Balance sheet of one year of war

The war in Ukraine is fuelling barbarism and chaos around the world

Published by ICConline
Tuesday, 28 March, 2023 - 11:50

More than a year already of appalling carnage; hundreds of thousands of soldiers massacred on both sides; more than a year of indiscriminate bombings and executions, murdering tens of thousands of civilians; more than a year of systematic destruction turning the country into a gigantic field of ruins, while the displaced populations number in the millions; more than a year of huge budgets sunk into this butchery on both sides (Russia is now committing about 50% of its state budget to the war, while the hypothetical reconstruction of the ruined Ukraine would require more than 400 billion dollars). And this tragedy is far from over

Leaflet on the class struggle in France

Strikes, demonstrations, 49.3: what next?

Published by ICConline
Wednesday, 22 March, 2023 - 09:56

The ICC’s section in France has published this leaflet in response to the latest developments in the fight against the government’s pension “reforms”.

Rail disaster in Greece

In Greece as well, workers’ combativity and solidarity

Published by ICConline
Monday, 20 March, 2023 - 15:07

Workers in Greece take their place in the international revival of class struggle, expressing their anger at the recent rail disaster which left 57 dead. 

ICC Public Meeting in London, 1 April

We are not the only ones fighting…there are workers' struggles all over the world!

Published by ICConline
Tuesday, 7 March, 2023 - 12:39

From Britain to France, Spain, Portugal and Holland and many other countries, workers’ struggles are multiplying, responding to the effects of inflation, the intensification of the war economy and frontal attacks by the bourgeoisie on living and working conditions.

What is the significance of these struggles? What is their potential? How is the ruling class dealing with them? How can the working class take the struggle forward?

Come and discuss all these questions at a public meeting organised by the ICC:

Saturday 1 April, 3-6pm

International Leaflet

UK, France, Spain, Germany, Mexico, China... Everywhere the same question: How to develop the struggle? How to make governments back down?

Published by ICConline
Friday, 3 March, 2023 - 17:30

A new leaflet which we are distributing in a number of countries, aimed at answering the key questions facing the current wave of workers' struggles

No War But the Class War, Paris

On the recent meeting of NWBTCW in Paris

Published by: ICConline
Tuesday, 28 March, 2023 - 21:28

We publish below a position paper by one of our sympathisers on the No War But The Class War committee meeting in Paris on 2 December. We welcome this contribution and generally support the political content of this text

 

Anarchists and the Ukraine war

War fever, internationalism, and the limitations of anarchism

Published by: ICConline
Wednesday, 22 March, 2023 - 11:03

A response to a thread on the anarchist forum libcom, which highlights the deep divisions within the anarchist milieu over the war in Ukraine.

ICC Online Dossier

Solidarity with healthworkers striking in defence of their wages and conditions, not with their employer, the NHS

Published by: ICConline
Wednesday, 8 March, 2023 - 08:57

A series of articles explaining that the campaign to defend the NHS is a campaign to defend the capitalist state, not the working class.

Workers' struggles in Britain and France

The Spectator and the “disgruntled French”

Published by: ICConline
Wednesday, 15 February, 2023 - 11:03

It's not just French workers who are "disgruntled" with the state of this system.

The 20s of the 21st century

The acceleration of capitalist decomposition poses the clear possibility of the destruction of humanity

Published by: International Review
Monday, 2 January, 2023 - 09:17

A statement from the ICC about the perspectives of capitalist society in the 2020s.

February 1st strikes and demonstrations

Union control reinforces divisions

Published by: ICConline
Saturday, 4 February, 2023 - 16:39

On February 1st around half a million workers from different sectors in Britain were on strike – rail and some bus networks, civil servants, and in particular workers in education, both schools and universities. This was the biggest number of workers out on one day since the strike wave in Britain began last summer.

Third Manifesto of the ICC

Capitalism leads to the destruction of humanity... Only the world revolution of the proletariat can put an end to it

Published by: International Review
Friday, 23 December, 2022 - 10:26

130 years ago, when tensions between capitalist powers were growing in Europe, Frederick Engels posed the dilemma for humanity: Communism or Barbarism. This alternative was concretised in the First World War which broke out in 1914 and caused 20 million deaths, another 20 million invalids, and in the chaos of war there was the Spanish flu pandemic with more than 50 million deaths. The revolution in Russia in 1917 and the revolutionary attempts in other countries put an end to the carnage and showed the other side of the historical dilemma posed by Engels: the overthrow of capitalism on a world scale by the revolutionary class, the proletariat, opening up the possibility of a communist society.

France: the movement against pension “reform”

It’s not enough to come out in large numbers, we have to take control of our struggles!

Published by: ICConline
Saturday, 4 February, 2023 - 13:02

Leaflet given out by the ICC at the recent massive demonstrations in France

Mobilisation against pension "reform" in France

How to resist the attacks and develop the fight?

Published by: ICConline
Sunday, 29 January, 2023 - 09:56

An article showing that the current revival of workers’ militancy has spread to other European countries.

Workers' strikes and popular demonstrations in China

Citizens' mobilisations for "democracy" are a deadly trap for the working class

Published by: ICConline
Friday, 27 January, 2023 - 09:35

Blank sheets of paper symbolise the demand for "free speech" and other democratic illusions

An article looking at a very real danger facing the workers of China.

No War But The Class War, Paris

A committee that leads its participants into a dead end

Published by: ICConline
Saturday, 21 January, 2023 - 12:46

On Friday 2 December, the first meeting in France of the 'No War But The Class War' committee took place in Paris. In this article, we explain our criticisms of this project.

Political parasitism

Attacking the ICC: the raison d'être of the IGCL

Published by: ICConline
Saturday, 21 January, 2023 - 12:40

For once, we thank the “International Group of the Communist Left” (IGCL) for giving us the opportunity to remind ourselves of what it really is. To this end, we reproduce below (in full, including footnotes) their little article that is supposed to point out our impasse and contradictions on the issue of parasitism, if the title is to be believed. And for the benefit of our readers, we respond to it right after.

Critique of the so-called “Communisers”

Part One: Introduction to the series on “Communisers”

Published by: International Review
Wednesday, 24 August, 2022 - 12:23

A new series which develops our critique of the so-called “communisation” tendency and its claims to have gone beyond marxism and the communist left.

Critique of the so-called “communisers” (Part 2)

From leftism to modernism: the misadventures of the ‘Bérard tendency’

Published by: International Review
Monday, 9 January, 2023 - 14:02

An article recounting the first major confrontation between the precursors of the ICC and an early expression of the “communisation” tendency.

Critique of the so-called "communisers", annex to part 2

Why the proletariat is the revolutionary class: Critical notes on the article 'Leçons de la lutte des ouvriers anglais' in Révolution Internationale no 9

Published by: ICConline
Monday, 9 January, 2023 - 14:26

Alongside the article on the history of the “Bérard tendency” in International Review 169, we are republishing a developed response by the organisation, first published in Révolution Internationale no 9 (first series), May-June 1974. Its principal arguments against the embryonic “communisation” tendency – their rejection of the economic struggles of the working class, and of the political dimension of the proletarian revolution, etc – remain entirely valid today.

Don't Pay UK campaign

A citizens’ protest is not the class struggle

Published by: ICConline
Monday, 2 January, 2023 - 20:21

High energy bills are weighing on everyone's mind. How could it be otherwise when almost a quarter of your income has to be spent on energy? This is one of the major components of the “cost of living” crisis which has provoked a wave of strikes in the UK, and which is echoing in other European countries. But there are other forms of protest taking place, directly targeting energy bills but based on the idea of “popular protest”. This article looks at some of the dangers contained in these kinds of campaigns, focusing on “Don’t Pay UK”. 

UCU Rally in London

The unions don’t unite our struggle – they organise its division!

Published by: ICConline
Thursday, 8 December, 2022 - 07:49

Despite their radical rhetoric, the trade unions are an obstacle to real workers' unity

International Leaflet

A summer of anger in Britain: The ruling class demands further sacrifices, the response of the working class is to fight!

Published by: ICConline
Friday, 2 September, 2022 - 14:56

All the reporters and commentators are referring to the current strikes as the biggest working class action in Britain for decades; only the huge strikes of 1979 produced a bigger and more widespread movement. Action on this scale in a country as large as Britain is not only significant locally, it is an event of international importance, a message to the exploited of every country. This international leaflet in pdf form is available here. We encourage our readers to print out copies and distribute them wherever possible. 

World Cup 2022 in Qatar

An illustration of the irrationality and corruption of capitalism

Published by: ICConline
Thursday, 22 December, 2022 - 09:33

The 2022 football World Cup has expressed the irrationality and rottenness of the capitalist world to the highest degree.

Refugee crisis

The shipwreck of government policy

Published by: ICConline
Thursday, 24 November, 2022 - 20:10

The "refugee problem" is a product of the global disintegration of capitalism, and the ruling class has no solution to it. 

Strike wave in Britain

Workers fight for their own side in the class war

Published by: ICConline
Tuesday, 4 October, 2022 - 21:07

The strikes in Britain signify a real break from the years of retreat which began in the 1980s

Reader’s contribution

Truss resignation shows the real nature of Britain’s “special relationship” with the US

Published by: ICConline
Monday, 14 November, 2022 - 12:45

The reader’s contribution published here is about the global tendencies and tensions underlying a recent, unprecedented event in the history of British politics: the resignation of Truss after only 44 days and after several tumultuous weeks, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in the history of the United Kingdom.

Internationalist Voice on the protests in Iran

The emancipation of women is only possible in a communist society

Published by: ICConline
Sunday, 30 October, 2022 - 07:45

We publish here an article by the Internationalist Voice group, which argues forcefully against the attempts of the international bourgeoisie to steer the mounting anger of the population in Iran towards the illusion of an “emancipation of women” inside the confines of capitalist society. 

Significance of the “summer of anger" in Britain

The return of the combativity of the world proletariat

Published by: International Review
Wednesday, 12 October, 2022 - 10:18

Because of the number of sectors affected, the combativity of the workers involved in the struggle and the widespread support for action among the working population, the wave of strikes which has spread throughout Britain this summer is an event of undeniable importance on the domestic level. But we also need to understand that the historical significance of these struggles goes far beyond their local dimension or even their one-off occurrence.

Ecological crisis

Capitalist destruction of nature heats up the need for communism

Published by: ICConline
Tuesday, 4 October, 2022 - 08:54

Storm damage from 150mph winds in Florida

In the first half of 2022, as in so many of the previous years, the planet was plagued by numerous wildfires, catastrophic flooding, tropical storms and unprecedented heat waves. The increase of temperature has considerably exacerbated the risk of extreme weather disasters. The scale of destruction it implies is terrifying: it reveals the acceleration of the decomposition of capitalism.

Divisions in the ruling class

Peru: The dead-end of the protests and the role of state repression

Published by: ICConline
Tuesday, 28 March, 2023 - 16:55

An analysis of the ongoing protests in Peru and the competing factions behind them.

Balance sheet of discussions at the ICC’s public meetings

The response of the working class to the acceleration of barbarism

Published by: ICConline
Wednesday, 22 March, 2023 - 12:48

War, pandemic, ecological disaster, economic chaos, famine: in the opening years of the 2020s, all these products of a decaying system have been intensifying and acting on each other, leaving little doubt that capitalism is spiralling towards destruction. But in opposition to the sense of doom and hopelessness pervading society, starting in June 2022 in GB, workers around the world have ignited the fire of international class struggle...

Earthquake hits Turkey and Syria

The name of the disaster is capitalism - only proletarian class solidarity can save us!

Published by: ICConline
Wednesday, 8 February, 2023 - 19:03

We publish here a statement by some comrades in Turkey on the earthquake which has hit Turkey and Syria. We salute the comrades’ rapid response to these awful events, in which the official death toll has already passed 21,000 and is likely to climb much higher, including those who survived the initial quake but now face hunger, cold and disease. As the statement shows, this “natural” disaster has been made far more deadly by the callous demands of capitalist profit and competition, which has obliged people to live in totally inadequate, flimsy housing.  The particularly catastrophic effects of the recent earthquake illustrates the accentuation of the bourgeoise’s contempt for the lives and suffering of the working class and the oppressed today in the period where the capitalist mode of production is decomposing in every respect.

Economic crisis in Britain

The bourgeoisie has no alternative to austerity and more brutal attacks

Published by: ICConline
Sunday, 5 February, 2023 - 00:56

The problems facing the UK economy in part express weaknesses that go back over a century. Add to that the impact of the world economic crisis and it becomes clear that the ruling class has no bright future to offer us.

Health crisis, economic stagnation, imperialist pressure...

The Chinese bourgeoisie in turmoil

Published by: ICConline
Friday, 27 January, 2023 - 09:39

Far from being the “big winner” in the Covid crisis, the weaknesses of the Chinese model of state capitalism are being laid bare. 

Reader’s letter

How should revolutionaries orient their interventions?

Published by: ICConline
Sunday, 29 January, 2023 - 10:15

We publish below an extract from a letter sent by one of our readers, Robert, after an online meeting he attended, followed by our reply.

War in Ukraine

Capitalism accumulates ruins and corpses

Published by: ICConline
Friday, 13 January, 2023 - 09:45

The war in Ukraine, which has been going on for almost a year, demonstrates the total irrationality of world capitalism.

Editorial, International Review 169

Faced with war and the acceleration of the crisis of capitalism, revolutionaries have a historic responsibility

Published by: International Review
Tuesday, 3 January, 2023 - 14:45

International Review 169 will be out soon. This is the editorial article.

History of the revolutionary movement

100 years after the foundation of the Communist International: What lessons can we draw for future combats? (Part V)

Published by: International Review
Sunday, 15 January, 2023 - 07:08

Concluding article in the series.

Iran

The necessity for workers' autonomy

Published by: ICConline
Saturday, 26 November, 2022 - 09:21

June 2021: striking oil workers at a refinery

The wave of protests in Iran expresses a widespread discontent against the Islamic regime, but the working class in Iran faces the danger of being "drowned" in a popular movement dominated by bourgeois slogans

Correspondence

The Covid 19 pandemic and the dynamic of the class struggle

Published by: ICConline
Wednesday, 16 November, 2022 - 16:28

An exchange relating to the significance of the current wave of workers’ struggles in Britain and their connection to the period of the Covid pandemic

All trade unions are against the struggle of the working class

Published by: ICConline
Thursday, 3 November, 2022 - 10:46

A reader who recently took part in an online public meeting of the ICC has raised questions about our position on the trade unions, the Russian revolution and other vital questions. Here we publish part of the correspondence dealing with the question of the trade unions.

Imperialist conflict in Ukraine

Joint statement of groups of the international communist left about the war in Ukraine

Published by: ICConline
Wednesday, 6 April, 2022 - 11:45

The organisations of the communist left must mount a united defence of their common heritage of adherence to the principles of proletarian internationalism, especially at a time of great danger for the world's working class. The return of imperialist carnage to Europe in the war in Ukraine is such a time. That's why we publish below, with other signatories from the communist left tradition (and a group with a different trajectory fully supporting the statement), a common statement on the fundamental perspectives for the working class in the face of imperialist war.

Internal debate on the world situation

Reply to Ferdinand

Published by: ICConline
Wednesday, 16 November, 2022 - 19:57

Reply to comrade Steinklopfer, August 2022

Published by: ICConline
Friday, 26 August, 2022 - 11:47

A response to the contribution Explanation of the amendments by comrade Steinklopfer rejected by the Congress. 

Explanation of the amendments by comrade Steinklopfer rejected by the Congress

Published by: ICConline
Thursday, 9 June, 2022 - 13:44

Here we publish the second of two texts expressing divergences on the resolution on the international situation from the 24th ICC Congress.

Divergences with the Resolution on the International Situation of the 24th ICC congress (explanation of a minority position, by Ferdinand)

Published by: International Review
Thursday, 12 May, 2022 - 09:57

ICC presentation
In continuity with the discussion documents published after the ICC’s 23rd Congress, we are publishing a further contribution by a comrade expressing divergences with the Resolution on the International Situation from the ICC’s 24th Congress.

Sweden and Finland join NATO

The myth of neutrality and non-alignment exposed

Published by: ICConline
Thursday, 20 October, 2022 - 10:33

The myth of the “peaceful” Nordic countries is being exposed, and NATO will profit from this, through a strengthening of its northern flank, which extends the encirclement of Russia.

Economic crisis

The world economy hit by the acceleration of decomposition

Published by: ICConline
Tuesday, 11 October, 2022 - 18:58

Capitalism is more and more being strangled by a whole series of contradictions inherent in its way of existing, which are now inter-acting and mutually reinforcing each other, threatening society at unheard of levels of scale and frequency.

Imperialist rivalries

American imperialism, a major factor in capitalist chaos

Published by: ICConline
Friday, 14 October, 2022 - 17:08

The claims of the USA to be the standard bearer of peace and a rule-based world order are nothing but lies to hide its real imperialist designs.

Angry Workers of the World and the war in Ukraine

AWW and Ukraine war: There is no middle ground between internationalism and “national defence”

Published by: ICConline
Thursday, 22 September, 2022 - 09:40

The war in Ukraine has produced major divisions in a group which, in the past, has defended internationalist positions.

From Internationalist Voice

The murder of Mahsa Amini is a manifestation of the brutality of the Islamic bourgeoisie!

Published by: ICConline
Sunday, 25 September, 2022 - 11:18

Statement by the Internationalist Voice group about the widespread protests over the police murder of a young woman in Iran for breaking the regime's "hijab rules". 

Update of the 1990 orientation text

Militarism and Decomposition (May 2022)

Published by: International Review
Tuesday, 2 August, 2022 - 17:51

In the wake of the Ukraine war, a new text updating our analysis of the growth of militarism in the final phase of capitalist decadence.

Dossier: Marxism in the UK 1848-1914

The Struggle for the Class Party in Britain 1848-1914

Published by: ICConline
Tuesday, 14 June, 2022 - 11:41

A series of of articles examining the historic problems faced by the effort to construct a marxist political organisation in Britain.

Internationalists faced with the war in Ukraine

Correspondence on the Joint Statement of groups of the Communist Left on the war in Ukraine

Published by: ICConline
Friday, 5 August, 2022 - 12:04

An exchange of correspondence between the groups of the communist left regarding the need for a joint statement against the imperialist war in Ukraine.