Novedades de Marxist.com

Today is the 68th anniversary of the brutal assassination of Leon Trotsky by a Stalinist agent. We commemorate this event by publishing the transcription of his address to the N.Y. Hippodrome Meeting. The speech I Stake My Life! was delivered by telephone from Mexico City for the opening event of the Dewey Commission on the Moscow Trials.

For a week now, Montreal has been boiling with rage. The unprovoked murder of 18-year-old Freddy Villanueva, by agents of the Montreal Police Service, catalyzed an explosion that has been building for years. Police attacks on peaceful demonstrators sparked a riot.

Four labour activists in Sanandaj, Iranian Kurdistan, have been sentenced to be flogged and imprisoned for defending workers' rights. The criminal court sentenced the four to this brutal, barbaric and medieval form of punishment because they had taken part in this year's May Day celebrations in the city.

Spanish translation of War in South Ossetia – a Socialist Federation of the Caucasus is the only way out (war-in-south-ossetia.htm) (August 15, 2008)

Spanish translation of Bolivia’s recall referendum, massive support for change – time to move forward! (bolivias-recall-referendum-time-to-move-forward.htm) (August 14, 2008)

Portuguese translation of Statement of the International Marxist Tendency on the recall referendum in Bolivia (statement-imt-recall-referendum-bolivia.htm) (August 3, 2008)

Portuguese translation of Declaration of the IMT on the nationalisation of the Banco de Venezuela (declaration-imt-on-nationalisation-banco-de-venezuela.htm) (August 2, 2008)

We received this interesting comment on the food crisis, originally published in the Manitoba Society of Seniors' monthly journal Fifty plus .

In spite of the heroism of the guerrilla fighters, what they have lacked is an understanding of the role of the working class in the process of socialist revolution. What is required is a party based on the working class in the cities that can lead the peasantry. In this struggle the guerrillas would still have a role but as auxiliary to the working class, not as its substitute.

French translation of Bolivia’s recall referendum, massive support for change – time to move forward! (bolivias-recall-referendum-time-to-move-forward.htm) (August 14, 2008)

Portuguese translation of Resolution on the Cuban Five (resolution-on-the-cuban-five.htm) (August 3, 2008)

Despite the claims of the Russian and Georgian governments, there is no progressive content on either side of the war in South Ossetia and Georgia. The present nightmare of war and chauvinist poison is the result of imperialist meddling. The conflict between a strengthened Russian regional imperialist power and US imperialism, entangled in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the backdrop of these events. The peoples of the Caucasus are just small change in the pockets of the imperialists, but it is they who pay the price of the power politics between Russia and the USA.

Marxists approach economics from a particular perspective. We have to accept that wealth is concentrated in the hands of a very small number of people, the capitalist class. The overwhelming majority of people have no wealth. All in essence they have is themselves and their ability to work, which they have to sell on the open market. Marx called these people the proletariat. Steve Jones, of the Socialist Appeal editorial board, talks on the basics of Marxists economics.

At the end of 1946 the post-war Labour government issued a Bill for the nationalization of transport provoking furious criticisms from the Tories. Ted Grant explained why Marxists opposed compensation to the transport company shareholders and demanded that workers should take control over the industry through the election of a Workers' Board.

Spanish translation of The role of the Pakistan Army (the-role-of-the-pakistan-army.htm) (July 22, 2008)

Portuguese translation of U.S. Workers Face Long, Hot Summer (us-workers-face-long-hot-summer.htm) (July 16, 2008)

In the August 10 recall referendum, President Evo Morales and vice-president García Linera were ratified with an increased number of votes and the two MAS prefects (governors) of Oruro and Potosí were also ratified. But at the same time, four of the six opposition prefects were also ratified with sizable majorities. So, who won? Who lost?

On more than one occasion the Colombian ruling class has entered into peace talks with the guerrillas, only to use these as a means of buying time and preparing even greater bloodshed. They used this situation also to conveniently cut across repeated waves of mass mobilisations.

Portuguese translation of President Chavez Meets with a Delegation of the Spanish Students' Union, Hands Off Venezuela and El Militante (Spain) in Madrid (chavez-meets-se-hov-el-militante-madrid.htm) (July 26, 2008)