In one country after another, crisis, protests, war, revolution, and counterrevolution are raging. Here in the United States, however, it may seem to some that “nothing is happening.” But in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Slowly but surely—though not linearly—the economic, political, social, and psychological tensions continue to build.

As Marxists, we welcome and fight for any increase in the wages of workers. A gain for one layer of the working class is a gain for all, and there are few layers of the American working class more desperate for such a gain than retail workers. The 2010 average retail worker’s hourly wage was a wretched $10.09, adding up to a $20,990 yearly income. However a four-person family in DC requires a staggering $88,615 every year, a clearly unattainable amount of money for parents working the most common job in America.

Fast-food workers in more than 60 US cities have embarked on a strike, in the biggest food industry walkouts ever. The workers demand a pay rise to $15 an hour, double the rate for many employees at fast-food chains. Here we publish a leaflet written by the comrades in the Workers International Leagueto be distributed across the United States.

On Friday 2nd of August we finally made public what we have been doing for some time now: the conscious and consequent study of the ideas of Marx, Lenin and Trotsky. The inaugural activity was a meeting introduced by the Swiss comrade Caspar Oertli. During his leadoff he sketched out in general terms the socio-political and economic crisis that the Old Continent suffers, the question of SYRIZA in Greece and the role of the International Marxist Tendency on a world scale.

The case of Trayvon Martin has ripped up the deep wounds of Racism in the USA. Here we provide a leaflet written and distributed by the American Marxists of Workers International League.

Hands Off Venezuela, Bolivia Solidarity Campaign and others would like to express our solidarity with the Bolivian president Evo Morales, with the revolutionary workers and peasants of Bolivia, in the face of the blatant imperialist aggression which held the president against his will in Vienna for over 14 hours.

Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis, and Madison, but also from Portland, Dallas, NY, NJ, Boston, Italy/North Carolina, met in Minneapolis on the weekend of June 29 and 30 for the first-ever Midwest Regional School. The presence of so many comrades from other regions, including a comrade from the Italian section of the IMT, Falce Martello, was a huge boost and made the weekend that much more electric.

Five unions, which represent a total of 175,000 construction workers across Quebec, went on strike as of Sunday midnight when negotiation broke down. This is the first province-wide strike of construction workers in 20 years.

What started as a small demonstration against an increase of 20 cents (barely 9 pence) in the price of public transport fares in Sao Paulo became a national mass movement which mobilised more than a million people in 80 cities, after having forced the mayor of the city Haddad and the regional governor Alckmin to retreat on June 19.

“Billions racked up in public debt to plug budget holes, pay overdue bills, and put money into its mismanaged pension funds... this has resulted in decrepit commuter trains and buses, thousands of unsound bridges, 200 hazardous dams and one of the most inequitable public school systems... Retirees may lose their pensions as the funds dwindle, low-income and disabled people may lose their health care as costs escalate...”

The "Red Flag"  Committee of Struggle for a United Front in Defence of Democratic Freedoms and of the Workers', Popular and Student Organizations formed in São Paulo.

In the late afternoon of June 19th, after the huge demonstrations which had been held in regional capitals and many other cities, the mayor of São Paulo announced, along with State Governor Geraldo Alckmin, that the price of bus and metro fares would be reversed back to 3 Reais. In Minas, the government is also looking into reducing fares, which were also reduced in Rio, and Recife, where the fares had been reduced even before the demonstrations took to the streets. Mayors from the interior of the country are announcing reductions, following on from São Paulo and Rio. This is a victory that affects the entire country.

More than 15,000 students and workers took to the streets of Joinville on Thursday (20/6). They chanted slogans and carried placards with messages of change. This kind of mobilization has not been seen since the Collor Out movement in 1992.

The below statement was written by our Brazilian comrades organised around the Marxist journal Esquerda Marxista.

Due to its interesting content we publish here an English translation of the statement of the Sao Paulo "Movement for Free Fares" regarding the attacks on left-wing organisations at the demonstrations on June 20.