As people take to the polls for the European elections, we republish here an abridged version of an important article written in 1997. In this article, Alan Woods analyses the historical development of the European Union and the single currency, discusses the socialist alternative to the EU, and outlines the contradictions present within the present set up – contradictions that have come to the fore today in an explosive manner.

The landslide victory of the BJP and the meteoric rise of Narendra Modi as a populist leader have stunned a large number of secular and liberal analysts in India and elsewhere. Lal Khan explains the results of the recent Indian elections and outlines the perspective of crisis and class struggle in India.

Allegations of corruption and collusion between bourgeois politicians, big business and the state no longer come as any surprise to workers in Ireland, nor anywhere else in the world. Tony Healy of Fightback Ireland looks at the close relationships between capitalist politicians, big business, and the bankers.