It is now three years since the Labour Conference voted to go into coalition with Fine Gael in Ireland. In the opinion of Gilmore, the Irish Labour Party leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Ireland has been to “hell and back”. While we – Fightback, the Irish Marxists – would agree that the capitalist crisis has put the Irish working class through hell, it is not at all clear that the process has ended.

Today we publish the fourth part of the IMT’s analysis of the world situation, which deals with the ongoing revolutions in Latin America and the Middle East, the movements in Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Egypt and Iran, as well as world relations and the decline of US imperialism.

Reform or revolution? This has been the main ideological debate in the labour movement for the past century. Today, the crisis of capitalism poses the question sharply. Unlike in the past, however, the material basis for reformism has been eroded. The cupboard is bare. Austerity, heightened class struggle, and revolutionary upheaval are on the order of the day.