Marxist.com - In Defence of Marxism

This week’s episode welcomes Niklas Albin Svensson, a leading comrade of the International Marxist Tendency to discuss the legacy of Stalinism, 70 years after the death of Joseph Stalin in March 1953.

On 11 and 12 March, the Pakistani section of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT), Lal Salaam, held its 6th Congress at the Aiwan-E-Iqbal Center in Lahore. Despite the multitude of logistical issues that arose from organising a national meeting amidst crumbling infrastructure and rampant, arbitrary corruption, this landmark Congress was a resounding success.

Greek society has been deeply shocked by the deadly train collision at Tempi on the evening of 28 February that killed at least 57 mostly young people. The grief has turned to anger against a government that is trying to deflect from its own culpability and that of the capitalist class. The working class burst onto the scene with a general strike on 8 March. We publish below the English translation of the leaflet distributed by the comrades of the Greek section of the IMT at that strike.

This morning, banking shares fell rapidly – not only in the US and not just regional banks, but all over the world – in the aftermath of the collapse of US regional banks, SVB Financial and Signature over the weekend. What caused their collapse and are there wider implications?

We are proud to announce the publication of the first issue of the paper of the International Marxist Tendency in Ireland – the Marxist Voice! This is a landmark moment for the building of the Marxist tendency in Ireland.

The following document was passed at a meeting of the international leadership of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) at the start of February, for discussion at the coming 2023 IMT World Congress. In it, the main trends are analysed that are shaping world politics and the class struggle in this dramatic period of capitalism’s death agony.

Recently, a public meeting held by Socialist Revolution, the US section of the International Marxist Tendency, was ‘infiltrated’ by a member of the far-right group ‘Turning Point USA’. We encourage readers to watch the video made by Socialist Revolution in response to the vacuous 'exposé' produced by these reactionary idiots. It is clear that big sections of the US capitalist class, and its rabid dogs on the far right, are spooked by the increasing popularity of Marxism and communism, particularly among the young. Their fears are warranted! The comrades of Socialist Revolution are conducting a fundraising campaign to redouble their efforts to spread revolutionary ideas across the country. We encourage all our readers to support the comrades in this task!

The plot thickens! A month after acclaimed American journalist Seymour Hersh released a bombshell report, accusing the CIA of masterminding the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany last year, two articles simultaneously appeared in major US and German news publications linking Ukraine to the attack. Not only that, but they claim western secret services knew all along! What are we to make of this?

Almost two months into the movement against Macron’s pension reform, the French masses have yet again proved their determination to fight. On Tuesday 7 March, around 3.5 million people were on the streets at 300 rallies across the country, according to the unions. This is the sixth day of action since 19 January, and brought record numbers on the streets.

Fifty years ago, the US Supreme Court passed its famous Roe v Wade ruling, providing abortion rights to women in America. Today, these same rights are being ripped up. The fight to end women’s oppression must be a fight for socialist revolution.

This week’s episode of International Marxist Radio welcomes Ylva Vinberg, leading comrade of Revolution, the Swedish section of the International Marxist Tendency, and Fred Weston, co-author of Wellred Books’ latest publication, Women, Family and the Russian Revolution – available to pre-order now! To mark International Working Women’s Day, this episode focuses on the Marxist position on the struggle for women’s liberation, and the positive example embodied by the tremendous advances accomplished by the Russian Revolution.

As we celebrate International Working Women’s Day, Wellred Books is publishing a new book, ‘Women, Family and the Russian Revolution’ by John Peter Roberts and Fred Weston. Why publish a Marxist book on women and the Russian Revolution in the year 2023? The answer is that, more than 100 years after the Russian Revolution, we are still very far from achieving genuine equality between men and women. The women’s question has been transformed into one of identity, to be solved within the confines of capitalist society. We maintain that it remains a question closely linked to the class issues we face under capitalism.

Since the evening of 28 February, Greek society has been rocked by the deadliest railway accident in the history of the country, and one of the worst in European and world history. This terrible event, resulting from the negligence of the government and private rail operators, has provoked a huge outpouring of anger and protest, as well as strike action by railway workers and other sectors. A 24-hour general public sector strike has been announced for tomorrow (8 March). The tragedy has further ratcheted up the class struggle in Greece, which was already roaring back to life.

Establishment golden boy Rishi Sunak has been receiving praise in the press recently, having negotiated a deal for the North of Ireland. But any hopes of lasting peace between Britain and the EU – or within the Tory Party – will quickly fade.

The mobilisation against the pension reform in France is entering a decisive phase. All the days of action since 19 January have confirmed the extent of the opposition to the Macron government's planned attacks on pensions and, beyond that, its entire policy. But as we anticipated, these 24-hour mobilisations in and of themselves could not make Macron back down on the heart of his offensive: the postponement of the retirement age, the increase in the length of the contribution period, and the abolition of special regimes for certain sectors of the workforce. From now on, all eyes are on a new stage of the struggle, starting on 7 March.

The editorial board of marxy.com is proud to announce the publication of the 11th issue of ‘Freedom and Communism’, the Arabic-language magazine of the International Marxist Tendency. We publish the editorial here, translated into English for our international readership. [Click here to download the pdf]

70 years ago today, on 5 March 1953, Joseph Stalin died. In his wake, he left behind a legacy of brutality and betrayal that could not be further from the traditions of genuine Marxism upon which the Soviet Union was founded. To mark the anniversary of the death of the bureaucratic usurper of the Russian Revolution, we wish to draw readers’ attention to Leon Trotsky’s unfinished biography of Stalin: his last great work before his assassination. The IMT has produced the definitive version of this text, which holds vital insights into the life and mind of the man who would become synonymous with the USSR’s degeneration.

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Hugo Chávez. To honour the legacy of this courageous class fighter, we republish below an obituary, written by Alan Woods at the time of his passing. The article offers a detailed analysis of the role of the Venezuelan president in the Bolivarian Revolution, as well as his relationship with the masses. For a deeper understanding, we would also like to draw readers’ attention to Permanent Revolution in Latin America, published in 2018 by Wellred Books. The book presents a history of the revolutionary movements in Venezuela, as well as Cuba and Nicaragua, from a Marxist perspective.

The year is 2018. At the prestigious Christie’s fine art auction in New York City, a blurry portrait of a besuited gentleman hangs alongside an Andy Warhol print and a bronze sculpture by Roy Lichtenstein. It is titled: ‘Edmond de Belamy, from La Famille de Belamy’. An anonymous phone bidder purchases the portrait for a whopping $432,500, against an initial estimate of $7,000-$10,000. At the bottom of the frame, rather than a signature, there is a line of code. It was not produced by human hands, but by an artificial intelligence (AI).

With 8,794,726 votes, representing 36.61 percent of the total vote cast; Bola Hammed Tinubu, candidate of the ruling APC, won a highly contested and contentious general election. Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, the candidate of the PDP, came second with a total vote of 6,984,520 votes, representing 29.07 percent of the total. But, the greatest upset in this particular election was the performance of the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi, who scored a total vote of 6,101,533 (25.40 percent) coming in third but with an almost non-existing party structure. This is a clear indication that the Nigerian masses are looking for an alternative on the political front.