One of the most extraordinary features of human psychology is adaptation. The tolerance of the masses is being tested to the extreme. Every passing day the grim social scenario becomes even gloomier. The masses are seething with anger and revolt against the sharply rising prices, unemployment, poverty, energy shortages and misery. Apart from the rhetoric from right-wing populism, they are presented with no real choice to put an end to this agonising situation. The vacillating petit bourgeoisie in its characteristic haste and impatience goes for this populism but will revert back in the same manner. The mass movement is yet to explode. And the working classes will

On 17^th January, the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign organized a historic Labour convention and a protest rally in Islamabad. More than 300 trade union activists, students, political workers, women and youth from Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Attock, Taxila-Wah, Abbottabad and surrounding areas participated in the convention.

A marvellous rally attended by thousands of workers was organized by the Mazdoor Action Committee (Workers’ Action Committee) against the unannounced load shedding of gas and electricity. The decision to organise a rally and protest was taken previously by the Workers’ Action Committee.

Even by Pakistani standards the turbulence taking place in the state and society is exceptional. The economy is floundering and forecasts by the experts are bleak and scary. It is not without reason that the economy is hardly discussed in the media networks and amongst the dominant intelligentsia. The experts and the strategists running the economy do not have a clue how to come out of this mess. To be honest, it is not their fault. The prevalent capitalist economic system has reached a state where it is incapable of achieving, never mind maintaining, a steady growth rate or enhancing production.

The year 2011 was perhaps the most turbulent year in recent history. The Arab Spring, the European Summer and the American Fall were an upheaval that traversed the planet. For the first time in history there were demonstrations in more than 900 cities across the world in support of the Occupy Wall Street movement in the US. The main cause that triggered this massive response of the workers and youth throughout the world was the eruption of a rebellion in the very womb of imperialism.

The annual National Winter Marxist Youth School was held from December 2 to 4 in Multan. In spite of the very long distances and difficult economic situation more than 133 comrades (including 20 females) from all over the country participated in the school with great revolutionary spirit. Debates, discussions and overall discipline at the school demonstrated a high ideological, political and cultural level of the comrades.

The imperialists ‘war against terror’ has terribly gone wrong. The attack by helicopter gunships on Pakistan army posts killing 24 military personnel is yet another blow to the already rocky and febrile relations between US and Pakistan. This comes after the Raymond Davis Affair, the killing of Osama bin Laden and the recent memogate affair in which the wily Hussein Haqqani had to resign as Pakistan’s envoy to the US.

On the chilly morning of 30^th November 1967 a relatively small gathering of around three hundred people was taking place in the sprawling lawns of Dr. Mubashir Hassan’s house in Gulberg, Lahore. This was the founding convention of a new political party that was espousing revolutionary change in Pakistan.

It is often said that history repeats itself, but the truth is that it never does so in exactly the same way; it repeats itself but on on a higher plane. The general consciousness of the masses in any society is neither static nor eternal. It is in a state of constant change, flux and motion. Betrayals and defeats push it back but with the new resurgence of the class struggle it rises to new heights.

The Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign organized camps in Multan and Bahawalpur in solidarity with the #Occupy Wall Street movement. The camps continued throughout the day and were attended by large number of youth, workers, students, political and trade union leaders and women who registered themselves and discussed the crisis of capitalism.

The working class is suffering the most in this epoch of economic and political crisis. The courageous workers who raise their voices in defence for their rights are victimized particularly by the goons of the capitalists and sacked from their job most of the times. The same is the case with the workers who were fired by the PARCO (Pak Arab Oil Refinery) administration without any notice as a punishment for forming a union to demand their basic rights.

Events of the Arab Revolution and the movements across Europe and USA have once again vindicated the Marxist positions about the role of youth. It was the youth who initiated these revolutions and movements. Subcontinent and Pakistan have a rich history of the revolutionary role played by the youth. As the “best barometer of society”, the revolutionary youth of Pakistan have realized the need to join hands in their common struggle against oppression, unemployment, fundamentalism, discrimination, costly education and capitalism.

The 18^th “Permanent Revolution” convention of Jammu Kashmir National Students Federation was held in Rawalpindi on 28^th October in which a big number of students from Pakistani Occupied Kashmir and various cities of Pakistan participated.

The national leadership of the PTUDC including Chairman Riaz Hussain Baloch, Vice Chairman Qamar Uz Zaman Khan, General Secretary Nazar Mengal and Information Secretary Paras Jan embarked on a visit across the country for the unity of the working class. Many activities including labour conferences, seminars on workers’s issues, protest rallies, meetings with delegations of workers and others were held in different cities.

The 18^th “Permanent Revolution Convention” of the Jammu Kashmir National Students Federation is being held on 28^th October in Rawalpindi. A rally will be held on Murree Road in Rawalpindi at 2 p.m. against unemployment, price hikes and privatizations. Later an education session for young students will be held at 4 p.m. After that new cabinet of the JKNSF will be elected.