WIN Discussion March 2025. Watch the meeting HERE. Eight months ago, Labour won an overwhelming majority of seats in Britain’s general election. But this so-called “landslide” victory had been gained on the votes of just 20% of registered voters; and now Labour’s support is plummeting still further in opinion polls and local by-elections. But just a few years ago, under a further left … [Read more...]
POLITICAL CRISIS IN ROMANIA
A WIN discussion December 2024. Listen to the discussion HERE. Ever since the fall of the Ceaușescu regime in 1989, Romania has been plunged into turmoil by the scramble between the winners and the losers of the new capitalist order. This tension peaked during the recent elections of 2024, when the Constitutional Court invalidated the presidential run-off – a highly controversial decision which … [Read more...]
IRELAND: LESSONS OF THE ELECTION
A WIN discussion December 2024. Follow it on Youtube HERE. The recent general election in Ireland has marked a setback for the left. The two traditional parties of the ruling class have between them come close to an overall majority and are likely to continue to rule as a reactionary coalition. The Greens have been all but wiped out; Sinn Fein has lost momentum in terms of its voting percentage; … [Read more...]
REVOLUTION OR COUNTER-REVOLUTION?
In recent years we have witnessed on the one hand an unprecedented wave of unrest, in protest movements in the USA and Europe and mass uprisings from Latin America to Africa and Asia; on the other, the rise and in many cases the electoral victory of far-right parties, including most recently the return of Donald Trump in the USA. At our weekly zoom meetings over the last five years the Workers' … [Read more...]
SRI LANKA: LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS
A WIN discussion November 2024. Follow the meeting HERE. Following its historic triumph in last month’s presidential election, a party which had previously led two bloody failed insurrections has now in a snap general election won an unprecedented parliamentary majority. From just three seats in the previous parliament, the NPP (formerly the JVP) has achieved a sweeping landslide victory, winning … [Read more...]
YOUTH UPRISING IN BANGLADESH
A WIN discussion, November 2024. Listen to the discussion HERE. In July Bangladesh was rocked by a colossal youth uprising in protest at mass unemployment. Hundreds of young people were brutally mown down by the security forces, but an entire heroic generation stood firm. The government was overthrown and the autocratic leader Sheikh Hasina fled the country. What has replaced the deposed … [Read more...]
IS THE USA AT A TURNING POINT?
Listen to the meeting HERE. At our WIN meeting on Sunday 10th November we discussed a question which has worldwide significance: the many implications of the US presidential elections. Has a definitive result been achieved? Will either candidate have gained a decisive victory, and will it be accepted by both parties? Should socialists have supported either candidate? Is it right to define Trump as … [Read more...]
Israel’s War on Palestine
A WIN discussion, November 2024. LISTEN TO THE DISCUSSION HERE Israel’s genocidal onslaught on the entire population of Gaza has outraged workers throughout the world. Now the war has spread to the West Bank, Lebanon and beyond, and threatens an all-out regional conflagration throughout the Middle East. How will this horrific war end? What will be its long-term repercussions? Will it … [Read more...]
Politics in Scotland
A WIN discussion October 2024. Listen HERE. From the mid-2000s the Scottish Nationalist Party has dominated Scottish politics - it was able to negotiate a referendum on Scottish Independence in 2014 and sweep aside all other parties in the 2015 British General Election. Prior to that the Labour Party was the dominant force in Scottish politics from the 1960s onwards. Why was there a move to … [Read more...]
GERMAN WORKERS FIGHT BACK!
A WIN Discussion October 2024. Listen to the meeting HERE. At this week’s WIN meeting we welcomed a well-known militant activist in Germany: Thorsten Donnermeier is chair of the divisional Volkswagen shop stewards’ council and a member of the union shop stewards’ committee for all Volkswagen factory locations in Kassel, representing more than 10,000 union members. Together with other grass-roots … [Read more...]