International Viewpoint - online socialist magazine

International Women’s Day was originally conceived as International Working Women’s Day and organized in part by the Second International. This piece was written for the holiday and to honor that tradition of fighting for working women’s rights.

Awami Workers’ Party Message on 104th International Woman’s Day - 8 March 2014.

Syria Freedom republished this article that was published first on Syriauntold with the following comment: Before republishing this article that you can find below, we, the Revolutionary Left Current in Syria, reiterate that the emancipation and liberation of women is fully and completely part of the Syrian revolutionary process. The women have played an enormous role in the revolutionary process since the beginning and have been an essential actor in the struggle against the Assad regime and reactionary forces inside the revolution.

The socialist union “Left Opposition” offers its assessment of the Russian aggression in Crimea and the destructive role of Ukrainian nationalists. The intervention of Russian armies was made possible as a result of a split in Ukrainian society. Its unity is impossible with the oligarchs and chauvinists in power. Only solidarity will save Ukraine.

On 5 February, people set fire to the government building of Tuzla Canton, rebelling against criminal privatization, unpaid wages, and the corrupt ruling oligarchy. Violence was deemed necessary for people to finally get their voice heard, and overcome poverty. Ministers have resigned, and people have been taking control over political life. Soon after, more than 700 citizens gathered in Plenums, where they practice direct democracy. This “Tuzla effect” has spread throughout other towns in Bosnia Herzegovina… and this blast of anger has gained the streets in Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, in such a way that we’re already speaking, in France and in Europe, of a Balkan “spring”.

This article is a slightly updated version of an introduction made in the context of the Conference for the 75th anniversary of the Fourth International. The Conference was held in Mannheim in November 2013.

This is a presentation Alan Thornett made at an event in Mannheim marking 75 years of the FI, organised by the FI’s German groups, in November 2013. Other speakers included Jan Malewski from the FI Bureau and Manos Skoufoglou from OKDE, the Greek section of the FI. At the end of the event he undertook to write up his speech so that the discussion that took place around it can continue. It is not a verbatim write up but it does follow the political line of his presentation and includes all the main points he made. A few points have been expanded for clarity.

This article, unlike the others on the NPA in this section, was not a contribution to the 2013 meeting of the IC because the author is not a membr of the Fourth International but is identified with the International Socialist Tendency (IST) group Socialisme par en bas (SPEB) that joined the LCR some years before the creation of the NPA. It is of course part of the ongoing discussion within the NPA.