Americas

This is the foreword written by Alan Woods for Ariel Dacal and Francisco Brown Infante's book recently published in Cuba by Editorial Ciencias Sociales. Already launched in Havana, their book "Russia: from real socialism to real capitalism" is an interesting analysis of the reasons for and consequences of the fall of the USSR.

Today marks the 53rd anniversary of that day when a handful of courageous young Cuban revolutionaries attempted to overthrow the tyrannical regime by attacking the Moncada barracks. Although they failed, they prepared the ground for victory a few years later. More than ever the Cuban revolution requires the support of the international labour movement.

On July 27, 1918 Albert (Ginger) Goodwin stared into the barrel of Dan Campbell's shot gun and in a second, it was all over.  The bullet passed first through Ginger's wrist, then through his neck, killing him with a single shot.  Ginger lay on the forest floor, choking on his own blood.  This was the end of the life of Ginger Goodwin, but the beginning of his legend.  Ginger Goodwin's murder sparked the first general strike in Canadian history and he remains a source of inspiration for revolutionaries and labour activists to this day.

Every year labour activists from across British Columbia descend on the town of Cumberland for Miner's Memorial Day. The annual event is held to commemorate the hundreds of workers who died in Cumberland's coal mines and murdered socialist Ginger Goodwin. Comrades from the International Marxist Tendency are always present for the ceremony, but this year we played a much larger role.

On Friday July 21st, 40 comrades of Militante, the Mexican section of the International Marxist Tendency, gathered at the house of that great martyr of the working class, Leon Trotsky, to say goodbye to one of the great revolutionaries who, like the classical Marxists dedicated his life to the revolution: Ted Grant.

Chavez is about to visit Iran. We understand the reasons for reaching trade deals with a regime like the Iranian. The US is attempting to isolate Venezuela, but we believe it is one thing to reach such deals and it is another to present the Iranian regime as if it were somehow “revolutionary”. To do such a thing would sow confusion among the Iranian workers, the only ones who have a genuine interest in defending the Bolivarian Revolution.

One and a half million people, according to the organisers, marched on Sunday, July 16th to protest against electoral fraud in the Mexican presidential elections of July 2nd. Even according to the Mexican DF police, which put the figure of those on the march at 1.1 million, this was one of the largest demonstrations in Mexican history.

Friday July 14th was the international day of action against electoral fraud in Mexico. Here we publish some reports from pickets organised around the globe, from Britain to Austria, Germany to Denmark and Spain to the United States, Canada, Pakistan and Argentina.

The mood in Mexico is becoming angrier as more evidence is presented of the electoral fraud against PRD candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. The march that started all over the country yesterday is expected to meet today in five locations, Toluca, Querétaro, Puebla, Hidalgo and Cuernavaca, from which the demonstrators will make their way to the massive march on Sunday in Mexico City.

Here are the details of the pickets being organised worldwide to denounce the fraud that has taken place in the recent presidential elections in Mexico.

The Financial Times, mouthpiece of the British bourgeois, is so worried that a social explosion could take place in Mexico that it is advising a recount.

In spite of the denials of the world media there is abundant evidence that massive electoral fraud has taken place in Mexico to stop Lopez Obrador becoming the next president of the country. What they fear is the mass movement that is building up behind Lopez Obrador. This manoeuvre can only be stopped by mobilising the full force of the workers and poor masses.

As you are already aware, massive electoral fraud has taken place in Mexico to prevent the PRD candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) from becoming president. We make an appeal to all left wing activists around the world to follow closely these important events in Mexico which we will be covering on a day to-day basis.

It is clear to everyone that Lopez Obrador of the PRD won the elections in Mexico on Sunday, but the official results are being withheld and every attempt is being made to deny what has happened. The only way of making sure that the right wing accepts the victory of the PRD is by mobilising the workers and youth who massively voted for Lopez Obrador.