Times are changing – and we have to capitalise on the opportunity

The recent outbreak of Coronavirus, and subsequent global Covid-19 pandemic, have exposed the true failings of neoliberalism and late-stage capitalism. There can be no doubt over the extent to which the past ten years of Tory austerity have decimated our public services and resulted in the social murder of our class. But it has also […]

Poetry Corner: Trotsky Visits the Far East by Mao

Mao Tse-Tung is a man who needs little introduction, especially to members of the Young Communist League. However, despite being a remarkable leader and philosopher, his poetry is often overlooked. This is partly because many pass it off as ‘poetic politics’, namely just a fruity disguise of his politics. Others simply ignore it because he was ‘authoritarian’, so they would not demean themselves by pandering to it.

Poetry Corner: To Whom It May Concern (Tell me lies about Vietnam)

Adrian Mitchell, 1932 – 2008, first performed his stirring denunciation of the Vietnam War, To Whom It May Concern (Tell me lies about Vietnam), at an anti war protest in Trafalgar Square, London, in 1964.

This video features a performance on 11 June 1965 at London’s Royal Albert Hall, at the height of the Vietnam War.

Poetry Corner: Ho Chi Minh’s Prison Poetry

As well as being the anti-colonial and revolutionary leader of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh was also a keen poet. Here we feature some of the poems wrote by Ho Chi Minh during a long period of imprisonment.

In 1942, at age 52, Ho Chi Minh was arrested in South China, accused of being a spy by Nationalist forces. For fourteen months, bound in leg irons, he was shifted from jail to jail. Throughout he kept a diary written in poetry. The following poems are a selection of poems from Ho Chi Minh’s Prison Diary.

Ho Chi Minh – How I became a communist

Today is the 130th anniversary of the birth of Vietnamese revolutionary icon Ho Chi Minh. In this short article, first published in April 1960, Uncle Ho explains how he came to Marxism Leninism through his determination to free Vietnam from colonial domination.

Covid-19: The Vietnamese Offensive

Trade unionist and member of the Communist Party of Ireland, Kerry Fleck, argues that Vietnam’s socialist model has been key to its world leading response to the COVID-19 Pandemic.