This Easter, as every year, socialists and Republicans across Ireland will commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising. Yet with only two years to go until the centenary, the aim of the Workers’ Republic that James Connolly appears as far off as ever. Fightback – the Marxists in Ireland – comment on the continuing crisis of capitalism in Ireland and the response from Labour and the small forces to their left.

Ukrainian president Oleksandr Turchynov declared earlier this weak that a full-scale operation will be launched to regain control over Eastern Ukraine. Later, the same man announced a date for a referendum in Eastern Ukraine. Others are talking about UN peacekeepers coming in. This contradictory flip-flopping indicated the insoluble mess the Ukrainian authorities have got themselves into.

With the upcoming European elections on 22nd May, we publish here an analysis of the European Union and the euro crisis by Claudio Bellotti – member of the National Executive of Rifondazione Comunista in Italy and member of the editorial board of Falce Martello, the paper of the Italian Marxists – which examines the limitations of the pro-EU position put forward by the left reformists across Europe.