Today and tomorrow, workers across India will take part in a general strike, which the trade union leaders anticipate could involve over 200 million people. Demands include improved conditions and wages for workers, farmers and the poor; universal social security cover for informal workers; a halt to privatisations; and the scrapping of reactionary new labour laws.

As capitalism traverses its death agony, the world is experiencing turmoil: from the war in Ukraine, to the unresolved pandemic, to runaway inflation and the threat of a new recession triggered by the war. In the following talk, delivered at the recently held national conference of Socialist Appeal, the British section of the International Marxist Tendency, Fred Weston explains the fundamental driving factors of this crisis, how it is making life unbearable for millions of working people, how it is transforming consciousness, and how it is preparing the ground for an era of revolutionary upheaval.

We have received this report on the rising repression within Russia, as the “special operation” (i.e. the war in Ukraine) drags on. Even the mildest criticism of the invasion is being shut down, on pain of arrest and imprisonment. Independent news sources and social media platforms are shuttered, and anyone voicing disapproval of the war is labelled a “national traitor.” These measures are a sign of President Vladimir Putin’s weakness, not his strength, and will only cause the masses’ resentment to accumulate. 

Over three million people have now fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion on 24 February, with the UN declaring the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since the Second World War. There has been an outpouring of sympathy for those fleeing war from millions of people. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary people have even offered to open up their homes to those displaced. But the ‘generosity’ of the governments of the West reeks of hypocrisy.

Last month, on 17 February, President Macron announced the withdrawal of French troops from Mali in West Africa. From 2013, alongside the forces involved in ‘Operation Barkhane’ and the ‘Takuba Task Force’, France led an intervention in Mali with the supposed intention of fighting to “stabilise the country”. All major European NATO countries were involved, and the intervention was fully backed by the UN, which sent a 15,000-strong mission, which it called “MINUSMA”, which also established itself in other countries of the Sahel region.

As people around the world watch the war unfold in Ukraine, many are left asking: “What can I do to stop it?” Following in the footsteps of state sanctions, the answer provided by politicians and official organizations has been: exclude Russians from international events, ban Russian products, and boycott Russian businesses.

Last week, P&O Ferries sacked hundreds of workers, replacing them with agency labour. With this savage attack, the bosses have declared war on the whole working class. The trade unions must respond with a call to arms – and prepare for battle.

This weekend, hundreds of Socialist Appeal supporters met for this year’s national conference – not only to celebrate the organisation’s 30th birthday, but to prepare for the revolutionary events that lie ahead in Britain and beyond.   

On 13 March, Colombia held its legislative elections to the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as “consultative elections” (primaries) in which each coalition voted on its presidential candidate for this year’s presidential election. Gustavo Petro, the center-left candidate, earned the nomination for his coalition, Pacto Historico, with overwhelming support both within his party and among the general electorate.

We have received a brief report about the political struggle taking place in the Moscow organisation of the Komsomol (youth wing of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation) about the question of the war in Ukraine. As a result of their opposition to the official, chauvinistic line of the leadership of the party, supporters of the Marxist Tendency and others have now been expelled. 

One of capitalism's oldest myths is that of the efficiency of the so-called 'free-market' and its superiority to a socialist planned economy. Defending economic planning, in this talk from the 2021 Revolution Festival, Adam Booth responds to the libertarian ideas of the Austrian School of economics, whose 'theories' amount to vitriolic support of the unrestricted rule of capital at the expense of the needs of society.

The following brief theses were produced by supporters of the IMT in Ukraine, translated into English, discussing the origins of the ongoing war, and the reactionary effect it has had on the country. For an internationalist solution to the Ukraine war, and all war! For socialist revolution! Read the original statement here.

Zelenskiy’s government continues to cynically use the invasion to justify repressing political opponents. Eleven organisations have had their political activities criminalised for the period of the armed conflict. While some of these organisations are farcical, and there are members of these groups who do have favourable attitudes toward the Russian invasion, no evidence of collaboration has been presented.

102 years ago, British workers struck in solidarity with the Russian Revolution. Conditions were ripe for revolution, though the opportunity was missed. Rob Sewell explains the revolutionary potential displayed by the working class in Britain, the errors of their leadership, and the lessons of these experiences for the class struggle today, at a time when war, crisis and chaos are similarly rampant. This article first appeared in issue 30 of In Defence of Marxism, the theoretical magazine of the International Marxist Tendency. Click here to subscribe and get the latest issue.

Dialectical materialism is the philosophy of Marxism. It is our method for understanding nature, history and society. This nine-episode podcast series, ‘The ABCs of Marxist philosophy’, will provide listeners with a valuable introduction to the basics of dialectical materialism, explaining all its aspects in a clear and accessible way.