is not only to recite the wrongs inflicted on working people, or simply to describe their heroic struggles. It is an attempt to draw out the lessons of the events that helped ...
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For over 60 years, Ted Grant has been the foremost figure of Trotskyism in Britain and internationally. In the post-war period, the effects of world boom, the policies of right wing Labour Party reformism and the degeneracy of Stalinism combined to make a massive onslaught against the ideas of Marxism. While Grant's contemporaries ...
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This book, by Ted Grant and Alan Woods published in 1995 coinciding with the centenary of Engels' death, defends the validity of the philosophical writings of Marx and Engels. It does this by showing that the scientific discoveries of the twentieth century confirm the very essence ...
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Danmark: Skralde-konflikten - Nok er nok
México: Parem os ataques contra membros do CLEP-CEDEP
Mexico: stop angrebene på CLEP-CEDEP
A grande recessão: será que terminou?
Die Krise des Kapitalismus und die Aufgaben der MarxistInnen – Teil 3
Die Krise des Kapitalismus und die Aufgaben der MarxistInnen – Teil 2
Големата рецесија: дали помина?
France: 49e Congrès de la CGT – Critique du document d’orientation