USSR / Stalin’s Library by Geoffrey Roberts – a resumé and review, pt 3

Stalin’s library shows that his geopolitical outlook was global. As a Bolshevik internationalist he paid attention to revolutionary struggles all over the world.

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

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

Poetry / Poem: Logic

A poetic response to VI Lenin’s classic work on philosophy: ‘Materialism and Empirio-Criticism’.

Film and TV / TV review: Adolescence

Netflix’s latest liberal mind rot.

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.’

Poetry / Poem: Tyrant

A poetic response to the barbarity and criminality of Israel’s zionist-in-chief.

Civil liberties / London Metropolitan police review of Harpal Brar’s book on zionism

‘It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good’ was not my favourite proverb at school, but I’ve recently come to fully appreciate its meaning.

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.’

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.

Sport / The Olympic Refugee Team has been subjected to political manipulation

The International Olympic Committee and UNHCR have become accomplices of the USA’s aggressive and criminal policy against Cuba

Media / John Pilger: the man they couldn’t silence

The most courageous, fearless and decent of journalists, who devoted his life to speaking the truth and uncovering imperialist lies.

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.

Poetry / Poem for Gaza: They’re not like us though are they?!

Meanwhile, under the same sun, a team of exhausted men are pulling broken-limbed children from rubble.

Culture / Benjamin Zephaniah – lifelong champion of the oppressed

From the miners’ strike to Palestine, this working-class poet and author was steadfast in his opposition to British imperialism and its divide-and-rule tactics.

Chile / Remembering Joan Jara – dancer, activist and heroine of Chile

The wife of murdered folk singer Víctor Jara kept her husband’s legacy alive and never gave up the fight for justice for Chile’s disappeared.

Civil liberties / Get ready for Day X: Julian Assange must be freed!

British judges have shown themselves only too ready to allow our ‘justice system’ to be used to persecute an innocent man for the ‘crime’ of real journalism.

Cuba / Cuba emphasises connection between culture and revolutionary patriotism

‘In the multiplicity of forms in which our culture manifests itself, beyond the artistic and literary, lies the powerful force that sustains Cuba.’

Ukraine / Book review: Putin’s Prisoner by Aiden Aslin

Ukraine and other war zones are seen as cash cows for the west’s publicity-seeking soldiers of fortune, who crave fame and adulation for their actions.

China / Aymeric Monville: Report back from Xinjiang

A French communist reflects on the yawning gulf between reality on the ground and the propaganda lies being endlessly repeated in western media.

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.

USA / Book review: War made Invisible by Norman Solomon

A masterful insight into the mechanisms that hide the US’s constant state of war from its own citizens.

Korea / Michael Palin in the DPRK: a western exceptionalism showcase

Workers in Britain could learn much from our Korean comrades, but they are unlikely to realise that from listening to Palin’s arrogant commentary.

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.

Divide and rule / Imperialist society can’t be ‘decolonised’; fight racism by building for socialism

While state power remains in the hands of a tiny exploiting class, workers will continue to be divided by racism.

Poetry / Poem: ‘Liberals’ & ’Death’

By Irish poet Kevin Higgins.

India / Legendary Indian athlete Milkha Singh dies from Covid, aged 91

The incredible life story of the ‘Flying Sikh’ exemplified the triumph of determination over adversity.

World history / Film review: Judas and the Black Messiah

A searing reminder of the need for class unity in the battle for socialism.

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.

Media / British ban of Chinese news channel is another step towards open warfare

The mainstream media is spreading cold war propaganda against China in support of the imperialists’ drive to an all-out conflagration.

Capitalist crisis / Book: Bandit Capitalism: Carillion and the Corruption of the British State

A meticulously researched exposure of outsourcing and corruption that falls short of finding either the true culprit or the way out for impoverished workers.

Climate change / Book review: The Uninhabitable Earth

While giving admirable details regarding the facts of climate change the author fails to draw the crucial conclusion – that you need to be red to be green.

Books / Polish hack writes laughable fantasy on ‘feeding dictators’

As the crisis of capitalism continues to destroy lives, anticommunist hirelings are churning out increasingly blatant and ridiculous lies.

Health / Covid-19 treatment handbooks issued compiling frontline experience

China's gift to the world is hard-won knowledge: ‘The real remedy for epidemics is not isolation, but cooperation.’

Film and TV / #EatTheRich: Parasite film review

A searing and at times hilarious critique of south Korean class society, ultimately let down by its inability to offer any real way out.

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.

Cuba / Alicia Alonso: architect of Cuba’s socialist ballet

A true daughter of the masses, whose talent and art was put at the service of the people and the building of a new society.

Film and TV / Film review: Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You

A faithful depiction of the horrors of today’s contract workers, marred by its total pessimism.

Film and TV / Film review: Joker

A real controversy, a true subversion, or merely a storm in a teacup?

Britain / Bury FC: a victim of capitalism

One more reason for workers to burn with indignation against a social order that can never be made to serve their interests.

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

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

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.

Culture / Promotion of proletarian culture

The battle for culture is a vital front in the class war. Promoting proletarian art is part of building a revolutionary consciousness among workers in Britain.

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 / 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.

Poetry / Poem: They Say that Both Sides are to Blame?

Media lies keep the working class divided and weak. What's the way out?

Korea / Victory for north Korean diplomacy at the Winter Olympics

Promising steps in the direction of Korean reunification as US diktat finds its limit.

Poetry / Poem: You’re A Comrade Still

by Rhiannon Owens-Sullivan

Sport / Hillsborough 28 years on

Will the victims get justice at last?

British politics / Join the CPGB-ML’s annual anti-imperialist barbecue

In celebration of famous proletarian victories in Korea and Cuba.

Education / Education under attack

Capitalism in crisis is wrecking our children’s future; it’s time to wake up and fight back.

Civil liberties / Police lies revealed at Hillsborough; Orgreave must be next

Inquiry reveals police guilt for 96 unnecessary deaths in Sheffield, and highlights the militarised and anti-worker culture that grew out of the political policing of the miners’ strike five years earlier.

Poetry / Pat Adler : Poems from the Chinese revolution

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.

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.

Culture / Book: Go Set a Watchman

A poignant tale of the difficulties of breaking away from reactionary traditions.

Proletarian news / Red salute to Comrade John Taylor

Film and TV / We Are Many: new film prettifies leaders of the anti-war movement

We have the power to change the world, but are we allowing that power to be diverted?

Theatre / Shrewsbury 24: United We Stand review

Culture, education and entertainment are brilliantly combined in Neil Gore's moving and insightful play.

Books / Review: The Casual Vacancy

A novel by JK Rowling, televised by the BBC in three parts.

Poetry / Poem: Of Mine and Me

World history / Review: Prosperity’s Predicament

A revealing eye-witness account of pre-revolutionary China by the CPGB-ML’s Honorary President, Isabel Crook.

World history / Review: Ten Mile Inn by Isabel and David Crook

This seminal work continues to bring the achievements and challenges of the Chinese agrarian revolution to life for English-speaking readers.

Books / Ian McEwan’s White Tooth

The thinking woman’s Ruth Rendell.

Books / Charles Dickens, champion of the poor

The first novelist to put working-class people at the heart of story.

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

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

Palestine / Channel 4’s The Promise breaks new ground for Palestine on British TV

Drama breaks new ground on mainstream TV by portraying some of the brutality that characterises the state of Israel and shattering its claims to be a democracy.

Working-class history / Book review: Striking a Light, the Bryant and May Matchwomen

Louise Raw reveals the connection of these militant young East End strikers to new unionism, socialism and Irish republicanism.

Theatre / Play: The Power of Yes by David Hare

Explaining nothing, this play is aimed merely at letting off some steam without getting any nearer to a solution to society’s systemic problems.

Film and TV / Deborah Lavin film review: The Motorcycle Diaries

A reminder that communists and communism are not our enemy but the hope of the world.