UPDATE (26/01/24): In an order delivered today, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decided by a large majority that it is “at least plausible” that Israel is committing genocidal acts in Gaza. The decision is a blow to Israel’s indignant propaganda that it is fighting to defend ‘democracy’ against Hamas. It also represents an embarrassment for Israel’s allies in the West, which have backed its invasion to the hilt. But it must be recognised that the measures ordered are little more than a slap on the wrist for Israel, and a reminder that it should keep its genocidal intentions out of the public eye.

With general elections planned on 8 February, the crisis and splits of Pakistan’s ruling class and state are intensifying, while attacks on workers, under the dictates of the IMF, are continuing and unemployment and inflation are rising at an unprecedented level. No political party participating in the coming general elections has solutions to any of the problems in this country, and all of the political parties represent merely different factions of the ruling class. 

1.5 million people marched in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Rosario, Santiago del Estero, Mendoza, Neuquen, and all the big cities of Argentina to reject the new president Javier Milei’s Necessity and Urgency Decree (DNU) and Omnibus Bill, which represent an all-out ultraliberal assault on workers’ rights and conditions. This is the second massive mobilisation against Milei’s government, which has been in power for fewer than 50 days, and the first general strike called in five years by Argentina’s largest trade union confederations. It provided an outlet for the enormous rage that has built up against this government, and demonstrated yet again the working class’ willingness to fight.

There is much talk in the media about diplomatic pressure being put on the Israeli government by their allies in Washington to avert an escalation of the war in Gaza into a regional conflict. And yet, the whole situation has been moving precisely in the direction of a much wider conflagration, involving several fronts: from the West Bank; to the northern border with Lebanon; to the Houthis in Yemen; and bombings in Syria, Iraq and Pakistan, also involving Iran. The latest US/UK bombing of the Houthis highlights this risk.

Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Germany this week to demonstrate against the reactionary Alternative for Germany (AfD). This was provoked by a recent revelation by the liberal media outlet CORRECTIV, that AfD politicians, right-wing extremists and leading businessmen had met in secret in a hotel near Potsdam to discuss the mass deportation of migrants from Germany.

With capitalism in its deepest-ever crisis, it is more important than ever for communists to defend the immortal achievements of one of the greatest revolutionaries the world has ever seen. For this reason, 2024’s first episode of Spectre of Communism looks at the real life and ideas of Lenin.

As of the start of January, the first issue of Revolução is now out! This is the paper of Colectivo Marxista, the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) in Portugal. The paper Revolução will become an important tool for spreading communist ideas in Portugal.

On 21 January, 150 people gathered in central London to commemorate the centenary of Lenin’s death and to launch In Defence of Lenin, an extensive political biography and defence of the life and work of Lenin, which is available now from Wellred Books. More than this, the event represented the international launch of a year-long #LeninLives campaign to uncover and bring to light the real Lenin, and real Leninism.

Watch the livestream here. Sunday 21 January marks 100 years since the death of history’s greatest revolutionary. Join Alan Woods and Rob Sewell, authors of the upcoming biography In Defence of Lenin, at the launch of a global campaign to commemorate Lenin’s life and works. The meeting will take place at Hanover Primary School Sports Hall, N1 8BD in London at 15:00 GMT and will also be streamed live on our YouTube channel. You can buy tickets to the in-person event

The date of 21 January 2024 marks the centenary of the death of Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known to the world as Lenin. He was without doubt one of the greatest revolutionaries who ever lived. By his actions in leading the Bolshevik Party, this extraordinary man literally changed the course of history.

The Iowa caucus has kicked off another presidential election. Once again, we are told by the billionaire media that it will be a “historic election” that will shape the future of the country and the world. Insofar as the campaign is already accelerating the instability of bourgeois rule in the world’s most powerful country, they have a point.

It has been over two months since the Northern Alliance – which is made up of armed ethnic organisations, as well as the armed wing of the Burmese Communist Party – launched ‘Operation 1027’ in northern Shan State in Burma. Other resistance forces have also attacked junta bases in the states of Karenni, Rakhine, Chin, Karen, Sagaing Region and Bago Region. As events are unfolding rapidly in Burma, this article can only provide the latest verifiable information. However, all signs point towards one clear outcome: the end of General Min Aung Hliang’s government.

A new generation of young people is shedding the illusions of capitalism and moving towards communism. But without organisation we can do nothing. In order to gather the forces of real communism, our Swedish comrades are launching the Revolutionary Communist Party (RKP).

Issue 44 of In Defence of Marxism magazine, the quarterly theoretical journal of the International Marxist Tendency, is available to buy now! To commemorate the centenary of the death of one of history’s greatest communists, this issue focuses on the life and work of Lenin.