Events are moving quickly. Everyday one crisis seems to give rise to another. We are in a period of sharp and sudden changes. With the conference season ahead, the leaders of the labour movement must seize the opportunity to present a socialist alternative to crisis and austerity.
The tensions between the major European Powers, which were ultimately rooted in the struggle for markets, colonies and spheres of interest, were increasing steadily in the decades before 1914. They found their expression in a series of “incidents”, each of which contained the potential for the outbreak of war. If they did not reach this logical conclusion that was because the objective conditions were not yet sufficiently mature. In August 1914 came the “tipping point” and the Great Slaughter began.
In the past few weeks, the news has broken that, due to a scarcity of specialist medical units, children with mental health issues are being assessed in police cells. This state of affairs is completely unacceptable, and is yet another example of the real impact of the crisis of capitalism on people’s health and lives.
In July of this year, George Osborne, the British Chancellor, announced that the UK economy had finally recovered and reached its pre-crisis level. But the so-called “recovery” has been anything but that for the vast majority of people. Meanwhile, dark clouds are forming on the horizon, threatening to plunge the world economy into an even deeper crisis.
The Israeli government’s attacks on Gaza have drawn condemnation from many ordinary workers and youth in the UK, as shown by the large demonstrations seen in London. The criminal actions of the Israeli state, however, have now also resulted in condemnation from a political representative of the ruling class, Baroness Warsi, the former Chair of the Conservative Party, indicating the weakness of the Coalition.
The shooting of unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown has let loose the pent-up anger and frustration of black youth in the otherwise quiet working class St. Louis suburb of Ferguson. The US National Guard have now been called in to quell the protests. These events above all show that huge pressures are building up in US society, just one scratch below the surface. We publish here an analysis from Socialist Appeal USA.
Having created a crisis in the Middle East due to their invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Obama administration is once again backing bombing in Iraq. Under the guise of averting a “humanitarian disaster”, US imperialism is again intervening in the Middle East. But the workers and youth in the region should trust in no one but themselves.
It has often been remarked that politicians are out of touch with the ordinary conditions of ordinary people. In the case of Tory politician, Mr. Simmonds, it seems to be a case of living on a totally different planet. Mordecai Paechter examines the case of yet another bougeois politician whose insatiable greed characterises the capitalist class that he represents.
New data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has confirmed that pay in Britain under this Tory-led coalition government is now officially falling. The ONS figures released in August shows that wages, including bonuses, fell during the April-June quarter by 0.2%. Even if you remove the bonuses element, wages only went up by 0.6% – the worst figures since the ONS begun compiling these records back in 2001.
Over 250 comrades from around the globe met in Greece between 29th July and 3rd August IMT’s 2014 World Congress to discuss the perspectives for the world revolution and the tasks of the Marxists in these turbulent times. The International Marxist Tendency is growing in numbers, developing a deeper understanding of the processes taking place, intervening in the struggles taking place, and fighting for socialist ideas in the movements of workers and youth.
We continue our series looking at Marx’s Capital. Having discussed how the capitalists are able to increase profits by improving productivity through the application of new organisational means within the workplace, Marx now turns his attention towards the most revolutionary of developments within capitalism: the machine.
On Saturday 9th August, an estimated 150,000 people marched in London against the brutal assault of the Israeli state against the Palestinian people. Thousands travelled from all over Britain to show their outrage at the ongoing bombardment of Gaza, which has left nearly 2000 Palestinians dead, including approximately 452 children and 235 women.