On 16 September over ten thousand workers and trade union activists marched in Brussels against closures by Belgium’s last automobile manufacturer. In July, Audi’s announcement that it would downsize its factory met with an angry reaction among the workers. Two months later it announced the plant’s final closure with 4,000 direct jobs and 5,000 indirect, outsourced jobs to be lost. Given the magnitude of the closure the trade union response has been mild.

The first annual Vancouver School of Communism was a smashing success! With ninety communists in attendance from Vancouver, Victoria, Abbotsford, Surrey and Calgary, Communism is back on the west coast! We also had over a dozen American comrades come from Seattle, Bellingham and even as far away as New York to participate. 

Storm clouds are gathering over the Middle East as Israel, backed by the western imperialist powers, pushes the region ever closer to a devastating all-out regional war, highlighting yet again the choice before humanity: either socialism or barbarism.

The situation in the Middle East is escalating dramatically. Israel’s current invasion of Lebanon has sent shockwaves throughout the region and represents a further step towards the outbreak of a region-wide conflict, risking open war with Iran. As the Middle East grows more unstable, communists need a clear understanding of these events and what we can do to fight against militarism and imperialism wherever we are.

For the first time since 1977, the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) has gone on strike. At midnight on October 1, 47,000 dockworkers walked off the job at 36 ports from Maine to Texas, including important logistical centers like Baltimore; Boston; Charleston, South Carolina; Houston; Jacksonville; Miami; Mobile, Alabama; New Orleans; New York/New Jersey; Norfolk, Virginia; Philadelphia; Savannah, Georgia; Tampa, Florida; and Wilmington, Delaware.

As the world reels between escalating wars and economic stagnation, the Chinese masses are also suffering from the consequences of these developments.

In the early hours of 1 October, the Israeli army crossed the border of Lebanon and started a land invasion of the country, following two weeks of heavy air strikes. This is a thoroughly reactionary war, backed and funded by US and western imperialism, which threatens to engulf the whole of the Middle East into open war, which could last for years and leave harrowing suffering in its wake.

The US has just announced another $8 billion tranche of deadly aid to prolong the war in Ukraine. Even though it has long been clear that Ukraine has lost, a section of the western imperialists are determined to fight to the last drop of Ukrainian blood. Meanwhile, Zelensky, for his own political reasons, like a gambler doubling down, has opened a new, bloody front in Kursk.

After massive air strikes on the Dahiyeh district of Beirut, the Israeli military succeeded in assassinating the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, together with other top commanders of the organisation. It seems that the head of Hezbollah’s southern front, Ali Karaki, was also killed in the attack. Netanyahu ordered the strike personally and he is clearly provoking both Hezbollah, and its main backer Iran, to enter into all-out war with Israel. This danger is now closer than ever.

Airstrikes hit more than 1,600 targets inside Lebanon on Monday 23 September, the first day of Israel’s bombing campaign. Around 500 people were killed and over 1,600 were injured, while tens of thousands more fled the southern areas of the country. Israel’s undeclared war against Hezbollah has begun.

‘Marxist-leaning president wins Sri Lanka’s elections’: this is how the result of the country’s presidential elections on the weekend have been reported in the international press. The headlines are incorrect, but the facts are sensational enough.

For decades, undercover police officers with Britain’s Metropolitan Police systematically infiltrated numerous political organisations, posing as activists. These SpyCops not only gathered information on supposed enemies of the state, but went as far as entering romantic relationships and even having children with political activists, in order to maintain their cover.

Starmer’s government has been one of crisis since day one – rocked by riots, rebellions, and scandals. All of this overshadowed this year’s party conference, spoiling the celebrations that the Labour leaders were expecting. But worse is yet to come.

For almost a year, millions around the world have taken to the streets in order to fight against the Israeli genocide in Gaza. The imperialists and warmongers have been fighting against this mobilisation from the very first minute. In Europe and the USA, demonstrations in solidarity with Palestine have been prohibited, activists have been persecuted by police or suspended from their jobs, pro-Palestinian speakers have been banned from stating their opinion publicly, and the movement has been deprived from using necessary meeting rooms. Our comrades are also affected by this repression.

Wellred Books is proud to announce our second brand-new selection of Lenin’s writings in this centenary year of the great revolutionary’s death. The Revolutions of 1917 brings out the key writings in that seminal year, writings whose whole bent was towards one aim: the seizure of power by the working class. We publish here a review of this new book, and encourage you to click here to get your copy.