COP28 was riddled with ironies from day one, being held in the United Arab Emirates, a key oil and gas economy; and led by Sultan Al Jaber, who is the chief executive of the national oil company Adnoc. “Is this a joke?” you might splutter, through increasingly polluted air. Far from a laughing matter, this is the ruling class’s best offer when it comes to ‘combating climate change’.

It’s the festive season, and the Spectre of Communism podcast welcomed Alan Woods (marxist.com editor-in-chief) onto a special live episode to discuss the origins of Christianity from a Marxist perspective. This is a fascinating story of revolution and counter-revolution in the ancient world. The recording is now available on all platforms!

On Nov. 23, close to 600,000 public sector workers in Quebec were on strike. Considering that Quebec has around 4,439,000 people active in the labour market, this represents 13.5 per cent of all workers in the province! It is safe to say that everyone personally knows at least one person who went on strike that day: teachers, nurses, support staff and specialists in the fields of health, education and social services. This is the largest strike in the history of

On 2-3 December 2023, a nationwide Workers’ Socialist School was organised by the Red Workers’ Front (RWF) in Landhi Industrial Area, Karachi. A large number of workers from both the public and private sector industries, in Karachi and across the country, took part in this historic occasion. 

It’s the festive season, and the Spectre of Communism podcast is welcoming Alan Woods (marxist.com editor-in-chief) onto a special live episode to discuss the origins of Christianity from a Marxist perspective. This is a fascinating story of revolution and counter-revolution in the ancient world. We will broadcast the episode tomorrow (12 December) at 7pm British time via our YouTube channel.

The pro-Palestine movement is being attacked through the curtailment of basic democratic rights. Meetings have been shut down. In some countries, demonstrations have been banned. And pro-Palestinian voices have been censored.

From 30 November to 3 December 2023, 110 comrades of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) met in Mexico City. The countries represented were Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, El Salvador, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, USA, Canada and Mexico (with comrades from Monterrey, Sonora, San Luis Potosi, Oaxaca, Queretaro, Yucatan, Veracruz, Puebla, Mexico State and Mexico City); as well as representatives of the international leadership of the IMT, and guests from Switzerland, Sweden and Italy. 

On 25 and 26 November 200 French-speaking comrades and sympathisers of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) met in Geneva as part of this year’s International Francophone School.

On Sunday 3 December, a consultative public referendum, called by the National Assembly, on the territorial dispute over the Essequibo territory in Guyana, was held in Venezuela. The escalating conflict over this territory has deeply reactionary implications for both peoples. It is imperative that communists adopt an internationalist position.

There are many earnest people in the west who look to the BDS (Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions) campaign as a ‘practical’ way to show solidarity with Palestine. BDS calls for Israel’s economic and cultural isolation in order to hit the Zionists in their wallets. Its activists often point to the example of the racist Apartheid regime in South Africa, which, they say, was brought down in large part through sanctions and pressure from the ‘international community’. But is this really the case?

Ridley Scott’s recent biopic Napoleonhas evoked much criticism for its shallow narrative and plethora of historical inaccuracies. But who was the real Napoleon Bonaparte? How did a young Corsican from a relatively modest background become the strongman behind an empire that would dominate Europe?

For months, Indigenous activists, trade unions, and youth organizations in Panama have been on the streets, demonstrating against the extension of a massive Canadian-owned mine in the middle of a rainforest.

On the night of November 29, 2023, the public was informed of the death of Henry A. Kissinger, former National Security Adviser to the President and a former US Secretary of State. The bourgeois media along with various statesmen and politicians are shedding tears for their late loyal servant.

Today is the centenary anniversary of the death of John Maclean, a dedicated Marxist and class fighter, famous for playing a leading role in militant workers’ movements such as Red Clydeside in Glasgow. We pay tribute to his revolutionary legacy.

Mechanics at Tesla's 10 workshops in Sweden have been on strike since 27 October: the first of its kind at the EV giant. The action was taken after the Swedish industrial union IF Metall told its members to down tools in response to the electric car giant refusing to sign a collective bargaining agreement in a move derided by CEO (and world’s richest man) Elon Musk as “insane”. 

On 25 and 26 November, 188 young communists met in Berlin to discuss the German Revolution of 1918-1923, in order to arm themselves for the struggle against capitalism today.

The 1970s was one of the most tumultuous eras of Jamaican history. The island country was thrown into a period of intense class struggle not experienced since the Great Depression and the 1938 general strike. Ultimately, a bloody campaign of violence driven by US imperialism defeated the struggle for socialism in Jamaica. This momentous episode in the history of the Jamaican working class provides all workers and youth with stark lessons for the class struggle today.

Free speech is under attack. Israel's imperialist allies are losing the war of public opinion as they struggle to justify the brutal collective punishment of Palestinian men, women and children. In response, they are clamping down on Pro-Palestinian voices to an extent that would make Senator Joseph McCarthy proud. This outrageous censorship and repression has major implications for the class struggle in the future – the labour movement must respond.

Next month, on 9 December, Britain's Trades Union Congress will meet for a special congress to decide its response to the government’s latest draconian anti-strike legislation. The trade union movement must mobilise to defy the Tories, and to smash the bosses’ laws.

On 22 November, Dutch and European capitalism were shaken by an earthquake, as the party of the far-right demagogue Geert Wilders came first in the parliamentary elections in the Netherlands, with almost a quarter of the vote. What do communists make of this development?