We publish here two articles analysing the latest developments in Venezuela. In the first, Jorge Martin looks at the upcoming municipal elections in Venezuela, which have provided a platform for revolutionaries to oppose the bureaucracy. In the second, Lucha de Clases in Venezuela provide an in-depth analysis of the October regional elections and the perspectives going forward.
The Local Government Employers in England and Wales have offered a two-year pay deal to unions representing a million council workers. This offer, however, falls far short of what is needed. Public sector unions need to unite and fight for the pay rise that workers deserve.
As 2017 draws to a close, we can look back on a year of dramatic events in world politics. What the emerging global movement against capitalism needs is a conscious organised expression, grounded in the revolutionary ideas of Marxism. Help support the work of Socialist Appeal in building the forces of Marxism by donating to our Festive Fighting Fund today!
Fraud in the recent national elections in Honduras has resulted in mass demonstrations against the hated regime of President Juan Orlando Hernández (JOH). The state apparatus is splitting along class lines, with layers of the police refusing to obey the orders of their commanders. IMT comrades from Honduras report on the revolutionary developments taking place.
A Unison-led demonstration was held outside King’s College London on Friday 1st December as part of an on-going campaign to bring the university’s cleaning staff in-house. Around 100 staff and students were present, demanding justice for the cleaners. Joe Attard of the KCL Marxists reports on the latest events in the cleaners’ fight for decent pay and conditions.
On Friday 1st December, dozens of trade union activists gathered in the East Ham Working Men’s Club to commemorate the 45th anniversary of that famous labour movement victory, the Pentonville Five. Ben Gliniecki reports on the contributions made, including by speakers such as Len McCluskey, and the lessons of this historic struggle for today.
Investment banking giant Morgan Stanley recently published a report that warned its clients about the possibility of a Corbyn-led Labour government. Such an outcome, the bankers described, would be a “worse threat to business than Brexit”. The Labour leader responded by saying to the financial firm: “we are a threat”. But what kind of movement and programme do we need to really threaten the capitalists?
A new report from Credit Suisse has confirmed that the richest 1% of the population owns more than half of the world’s wealth and is grabbing an ever bigger share of the pie every day, all at our expense. Jonathan Lees of the Leicester Marxists looks at the growing economic inequality under capitalism and discusses the need for a revolutionary way forward.
At the recent October Revolution festival in London, Fred Weston – editor of www.marxist.com – discusses the question of imperialism from a Marxist perspective. Fred outlines Lenin’s analysis of imperialism and uses this to explain the changes and developments taking place in terms of world relations today: from the rise of China to the crisis in the Middle East.
At the recent 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, President Xi Jinping took the opportunity to let the world know that China is a “mighty force” soon to reclaim its rightful position on the world stage. Behind all the bluster, however, one could detect an unease at the prospect of growing internal instability within China, which flows from the impending crisis of capitalism.
To cut costs and maximise profits, King’s College London outsources its cleaning services, with workers who are on precarious contracts, earning just over the minimum wage, and with limited sick pay and holiday time. But the KCL cleaners are fighting back. Joe Russell reports on the continuing struggle of cleaners at KCL for decent pay and conditions.
As the Theresa May’s zombie government lurches from crisis to crisis, few of its policies have received more criticism than its flagship welfare ‘reform’, Universal Credit. Under pressure, chancellor Philip Hammond announced several improvements to this new welfare system in his recent Budget. But, as Andy Southwark comments, instead of tinkering around the edges, we need to a scrap the whole failed Tory austerity programme.