In the end, the much anticipated opposition demonstration of 15N in Cuba did not materialise. The organisers’ ties with Washington and with counterrevolutionary and terrorist elements removed any legitimacy from their call to mobilise.

The American ruling class is sitting on a societal volcano of Biblical proportions. Given the organic crisis of their system, the capitalists can no longer maintain any semblance of economic, political, or social equilibrium. After nearly two years of unprecedented economic dislocation, a plurality of Americans believe the economy is the most pressing issue facing the country.

The economic and political situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate, with seemingly no end in sight to the suffering of the masses. The problem of the gangs, which has been growing for some time, is now reaching crisis levels with gangs blocking ports and preventing the delivery of fuel around the country in an effort to force the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Following the assassination of president Jovenel Moïse in early July, which is still shrouded in mystery, what little remains of the disintegrating Haitian state has been unable to deal

The demonstration called by the so-called ArchipelagoPlatform on 15 November is clearly a reactionary provocation that serves the interests of imperialism. Cuba faces an extremely serious economic situation. The organisers of the 15 November march (permission for which has been denied by the authorities) intend to take advantage of it to launch a process that they hope will lead to the overthrow of the Cuban Revolution, the restoration of capitalism and the destruction of the planned economy. Faced with this situation, we clearly and unequivocally place ourselves at the defence of the Cuban Revolution.

This is an abbreviated version of a longer statement by the comrades of Izquierda Marxista Honduras (Marxist Left) regarding the forthcoming elections in the country. On 28 November, the new president will be elected, in addition to 128 national deputies, and 20 for the Central American parliament. This comes at a time of deep social, political, economic and public health crisis, after years of attacks on the oppressed and exploited classes. What is the way forward?

With his domestic policy floundering, Joe Biden returned from the failed COP26 climate summit to the humiliating reality that his short-lived honeymoon is already over. This was made evident with the defeat of the Democrats’ gubernatorial candidate in the bellwether contest in Virginia. All the serious bourgeois journals cite the national unpopularity of Biden and the Democrats as a crucial factor in the loss.

In the early hours of Tuesday, 26 October, social and indigenous organisations, as well as workers’ unions in Ecuador began a new day of protest against the economic policies of President Guillermo Lasso. The demonstrations were called by the Ecuadorian indigenous sector, the Unitary Workers Front (FUT) (the largest union in the country), the Popular Front (FP), and the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities (CONAIE).

Millions of workers and youth in the US are fed up with the two parties of the capitalist class: the Republicans and the Democrats. The lack of a mass working-class party leaves voters with little real choice: either vote for one of the ruling class’s parties; cast a protest vote for a tiny third party; or abstain altogether. But why is there no mass workers’ party in the US? Why have past attempts to build one failed? What lessons can we learn from history to change this in the future?

The USA has been hit by a ‘Striketober’ of industrial action across a range of sectors: from healthcare to construction; carpentry to coal mining; media to communications; snack foods and cereal manufacturing. In all, 100,000 workers voted to authorise strike action this month.

The US section of the International Marxist Tendency held its largest-ever National Congress on the weekend of October 9 and 10. As the morning sun lit up the bright fall-colored foliage around the Pittsburgh Congress venue, 170 delegates and comrades filed into the meeting hall to take their seats.

The following perspectives document was discussed and unanimously approved by the National Congress of the US Section of the IMT in October 2021. It draws a balance sheet of the profound transformation of the political landscape in the US and analyzes the major factors that are shaping mass consciousness today. Tens of millions are drawing revolutionary conclusions. Never before in living memory have there been so many opportunities for the ideas of Marxism to take hold and become a mass political force. If you agree with the analysis presented here, we invite you to join the IMT and prepare for the historic events ahead.

We would like to bring our readers’ attention to this article by Cuban Communist Frank Josué Solar Cabrales, which was published in Granma, the official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party under the title “The realism of the ‘impossible’”. The article deals with the question of the conditions for Latin American unity. We fully share the author’s contention that this can only be achieved through socialist revolution and the impact that such a development would have on the class struggle worldwide.

This year marks the 500th anniversary of the capture of Cuauhtémoc [the last Aztec ruler] on 13 August 1521 by the Spanish invaders, an event that marked the date of the fall of Mexico-Tenochtitlán. This fall represented a very important stage in the process of the ascent of capitalism and its worldwide rise to dominance. It was one of the starting points of capitalist globalisation. And it represented a clash between two modes of production: capitalism in its early stage of development, and the mode of production of the Mesoamerican world, with its own peculiarities.

On Wednesday, 6 October, Guido Bellido resigned from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and President Pedro Castillo announced a new cabinet that represents a clear shift to the right. Those ministers that the bourgeois press described as “radicals” and “senderistas” [Shining Path supporters] were turfed out. In their place came businessmen, the “moderates", and the so-called “caviar left” committed to the stability of the bourgeois regime. Finance Minister Francke, the fifth column of CONFIEP business federation in the government, remains in his post. The Peru Libre parliamentary group has declared it will not support the new government.

This article was written on 14 September, before the shift in events detailed in today’s main article. However, the essential points about the background to and dynamics of the political struggle in Peru today remain valid, and help to place the latest developments in their proper context.