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Marxists must study the history of the class struggle, so that we can apply the lessons in the struggle for communism today. Here, you can find our most recent historical articles. For theoretical articles, click here.

You can also visit our education hub to find a selection of articles, books, talks and reading guides.

90 Years of the Chinese Communist Party – Part Five

90 Years of the Chinese Communist Party – Part Five

Had the Chinese Communist Party(CCP) leadership been fully conscious of
what their conquest in Shanghai in 1927 really meant, there would have
been no stopping them. The example of Shanghai being taken by the
organised working class, rather than the military forces of the
Guomindang, could have been spread around the country through the CCP
party structures and their network of commanders in the Northern
Expedition from Guangzhou up to Wuhan, Nanchang, Nanjing and Shanghai.

90 years of the Chinese Communist Party – Part Four

90 years of the Chinese Communist Party – Part Four

On March
20th, 1926, another event similar to the assassination of Liao Zhongkai
took place. It laid the basis for the violent coup of Chiang Kai-shek in
Guangzhou, when his mask of democratic revolution slipped. The uneasy
tension between the Guomindang right wing and the CCP comrades inside
the Guomindang broke out into the open.

CLAY CROSS: A stand remembered

CLAY CROSS: A stand remembered

In 1972, the Conservative government of Ted Health introduced the ‘Fair
Rents Act’ which sought to push up rents for council house residents.
Labour councillors in Clay Cross knew that working class people could
not afford to pay the new rents and voted to refuse to implement the
increases. As a result, the councillors were taken to court, surcharged
and disqualified from office. Their stand became a symbol of resistance
to Tory  attacks, attracting solidarity from all over the country.  Rob
Sewell talked to one of those councillors involved, John Dunn, about
the struggle and the lessons it has for those fighting the Tory cuts in
2011.

90 Years of the Chinese Communist Party – Part Two

90 Years of the Chinese Communist Party – Part Two

As the Chinese revolution approached in the mid-1920s, Stalin’s
leadership of the Comintern imposed on the young Chinese Communist Party
a policy of subordination to the bourgeois Guomindang, thus stifling
the Chinese Communists’ ability to bring together the workers and
peasants under the banner of social revolution. In Part Two, Daniel
Morley looks at the background to this situation.

90 Years of the Chinese Communist Party – Part One

90 Years of the Chinese Communist Party – Part One

On
the ninetieth anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist
Party, we begin the publication of a series of articles that trace the
origins and subsequent development of this party, which has played a key
role in world history. In this first part Dan Morley outlines the
conditions in China that led to the foundation of the party as part of
the Communist International. The founders of the party looked to the
October revolution in Russia as their model, with the working class
playing the leading role.

Nine Days In May

Nine Days In May

This month marks the 85th anniversary of the General Strike of 1926.
This strike, the most epic struggle of the British working class to
date, arose from the deep crisis of British capitalism, reflected most
sharply in the mining industry. As today, the working class were asked
to pay for the   crisis. This led to the 1926 General Strike. Political
editor Rob Sewell looks back at the lessons of the nine days in May.

The Paris Commune: 140th anniversary

The Paris Commune: 140th anniversary

Today (March 18th) is the 140th anniversary of the start of the Paris Commune of 1871. We mark the event by re-publishing Greg Oxley’s account of this important event, first published in 2001. Greg is a supporter of La Riposte, the French Marxist paper.

The Arab revolt: A history of struggle

The Arab revolt: A history of struggle

The Arab world, from the Atlantic to the Persian Gulf and from North
Africa to the heart of Sudan, is in flames as one revolutionary movement
after another unfolds. Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Libya, Algeria,
Sudan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Morocco have all seen demonstrations for
democracy and social reforms.

1917: Lessons from the past

1917: Lessons from the past

We conclude our series of articles on the Russian revolution of 1917
with an item first published online in 2007 to mark the 90th anniversary
itself. It is being reproduced here and in the current issue of
Socialist Appeal  in a revised form.

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