Dear all,

A quick note to inform you that issue number 291 of World Revolution is now available.

Here is a 'taste' of the contents.

Faced with massive attacks on its living standards, the international working class is beginning to fight back

All over the planet, the living standards of the working class are under attack. Whether it’s through redundancies, speed-ups and flexibility at work, the imposition of precarious job contracts, attempts to reduce pensions or put off the retirement age, cuts in funding for health and education, there is no let up. No sector of the working class is spared: young or old, public or private employee, in work or out of work, full time or casual, native or immigrant.

Protests over cartoons: Neither democracy nor religion

Whose side should we take? The western newspapers who have published crass cartoons of Mohammed? Or the Islamic demonstrators who parade the streets calling for a repeat of the 9/11 and 7/7 massacres against ‘Britain’ or ‘Europe’? For us – communists, internationalists, partisans of the class struggle – the answer is neither. The ‘clash of civilisations’ is a clash inside one single civilisation: capitalism. And this civilisation is everywhere in its decadent stage.

Attacks on pensions: Unions are part of the problem

The Health, Civil Service and Education agreement between Government and unions over pensions last year, to be implemented this June, was called “a major breakthrough” by Barber. It is. A major breakthrough in the attack on the working class... The PCS union says that there are some details “to be hammered out”. The only hammering being done is by the unions on the heads of workers. This is what the unions do – they fulfil a vital role for the capitalist state in not only facilitating and implementing attacks, but, despite all their talk about unity and solidarity, divide up any possible response to them.

Attacks on health: NHS job losses and reduced health care

The crisis in the NHS is getting worse. It’s forecast to be in deficit by between £600 million and over a billion... For the leftists, it is Blair and New Labour’s love affair with private capital that is to blame. What none of them say is that the cause of this crisis is the crisis of capitalism. These attacks are part of a long-term strategy to reduce the burden of the NHS on British state capital that has been underway since the 1980s.

Anarchist arguments for participation in imperialist war

The election of Hamas is no victory for the oppressed

The surprise success of Hamas in the Palestinian elections is another demonstration that the great imperialist powers are having more and more difficulty in controlling the growing chaos in the international situation. Hamas is now the dominant force in the Palestine Authority (PA) with the prospects of its armed wing being integrated into the Palestinian forces. It wasn’t supposed to be like this...

Iran: A focus for imperialist manoeuvres

The first few weeks of the new year have seen renewed tensions over Iran, leading to a decision to send the issue to the UN security council...This prompted a chorus of disapproval from around the world, including from China and Russia, who have traditionally been supportive of the country, and resulted in the unanimous decision to report Iran to the UN security council. However, this apparent unity of the great powers is no more real today than at any time over recent years.

NY Transit Strike: The class struggle is also developing in America

Written shortly after the struggle ended, this article: stresses the significance of the strike; places it within the international context; analyses how it expresses the development of class consciousness within the class and the impact it had on other workers; and finally the role played by the union in sabotaging the struggle.

The riots in France are not part of the struggle of the working class

During October and November the ICC's section in France held meetings on the theme ‘Proletarian revolution is the sole perspective for the future of humanity’ in Tours, Marseille, Nantes, Toulouse, Paris and Lyons. Inevitably the burning question of the riots was the central preoccupation: how should we view the desperate violence of the young in the suburbs? This article reports on the discussion at the meeting in Toulouse.

Strike at SEAT, Spain: The need to confront union sabotage

Its available online at our website: Internationalism.org, or if you are in London (UK) on Saturday WR will be selling the paper outside Camden Tube Station between 12 - 1.

We would welcome any comments on, or criticisms of, the political positions defended in the paper, so any thoughts?

For Communism!

Morven