The International Marxist Tendency proudly presents the relaunched In Defence of Marxism theoretical journal. Translated into multiple languages, readers from all over the world will be able to subscribe, and four times a year will receive the physical magazine, posted to your door. Or you can choose to subscribe to our digital editions, which will land directly in your email inbox. The magazine will become available from 16 July, but you can subscribe today!

Health secretary Matt Hancock has resigned after being embroiled in another government scandal. But his replacement, Sajid Javid, offers more of the same corruption and privatisation. We need to kick out all the Tories and fight for socialism.

On 20 June, contracted oil and gas workers in Assaluyeh went on strike. Since then, more oil and gas workers across Iran have joined the strikes, with over a hundred strikes now ongoing and that number continuing to grow. The workers are demanding: 10 days off after 20 days of work (10-20 scheme), a minimum wage across the sector of 12 million tomans, and trade union rights. These demands have found widespread support in the entire hydrocarbon sector and in the working class at large. Inspired by the oil and gas workers, strikes are breaking out among railway construction workers, truck drivers and steelworkers. All the while, protests by pensioners, teachers, medical staff and farmers

The ruling class is doing everything in its power to assist the evolutionary development of SARS-CoV-2, to become more infectious and vaccine resistant. In their myopic incompetence and sheer disregard for human life and scientific evidence, the capitalists are helping to ensure this pandemic drags on for years and continues to wreak havoc on billions of lives. 

The surge of the movement of Palestinian youth and workers against Israeli occupation, which culminated in the unified Palestinian general strike of 18 May, is continuing. It is now expressing itself in a growing mood of criticism and anger in the West Bank against the corruption of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The PA’s security forces have been brutally clamping down on any manifestation of internal opposition to discredited President Mahmoud Abbas, and the ruling Fatah party. The arrests and beatings of activists and the PA’s active collaboration with the Israeli state in suppressing the ongoing protests have undermined

The pandemic has had the effect of intensifying the crisis of overproduction that began in 2008, further exacerbating the contradictions of the capitalist system. As a result, we are witnessing a sharp change in the policies being carried out by the ruling classes of the main imperialist countries. Austerity, the economic policy of the last few years, has been temporarily put to one side. It would have been economically and politically unsustainable to carry on with austerity policies under the current conditions.

The Italian bourgeoisie is celebrating an economic ‘recovery’, and preparing to take advantage of the lifting of lockdown measures to maximise their profits at the expense of workers’ wages and conditions. The labour movement must organise a concerted fightback.

Another year, another overwhelming vote at the United Nations General Assembly against the US blockade against Cuba. This time it was 184 votes for the motion, two against (the US and Israel), and three abstentions (Brazil, Colombia and Ukraine). This is the 29th time the UNGA votes against Cuba's blockade since the motion was first put to the vote in 1992, and once again, the USA will completely disregard it.

There are many illusions in Joe Biden, including on the left. But while he might not be as openly racist and vicious as Donald Trump, he is no friend of working people. He represents the same brutal, oppressive system of US capitalism, as did his predecessor. In this article, we answer eight lies about 'Uncle Joe': the leading representative of US imperialism.

In the course of scarcely a month, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has begun imploding in spectacular fashion. Arlene Foster – the DUP leader and First Minister at Stormont who survived the RHI scandal, the collapse of Stormont in 2017, and the introduction of Northern Ireland Protocol earlier this year – has finally and unceremoniously been booted out. The straw that broke the camel’s back? Her opposition to gay conversion therapy.

The first round of the French regional elections saw the highest abstention rate in the history of the Fifth Republic, by far, at 66.7 percent. Among those under 35, abstention was around 84 percent. It was of the same order in the poorest and most oppressed layers of the population. This is the main takeaway from the first round. It is an expression of the regime crisis of French capitalism, though far from the only one. 

On 18 June, the Islamic Republic of Iran held its presidential election, which was met by a widespread boycott by the masses. The official figure for turnout was 48%, with the regime’s desired candidate, Raisi, winning with 61.9%, with blank votes coming second on 12.8%. The real turnout however could have been even lower, with some estimates placing it between 25 and 35 percent. There have been reports of some polling stations being completely abandoned. This was an absolute sham of an election, which saw the lowest turnout and the highest number of blank votes in the history of the Islamic Republic. This comes on the back of a continuous wave of strike action and protests that

A bill to reduce CO2 emissions was rejected by a public referendum in Switzerland. While the demagogic far-right SVP and big oil companies were pushing a 'no' vote for reactionary reasons, in reality, this was a rejection of green austerity. The climate crisis will not be solved by making workers pay, but by expropriating the fatcat polluters and fighting for socialist measures.

Today is the 80th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War Two. This bloody catastrophe, which claimed the lives of almost 5m Soviet troops and saw the Nazis plunge deep into Soviet territory, was facilitated by the wrecking behaviour of Stalin and the bureaucracy. Their decapitation of the Red Army in the infamous Purge Trials, and total mismanagement of the war effort, were paid for in blood by the Soviet people, who were ultimately able to turn things around through their heroic efforts and sacrifice – despite their leaders.

The discredited government of Stefan Löfven in Sweden has faced a successful vote of no confidence in parliament. It’s time to go on the offensive: fight for a snap election on a socialist programme!