Category: Theory
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The Russian Revolution: the meaning of October
On 7 November 1917 (25 October in the Julian calendar) the Russian working class took power in their own hands and forever altered the course of human history. For Marxists, the October Revolution is the greatest event in human history. Below we republish an article by Alan Woods (written in 1992) that gives an excellent…
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James Connolly: Labour in Irish History – Foreword
The Revolutionary Communists of Ireland will be meeting this Saturday, 18 October, at the Teachers’ Club in Dublin for the Communist Day School of Anti-Imperialism. The event will centre on discussions of the Marxist understanding of imperialism and how to fight against it, alongside sessions exploring the history and current perspectives of the struggles against…
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Monopoly capitalism, imperialism, and the world economy
What word connects one of Lenin’s most famous theoretical works; supermarket cereals and silicon microchips; and a popular household boardgame, developed in the early 20th-century? The clue is in the title: monopoly. Capitalism is often portrayed as the provider of ‘freedom’ and ‘choice’. But this is a complete myth. From the minute we wake up…
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The history of Israel-Palestine to 1993
Trotsky warned in 1940 that the attempt to solve the ‘Jewish problem’ in Europe through the dispossession of the Palestinians would be a “bloody trap”. These words ring true to this very day. But the real history of Israel-Palestine has been buried under mountains of falsification. In this article, Francesco Merli explains the shady dealings…
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Trotsky on the Communist Manifesto
Written in 1847 by Marx and Engels, the Communist Manifesto retains an astonishing vitality today. We publish below an article by Trotsky written in 1937, during the intense crisis of capitalism before WW2, on the occasion of the Manifesto’s 90th anniversary. Capitalism has again entered deep crisis. Today these texts have acquired more relevance than…
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How the Communist International was built
Capitalism is a global system, and the struggle to overthrow it, therefore, has to be global. That explains why since the days of Marx and Engels, Marxists – revolutionary communists – have organised on an international level, from the First International, through to the Second, the Third, and the Fourth.
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Parasitical landlordism and the Marxist theory of rent
Along with bankers and capitalists, the landlord class is especially despised. They are regarded very much as greedy speculators, rack-renting owners, who force up rents at the earliest opportunity and cream off a section of the surplus-value created by the working class. It is clear why disdain for them is rising. In Britain alone, rents…
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Trotsky: Marxism in our time
Written in 1939 as an introduction to an abridgement of Karl Marx’s book Capital, Trotsky’s “Marxism in Our Time” offers a brilliant summary of Marx’s epoch-making discoveries. Using contemporary examples, Trotsky demonstrates how Marx’s analysis of capitalism in its youthful vigour is as valid now, in its period of terminal decline. Like today, when Trotsky…
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In defence of theory – or ignorance never yet helped anybody
The Revolutionary Communists International wages a consistent struggle in defence of Marxist theory. But in doing so, we have addressed not only questions that are obviously connected to the workers’ struggle, but also others (apparently) far removed from it, from cosmology to culture to the class struggle in Roman antiquity. Some so-called ‘Marxists’ have mocked…
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In memory of Leon Trotsky
On 21 August 1940 – 85 years ago today – Leon Trotsky died following an attack by a GPU assassin, on the orders of Stalin, the day before. This article by Alan Woods, commemorating Trotsky, was originally published in the year 2000. We share it today in memory of a revolutionary titan whose work and…