The Church Question in Greece: Reaction rallies under a religious flag The political climate is hotting up along with the weather. The streets of Athens and Salonika are filled with noisy demonstrators waving flags and placards directed against the Pasok government of Costas Simitis (the Greek Tony Blair). But these are demonstrations with a difference. At the head march black-robed bishops of the Greek Orthodox Church, who claim to represent the big majority of the Greek people.
Hungary: the darker side of capitalist restoration Hungary put in a GDP growth of 6.8% in the first quarter of the year 2000 and expects a rate of growth of 5-5.5% by the end of the year. These are impressive figures, which any visitor seeing signs of a building boom, lots of new cars on the streets and a well-dressed, well-fed population would quickly confirm. Is the advent of capitalism bringing the horn of plenty to Hungary or is the picture somewhat less straight forward?
Putin, Rasputin and Kerensky On Sunday May 7, Vladimir Putin was inaugurated as President of Russia with all the pomp and ceremony of a tsar. Nothing was missing: twenty-one gun salute, goose-stepping soldiers with uniforms that seemed to have been borrowed from a Hollywood musical, and even the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Such empty show and tasteless pomp is very typical of the so- called New Russians--a class of upstarts and usurpers who are anxious to ape what they imagine to be the splendours of the western bourgeoisie. To students of history this will be quite familiar. The Thermidorian counter-revolutionaries in France also tried to ape the life style old aristocrats after they had sent...
Provocation Against One of the Leaders of the Russian Dockers Union Article translated from issue 7 (65), May 2000 of the The Russian Marxist paper Workers Democracy
Black Day for Blairism: comments on the local and London elections "Britain is already a different and better country..."Tony Blair at the Periodical Publishers Association, 9th May."I'm totally opposed to New Labour. They are not any different to the Thatcherites. I would like to see a return to the old values."George Fleetwood, 48, an engineer."I have a wife and two children to raise and I really thought in 1997 that we were heading for a bright new era. Tony Blair has failed to deliver. If anything, he is more of a Tory than many Tories."Brian Cox, 31, unemployed dockyard labourer.
London and local elections - Bad day for New Labour A first look at the electoral disaster for the Labour Party in the council elections and Ken Livingstone's victory in the London Mayoral contest.
New revelations on the assassination of Patrice Lumumba: A belated trial of Belgian colonialism The night of January 17th 1961 Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba, was shot dead in Katanga. Forty years later a new book by Belgian sociologist Ludo De Witte uncovers proof of what everyone already knew: the complicity of the Belgian government and the United Nations in this crime. Pierre Dorremans looks at the political background of this case and explains the politics of Lumumba.
On the tragedy at the "Komsomolyets" mine During the methane explosion at the "Komsomolyets" mine in Kemerovo province 12 people were killed. This tragedy occurred soon after another terrible tragedy in the Donbass in the Ukraine. The Russian Marxist paper Workers Democracy (April 2000) blames the restoration of capitalism for these miners' deaths.
ATTAC: neither free trade nor protectionism are a solution The development of the ATTAC association in France, launched by le Monde Diplomatique, has attracted a lot of attention on the left. This article from the French Marxist magazine, La Riposte, analyses this phenomenon and outlines the limitations of its programme and its effectiveness in fighting world capitalism.
Rail industry in crisis - A fighting programme for Rail Workers in Britain This pamphlet is written by active RMT and ASLEF union members who support the ideas of Socialist Appeal. It describes the conditions facing rail workers in Britain after years of privatisation and provides a fighting alternative.
Azerbaidzhan's economic collapse A short description of the terrible collapse of the economy in Azerbaidzhan from the Russian Marxist paper Workers Democracy (March 2000)
Corruption scandal shakes Germany's Christian Democrats In Germany, the new millenium has been ushered in by a party financing and corruption scandal which was more exciting than many thrillers and caused a political earthquake of unprecedented dimensions.
Russia: Astrakhan workers on strike From the Russian Marxist paper Workers Democracy an account of this strike in Astrakahan (March 2000)
Marxism and the National Question A 4 part document by Alan Woods and Ted Grant. The question of nationalities has always occupied a central position in Marxist theory. In particular, the writings of Lenin deal with this important issue in great detail. It is true to say that, without a correct appraisal of the national question, the Bolsheviks would never have succeeded in coming to power in 1917. This document reviews the rich Marxist literature on this issue and applies it to today's conditions.
Austria: "Resistance! Resistance!" "Widerstand! Widerstand!" - "Resistance! Resistance!" - that is the main slogan of the protest wave which has been shaking Austria for more than three weeks. When it became clear that the conservative Peoples Party (ÖVP) was to form a coalition with the extreme right-wing Freedom Party of Jörg Haider, this sharp political turn sparked a spontaneous movement never seen before in Austria.
