Socialism

After Suleimani's assassination, what prospects for Iran, Iraq and the US?

The year started with Donald Trump ordering the public assassination of a leading Iranian general, Qassem Suleimani, by a drone strike in Baghdad, the capital of neighbouring Iraq.

What are the prospects for the struggle between the US and Iran? Does this mean war? What about the people of Iraq? And what will this mean next for the region’s popular uprisings?

This episode of Socialism looks the Middle East in turmoil: Iran and Iraq.

The year is now 2020. Popular uprisings are cascading like chain reactions across the globe. Strongman right-wing leaders lie and cheat their way to power in some countries, and are brought to their knees by mass movements in others.

As a new year opens up, class struggles and capitalist instability will only intensify and spread. This episode of Socialism looks at the year ahead: a promise of rebellion.

Plus: hear clips from the new podcast launched by our South African sister party in the Committee for a Workers' International, the Marxist Workers Party! You can listen to the full episode and subscribe at SoundCloud and YouTube...

https://soundcloud.com/user-135736898

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCnLt1EKgiFlSyTVCTz-rGA

Johnson took office in July 2019 amid intractable crises - which haven't gone away. In this re-run of episode 34 from August 2019, we remind ourselves of the big problems for the Tories which lie beneath their electoral victory.

Boris Johnson has won a majority in the UK’s general election. Many workers and young people will understandably be feeling gloomy and angry. We say the fightback starts here.

How did this happen? What are the lessons? And what does the workers’ movement need to do now to stop Tory attacks?

This episode of Socialism responds to the Tories’ return: stand firm for socialist policies.

Millions of workers have downed tools to fight hated President Emmanuel Macron’s attack on pensions.

The CGT union confederation reports that 1.5 million protested throughout the country during the 5 December strike, and over 800,000 on 10 December. In between, transport workers have kept communication routes in a state of near-paralysis.

Blocked from ending austerity and privatisation through the rigged electoral system which capitalism offers, ordinary people in France have taken matters into their own hands. First in the heroic movement of the ‘gilets jaunes’, the yellow vests. Now in what may be France's biggest strike in a quarter of a century.

A factory explosion in Rouen, resisting the far right, the struggles of young people, and the state of the mass left movement 'La France Insoumise' are discussed as well.

Days before Britain’s general election could return any kind of new regime, this episode of Socialism looks at workers carrying on political struggle by other means: France on strike.

The Tories are trying to lie and bully their way back to power. How can Corbyn and the wider workers' movement stop them?

With less than two weeks until polling day in the UK, both the Tories and Labour have now released their manifestos. Jeremy Corbyn’s programme includes big steps forward for working-class and young people in housing, pay, public services, workers’ rights and the environment. Boris Johnson’s programme includes next to nothing, and even lies about the extent of that.

There is widespread distrust in Johnson and the Tories. So to counter the threat to capitalist profits, and encouragement for trade union struggle, in Corbyn’s anti-austerity pledges, the capitalist establishment has gone into overdrive with smear attacks.

How can Corbyn and the wider workers’ movement overcome the bosses’ attempts to obscure the issues and demobilise support for pro-worker policies? And if the Tories do lie and bully their way back to power, is that really the end of the story?

Plus: we hear from a lecturer on the picket line during the ongoing national universities strike.

Northern Ireland faces renewed political conflict as a result of the bosses’ Brexit crisis, the collapse of the Stormont government, and underlying it all, huge anger at poverty and oppression. But there is one place where Catholics and Protestants, Nationalists and Unionists are united: the workplace, and so also the trade unions.

Councillor Donal O'Cofaigh is the first elected councillor for the Committee for a Workers' International in Northern Ireland. We talk to him about Brexit, borders, sectarianism and struggle.

Plus the latest on the UK general election, and updates on workers' struggle including the postal strike.

How will the struggle for independence and against austerity affect the general election campaign in Scotland? And what lies in store for Scottish workers after 12 December?

Plus: High Court blow to postal strike: where next for the CWU?

How can the unions win for members and end austerity and Tory rule? We speak to PCS union general secretary candidate Marion Lloyd (in a personal capacity) and RMT union national executive committee candidate Jared Wood.

The trade unions are always areas of fundamental concern for Marxists. Now they are poised to play a pivotal role in Britain’s winter election - and the convulsions that will follow.

In 1974, a Tory government lost a general election on the question of “who governs Britain,” by posing its programme to attack workers - against a national strike by the miners’ union standing up for workers. In 2019, Tory prime minister Boris Johnson could face national strike action during his election campaign too.

And if Jeremy Corbyn wins, what happens then? He will come under huge pressure to water down his programme and leave the capitalist thieves and cutters in place. Should the unions simply cheerlead for Labour, or should they be ready to campaign and strike to force pro-worker policies through - whoever wins on 12 December?

SPECIAL: Tories out - Corbyn in with socialist policies! This election is harder to call than perhaps any in British history. But what we can say is that whatever the outcome, tempestuous class struggle will follow. What is the best outcome for this general election? How can socialists help to achieve it? And what does the workers’ movement need to be ready for after the 12th of December?