International Communist Current

The following article, often drawing on research into books and documentation that are only available in the German language, chronicles the history of the struggle against organizational opportunism in the German SPD in two parts. The first part, published here, covers the period from 1872 to 1890, from the Gotha to the Erfurt programmes; the second part, to be published subsequently, will deal with the ensuing period to 1914.

Metal workers' assembly in Cadiz

The recent strike of metal workers in Cadiz, Spain, is another sign of the renewal of working class militancy around the world. This statement is part of an ongoing intervention towards the movement by our comrades in Spain. For more on the strike visit our Spanish language pages

The ICC has published an article on the recent signs of a renewed fighting spirit in the working class in a number of countries: Struggles in the United States, in Iran, in Italy, in Korea... Neither the pandemic nor the economic crisis have broken the combativity of the proletariat! The struggles in the US are particularly important, and this contribution from a close sympathizer there aims to examine them in more detail.

This report, adopted by the ICC’s international central organ, is written within the framework of the resolution on the international situation adopted by the 24th ICC Congress

Second of two articles analysing the fact that USA’s rise to world dominance also coincides with the course of a world system in decline. The Biden administration has now been in power for 8 months and the difficulties of the American bourgeoisie in reversing the effects of decomposition on all levels have clearly been confirmed…

The withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan and the fall of Kabul to the Taliban showed the decline of the world's only remaining superpower. British imperialism had been a part of the occupation since the invasion of 2001. The failure of the US was shared by the UK, which has been further reduced in its status among the second and third-rate powers.

While the Covid-19 crisis has persisted for almost two years with its heavy health, social, political and economic impact on most of the world's states, this has in no way moderated their imperialist appetites. The rise in tensions has been particularly marked in recent months by a clear exacerbation of the opposition between the USA and China, highlighted most recently by the so-called “Aukus” agreement between the US, Britain and Australia, and explicitly aimed at China.

In the preceding parts of this series we have highlighted the opportunist weaknesses which were at the base of the constitution of the Communist International (CI), both on the programmatic and on the organisational levels. This part will tackle the final period of the CI as an organisation of the working class.

To mark the 20th ‘anniversary’ of the September 11 attacks in New York, we draw our readers’ attention to our lead article from International Review 107, “New York and the world over: Capitalism sows death”. The article denounces the massacre of thousands of civilians, the majority of them proletarians, as an act of imperialist war, but at the same time exposes the hypocritical tears shed by the ruling class. As the article says, “The attack on New York was not an ‘attack on civilisation’, it was itself the expression of bourgeois ‘civilisation’”.

The first of two articles analysing the fact that USA’s rise to world dominance also coincides with the course of a world system in decline. In particular, it became a global superpower through imperialist war becoming the “way of life” of decadent capitalism.

We've commemorated this year as the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune. We must also celebrate the book of Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. The first edition of this book appeared in London on February 23, 1871, a few days before the working population of Paris transported to the heights of Montmartre, Buttes-Chartre and Belleville the cannons that Adolphe Thiers wanted to confiscate from them.

This article is a response to two letters published recently on the phenomenon of "uberisation” Are “uberised” employees part of the working class? It endeavours to place the issues in a historical framework by drawing on the foundations of marxism and the experience of the workers' movement.

We reply to a reader’s question: “How can the ICC maintain that capitalism is a decadent system since 1914 when there has been such enormous growth in the capitalist system since then?”

Mass cremations of Covid victims in India

Uber Eats workers on strike

We are publishing below two letters from ICC sympathisers aimed at continuing the reflection that arose in a meeting in France on 15 May 2020 on the subject of the nature and composition of the working class. During this discussion some participants questioned what affect “uberisation” of work had on the composition of the working class. In other words, do the “uberised” employees belong to the working class? We welcome the comrades’ efforts of reflection and their willingness to express their concerns. The letters from the comrades make two contributions to this debate which will be continued at other ICC meetings.

Poster of May 68 against state repression

In recent months there have been criticisms and misinterpretations of our positions regarding the state measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Some have even concluded that the ICC in fact supports these measures. The ICC supports any proletarian struggle against the attacks by the state, but it doesn’t support demands to put an end to the anti-Covid state measures. Such demands have no other perspective than reinforcing illusions in bourgeois rule, whether democratic or openly despotic and only raise obstructions against the development of the class consciousness and the combativity.

Soup kitchen queue, Glasgow, winter 2020/21

From health to housing, education to income, the working class has been hardest hit over the past 12 plague months. The economic crisis and social deprivations, accelerated by Covid-19, have roots deep in the decadence and decomposition of capitalism. However sections of the proletariat in GB, under the most difficult conditions, have nonetheless attempted a defence of basic class interests.

Turkish military incursion into northern Syria, October 2019

Turkey’s ambitions to assert itself as a regional power in the Middle East is a clear illustration of the growing tendency towards every man for himself at the imperialist level; and it is above all the working class of Turkey and beyond which is paying the price in increased exploitation and bloody wars.