In the past weeks, the ruling party of Vietnam, the Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) experienced a sudden change of leadership after the death of its aging General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng on 19 July. Trọng had been the de facto supreme leader of the country for 13 years, and oversaw a process of concentrating power in the state and in his person, not unlike the process in China around Xi Jinping. What is the significance of this post being passed on to Tô Lâm, the President? How will all this affect the perspectives of Vietnam and its class struggle moving forward?

The recovery of the dead bodies of six hostages, held by Hamas in Gaza, by the IDF over the weekend has led to an explosion of anger, directed against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Hundreds of thousands came onto the streets on Sunday in mass demonstrations across Israel. The country was paralysed by a general strike called by Histadrut (the General Organisation of Workers in Israel) this morning, Monday 2 September. Protesters hold Netanyahu responsible for the death of the hostages, given his blatant and constant sabotage of the negotiations with Hamas. This is a very serious political crisis, which could lead to the removal of the Israeli PM. 

On 24 August, Pavel Durov, the Russian billionaire owner of encrypted messaging app Telegram, was arrested by French police. Interrogated for four days, he was yesterday transported to a court and charged on all counts. Now, awaiting trial, he has been released on a €5 million bail, must visit the French police twice a week, and has been prevented from leaving France. A warrant is also out for the arrest of his brother, the co-founder of Telegram.

In June, hundreds of revolutionaries from all over the world gathered in Italy for the founding conference of the Revolutionary Communist International and the World School of Communism, with thousands more participating online. All 20 talks from the World School of Communism are now available as podcasts. They are a highly valuable resource, full of valuable lessons, which we urge all communists to make use of.

As this issue of Revolution goes to press, Macron has still not named the next occupant of the Hôtel Matignon. He simply dismissed the New Popular Front’s (NFP) proposal out of hand. But, from now on, the identity of the next Prime Minister is of little importance when it comes to analysing the political situation and its prospects.

We are publishing this appeal, signed by the Venezuelan section of the RCI amongst others, in solidarity with those arrested in protests after the official announcement of the election results. Add your signature, or that of your organisation to the appeal here.

It’s 1918 and the freshly minted Russian Soviet republic is facing invasion, sabotage, and rebellion. The monarchists, landowners, capitalists, and imperialists are incensed by the revolutionary conquest of power by the Russian workers and peasants. They’re dead set on crushing it.

Recently, Serbia has once again been shaken by mass protests that brought tens of thousands to the streets. This is round two of the fight against Rio Tinto, a notorious multinational mining company that is trying to start operations in the west of the country. This is also the sixth time in the last eight years that mass protests against the regime of Aleksandar Vučić have been organised in Serbia.

The Malaysian ‘unity’ government, under the leadership of Anwar Ibrahim, has now been in power for nearly two years. The watchword of Anwar and Pakatan Harapan (PH), the largest coalition in parliament, has been reformasi – cleaning up corruption in politics, ‘strengthening democracy’, and promising a ‘humane’ economy that ‘prioritises the needs of the people’.

The mysterious sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines has all the elements of a Hollywood crime drama: conspiracy, cover-up – and betrayal. A new series of revelations from the German police, published in the American press, purport to blow the case wide open. But when it comes to the Ukraine War, where lies have played an enormous role, we can accept nothing at face value.

On the morning of Thursday 22 August, upon learning that parliament planned to change an election law to the benefit of President Jokowi’s youngest son, tens of thousands of youths took to the streets and stormed parliament. 

As the 2024 election heads into its final stretch, the newly founded Revolutionary Communists of America has launched a coast-to-coast campaign to counter the cynical cesspool of bourgeois politics by injecting a much needed class-struggle perspective.

Between 9 and 12 August, the Revolutionary Communist Party in Pakistan organised their first country-wide three-day ‘Communist School’ in Rawalakot, ‘Azad’ (‘free’) Kashmir, with 350 students, workers, farmers and youth attending.

Marx explained that every social system is subject to its own laws: objective dynamics, forces, and pressures that govern its motion and development. In this article, Adam Booth examines the early decades of the Soviet Union, in order to provide a concrete understanding of the economic laws which imposed themselves on the young workers’ state, and to arm a new generation with the lessons required to carry out the successful struggle for communism.

Since Kamala Harris entered the 2024 presidential race, the media has highlighted the alleged differences between her and Joe Biden’s rhetoric around Gaza, speculating about how she might differ from her current boss when it comes to the war on Gaza. They have noted a more “empathetic” tone toward Palestinians and a more “forceful” tone toward Israel.