Recently, we published an article dealing with the struggle inside Militant and the CWI in 1991-1992. Since the publication of my first article last week, we have received many messages of support. Mostly, these have come from comrades who 30 years ago supported the Taaffeite Majority, but were completely ignorant of what was going on behind the scenes.

Stock markets have experienced a roller-coaster ride over the past two months, as Trump’s erratic trade policy has brought the world economy to the brink of recession. In the latest move, Trump yet again partially postponed the introduction of new tariffs, which he announced two weeks ago. This temporary reprieve will do little to solve the conflict.

Today is the 200th anniversary of what has gone down in history as the Peterloo Massacre. This is one date that the ruling class has little desire to remember. Even now, two centuries on, a reminder of the bloodshed and violence associated with the history of British capitalism will be uncomfortable for the establishment.

People around the world have once again been shocked by a wave of shootings perpetrated by far-right extremists. The shootings in Gilroy, California and El Paso, Texas, were carried out by individuals who shared fascist manifestos, detailing their beliefs prior to the attacks, which claimed the lives of 25 people. You would have to

Hong Kong’s earthshaking protest movement is entering its second month. Despite increasing pressure from Beijing and the Carrie Lam government, the movement still grows in militancy. It is graduating from bourgeois liberal methods towards the method of class struggle. In many ways, when Carrie Lam emerged from days of obscurity to respond to the general strike, she was right to say that the Hong Kong movement is heading towards a “path of no return.”

Draconian measures by the Modi government regarding Kashmir have sent shockwaves across the whole region. On 5 August, the 70-year status of the disputed Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir was revoked by a presidential order. The existing constitutional arrangement was also revoked suddenly without any democratic process.

The recent convulsive faction fight and split in the Committee for a Workers' International (CWI), driven by Peter Taaffe, the General Secretary of SPEW, the Socialist Party of England and Wales, is now plastered all over social media for the world to see. Despite the stream of allegations coming from the Taaffe faction, and the rebuttals from the other side, the dispute in reality centres around prestige politics, a highly pernicious tendency that is invariably fatal in a revolutionary organisation.

On 5 August, the Trump administration took yet another step in escalating imperialist aggression against Venezuela by imposing an economic embargo. The current regime change offensive against President Maduro has so far failed miserably. Incapable of using direct military means to remove the Venezuelan government and impose one of its liking, Washington has decided to further tighten the economic screws on a nation already suffering a catastrophic economic crisis, which previous sanctions have only aggravated. We fully reject this new act of outrageous imperialist meddling.

On Saturday 27 July, the African Action Congress (AAC), led by former presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore, called Nigerians to a revolution, to take place on 5 August. This has predictably gained the attention of the ruling class as well as a layer of radicalised youth.

On 6 August, several leftist organisations gathered in Plaza Morelos in Caracas, Venezuela to support the peasants’ claim for land that is rightly theirs. More than 300 people, many from the interior of the country, gathered together to march to Miraflores Palace and demand the fulfilment of the agreements signed with the president a year ago.

The American labour movement has had a rough few decades. After peaking at 34.8 percent in 1954, just 10.5 percent of US workers are in a union today and only 7.2 percent of private sector workers. With corporate profits, capital accumulation, market indices, and wealth inequality reaching mind-boggling levels, many shortsighted individuals gave up the ghost and conceded defeat to the capitalists. The best we could do, in their view, was roll over and beg for a few crumbs off their table. But “the darkest hour is before the dawn.” The US working class has not gone down for the count—not by a long shot—and we’re coming for the crumbs, the pie, and the table.

The following statement by comrade John McInally is a personal account of the nature and reasons for the degeneration of the Socialist Party (SP) and Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI). John was a member of the SP (and before that Militant) for more than 40 years, before he came into conflict with the leadership and was deemed to have "placed himself outside" of the organisation.

During the week of 23-30 July, Marxists from across the world attended the International Marxist Tendency’s world school in northern Italy. Attendees came from as far away as Pakistan, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela and South Africa. From Europe, there were visitors from Britain, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Yugoslavia, amongst other places. In total, around 400 comrades from across the globe partook in this exhilarating event.

Hong Kong’s mass movement against the Chinese state’s attempt to control the territory has been spurred forward by the whip of counterrevolution. On Sunday 21 July, as protestors returned home from demonstrating, around 50 thugs dressed in all-white burst onto a subway train and indiscriminately attacked passengers with poles and other blunt objects. Although the attackers were anonymous and the assault appeared arbitrary, the message was received loud and clear – as was the intention: do not dare challenge the Hong Kong government and its masters in Beijing.

After ten days of stormy mass protests and a general strike that brought the whole island to a standstill, the hated Puerto Rico governor Roselló was forced to resign. As the slogans on the streets are saying: “No renunció el pueblo lo sacó” (“he didn’t resign, the people kicked him out”). This is a first and very significant victory of the mass movement, which now wants to overthrow La Junta itself.