On 28 April at midday, Red Eléctrica de España [Spanish Electrical Network] (REE) suffered an unprecedented failure that left the entire Spanish state, its neighbours Portugal and Andorra, and parts of southern France without electricity. In some areas, the blackout lasted until well into the night. After an unusual Monday, today [Tuesday 29 April] seems to be starting ‘normally’, with 99 percent of the electricity supply restored and the working day back on track.

This year’s 25 April celebration, marking eighty years since Italy’s liberation from fascism, was one of the most well-attended in recent times, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets across Italy. In town squares across the country, we saw Palestinian flags, overwhelming enthusiasm, and young people and workers eager to discuss how to change the situation.

I recently read the article ‘Just Stop Oil and Youth Demand: How can we build a mass movement?’ in The Communist, and it resonated with me as someone who has made the journey from Just Stop Oil (JSO) and direct action, to the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) [British section of the Revolutionary Communist International] and class struggle.

Since the collapse of the Novi Sad station canopy on 1 November 2024, which killed 16 people, occupations, blockades and protests led by students have been organised across Serbia. This calamity, caused by corruption, sparked a wave of indignation throughout the country. At the time of writing this article in April, over a million people across Serbia have taken part and voiced their support for the students’ demands. Demonstrations are being held throughout the country.

While workers and the poor face ever-greater hardships, the super-rich are making a killing. In response to this gaping wealth divide, left wingers in Britain like Jeremy Corbyn and Gary Stevenson are saying we should ‘tax the rich’. But does this offer a real solution?

Over the weekend, the Labour government passed emergency legislation to take control of steel – in particular Scunthorpe’s steelworks. While the union leaders breathe a sigh of relief, we say: No trust in Starmer! Expropriate all the parasites!

From 11 to 13 April, the First Congress of the Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR) in Italy was held in Cervia. Exactly one year earlier, the political organisation Sinistra Classe Rivoluzione decided to establish itself as a party and raise the flag of revolutionary communism, calling together all young people and workers ready to do battle against the capitalist system. A year later, the exciting growth of the party's forces and the tumultuous development of events on a global scale offer the best confirmation of the courageous choice we made and the political perspectives on which we base our action.

Revolutionary communists from across Ireland gathered in Dublin on the 5th and 6th of April for the historic second Congress of the Revolutionary Communists of Ireland!

On 5 March, Emmanuel Macron addressed millions of television viewers to solemnly warn them: “Beyond Ukraine, the Russian threat is here and it affects the countries of Europe, it affects us.” 

The electoral success of left-wing Die Linke in Germany shows that there is a genuine desire among young people to fight against all the evils of capitalist society. Die Linke received 8.8 percent of the vote in the Bundestag elections and was thus able to celebrate a surprising comeback compared to its performance in recent years. It is now polling at 11 percent. It is the strongest party among young people. It even won the elections in Berlin. 

It is just six weeks since US Vice President JD Vance spoke at the Munich Security Conference in February and told Europe that the decades-old relationship the US had with the old continent was over. Ever since, the European leaders have been frantically running around from one summit to another – from a virtual meeting to a gathering of the ‘coalition of the willing’ – looking in all directions and none at the same time to try and deal with this major shift in world relations.

To begin with the glaringly obvious. The author of these lines has absolutely nothing in common with Marine Le Pen, or the ideology or the movement for which she is the most visible head.

On 22 and 23 March, the Anti-Militarism Conference organised by the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) – the German section of the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI) – was held in Berlin. 180 communists took part from Germany, as well as guests from the sections of the Revolutionary Communist International in Britain, the USA, Canada, Switzerland and Austria.

The sentencing of Marine Le Pen to five years of ineligibility for elected office, with immediate effect, is a political earthquake whose aftershocks and effects will be considerable. On the eve of this sentence, a new poll placed Marine Le Pen far ahead of all her competitors in the presidential election. Today, the leader of the Rassemblement National (RN) has been ruled out – perhaps definitively – from the next race to the Elysée.

Following a period of rapid development, the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP) in Denmark held its first congress over the weekend of 21-23 March. While membership in traditional parties is dwindling, the RKP is approaching 300 active members fighting for a communist revolution.