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We have received this interesting comment from a Marxist in Israel, who looks at the logic behind the Israeli attack on Gaza, how it is being used for domestic political interests in Israel, the chauvinism whipped up by the mainstream media, but also the voices of protest from within Israel, which although relatively small at this stage can grow later. He also looks at the role of Hamas and its inability to solve any of the problems facing the Palestinian masses.

The barbaric attack of Israeli forces on the people of Gaza has provoked widespread mass opposition within the Arab world. Here we provide a brief report on youth mobilisations in Morocco, where the Marxists have intervened connecting well with the militant youth.

Portuguese translation of The crisis of world capitalism is gathering speed (crisis-world-capitalism-gathering-speed.htm) (December 17, 2008)

French translation of Stop Israel's massacre in Gaza! (stop-israels-massacre-in-gaza.htm) (December 30, 2008)

Bahasa Indonesia translation of If Sharks Were People (if-sharks-were-people.htm)

The part played by the Bolsheviks in the history of the Russian revolution of 1917 proves the importance of the role of leadership. The history of the Spanish revolution proves the same thing, but in a negative sense. In September Alan Woods spoke to the Socialist Appeal Northern Weekend School in Britain, which had as its general theme 'The Class, the Party and the Leadership', on those events which took place in Spain 70 years ago.

This month marks the 90th anniversary of the murder of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, two outstanding revolutionary leaders of the German working class. To commemorate that tragic day we are republishing Rosa Luxemburg's last article Order Prevails in Berlin (order-prevails-in-berlin-1919.htm), Karl Liebknecht's famous speech against voting the war credits (liebknechts-protest-against-war-credits.htm) in the German parliament in 1914 and his 1915 leaflet The Main Enemy Is At Home! (main-enemy-is-at-home-leaflet-1915.htm).

We are also publishing Trotsky's appraisal of the two revolutionaries (trotsky-on-karl-liebknecht-rosa-luxemburg.htm), written just after they were murdered in 1919, and Hands Off Rosa Luxemburg (hands-off-rosa-luxemburg-1932.htm), his defence of what Rosa Luxemburg really stood for, against Stalinist slanders, as well as an extract from Lenin's Notes of a Publicist (extract-lenins-notes-publicist.htm) in which he defends Rosa Luxemburg against the reformists.

Spanish translation of At the dawn of a new year (at-dawn-of-new-year-09.htm) (January 2, 2009)

Portuguese translation of Stop Israel's massacre in Gaza! (stop-israels-massacre-in-gaza.htm) (December 30, 2008)

Arabic translation of Stop Israel's massacre in Gaza! (stop-israels-massacre-in-gaza.htm) (December 30, 2008)

The year 2009 is a year of many anniversaries. As they will soon be reminding us, this is also twenty years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. That was a time when the capitalists and their spokespersons felt triumphant. They announced the end of Communism, the end of Socialism, even the end of History. But now it is clear to all that their predictions were false. What collapsed 20 years ago was not socialism or communism but only a bureaucratic and totalitarian caricature of socialism. The collapse of Stalinism was a great historical drama, but in retrospect it will be seen by history as only the prelude to an even greater drama: the collapse of capitalism, which is already being prepared. Alan Woods looks at the prospects for 2009.

In 1947 a group of Russian workers over in Britain on a training programme were banned by the Soviet authorities from joining a British trade union, leading to conflict with the British workers who had fought for a closed shop. The Soviet bureaucracy could not tolerate the fact that these Russian workers might pick up a few ideas about basic trade union rights, which caused harsh debates within the British Communist Party.

On Thursday morning, December 11th, the 250 workers occupying the Republic Windows and Doors factory in Chicago had something to be proud of: they had fought back against one of the biggest banks in the U.S. and had won all of the severance pay owed to them. The workers unanimously agreed Wednesday evening to approve a deal reached between negotiators from their union and Republic's creditor, Bank of America, prompting an end to the six day occupation. While the struggle did not result in keeping the factory open and jobs in place, the UE workers were able to win an important partial victory by winning the money owed to them.

Hungarian translation of Venezuela: Manifesto of the Revolutionary Marxist Current on the constitutional amendment (venezuela-manifesto-of-cmr-on-constitutional-amendment.htm) (December 19, 2008)

Spanish translation of The crisis of world capitalism is gathering speed (crisis-world-capitalism-gathering-speed.htm) (December 17, 2008)

During the past week the Iranian regime has arrested several labour activists. They join a long list of imprisoned Iranian labour activists who have committed no crime other than try to form trade unions (or other labour organisations) and to defend the pay and working conditions of workers. We urge all trade unionists, socialists, and labour and human rights activists to send protest emails/letters to the Iranian authorities.

Earlier this year the Iranian regime's authorities announced that thousands of Afghan workers who needed work permits to work in Iran, because they do not have passports, will not be allowed to work from the beginning of the Iranian month of Shahrivar. It is the duty of the Iranian working class to defend its Afghan brothers and sisters, especially as the regime's shrinking oil revenue will make it search for more scapegoats to let it off the hook.

Two years after the Israeli ‘Defence’ Forces indiscriminately slaughtered over a thousand Lebanese civilians in the quaintly-titled Operation Just Reward, Israel has turned its attention to Gaza, in the form of Operation Cast Lead. Stripped of its innocuous-sounding name, this operation becomes a lot less palatable: according to Palestinian medical sources, nearly 300 Palestinians have been killed, including numerous women and children. Israel’s targets have included police stations (which are unsurprisingly situated in densely-populated areas), the headquarters of a Hamas-owned satellite television channel, and the Islamic University, Gaza’s only higher education institution.