International dialogue and collaboration

The annual fete organised by the French revolutionary socialist group Lutte Ouvriere in grounds in a village near Paris drew large crowds again this year on 7-9 June. LO has organised this fete at the Whit holiday weekend, first at Meriel and then at Presles, and it draws between 20,000 and 30,000 people each year. LO offers other revolutionary socialist groups the facility to run stalls and forums at the fete. Workers' Liberty ran a stall and a forum this year, as we (or our forerunners) have done almost every year since the early 70s. The fete included many food and drink stalls, children's...

LabourStart’s “Global Solidarity Conference” in Berlin on 23-25 May 2014 was its fourth major gathering and, with more than 300 participants, its biggest. The conference was hosted by the German trade union ver.di, and comprised nearly three days of plenaries and workshops covered a range of themes. A substantial chunk of the conference examined “Digital communications” — how unions can use electronic media to build themselves and their campaigns: LabourStart’s raison d’être! In an introductory session, Derek Blackadder, who works for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, described the work...

Pourquoi la démocratie interne est une condition préalable pour la construction d' une organisation internationale (article pour Marxist Revival no.1) Bien que dans les discussions à propos de la démocratie interne les droits de tendance soient acceptés dans les mots par de nombreuses organisations à la fois du milieu trotskyste et de d'autres milieux, dans la pratique, cependant, ils ne sont pas mis en œuvre. À mon avis, cette question n'est pas une question triviale ou secondaire, mais elle est la condition préalable à la construction d'une organisation saine tant sur le plan national et...

An international solidarity event organised on 3 May in London by Marxist Revival (an international project of the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty and the Iranian Revolutionary Marxists’ Tendency) heard speakers from around the world, live or via video clips. Jade Baker of AWL chaired the event which included August Grabski and Urszula Lugowska of Dalej (Poland), Dashty Jamal of the Worker-communist Party of Kurdistan, Maziar Razi (IRMT) and Alejandra Rios, representing the Left Workers’ Front of Argentina. The meeting also heard messages from the Association for International Workers’...

The first issue of a new journal of international discussion among revolutionary socialists, Marxist Revival , is out now. Click here to download it as pdf , or to get a printed copy, click here to send us £2 plus £1.20 postage . The journal is produced by the Alliance for Workers’ Liberty and the Iranian Revolutionary Marxists’ Tendency. The first issue also includes a long contribution from the Turkish revolutionary socialist group Marksist Tutum, and a survey from Workers’ Liberty Australia of the revolutionary left in Australia. The journal declares that “it will not be just an open forum...

Solidarity editor Cathy Nugent, along with other AWL members, recorded a video message of solidarity that was broadcast to the recent UID-DER conference. The Association of International Workers' Solidarity (UID-DER in Turkish) is a network which helps rank-and-file militants in the Turkish labour movement organise, co-ordinate, build solidarity, and plan joint campaigns. Workers' Liberty has been developing links with Marksist Tutum , the anti-Stalinist revolutionaries who have been active in developing UID-DER. On 15 December, UID-DER held a campaign conference for its latest campaign...

The Alliance for Workers’ Liberty (AWL) met for our annual conference on 26-27 October at the University of London Union. The purpose of the AGM is to review our activity over the previous year, debate and decide policy, agree our political priorities, and elect our National Committee. The conference noted some significant successes. AWL has been integral to the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign, which has beaten back Tory attempts to cut maternity and A&E services, preparing the hospital for closure. We helped coordinate the international campaign to defend Australian trade unionist Bob...

Arlind Qori and other members of a left-wing group in Albania which calls itself simply Organizata Politike (Political Organisation, OP) came for a few days to the summer camp of the Greek revolutionary socialist group OKDE, 20-28 July 2013, and we talked with them there. Other reports from Greece, July 2013: Greek school teachers to strike from early September The Greek left takes stock: July 2013 Discussing with OKDE Visiting the Greek left, July 2013 They told us that their group came together after a big demonstration in January 2011, against the government then led by the Democratic Party...

OKDE, the Organisation of Communist Internationalists of Greece , is a revolutionary socialist group of 80 or so members, mostly young. It is stronger in Thessaloniki than in Athens, and has groups in some other cities. It publishes the monthly Ergatiki Pali (Workers' Fight). Other reports from Greece, July 2013: Greek school teachers to strike from early September The Greek left takes stock: July 2013 Visiting the Greek left, July 2013 Developing a left in Albania AWL first met OKDE at the annual political festival organised by the French revolutionary socialists of Lutte Ouvriere, in 2010...

Representatives from the AWL, the Iranian Revolutionary Marxists' Tendency, and the French revolutionary socialist group L'Etincelle recently met in London for discussions. We exchanged information about the work of the different organisations, and an AWL representative who had recently been in Australia added a report on the work of Workers' Liberty Australia. We also discussed Greece and Syria. Following the meeting, AWL and the IRMT are discussing the production of an international discussion magazine, open to a variety of revolutionary Marxist views. The work of producing and distributing...