The year 2023 is coming to an end. This year was by no means a good one for the working class in China. However, it has also been a year in which we’ve seen new hopes springing up as workers have moved towards class struggle.

2023 has been an outstanding year for In Defence of Marxism magazine: the quarterly theoretical journal of the International Marxist Tendency. This festive season is the perfect time to buy yourself, fellow comrades, friends and relatives a subscription to the finest source of Marxist theory and analysis in print!

As the year comes to a close, the complete failure of the much-hyped Ukrainian counter-offensive has opened a chorus of mutual recriminations within Ukraine and between Kyiv and its imperialist puppet masters. Funding for the proxy war against Russia is drying up in Washington, Brussels and Berlin, and so western imperialism is now pushing Zelensky into a course of action which he is resisting as it spells his political (and perhaps physical) death: peace talks with Putin.

The United Auto Workers’ (UAW) contracts with the Big Three automakers—GM, Ford, and Stellantis—all expired on September 15, 2023. Shawn Fain and the new UAW leadership were willing to lead the workers on strike. History shows that workers can win more with a fight than when no struggle is engaged in at all. However, Fain put forward a strategy of the “stand-up” strike, which he argued would be this generation’s answer to the sitdown strikes of the 1930s.

Builders, painters, dockers, factory workers, electricians, postal workers: all are now acting together to win collective agreements for the workers at Tesla, in a battle that has become a decisive showdown. In Denmark, Norway and Finland, dock and truck workers have announced that they will join the fight. 

Boris Kagarlitsky, one of the most prominent left-wing sociologists in Russia, was released on 12 December after four-and-a-half months in jail. He was fined 600,000 rubles (around 6,000 euro) and faces restricted internet access for two years, avoiding further time in prison. A global campaign for his release, in which IMT comrades were prominently involved, was a factor in this victory.

A chilling report by +972 Magazine and Local Call (‘A mass assassination factory’: Inside Israel’s calculated bombing of Gaza’), based on testimony from seven current and former members of Israel’s intelligence community, exposes the grim reality of Israel’s war on Gaza. It claims the IDF knowingly selects civilian targets, routinely wipes out entire families, and writes off hundreds of innocent lives at a time as “collateral damage”. The sources say these tactics are intended to instil fear in the population. Let us call things by their real names: this is

COP28 was riddled with ironies from day one, being held in the United Arab Emirates, a key oil and gas economy; and led by Sultan Al Jaber, who is the chief executive of the national oil company Adnoc. “Is this a joke?” you might splutter, through increasingly polluted air. Far from a laughing matter, this is the ruling class’s best offer when it comes to ‘combating climate change’.

It’s the festive season, and the Spectre of Communism podcast welcomed Alan Woods (marxist.com editor-in-chief) onto a special live episode to discuss the origins of Christianity from a Marxist perspective. This is a fascinating story of revolution and counter-revolution in the ancient world. The recording is now available on all platforms!

On Nov. 23, close to 600,000 public sector workers in Quebec were on strike. Considering that Quebec has around 4,439,000 people active in the labour market, this represents 13.5 per cent of all workers in the province! It is safe to say that everyone personally knows at least one person who went on strike that day: teachers, nurses, support staff and specialists in the fields of health, education and social services. This is the largest strike in the history of

On 2-3 December 2023, a nationwide Workers’ Socialist School was organised by the Red Workers’ Front (RWF) in Landhi Industrial Area, Karachi. A large number of workers from both the public and private sector industries, in Karachi and across the country, took part in this historic occasion. 

It’s the festive season, and the Spectre of Communism podcast is welcoming Alan Woods (marxist.com editor-in-chief) onto a special live episode to discuss the origins of Christianity from a Marxist perspective. This is a fascinating story of revolution and counter-revolution in the ancient world. We will broadcast the episode tomorrow (12 December) at 7pm British time via our YouTube channel.

The pro-Palestine movement is being attacked through the curtailment of basic democratic rights. Meetings have been shut down. In some countries, demonstrations have been banned. And pro-Palestinian voices have been censored.

From 30 November to 3 December 2023, 110 comrades of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) met in Mexico City. The countries represented were Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, Colombia, El Salvador, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Cuba, USA, Canada and Mexico (with comrades from Monterrey, Sonora, San Luis Potosi, Oaxaca, Queretaro, Yucatan, Veracruz, Puebla, Mexico State and Mexico City); as well as representatives of the international leadership of the IMT, and guests from Switzerland, Sweden and Italy. 

On 25 and 26 November 200 French-speaking comrades and sympathisers of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) met in Geneva as part of this year’s International Francophone School.