Historic events

British state absolves itself from killings during 'the Troubles'

Family of Joe McCann continues to fight for justice: Two unnamed former British paratroopers, accused of the 1972 murder of Joe McCann, an Official Irish Republican Army (IRA) leader, were formally acquitted on 4 May

How partition of Ireland derailed a revolutionary struggle for national and social liberation

The recent street disturbances in Northern Ireland, albeit on a far smaller scale compared to the decades of the 'Troubles', showed that the 'power sharing' arrangements of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement have failed to bring about a resolution of the 'Irish national question' or end the sectar

1920s-30s Britain: A working-class movement fighting unemployment and capitalism

Lessons from history: "Realising only by the abolition of this hideous capitalist system can the horror of unemployment be removed from our midst, I here and now take upon myself a binding oath, to never cease from active strife against this system until capitalism is abolished and our country and its resources truly be

1981 Brixton riots: Racism and poverty - the anger explodes

April 2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the riots in Brixton, south London, against police racism, unemployment and poverty.

Lessons of the 2011 pensions strike: when workers showed their power

In 2011, trade unionists demonstrated in their hundreds of thousands and then took strike action in defence of their pensions and against public service cuts

150th anniversary of the Paris Commune

The birth of the Paris Commune marked the first time in history when the working class took political power directly into its own hands

150th anniversary of Rosa Luxemburg's birth

A revolutionary life, exuding passion and determination: Rosa Luxemburg was born in Poland on 5 March 1871 - the year of the Paris Commune. In her short lifetime she experienced three major revolutions and participated in the most important debates among socialists

A history of International Women's Day

8 March this year marks the 110th anniversary of International Women's Day (IWD). Over the years there's been a sustained attempt to remove the socialist origin of the day

1981: New Cross Massacre

On 2 March 1981, 20,000 young black people demonstrated in London against police and Tory government failures over the deadly New Cross fire which occurred on 18 January of that year.

How militant trade unionism defeated the 1971 Industrial Relations Act

Not since the 'Great Unrest' of 1911-14 and the period of strikes following World War One had there been anything like it.

1971: Rolls-Royce crisis - when the Tories nationalised in order to secure the interests of British capitalism

Fifty years ago, on 4 February 1971, the flagship British engineering company Rolls-Royce collapsed into receivership placing 80,000 workers' jobs at risk

Ten years since the 'Arab Spring'

The year 2011 began with mass protests spreading across the Middle East and North Africa which shook the ground beneath the region's many autocratic regimes

Friedrich Engels: A revolutionary who played a pivotal role in the development of socialism

28th November 2020, is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Friedrich Engels (1820-1895). Alongside Karl Marx, Engels was one of the greatest thinkers

80th anniversary of Leon Trotsky's assassination

A revolutionary whose ideas and methods retain their validity

100 years since the foundation of the Communist Party of Great Britain

World War One - the result of capitalist nations' rivalry - led to the slaughter, on an industrial scale, of the working classes internationally

How capitalist restoration led to war and 'ethnic cleansing' in the Balkans

Srebrenica massacre - 25 years on: 8,000 Bosnian Muslim refugees were slaughtered in and around the Bosnian town of Srebrenica

75th anniversary of the Attlee Labour government

The end of World War Two left behind a world in upheaval. Demobilised troops and a war-weary population demanded a better future. Resistance movements in Europe published programmes demanding nationalisation.

Lessons from the Black Panthers

The Black Panther Party marked the high point of the Civil Rights movement - what are the lessons for today?

Reform or revolt? How was the slave trade abolished?

The slave trade between the west coast of Africa and the Americas over a period of 300 to 400 years was probably one of the most barbaric periods of exploitation in history

Roosevelt's New Deal programme - reforms to save capitalism

The present coronavirus crisis is tipping the USA into an economic depression which threatens the worst eco-nomic deprivation for Americans since the 1930s