Category: Theory
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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…
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When British troops were sent onto Ireland’s streets
On 14 August 1969, British troops were deployed onto the streets of the North of Ireland. Operation Banner had begun. At the time, some mistakenly believed they were there to bring peace. The Marxists warned they would bring no such thing. Below we republish an article first printed in the In Defence of Marxism magazine…
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James Connolly – A chapter of horrors: Daniel O’Connell and the working class
Daniel O’Connell was born in Kerry 250 years ago as of this week. Hailed in the history books as “The Liberator”, O’Connell’s record in fighting for the oppressed Irish masses is not as straightforward as we are initially made to believe – quite the contrary in fact. We republish today an extract from James Connolly’s…
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Lenin and the importance of the workers’ press
“Out of this spark will come a flame.” Such was the strapline of Lenin’s newspaper Iskra (‘Spark’), which he founded in 1900 with a small group of comrades. How true those words were! Only 17 years later, Lenin and the Bolsheviks led the working class of Russia to power in the world’s first successful socialist…
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“Che” – an icon? The life and ideas of Ernesto Guevara
72 years ago almost to the day – on July 26, 1953 – a small group of revolutionary students and intellectuals led by Fidel Castro launched an assault on the Moncada Barracks in Cuba. Though the July 26 offensive was defeated, it marked the beginning of a chain of events that would culminate in the…
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Ted Grant: Programme of the International
We publish below a document produced by Ted Grant in May 1970. Much has changed since it was first produced, and the Revolutionary Communist International has continually refined and updated its perspectives and analysis in subsequent books and articles. However, the historical value of this document, especially those parts concerning the history of the internationals,…
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The Twelfth of July by James Connolly
The Ulster loyalist celebrations known as ‘The Twelfth,’ celebrated every 12 July in the North of Ireland, commemorate the victory of William of Orange over King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. They are used to whip up sectarian tensions by specifically anti-catholic groups such as the Orange Order, who amongst…
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The degeneration and collapse of the Fourth International: in defence of our heritage
The Fourth International was founded by Trotsky in 1938. By that point, the Second ‘Socialist’ International and the Third ‘Communist’ International had completely betrayed their historic missions and acted as traitorous obstacles in the way of the victory of the working class. A new revolutionary leadership was required worldwide, one founded upon the Marxist ideas…