International Communist Current

Breaking news

Published by ICC

Aug 28 2010 - 14:54

Well, we're back at last with a new format. The whole business took longer than expected (as usual!), and we thank our readers for their patience.

Apart from the new format, which we hope will make the site as a whole more readable, there are two major new features to the site:

World Revolution, Internationalism, and the International Review each have their own separate home pages where you can find all the articles from the latest issues. Access these pages by clicking on the publication images on the front page. You can also download the publication in PDF format, by clicking on the image on the publication's home page.
We've closed off the comments to anonymous users, and in their place we've opened up a full-scale forum. It seems to us that the "comments" had outgrown the site, and several comrades had pointed out that the discussions developing in comments under specific articles were difficult to follow. We hope that by opening a forum we will encourage the development of real debate, both on the site's articles and on any other topics that our readers want to raise. Go to the Forum page to read the forum rules and start a new topic, after registering your user ID. In addition, a link inviting you to "Discuss this article" appears at the top of each article: use this link to begin a new forum topic on the article concerned.

It's possible there may be technical issues of course - we'ld be grateful if you could point these out to us, either on the forum or through our mail contact form.

We hope you like our new format!

Capitalism's crisis

International Review no.142 - 3rd Quarter 2010

Published by InternationalReview

Aug 30 2010 - 22:58

"The G20 in search of a new way of governing the world". This was the ambitious title given to an article in Le Monde (26 June 2010) on the latest summit of the world's "great". An ambition in keeping with the catastrophic state of the planet!

An improvement in the situation is no doubt the subject of ardent hopes. But over the past two years, attacks on workers' living standards have been speeding up all over the world. Despite all the announcements about an economic recovery, the world economy is stagnating and its future looks increasingly sombre. In the face of all this, a meeting of the leaders in charge of running this world economy, the people who hold the fate of the planet's inhabitants in their hands, was obliged to discuss ways of making things better.

The meeting of the G8 which preceded this G20 had to agree on the policies to follow to take the world economy out of the crisis: carrying on with recovery plans as the US recommends and is doing, or imposing austerity plans to deal with the threat of bankruptcy looming over a growing number of states, as the most important countries of the European Union recommend and are doing. The G20 had to look at taxing the banks in order to build up a fund for resolving financial crises - the crisis of 2007 has not been resolved even if its most devastating effects have for the moment been held in check; at the same time, it had to agree on ways of regulating the financial system in order to avoid the most destabilising forms of speculation and to guide the financial resources liberated as a result towards developing production. What came out of this summit? Nothing. The mountain didn't even give rise to a mole hill.

Class Struggle

Intervention on the Philly Nurses Strike

Published by InternationalismUSA

Jul 4 2010 - 18:22

We welcome this leaflet addressed to the striking nurses in Philadelphia, in order to help organize and extend the struggle that the unions wanted to sabotage. We want to salute wholeheartedly these kind of initiatives.

Tekel strike: How to organise outside the unions?

Published by ICConline

Jun 1 2010 - 23:46

In the first article we published on the Tekel struggle, we gave an account of the developments until January 20th. In this article, we will continue from where we left off, and try to give an account of what went on from the erection of the Tekel workers' camp in the centre of Ankara to March 2^nd, when the workers left Ankara. What will be told is the story of the entire working class...

Workers’ struggles across Europe face union manoeuvres

Published by WorldRevolution

Jul 13 2010 - 17:28

Austerity regimes like that gradually being reinforced in Britain are being imposed across Europe. The continuing strikes and demonstrations in Greece have been the most dramatic expression of a working class response, but they are only the most high-profile examples.

How can workers defend themselves?

Published by WorldRevolution

Jul 13 2010 - 17:35

How can workers defend themselves against redundancies, pay freezes, worsening conditions at work and cuts in public services? The scale of the attacks launched against the working class, both before and after the election make it clear that there is no option but to fight.

Poland, August 1980: the rebirth of the mass strike

Published by ICConline

Aug 26 2010 - 00:22

Thirty years ago, in the summer of 1980, the working class in Poland made the world hold its breath. A gigantic strike movement spread throughout the country: several hundred thousand workers came out on wildcat strike in numerous cities, making the ruling class tremble in Poland and across the globe.

War

Kashmir: Amidst gun battles between Indian state and the separatists half a million workers assert their class identity

Published by CommunistInternationalist

Jul 10 2010 - 23:38

Since last many decades two contending gangs of the capitalist class have been busy shedding blood of exploited population of Jammu and Kashmir in the name of ‘national unity’ on the one hand and “liberation“ of Kashmir on the other. This has long turned this ‘valley of roses’ into a valley of death, devastation, poverty and chaos... And yet, the fact is the working class in Kashmir has tried determinedly to assert itself, especially over the last couple of years, and have gone on a number of major strikes and struggles.

Gaza blockade: From Israel to Turkey all states are warmongers

Published by ICConline

Jul 13 2010 - 19:11

On 31 May, Israeli troops raided a flotilla of ships, backed by Turkey to bring ‘humanitarian aid' to the Gaza strip. The results were extremely shocking: marines from one of the best equipped and most highly trained armies in the world killed a number of unarmed members of the flotilla, most of them Turks. The Israeli authorities, as cynical as ever, claimed that they acted in self-defence.

ICC Online

The Commune day school: Support for 'national liberation' is a dividing line

Published by ICConline

Jul 13 2010 - 18:42

Here we published a report of the day school organised by the group The Commune entitled "Beyond Resistance". Particular attention is given to the discussion on "imperialism and the national question".

EDL: Anti-fascist fronts are not the answer

Published by ICConline

Jul 13 2010 - 18:53

The English Defence Leagues protest against a 'super mosque' in Dudley is the latest in a line of planned and actual protests by the EDL which has resulted in a degree of publicity in the national media. This article looks at the EDL and examins ways workers can defend themselves against racism and looks at the trap of anti-fascism

James Connolly opposes Irish independence

Published by ICConline

Jul 13 2010 - 18:23

The following article by James Connolly was sent to the Left Communist group forum on www.revleft.com by a comrade in the US who has begun posting under the name Stagger Lee.

Oil slicks in Nigeria: capitalism is a world-wide plague

Published by ICConline

Jul 13 2010 - 19:04

While the oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico has become the biggest environmental pollution in the history of one of the most developed countries, the USA, and while it has made the consequences of the failure to protect the environment apparent, the pollution of the environment in a gigantic scale has almost become part of daily life in Nigeria.

Failure to Extend Unemployment Benefits Reveals Impasse of the US State

Published by ICConline

Jul 17 2010 - 13:26

Since the summer of 2007, the United States federal government has extended benefits under the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program to unprecedented levels amidst the most serious unemployment crisis the nation has experienced since the great depression of the 1930s.

You can’t fight the Mafia and corruption with “more democracy” (on the appeals put out by Saviano in Italy)

Published by ICConline

Aug 2 2010 - 19:57

This is a translation of an article written by Rivoluzione Internazionale, the ICC's section in Italy, published in December 2009.

India, Pakistan, Bangla Desh

Unofficial strike by Air India workers against austerity

Published by CommunistInternationalist

Aug 7 2010 - 10:55

Almost simultaneously with the British Airways workers' strike on 24^th May 10, around 25,000 workers of Air-India throughout the country went on unofficial strike on 25^th May 2010. The strike continued on 26^th, but was called off after the Delhi High Court declared it illegal and an expression of irresponsibility of the workers.

Kashmir: Amidst gun battles between Indian state and the separatists half a million workers assert their class identity

Published by CommunistInternationalist

Jul 10 2010 - 23:38

Workers burning to death as India shines

Published by CommunistInternationalist

Jul 5 2010 - 19:25

A devastating fire broke out in Stephen Court House in the heart of Kolkata in the afternoon of 23^rd March, 2010. It has been reported that the fire started from a lift and spread in no time to the whole fourth floor of the huge seven storey building and turned it into an inferno...

Struggle of Jute Workers in Kolkatta Sabotaged by Unions

Published by CommunistInternationalist

Jun 10 2010 - 20:54

A quarter of a million Jute Workers around Kolkatta were on strike from early Dec 2009 for better wages, permanent status of huge number of contract workers, retirement benefits and other issues related to their living and working conditions. Above all these, they went on strike to get their back wages, force bosses to deposit health insurance, provident found and other deductions that have been made from their salaries with state authorities.

Report on an ICC Public Forum in New Delhi - Economic crisis and class struggle

Published by CommunistInternationalist

May 23 2010 - 19:10

ICC held a public meeting in New Delhi on 2 May 2010on the above subject. The meeting went on from 12.30 Hours to 17.30 Hrs and discussionsduring the meeting turned out quite lively...

Pan Asian Conference of the ICC

Published by CommunistInternationalist

Apr 23 2010 - 00:31

In the middle of Feb 2010, ICC held a conference of its sections in Asia. The Conference was attended by delegates from the ICC's sections in the Philippines and Turkey, as well as by the sections in India. We were glad to welcome the delegate of an internationalist group in Australia and many sympathizers of our section in India. Two internationalist groups from Korea who took part in the ICC's last international congress were invited, but at the last minute were unable to come. These comrades sent solidarity and greetings to the Pan Asian Conference and also sent a brief account of the situation of the class struggle in Korea.

On Imperialist rivalries in Asia: Report to ICC Pan-Asian Conference

Published by CommunistInternationalist

Apr 4 2010 - 14:53

This report represents an effort by the ICC's sections in Asia to come to grips with the specificities of imperialist tensions in Asia, and in particular as far as they concern the rising powers of China and India.