What is Trumpism? Americans are used to hearing that every election is “the most important in our lifetime.” This year, both candidates have taken it a step further, arguing that it’s the most important election in the history of the United States. “For or against Trump?!” This is the alleged existential question posed by both major parties. But what exactly is Trumpism in the first place? Confusion abounds on this question, and yet, it is impossible to understand where US society is headed without a correct diagnosis of this disease.
[Podcast] Spanish floods, war in the Middle East and the US elections – Against the Stream This week, Jorge and Hamid sat down to discuss three flashpoints in the world crisis of capitalism: the floods that are devastating Spain, the spiralling conflict in the Middle East, and the impending US election.
Labour’s Budget: “Repairing Britain” or papering over the cracks? British Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced her much-anticipated Budget today, promising to “restore economic stability” and “fix the foundations” of British capitalism. But with shocks raining down on the global economy, such hopes will soon turn to dust.
Israel is ethnically cleansing northern Gaza Having failed to destroy Hamas or return the hostages, it is becoming increasingly clear that Israel’s strategy has changed. The whole population remaining in northern Gaza, some 400,000 men, women and children, are being subjected to a policy of ethnic cleansing.
[Podcast] Is socialism in one country possible? A reply to the Young Communist League The idea of building socialism in one country alone was alien to Marx, Engels and Lenin. But after the latter’s death, Stalin and his supporters raised the possibility of constructing socialism in the USSR amidst a sea of capitalism. The Young Communist League – the youth wing of the Communist Party of Britain – recently advanced the theory of socialism in one country, as opposed to Trotsky’s Permanent Revolution. Where does the RCI stand on the matter? Was the USSR socialist? Is China today socialist? Is it possible to build socialism in a single country?
Capitalism in Germany: rotten to the root German industry has been in crisis since 2018. Since then, the policies pursued during the pandemic, the energy crisis brought about by western governments’ support for the Ukraine war, and global trade wars have turned this crisis into a rapid decline of German capitalism.
Donald Trump’s populism – what does it represent? With both candidates neck-and-neck in the run-up to election day, you can sense the anxiety of the ruling class, who mostly oppose the maverick Trump. But why has his anti-establishment message struck a chord with a section of American society?
Britain: the ‘Zinoviev letter’ – how the establishment schemed to bring down Labour 100 years ago, British intelligence, the Tory Party, and the bosses’ press colluded to bring down the first Labour government. The ‘Zinoviev letter’ affair reveals the murky machinations of the capitalist state, which will go to any length to defend its interests.
Trotsky’s struggle to rejuvenate the Bolshevik party After Lenin had been incapacitated by a stroke in March 1923, Trotsky took up the struggle to rejuvenate the Bolshevik Party. Niklas Albin Svensson explains how the conflict between the future Left Opposition against the ‘Troika’ of Stalin, Zinoviev and Kamenev first came out into the open, and draws out the valuable lessons it contains for communists today.
‘Attention to theory’ by Leon Trotsky – new translation! We are extremely proud to publish here a brand new English translation of a short 1922 article by Leon Trotsky, Attention to theory. First published in the monthly magazine Under the banner of Marxism, this article met with Lenin’s full approval and is referred to in a piece he wrote for the third edition of the magazine, On the significance of militant materialism. We are republishing the latter alongside this article.
[Podcast] Behind the headlines: Sinwar assassination, Zelensky’s peace plan, and the BRICS summit This Thursday, Fred Weston and Hamid Alizadeh from the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International sat down for another special podcast episode focusing on three flashpoints of world politics: Sinwar's assassination, Zelensky’s peace plan, and the BRICS summit.
On the significance of militant materialism This week in our Lenin in a Year series, we republish a very important article by Lenin from 1922, ‘On the Significance of Militant Materialism’. This article was published in Issue 3 of the monthly journal Pod Znamenem Marksizma (Under the Banner of Marxism). We are also proud to publish a brand-new translation alongside it of a very interesting article by Trotsky, which Lenin directly refers to in this article.
The slide to war: have the ruling class gone mad? The Middle East is sliding, inexorably it seems, towards regional war. Whose interests would such a war benefit? In a discussion we had in the International Secretariat of the Revolutionary Communist International, we asked ourselves this question.
Second edition of ‘Reason in Revolt’ published in Greek! We are very proud to announce the publication of the second Greek edition of Ted Grant and Alan Woods’ invaluable Marxist analysis of modern science: Reason in Revolt. The second Greek edition features a revised and improved translation, to better bring the lessons of this masterful text to a Greek-speaking audience.
Pakistan: police arrest students for protesting against rape and harassment as mass movement erupts On 14 October, thousands of students at the Punjab Group of Colleges (PGC) protested in Lahore. The students came out in protest after an incident in which a female student was raped by a security guard at Campus 10 of Punjab College Lahore, according to the protesters. Thousands of students from dozens of campuses of PGC Lahore were joined by students from several other colleges and universities in cities across Punjab and beyond.