Vienna Protests: Thousands rallied against government's plans to extend working day to 12 hours

Tens of thousands of people in Vienna packed the streets on Saturday 30th June to voice their opposition to the new anti-worker laws of the far-right government which include a 12-hour workday and subsequent 60-hour workweek. 

While Austrian police said some 80,000 people took part, organizers by the Austrian Trade Union Confederation talk about a massive demonstration of 100,000-120,000 participants from all provinces and industries. 

"We will resist with all means at our disposal," Wolfgang Katzian, president of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB), told the crowd of protesters. Katzian called on the Austrian government to let voters decide on the 12-hour workday issue in a referendum.

Mexico Elections: Social Democrats versus Neoliberals, a bourgeois game

Tomorrow, July 1st, Mexicans will elect national and local authorities, including their next president, who will lead the Latin American country for the next six years. With a population of 123 million people, Mexico is a federal state with 32 states and five regions, with a relatively slow growth rates during the last years. 

In these elections there are three major coalitions which include bourgeois parties of both social democratic and neoliberal political orientations. The candidate who has been presented by many mass media as a potential winner of the elections is Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador - also known as AMLO- who is running for the “Together We Will Make History” coalition and is leading the latest polls with an average of at least 46.3% of effective voter intention among likely voters. A former mayor of Mexico City, AMLO has run for the presidency twice and is widely regarded as the "left-wing" candidate in these elections. 

KKE: EU's Migration Summit was a "terrible bazaar" against refugees-immigrants

“A terrible bazaar against uprooted refugees and immigrants”; that is how the Communist Party of Greece characterizes the recent EU Migration Summit. In a statement, among other things, the KKE points out that “the dangerous decisions are summarized into more entrapment of refugees and immigrants in Greece, more repression, deportations and attack in the rights of immigrants and refugees, countries-”storehouses” of immigrants, greater penetration of european monopolies in third countries in the name of immigration limitation”.

Interview with Domenico Losurdo: Marx and the counter-history of Liberalism

Domenico Losurdo, one of the most significant contemporary Marxist thinkers, died at the age of 77. He was a Professor of Philosophy at Urbino University as well as President of the International Association Hegel-Marx for Dialectical Thought. Despite any possible disagreements of different views regarding his work, the death of Losurdo consists a major loss for marxist thought in the academic and literature sector. Below, we republish an interesting interview he gave to the Platypus Affiliated Society in 2012, based on one of his latest books titled "Liberalism: A Counter-History". 

J.V. Stalin- Where is the nationalism of Tito’s group in Yugoslavia leading to? (1948)

Where is the nationalism of Tito’s group in Yugoslavia leading to?

By Joseph V. Stalin.

Pravda, 8th December 1948.

In the well-known resolution of the Information Bureau of the Communist Parties adopted in June 1948 ‘On the Situation in the Communist Party of Yugoslavia’ it is pointed out that in recent months the nationalist elements that covertly existed even earlier have come to dominate the leadership of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, that the leadership of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia has broken away from the internationalist traditions of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia and has taken up the course of nationalism. 

Shameful: Plaque commemorating a Nazi Waffen SS officer was unveiled in Estonia

Nazi Wehrmacht and Waffen SS officer Alfons Rebane,
another WWII criminal has been honored in Estonia.

Another Nazi criminal, a Wehrmacht and Waffen SS officer during World War II, has been honored in Estonia. 

This time, according to the estonian news portal err.ee, a regional war memorial society unveiled a memorial plague dedicated to Nazi officer Alfons Rebane. 

According to the report Rebane is "a decorated Estonian army officer who fought in the ranks of both the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS during World War II", and the plague was placed on the external wall of a house in the southern Estonian town of Mustla last Friday. 

World Peace Council (WPC): Middle East meeting successfully held in Amman

The Middle East Meeting of the World Peace Council  was successfully held from 22-24 June in Amman, Jordan.

The meeting was attended by the Jordanian Peace Council (who hosted the session), the Palestinian Committee for Peace & Solidarity (regional Coordinator), by the Lebanese Peace Council, the Peace Committee of Bahrain, the Peace & Solidarity Committee in Israel and the Peace & Solidarity Council of Tunisia. 

Socialist Movement of Kazakhstan: On the political situation in the country

We would also like to present our vision of the current political situation in Kazakhstan in the light of the ongoing market reforms in strengthening the positions of the restored capitalism. 

These processes are accompanied by an intensification of reaction and the curtailment of all democratic rights, as well as the entry into new relations with imperialism of the United States and the EU, despite participation in other blocs and alliances, such as the EEMP, SCO and CSTO. 

Lenin the Champion: Thousands of World Cup fans queue to Red Square Mausoleum

 As the 2018 FIFA World Cup is taking place in Russia, thousands of people line up everyday in order to see the tomb of the great Bolshevik leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin in Moscow's Red Square. 

Photos taken at the famous square of the Russian capital reveals the huge interest of people of every age at visiting the mausoleum of the man who played the leading role in the most significant revolution of the 20th century and the creation of the first Socialist state in the world. 

Israeli communist lawyer and defender of palestinian prisoners Felicia Langer dies

Felicia Langer with Yasser Arafat and Arab Israeli
Communist Tawfic Toubi.

The great Israeli Communist lawyer and activist, Felicia Langer, died last week in Germany at the age of 87. Langer rejected colonialism, Israel’s endless wars, land theft, torture, apartheid, ethnocentric nationalism, chauvinism and countless violations of human rights and international law.

A communiqué released by the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) said: “Her death represents a loss to the Palestinian people’s struggle for justice, human rights, and self-determination.”

Turkish Elections: Tayyip Erdogan's victory celebrated by major capitalists

Turkey's capitalists' organizations have celebrated the victory of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his electoral alliance between the ruling AKP party and the ultra-right MHP party following the presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24, reports the news portal soL. 

As Erdoğan won 52,5 per cent in the first round of presidential poll, The Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD), the country’s wealthiest capitalist establishment, has released a press statement following the voting:

Estonian ex-president re-writes history: "The Nazis did not invade the Soviet Union"!

During the last years the anti-communist distortion of history in the Baltic countries has become an official policy. The EU and the USA support the attempt to historically rehabilitate and vindicate the fascists in the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), as well as in Ukraine, who during the 2^nd World War aligned with the Nazis. They have labeled them “militants for democracy” because they fought against the heroic Red Army and the Soviet Union. 

Koutsoumbas: Tsipras surpassed all limits of adventurism in order to deceive the people

Commenting on yesterday's governmental show at Zappion Hall in Athens- where Prime Minister Tsipras wore a tie in order to “celebrate” the debt deal with the creditors- the General Secretary of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece Dimitris Koutsoumbas said:

“The ridiculous fiestas of Tsipras and Kammenos can only be characterized as a provocation towards the people who continue to be challenged with old as well as new measures agreed by the SYRIZA-ANEL government. Mr Tsipras may wore and took off the tie, but the noose he put around our people's neck remains and tightens even more, with the “post-memorandum” austerity memorandum he has put on their shoulders […] and if there is something with which we agree with the Prime Minister is that he actually managed to do the dirty job, on behalf of the big capital, of the EU and NATO, thus being the “best student”!” said the KKE General Secretary.

Greek debt deal: KKE slams government's celebrations, warns of new harsh policies

“The government's celebrations can not hide that yesterday's Eurogroup agreement is essentially a post-memorandum Memorandum [of austerity]. The so-called "post-memorandum" period, not only will not be accompanied by substantial relief for the working-class strata but will involve new burdens. The huge budget surpluses, the rigid surveillance and approval of the process of "reforms" by the "institutions", the privatizations, the preservation of all antipeople measures in the Memorandums, and the completion of all those “remaining issues” reveal the true outcome of the agreement" points out the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) in a statement on the Eurogroup decision on Greek debt.

Turkish elections: "Bu Düzen Değişmeli" as the real alternative for the working people

As the June 24th elections in Turkey approach, the electoral platform "Bu Düzen Değişmeli" (This Social Order Must Change), supported by the Communist Party of Turkey (TKP), has intensified the struggle to inform the country's working class and popular strata that they actually have an alternative choice. The platform participates in the elections with 17 independent candidates in 13 provinces.

Below, we republish from soL portal, 19 basic policy points set by the TKP, as well as an electoral video which poses the question: 

McCarthyism reloaded: U.S. army kicks out young cadet who spoke against imperialism

WATERTOWN, N.Y. (AP)- The images Spenser Rapone posted on Twitter from his West Point graduation were intentionally shocking: In one, the cadet opens his dress uniform to expose a T-shirt with a blood-red image of socialist icon Che Guevara. In another, he raises his fist and flips his cap to reveal the message: "Communism will win."

Less than a year after Rapone's images drew a firestorm of vitriol and even death threats, the second lieutenant who became known as the "commie cadet" is officially out of the U.S. Army with an other-than-honorable discharge.

World Refugee Day: PAME expresses its solidarity and support with the refugees

In a statement regarding the World Refugee Day, the Secretariat for Refugees and Immigrants of the All-Workers Militant Front (PAME) expresses support and substantial solidarity with the refugees:

The sharpening of the competitions for business group profits, the exploitation and the imperialist interventions have resulted in millions of uprooted and persecuted people around the world, the increase in 2018 of arrivals of refugees in our country. Thousands of them are trapped under outrageous conditions, stacked in the Reception and Identification Centers.

AKEL honored the memory of Cypriot communist leader Ezekias Papaioannou

Ezekias Papaioannou (1908-1988).

Last April, during the inauguration ceremony of a park named after Ezekias Papaioannou* in the city of Limassol, the Progressive Party of the Working People (AKEL) honored the memory of the Cypriot communist leader. AKEL's General Secretary Andros Kyprianou praised the role of Papaioannou in Cypriot politics and made some references to the late leader's life and political activity.

Among other things, Kyprianou referred to Papaioannou as "one of the most important political leaders of our country, one of the important personalities of the international communist movement" and "a Communist who lived a life full of struggles and service", beginning his speech with a passage from the memoirs of former Cypriot President (also former AKEL leader) Demetris Christofias: 

Tsipras regrets 2015 referendum, expresses full obedience to EU anti-worker reforms

In an interview to the German newspaper Die Welt, Greece's Prime Minister and SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras confirmed with his own words his total transformation into a docile impementer of the anti-people, anti-worker reforms, imposed by the EU and the capitalists. 

Speaking like a man who expresses repetance for his past, Tsipras had kind words for the German chancellor Angela Merkel, praising her role in dealing with the refugee crisis that swamped Greece in 2015, coming in the first few months of the Tsipras government's assumption of power.

PCPE: Don't be fooled by PSOE government's "good will" gestures on refugees

The Communist Party of the Peoples of Spain (PCPE) salutes the offer made by the Government to accept in the port of Valencia the ship “Aquarius”, which has more than 600 people on board, among them more than one hundred children and pregnant women as well, and has evidenced once again the reactionary nature of the European Union, unable to give a humanitarian response to the denial of the governments of Italy and Malta to allow the arrival of such ship to their coasts. 

Capitalist Russia raises retirement age under the pretext of "budget stability"

According to international and russian media reports, Russia’s bourgeois government wants to raise the retirement age for both men and women and to increase value-added tax, unpopular measures it hopes will ease pressure on state finances, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.

As Reuters has reported, Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have long talked about raising the retirement age but have shied away from doing so, in part because such measures risk stirring up popular discontent and damaging politicians’ popularity. 

KKE slams Tsipras government's deal with FYROM over the Macedonia name dispute

In a statement issued today, the Press Office of the CC of the Communist Party of Greece sharply criticized the government's recent deal over the Macedonia name issue. 

More specifically, the KKE statement writes that "the agreement between the governments of Greece and FYROM was achieved with the open intervention of the US, NATO and the EU, it has their stamp and was signed on the basis of the deadlines and timetables set by these organisations so that the euroatlantic integration of the western Balkans can proceed".

Ernesto Che Guevara: 90 years after his birth, his example continues to inspire

Ernesto Guevara: The man who gave himself

By Yisel Martinez / Source: Granma International. 

There are figures who never die, who cease being mere mortals to remain inevitably in history. People of thought, of character, of passion and sacrifice, who exalt human nature and attest to how much we can do as a species. Ernesto Che Guevara de la Serna is one of these figures.

It was no coincidence that his life should turn out like that. His asthma always accompanied him and made him a fighter. His father got used to sleeping up against the headboard of his bed, and Ernesto learned to control the asthma attacks lying on his father’s chest. 

He didn’t always go to school, and was taught at home. However, he became independent and determined. He practiced sports and studied medicine. The books written about his life note that he attended practice with a fever, that he was never absent or stopped working.

Macedonia name deal: A “solution” that serves the interests of NATO-EU imperialists

By Nikos Mottas.

Tsipras and Zaev agreed; the US, NATO and the EU applause. That phrase can describe the recent agreement between the governments of Greece and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia regarding the decades-old name dispute. “We have a deal” said Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras yesterday in a televised announcement, describing the accord between the two countries on the name “Severna Makedonija” (Northern Macedonia).