SP Newsletter No.237
Kevin McLoughlin from the Socialist Party in Ireland explained that in the last 20 years the attacks on the working class and the retreat of trade unions combined with the collapse of Stalinism had provided capitalism with a significant boost. Kevin was speaking at the opening of the 2008 Socialist Party National Conference. (more…)

The imminent October meltdown of the global banking system appears to have been averted, at least for the time being. But the credit crunch continues and capitalist leaders are forced to recognise the world is plunging into a deep recession. For many millions of workers this crisis in the profit system means unemployment, slashed incomes and untold suffering.
By Lynn Walsh, Editor of Socialism Today (more…)

What will US foreign policy be after the election?
The two terms of George W Bush have been characterised by the ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the brutality of Guantánamo Bay and ever increasing inequality in US society.
By Tony Saunois, CWI (more…)

Workers losing jobs and wages
The global capitalist crisis has struck southern China’s export powerhouse Guangdong with the force of a super-typhoon. It is “the worst economic environment of our lives” exclaimed the chief economist of Hong Kong’s Chamber of Commerce.
By Vincent Kolo, Chinaworker.info (more…)

Reviewed by Sarah Sachs-Eldridge
Based on a graphic novel memoir written by Marjane Satrapi, Persepolis is a treat. An animated film, it is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, mainly, but not entirely, in black and white and very simply drawn. (more…)

SP Newsletter No.236
The Eddington report commissioned by the State Labor Government has proposed the biggest capital expenditure program in Australian history at $18 billion. The report has recommended that more than half of this money should go to the building of a tunnel linking the Eastern Freeway to Melbourne’s western suburbs. (more…)

Earlier this month Iceland’s three main banks collapsed and the currency effectively ceased trading. With debts totaling ten times the national income of the country, an Icelandic delegation went cap in hand to Moscow to negotiate a €4 billion loan.
By Per-Ake Westerlund, CWI Sweden (more…)

China, Sweatshop of the World – The Coming Revolt, this is the title of a new book by Vincent Kolo and Chen Lizhi from chinaworker.info. The book was launched for the first time last week in Hong Kong. (more…)

Across the world stock markets are crashing as we publish. Thursday’s “Wall Street” collapse has reinforced the downward spiral. Shares are being sold off as investors desperately try to get out as the potentially catastrophic situation of world capitalism becomes more and more obvious. The spectre of the possibility of another Great Depression, like that of the 1930s, has spread its dark shadow.
By Robert Bechert, CWI (more…)

SP Newsletter No.235
With a serious economic downturn on the agenda many companies have begun to implement job cuts and plant closures in order to reduce costs and defend profits. (more…)