Europe

100 years ago today, the British general strike began. To commemorate this milestone in the labour movement, the British Revolutionary Communist Party's general secretary, Ben Gliniecki, has written a book aimed at drawing out the hard-won lessons of this titanic class battle for communists today.

“Sweden has done more for the German war effort than is generally recognised. Above all, it has in some respects given us substantial support in the war against the Soviet Union – it is true that it protects its neutrality, but much to our advantage.” – Diary entry, Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany’s Minister of Propaganda, 28 January 1942.

Just five months ago, Bulgaria was in the grip of one of the biggest protest movements in its history. Based on wide social layers – in particular the youth – and borrowing many of the slogans from the ‘Gen Z’ revolutions, this movement forced the hated government to resign, triggering the eighth parliamentary election in the last five years. Whilst the ruling class is desperately seeking stability, the workers and youth of Bulgaria are striving for change.

“At this stage Micheál Martin is not in control. The people of Ireland are in control. They have every motorway blocked in Ireland. They have businesses shut down. [...] This is a revolution.”

Today marks the 110th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin against British imperialist rule. The outstanding leader of that movement was James Connolly. We republish here an article by Ted Grant and Alan Woods from 2001, in which they show that Connolly – often portrayed simply as an Irish nationalist – was, first and foremost, a militant workers’ leader and a Marxist.

Next week, the Revolutionary Communist Party in Britain will open up its Third Congress, where hundreds of communists will gather to discuss British perspectives, and the tasks of the party. Political secretary Rob Sewell gives a preview of the draft perspectives document, outlining the main processes in the British class struggle. This article was originally published on 3 April, before the Starmer government became completely overwhelmed by the Mandelson scandal.

 

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Convened under the auspices of the ‘Global Progressive Mobilisation’ and under the leadership of the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, the fourth ‘In Defence of Democracy’ meeting was held in Barcelona from 17-19 April. The meeting was chaired by Sánchez, and featured prominent national leaders such as Mexico’s Claudia Sheinbaum, Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, and Brazil’s Lula da Silva, amongst others.

Comrades from across Ireland gathered in Dublin on the 11th and 12th of April for the 3rd congress of the Revolutionary Communists of Ireland. This was our first congress as an official section of the Revolutionary Communist International, a fact that was reflected in the quality of the discussions and the sheer enthusiasm of all in attendance.

In 2022, Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party was re-elected for the fourth time in a row, with the highest vote share won by any Hungarian party since 1989. At the time, Orbán remarked that “we won a victory so big that you can see it from the moon, and you can certainly see it from Brussels”. Four years later, and after 16 years in government, Fidesz has been ousted from power, shedding 80 seats since the previous election.

2025 marked the 500th anniversary of the peak of the German Peasants' War of 1524-26. In the course of the war, the oppressed masses in both the towns and the countryside rose up against the decaying feudal order. The defeat of the rebels in May-June 1525 would leave an indelible mark on the history of Germany, and of Europe as a whole.