Today marks the anniversary of Leon Trotsky’s assassination. Struck down 75 years ago by an ice-pick to the head from a cowardly Stalinist assassin, he soon fell into a coma and died the following day, on 21st August 1940. To commemorate the life and ideas of the great revolutionary leader, we are re-publishing an article here by Rob Sewell, written in 2012.

In this recent talk to the UCLU Marxist Society, Alan Woods explains the main concepts behind the ideas of Marxism, including dialectical materialism – the philosophy of Marxism – and Marx’s economic analysis.

Rosa Luxemburg was one of the most important figures in the history of the international workers’ movement.Reform or Revolution was one of the most important of her early writings. Written in 1899, it provides a devastating demolition of the theoretical and practical basis of reformism. It was completely valid at the time when it was written and it remains completely valid today.