A Whole New World
Leaving the home you grew up in, the people you will love forever and
experiences to look upon from afar, being an international student is no
easy task, perhaps, even more so, when you come from a small island..
News and analysis
The latest news and analysis from The Communist, alongside reports of our activity. For Marxist theory and history, click here.
Greece: a radical turn in the situation is being prepared
The downgrading of Greece’s credit
ratings by Standard & Poor’s
has sent shockwaves around the world’s financial markets, with stock
exchanges seeing significant falls over the last few days. The fear is
that Greece
could default and drag the rest of the eurozone into a severe crisis,
putting immense pressure on the euro. The problem the bourgeois face is
the Greek working class, which is not taking this lying down.
Who are the Lib Dems?
The Liberal Democrats are riding high
in recent opinion polls. They are presenting themselves as something
“new” and “clean”. A closer look reveals a very old party that has
always carried out the policies dictated by the capitalist class of
Britain.
General election: Result thrown into the air
Given the colossal volatility within the electorate in the
recent period, the outcome of the general election has become impossible
to
predict. With under 10 days to go, opinion polls point to some kind
of hung
Parliament with the Liberal Democrats holding the balance of power.
Hands off Cuba! Defend the Cuban revolution – fight for International socialism!
The Cuban revolution is once more being attacked by the imperialists.
They raise a hue and cry about “democratic rights”, but what they are
really concerned about is a country where private property of the means
of production has been abolished, where the revolution has survived, in
spite of many mistakes and difficulties, and which continues to be a
point of reference for the downtrodden masses of Latin America. In
this,
the International Marxist Tendency stands firmly in support of the
Cuban revolution against the attacks of imperialism.
Pakistan: The 18th constitutional amendment and power cuts
In 2008 the people of Pakistan voted
into office the PPP, hoping that this would bring genuine change, i.e. a
real improvement in their living conditions. Instead we have a
worsening economic situation, real suffering of the millions of poor,
and warfare killing many innocent civilians. Meanwhile the PPP
leadership is busying itself applying the IMF-imposed policies of cuts
and privatisations. In these conditions it is not surprising that many
are asking themselves what democracy has meant for them.
We are entering a New Age of World Austerity (PART TWO)
The eurozone countries in particular are caught in a vice. After the
binge comes the hang-over. The Common Market was set up to develop a
European-wide market as a means of overcoming the narrow constraints of
the
nation state.
We are entering a New Age of World Austerity (PART ONE)
The world economy is gradually emerging from the biggest economic crisis
since the 1930s. In Britain last year we saw the biggest fall in
economic
output in any single year since 1921. Now there are signs of a slow
painful
recovery. However, there will be no return to “normality”. The crisis
marks the
end of an epoch economically and politically. We are now entering the
age of
austerity.
General Election campaign: half way point reached
With the general election campaign almost at the official
half way spot and all the polls pointing to a tight campaign, something
odd has
happened. A sense of boredom has crept in to what should have been an
exciting
four weeks of political cut and thrust. Only the recent jump in the Lib
Dems
position in the opinion polls has provided any points of interest.
Women and the Recession
The recession has hit the working class hard as big business seeks to make ordinary people pay the price for the greed of the banksters and the City of London. For working class women, things are looking very grim already – here Rachel Gibbs reveals some of the facts and what they mean.
The Karzai-Western Split and the Crisis of the Afghan Regime
After eight years of war in
Afghanistan, the inability of Western imperialism to quell the
insurgency has entered into a period of crisis. Cracks and divisions
within the central government are becoming more and more critical as
the military and political situation becomes ever more unstable. Major
conflicts within Afghanistan’s Western-backed ruling clique were first
brought to a head in August during the presidential elections. The
accusations of fraud have left Karzai’s grip on power extremely
strained and have left Karzai wondering whether the NATO mission is more
hindrance than help.
Venezuela: Lucha de Clases is born!
The Venezuelan revolution is at a
crossroads – either it proceeds to expropriate the bourgeoisie and do
away with the bourgeois state or the right-wing reactionary oligarchy
will start to gain ground and threaten all that has been achieved so
far. In this context the PSUV is the key. It must adopt a Marxist
programme. That is why the Marxists have launched Lucha de Clases
(Class Struggle) as a tool for the transformation of the PSUV into a
Marxist revolutionary party capable of leading the socialist revolution.