History shows us that the limited rights the working class enjoys today were won through bitter class struggle and revolution. ‘Resistance’, a recent photography exhibition in Edinburgh, aptly showcased this in documenting a century of struggle against the British state.
Prisons are overcrowded, probation services are chronically understaffed, and crimes from burglary to violent offences are on the rise. Despite successive governments’ promises to be ‘tough on crime’, Britain’s repressive institutions are falling apart.
Fifty years ago, Australia’s democratically-elected, left-reformist Labor government was forcibly dissolved – by the British monarchy. This detail, which remained hidden for decades, demonstrates the necessity of breaking with these oppressive ruling class institutions once and for all.
The BBC is a key component of the ruling class’ carefully-built state machinery. So, when two of its leading figures are forced to resign, this suggests that a hidden war is going on in the murky depths of the state, and paints a picture of an establishment in crisis.
At ‘Surviving Spycops’, a recent exhibition organised by women activists who were deceived into long-term relationships by undercover police officers, we caught up with communist artist and RCP activist Nicholas Baldion about his latest piece, ‘Police Spies Ruin Lives’.
Palestine Action activists, ‘The Filton 18’, have been held under anti-terrorism legislation for months on end without a trial. Yesterday, our comrades in Woolwich joined those protesting their detention, and explained how this reflects the British state’s growing weakness.
Since coming to power, there has been enormous mystery about what Donald Trump’s presidency means. Author and Marxist theoretician Alan Woods cuts through the confusion to clearly explain the phenomena of Trumpism, what his rule means and where he is going.
New revelations from the Undercover Policing Inquiry have exposed the horrifying scale to which undercover police officers manipulated and abused women to spy on left-wing groups. We can have no faith in the rotten British state to deliver justice.
On Saturday, the Metropolitan Police launched a massive crackdown on the national Palestine demonstration, with 77 arrested. These measures are a sign of weakness, not strength. The burning anger against western imperialism has not gone away.
We’re told we live in a democracy, but whether we vote for Starmer or Sunak, we’re going to get pretty much the same thing. In this episode, Ben Gliniecki will explain that behind capitalist ‘democracy’ is the dictatorship of the rich.
Across the world, with workers and youth rising up, the ruling class is restricting democratic rights – curbing freedom of speech, banning protests, and tightening anti-union laws. Communists must link the fightback to the struggle for socialism.
We publish here the editorial by Alan Woods from the latest issue of the International Marxist Tendency’s quarterly theoretical journal, ‘In Defence of Marxism’. Subscribe today to get your copy of this vital weapon of Marxist theory.