On the weekend of 4 and 5 November, der Funke, the Swiss section of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT), held its 2023 Marxist Autumn School. The theme of this year’s school was The Road to Communism, and the weekend proved that communists have a plan and are bursting with drive.

Right-wingers claim that communism would be a dictatorial hellscape: nothing could be further from the truth. Communism means a society free from money, social classes, poverty and oppression, where people live “from each according to their ability, each according to their needs.” But what would such a society look like, and how do we get there?

On 4-5 November, the national congress of the Brazilian section of the IMT took place. The congress was tasked with evaluating the development of the organisation, the developing political situation, and the success of the “are you a communist?” campaign. In light of this, the organisation decided to change its name. Previously Esquerda Marxista (Marxist Left), the Brazilian section of the IMT is now called the Internationalist Communist Organisation!

The crisis in NUPES – the ‘union’ consisting of La France Insoumise (FI), the Socialist Party (PS), the Greens and the Communist Party (PCF) – is increasingly taking on the air of a bedroom farce: shouting, declamations, doors opening, slammed, and then opened again, etc. Boredom mixed with irritation is spreading among the audience, and little by little the auditorium is emptying.

A month after the Israeli government commenced its ethnic cleansing against Palestinians, the Organisation of Port Dockers of Barcelona (OEPB), ​​has resolved “not to allow the activity of ships in our port that contain war material”. The USTP (Port Workers Union) also took the same decision on 8 November.

The Reverend Thomas Malthus gained notoriety in the 19th century as an ardent defender of poverty and inequality. He asserted that the poor were not poor because of capitalist exploitation or injustice, but because there were simply too many of them, competing over limited resources. Today, Malthus’ ideas still circulate in various different forms, and have even gained some influence on the left. In this article, Adam Booth draws on Marx and Engels’ critique of Malthus to expose the false and reactionary implications of these ideas today.

Members of Marxist Left (the Brazilian section of the IMT) and the Brazilian Communist Party – Revolutionary Reconstruction met on the afternoon of Thursday 2 November 2 at the “Rally against imperialist wars – Ukraine and Palestine”, hosted jointly by both organisations. 200 people attended, including members and guests, with political reports delivered by Jorge Martín, representing the International Marxist Tendency (IMT), Gabriel Lazzari, representing the PCB-RR, and Serge Goulart, representing the Marxist Left.

It has been two years since Myanmar’s military coup in 2021, which removed the bourgeois liberal government of Aung San Suu Kyi. The masses rose up heroically against the coup, but the liberals’ betrayal led to a painful defeat. Today, the coup regime is creating hellish, barbarous conditions. From the free-falling economy, out-of-control organised crime and human trafficking in the hundreds of thousands, to the trigger-happy junta regime that faces potential civil war, capitalism has furnished yet another bloody case proving the need for socialism.

Bangladesh, the eighth most populous country in the world, is being rocked by political and social upheaval. Opposition leaders have been arrested. Tens of thousands have clashed in the streets with police, leading to the deaths of two protestors.

Since the current Socialist Party (PS) government came to power with a majority in January 2022, it has been a government of crisis, plagued with scandals, intrigues, and resignations. Now António Costa, the PM himself, has resigned following an investigation by the Supreme Court, which led to his own official residence being raided by the police, as well as government buildings and private residences. Several businessmen, CEOs, the mayor of Sines, and António Costa's chief of staff have been arrested. It appears that João Galamba, the Infrastructure Minister, will be indicted, as well as Duarte Cordeiro, the Environment Minister. António Costa himself might be indicted as well.

We are celebrating this year’s anniversary of the greatest event in human history – the Russian Revolution of 1917 – with the launch of the International Marxist Tendency’s brand new podcast, Spectre of Communism. In this special first episode, editor of marxist.com Alan Woods, discusses this great event, when workers and the oppressed, for the first time on the scale of an enormous nation, threw off capitalist rule and took the running of society into their own hands.

The slaughter in Gaza has now reached the grim milestone of 10,000 killed, while more than a million have been displaced with nowhere to go. To give a sense of scale, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) has killed more people in Gaza in one month than the total number of Ukrainian civilians killed in the 21 months since the Ukraine war broke out in February 2022. The latter figure stood at 9,600, according to last month’s estimate.

IMT comrades in Modena, Italy (Sinistra Classe e Rivoluzione) organised a campaign inside the FIOM (metalworkers’ union of the CGIL) in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and in particular in support of an appeal issued by Palestinian trade union organisations. At a demonstration at the weekend, 2,000 workers and youth, both immigrant and native Italian, marched together in a lively demonstration, showing their full solidarity with the Palestinian people, calling for an end to the Israeli bombing and occupation.

The first months have been tough for Finland's new right-wing government. The administration, led by the National Coalition Party, has been rocked by repeated scandals over its anti-labour policies, and the racism of its right-wing populist partner, the True Finns. This has led to widespread protests across the country, and some of the smaller right-wing parties' MPs have begun to waver on their continued involvement. On 6 September, the government issued a statement against racism. Not only was it devoid of concrete anti-racist content, they’ve also snuck in a direct attack against communism.

In 1780, the Spanish Viceroyalty of Perú was shaken by a massive rebellion, led by Túpac Amaru II – a man claiming to be the direct descendent of the last Sapa Inka, Túpac Amaru, who had led the final resistance of the Inca empire until his capture and execution by the Spanish in 1572. Tens of thousands of men and women flocked to Túpac Amaru’s army, under the leadership of him and his wife, Micaela Bastidas. For two and a half years, war raged across the Andes in the greatest challenge Spanish colonial rule had faced thus far. Ultimately, the rebellion went down to defeat, although it left behind it a heroic tradition of struggle. In the following article, Pascal Cueto