The Roman Republic was a society characterised by great social and political upheaval. This is a period of well-documented and important class struggle, which has many parallels with the situation today. If we are to avoid making the mistakes of history, a close study of the past is absolutely crucial for all Marxists.

The Spanish early elections of 23 July produced unexpected results. The right wing PP and far-right VOX failed to get the overall majority which opinion polls predicted. A last minute mobilisation of the left vote to prevent the entry of the far right in the government for the first time meant the vote for the social-democratic PSOE held up better than anticipated, leading to a hung parliament. The formation of a new government will be complicated and might even lead to repeat elections, just at a time when the Spanish ruling class needs a strong government to face the oncoming recession. The article by the Spanish comrades of Lucha de Clases analyses the reasons for this

27 July of this year marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement, which halted the three-year-long, all-out conflict known as the Korean War. The Armistice is not a peace agreement, and the two states that exist on the Korean Peninsula to the north and south of the 38th parallel are technically still at war with each other.

On 9 July, a meeting in tribute to Esteban Volkov, grandson of Leon Trotsky, was held at the Leon Trotsky House Museum in Mexico City. A number of invited speakers attended including Alejandro Encinas, Jesús Ramírez Cuevas, and Alan Woods. In this video, we present here the moving words of the museum director, Gabriela Pérez Noriega, as Volkov’s ashes were interred with those of his grandfather, and the speech by Alan Woods, leading member of the International Marxist Tendency.

The Spanish Civil War began this month in 1936 with the beginning of the coup by General Franco. The fascist forces could have been defeated, with the working class rising up and fighting back. But their heroism was betrayed by the Stalinists.

It turns out the biggest drama of the summer isn’t Barbie or Oppenheimer, it’s the labour struggle unfolding in Hollywood. It’s a team-up between beleaguered writers and actors against a supervillain as bad as any you’d see in an action movie: the big studios and streamers, including Disney, Netflix, and Amazon.

The recent media circus around the Nature Restoration Law approved last week by the European Parliament (which has been rendered essentially harmless in its concrete effects) is intended to conceal the EU’s real objectives: the revival of a ‘green’ protectionism, paid for by workers and their families.

The Spanish Revolution and Civil War (which began this week in 1936) represent a profoundly heroic period of struggle by the Spanish working class and peasantry. The masses gave their all in the fight against Franco, only to be failed by their leadership. Both the anarchists and the Stalinists, consciously or otherwise, were unable to lead the workers and peasants to victory, ushering in a period of fascist reaction that would last for decades.

Last weekend, comrades from across the British section of the IMT gathered for this year’s Marxist Summer Camp, themed around the Communist International. Attendees left feeling educated, energised, and ready to build the forces of Marxism.

The right-wing coalition government of Varadkar and Martin has decided that now is the time to test the water on ditching so-called Irish ‘neutrality’. No doubt they would love to bounce Ireland into NATO, finally ending decades of sham neutrality in favour of open recognition of the 26-county state’s actual position: that of a pawn of western imperialism.

On 15 May 2011, a tremendous movement erupted all over Spain: the indignados. Within a few years, it found a political expression in the rise of Podemos. But the upcoming elections this month are set to confirm the terminal decline of this party, led into a dead end by its leadership. This represents the end of a political cycle. It might seem that we have returned to square one. But the end of this cycle is preparing the ground for a new revolutionary upturn of the mass movement, on a higher level, enriched by the whole experience of the past decade.

We publish below Rob Sewell's full introduction to Leon Trotsky's Writings on Britain, which was recently republished by Wellred Books. With the class struggle sharpening, and revolutionary explosions impending, this incredible collection of material has never been more relevant. Get your copy today!

NATO’s latest summit in Vilnius is being heralded by its members as a great success and a new step in the process of strengthening the military alliance. But then, they wouldsay that. We need to separate the facts from the press conference statements. If you peek into the goings on behind the scenes, you might get a glimpse of the actual divisions, rifts and challenges facing the imperialist organisation.

David Graeber and David Wengrow’s anthropological opus, The Dawn of Everything, claims to offer an entirely new, radical view of the development of human society (implicitly: one that knocks down Marx and Engels’ historical materialism). This is no small task, but is the book as earth-shattering as the immodest title suggests?

Riots in France, and previously in Ely, Wales, reveal the explosive situation building up internationally and in Britain. Society is a tinderbox, ready to go up in flames. Marxist leadership is needed to channel this anger towards revolution.