We are starting this perspective document with an excerpt from Leon Trotsky’s The “Third Period” of the Comintern’s Errors, written in January 1930. In this work, Trotsky explains the importance of perspectives for a revolutionary Marxist organisation to correctly orient itself towards the working class.

The rerun of the election for the governor of the State of Barinas – home state of the late Hugo Chávez – produced an apparently surprising result: the defeat of the PSUV and the victory of the reactionary opposition candidate Sergio Garrido, of the Democratic Union Table (MUD) – the pro-imperialist, coup-plotting opposition that represents the old oligarchy.

Few books have received as much attention on the American left as Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States. The son of two Jewish immigrant factory workers, Zinn dedicated himself to popularizing the many episodes in American history that have been distorted or ignored by mainstream bourgeois intellectuals. Above all, he took it upon himself to fight against the idea that only “great men” make history and instead explained history from the “bottom-up”—that is, from the perspective of the exploited and oppressed.

Rosa Luxemburg was an outstanding Marxist, whose life and ideas have been grossly distorted by all manner of reactionary political tendencies. This speech, coinciding with the launch of a new biography, The Revolutionary Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg (available to pre-order here), provides an answer to the myths surrounding this revolutionary martyr.

On Saturday 15 January, Wellred Books hosted a launch event for The Revolutionary Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg, a new biography of the revolutionary on the anniversary of her death (pre-order here). The online event was a huge success, attended by over 300 people from over 18 countries, with watch parties organised all over the world. As was clear from the many searching questions posed to the author, Marie Frederiksen, in the Q&A, there is a keen interest in the life and ideas of Rosa Luxemburg, and it is long overdue that the record on her revolutionary legacy is set straight.

“You bastards of Iranian history! By god, you shall be overthrown!” These were words of warning from a teacher in Shiraz, who participated in yet another wave of national protests in Iran (read our previous coverage here). Below, we publish the full text of the teacher’s speech, which reflects the rising anger of the Iranian working class.

The International Marxist Tendency is proud to present the Winter 2022 edition of the in Defence of Marxism theoretical journal. The feature article in this issue takes on the Austrian School of economists who attempted to ‘disprove’ Marx’s economic theory and the very possibility of socialist planning. We publish the editorial by editor-in-chief Alan Woods below.

We are delighted to announce the release of a brand new title from Wellred Books: The Revolutionary Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg. Since her death at the hands of the fascist Freikorps, the truth about Rosa Luxemburg’s life and ideas has been systematically distorted. This book, which will be launched alongside an exclusive online Q&Awith the author at 6pm (GMT) on 15 January, will tell the real story of this great revolutionary, on the 103rd anniversary of her murder.

Tensions from the build-up of military forces on the Ukraine-Russia border have made their yearly return at the beginning of 2022, although they have recently been overshadowed by events in Kazakhstan. Even until Kazakhstan supplanted the sabre-rattling on the news, there was little sign that anyone really believed something on the scale of war would happen. The people in Ukraine and Russia have grown weary of the political poker game being played with their futures. Now only the well-paid media shills speak seriously about war.

China is discovering that under capitalism, what goes up must come down. Extreme inequality is the defining feature of Chinese society, now officially more unequal than even the USA. As it stares into the abyss of capitalist crisis, the Chinese government is facing the same dilemmas as the USA over a decade ago.

The crisis of capitalism is sharpening by the day. As a result, trade unions are moving onto a war footing. Already the ruling class is worried about a ‘Spring of Discontent’. This must become a generalised struggle to bring down the Tory government.

Adam McKay’s satirical film Don’t Look Up (available on Netflix) is one of the most divisive films of the year just gone – provoking anger amongst the reactionary right and so-called ‘progressive’ liberals alike.

The recent trial and sentencing of elite socialite and sex-trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has opened the curtain on the disgusting den of sin that the capitalist class inhabit – with all eyes now on Prince Andrew and the crisis-ridden monarchy.

Wellred Books is proud to announce the forthcoming release of an important new title by Marie Frederiksen, The Revolutionary Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg. This great revolutionary martyr has often been misrepresented as an opponent of the October Revolution, and as standing for some sort of ‘softer’, ‘anti-authoritarian’ Marxism as against that of Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

The following statement – in solidarity with the revolutionary movement in Kazakhstan and against Russian military intervention – was originally published in Russian on 6 January and signed by a number of left-wing Russian organisations. Read the original here, as well as our most recent analysis, and a ...