Latest in English

Latest in English

Iraq: marching against the war economy

cs, 08/02/2018 - 13:36

Protests in the Middle East

In a region scarred by imperialist war and sectarian divisions, the recent social protests in Iran, Jordan and Iraq offer hope that there is another possibility: the united struggle of the exploited against capital and its brutal violence. This article, written by a close sympathiser, looks at the massive demonstrations that have swept through central and southern Iraq.

Starting on July 8, 2018, a number of spontaneous protests broke out in central and southern Iraq involving thousands of demonstrators. It spread through eight southern provinces very quickly and, about a fortnight later, onto the streets of Baghdad. These followed significant protests in Jordan and Iran on exactly the same issues. The movement in Iraq would have been aware of these protests and inspired by them given the basic similarities.

Castoriadis, Munis and the problem of breaking with Trotskyism (On the content of the communist revolution)

sze, 08/01/2018 - 21:54

In the previous part of this series, we re-publishe

Fifty years ago, May 68: The advances and retreats in the class struggle since 1968

sze, 08/01/2018 - 21:05

Without the events of May 1968, the ICC would not exist.

Trump in Europe: an expression of capitalism in turmoil

k, 07/31/2018 - 10:14

Events around Trump’s visit to Europe have very clearly confirmed the main ideas developed in the report on imperialist tensions (June 2018), in particular the notion that the USA has now bec

Report on imperialist tensions (June 2018)

k, 07/31/2018 - 10:07

The main orientations of the November 2017 report on imperialist tensions[1] provide us with the essential framework to understand current developments

Evolution and updating of imperialist tensions (June 2018)

k, 07/31/2018 - 09:40

We are publishing below a report on the imperialist situation adopted by the ICC’s central organ at a meeting in June 2018.

Karl Marx: a revolutionary militant

h, 07/16/2018 - 17:23

Praxis

In The State and Revolution, Lenin wrote:“During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names to a certain extent for the ‘consolation’ of the oppressed classes and with the object of duping the latter, while at the same time robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance, blunting its revolutionary edge and vulgarizing it.”

During the life of Marx, the bourgeoisie did everything to prevent him from operating by demonising him and persecuting him through the apparatus of the police. After his death they did everything to distort his fight to destroy capitalism and open up the future to communism...

Class struggle in Jordan’s war economy

k, 07/03/2018 - 08:21

Middle East Protests

An article from a close sympathiser showing that despite and even because of the omnipresence of war in the Middle East, the class struggle can still raise its head.

At the end of May this year a wave of strikes and protests by workers and unemployed in Jordan against tax increases, price rises and state corruption was widely reported in the media. In fact the movement by lower-paid workers against gas and electricity price increases began several months earlier in the provinces, building up to mass protests in the capital Amman...

British imperialism: the uses of war and terrorism

p, 06/22/2018 - 18:43

Inter-imperialist tensions

This article, written by a close sympathiser of the ICC, shows that for all its political weaknesses, the British ruling class is still able to defend its imperialist interests and is as strong as ever when it comes to hypocritical justifications.

The big lies

In many ways it's useful to have a Foreign Secretary who's widely regarded as being a bumbling, incompetent fool because it tends to hide the gravity of the lies, deceit and involvement of “Perfidious Albion” in a number of wars, some of which, as in Libya, involve the direct support of al-Qaida type fundamentalists. As well as "The war on terror", there's a sort of "war alongside terror" where the latter is used for British imperialist interests.

Polemic: the weaknesses of the ICP on the question of populism (Part II)

k, 06/12/2018 - 18:29

Proletarian milieu

In this second part we're responding to the main criticisms that the International Communist Party (Le Proletaire) makes of us by opposing their approach with our method and our framework of analysis.

Difficulties in the bourgeoisie’s political apparatus

h, 05/21/2018 - 12:47

Labour Party's antisemitism

The British Labour Party harbours antisemites, leading to what the Chakrabarti Report in June 2016 called an “occasionally toxic atmosphere”. Furthermore this is a longstanding and somewhat intractable feature of the party, continuing despite the recommendations of the report 2 years ago, despite Corbyn meeting with the Jewish Leadership Council and Board of Deputies in April, which they described as a missed opportunity, and despite the fact that is has caused problems in recent local elections in areas with a large Jewish population....

The existence of antisemitism is, however, not sufficient to account for the campaign about it. Whether the media make a scandal of something, or whether it is hushed up, often depends on the divisions in the ruling class and the need to put pressure on a politician or a government.

Illusions in the trade unions hold back the workers’ struggle

h, 05/21/2018 - 12:27

UCU strikes

This article was written by a comrade of the ICC who works at a UK university and took part in the recent UCU strikes. Although not in the UCU or even eligible to join the pension scheme at the centre of the dispute, the comrade joined the strike in solidarity.

What the British media don’t tell us

h, 05/21/2018 - 11:13

50 years since May 1968

The two articles published in World Revolution 380 are part of a broader project aimed at re-examining the authentic legacy of the events of May-June 1968 in France. The article ‘Sinking into the economic crisis’ (see below) takes us back to a document written by the newly-formed group Révolution Internationale in 1969, a polemic against the Situationist thesis that the events were a response to a capitalist system that was “working well”.

The second article in this issue, ‘Against the lies about May 68’, (see article above) also written by our comrades in France, takes up some of the principal distortions and outright lies being spread about the meaning of May '68.

Sinking into the economic crisis

h, 05/21/2018 - 10:59

50 years since May '68

In issue number two of Révolution Internationale, published in 1969, there is an article called ‘Understanding May’ written by Marc Chirik, who had returned from over a decade of exile in Venezuela to take an active part in the ‘Events’ of May 68 in France.

This article was a polemical response to the pamphlet ‘Enragés and Situationists in the Occupation Movement’ published by the Situationist International. While recognising that the SI had indeed played an active part in the movement of May-June, it punctured their almost unlimited pretentiousness and self-regard, which led them to the frankly subsitutionist conclusion that “the agitation unleashed in January 1968 by the four or five revolutionaries who were to constitute the enrages group was to lead, in five months, to the virtual liquidation of the state”.

50 years ago, May 1968: discussion meeting

h, 05/21/2018 - 10:26

Public Meeting

To mark the 50th anniversary of the struggles of '68, the ICC is holding a public meeting to discuss the meaning of these events.

Saturday 9th June, 11am-6pm, The Lucas Arms, 254A Grays Inn Road, London WC1X 8QY

Morning Session: The events of May 68, their context and significance

Afternoon Session: The evolution of the class struggle since 1968

This is an opportunity for debate among all those groups or individuals who want to develop a better understanding of the past, present and future of the proletarian struggle. All are welcome!

The cave art of Homo neanderthalensis demonstrates what it is to be part of the human species

v, 05/20/2018 - 09:59

Pre-history

Under the heading ‘Readers’ Contributions’ we aim to encourage our readers and sympathisers to write texts and articles which can go into greater depth than is possible in our discussion forum, and so stimulate a longer term reflection. These articles, while being broadly based on proletarian politics, need not fully represent the positions of the ICC, or may deal with issues on which the ICC does not have a collective view. Here, a close sympathiser looks at recent discoveries of ‘Neaderthal art’ and the implications for a marxist understanding of ‘pre-history’.

The world bourgeoisie against the October revolution

szo, 05/19/2018 - 22:21

Russian Revolution

As we expected, the megaphones of the bourgeoisie have not remained quiet on the centenary of the 1917 October revolution.

Report on imperialist tensions (November 2017)

szo, 05/19/2018 - 22:09

Imperialist Tensions

The report we publish below was presented and discussed at an international meeting of the ICC in November 2017, with the aim of drawing out the main tendencies in the evolution of imperial

International Review no.161

szo, 05/19/2018 - 21:55

Against the lies about May '68!

p, 05/18/2018 - 14:22

Workers' History

From Emmanuel Macron to Daniel Cohn-Bendit, from Figaro to Marianne, from BFM TV to Radio France, the extreme-right to the extreme-left, whether criticising or celebrating it, all in their own way commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of May 68 by covering it with a shed-load of lies. This article provides an atidote...

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