The world is in a period of deep crisis. Capitalism and its apologists have proven unable to explain or resolve the problems facing the working class everywhere. Only the ideas of Marxism offer an explanation and a way out. It is for this reason that we are proud to announce the launch of the International Marxist University 2022, a four-day online event organised by the International Marxist Tendency, dedicated to discussing the core ideas of Marxist theory and how we can use them to change the world.

We publish the editorial from the latest issue of the International Marxist Tendency’s theoretical journal, In Defence of Marxism, available to buy now! Alan Woods introduces the contents of the magazine, including a piece of his own dealing with the oft-heard question: ‘why hasn’t there been a revolution?’ Additionally, the issue contains a pair of articles by Trotsky on the role of revolutionary leadership; a polemic against subjective idealism in science journalism; and a review of a new book on Lenin’s time in London.

We publish here a document written in 2016 by the leadership of the IMT as part of a discussion about the role of imperialism today and the character of China and Russia. We think it can serve to clarify questions that have been raised in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Postmodernism is an amorphous philosophical school of thought that rose to prominence in the postwar period. Beginning as a fringe trend, it has since grown to become one of the dominant schools of bourgeois philosophy, permeating large parts, if not the majority, of academia today. It embodies the utter dead-end and pessimism of bourgeois philosophy given the senile decay of capitalist society.

Wellred Books is proud to announce the forthcoming release of an important new title by Marie Frederiksen, The Revolutionary Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg. This great revolutionary martyr has often been misrepresented as an opponent of the October Revolution, and as standing for some sort of ‘softer’, ‘anti-authoritarian’ Marxism as against that of Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

The latest title from Wellred Books, The History of Philosophy: A Marxist Perspective by Alan Woods will be out in only a few days. We publish below an excerpt from the Introduction to the book, explaining why revolutionary Marxists should study the history of philosophy, and the enormous debt that Marxism owes to earlier thinkers, and in particular to the giants of philosophy that lived in the revolutionary, youthful phase of the bourgeois epoch.

20 August marked the anniversary of the assassination attempt on Leon Trotsky, which led to his death the following day. This article by Alan Woods, commemorating Trotsky, was originally published in the year 2000. We share it today in memory of a revolutionary titan whose work and sacrifices preserved the authentic traditions of Marxism and Bolshevism for future generations.

Between 24 and 27 July, more than 2,800 Marxists from over 50 countries around the world gathered online for the World Congress of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT). This congress had originally been scheduled to take place in 2020, but was cut across by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A century ago (1 July 1921) was the official founding day of the Chinese Communist Party. It began as a genuine revolutionary party led by dedicated and heroic cadres, but went down to tragic defeat in the 1925-7 revolution. Today, the CCP is an instrument of capitalist domination, but its early history is filled with inspiring and cautionary lessons for revolutionaries today. For more information, we recommend these two articles on the history of the CCP from 1927-37, and 1937-49; as well as China: From Permanent Revolution to Counter-Revolution by John Peter Roberts, available from Wellred Books here.

The International Marxist Tendency proudly presents the relaunched In Defence of Marxism theoretical journal. Translated into multiple languages, readers from all over the world will be able to subscribe, and four times a year will receive the physical magazine, posted to your door. Or you can choose to subscribe to our digital editions, which will land directly in your email inbox. The magazine will become available from 16 July, but you can subscribe today!

22 June is the 80th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War Two. This bloody catastrophe, which claimed the lives of almost 5m Soviet troops and saw the Nazis plunge deep into Soviet territory, was facilitated by the wrecking behaviour of Stalin and the bureaucracy. Their decapitation of the Red Army in the infamous Purge Trials, and total mismanagement of the war effort, were paid for in blood by the Soviet people, who were ultimately able to turn things around through their heroic efforts and sacrifice – despite their leaders.