Americas

The Movement of the Occupied Factories in Brazil is a glorious chapter in the struggle of the working class. Last year the courts and the police intervened in an attempt to smash the movement. In spite of everything it still survives at the Flaskô plastics factory in Sumaré, Sao Paulo. Here we provide an account of the struggle of the Flaskô workers and background to the movement as a whole.

The mass media in the west continue to pump out lies about what is happening in Bolivia. They claim the oligarchy in Santa Cruz has won support from the people for "autonomy". We provide the facts that show the opposite is the case. Reaction is spurring on the masses to step up their revolutionary offensive.

The attempt of the Bolivian oligarchy to use the referendum on autonomy as a lever to push forward their reactionary agenda has failed. They failed to get the votes they required, and at the same time they have enraged the masses of workers and peasants, who have risen once more in huge mobilisations.

About 800 demonstrated in Montreal on May Day, facing a brutal intervention of the police, while on May 3rd the official union rally attracted around 50,000, significantly up on last year's numbers.

14 students at UofT, including Canadian Marxists active with Fightback, have been arrested on false charges for fighting for free education. The charges include assaulting a police officer and forcible confinement, which could lead to serious jail time. The University is trying to crush this movement under repression before it takes off. Solidarity action is needed now!

The oligarchy in Bolivia has launched a major challenge to the Evo Morales government in the form of a referendum on an "Autonomous Statute" in the Eastern Department of Santa Cruz. They are using this question to mobilise the forces of counter-revolution. Morales must stop dithering and take firm action.

Inflation in the USA is rising across the board. And it's not just housing, gasoline, heating, transportation, health care and education. The cost of that most basic of all necessities - food - is now also quickly rising for American workers and their families.

After the recent elections, Fernando Lugo, of the Patriotic Alliance for Change will become the President of Paraguay. He leads a contradictory coalition, but he is clearly the expression of the deep-seated desire of the masses for serious social change.

Six years after the coup against the democratically elected government of Hugo Chávez was defeated by the magnificent mobilization of the masses, the contradictions within the Venezuelan revolution are as sharp as ever.

Almost overnight, the media, corporate CEOs and government officials have gone from proclaiming that the U.S. would somehow avoid an economic slump, to all but recognizing that the country has probably already entered a recession. They are simply acknowledging what millions of workers have known for months and even years: the economy is in trouble, and working people and the poor are being hit hard.

Many people are looking to the Democrats, and in particular to Barack Obama for a real change, especially when it comes to the Iraq war. But on the question of war and foreign policy, does Obama really differ from the current White House administration, or from his party mate Hillary Clinton, or for that matter, from the entire DC political establishment?

Canada has one of the highest levels of strikes in any country in the world. It has also experienced several factory occupations over the past year or so. Now its giant neighbour, the USA is in recession. Canada is facing a turbulent period, where all relations, economic, political and social, will be turned upside down.

Jordi Rosich, who recently took part in the Havana Book Fair, looks at the different pressures that Cuba is facing. He highlights the danger of capitalist restoration, particularly the so-called Chinese model,and what this would mean for the Cuban revolution. But the future of Cuba has not yet been decided. It also depends on the spread of the revolution internationally.

Adilson Mariano is a PT councillor in the town of Joinville, Brazil. He has been sentenced to more than one year in prison for having led demonstrations against the unjustified increase in bus fares. Here we publish an appeal and model letter for you to send off to the authorities. Please participate massively in this campaign.

Last November 6 in the evening, on the eve of another anniversary of the October Revolution, around five hundred young Cubans gathered to celebrate the occasion. Still, those who find this piece of news unlikely or perplexing, regardless of what side they’re on, should make an extra reading for good measure: that’s right, Cuban youths hailed the Revolution.

The two-month long series of congressional assemblies of the PSUV in Venezuela recently came to an end. The debates in the congress clearly indicate that a left-right polarisation is taking place within the party, with the rank and file seeking a revolutionary way out and a right-wing bureaucracy that is trying to mould the party to its own outlook.

The situation in the USA is one of increasing crises. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to trail on, costing nearly $275 million per day. The situation at home is one of increasing unemployment and continual crisis in the housing and credit markets. US workers will be called on to go to the polls to elect a party of big business, but this era of crises will only serve to cause more people to question the world in which they live. Editorial for Socialist Appeal Issue 37.

Alan Woods' introduction to the latest book from Wellred USA. The book includes four Marxist classics: the Communist Manifesto, Socialism: Scientific and Utopian, State and Revolution, and the Transitional Program.  It is intended to introduce readers in the USA to the most fundamental aspects of Marxist theory. Available from Wellred USA.