Back to Marxism-Leninism or perish

A comment on the Indian General Election After five short-lived governments and three general elections in as many years, the Indian electorate (350 million of whom, representing 50% of the total eligible, went to the polls) have returned to office the 25-party National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Hindu revivalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with … [Read more…]

A Reply to FRFI

 The October-November issue ofFRFI, the bi-monthly organ of the Revolutionary Communist Group (RCG) carries a letter on its letter page by one Dean Porter under the titleDéjà vu.In it Mr Porter accuses Harpal Brar, the editor ofLalkar,of“plagiarism”and of having“lifted large chunks”of Trevor Rayne’s article inFRFIno. 145 on Labour’s military strategy and incorporated it into his … [Read more…]

Oil, imperialism and Equatorial Guinea

 Equatorial Guinea (EG) is a West African country, a former Spanish colony, about which we in Britain hear practically nothing. It was therefore a great pleasure to meet at the annual Fiesta of the Spanish Communist Party in Madrid (September 1999) representatives from that country’s progressive movement, who supplied us with interesting information about their … [Read more…]

Towards a Balkanized Russia

 Contributed by Jef Bossuyt, Workers Party of Belgium (PTB). On October 7 the Chechen president Maskhadov sent a letter to the new Nato secretary-general George Robertson. The president of the rebellious Russian republic called upon him“to intervene in accordance with the new world order established by Nato”(1).Today 118,000 Chechens are fleeing from a war that started … [Read more…]

Tyranny of Asylum laws challenged

 Do you know anyone who claimed asylum but was nevertheless prosecuted for using forged travel documents to enter the country?English courts routinely handed out 6-9 month prison sentences to refugees, even when they could prove they were fleeing torture and human rights abuse, and even when sole carers of small children, if they were caught … [Read more…]

“Mistake of the Millennium” –

UN report damns the effects of restoration of capitalism in the USSR and Eastern Europe  Three days before the publication of a United Nations report to the effect that the transition to capitalism of the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union has in reality been a Great Depression in terms of its disastrous … [Read more…]

Turkish ‘class quake’ targets the poor

 The devastating earthquake that hit Turkey on the night of 17 August 1999, which has killed in the region of 40,000 people, destroying 100,000 building, is reminiscent of the one which hit Guatemala City in 1976, killing 23,000. It was dubbed the ‘class quake’ because of the accuracy with which it struck down the poor.Is … [Read more…]

Partial victory for tea-workers strike in West Bengal

 On 11 July 1999, 300,000 full-time and 50,000 part-time workers went on indefinite strike in the Dooars, Terai and Darjeeling regions in West Bengal, where 104,000 hectares of tea gardens produce almost 22% of India’s tea. Production lost per day of strike action amounted to 500,000 kg of tea. Companies affected by the strike include … [Read more…]

This article is a somewhat expanded version of a paper I presented, on behalf of the Socialist Labour Party, to the May Day International Seminar in Brussels organised by the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB)

This article is a somewhat expanded version of a paper I presented, on behalf of the Socialist Labour Party, to the May Day International Seminar in Brussels organised by the Workers’ Party of Belgium (PTB). Although the paper was presented on 3 May this year, the present version makes reference to certain events and data … [Read more…]

Labour government’s plans to ‘stifle’ union resistance to PFI

 The ‘Labour’ government, far from reducing the scope of privatisation introduced by Thatcher, is now busily engaged in expanding the policy even further. Specifically it has committed itself to privatisation of the building of schools and hospitals under a scheme known as the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). These proposals caused outbursts of helpless rage at … [Read more…]