The kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro, and the subsequent press conference held by Donald Trump and Marco Rubio, represent a declaration of war against Latin America and a direct threat to the reformist governments elected in Colombia and Mexico.

On 13 and 14 December, 195 revolutionaries from all over Austria, with guests from Germany and London, gathered in Vienna for the ‘Communist Winter School’.

The criminal US military incursion into Venezuela and the kidnapping of a sitting foreign head of state is the first practical manifestation of Trump’s new National Security Strategy. Washington is determined to establish its domination over the Western Hemisphere, which it considers its backyard, and to kick any “non-hemispheric actors”, mainly China, out of the region.

At 2am Caracas time, US imperialism launched a criminal military attack on Venezuelan soil. There are reports of about six large explosions in the capital, Caracas. There have also been military strikes in El Higuerote, Miranda, La Guaira, and also in Aragua. US military helicopters have also been seen flying over Caracas. Trump has announced that they have captured Maduro together with his wife, and that they have been flown out of the country. Delcy Rodríguez, the Executive Vice President of Venezuela has confirmed this. This is what is known so far.

Revolutions, general strikes, wars, assassinations, and government collapses. These have been some of the defining themes of 2025, which has been one of those years that contain decades.

Trump 2.0. Tariff wars. Hot wars between India and Pakistan, Israel and Iran. Looming defeat for the ‘Collective West’ in Ukraine. Revolutionary events in Serbia, Indonesia, Nepal, Morocco, and Madagascar. General strikes in Greece, France, Belgium, and Portugal. Two internationalist, anti-imperialist general strikes for Gaza in Italy, and the crumbling of the authority of the traditional tools of capitalist rule. 2025 has been quite a year…

“A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of communism!” These immortal words from the Communist Manifesto (and the title of this podcast!) herald the most important piece of political literature ever written. In our final episode of the season, we go through the Manifesto chapter by chapter and explain the ongoing relevance of this amazing document.

We are proud to announce a marxist.com exclusive! Here, we are making available online for the first time in English a brand new translation of a historic pamphlet written by Trotsky in 1904. Titled, Before the 9th of January, Trotsky shows how utterly reactionary the liberal bourgeoisie in Russia had become. He draws the important conclusion that the forthcoming revolution in Russia will find them in the camp of the enemy, and will instead be led by the revolutionary proletariat – a stunningly accurate prediction. As far as we are aware, this is available nowhere else in English online.

On 16 December, US president Trump took to social media to announce “A TOTAL AND COMPLETE BLOCKADE OF ALL SANCTIONED OIL TANKERS going into, and out of, Venezuela”. The day after, the world was awash with rumours that he was going to announce war on the South American nation. This represents yet another escalation in the five-month old campaign of imperialist bullying against the oil-rich country. If truth is to be told, the US regime is alreadyat war with Venezuela.

For the first time in Chile, a self-declared Pinochet supporter has been elected to La Moneda. This signifies the restoration of the conservative bourgeois order six years after the October 2019 uprising. And he will come to power with an overwhelming majority.

Trade union federations called a general strike in Portugal on Thursday 11 December against Prime Minister Luís Montenegro’s anti-worker labour law. The strike had a large following and represents an important turning point for the class struggle in Portugal. It has partially changed the mood in society and put class questions at the centre of public attention.

Over 100,000 people have filled the streets of the Bulgarian capital in mass youth-led demonstrations against the rotten, mafia-rule regime. Whilst the protests were initially triggered by the 2026 draft budget – which the government quickly withdrew on 2 December – the protests did not stop. Instead, they gained momentum and forced the government to resign just nine days later!

The term ‘postmodernism’ is thrown around a lot by right-wing shock-jocks like Jordan Peterson, often in tandem with Marxism: although these two sets of ideas are totally opposed. In this episode, leading comrade Hamid Alizadeh takes on some of the main luminaries of this obscure, impenetrable and ultimately reactionary school including Foucault, Derrida and Lyotard.

Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution was a watershed moment in the history of the class struggle. It was a ray of light in the dark years following the collapse of Stalinism. Long before the 2008 crisis, Occupy, BLM, or the rise of Sanders or Mamdani, it gave credibility to anti-capitalism, anti-imperialism, and socialism.

“This intellectual decline has reached its lowest level in the persons of the political leaders in Europe. They have led this once mighty continent straight into a morass of economic, cultural and military decline, reducing it to a state of complete impotence.