At the end of January, around 100 comrades of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) from across the globe came together for a leadership meeting that represented a decisive landmark in our history. Below, we publish a full transcript of the opening talk by Alan Woods on the turbulent world situation, and the urgent tasks that this places before communists. On Monday, we look forward to publishing a full report of the meeting, which will include important announcements of interest to revolutionary communists everywhere.

A spectre is haunting the Swiss media – the spectre of the Revolutionary Communist Party! Its launch on Saturday (10/02) by the Spark (the Swiss section of the IMT) has been picked up by all the major media outlets. Blick ran the headline: “Revolution in Switzerland is completely realistic!” The bourgeois paper NZZ went with: “Lenin to rise again in Switzerland”, and 20 Minuten: “Revolution as the target – 250 new communists wanted”.

The International Marxist Tendency (IMT) condemns the proposed expulsion of Communist Ofer Cassif MK from the Israeli Knesset (parliament), and we indignantly protest the suppression of democratic rights in Israel.

In July 1936, General Franco’s coup d’état was defeated through a revolutionary uprising of the working class, and the anarchists emerged as the leading force. However, their programme and perspectives proved impotent in the face of events. They betrayed the revolution several times and, partly due to their mistakes, the Spanish proletariat was crushed. Fascism went on to establish a four-decade dictatorship. It is the duty of all thinking anarchists to analyse events in Spain critically and draw all the necessary conclusions.

Experienced trade unionist John McInally introduces Wellred Books’ latest publication: a fascinating biography examining Lenin’s life and ideas by Rob Sewell and Alan Woods. With support for communism on the rise today, we say: Lenin lives!

The Cuban Revolution is rightly considered an inspiration by communists worldwide. This tremendous movement threw off the chains of capitalism and US imperialism, opening the way for incredible social, economic and technological advances in what had previously been a brutally oppressed society. Today, however, the Cuban Revolution faces a number of perils.

Last Saturday, police officers in Britain arrested an IMT member for raising the slogan of 'Intifada 'til victory!'. But the communists won't back down. We need your help to fight back against state repression, and to see an end to this brutal capitalist system.

Tata’s decision to close its Port Talbot steelworks will devastate the town. With no lead coming from the trade union tops, the Communists have launched a campaign for workers to get organised, occupy the plant, and demand its full nationalisation.

We are proud to announce that the world’s foremost magazine for original Marxist theoretical content, In Defence of Marxism - América Socialista, is now available in French! It joins regular English, Spanish, Indonesian, Portuguese, Swedish and Chinese translations, and will soon be joined by an Italian translation. The enlarged audience of communist workers and youth that will thus have access to these ideas will find in this magazine a powerful weapon.

The following is the preface to the 2023 Indonesian edition of the Manifesto of the Communist Party. The last Indonesian translation of the Manifesto was made in 1948, but unfortunately the quality of that edition is far from what this important document deserves. Furthermore, the 1948 edition was written in an Old Indonesian style. Meanwhile, the Indonesian language itself has developed a lot in the past 75 years. Therefore, there is a pressing need for a new translation that can explain more clearly the ideas contained in this brilliant work for the new generation of Communists. The new edition can be accessed at the ...

The oppression of women and the origins of the family as we know it remain key issues facing anyone who wishes to fight for a better world today. Huge numbers of women still suffer sexual abuse and harassment. In some parts of the world they live in slave-like conditions. Millions of girls and women alive today have been forced to undergo female genital mutilation, one of the most barbaric methods used to control women’s sexuality, while millions of young women are trafficked for sexual exploitation. Violence against women is still an everyday occurrence, with femicide a continuing phenomenon.

It is hard to find a more slandered figure in human history than Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. Dictatorial, murderous, cynical, immoral. You name it, Lenin has been accused of it. This is done by just about every political current, from the conservative right wing to the liberals, the reformists, and the anarchists. Unfortunately, decades of Stalinist dictatorship in the U.S.S.R. contributed to this caricature.

The last four years have been the most turbulent in the history of Swiss capitalism. It is only a matter of time before major social movements emerge. There are already thousands of mostly young people who are waiting to take up the fight against capitalism. Communists must draw the necessary conclusions from this: it is time to found the Revolutionary Communist Party!

What is the role of China today? While some on the left have celebrated China’s ambitions as a counterweight to the United States, Jorge Martín explains that capitalism has long been restored in China, and today it has all the features of a rising imperialist power. ‘Multipolarity’ will not benefit the workers of the world, who must trust solely in their own strength to throw off the chains of imperialism and capitalism internationally.

Whilst the Israeli state continues its genocide of Palestinians, western powers have suspended funding to UNRWA – a vital source of food, shelter, and medicine in Gaza. The imperialists’ hypocrisy knows no bounds. They have blood on their hands.