International

In a further advance for the European left, Spain’s Izquierda Unida (United Left) is rising in the opinion polls, as support declines for Spain’s major parties. Kate Hudson looks at the origins and development of Izquierda Unida (IU) and its relationship to PSOE – the social democrat-turned neo-liberal party comparable to Labour here in Britain. […] Read more »

Iram Awan from Left Unity High Wycombe looks at David Cameron’s work for the rich. David Cameron is currently at the UN, and news is emerging that he plans to block the moves by a panel to include a commitment to reducing income inequality in the new targets set to replace the Millennium Development Goals. […] Read more »

An appeal from Portugal Europe is under violent attack from financial capital, represented by the Troika (IMF, ECB, EC) and by the successive governments that apply concerted policies with these entities, despising and destroying the people. We know that this offensive is set on breaking the peoples, rendering them slaves of debt and austerity. This […] Read more »

Mark Perryman from Philosophy Football explores a year when the tide turned against Fascism Ken Loach’s recent film Spirit of ’45 brilliantly celebrates the triumphant mood that delivered a Labour Landslide election victory at the end of World War Two and the establishment of both the Welfare State and nationalised public utilities. What is made less obvious […] Read more »

Below is a statement from the Greek secondary teachers’ union OLME, calling for solidarity and reporting on today’s situation:   THE MEMORANDA POLICY HURT PUBLIC EDUCATION NO TO CIVIL MOBILISATION ORDERS FOR SCHOOLTEACHERS Public education and teachers’ working conditions in Greece are suffering a strong blow once again by the government and the Troika. In […] Read more »

Ken Loach’s open letter discussing a new mass party of the left, and the response it has received, is impressive, says Ben Wray from the International Socialist Group in Scotland. It confirms what has become increasingly obvious in recent years: the failure of the left to make a significant ideological and political breakthrough since the […] Read more »

Murray Smith responds to the European dimension of the ‘flutter’ articles. He is a member of the anti-capitalist party déi Lenk in Luxembourg, and of the Executive Board of the Party of the European Left. Having followed with sympathy the emergence of Left Unity and the possibility of a new party of the Left being […] Read more »

In the first section of a two-part article, a senior figure from the labour and trade union movement joins the debate about Left Unity Left unity is the motherhood-and-apple-pie of socialists.  The unspoken (and sometimes spoken) assumption is that if only the left could crack the unity problem – the Rubik’s Cube of political intervention […] Read more »

The second section of a two-part article from a senior figure in the labour and trade union movement who joins the debate on Left Unity and urges those involved in Left Unity to consider that we might be wrong. Impact of the Crisis However, it could well be argued that the economic crisis changes the […] Read more »

Cyprus is currently experiencing dramatic moments that are expected to subvert the entire network of social relations and daily life of our people, says Yiannos Katsourides. The recent agreement of the Cypriot government with the Eurogroup overturns violently the main pillar of the capitalist structure; namely, the banking sector.  The effective resolution of the Popular […] Read more »