Features

CP to host online ‘Unemployment Fightback’ events on 29 May & 5 June 2021

The Communist Party is set to hold two high profile Unemployment Fightback events on 29 May and a week later on 5 June featuring speakers from across the labour movement.

Unemployment has risen by over a million during the pandemic and millions more, disproportionately the young, women and minorities, are expected, as furlough ends. There is obviously a need to build a movement to challenge unemployment and to go further, to demand investment in future well-paid jobs and apprenticeships. Class unity and workplace organisation will be necessary to build this movement which will also need to take on underemployment, job insecurity and the gig economy with its zero hour contracts.

Poetry Corner: Rafah’s Children by Samih al-Qasim

Rafah’s Children by Samih al-Qasim, 1971

Bobby Sands: 40 years on

Sands belonged to a particular generation of republicans. Not only was he an astute solider – he and his comrades read the works of Connolly, Ho Chi Minh and Liam Mellows. They debated these texts in the revered ‘University of Freedom’ in the Long Kesh.

Man United fans disrupt Liverpool match in protest against US owners

Manchester United’s derby game with Liverpool was postponed yesterday (3 May 2021) following direct action by an organised group of United fans. The fans, upset at the direction American owners The Glazers had taken their beloved club, stormed the stadium and managed to get onto the playing field.

‘Until Victory’ – the YCL London May Day address

On May Day, YCL Southern branches celebrated in London – here is a transcript of the speech.

Are Instagram censoring the YCL?

Amethyst Reardon writes on Silicon Valley’s attempts to censor leftists.

Poetry Corner: Victory at Guernica by Paul Éluard

Victory at Guernica by Paul Éluard, 1937

Paul Éluard is well known as one of the founders of the Surrealist movement and he was also politically and artistically dedicated to the French Communist Party.

The poem La Victoire de Guernica, was written in condemnation of the infamous fascist bombing of the Basque town during the Spanish Civil War, immortalised in the Picasso painting of the same name.

Communist Party to hold online May Day Rally – 1 May 2021

With COVID-19 restrictions still in place across Britain, the Communist Party is organising an all Britain online rally at 6pm to mark International Worker’s Day 2021. The celebration of May Day will also be the biggest online meeting of the Party’s 2021 election campaigns. This will have been the Party’s largest electoral contest since the 1980s and the rally is being held under the slogan ‘Vote Communist, join the struggle, build the party!’

The Easter Rising

On this day 105 years ago, the Easter Rising began.

Poetry Corner: The Long March by Mao Tse Tung

The Long March by Mao Tse Tung, October 1935

Chairman Mao Tse Tung is well known as the leader of the Communist revolution in China and as a founder of the People’s Republic of China. Mao is less well known as an accomplished and prodigious poet.

Here we feature The Long March, written towards the end of the Long March itself, noting some of the locations passed by the Red Army.

Breakaway ‘Super League’ announced with JP Morgan backing

12 football clubs announced late on Sunday night (18 April 2021) that they plan to start a breakaway “Super League” starting in August 2021. 6 English clubs including Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, and 3 from Italy and Spain have signed up to the league, which FIFA UEFA and national football associations have since condemned.

We don’t need the Silvertown toll tunnel

Stewart McGill argues that the estimated £2bn cost of the project which will inevitably increase road traffic should be spent on improving London’s public transport system instead.

Ecological Sustainability: Socialist China leads the way

William Morrison discusses the efforts of China to tackle the legacy of environmental pollution domestically while also providing a determined example in the international fight against global warming.

The upcoming war in Ukraine

Evan Richards, writes about the rising hostilities within Ukraine – fulled by both Nato imperialism and far-right nationalism.

Xinjiang: staying afloat in a wave of disinformation

Despite the deliberately intimidating nature of atrocity propaganda, we have to make sure we critically assess all politically motivated claims against rivals to US power.

What must a young communist be by Che Guevara

In this excerpt from a speech delivered in 1962, Ernesto Che Guevara discusses the essential qualities of young communists not just in Cuba, but the world over. This oration was first delivered during a commemoration of the integration of Cuba’s revolutionary youth organisations.

Althusser’s epistemological break and modern China

‘Socialism with Chinese characteristics’ is not just a justification for market economics, but the recognition of the economic, social and cultural relativity that obviously exists in the world, but more importantly, between socialist nations.

Communist Party of Cuba prepares for Eighth Congress

The 8th Congress of the Communist Party of Cuba, to be held 16 – 19 April 2021, will focus on core issues of the political, economic and social life of the country, as well as the role of the Party and steps taken to improve its work.

The Tories’ attack on democracy

James McLelland calls for the Left to unite against the Tories and their new Police Bill.

CP to hold online feminist festival on ‘Sisterhood, Socialism & Struggle’ on 8 May 2021

The Communist Party is organising a one day Marxist feminist festival celebrating ‘Sisterhood, Socialism & Struggle’ in Britain and across the world on 8 May 2021. The event aims to put women’s liberation at the heart of class struggle and explore how we should respond to the intensification of women’s oppression under modern capitalism.