In 1939, James P. Cannon, the historic leader of American Trotskyism, remarked: “Who touches the Russian question, touches a revolution. Therefore, be serious about it. Don't play with it” (The Struggle for a Proletarian Party). Revolutionaries today must approach the “Chinese question” in the same way. The “market reforms” of...
Inching towards WWIII
In January, the influential French academic Emmanuel Todd told Le Figaro newspaper that the “Third World War has begun.” The historian and anthropologist argued that the conflict in Ukraine, “moving from a limited territorial war to a global economic confrontation between the whole of the West on the one hand and Russia...
The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International
The Objective Prerequisites for a Socialist Revolution The world political situation as a whole is chiefly characterized by a historical crisis of the leadership of the proletariat. The economic prerequisite for the proletarian revolution has already in general achieved the highest point of fruition that can be reached under capitalism....
The Revolution Overthrown
“The October revolution has been betrayed by the ruling stratum, but not yet overthrown.” —Leon Trotsky, The Revolution Betrayed, 1937 “The aborted Moscow coup of 19-21 August was so ill-conceived and executed that it almost didn’t happen. Yet it will be remembered as one of the decisive events in the history...
Provoking China
The South China Sea is the site of myriad irredentist territorial claims by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, over islands, oil and gas resources, and fishing and maritime boundaries. Recent weeks have seen a series of bellicose provocations by US imperialism in the region – part...
Israel-Palestine: Apartheid, Imperialism & Class
On 23 March, Israel will hold its fourth election in less than two years, following the collapse of the right-wing “unity government” between Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud and Benny Gantz’s Blue and White alliance. Gantz, whose coalition and polling numbers have crumbled, is the former head of the Israel Defense Forces...