Hundredth anniversary of International Women’s Day

At its very beginning, in the early 20th century, International Women’s Day – the 8th of March - was a day of struggle for working women. Nowadays it has largely been hijacked by the capitalist establishment as a ceremonial and sometimes highly commercial affair. Much has happened over time, providing welcome proof that women’s oppression can be fought and pushed back, but despite this, the oppression rooted in society continues. Indeed, in the past years many earlier conquests for women have been lost as a result of the crisis of capitalism.

By Elin Gauffin, CWI Sweden

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Introduction to new Urdu edition of ‘Permanent Revolution’ by Leon Trotsky

We publish below a new introduction by Peter Taaffe to Leon Trotsky’s ‘Permanent Revolution’, which our comrades in the Socialist Movement Pakistan (CWI) are publishing in Urdu.

What relevance does Trotsky’s Theory of the Permanent Revolution have to the problems of the workers’ cause or the peasants’ (small farmers) movement today? After all, it was formulated more than 100 years ago during the first Russian revolution of 1905-07.

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Interview with Lynn Walsh, editor of Socialism Today and member of the International Secretariat of the CWI (Committee for a Workers’ International): Economy - Is the worst over?

150 years since the publication of On the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin’s theory of ‘natural selection’ changed the way that we look at ourselves. It contradicted the idea of an outside ‘intelligent designer’, so it met a reaction from the religious establishment that still exists in part today. Some schools, particularly in the US, are teaching evolution as ‘one point of view’ alongside creationism - a literal interpretation of the Old Testament. However, Darwin’s 150-year-old ideas remain a vital and central part of any discussion about evolution.

In this feature, ROY FARRAR marks this year’s bicentenary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his book On the Origin of Species by summarising some of Darwin’s ideas and their significance.

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On the 20th anniversary of 1989…
When the Berlin wall was dismantled in 1989 and Stalinist regimes came crashing down, capitalism declared itself victorious. The collapse of Stalinism was used in a global ideological offensive against socialism, which was unjustly equated with that dictatorial, bureaucratic system, to drive through brutal, neo-liberal capitalist policies worldwide. In this article Peter Taaffe looks back at the incredible events of 1989 and their consequences.

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A ‘dis-Service’ to Leon Trotsky
This book is very thick – running to 600 pages – but is very thin when it comes to an honest political examination and analysis of the ideas of Leon Trotsky, the subject of Service’s tome. His justification? That this book is, allegedly, the first “full-length biography of Trotsky written by someone outside Russia who is not a Trotskyist”.

By Peter Taaffe, Socialist Party

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What steps has humanity taken?
“That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” Neil Armstrong’s famous phrase marked the first human footstep on the moon. It is now 40 years since the historic achievement of Apollo 11 in 1969, but his words are still instantly recognisable to people of all generations.

By Tom Baldwin, Socialist Party

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Seventy years ago, the major powers plunged humanity into the horror of world war.

By Peter Taaffe, from Socialism Today, magazine of the Socialist Party England and Wales

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This pamphlet by James Connolly has introduced millions of workers to the basic ideas of socialism. We are reprinting it so that workers and young people today can continue to read it and learn from its arguments. It is also available from in hard copy for only $2 from the SP National Office.

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“Workers of the world unite!”
The famous slogan (above) appears in the 1848 Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels. In it they explained that the material interests of working people are essentially the same in all capitalist countries.

By Steve Score, Socialist Party

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