On 28 April at midday, Red Eléctrica de España [Spanish Electrical Network] (REE) suffered an unprecedented failure that left the entire Spanish state, its neighbours Portugal and Andorra, and parts of southern France without electricity. In some areas, the blackout lasted until well into the night. After an unusual Monday, today [Tuesday 29 April] seems to be starting ‘normally’, with 99 percent of the electricity supply restored and the working day back on track.

This year’s 25 April celebration, marking eighty years since Italy’s liberation from fascism, was one of the most well-attended in recent times, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets across Italy. In town squares across the country, we saw Palestinian flags, overwhelming enthusiasm, and young people and workers eager to discuss how to change the situation.

Since 1889, May Day has been taken up by the workers of the world as a day of celebration and struggle for the emancipation of labour. In this year of unprecedented crisis for the capitalist order, the Revolutionary Communist International sends its revolutionary greetings to our readers and to all those organising for socialist revolution around the world.

The world is being transformed before our eyes. With Trump taking a sledgehammer to the order of the last century, with Russia closing in on victory in Ukraine, with the globalised world economy being ripped apart by tariffs, and with Netanyahu setting fire to the entire Middle East, a new epoch has opened up.

Since Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine three years ago, a flood of lies has gushed forth from western governments and the billionaire press alike to obscure the real nature of this war.

The ruling class in Canada is breathing a sigh of relief. Mark Carney, their elite banker, has won the election. But there won’t be much time for celebration. Carney faces an impossible situation with a sluggish economy and a trade war with the United States. Make no mistake, instability and crisis are on the horizon and we must be prepared to resist the coming attacks.

Today is the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon. Prior to this denouement, from 30-31 January 1968, 70,000 North Vietnamese soldiers, together with guerrilla fighters of the NLF, launched one of the most daring military campaigns in history. The Tet Offensive was the real turning point in the Vietnam War. In 2008, on its 40th anniversary, Alan Woods analysed the events that led to the Vietnam War and the significance of the Tet Offensive in bringing about the defeat of US imperialism.

Trump’s announcement of reciprocal tariffs has kicked US-China competition up a notch, but the implications will be felt more broadly than between just these two main belligerents in this trade war. When Trump announced his ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs on 5 April, among those countries initially set to receive the highest tariffs were many that are counted among the ASEAN bloc (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), including Vietnam (46 percent), Laos (48 percent), Myanmar (44 percent) and Cambodia (49 percent) with Malaysia on 24 percent.

What is fascism, how do we fight it, and is it a threat today? In this episode of the Spectre of Communism podcast, we discuss the history of fascism’s rise to power in the 1930s, to learn the lessons for our movement.

Wellred Books’ latest title Democracy, Bonapartism & Fascism: Class Struggle in the 1930s is available to pre-order now! This collection features crucial writings that can arm communists not only with a deeper understanding of Bonapartism and fascism, but with a method for analysing turbulent times, such as those we live in today.

I recently read the article ‘Just Stop Oil and Youth Demand: How can we build a mass movement?’ in The Communist, and it resonated with me as someone who has made the journey from Just Stop Oil (JSO) and direct action, to the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) [British section of the Revolutionary Communist International] and class struggle.

Since the collapse of the Novi Sad station canopy on 1 November 2024, which killed 16 people, occupations, blockades and protests led by students have been organised across Serbia. This calamity, caused by corruption, sparked a wave of indignation throughout the country. At the time of writing this article in April, over a million people across Serbia have taken part and voiced their support for the students’ demands. Demonstrations are being held throughout the country.

On Sunday 13 April, Ecuadorians went to the polls to elect their president in a second round of voting. The elections in Ecuador have been marred by irregularities, both in the first round and in the second, where the manoeuvring intensified.

On Monday 21 April, Pope Francis passed away at the age of 88. During his time at the Holy See, he had been charged with laundering the image of the Church, with giving it a ‘human face’, and stemming the crisis of that institution. Whatever else one thinks of him, he certainly executed his role with skill, but the job was itself impossible. The crisis of the Church continued apace and it will accelerate after his death.

The recent death of Pope Francis has dominated politics and the media in Italy this week. Amidst the unending chorus of Francis’ sycophants, however, the reformist left have been keen to make their voices heard, celebrating the life of this supposedly ‘revolutionary’, ‘anti-capitalist’ figure. We publish below a translation of an article by the Partito Comunista Rivoluzionario – the Italian section of the Revolutionary Communist International – explaining the truth about Pope Francis and clearly stating the communist position on the reactionary institution of the Catholic Church.

For the last century, the USA has been the undisputed master of the capitalist world. Now, all that is changing. Today, America is in decline and facing a new contender: China.

Milei and his Minister of Economy, Caputo, along with all the parties that support their government, are driving the working class into an ever-deepening abyss.

The struggle of the Baloch people in Pakistan has reached unprecedented levels, while state repression and the brutality by the Pakistani ruling class have exceeded all limits. It is hell-bent on crushing the aspirations of these oppressed people.

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?