Culture / Art has a side – and we must take ours

In defence of socialist realism and a culture of the working class.

USSR / Harpal Brar: Soviet victory over fascism – a festival of progressive humanity

The Soviet Union’s colossal contribution to the second world war cannot be overstated – it is up to us, communists, to protect this legacy.

USSR / Stalin’s Library by Geoffrey Roberts – a resumé and review, pt 2

‘Though overshadowed by Trotsky in historical memory, there were few Bolshevik leaders more important than Stalin in 1917.’

USSR / Josef Stalin – hero of the working class

Seventy-two years ago a great leader of the proletariat died, but his legacy is now emerging stronger than ever.

Belarus / Landslide for Lukashenko as Belarus reasserts sovereignty and independence

One of the positive side-effects of Russia’s SMO in Ukraine has been the deepening cooperation between Russia and Belarus.

Europe / Western politicians’ crocodile tears for one genocide while conducting another

The hypocrisy and venality of western politicians knows no bounds, stops at no lie and baulks at no crime.

World history / Albert Einstein’s address to the Jewish Council for Russian War Relief, 1942

‘The tempo of Russia’s development in the last 25 years has been so tremendous that it has scarcely a parallel in history.’

USSR / Stalin’s Library by Geoffrey Roberts – a resumé and review, pt 1

‘Much of Stalin’s youthful political style derived from that of his master and political exemplar, Lenin.’

Social wage / Your pension at work: the obscenity of ‘investment funds’

What does the case of the Merseyside Pension Fund tell us about how retirement is funded in Britain today?

Russia / Russian ambassador: October shaped the political, economic and social landscape

‘Turning to the lessons of a century ago is extremely important now that international relations are going through truly tectonic shifts.’

British politics / Joti Brar interview: ‘We are links in the long chain of revolution’

Marx and Engels bequeathed essential values for every generation of revolutionaries: humility, service, dedication, discipline, sacrifice.

Sport / The Paris Olympics: a spectacle of imperialist decadence

What were they thinking of? How the Paris Olympic Committee turned the 2024 opening ceremony into ‘one giant gay parade’.

Books / Arun Som: translation genius who brought Soviet books to Bengali masses

After a decades-long pause, publishers in India are now reissuing Bengali translations of great Soviet works of literature and science in large numbers.

USSR / Inspirational women: Spanish-born Soviet spy Colonel Africa de las Heras

An outstanding comrade who devoted her life to defending the Soviet Union in its battle against imperialism and imperialist-backed fascism.

Africa / New alliance is a knock-out for Nato in the Sahel

Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, by founding a new Alliance of Sahel States, have started a revolution in the continent’s geopolitics.

USA / The murderous legacy of Henry Kissinger

Kissinger’s amoral, genocidal crimes showed him to be a faithful representative of the US elites whom he served all his life.

Canada / Association of United Ukrainian Canadians condemns honouring of Nazis

The fascist-aligned section is vocal and prominent, but Yaroslav Hunka does not represent all Canadians of Ukrainian origin.

History / Rewriting history, rehabilitating nazism

All those who ever wondered how the Nazis’ crimes could have been allowed to happen only need to watch our western politicians and media today.

Film and TV / Film review: Oppenheimer

While the USA continues to trumpet itself as the home of free speech, this is only allowed so long as what is said poses no threat to imperialist domination at home and abroad.

Russia / Russia pulls out of phony Ukrainian grain deal, ‘turns its face’ towards Africa

The recent Russia-Africa summit has set the stage for a new flowering of anti-imperialist relations.

Russia / Sergei Lavrov on western imperialism, nazism and the rise of the global south

Russian foreign minister tells press: ‘The west has a colonial approach to Russia; they are incapable of seeing us as equal partners.’

Environment / Ecology without class struggle is gardening!

Our planet can only be saved by scientific planning of human production and economic activity, taking into account all the consequences for nature.

Ukraine / Odessa after the massacre: nine years later the wounds are still fresh

The west continues to ignore, downplay and misrepresent the trade unionists who were burned alive in Odessa’s trade union building by Nato’s fascist stormtroopers.

Working-class history / Long live May Day!

Workers have made immense sacrifices in the great struggle of labour against capital; have shed rivers of blood in their quest for a better life and real freedom.

Russia / Zyuganov to Putin: ‘Form a patriotic front against the imperial west!’

Communist leader urges Russian president to reunite the country’s greatest heroes with the people.

Baltics / Condemn the demolition of monuments to the WW2 victory over Nazism!

History is being rewritten and Soviet sacrifices are being desecrated as hundreds of WW2 memorials are dismantled across the Baltics.

USA / Message to US workers: Britain sending depleted uranium to Ukraine

The imperialists can seem incredibly powerful, but in fact their dominance is declining and their rule is showing signs of senility and decay.

Ukraine / Ukraine: From coup d’état to war

A brief history of Ukraine from 1991 til today, which aims to fill in a few of the gaping holes in the western corporate media narrative.

USSR / Glory to the heroes of Stalingrad!

This titantic achievement of the socialist Soviet Union is one the imperialists are incapable of erasing or explaining away.

Czech Republic / Medieval inquisition returns to Europe as historical truth-tellers are put on trial

Josef Skála and two other scholars are being prosecuted in Prague, charged with ‘expressing doubts’ about who perpetrated the Katyn massacre.

Russia / Vladimir Putin greets new regions with lesson on imperialism’s bloody history

‘The west is ready to cross every line to preserve the neocolonial system which allows it to plunder the world, thanks to its dollar and technology domination.’

Russia / First international antifascist congress held in Moscow

Uniting those who oppose the spread of Nazi ideology – which remains, as before, an imperialist tool for the division and control of the world’s peoples.

Media / Dissecting the cliches of Anglo-American ethnocentrism

Former US ambassador calls on Britain and the USA to ‘come to the rescue’ of the world ... ‘again’.

Ukraine / Is Russia’s advance in Donbass too slow?

What accounts for the moderate pace of Russian progress in eastern Ukraine? Is it true that the speed is indicative of an imminent collapse?

British history / Kim Philby: Hero of the working class

How the Soviet Union inspired a British establishment insider to devote his life to the cause of socialism and the socialist motherland.

Ukraine / View from a Russian communist: ‘Russia is not going to occupy Ukraine’

How did it come to pass that fascist forces now dominate in this formerly socialist country? What is it that western media have not been telling us about the war?

USSR / Tribute to Comrade Tamila Yabrova, 1929-2021

A steadfast and lifelong fighter against revisionism in the USSR.

Working-class history / Book review: The East Was Read by Vijay Prashad

An excellent collection that reminds us of the urgent need for a cultural renaissance amongst the working and oppressed masses.

USSR / Communist George Blake dies in Moscow aged 98

One of Britain’s most committed cold war warriors, who went on to live out his years in peace in Russia.

USSR / Where men die and legends are born – remembering the Battle of Moscow

In the winter of 1941, Soviet forces outside Moscow exploded the myth of the Nazi war machine’s invincibility and stopped the fascist advance in its tracks.

USSR / In memory of Nina Alexandrovna Andreeva

Communists mourn the passing of one of Russia's foremost fighters against the counter-revolution and for the refounding of Soviet socialism.

Canada / Communists globally mourn the passing of Comrade Michael Lucas in Toronto

Known to friends of the Soviet Union as the editor of the Northstar Compass, Michael was a selfless and dedicated internationalist.

World history / Women in the victory over fascism

Without the brave and tireless efforts of women across the USSR and Europe, vanquishing the enemy would have been impossible.

Film and TV / Mr Jones: anti-Soviet propaganda gets thumbs up from Ukrainian president

The same old tired lies are being recycled under the guise of ‘fresh evidence’ in order to remind workers they must not think about taking state power.

USSR / Alexei Leonov, hero of the Soviet space programme

The first man to walk in space, Comrade Leonov was on the cutting edge of space exploration.

USSR / International communists on the attack against anti-Stalin lies

Workers will never find courage in their own strength until they have learned to see through the exploiters’ lies about socialism.

USSR / Stalin and the Bolsheviks of Transcaucasia, part 2

How the communists led the fight against aggressive nationalism and established peace and socialism in the Caucasus.

USSR / Why do we celebrate the October Revolution?

Workers need to take inspiration from the achievements of October; an example that our rulers would prefer us to forget.

Europe / EU legislates to erase the USSR’s role in defeating fascism

But truth has a way of forcing its way through all the same.

USSR / Stalin and the Bolsheviks of Transcaucasia, part 1

How the revolutionary communists established themselves as the leading force against tsarist oppression in the Caucasus.

Europe / Anniversary of the D-Day landings

Why are the imperialists so keen to push the lie that the Normandy landings changed the course of WW2?

Music / A worker reviews Shostakovich’s fifth symphony in concert

Shostakovich’s greatest triumph arose from Soviet life, reflecting its optimism and spirit.

World history / The origins of World War Two

How did WW2 come about? And when were the opening salvos really fired?

USSR / Workers in eastern Europe and former Soviet states prefer socialism

As the dystopian reality of bourgeois exploitation and ‘democracy’ hits home, Stalin and communism are viewed with respect and longing.

USSR / An introduction to the life and times of Maxim Gorky

Celebrating 150 years since the birth of the great Soviet writer and pioneer of socialist realism.

USSR / Book: Grover Furr’s Mystery of the Katyn Massacre

This impartial examination of all available evidence proves irrefutably that the Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Polish officers in 1941.

USSR / October Revolution 101: the future belongs to communism

October changed the world forever, and the genie can never be put back in the bottle. Only socialism offers a decent future free from crisis, poverty and war.

USSR / Andrei Zhdanov: Principles underlying Soviet literature and art pt 2

Part two of a biography of an extraordinary servant of the proletariat.

USSR / October 100: The Red Army choir

Culture by and for the people, uplifting hearts and spirits, and reinforcing the struggle for socialism.

USSR / How do socialists approach the veil?

Boris Johnson's comments do nothing to elighten anyone or further a debate, but those of his opponents are not much more sensible.

USSR / Andrei Zhdanov: On the principles underlying Soviet literature and art

Part one of a biography of an extraordinary servant of the proletariat.

USSR / Soviet ballet: dancing the heritage of humanism

How socialist realism, serving the people, sparked unparalleled creativity.

Film and TV / Film: The Death of Stalin

It’s bad history and bad art, but Armando Iannucci’s film has put the wind up bourgeois critics for quite other reasons than those.

USSR / The October Revolution and the east

How the Russian revolution of 1917 brought socialism to the oppressed peoples of Asia.

USSR / Josef Stalin, hero of the oppressed

By his deeds shall he always be known.

British politics / Released cabinet papers reveal imperialist skulduggery

Although more files than usual were kept back from this year's release, those remaining reveal much about the workings of the imperialist system.

USSR / Editorial: The future belongs to communism

Housing / What did the October Revolution do for us? 2. Housing

The second in our series of articles examining the impact of the October Revolution of 1917 on the lives of workers in Britain.

Working-class history / Remembering Comrade Clement Murphy-Shaw

An exemplary life given to the promotion of progressive and humanitarian causes.

USSR / What did the October Revolution do for us? 1. The NHS

The Great October Revolution, which created the world’s first socialist state, and whose centenary is celebrated this year, brought with it the first ever system of universal provision for all members of society, and amongst the most important of those gains was that of free and complete healthcare.

Cuba / Farewell Comrade Fidel Castro. Eternal glory to you!

The world mourns the passing of a great revolutionary leader, and celebrates the many enduring achievements of the revolution to which he dedicated his life.

Ukraine / Eurovision circus but no bread

The imperialist media support for opponents of Russia, including criminals and/or fascists, is relentless and shameless.

Books / A Nobel prize for literature in the service of reaction

Art and popular history can be powerful tools in manipulating people's minds, and the imperialists are well-versed in using both to bolster their parasitic rule.

Australia / Ray Berbling: a life in struggle (1935-2015)

Ray was a dedicated Australian Marxist-Leninist and a lifelong friend of the the Soviet Union.

USSR / Letter: Follow the road of Great October!

The October Revolution remains, almost a century later, as humanity’s beacon of hope and inspiration.

USSR / Poem: Soviet Man

Although the poet’s life was snuffed out in defence of his motherland, Strelchenko’s immortal work lives on, a beacon of light illuminating the power of Soviet socialism.

Europe / Seventieth anniversary of the victory over fascism marked in Moscow

An excuse for an orgy of bourgeois lies and prevarication.

Working-class history / Downton Abbey, the Jolly George and Stop the War

Please, if we ask you nicely, will you? Pretty please?