I might share the odd local and/or independent band on here in the future. There are so many good bands out there just gigging around, while we are fed this utter dross by the mainstream media.

A pivot to the western hemisphere does not, as some wishful thinkers have suggested, reflect an acceptance of China’s rise and the inevitability of a multipolar world order.

On the contrary, the purpose of aiming to achieve hemispheric hegemony is to establish a stronger base from which to confront China – and Russia, and Iran, and the DPRK, and any other state that seriously pursues sovereignty and independence.

https://thecommunists.org/2026/01/01/news/trump-national-security-strategy-blueprint-hegemony/

121 years ago, on January 9 (January 22 according to the new style), 1905, the tsarist troops fired on a peaceful demonstration of workers who were heading to the Winter Palace to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II complaining about their disenfranchised existence. The First Russian Revolution began with Bloody Sunday.

The reason for the workers' protest was a lost strike that began on January 3 at the Putilov Factory and spread to all the factories and plants of St. Petersburg. The march was organized by the monarchist organization "Assembly of Russian Factory and Plant Workers of St. Petersburg", founded by the priest G. A. Gapon. The main demand of the petition was the immediate convening of a Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal, secret, and equal suffrage. In addition, a series of political and economic demands were put forward, such as amnesty for political prisoners, expansion of citizens' rights and freedoms, replacement of indirect taxes with progressive income tax, introduction of an 8-hour workday, etc. During the discussion of the petition at workers' meetings, the Bolsheviks explained that only through revolutionary struggle could the proletariat achieve their rights. However, faith in the tsar was still strong and the march could not be stopped. The Bolsheviks decided to participate in the demonstration.

To reinforce the St. Petersburg garrison, the government called in troops from Pskov, Tallinn, Narva, Peterhof, and Tsarskoe Selo and concentrated over 40,000 soldiers and police in St. Petersburg by January 9. The plan to disperse the march was approved by the government on January 8 at a meeting of the Minister of Internal Affairs P. D. Sviatopolk-Mirsky. The troops (a total of over 18 battalions, 21 squadrons, 8 companies) were concentrated in eight combat sectors into which the city was divided.

The priest George Gapon, leading the march, was practically an instigator and provocateur of the unsuspecting workers - he convinced them that the petition would certainly be accepted by the tsar. On Sunday, January 9, early in the morning, people dressed festively (over 140,000 people), including old people, women, and children, carrying icons and portraits of the tsar, moved towards Palace Square from all districts of St. Petersburg.

By order of the St. Petersburg Governor-General, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, the workers were fired on by the troops; about 4,600 people were killed and wounded. January 9, 1905 went down in history as "Bloody Sunday".

The news of the bloody crackdown on St. Petersburg workers sparked a wave of strikes across the country under the slogan "Down with the autocracy!". In the evening of January 9, barricades began to be erected in the working-class districts. The workers realized that only through struggle could they achieve their rights.

The tragic events of January 9 sparked an outburst of indignation throughout the world and numerous mass protests across Russia, marking the beginning of the First Russian Revolution. V.I. Lenin wrote that on January 9 "the working class received a great lesson in civil war; the revolutionary education of the proletariat took a step forward in one day that it could not have taken in months and years of gray, everyday, oppressed life".

Source

The U.S. Empire.
Grease on its hands. Blood on its flags. Chains for anyone who won’t submit.

Wrangling over who should pay for the next subsidy to Kiev shows a dawning realisation that no ‘lender’ can expect to be repaid.

With the battlefield frontlines creeping inexorably westward, the fractures between the various Nato and EU member states are continuing to grow as the aggressors look for ways to pass the buck of the economic and geopolitical disaster they have created.

https://thecommunists.org/2026/01/20/news/collapsing-ukraine-reparation-bond-irreparable-divides-europe/

Working Class humour at its best.

"Either Homeland or Death, We Will Win"

🇨🇺 Fidel Castro

t.me/RussianBaZa

The latest round of the US-led hybrid war against China revealed just how badly weakened the machinery of imperial coercion has become.

Sanctions, tariffs, export controls and military pressure – the full spectrum of hybrid warfare – have repeatedly failed to produce their intended outcomes.

China has maintained its pursuit of industrial planning, technological advance and supply chain control, slowly and steadily undermining the imperialists’ advantages in sector after sector of economic activity.

https://thecommunists.org/2026/01/23/news/china-wins-latest-round-hybrid-war-usa-tariffs/

https://thecommunists.org/2022/11/14/tv/harpal-brar-lenin-party-building-one-step-forward-two-steps-back/

One year ago today, our founding Chairman Harpal Brar died. He has left behind a rich legacy of teaching and revolutionary work. Above all, he has left the living revolutionary legacy of our party, Britain's only communist party, the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist).

In this brilliant presentation he explains the importance of revolutionary theory and the revolutionary party of the Leninist type – and why British workers can achieve nothing without it.

As a mark of respect, and to honour his legacy - watch this presentation today.

And join us.

(YouTube link)