"The world stands at a crossroads. Economic crisis, the drive to war, ecological disasters, and societal collapse signpost a future full of suffering and destruction which is already the reality for many around the globe. Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan and Ukraine serve as a warning of what's to come. As new horrors confront us each time we switch on the TV, listen to the radio or check our social media, it is easy to become despondent. The one question that few seem to be asking is: what's the alternative?"
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-01-04/communism-an-idea-whose-time-has-come
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-01-04/communism-an-idea-whose-time-has-come
Leftcom
Communism: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?
"Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle. The modern industrial proletariat does not belong to the category of such classes." (Lenin, 1910) The world stands at a crossroads. Economic…
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"The movement of workers outside the trade union framework is promising, but we need to move from words to action. Moreover, demands and strategies must be designed in a way that can draw in more workers from different sectors and workplaces – building on our strength in the short term and paving the way for stronger solidarity and steps towards greater class consciousness in the longer term."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-01-06/class-struggle-in-sweden-anger-and-dissatisfaction-with-trade-unions-and-then
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-01-06/class-struggle-in-sweden-anger-and-dissatisfaction-with-trade-unions-and-then
Leftcom
Class Struggle in Sweden: Anger and Dissatisfaction with Trade Unions - And Then What?
It is now over fifty years since the return of the economic crisis, which marked the end of the reconstruction phase after the end of the Second World War. It triggered a wave of class struggle that culminated in the class struggles in Poland and the militant…
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"January 2025 marks 120 years since the 1905 revolution broke out across the Russian Empire. For this occasion, we publish here an article which originally appeared back in 2005 in Revolutionary Perspectives 34 (Series 3) but had been previously unavailable on our site in text form."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-01-08/a-majestic-prologue-the-russian-revolution-of-1905-part-i
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-01-08/a-majestic-prologue-the-russian-revolution-of-1905-part-i
Leftcom
"A Majestic Prologue" - The Russian Revolution of 1905 (Part I)
(January 2025 marks 120 years since the 1905 revolution broke out across the Russian Empire. For this occasion, we publish here an article which originally appeared in 2005 in Revolutionary Perspectives 34 (Series 3) but had been previously unavailable on…
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"It is obvious that the bourgeoisie will more readily allocate the resources it has at its disposal – or that it hopes to have at its disposal – to things that strengthen its class domination as well as its position on the imperialist chessboard. Just as obvious, at least for us, is that the war on wages did not begin with the attack on Ukraine, but rather a few decades ago. If anything the wars that are now bloodying the former USSR, Palestine, Sudan, Congo and other areas of the world are a harbinger of the greater carnage to come. So far capitalism is winning this war on the working class, but it is not winning the war within itself, against the inescapable contradictions of the capitalist mode of production."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-01-20/war-the-economy-the-proletariat-notes-on-the-war-economy
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-01-20/war-the-economy-the-proletariat-notes-on-the-war-economy
Leftcom
War, the Economy, the Proletariat: Notes on the War Economy
== Introduction "The contrast shown in these figures give us a picture of the characteristics of a war economy which today takes the form of a real war on wages.(1)" The above quote is taken from a USB (Unione Sindacale di Base, a rank and file union) document…
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"To commemorate the 120th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1905 revolution we publish here some translations of contemporary flyers released by the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL) during the course of that revolution. They are a historical document of the events as they happened."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-01-22/1905-in-poland-documenting-the-revolution
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-01-22/1905-in-poland-documenting-the-revolution
Leftcom
1905 in Poland: Documenting the Revolution
"That is why — we greet you, 22 January, as a day of remembrance of the great past — and a day of hope for the great future!" (SDKPiL, 1907) To commemorate the 120th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1905 revolution we publish here some translations of contemporary…
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"Whether it is the further extension of the effects of global warming or the prospect of nuclear war capitalism offers us only an increasingly uncertain and unsustainable future. The alternative today remains the same as in 1905 – socialism or barbarism. Either a world where all humans can have a dignified and worthwhile existence without social classes, exploitation and war, or greater subjugation of the mass of the population to the whims of the world’s richest as they take us towards armageddon."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-07/a-world-on-fire
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-07/a-world-on-fire
Leftcom
A World on Fire
(Editorial for _Revolutionary Perspectives 25_ (https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-01-20/revolutionary-perspectives-25) (Series 4).) As the troubled year of 2024 drew to a close, Pope Francis threw open the holy doors of Rome’s four basilicas on Christmas…
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"One might think that the behaviour of the Biden Administration and Trump's arrogant statements on the future destinies of Canada, Mexico, Greenland and the Panama Canal, to which Russia has already raised opposition as China surely will, are a sign of power. Yet they rather hide the symptoms of an intrinsic weakness deriving from a structural crisis that has affected the entire capitalist world for decades, starting with the US."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-09/trump-and-the-new-golden-age
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-09/trump-and-the-new-golden-age
Leftcom
Trump and the New "Golden Age"
Let's start with what the terrible images of Trump's investiture as 47th president of the United States tell us. Surrounded by an attentive court of billionaire vassals, as rich as they are opportunistic (they were also present at Biden's coronation) Trump…
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"Days of mourning were declared and vigils for the victims were held. But grief quickly turned to anger. As the first mass demonstrations, student occupations and road blockades started, the authorities responded with violence and provocation – tear gas, arrests, and attacks on protesters (including a few cases of government sympathisers ramming their cars into crowds). This only inflamed the tensions and brought more people out onto the streets."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-11/serbia-protests-politicians-resign-the-problems-endure
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-11/serbia-protests-politicians-resign-the-problems-endure
Leftcom
Serbia Protests: Politicians Resign, the Problems Endure
The railway station in Novi Sad, the second largest city of Serbia, was constructed in 1964. Completed in just 18 months, with a distinctive saw-shaped roof, the station was a flagship building for the city and railway modernisation in the state capitalist…
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"For us, victory never looked like a US-brokered ceasefire, or a military ousting of a dictator. For us, victory will only be won in the class war that ends all wars. Palestinians will only be free when all workers around the world are free. And to this end, the working class must become an independent social force that sides with no national flags or imperialist camps."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-12/as-regimes-fall-and-ceasefires-begin-the-capitalist-crisis-continues
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-12/as-regimes-fall-and-ceasefires-begin-the-capitalist-crisis-continues
Leftcom
As Regimes Fall and "Ceasefires" Begin, the Capitalist Crisis Continues
As Trump takes office, announcing America’s “rightful” undisputed place at the top of the imperialist world order is under threat, the Doomsday Clock moves ever closer to midnight. Despite all the talk of “peace” and “hope” in the Middle East the battlelines…
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"A number of comrades in Sweden sympathetic to the Internationalist Communist Tendency (ICT) have, after years of contact with the organisation, decided to formalise their work in a group. We have taken the name Kompass-gruppen after the broadsheet Kompass, of which we have already produced two issues."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-13/welcome-to-kompass-gruppen
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-13/welcome-to-kompass-gruppen
Leftcom
Welcome to Kompass-gruppen
== New group of sympathisers in Sweden A number of comrades in Sweden sympathetic to the Internationalist Communist Tendency (ICT) have, after years of contact with the organisation, decided to formalise our work in a group. We have taken the name _*Kompass…
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"As Bordiga once famously noted, human affairs cannot be understood as a photograph, as something frozen in time, but have to be understood as a film, a series of almost imperceptible shifts in every frame but which add up in the end to a complete change in reality. Recent events in the Middle East and their consequences (both intended and unintended) only underline the validity of that methodology when trying to understand the complicated “reciprocal interactions” in the current world order."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-17/regime-change-in-syria-another-twist-in-the-imperialist-kaleidoscope-another
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-17/regime-change-in-syria-another-twist-in-the-imperialist-kaleidoscope-another
Leftcom
Regime Change in Syria: Another Twist in the Imperialist Kaleidoscope, Another Step on the Road to a Third World War
As Bordiga once famously noted, human affairs cannot be understood as a photograph, as something frozen in time, but have to be understood as a film, a series of almost imperceptible shifts in every frame but which add up in the end to a complete change in…
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"Thus, for the new American Administration, it is incumbent on Ukraine to accept the American diktats and for Russia to find a favourable peace solution, even if this puts it in debt to the White House for the "gifts" received. Europe must manage on its own, because the US has to play its own game with China and this involves cutting, and/or completely terminating, spending in support of anyone else to concentrate all its economic and financial resources on the primary military objective: the "threat from the East"."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-20/munich-security-conference-the-worst-is-yet-to-come
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-20/munich-security-conference-the-worst-is-yet-to-come
Leftcom
Munich Security Conference: The Worst is Yet to Come
We are still only going through the preliminaries but the guidelines have already been drawn up. Before the negotiations on “peace” between Russia and Ukraine began, JD Vance’s words, echoing those of his voluble president, are clear and unequivocal. First…
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"The pleas of scientists fall on the deaf ears of our rulers who view the world, its people and nature as sources for the generation of profit, content in the understanding they have the wealth and means to secure at least their personal comfort and survival should the worst come to pass. There is no innate conflict between human civilisation and the natural world; only between capitalist society and sustainable existence."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-22/climate-disaster-intensifying
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-22/climate-disaster-intensifying
Leftcom
Climate Disaster Intensifying
This January it was made official: the year 2024 was the hottest on record at an average temperature of 15.10°C – 0.12°C higher than the previous record set in 2023, and 1.55°C above pre-industrial temperatures. The sudden surge of temperature has scientists…
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"Those who are forced to sell their labour power under conditions that grow more precarious by the day have no interest in the intensification of migration laws, whose sole and entire aim is to divide us against each other. The defence of migrants and refugees without compromise is therefore a precondition for any successful struggle for better wages, more affordable housing, and against the unfettered drive to war. Under the present conditions, insisting on such an internationalist perspective will be anything but popular. But it is a prerequisite for building class unity in order to withstand the social conflicts that loom on the horizon. Naturally, this is not a perspective we will find on any ballot paper; nor can we hope for it to be introduced to parliament in the form of any proposal or bill."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-23/german-election-2025-a-contest-in-racism-and-inhumanity
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-23/german-election-2025-a-contest-in-racism-and-inhumanity
Leftcom
German Election 2025: A Contest in Racism and Inhumanity
So concludes a winter election campaign under the sign of Donald Trump that has been getting more overshadowed with each passing day by a toxic discourse on migration, declared the cause of all current social ills. The language of bourgeois democracy is taking…
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"Trump’s recent intentions to acquire Greenland and take over Canada show that the US is taking an increasing interest in the Arctic. The area is home to a huge number of strategic resources such as gas, oil, rare earths, gold, and lithium. The advantage of acquiring these for both economic and military purposes is obvious, not to mention the strategic geographical position of Greenland given the tension between the US and Russia. Moreover the Arctic is of interest for its potential maritime trade routes and fishing waters now that the ice is melting. The US is far from the only power interested in the area."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-24/imperialist-tensions-are-heating-up-the-arctic
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-02-24/imperialist-tensions-are-heating-up-the-arctic
Leftcom
Imperialist Tensions Are Heating Up The Arctic
Trump’s recent intentions to acquire Greenland and take over Canada show that the US is taking an increasing interest in the Arctic. The area is home to a huge number of strategic resources such as gas, oil, rare earths, gold, and lithium. The advantage of…
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"The higher education sector is, by all accounts, a sinking ship. Lack of government support and a decrease in the number of international students have created a serious funding crisis. Some 80% of institutions could soon be at risk of deficit. Many have already announced redundancies, course closures, are scaling down catering provisions, changing work patterns or trying to outsource services. All the while we face the now-standard real terms pay cuts to our wages. The writing has been on the wall for a long time now and the situation is only set to get worse. As usual, it’s students and workers who will be forced to pay for the bosses' crisis."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-03-04/universities-in-crisis-the-fight-is-on
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-03-04/universities-in-crisis-the-fight-is-on
Leftcom
Universities in Crisis: The Fight is On
(Flyer for distribution at protests and strikes at universities.) The higher education sector is, by all accounts, a sinking ship. Lack of government support and a decrease in the number of international students have created a serious funding crisis. Some…
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"Our analysis of capitalism’s underlying driving force which gives rise to periodic economic crises (the falling rate of profit and capital’s efforts to offset it) has brought us to the contemporary world and it’s now time for us to draw this study to a close. In the real world, of course, there is no closure. If there was some doubt amongst revolutionaries about capitalism’s inbuilt tendency to crises and, in the era of global capitalism, to devaluation of capital through a world war, there is much less scepticism about this today, for obvious reasons. We are about to wind up this economic overview as an increasing number of states appear to be rapidly moving, from primarily economic rivalry to military rivalry, with the prospect of a third world war being openly talked about."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-03-06/capitalism-s-economic-foundations-part-vi
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-03-06/capitalism-s-economic-foundations-part-vi
Leftcom
Capitalism's Economic Foundations (Part VI)
(_Part I_ (https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2022-08-31/capitalism-s-economic-foundations-part-i) – _Part II_ (https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2023-02-28/capitalism-s-economic-foundations-part-ii) – _Part III_ (https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2023…
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"Instead, Wolff claims, the start must be made from the micro-economic level. Socialism’s future, he argues, lies in democratic worker cooperatives in the factory, store or office with all workers having an equal voice in key business decisions. Workers will hold the purse strings, money will still exist, the cooperatives will relate to the state and pay taxes, etc. He argues the state should fund the cooperatives and lend them capital. To sum up, Wolff’s proposed cooperatives exist within capitalism, need capital and operate with money and exchange on the existing capitalist market."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-03-10/understanding-marxism-capitalism-and-socialism-a-review-article
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-03-10/understanding-marxism-capitalism-and-socialism-a-review-article
Leftcom
Understanding Marxism, Capitalism and Socialism: A Review Article
(Richard D. Wolff, Understanding Capitalism (2024, Democracy at Work), Understanding Socialism (2019, Democracy at Work), Understanding Marxism (2018, Democracy at Work), https://www.democracyatwork.info/books) Richard Wolff, who is an academic Marxist and…
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"For all the laurels that capitalism claims to have liberated humanity, the crown is covered in the appalling blood of working women. The capitalist state can grant rights just as quickly and arbitrarily as it can revoke them. Worse, liberal feminists’ calls for “women’s rights” have been used to justify barbarism, often against women. To save women in Afghanistan and Yemen from their “barbarian” men, “humanitarian” drone operators of the US military fire “humane” missiles at wedding parties. To “liberate” Gaza from the grip of “backward” Hamas, the very “progressive” IDF (Israeli military) turns homes into piles of rubble. Capitalist society is a social system that carries with it the muck of ages. The chauvinism of the past changes to adapt to the logic of capital."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-03-20/8-march-does-not-belong-to-the-bourgeoisie
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-03-20/8-march-does-not-belong-to-the-bourgeoisie
Leftcom
8 March Does Not Belong to the Bourgeoisie
International Working Women's Day, 8 March, is rooted in the struggle of the working class. Today, our class faces massive economic attacks from the same enemy that increasingly sees military conflict as the best solution to its crisis, and working women…
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"The same old solutions will lead to worsening working conditions, lower pay, and worse public services. The only area with which the government is making a break with recent tradition is a massive increase to military spending."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-03-27/sweating-the-assets-labour-s-war-on-the-disabled
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-03-27/sweating-the-assets-labour-s-war-on-the-disabled
Leftcom
"Sweating the Assets": Labour's War on the Disabled
In September of last year, Keir Starmer reassured _The Observer_ that his government was not “going down the road of austerity”. Now the chancellor has announced in the Spring Statement cuts amounting to several billions of pounds to Personal Independence…
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"In other words, these protests are a brave and desperate cry, against war and against all sides in the conflict. In them we can hear the real voice of dispossessed masses who are beginning to see that no ruling class faction can offer them salvation. Workers around the world need to hear this cry. Imperialist wars are the direct product of a world system which ultimately cares about profit, not human lives. The one force capable of not only stopping the drive to war, but also creating a new society without war, is the mass movement of the international working class, whose very exploitation capitalism is built upon. Only such a movement could truly answer the cry coming from Gaza."
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-03-28/anti-war-protests-in-gaza
https://www.leftcom.org/en/articles/2025-03-28/anti-war-protests-in-gaza
Leftcom
Anti-War Protests in Gaza
The fragile ceasefire in Gaza inevitably came to an end on 18 March, with the resumption of Israeli airstrikes. In what was one of the deadliest days of the conflict so far, hundreds of Palestinians were killed in a matter of hours. Israel's actions were…
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