The Second World War is one of the most mythologised events in history. In the West, we are led to believe that Winston Churchill and Roosevelt single-handedly led the Allies in a struggle for democracy against the fascist totalitarianism of Nazi Germany. But what’s the real story of WWII, the one they don’t teach you at school?

While workers and the poor face ever-greater hardships, the super-rich are making a killing. In response to this gaping wealth divide, left wingers in Britain like Jeremy Corbyn and Gary Stevenson are saying we should ‘tax the rich’. But does this offer a real solution?

Over the weekend, the Labour government passed emergency legislation to take control of steel – in particular Scunthorpe’s steelworks. While the union leaders breathe a sigh of relief, we say: No trust in Starmer! Expropriate all the parasites!

As the world becomes a more dangerous place, it seems we are once again being asked by our governments to love the bomb.

A month has passed since the short-lived ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came to a violent end on 18 March. Since then, Benjamin Netanyahu has once again upped the ante in his genocidal war on Gaza.

On 31 March, the Cervecería Boliviana Nacional (CBN) suddenly and without justification announced to the workers at the Pepsi plant in Cochabamba that operations were to be shut down immediately, leaving more than 150 workers without a job. In response, the workers decided that they would not accept such an affront and took over the plant, which remains occupied to this day. The Núcleo Comunista Revolucionario fully supports their struggle.

The trade war threatens hundreds of thousands of jobs in Quebec and Canada. We cannot count on the ruling class and their parties who have proven time and time again that they will prioritize their profit before all else. The workers can count only on their own means. Faced with closures, this means strikes and factory occupations.

The global trade war launched by Trump has already resolved into one between the two dominant actors of the world economy, the US and China. The question is posed: who holds the cards? Who will blink first? This question determines the fate of the world economy.

From 11 to 13 April, the First Congress of the Revolutionary Communist Party (PCR) in Italy was held in Cervia. Exactly one year earlier, the political organisation Sinistra Classe Rivoluzione decided to establish itself as a party and raise the flag of revolutionary communism, calling together all young people and workers ready to do battle against the capitalist system. A year later, the exciting growth of the party's forces and the tumultuous development of events on a global scale offer the best confirmation of the courageous choice we made and the political perspectives on which we base our action.

Issue 49 of In Defence of Marxism magazine is here! Below we publish Alan Woods’ editorial explaining the true history of WWII – which capitalist historians have obfuscated for decades. Issue 49 also explores the revolutionary legacy of the end of the war, including articles on: the fall of fascism in Italy; the liberation of France; post-war neorealist cinema; and a 1945 analysis by Ted Grant on the shifting world order. Get your copy now!

Karl Marx was a German philosopher, economist and journalist, and above all a revolutionary. He continues to haunt the nightmares of the rich and powerful, just as he inspires workers, the poor and youth to struggle for a future without exploitation and oppression.

After a week of market mayhem, Trump decided that retreat was the better part of valour and paused his ‘reciprocal’ tariffs. Yet, the trade war is still very much in full swing, and the markets are jittery.

On 3 February 1926, Leon Trotsky gave a talk entitled, “On Culture”, at the Red Square Club in Moscow. He then compiled this talk along with other addresses he had given into the following article, which was first published in Krasnaya Nov, later that year. We publish here an English translation by Brian Pearce, which was first published in Labour Review in Autumn 1962.

Revolutionary communists from across Ireland gathered in Dublin on the 5th and 6th of April for the historic second Congress of the Revolutionary Communists of Ireland!

On 5 March, Emmanuel Macron addressed millions of television viewers to solemnly warn them: “Beyond Ukraine, the Russian threat is here and it affects the countries of Europe, it affects us.” 

Last week, Trump’s tariffs delivered a shattering blow to the world economy, sending stock markets around the world into precipitous collapse. This week, he U-turned and paused the tariffs, with the exception of those on China, which now stand at 125 percent. What does this chaos mean for the world economy?

The electoral success of left-wing Die Linke in Germany shows that there is a genuine desire among young people to fight against all the evils of capitalist society. Die Linke received 8.8 percent of the vote in the Bundestag elections and was thus able to celebrate a surprising comeback compared to its performance in recent years. It is now polling at 11 percent. It is the strongest party among young people. It even won the elections in Berlin. 

On 28 March, a devastating and massively destructive earthquake of magnitude 7.7 struck Myanmar with its epicenter just 10 kilometres below the surface, near Mandalay, the country’s second largest city.

In the context of a world in crisis, young people in particular are leading a revival of interest in poetry of all kinds. In this article, Jérôme Métellus and Irene Serra explain what poetry is at its most basic level, and from this perspective consider what is driving its increase in popularity.

The moves to impeach the popular left-wing MP Glauber Braga have been stepped up. The case goes back to April last year when Glauber, a Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL) member of parliament for Rio de Janeiro, was assaulted in parliament by members of the far-right Free Brazil Movement (MBL). He confronted them and physically ejected them from the parliamentary building. Now, he is being accused of conduct unbecoming of an elected representative, and the Chamber’s Ethics Council has started a trial to remove him as a member of parliament.