CWI |

China

What lay behind Mao’s Cultural Revolution?

August 23, 2023 Christine Thomas, from Socialism Today (Issue 267 May 2023)

The Cultural Revolution – a period that is generally considered to have spanned the ten years from 1966 to the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 – is one of the most confusing and misunderstood [...]
Britain

Why is Black unemployment so high and what can we do about it?

August 22, 2023 From The Socialist, weekly paper of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales)

Statistics recently published by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) show unemployment among black and minority ethnic (BAME) people was at 6.9% in 2022, over double the unemployment rate of white people – 3.2%. The unemployment [...]
Trotsky

82nd anniversary of Trotsky’s murder: revolutionary socialist ideas still vital today

August 21, 2023 CWI

21 August marks the anniversary of the death, in 1940, of the revolutionary socialist Leon Trotsky after being attacked the previous day by a Stalinist agent. Along with Lenin, Trotsky was the foremost leader of the [...]
Women's Struggle

Abortion, decriminalisation, and the right to choose

August 21, 2023 Christine Thomas , from Socialism Today Issue 269 July-August 2023

The jailing for 28 months of Carla Foster, a 44-year old woman with three children, one with special needs, for terminating a pregnancy during Covid lockdown has shone a spotlight on abortion laws in England [...]
Book review

‘The Capital Order: How Economists Invented Austerity and Paved the Way for Fascism’

August 19, 2023 Paul Kershaw, Socialism Today (issue 268 June 2023)

The age of austerity is clearly not over as capitalist politicians of all persuasions compete to manage economic crisis in the interest of the capitalist class. PAUL KERSHAW reviews a book that places economic austerity [...]

‘Socialism 2024’: Building the Socialist Opposition with Ideas and Action

November 14, 2024

Hundreds of working-class activists, trade unionists and students poured into the workshops and rallies of Socialism 2024, held in central London, on 9-10 November to discuss how a fighting socialist opposition to Labour leader and [...]

CWI Summer School Success

August 14, 2024

At the end of July, the CWI’s five-day European summer school took place in Berlin with over 140 comrades from England & Wales, Ireland, Scotland, the US, France, Austria and Germany. Over five days, political [...]

Trumpism and its Limits

December 3, 2024

“It is time to study Caligula. That most notorious of Roman emperors killed what was left of the republic and centralised authority in himself. Donald Trump does not need to make his horse a senator; […]

Trump Return Spells Instability and Struggle

November 21, 2024

Donald Trump has been elected again, this time as the candidate with the most votes. Millions of people in the US and worldwide are looking on in trepidation as he announces a series of ultra-right […]

Trump Declared President-Elect for Second Right-Wing, Anti-Worker Term

November 6, 2024

Donald Trump was declared the winner of the 2024 presidential election early this morning (6 November). Once again, the Democratic Party’s pro-corporate agenda failed to win enough votes to stop Trump, the right, and far […]

War in the Middle East and Global Capitalism

November 1, 2024

World relations between imperialist and capitalist powers are in an unprecedented state of flux and turmoil. The unipolar world dominated by US imperialism that briefly existed following the collapse of the former USSR in 1991 […]

A Year of Israeli State Terror, Wars and Mass Slaughter

October 19, 2024

Brutal wars have repeatedly been carried out by Israeli military forces on Gaza since a ruthless blockade was imposed on that strip of land in 2007. Each one brought terrible death and destruction but the […]

Israeli Government Escalates its War Against Hezbollah

September 25, 2024

The right-wing Israeli government has set about turning parts of Lebanon into rubble, as it has already done in Gaza following its decision to escalate its war against Hezbollah to a much higher level. The […]

General Strike Against Netanyahu Government

September 3, 2024

Build mass working-class struggle to end war and win Palestinian national self-determination In the space of just a week, the reports from Israel-Palestine included yet more terrible atrocities carried out by Israeli military forces in […]

South Africa, Israel and the International Court of Justice

February 8, 2024

Interview with Weizmann Hamilton On January 11 and 12, 2024, the United Nation’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) heard the South African government’s case accusing Israel of carrying out “genocidal acts” in Gaza. On 26 […]

Hamas and the Palestinian National Liberation Struggle

January 4, 2024

A printable version of this article can be downloaded here. The Israeli army is laying waste to Gaza. Whole communities are being destroyed and entire families wiped-out. The scale of displacement, as people are forced […]

National People’s Power Wins General Election – Revolution, reform, or rhetoric?

November 18, 2024

Sri Lanka’s general election, held on 14 November, marked a breaking-point in the country’s political history. The National People’s Power (NPP) secured an extraordinary 159 seats, achieving a two-thirds majority in Parliament. This result shocked […]

A Marxist Alternative to Sri Lanka’s Crises

October 21, 2024

For the first time in Sri Lanka’s history, the country finds itself under the leadership of a president—Anura Kumara Dissanayake—who hails from a party with a left-leaning background. However, despite the media’s portrayal of him […]

Presidential Election – A shock result?

October 16, 2024

Though the establishment parties somehow survived the Aragalaya (The Struggle) in 2022, they were never able to win back the full trust of the masses. The ruling Rajapaksa family then stepped back from governmental positions […]

The War in Ukraine, Trump’s Election and the Fall of Assad’s Regime

December 9, 2024

It is often a paradox of war that as the end begins to loom in the distance, the ground fighting intensifies. With the election of Donald Trump to the White House, the war in Ukraine, […]

Ukraine Forces Invade Kursk Region

August 17, 2024

In a dramatic twist to the Russia-Ukraine war, Kyiv ordered its armed forces into the Kursk region of Russia on the 6th of August. This marks the first serious incursion into Russian territory since the […]

Slovakia Assassination Attempt and Georgia Upheaval

May 21, 2024

Deepening divides in Europe exacerbated by Ukraine-Russia war Two recent events – the attempted assassination of Slovakia’s prime minister and the mass protests over the ‘Russian law’ introduced by the Georgian government – have increased […]

Germany Before the New Elections

December 11, 2024

Crisis, Conflict and Class Struggle The end of the coalition between the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Greens and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) on the evening of 6 November did not really come as […]

SPAIN | Deadly Floods Cause Political Upheaval

November 13, 2024

“It’s like being in a disaster movie”, was the way that one person put it when asked how he felt about the recent wave of floods that have decimated large areas of Spain’s eastern coastline near Valencia. […]

IRELAND | Sinn Féin in Crisis as General Election Looms

October 26, 2024

After years of riding high in the polls, Sinn Féin [‘Ourselves Alone’ – a republican party historically linked to the Provisional Irish Republican Army] are mired in a deep crisis. Just a few weeks from […]

FRANCE | How should the workers’ movement respond to Macron’s social counter-revolution?

October 25, 2024

President Macron’s party was beaten in the European Elections in France. It was an anti-Macron referendum that resulted in a victory for the far right Le Pen’s party Rassemblement National (RN) in an election with […]

AUSTRIA | FPÖ Becomes Strongest Force in Elections

October 4, 2024

What happens when there is a crisis but no mass workers’ party In the general elections on September 29 the far-right Freedom party (FPÖ), led by Herbert Kickl, emerged victorious with 28.8%, 1.4 million votes, […]

BRITAIN | Far-Right Riots – Political Alternative Needed

September 2, 2024

One month after Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party was ‘swept to power’ by a paltry 20% of the electorate – the lowest support base of any government since the introduction of universal male suffrage in […]

Tinubu Elected President Amidst Mass Disenchantment

March 8, 2023

It is no news that the former governor of Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been declared the winner of the presidential election held on Saturday, February 25, 2023. […]

Nigeria’s 2012 Uprising

January 11, 2022

When Strikes and protests nearly swept a capitalist regime out of power Ten years ago, instead of the festivities that often herald the New Year, Nigerian working people and youth started the year 2012 at […]

Month of EndSARS Turmoil Shakes Buhari Regime

October 28, 2020

Nigeria has passed through nearly a month of turmoil. Video footage of the hated SARS police unit killing a man and driving off in his car was the spark for mass protests. Years of frustration, […]

MOZAMBIQUE | “Revolutionary Atmosphere” as Mass Protests Challenge Ruling Elite

November 22, 2024

Protests have rocked Mozambique since ‘preliminary’ results of presidential and legislative elections held on 9 October declared the ruling Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo) the winner. Mozambique can be added to the growing rollcall of neocolonial […]

BANGLADESH | Mass Protests Topple Government – No Trust in Capitalist Elites

August 12, 2024

The revolutionary mass movement in Bangladesh is at a critical juncture. A 17-member interim government has been established, including in it a few young leaders who emerged from the mass protests which toppled the government. […]

KENYA | Mass Protests Force Government to Retreat

June 27, 2024

Mass protests in Kenya have forced the government to withdraw unpopular tax increases. These amounted to a massive attack on the living standards of the middle class, the working class, the poor and young people. […]

SUDAN| Revolutionary Masses Must End Generals’ Counter-Revolutionary Violence

April 25, 2023

A brutal power struggle is under way in Sudan. On 15 April, heavy fighting erupted between different factions of the armed forces. Civilians have abruptly found themselves in war zones, especially in the capital Khartoum. […]

CHILE | Lessons from ‘Chilean October’ Three Years On

October 18, 2022

Friday, October 18, 2019, is marked as the day on which a large-scale revolutionary process began in Chile. A massive mobilization, where millions of young people, workers, women, residents, and social organizations took to the […]

MYANMAR | One Year After the Coup Mass Resistance Continues

February 17, 2022

2022 has seen great courage by the Myanmar people, who remain steadfast against the coup carried out by the military Tatmadaw regime. The news of Aung San Suu Kyi’s four-year prison sentence was received with […]

The Truth About the US Inflation Reduction Act

August 19, 2024

Originally published in Socialism Today, magazine of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales). This year is the thirtieth birthday of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). It is also the year China opened a WTO […]

What Causes Inflation?

September 4, 2023

“We understand better now how little we understand about inflation,”[i] commented Jerome Powell, Chair of the US Federal Reserve (the Fed), when inflation reached its highest level since the late 1970s in 2022. At the […]

The End of Golden Eras

September 1, 2023

The new lease of life that world capitalism experienced after the collapse of the Stalinist states of Russia and Eastern Europe from the late 1980s has definitively run its course. Whatever the immediate perspectives are […]

JAPAN | Liberal Democratic Party/Komeito Coalition Government Loses Majority

by Karl Simmons, CWI Japan in Japan

In the election for the Japanese House of Representatives, held on 27th of October, the Liberal Democratic Party/Komeito coalition government of Shigeru Ishiba lost its majority. The government was expecting to do badly in the election, but both the government and political pundits were surprised by the scale of the [...]

What brought an end to South African apartheid?

by Deji Olayinka, Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) Black and Asian group in South Africa

Thirty years ago, the inspirational movement of the South African masses brought an end to the horrific apartheid regime, the process concluding with elections in April 1994. The Black majority was finally able to vote, [...]

CHINA | China, Mao and the Markets

by Hannah Sell, CWI International Secretariat in Spotlight on China

Originally published in Socialism Today, monthly magazine of the Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales). ‘Mao and Markets’ is an attempt to educate the US capitalist class about the peculiar character of China and to appeal to it to find a way to “productively live with it”. On one level it is an odd read because it attempts to ‘objectively’ explain Maoism in the past and today, [...]

Mpox Exposes Continuing Global Pandemic Vulnerability

by Jon Dale, Socialist Party (CWI England & Wales) in Public Health

The latest outbreak of mpox virus is exposing once again global vulnerability to new pandemics. This outbreak had been largely ignored by politicians and media in wealthy countries when it remained confined to Africa. Since 2022, 40 874 cases and 1,512 deaths have been reported across fifteen African states. An [...]

Latest Posts

CWI’s Fiftieth Anniversary

CWI Summer School 2024

Understanding Trump’s Return to the US Presidency

Conflict in the Middle East

Sri Lanka | The 2024 Elections and Beyond

The War in Ukraine

The Class Struggle in Europe

The Long-Term Crisis of Nigerian Capitalism – Lessons for Today

Uprisings & Revolutions in the Neo-Colonial World

The Crisis of the World Capitalist Economy

GET REGULAR UPDATES

help to Build the CWI

SEARCH

Archives

Publications (English and German)