The Montreal Marxist Winter School 2024 represents a historic event. Much more than a school, it is the opening of a new chapter for the forces of communism: we announced the founding of the Revolutionary Communist Party in Canada!

In this, the centenary year of Lenin’s death, it is time for revolutionaries to reclaim the real Lenin: as a revolutionary fighter, the founder of Bolshevism and the Communist International, and as one of history’s greatest Marxist theoreticians. To this end, we are proud to launch a new series, Lenin in a Year, to bring out the gems – some well-known, others less so – of Lenin’s prodigious theoretical work. The series aims to convey their enduring value to revolutionaries today, and illustrate how they were intimately linked to the polemics and political struggles that defined Lenin’s life, and through which Bolshevism was forged.

As the global crisis of capitalism deepens, millions of workers and youth internationally are faced with a future blighted by the barbarism of war, oppression and exploitation. But this is not the only path facing humanity. The fight for communism is more urgent than ever, which is why we will be launching the Revolutionary Communist International (RCI) in June. If you are a communist, sign up to participate in the RCI’s founding conference, and join us in the battle to end the horrors of capitalism once and for all!

The capitalists are ploughing billions into artificial intelligence, salivating at the prospect of an AI-generated economic boost and keen to grab a slice of the new gold rush. But there is no technological solution for capitalism’s fundamental contradictions, and the investment party will inevitably be followed by a hangover.

Thousands of Indian dockworkers are refusing to assist in the transporting of Israeli arms. This tremendous example of working-class solidarity must be repeated across the world to effectively resist Israel’s slaughter!

We are often told that capitalism is the most efficient economic system; that markets are rational tools for distribution; and that only under capitalism can people live free and fair lives. However, while capitalism might enrich a parasitic handful, it is fundamentally a system of oppression and exploitation for the vast majority of humanity. But what actually is this system? How does it work, and not work? How do we bring it down; and what can we replace it with?

The announcement by the Russian Ministry of Defence that its forces had full control of the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka represents a devastating blow to Ukraine and almost certainly a decisive turning point in the war.

In yet another scandalous attack on freedom of expression, a number of our Austrian comrades have been summoned by a state prosecutor for their support for the IMT and Palestine. We thoroughly reject the baseless accusations of the Austrian state, and express our complete solidarity with the comrades subject to this attack.

Unrest is spreading across the European countryside, from Poland to Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Romania and Greece. Farmers are on the move, and they have not flinched from using the most militant methods – in stark contrast to the ‘respectable’ methods we are used to from the trade union leaderships. They are getting concessions and millions of workers are taking note.

Once again, bourgeois politicians and media are raising a hue and cry over pro-Palestine protests. This time, it’s over a protest that supposedly took place outside of Toronto’s Mount Sinai hospital. Media have reported on Justin Trudeau’s condemnation, “The demonstration at Mount Sinai Hospital yesterday was reprehensible.” There’s only one problem—the story is made up. There’s no depths that the ruling class won’t stoop to to smear the Palestine solidarity movement and shield their ongoing support for mass murder.

Netanyahu is taking his war to another level. He is on a path he knows he cannot retreat from if he is to remain in office. And yet his actions threaten to destabilise the whole of the Middle East, with the risk of a generalised war becoming ever more real. Revolution is also stalking all the regimes in the region as the anger of the masses is pushed to ever greater heights. The next tragic act, the massive bombing and land invasion of Rafah, could prove to be the tipping point.

Two months after his release from jail, left-wing sociologist Boris Kagarlitsky was sentenced to five years in prison by a Russian appeals court. The Russian law enforcement system showed that it had made an uncommon error in releasing him, rather than showing a sign of a thaw.

This week’s special episode was recorded during the recent meeting of the global leadership of the International Marxist Tendency in Italy. We hear reports from the front lines of the class struggle from five leading comrades involved in building revolutionary communist organisations in: South Africa, Argentina, Pakistan, France and the United States.

The British section of the International Marxist Tendency are proud to commemorate the centenary of Lenin’s death by publishing a book defending his life and ideas, and by launching their new paper The Communist and the Revolutionary Communist Party. The ‘Communist’ Party of Britain, by contrast, is promoting articles on Lenin that only mislead and sow confusion.

“This is a rebirth, a renaissance!” These words, spoken by Alan Woods, leading theoretician of the IMT, encapsulated the mood at a recent meeting of our International Executive Committee (IEC) in Italy. A significant stratum of workers and youth are reaching out to grasp the banner of communism with both hands – we must turn decisively outwards to meet them by building a Revolutionary Communist International.