Letter

To the Editor, Lalkar.Comrade,I have received a copy (current one for Jan/Feb 2001) from one of your supporters/Subscribers (Nora Ridley). Therefore please start with the next issue (cheque enclosed).All your article are excellent. Very well researched, documented and presented, and that is all said by acritical studentof international affairs.Keep up the good work to politically … [Read more…]

Maurice Levitas

Obituary of a fighter against fascism and for working class emancipationMaurice Levitas, a fine comrade and friend, died on 14 February 2001. Maurice will be well known to regular readers ofLalkarfor the numerous occasions he contributed to meetings reported by us held on the subject of the Spanish Civil War where he was always a … [Read more…]

Behind the Lockerbie frame-up

The eminent barrister Horace Rumpole has often noted that the “golden thread running through the history of British justice” is that a defendant is innocent until proven guilty by the prosecution “beyond a reasonable doubt“. Of course, Rumpole is a fictional character created by writer John Mortimer. As the verdict handed down in the Lockerbie … [Read more…]

Dr Majumdar receives Science Award

LALKAR sends hearty congratulations to Dr. Sisir K. Majumdar on his receiving the prestigious P.B. Memorial Award for his significant contribution in the field of physiological sciences. Dr. Majumdar was given this award by the Physiological Society of India for his work on the History of Insulin. He received also the gold-plated medal.Well done, Dr … [Read more…]

A comment on the Mandelson affair

“A democratic republic”, said Lenin,“is the best possible political shell for capitalism, and, therefore, once capital has gained control of this very best shell, it establishes its power so securely, so firmly, thatnochange, either of persons, of institutions, or of parties in the bourgeois-democratic republic, can shake it”(The State and Revolution).The above penetrating observation of … [Read more…]

Earthquake in India

Since the last issue of LALKAR a terrible earthquake struck India – its epicentre being the Gujarat town of Bhuja. Apart from material devastation, estimated conservatively at $1 billion, it has taken toll of several tens of thousands of lives.We send our heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families who have lost their near and dear … [Read more…]

Condemn the prison massacres by the fascist Turkish state

The death fast that is taking place in Turkish prisons has claimed the lives of, it is thought, fifty prisoners or more – mainly through the terror methods adopted by the fascist Turkish state to try to bring it to an end. The death fasters, and the reaction of the Turkish state to them, has … [Read more…]

On the US Presidential Election

Normally elections in the US, presidential or congressional, are pretty mundane and boring affairs as contending parties, the Republicans and Democrats who dominate US electoral politics, are in total agreement with each other on all the major issues of domestic and external policy of the United States. What made the November 2000 presidential election of … [Read more…]

DPRK to open embassy in London

Nearly half a century after the end of the Korean war, in which the DPRK held off the mighty concerted assault of US and British imperialism and their allies and was able to survive to build socialism, reason has finally prevailed and the UK agreed on 12 December 2000, after a week of talks in … [Read more…]

The inequitability of Equitable Life

As is well known, the state pension, paltry and inadequate though it is, is a target for the stingy welfare benefit slashers who are forever seeking to enhance the profits of the billionaires at the expense of the poor. At one time they were slightly restrained in their greed by the fear that the poor … [Read more…]