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The first months of this year have posed very important challenges for the current Mexican government and also for the class struggle. The arrival of Trump is shaking the government and accelerating the contradictions inherent in reformism. Added to this is a wave of mobilisations led by the teachers of the CNTE union in Zacatecas and Chapingo against attacks on their pensions. Likewise, tensions in schools are also rising over the demand for subsidised canteens for the students.

In 1965, India and Pakistan went to war over Kashmir. The 17-day conflict resulted in thousands of deaths and a victory for the Indian ruling class. But it failed to resolve any of the underlying problems and, in particular, the question of the occupied and partitioned state of Kashmir. In the decades since, these frictions have driven India and Pakistan to war again and again.

On 22 April, terrorists attacked the Pahalgam District's Baisaran Valley in occupied Kashmir, killing 26 defenceless people. The Modi government has used this heinous crime, which it has helped to provoke with its oppressive sectarian agenda, as an excuse to launch airstrikes on Pakistan-administered Kashmir, raising the spectre of a military conflict between two nuclear-armed states.

Wellred Books’ latest title Democracy, Bonapartism & Fascism: Class Struggle in the 1930s is out now! We publish below the introduction, written by Niklas Albin Svensson, which explains the invaluable theoretical lessons of this collection of writings by Leon Trotsky and Ted Grant.

We are living through a difficult period for traditional, establishment politicians. In country after country, renegade gangs of populists, demagogues and mavericks are challenging the old liberal elite for power, with increasing success. As the masses’ confidence in the liberals rightly crumbles, across the world the vacuum has been filled by the likes of Farage, Le Pen, Meloni and, of course, Donald Trump.

Another war has begun between arch-rivals India and Pakistan, in which both have claimed victory so far. In the early hours of 7 May, the Indian Air Force carried out nine attacks inside Pakistan and Pakistani-administered Kashmir. In retaliation, Pakistan claims to have downed five Indian jets, which India has so far denied.

On Saturday 26 April, a large demonstration led by the far right marched through Dublin’s North Inner City. The turnout was significant: estimates range from 5,000 to as many as 10,000. In fact, this was four or five times larger than the previous biggest far-right led mobilisation.

“Do I really need to read long theoretical books to be a communist?” This is a common question among class fighters today. In our final episode of this season of Spectre of Communism, we make the case that, in order to change the world, it is first necessary to understand it. And for that, we need a philosophy!

The year 2025 is turning into a decisive year. What seemed fixed and stable before is crumbling and in flux now. Millions of workers and youth are seeking to understand why. The revolutionary communists alone have clear answers. At this year’s International Workers’ Day protests on 1 May, we intervened in greater numbers than ever before with these answers. We include here a selection of reports that show how the revolutionary communists are beginning to turn the heads of a growing number of radicalised workers and youth.

El Lissitzky’s iconic Civil War poster ‘Beat the Whites With the Red Wedge’ is perhaps the single most recognisable piece of artwork to emerge from the entire Russian Revolution. Its influence is widespread even today. In this article, Nelson Wan and James Kilby explore how The Red Wedge came into being, how it captures the essence of revolution, and how a work of propaganda such as this can be considered great art.

The world is being transformed before our eyes. With Trump taking a sledgehammer to the order of the last century, with Russia closing in on victory in Ukraine, with the globalised world economy being ripped apart by tariffs, and with Netanyahu setting fire to the entire Middle East, a new epoch has opened up.

Electoral success for Nigel Farage’s Reform in yesterday’s local and regional contests across Britain has provoked panic in Labour and Tory HQs alike. Britain’s political landscape is fracturing, as the centre ground collapses. Revolutionary upheavals impend.