Earlier this year we marked the centenary of the Easter Rising – an historic episode of class struggle in Ireland. Today we commemorate the centenary of the death of James Connolly, the great revolutionary leader and Marxist, who was murdered by the British state on 12th May 1916 for his part in the Easter Rising in Dublin.

Karl Marx, the great revolutionary theoretician, philosopher, and fighter, was born on this day 198 years ago, on 5th May 1818. To commemorate the life of Karl Marx, we publish here a biography by the late Phil Mitchinson, originally written in 2003, along with links to a variety of recommended articles, videos, and audios about Marx and his revolutionary ideas.

With the recent debates in Parliament about the bombing of Syria, as well as the upcoming EU referendum and the waves of protest internationally, the question of what a socialist foreign policy could look like are high on the agenda. What kind of policies should a Corbyn-led Labour Party be putting forward?