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Born on 18 July 1918, Mandela was the 13th child of the Chief of the eastern Cape village of Mzevo in a remote corner of South Africa. His father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, named him Rolihlahla, which in the local Xhosa language means “pulling the branch out of the tree” – a euphemism for a troublemaker. … [Read more…]

On 21 December the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist) held a public meeting at Saklatvala Hall, Southall, West London, to mark the 120th anniversary of the birth of Comrade Mao Zedong, the great leader of the Chinese people. Apart from some opening remarks by Comrade Harpal Brar who chaired the meeting, the main presentations … [Read more…]

The streets of Bangkok have once more been hit by violent demonstrations aimed at unseating Thailand’s democratically elected government. In the name of democracy, the demonstrators are demanding the suspension of democracy and that the elected government be replaced by a handpicked People’s Council, its members to be chosen by the unspecified great and the … [Read more…]

Following a last lengthy battle with cancer, on 16 September 2013, Comrade Chin Peng, who served as the secretary-general of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM) for well over six decades, passed away in a hospital in the Thai capital, Bangkok, at the age of 88. Ironically, 16 September is Malaysia Day, marking the country’s … [Read more…]

On 17 October the US public debt hit the $17 trillion mark for the first time – $53,765 for each US citizen;$751,940 per family; $148,747 for each US taxpayer! This is 107% of GDP. Total personal debt is also over $16 trillion. It is more than obvious that these staggering amounts are nothing short of … [Read more…]

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Ghadar movement. By way of a tribute, Lalkar is dedicating this long article to the memory of its founders and participants – the forerunners of India’s struggle for liberation from British colonialism. What follows is an attempt to give a brief history of the Ghadar movement – … [Read more…]

On 4 October 2013, in a military hospital in Hanoi, where he had lived for the last few years of his life, General Vo Nguyen Giap, Vietnamese patriotic hero, staunch, loyal and devoted communist, and a man almost universally recognised as one of humanity’s greatest military geniuses of all times, sometimes referred to as the … [Read more…]

The capitulation by Unite to the so-called “survival programme” bulldozed through at Grangemouth by Ineos is a black day for workers everywhere. The terms of the surrender are galling to read: a three year pay freeze, a three-year abstention from strikes, the imposition of inferior pension arrangements and a ban on fulltime union convenors. Unite … [Read more…]

Kang Dong Kyun, the Mayor of Ganjeong Village on Jeju Island, South Korea, has been touring Europe, visiting Dublin, London and various other English cities and Paris to draw attention to the destruction that is being wrought to an area UNESCO has declared to be one of the world’s most important sites of natural beauty, … [Read more…]

The eventual complete privatisation of Royal Mail (with only the post offices separated and remaining in public hands) passed with barely a whimper let alone anything resembling a bang. This privatisation was one, along with the NHS, that various governments have considered over the years but every one of them, from Thatcher to Major, Blair … [Read more…]