The Spanish Civil War began this month in 1936 with the beginning of the coup by General Franco. The fascist forces could have been defeated, with the working class rising up and fighting back. But their heroism was betrayed by the Stalinists.

It turns out the biggest drama of the summer isn’t Barbie or Oppenheimer, it’s the labour struggle unfolding in Hollywood. It’s a team-up between beleaguered writers and actors against a supervillain as bad as any you’d see in an action movie: the big studios and streamers, including Disney, Netflix, and Amazon.

The recent media circus around the Nature Restoration Law approved last week by the European Parliament (which has been rendered essentially harmless in its concrete effects) is intended to conceal the EU’s real objectives: the revival of a ‘green’ protectionism, paid for by workers and their families.

The Spanish Revolution and Civil War (which began this week in 1936) represent a profoundly heroic period of struggle by the Spanish working class and peasantry. The masses gave their all in the fight against Franco, only to be failed by their leadership. Both the anarchists and the Stalinists, consciously or otherwise, were unable to lead the workers and peasants to victory, ushering in a period of fascist reaction that would last for decades.

Last weekend, comrades from across the British section of the IMT gathered for this year’s Marxist Summer Camp, themed around the Communist International. Attendees left feeling educated, energised, and ready to build the forces of Marxism.

The right-wing coalition government of Varadkar and Martin has decided that now is the time to test the water on ditching so-called Irish ‘neutrality’. No doubt they would love to bounce Ireland into NATO, finally ending decades of sham neutrality in favour of open recognition of the 26-county state’s actual position: that of a pawn of western imperialism.

On 15 May 2011, a tremendous movement erupted all over Spain: the indignados. Within a few years, it found a political expression in the rise of Podemos. But the upcoming elections this month are set to confirm the terminal decline of this party, led into a dead end by its leadership. This represents the end of a political cycle. It might seem that we have returned to square one. But the end of this cycle is preparing the ground for a new revolutionary upturn of the mass movement, on a higher level, enriched by the whole experience of the past decade.

We publish below Rob Sewell's full introduction to Leon Trotsky's Writings on Britain, which was recently republished by Wellred Books. With the class struggle sharpening, and revolutionary explosions impending, this incredible collection of material has never been more relevant. Get your copy today!

NATO’s latest summit in Vilnius is being heralded by its members as a great success and a new step in the process of strengthening the military alliance. But then, they wouldsay that. We need to separate the facts from the press conference statements. If you peek into the goings on behind the scenes, you might get a glimpse of the actual divisions, rifts and challenges facing the imperialist organisation.

David Graeber and David Wengrow’s anthropological opus, The Dawn of Everything, claims to offer an entirely new, radical view of the development of human society (implicitly: one that knocks down Marx and Engels’ historical materialism). This is no small task, but is the book as earth-shattering as the immodest title suggests?

Riots in France, and previously in Ely, Wales, reveal the explosive situation building up internationally and in Britain. Society is a tinderbox, ready to go up in flames. Marxist leadership is needed to channel this anger towards revolution.

The Dutch government has collapsed. The fourth Mark Rutte cabinet (consisting of VVD, CDA, D66, ChristenUnie) fell after a year and a half, brought down by disagreements over asylum and migration policies. The VVD (right-wing liberals) clashed head on with the ChristenUnie (‘social’ Christians) about a plan to restrict family reunification for refugees. None of the parties gave ground, leading to an unexpected collapse of the fourth (and final) Rutte government.

On Sunday 9 July an event was held under the auspices of the Leon Trotsky House Museum in Mexico City to celebrate the memory of Esteban Volkov Bronstein, Trotsky’s grandson, whose tragic death we recently reported.

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday against the legality of affirmative action admissions practices at colleges and universities. Ruling on two distinct cases, the court declared the admissions practices at Harvard and the University of North Carolina to be unlawful.

Issue 42 of In Defence of Marxism magazine is available to pre-order now! Alan Woods’ editorial, which we publish here, looks at the Marxist view of the state and the role of the individual in history – unifying themes in this issue. This issue includes a Marxist critique of Graeber and Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything; an analysis of the class struggle in the Roman Republic by Alan Woods; a look at the rise of ‘authoritarian’ governments and the Marxist view of Bonapartism; a review of Honoré de Balzac’s Human Comedy; and Trotsky’s invaluable article, Bonapartism and Fascism.