THANK YOU BRID SMITH

Because the Irish; People Before Profit Alliance choose to stand against Paul Murphy of the Socialist Party, we have LOST our socialist seat in the European Parliament. Brid Smith of the PBPA has split the anti-austerity Irish vote and has caused Paul Murphy to lose his seat. We feared this would happened and it did happen. Paul won 8,50% of the vote in Dublin and Brid Smith got 6,77%. If Paul Murphy would have stood alone as a principled anti-austerity socialist fighter, then he would have been elected with 15,27% of the Dublin vote. But the sectarian Socialist Workers Party who created the PBPA, has chosen to put Brid Smith in the fight. Thanks to them, Paul Murphy cannot use the European Parliament to fight against austerity and European imperialism!

Revolutionary socialists must condemn the Irish; SWP for its sectarian tactics. Now the European Left is without a revolutionary socialist fighter. Yes, there are other leftist fighters, from moderate socialist and communist parties. But many parties inside the European Unitarian Left/Nordic Green Left are not genuine socialist. Just look at the Scandinavian socialist parties who are deeply reformist, or the Dutch; Socialist Party more social democratic then socialist. Paul Murphy was a principal socialist MEP, who stood against the EU on a socialist platform. Brid Smith would not have stood as a revolutionary socialist, as the Irish; Socialist Workers Party rejects using the term ''socialist'' in their propaganda!

Still Irish workers are not without hope. Ruth Coppinger of the Socialist Party has been elected as Teachta Dála ( member of the Irish Parliament ). She will work with Joe Higgins against the conservatives and social democrats who rule the Republic of Ireland. The defeat of Paul Murphy in the European Parliament is a lose for workers of all European nations. Murphy did not stood as a Irish socialist, but as a international socialist for all workers. Because of Brid Smith and the People Before Profit Alliance, the anti-austerity vote was split! 

European Election results for Dublin!

Paul Murphy got 8,50% and Brid Smith 6,77%

If Paul would have stood as the only anti-austerity candidate he would

have been re-elected!

Wojciech Jaruzelski is death

Few young people in today's Poland will remember the name Wojciech Jaruzelski. But most workers who stood up to the Stalinist Polish regime in 1981, will never forget his name. Wojciech Jaruzelski was the Polish general who took power and established a military dictatorship which lasted until 1989. Jaruzelski was a typical Stalinist militarist, he became minister of defence the People's Republic of Poland in 1968. His life story was not that of a typical Stalinist. Jaruzelski never joined the pre-war Communist Party of Poland, he was captured by the Soviets in Lithuania and deported to Kazakhstan. He wanted to join the nationalist; Polish Home Army to fight the Germans, but ended up joining the Polish First Army created by the Soviet-Union. After the war he fought the Polish anticommunist nationalists, this gave him credit with the Stalinist bureaucracy of the ruling Polish United ''Workers'' Party. By 1968, Jaruzelski was made minister and general. He ordered 27.000 Polish soldiers to crush the workers rebellion in 1981. After taking power, he be became the Vidkun Quisling of Poland!

On 25 May 2014, Wojciech Jaruzelski age 90 died. Most Polish workers hate him and the ruling bourgeoisie will use his death to spread more anticommunism. Jaruzelski was the face of the brutal militarist regime, that ruled the People's Republic of Poland from 1981 until 1989. By 1981 most workers in Poland realized that the Polish United ''Workers'' Party was not their party. Workers from the shipyard; ''Vladimir Lenin'' started a strike after Jan Rulewski, Mariusz Łabentowicz and Roman Bartoszcze ( members of the growing Solidarity Trade Union ) were beaten by members of the Polish secret police!

The workers at the Lenin shipyard elected Lech Wałęsa, Andrzej Gwiazda, Zbigniew Bujak, Andrzej Cierniewski, Lech Dymarski, Krzysztof Gotowski, Marian Jurczyk, Ryszard Kalinowski, Antoni Kopczewski, Bogdan Lis and Andrzej Słowik to lead them in a massive strike against the government. Most of these trade unionist leaders would later turn against the workers, betraying them to capitalism after 1989. But in 1981, Lech Wałęsa was a strike leader and supported by most workers. On 30 March, the government and the strike leaders made a deal. At the same time general Wojciech Jaruzelski, made plans to remove the civilian Stalinist leaders from power!

General Jaruzelski was ''elected'' ( made ) leader of the Polish United ''Workers'' Party after his predecessor was caught criticizing the economic model of the USSR. By 1981, the economy of Poland was stagnating. Because of bureaucratic mismanagement, the planned economy could not meet the demands of the people. Workers had to wait in long line for basic needs, because there was shortage. Hungarian economist; János Kornai called this the shortage economy, a result of dictatorial top-down management by the political leaders of the ruling communist parties. But like most Stalinist leaders Jaruzelski only cared about his own position. On 13 December 1981, he claimed that the Solidarity Trade Union wanted to stage a coup to ''destroy socialism'', Jaruzelski declared martial law and created a military junta! 

The new military government soon started to arrest the leaders of the Solidarity Trade Union movement. Lech Wałęsa was arrested for 11 months and Solidarity was banned on 8 October 1982. Although the militarist government was able to crush the workers and their trade union, they were not able to keep the People's Republic of Poland from collapsing. As the ruling military tried to control the nation, the economy started to collapse. 700.000 workers left Poland between 1982 and 1989! 

Wojciech Jaruzelski, the man who led Poland for 8 years was not born as a typical Stalinist. He and his family lived near Białystok, were the young Wojciech joined a Catholic school. In September 1939, the family Jaruzelski fled Poland after the German-Soviet invasion. They stayed with friends in Lithuania, but were captured by the Red Army after Lithuania was annexed by Joseph Stalin. Wojciech Jaruzelski was only 16 years old when he was separated from his family and forced to travel to Kazakhstan to do slave labour. During his labour work he suffered permanent damage to his eyes and back. The damage to his eyes forced him to wear dark sunglasses most of the time, which became his trademark!

It is therefore strange that a man like Wojciech was able to become a Stalinist, after he experienced the evil that was classic stalinism. It is likely he never truly believed in the Marxist ideology and he only joined the Soviets to return to Poland. In 1943, Wojciech wanted to join the Polish Home Army, this underground movement was founded to fight the Germans. Unfortunate for him, the leaders of the Polish Home Army were anticommunist and rejected the Soviet controlled: Polish First Army. After the end of the war, Wojciech Jaruzelski graduated from the Polish Higher Infantry School, an event which was followed by a graduation from the General Staff Academy. At the age of 25, he joined the Polish United ''Workers'' Party not because he was a true Marxist, but because all officers of the new Polish People's Army had to be party members!

Under the name ''Wolski'', he started to denounce people as ''class traitors'' which gave him credit with the Soviets. As a member of the military he participated in the hunt for anticommunist rebels, who still fought the Stalinist government. Ironically he fought the same army he wanted to join in 1943. At the age of only 37, Wojciech Jaruzelski became the chief political officer for the whole army. Four years later he was made chief of staff, all made possible because of his loyalty towards the party and the USSR. After serving four years as chief of staff, Wojciech was made minister of defence. He now controlled the army, navy, air force and police of the People's Republic of Republic at age 45! 

Jaruzelski was not only a Stalinist militarist, but also anti-Semitic. He demoted and expelled more then 1000 Polish officers on the grounds that they were Jewish. This anti-Semitism is not uncommon for stalinists. Joseph Stalin himself wanted to murder all Jewish doctors just before he died in 1953, his death prevented his. Vladimir Lenin hated anti-Semitism and rejected the hatred many Russians had for Jews in 1917. He was among the first world leaders who took a stand against anti-Semitism, but after Stalin took power the old hated of Jews returned to Russia, which we still see today!

During the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces, Wojciech Jaruzelski ordered the occupation of the northern provinces, until Soviet forces replaced the Polish troops in November 1968. Two years later he was part of the plot to remove Władysław Gomułka, who was first secretary of the Polish United ''Workers'' Party and a deep nationalist. Jaruzelski used the 1970 protests to remove Gomułka from power. The protests were sparked by a sudden increase of prices of food and other everyday items. As a result of the riots, brutally put down by the Polish People's Army and the Citizen's Militia, at least 42 people were killed and more than 1,000 wounded. Władysław Gomułka was forced to step down as party leader!

As the Polish workers united to create Solidarity, Wojciech Jaruzelski enjoyed the good life. As minister of defence he was part of the party elite. He could shop at special stores which had western goods. Wojciech never had to wait in lines for food and other basic needs and like most Stalinist leaders he lived in a comfortable home. Yet the working class started to organize themselves against the government. When Solidarity was created, Wojciech Jaruzelski saw the danger of this trade union. Its leaders demanded socialism and democracy, the ruling caste could not allow this. So the defence minister took power and established the military junta!

Although the militarists still sang socialist anthems and used Lenin's face, the working class was not fooled. They still fought against the military and the remnants of the Polish United ''Workers'' Party which was now a empty shell. After more then eight years, general Wojciech Jaruzelski realized that he could no longer keep the nation under his belt. The Soviet-Union was collapsing and to save his own neck, Jaruzelski started the Polish Round Table Talks with Solidarity. By now the leaders of the trade union had abandoned their socialist ideals. Leaders like Lech Wałęsa were now deeply catholic conservative and supporters of capitalism. However the workers did not realize how far their leaders had degenerated since 1981!

The Polish Round Table Talks led to the legalisation of Solidarity, who soon created a political organisation called; Solidarity Citizens' Committee. The first partly free elections in Poland were held in June 1989, the Polish United ''Workers'' Party was led by Wojciech Jaruzelski and the Solidarity Citizens' Committee was led by Lech Wałęsa. The stalinists still controlled the media and all printing means. So the Solidarity Citizens' Committee had little means to spread their message. In the end, the results were a big surprise for Solidarity. They won 35% of the votes, while Jaruzelski won 37%!

On 30 January 1990, the Polish United ''Workers'' Party dissolved itself. Out of her remnants ''Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland'' and the ''Social Democratic Union'' were founded. The old Stalinist party had tried to rebuild itself, but they soon realized that they had no support among workers. After oppressing, lying and killing the Polish proletariat for over 40 years, the party of Wojciech Jaruzelski decided to end its existence. The new social democratic parties that were created, would never struggle for Marxist socialism!

Jaruzelski became the first president of the Republic of Poland. He only served one year and did not participate in the first free presidential elections in November 1990. Solidarity Trade Union leader Lech Wałęsa was elected with 74% of the vote. Wałęsa turned out to be a class traitor, who sold Poland to capitalism. The now capitalist media of the Republic of Poland claims today that Lech Wałęsa is a hero, for fighting ''communism'' and creating a ''free'' Poland!

Anticommunism grew very fast after 1990 as Marxism was blamed for the nation's bad economy. The media of Poland portrays the 1945-1989 period as ''communist'' and anybody who tries to fight for genuine socialism is called a ''supporter of totalitarianism''. It is no surprise that in such hostile anticommunist climate, the Polish social democrats never tried to be socialist!

Wojciech Jaruzelski retired from the Polish Army in 1991. He took personal responsibility for the crimes of his government against the working class. Jaruzelski said he was deeply sorry for all the evil his Stalinist party caused. Although the anticommunists wanted him trialled, he was never jailed for his actions. In 2008, the conservative government of Lech Kaczyński started a witch hunt against all people who used to work for the Stalinist government. Even former state bureaucrats were called ''communist traitors''. Kaczyński and his anticommunists used the Stalinist period, to start a massive hunt against leftists and progressives. The conservatives also tried to ban the hammer and sickle as ''symbols of totalitarianism'', but they failed in this anti-democratic attempt. Jaruzelski also became a topic again, but he was never jailed!

In private, the old general said that communism has failed. This proofs that Jaruzelski like so many Stalinist leaders never understood what Marx and Lenin wanted. They were guided by the totalitarian believe that only one party had the right to rule. That the economy had to govern by this one party, without workers self management and participation. With their ideals destroyed by capitalism, most stalinists became deeply disillusioned and abandoned politics. Consider that Wojciech Jaruzelski was forced to do slave labour as a 16 year old boy, you should think he knew the true face of stalinism. But in the end, he was corrupted by power and greed. This corruption is common to stalinism. It is therefore that we revolutionary socialists fight against people like Wojciech Jaruzelski, who still rule Cuba, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam and China! 

Poland is a capitalist hell on earth. The nation is ruled by corrupt conservatives, who serve the new ruling class. The average wage is 600 euro's ( 818 dollars ) and minimum wage is 405 euro's a month ( before income taxes ). European capitalists love to exploit Polish workers as they are known to be hard working people. Democracy has come, but this is only half the way. When the workers rose up in 1981, they wanted democratic socialism. Their dreams of a free socialist Poland were betrayed by the Solidarity Trade Union leadership, who sold them to capitalism. It comes to no surprise that Lech Wałęsa lost the 1995 presidential elections to a former Stalinist! 

Wojciech Jaruzelski and Lech Wałęsa in 2011

Two class-traitors and enemies of the Polish proletariat!!

Leftist talk, rightist rule

Social democrats, former moderate socialists and now folly supportive of capitalism and western imperialism. Still the former workers parties who base themselves around social democracy, are still able to attract many leftist voters. This is because many workers have still not broken with the social democratic parties. In the absence of a genuine socialist alternative, many workers see the social democrats as the ''lesser evil''. Our world lacks workers parties on a socialist program that reject the dictatorship of the markets and the austerity politics of capitalist governments. Social democrats play on their previous record as creators of a ''fair and social'' society. It is true that many European nations became more democratic and social, because of social democratic parties. But these parties have betrayed their progressive ideology and are now working with their former political enemies, to destroy the welfare state they once created. In their propaganda, social democrats remain leftist and progressive. But after elections they show their true face and join up with liberals and conservatives to carry out the demands of the markets and the capitalists! 

Revolutionary socialists have many political enemies. We have only a few allies in our struggle against capitalism and imperialism. It is ironic that both revolutionary socialists, moderate socialists, stalinists, maoists and social democrats come from the same roots. 100 years ago in the year 1914, all socialist/communist ideologies were called social democratic. Between the death of Karl Marx and the first world war, there were many debates inside social democracy between revolutionary socialists and evolutionary socialists. The evolutionary socialists rejected the Marxist road to socialism. They wanted to work with the parliamentary democrats and progressive members of the ruling class. Socialism had to be build by evolution not by revolution, according to social democrats like Eduard Bernstein and Karl Kautsky!

The evolutionary socialists were however still believers in socialism, unlike the social democrats of 2014 who are fully supportive of capitalism and its institutions. By 1914, most workers parties in Europe were led by evolutionary/reformist socialists. When the imperialist nations of Europe started with the first world war, most of these reformist leaders became nationalistic and told the working class to support their nation against the enemy nation. German social democrats supported the rearming of the Imperial German Army and British social democrats told their workers to fight for king and country!

Russian social democracy had split in 1912, in a revolutionary socialist party and a reformist socialist party. The majority of the Russian social democrats supported the revolutionary socialists led by Vladimir Lenin. A minority supported Julius Martov, they became known as ''Mensheviks'' ( minority in Russian ). The majority took the name ''Bolsheviks'' ( majority in Russian ). In February 1917, the czar was forced to abdicate. A capitalist government made up of rightist ''socialist'' revolutionaries, Mensheviks and bourgeois democrats was installed. This provisional government became very unpopular because it continued the first world war. In November 1917, the workers-council of Petrograd ( capital of Russia ) called for a socialist revolution. Red Guards captured the ministers and ended the provisional government. All political power was transferred to the Congress of Soviets, in which the Bolshevik Party and leftist socialist revolutionaries had a majority!

As a result of this second Russian revolution, the Menshevik Party and most reformist socialists turned against revolutionary socialists. They supported their local capitalist governments in preventing workers from taking power. In Germany, Friedrich Ebert was installed as president of the Weimar Republic. His Social-democratic Party of Germany opposed the workers councils who wanted a socialist republic. Together with right-wing nationalists, the social democrats destroyed the councils and killed 21.000 German revolutionaries. Famous revolutionary socialists like Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were murdered because of SPD betrayal!

Most social democratic parties started to enter capitalist governments. Right-wing conservatives rejected the moderate socialists, because they saw socialism as a danger to their capitalist masters. Only liberals wanted to work with the reformists which led to the formation of social democratic/liberal governments. These new governments were very progressive but still capitalistic in nature and imperialist. Because although some social gains were made in the years before world war two, most European nations still believed in the superiority of the white race. Ethnic racism was no typical German, most British were racists too. British imperialism ruled over many African nations and behaved very cruel to the black working class!

The second world war ended in 1945, a victory for the allied nations. However the end of the world war marked the start of a cold war, between the capitalist-imperialist western world and the anti-imperialist eastern nations. The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics was a degenerated ''workers'' state, created in 1922 after the Russian Civil War. Although the economy of the Soviet-Union was nationalized, the workers did not had political power. Joseph Stalin made sure that all opposition to his ''socialism in one nation'' theory was silenced. Not only did Stalin enforced a totalitarian system, he also murdered most revolutionary socialists who worked with Lenin. It was Vladimir Lenin who called himself and his movement; communist. New revolutionary socialist parties were called communist parties. These communist parties enforced the ideology of ''Marxism-Leninism'' as Joseph Stalin called it. However this so called ''Marxism-Leninism'' had nothing to do with the views of Marx and Lenin. It was a cover-up for Stalin's own political system we revolutionary socialists call: Stalinism! 

Social democrats also rejected the USSR because of its authoritarianism and later totalitarianism. But these same social democrats supported the authoritarian rulers of their bourgeois-democratic nations. Also by joining capitalist governments, social democrats took responsibility for capitalist politics, carried out by European governments. Although social security improved in Western Europe, workers never held political power. The social democrats favoured a mixed market economy, with state ownership of key sectors. But these state owned enterprises were not run by the workers, but by the capitalist state managers. Managers who still favoured profits over people's needs. This we also saw in the USSR. There was no democratic participation from the working class and no workers self-management. Workers were slaves to the Stalinist state who even used prisoners are salve labourers. Between 1930 and 1960, more then 14 million Soviet workers were used as slave labourers in concentration-camps!

Another major anti-imperialist power became the People's Republic of China. The radical Chinese Communist Party was led by Mao Zedong and soon started to compete with the Moscow Stalinist bureaucracy. After Joseph Stalin died in 1953, Mao Zedong saw himself as the heir of radical revolutionary ''socialism''. His supporters rejected the moderate Soviet leaders like Nikita Khrushchev who criticized the Stalin cult of personality and the cruelty of classic stalinism. Maoism became a popular trend in the late 1960's and 1970's. Many students embraced the revolutionary dogma's of chairman Mao Zedong. Social democrats were seen as capitalist and not leftist. In a way the maoists were right about that. Social democracy moved more to the right-wing as they entered more capitalist governments. By 1980, most social democratic workers parties had abandoned Marxist socialism. The German SPD was among the first who fully rejected Marx. The Spanish Socialist Workers Party followed in 1979, others would embraced capitalism fully by 1989!

As stalinism collapsed between 1989 and 1991, social democracy fully embraced capitalism and neoliberalism. This new economic liberalism was created in the 1980's and called for deregulations and privatisations of state owned enterprises. Champions of this radical free market idea were Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Reagan came to power in the USA and Thatcher was the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Both were economic liberals, although in their propaganda they were called; conservatives. Social democrats denounced their support for a mixed economy and embraced the neoliberal dogma: The Market is God, Competition is King!

The most famous right-wing social democratic leader was Tony Blair. He led the British Labour Party and was elected in 1997. He did not changed the politics of Margaret Thatcher, Blair remained loyal to the neoliberal model. In 2001, he supported the invasion of Afghanistan by George W Bush, a conservative American president and a close ally of British imperialism. Tony Blair also supported the illegal 2003 invasion of Iraq, another imperialist plan of the American government. But Blair was not the only social democratic leader who betrayed his leftist ideals. Wim Kok was the Dutch prime minister between 1994 and 2002. His led a coalition made up of social democrats, conservative liberals and progressive liberals. Although two parties in his ''Purple'' Cabinets called themselves progressive, the main ideology supported by Kok was neoliberalism!

25 years after the collapse of stalinism, many social democrats are losing support. Some try to return to their old leftist roots. Workers may be fooled by their leftist propaganda, but we revolutionary socialists warn the proletariat, not to vote on social democratic parties. They cannot be trusted as they have betrayed us so many times. 100 years years ago this betrayal started when social democratic leaders supported the first world war. When German social democrats allied with the ruling class to destroy the workers councils. Because of social democratic betrayal in 1918, Soviet Russia was isolated and this aided the rise of stalinism. Had Germany become socialist, it would have been very difficult for Stalin to take over. German workers had more class consciousness and Germany was industrialized, while Russia was a agrarian society!

Dutch social democrats are using old leftist rhetoric for the European elections of 2014. The Party of Labour ( PvdA ) is losing popularity, since they entered a coalition government with the liberal conservatives of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( VVD ). The VVD is led by Mark Rutte, a neoliberal and supporter of massive austerity. Both social democrats and conservative liberals say that austerity is necessary to balance the state budget. Billions of euro's will be cut according to the government parties, yet billions are missed because of tax evasion by big business. Also the income tax for the super rich has decreased. Before 1990 it was normal that people with a very high income paid 70% of their income to the state. This was reduced to 61% in 1990 and finally to 51% in 2001. The parties of capitalism say that this was done to keep capitalists and rich people in the Netherlands. Yet the state lost money and because of the fact that the Netherlands is a tax heaven, billions of euro's are missed each year. Now Mark Rutte wants to enforce austerity, by cutting social security and forcing local governments to take care of people's health. The government wants to decentralize special health care ( AWBZ ) and give local governments control over who is getting this health care. They receive only 70% of today's state budget for the AWBZ. In other words: the local governments must decide who is losing special health care, this is done by a government in which the PvdA participates!

PvdA leader Diederik Samsom with red roses, the symbol of 

social democracy. His party is working with conservative liberals

to enforce austerity in the Netherlands! 

Indian elections, victory for the BJP

The elections in the Republic of India have turned out to be a victory for the right-wing Hindu-nationalist; Bharatiya Janata Party ( Indian People's Party ). Led by Narendra Damodardas Modi, the BJP was able to win the elections because the Indian National Congress and the communist parties offered no socialist alternative to the BJP, who claimed to be a anti-corruption party. But the reality is different, the BJP is a right-wing neoliberal party, supported by Indian capitalists who want to see more deregulations of markets. India used to have a classic mixed economy until the late 1980's. But as stalinism collapsed the Indian National Congress adopted a neoliberal view and started with privations and deregulations. This led to the creation of a very wealthy ruling class. Poverty has declined in the last 25 years, but still 11,8% of all Indians are forced to live win-out basic human needs. Those who do not live in absolute poverty still have to struggle on low wages, which are common in India!

Supporters of capitalism blame today poverty on the previous mixed economy. Western historians claim that India used to have a planned economy. This is not true, India had a mixed economy with a large state owned sector. The state owned sector was very bureaucratic and inefficient, because it was run in a top-down way. Indian bureaucrats created a system of bureaucratic laws and only gave licences to set up business to a select few. Corruption was very high in state owned enterprises, as state-managers enriched themselves at the expense of workers and poor people. Still many poor people kept voting on the INC. Because the Indian National Congress ( INC ) was seen as the party of national liberation, much like the African National Congress of Nelson Mandela. Many felt a personal loyalty to the party of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who was murdered by a Hindu-nationalist in 1948!

The Indian People's Party or Bharatiya Janata Party was created in 1980 and has been the main right-wing Hindu-nationalist party of India. Although a Hindu-nationalist party, the BJP has proven to be more a party for big capitalists then Hindu-nationalists. Its first major victory came in 1998 when they defeated the Indian National Congress for the first time. The Indian government under BJP control followed a neoliberal course and was praised by world leaders, such as Bill Clinton of the USA and European capitalist leaders such as Tony Blair!

In 2002, a train carrying Hindu pilgrims was set on fire. Angry Hindu-nationalists blamed Muslims for this act and a wave of anti-Muslim hatred erupted. Officials claim that 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed. But others say the BJP led government tried to downplay the killings. The death-toll was said to be far higher with over 2.000 Muslims murdered by angry Hindu-nationalists. Narendra Damodardas Modi was minister of chief in Gujarat when the anti-Muslim riots started. Human rights groups have claimed that his government did not work hard enough to protect the Muslim minority from angry Hindu nationalists. These nationalists were organized in a right-wing paramilitary called the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Narendra Damodardas Modi is a member of this controversial paramilitary group!

The election victory for the BJP is not new. They were able to beat the Indian National Congress before. Only their deeply unpopular capitalistic style of government made them losing elections to the INC. In order to boost their image, the BJP created the National Democratic Alliance of centre-right to right-wing parties. This alliance was supported by parts of the Hindu ruling class who favoured economic liberalism and privations of state enterprises. But not all capitalists supported the alliance of the BJP, mainly because the party is deeply Hindu-nationalist. Other parts of the Indian bourgeoisie remained close to the INC who was a fully capitalist party by 2004. Capitalism turned the elections into a media showdown, the United Progressive Alliance VS the National Democratic Alliance. In reality there is only minor differences between the two groups. Both groups supported more economic reforms to support the ruling class at the expense of workers and the poor! 

India used to have a strong communist movement. The first Communist Party of India was founded in 1925 but it lacked a strong democratic centralist organisation. In fact the first CPI was a lose coalition of communist groups with a very limited national leadership. British imperialism was very hostile to the communist party and banned the party for its revolutionary work. There were three major trials of communists in India. The British claimed the CPI wanted to deprive the ''King-Emperor'' of his sovereignty of British India, by complete separation of India from imperialistic Britain by a violent revolution. These trials gave the Indian population a first look at the ideals of communism. In the late 1920's early 1930's, the CPI followed the Stalinist doctrine and called the socialists of India to be ''social fascist''. This prevented a united front with them against the British imperialists! 

After Adolf Hitler's victory in Germany, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin ordered his communist parties to build popular fronts with the socialists and progressive members of the bourgeoisie. However it was only after 1942 that the Communist Party of India was able to operate freely. British imperialism legalized communist parties in its colonies to please the Soviets. This allowed the party to work inside the All-Indian Trade Unions and there it was able to build a strong presence!

The Republic of India was born on 26 January 1950. Communists were able to profit from the close relations India had with the Soviet-Union. Slowly workers and poor people realized that the CPI was a party that stood for them. They made the party the biggest opposition party to the ruling INC during the 1957 elections. Also the party was able to win the majority of votes in the Indian state of Kerala. The radical Communist Party of China criticized the CPI on working within the bourgeois-democratic structure of India. China and India were not close friends, because New Delhi supported Moscow against Beijing in the Sino-Soviet conflict. Also there was a border dispute which escalated into a war in 1962! 

Inside the Communist Party of India there was a huge debate over this war. Some said that the party must support the Chinese, as the conflict was a struggle between one capitalist nation and a ''socialist'' nation ( as claimed by the stalinists ). But many communists did not wanted to support the radical Chinese. The CPI was deeply divided in three groups during the debates. There was a internationalist side ( pro-China ), a nationalist side ( pro-India ) and a neutral side. The Indian government used the war with China, to arrest those internationalist communists who supported the People's Republic of China. Officially these debates were not public, the CPI was a Stalinist party and enforced bureaucratic centralism, meaning that party members were expelled if they did not enforced the opinion of the leadership. The official stand of the CPI was still pro-China, this gave the government enough reasons to arrest many communists!

In 1964 the party split in two. A new Communist Party of India ( Marxist ) was born. This party was created by those communists who had supported China against the Indian government and the Soviet-Union. The CPI(M) became a anti-revisionist party, that rejected Nikita Khrushchev's criticism of Stalin. Those who remained loyal to the CPI choose to work with the Indian National Congress against the more radical CPI(M). Because of this collaboration with a capitalist party, the CPI lost most of its supporters to the CPI(M) over time. But the death of Mao Zedong and the rise of Deng Xiaoping turned the CPI(M) also into the reformist Stalinist camp. Still the CPI was not able to win back the trust of millions!

Today both the CPI and CPI(M) are part of the Left-Front and worked together to rule the state of West Bengal. But because of Stalinist degeneration, both communist parties never followed genuine socialist principals. Workers and poor people soon could no longer see the difference between, BJP, INC, CPI, CPI(M) and other political parties. West Bengal was lost to capitalist politicians because the Left-Front was never able to rule as a workers movement for socialism. Red flags and hammer & sickle are still used by both communist parties, but few workers see a socialist alternative in these parties. After so many years, the parties that claim to fight for socialism have nothing to offer. Anti-Stalinist revolutionary socialists call for the birth of a new workers party. A party that rejects the legacy of Stalin and Mao Zedong!

Although Mao Zedong had died a long time ago, his radical supporters in India build the Communist Party of India - Maoist in 2004. This party rejects both the CPI and CPI(M) and parliamentary democracy. They fight a ''People's War'' against the Indian government, no matter who rules it. Because of massive poverty, it was able to recruit more then 13.000 young boys between 2004 and 2013. Today it is estimated that 8.000 Indians are members of the banned Maoist party. 45% to 60% of their recruits are females. Young girls who flee the male dominated Indian culture, are easy target for maoists and their propaganda. Although Maoism claim to be fighting for woman rights, some say that Maoist leaders are just using these girls to fight their ''People's War''!

Revolutionary socialists reject the ''People's War'' we believe in class struggle, not guerilla struggle. A workers party is needed to fight the BJP and the INC and the degenerated communist parties. Workers need to think for themselves and not trust the propaganda of those who claim to be progressive, leftist, socialist, communist or revolutionary. The Bharatiya Janata Party has won the elections in 2014, but their politics will be deeply unpopular with the working class and the poor. Narendra Damodardas Modi will become prime minister and rule as a right-wing Hindu-nationalist. The struggle for genuine socialism and workers rule will be difficult, but necessary for Indians!

It will take a long time before India can become a genuine

socialist workers state!

Brid Smith vs Paul Murphy

The Irish political party; ''People Before Profit Alliance'' is a front organisation for the Irish; Socialist Workers Party, the sister party of the British: Socialist Workers Party of the late Tony Cliff. The PBPA was created by the SWP and other left-wing activists in October 2005 and although the party is leftist, it does not require members to be Marxists or to subscribe to a revolutionary socialist program. This makes the PBPA a typical SWP front organisation, with no clear socialist program to fight for a socialist Ireland. Now the PBPA is standing its candidate in Dublin against Paul Murphy of the Socialist Party for the European elections. Unlike the People Before Profit Alliance, the SP in Ireland has a clear socialist program and is not afraid to call for socialism. Both the SP and the PBPA used to be part of the United Left Alliance before this group was disbanded. Brid Smith of the Irish SWP and PBPA member is standing against Paul Murphy in Dublin, a very stupid move by the SWP to split the vote between Brid Smith and Paul Murphy. There is now a good change that Murphy loses his seat in the European Parliament because both Brid Smith and he are fighting on a anti-austerity platform. 

Both the Socialist Party in Ireland and the Socialist Workers Party are the biggest parties on the radical left. Even the Communist Party of Ireland is smaller then the SP and SWP. The Irish SWP was founded in 1971 and was called the Socialist Workers Movement. They supported Tony Cliff, a British anti-Stalinist revolutionary socialist and creator of the state-capitalist theocracy. Cliff believed that the USSR and China under Mao Zedong were state-capitalist in nature and not degenerated or deformed workers states!

After the collapse of the USSR and stalinism, the Socialist Workers Movement changed its name to Socialist Workers Party and became a independent political party. However unlike the Socialist Party, the SWP never calls direct for socialism or the rule of workers. Many in the SWP say that socialism was discredited by the stalinists and that fighting for socialism would mean political suicide. They follow the pattern of the ruling class, who after 1990 have said that socialism cannot work and must no longer be used by politicians to change the world!

Like the British SWP the Irish SWP has been criticized for its sectarianism and its support for Islamists. Although revolutionary socialists oppose hatred of Islam and antisemitism, we reject the idea that workers can work with Islamists. The supporters of Islamism are a danger to the working class as much as fundamentalist Christians and Zionist Jews are. Islamists want to build a Caliphate and the absolute rule of Muslims. Zionist Jews struggle to keep Israel a Jewish state, many radical Zionists hate Muslims. Because of the anti-Muslim hysteria since 9/11, many socialists have rallied to defend the rights of Muslims, but the SWP has collaborated with Islamic groups who fight for the establishment of a Islamic state. 

Now Brid Smith has been selected to run as candidate for the People Before Profit Alliance. She claims to fight against austerity which is good. But the PBPA is not running on a socialist platform, Brid Smith is not calling for the nationalization of the means of production under a democratic planned economy. She is not calling for a socialist Ireland in a socialist Europe. Paul Murphy of the Socialist Party has always fought in the European Parliament for socialism. He rejected free trade deals with corrupt Latin American states like Columbia. He stood up for Chinese and Korean workers who are exploited by European capitalists. Murphy is a very good fighter for socialism, Brid Smith should support him instead of trying to beat him!

There are many pro-capitalist candidates in this European election. You have liberals, social liberals, social democrats, leftist nationalists, rightist nationalists, conservatives, radical Christians and old style communists ( stalinists ). The Socialist Party is fighting in both the EU parliament and the Irish Dáil Éireann ( Parliament ). Joe Higgins has been elected a member of the Dáil Éireann in 2011 and gave his seat in the European Parliament to Paul Murphy. It would be a great lose for workers if Murphy is not able to get re-elected, because Brid Smith split the anti-austerity vote. She is standing at 6% in the polls in Dublin, Paul Murphy stands at 7%. If all anti-austerity voters would vote for Murphy he would get at least 13%. But now Brid Smith is splitting this vote, reducing the chance to re-elect a genuine socialist fighter to the European parliament!

Revolutionary Socialist Media calls on Dublin workers to reject Fine Gael, Labour, Fianna Fáil and the leftist-nationalist Sinn Féin. We say vote for Paul Murphy. Brid Smith is a principal fighter against austerity, but she is not offering a socialist program. This is why a vote on Paul Murphy is a vote for a working class fighter that money cannot buy!

Dublin workers, VOTE PAUL MURPHY

Paul Murphy fighting against ''free trade deals'' with Colombia!

Afganistan, Iraq and Libya on fire thanks to American imperialism

Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya are on fire, these nations are torn apart by civil wars, all because U.S imperialism wanted to force democracy on them. The first nation to be invaded by the American imperialist machine was Afghanistan, a state in conflict since 1978. Islamic rebels were paid by the USA to fight the Stalinist atheists of the People's Democratic Party, who took control of the nation in 1978. By 1992 the Islamic rebels triumphed over the secular Afghans, but soon a civil war broke out between moderate Islamists and radical Islamists. The USA invaded Afghanistan in 2001 and gave power to the moderate Islamists who enforce Islamic dogma and theocratic laws. Iraq was controlled by the Arab-Socialist Ba'ath Party of Saddam Hussein, a brutal dictator aided by the USA to fight the Shia-Islamic Iranians. After Saddam invaded Kuwait the Americans turned against him and in 2003, the Bush government removed Saddam Hussein from power. 11 years later, Iraq is still a failed state. The infrastructure is not rebuild, there is almost no fresh drinking water and sectarian Islamic groups keep fighting each other. The Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was ruled by the Gaddafi clan since 1969. A ''terrorist'' state until 2003, Gaddafi's Libya became a strange ally of George W Bush in the fight against Islamic terrorism. In 2011, the Libyan people rose up and with NATO support drove Gaddafi out. Unfortunate the removal of Gaddafi started sectarian conflicts between many militia's who were created to fight the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya. In May 2014, the State of Libya is a failed state, the most failed of all three nations affected by U.S Imperialism. Three years after the murder of Gaddafi, Libya is a very unstable nation. Americans in their stupidity believed they could bring democracy to these nations. They only succeeded in one thing. The new regimes who rule these states are pro-capitalist and have begun with privatizations and deregulation. So American imperialism still wins and the people lose!

Vietnamese nationalism

There is a conflict between two state-capitalist dictatorships. Both who claim to be socialist, but in reality are hard-core nationalist nations, who fuel ethnic hatred against each other.  The ''Socialist'' Republic of Vietnam and the ''People's'' Republic of China have never been close friends. Chinese and Vietnamese are two ethnic groups who's history of intolerance goes back long before the Cold War and stalinism. The Chinese Empire used to control northern Vietnam at different times in history, making the Chinese a occupation force. Vietnamese nationalists have always hated the Chinese. Even Ho Chi Minh allied with the French colonialists, to prevent Chinese nationalist forces from entering Vietnam in 1945. Now both nations are again in conflict, nationalists in Vietnam have attack Chinese owned shops, killed 15 ethnic Chinese. Many Vietnamese hate China because it is drilling for oil in a sea that is claimed by Vietnam. Angry Vietnamese nationalists have shown us again how dangerous nationalism is!

The struggle of Ho Chi Minh was always a nationalist one, he admitted this by saying ''it was nationalism that drove me, not communism''. This is true, because proletarian internationalism was never enforced by the leadership of the Workers Party of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh. By 1946, the Japanese imperialists were defeated and Indochina was split in three nations. The Kingdom of Cambodia and the Kingdom of Laos became monarchist states, while Vietnam became a French puppet state with the name State of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh and his League for the Independence of Vietnam allied themselves with the French in 1945, to prevent 200.000 Chinese nationalists from entering Vietnam to disarm the Japanese. However they soon realized that the old colonialists never wanted independence for Vietnam. So in 1946 the First Indochina War began, which lasted until 1954!

Nationalism drove the Vietnamese into the arms of Ho Chi Minh. Many young peasants joined with the Viet Minh to fight the French colonialists and their collaborators. Between 175.000 and 300.000 Vietnamese nationalists died during these nine years of conflict. The French lost 75.000 troops and the nations Cambodia and Laos 18.000. After losing so many soldiers, the French decided to abandon Indochina in 1954. But they would only leave if Cambodia and Laos remained monarchist and South Vietnam had to become a capitalist state. Ho Chi Minh agreed and although many nationalists opposed it, Vietnam was divided!

Because Ho Chi Minh agreed to split the nation, he lost the support of many radical nationalists inside the Politburo of the Workers Party of Vietnam. Although Ho became president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, he was outmatched by the radical nationalists who decided to create the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam ( NLF ). Unlike Mao Zedong in China, Ho never held absolute political power. He was portrayed as absolute leader by the propaganda of the communist party, but in reality he was very moderate in both speech and lifestyle. Still he oversaw very cruel land reforms that killed many innocent land owners. Today it is estimated that 71% of all victims were innocent and only killed because they owned land!

Vietnamese nationalism rose very high when the USA replaced the French as foreign imperialists. The Americans used the Gulf of Tonkin incident to send soldiers to Vietnam. A year earlier the military of South Vietnam staged a coup that killed dictator Ngô Đình Diệm. This autocratic president took power in 1955 and led South Vietnam until the military turned against him. Many today believe that the Americans were behind the coup, as the CIA played a large role in brining the South Vietnamese military to power. After this was accomplished, the USA used the incident at the Gulf of Tonkin to send troops to the south, to fight the National Liberation Front or Viet Cong as they were called by the anticommunist media!

The USA lost more then 50.000 soldiers in Vietnam between 1964 and 1973. After many protests against the war, president Richard Nixon was forced to abandon South Vietnam. Although armed with superior weapons, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam collapsed to the might of the NLF and People's Army of Vietnam ( North Vietnam ). On 30 April 1975, soldiers from North Vietnam under NLF flag entered the southern capital of Saigon. With the capitulation of South Vietnam, both nations were reunited as the ''Socialist'' Republic of Vietnam in 1976!

For the first time in almost 100 years, Vietnam was independent both politically and economically. However the new Stalinist state was totalitarian and very bureaucratic. Like all states who base themselves on the single party system, the ruling communist party was the only party allowed to rule. Until 1988 there were other political parties active in Vietnam, but they were forced to be part of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front. Two political parties worked with Ho Chi Minh's party, the Democratic Party of Vietnam and the Socialist Party of Vietnam. But they were never allowed to criticize the ruling communist party and those who did were soon silenced!

China and Vietnam became political enemies over Cambodia. This nation used to be a monarchy until right-wing republicans created the Khmer Republic in 1970. The new republic was very unstable and challenged by the Red Khmer led by Saloth Sar or Pol Pot as he was called. Saloth Sar led the Communist Party of Kampuchea, a very closed and secretive party who's leadership believed in secrecy. By 1975 the forces of Saloth Sar were able to defeat the right-wing republican government and created Democratic Kampuchea. Saloth Sar became Brother 1 known as Pol Pot. However unlike Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot was a radical Khmer nationalist with a deep hatred for Vietnamese. Khmer nationalism was the driving force behind the Communist Party of Kampuchea as Vietnamese nationalism was to Ho Chi Minh. Pol Pot hated the Vietnamese because of ancient racial hatred between ethnic Khmer and ethnic Vietnamese!

Mao Zedong supported Pol Pot against the moderate Stalinist government of Vietnam. When the government of the ''Socialist'' Republic of Vietnam took side in the Sino-Soviet conflict, Beijing cut off relations with Hanoi. After Mao died in 1976, his successors remained supportive to Pol Pot who started to attack Vietnamese towns and villages. Although Vietnam was able to drive the Red Khmer out, Hanoi soon had enough of Pol Pot's racism. On 25 December 1978, 120.000 Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia to end the rule of Pol Pot. What they discovered was a massacre. The Red Khmer had murdered at least 1,5 million Cambodians, some claim that 3 million died between April 1975 and December 1978!

Pol Pot fled into the jungle were he died in 1998. Vietnam installed a puppet government called the People's Republic of Kampuchea which was never recognized by the international community. Pol Pot's diplomats were allowed to remain in the United Nations until 1993, when the UN took political power in Cambodia and transformed it back to the current corrupt monarchy. Vietnam was international isolated by the United States of America and the western world. Like Cuba, an economic embargo was put in place to keep Vietnam poor. Only the Soviet-Union was able to provide some materials, but this could not help the Vietnamese economy. After only 11 years under a planned economy, the rulers of the ''Socialist'' Republic of Vietnam started with capitalist experiments!

After Vietnam invaded Cambodia, the Chinese wanted to teach the Vietnamese a lesson. On 17 February 1979, 400.000 soldiers from the People's Liberation Army entered Vietnam. However like the French and Americans, the Chinese underestimated the Vietnamese who rallied against the Chinese invader. After a month of heavy fighting, the Chinese retreated back to their borders. Although both China and Vietnam claimed victory, its became clear that that the PLA was not able to conquer Hanoi. The People's Army of Vietnam was able to hold the mighty People's Liberation Army at bay. The number of casualties is unknown as both sides use the war as propaganda. China claims to have lost only 8.000 soldiers while Vietnam said they lost 62.000 soldiers!

Both ''socialist'' nations are still led by old ethnic mistrust. China is drilling for oil in the South-Chinese Sea, causing massive anger in Vietnam. Vietnamese nationalists use the drilling as proof that China does not respect Vietnam. In May 2014, a nationalist demonstration against China ended in a rampage. Vietnamese nationalists destroyed factories and shops owned by Chinese, Taiwanese and even Koreans. The state-capitalist government of Vietnam gave these nationalists permission to demonstrate, but was unable to stop them from destroying property. The PRC claims the Vietnamese government did nothing to stop these nationalist vandals from rampaging Chinese business. 20 people have been killed including 15 ethnic Chinese. 600 nationalists have been arrested!

Chinese and Vietnamese nationalists hate each other, both use the banner of their ''socialist'' nations, two reds flags with yellow stars turned against each other in deep ethnic hatred. This ethnic hatred is fuelled by both pseudo-communist parties who rule China and Vietnam. Now that capitalism has been restored, only nationalism can legitimise the ruling party bosses. Both China and Vietnam are using nationalism as a tool to keep the population in line. These nationalist demonstrations are used as distraction from the fact that both Chinese and Vietnamese governments are deeply corrupt, unpopular and capitalistic. They still wave with red flags and sing revolutionary anthems, but those governments are not socialist nor tools of the working class!

Vietnamese nationalism is used by the ''Communist'' Party of Vietnam as much as Chinese nationalism is used by the Chinese ''Communist'' Party. Both parties are supposed to oppose nationalism and ethnic hatred. But Stalinist degeneration turned the communist parties away from Marxist socialism into nationalist state-capitalism. This is the true ideology of the ''Communist'' Party of Vietnam, nationalist state-capitalism. Revolutionary socialists reject it and call Vietnamese workers to rise up and overthrow the traitorous ''Communist'' Party of Vietnam!

Vô sản toàn thế giới, liên hiệp lại!, 

vô sản các nước, đoàn kết lại!

全世界無產者聯合起來！

Vietnamese nationalists with the red flag of Vietnam

against the red flag of China, which they hate!

European elections, vote against austerity

On 22 May 2014, people across Europe are allowed to vote for the European parliament. 766 MEP's are up for re-election including the only genuine fighter for workers and poor: Paul Murphy. He replaced Joe Higgins in 2011 after Joe was elected into the Irish parliament for the Socialist Party. Murphy is a young man, but he has proven himself to be a working class fighter. His opponents call him ''outdated'' and ''dangerous'', but Paul Murphy is the only true working class vote for Irish workers. In the UK, workers should vote for the No2EU coalition. Socialists and trade unionists created this coalition in 2009 to oppose the European Union and to fight austerity. Unfortunate in other European nations, there are almost no socialist candidates to choose. Workers are left to vote either on pro-capitalist social democrats or the main parties of capitalism, including liberals, conservatives and far-fight nationalists!

The European Union is not a union of people's, but a union in serve of capitalism. In 1992, the European Community decided to create a political and economic union. Out of these talks came the European Union or EU. The treaty of Maastricht led to the birth of the EU, it also led to the creation of the euro currency. One of the obligations of the treaty for the members was to keep sound fiscal policies, with debt limited to 60% of GDP and annual deficits no greater than 3% of GDP. Only France, Denmark and Ireland held referendums on Maastricht ratification. The Danish people reject it with 51%, so Denmark was not obliged to participate in the third phase of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, meaning they did not changed their national currency to the euro in 2002!

The goals of the new union was to create a common market economy in Europe. By removing national laws on trade, the European Union became a free trade zone in which capitalists could easy transfer money, people and products. Although the EU created this common market and free trade between European nations, nothing was done to change income inequality. Workers from Southern Europe were still paid less then workers from Northern Europe. Right-wing political parties say that national governments must enforce austerity politics, in order to lure capitalist enterprises to their nations. But after Poland and Eastern Europe joined the EU, many capitalists moved their production work out of Western Europe. Workers in Poland earn an average wage of 681 euro's a month, in Romania and Bulgaria workers earn even lesser. Average wage in Romania is only 395 euro's a month. Bulgarian workers earn 330 euro's a month on average. This is why capitalists moved their production work to these cheap labour nations. A worker in the Netherlands, France and Scandinavia costs about five times the wage of a Bulgarian worker!

On the political level the European Union is not a pure democracy. Although it has a parliament, the true decision makers are concentrated into the European Commission. This commission is not elected by the European Parliament. Leader of the European Commission since 22 November 2002 is José Manuel Barroso, a former Maoist revolutionary now turned Christian conservative. Barroso acts as the face of the European Union. He is the man who enforces right-wing austerity plans on Greece and other European nations, who are in deep problems because of economic mismanagement by their ruling class and political leaders!

Revolutionary socialists reject the EU because it was created as a capitalist economic union. The European Union is portrayed as something for Europeans, but in reality it only serves businesses. Most European nations still have their own social security system which is superior in Northern Europe and almost none-existing in Eastern Europe. Workers are very good protected in Scandinavian nations, but left to the mercy of their employers in Eastern Europe. Workers in France are paid on average 2.100 euro's after taxes. Compare this to nations like Croatia were workers are paid 700 euro's. Romania and Bulgaria are the nations with the lowest average wage. Workers rights are often violated in these nations, because those governments are very pro-capitalist. After 40 years of living under Stalinist rule, many East European workers still have difficulties working under market demands. Because of low wages and poverty, many young workers choose to leave Eastern Europe to find their luck in Western European nations. East European workers face discriminated and racial hatred by West Europeans, who are mislead into thinking that East Europeans would steal their jobs!

Capitalists in Western Europe profit from Polish, Bulgarian and Romanian workers. After arriving in Western European nations, these foreign workers are then put to work under bad conditions. But the capitalist bosses do not care, they make millions of euro's while their workers are forced to work long hours for wages common in their homeland. In the Netherlands the minimum wage for 40 hours of work is 1.400 euro's a month before taxes. But many capitalists pay their foreign ''guest'' workers much less. Because many capitalist bosses use intimidation tactics and because many need money for their families, few dare to fight against the exploitation of their labour. This is classic capitalist exploitation, hiring foreign workers and paying them below the national minimum wage line, in order to increase profits!

Joe Higgins, a revolutionary socialist from Ireland fought against the capitalist bosses of GAMA Endustri. This enterprise used Turkish workers and paid them below the Irish minimum wage. He and others claimed that many Irish companies were exploiting foreign workers and in some cases, not paying overtime rates. In March 2005, Higgins and a delegation of Turkish ex-employees of GAMA Endustri, travelled to Amsterdam where they discovered that GAMA had been secreting up to 30 million euro's in unpaid wages!

This is what the European Union is allowing. Therefore we revolutionary socialists reject the European Union. We want another Europe, a socialist Europe united by workers not by capitalists. On 22 May, Irish workers must re-elected Paul Murphy for the Socialist Party in Ireland. British workers must vote on the No2EU coalition to protect workers in Britain against EU austerity. In other European nations, workers should vote on socialist/communist political parties that reject the EU. Unfortunate many right-wing nationalists are able to profit from the fact that many nations lack genuine workers parties. Social democratic and old labour parties are offering no alternatives, as they fully support the EU and José Manuel Barroso!

The far-right in France, the Netherlands and Hungary is growing. Front National ( France ), the Party for Freedom ( Netherlands ) and Jobbink ( Hungary ) benefit from the massive anger against EU enforced austerity. Because the political left-wing is not offering socialist alternative, many workers turn towards charismatic right-wing leaders like Geert Wilders ( PVV ), Marine Le Pen ( Front National ) and Gábor Vona ( Jobbik ). In the Netherlands, Islamic Moroccans are hated by the nationalists of the PVV. Wilders called recently for ''Less Moroccans'' in the Netherlands. Marine Le Pen still fights the battles of her father; Jean Marrie Le Pen, for a white dominated France. Right-wing nationalism in Hungary has grown since the collapse of the Stalinist; People's Republic of Hungary. Ethnic minorities are blamed for high crime rates and poverty, caused by capitalist exploitation of Hungarians. Jobbik supporters have shown their hatred of Jews as well, Gábor Vona called them a ''danger to national security''!

Revolutionary socialists for a socialist Europe. A Europe under control of workers councils. Some socialist political parties believe that they can build a more human and social society in their own nations, win out Europe. These parties are still mislead by the Stalinist concept of socialism in one nation. Capitalism however is internationalist and therefore socialism must be internationalist. The problem is that many socialist and communist parties are still trapped in this Stalinist believe, that you can build a fair society inside your own borders. Workers of Europe must unite under the banner of a genuine democratic; European Socialist Federation. A voluntary federation supported by a majority of all European workers. Because the current EU is not voluntary created, there were never referendums in all European nations in 1992, only France, Denmark and Ireland held referendums on the ratification of the Maastricht treaty!

On 22 May we call for a leftist socialist vote against the European Union, for a socialist Europe under the control of ordinary people not bankers and unelected commissioners. Far-right forces are gathering strength, because the left-wing is lacking socialist ideals. Ireland shows us that a genuine Socialist Party can elect its people into parliaments. Therefore Paul Murphy must be re-elected into the European parliament as a fighter for workers and young people, against capitalism and European austerity!

 REJECT THESE RIGHT-WING LEADERS! 

South African elections, VOTE WASP

National elections in South Africa, the first after the death of Nelson Mandela. His African National Congress still enjoy's the support from the majority of the working class and will likely win again. But the party is slowly losing support, because after 20 years of ANC rule the working class has not become the masters of the South African economy. ANC leaders are not popular but because of the historic struggle against Apartheid, many voters still feel loyalty to the party of Nelson Mandela. There are two new leftist opposition parties to the ruling African National Congress. The Economic Freedom Fighters and the Workers and Socialist Party. Both the EFF and the WASP fight against the capitalist system, yet both parties have a different view of socialism and the way to reach it!

When we look at the Economic Freedom Fighters and the Workers and Socialist Party, we already see a major difference. The EFF is build up like an army, its leader called ''Commander in Chief'' and his supporters wear military style uniforms. Julius Sello Malema is the ''Commander in Chief'' of the Economic Freedom Fighters. He founded this political ''movement'' in august 2013, after he was expelled from the African National Congress for his opposition to the government of Jacob Zuma. Also as leader of the ANC youth, he held radical racial viewpoints as he called for a South Africa for blacks only!

Malema is also a supporter of Robert Mugabe, the dictator of Zimbabwe. Like Mugabe, the ''Commander in Chief'' of the EFF has been called a black supremacist. In 2011, Malema was convicted of hate speech by a South African court, a proof that he cannot be trusted. Yet the Economic Freedom Fighters support their ''Commander in Chief'' unconditionally. The official ideology of the EFF is a mixture of Marxism-Leninism ( Stalinist tradition ), black nationalism, anti-imperialism and Pan-Africanism. Because so many black workers are poor, the EFF is able to recruit many young blacks. They are true believers in what Julius Sello Malema is saying. Revolutionary socialists say that Malema's EFF is not a socialist alternative. The EFF is a top-down military-style movement. Their icons are leaders ( like Mugabe ) who are no alternative for workers and poor people. Leaders who are authoritarian and dictatorial, such people are no icons for workers to look up to!

The Workers and Socialist Party was not founded by one man. It was created by mine workers and members of the Democratic Socialist Movement. After the ANC and their puppet trade unions told the police to open fire on striking mine workers, many realized that the ANC was no longer the party of the working class. Striking committees and members of the DSM decided to build a new party for workers, a party on a socialist program. The Workers and Socialist Party has selected Moses Mayekiso to be its candidate for the upcoming presidential elections. Mayekiso joined the African National Congress in 1990 and became a central committee member of the South African Communist Party ( SACP ). He was part of the welcoming committee for Nelson Mandela's 1990 release from Victor Verster prison. Mayekiso now stands in opposition to the ANC and SACP because they betrayed the original socialist principals, on which the struggle against Apartheid was founded!

For this election, the WASP stands on the following principals! 

• Scrap the ANC’s neo-liberal National Development Plan – for a democratic socialist plan of production and development!

• Nationalisation under democratic working class and community control, the mines, the banks, the commercial farms, the big factories and big businesses– compensation only in cases of proven need (e.g. small shareholders and pension investments)

• Integrate all nationalised industry into a democratic socialist plan of production whose priority is the social needs of the majority not the private wealth of the elite!

• For a living minimum wage of 12.500 ZAR a month ( 1.142 U.S. dollars )

• To end labour broking, make all contract workers permanent!

• To end all retrenchments; re-employ all retrenched mineworkers with experience 
recognised!

• Massive investment in mining communities to provide decent housing, electrification, sanitation, roads, recreational facilities and other basic services for all!

• Struggle for the nationalisation of 100% of the mining industry immediately and place it under democratic worker and community control integrated into a society-wide democratic socialist plan of production!

These demands are rejected by the capitalist ANC, because they would ''harm'' the competitive nature of South African capitalists. But this is exactly what the ANC has done for the last 20 years, supporting the markets over workers, supporting the old white ruling class and new black capitalists. Mine workers have rejected the government of Jacob Zuma, the current ANC leader who lives in a luxurious compound, while millions of black workers live in poverty in South Africa. 

A big problem remains the unconditional loyalty of many black workers towards the ANC. They still feel loyalty to a party who has betrayed them since 1994. Even Nelson Mandela carried out the demands of the white ruling class and the IMF between 1994 and 1999. His successor Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki was a true capitalist politician. Under Mandela the ANC government was only moderate capitalist, but Mbeki completed the transformation of the African National Congress into a bourgeois capitalist party. Although Jacob Zuma was called more leftist then Mbeki, it proofed to be another ANC election stunt. Jacob Zuma plays the role of a populist during elections, but rules as a corrupt capitalist leader!

Many whites in South Africa vote on the Democratic Alliance ( DA ). This party is founded in 2000 and came out of the Democratic Party, the liberal democratic opposition to the racist; National Party. The DA is a liberal centrist party, fully supportive of capitalism and the rule of the markets. Unlike the ANC who still claims to be a leftist people's party, the Democratic Alliance always has been a party for the bourgeoisie. Leader of the DA is Otta Helene "Helen" Zille, a white anti-Apartheid fighter and mayor of Cape Town between 2006 and 2009!

A party who split from the ANC is the Congress of the People or COPE. The party split from the ANC in 2008 and got 7,24% in the last elections. But COPE is promoting capitalism and disavowed itself from any connection to Marxist socialism. The so called Congress of the People has also indicated that it would be willing to ally itself with the Democratic Alliance, the main liberal party of South Africa. This is why they are offering no alternatives, as COPE is just as capitalist as the ANC!

The Inkatha Freedom Party is a conservative party. Founded and led since 1975, by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the Inkatha Freedom Party rejected the leftist ANC during the struggle against Apartheid. The party allied itself with the Apartheid government, because Buthelezi was a Homeland leader and depended on the South African state and economy. His IFP and the ANC became bitter rivals during and after the end of Apartheid. Today the IFP can be called a conservative party that supports federalism!

Revolutionary socialists call for a vote on the Workers and Socialist Party. The Economic Freedom Fighters of Julius Sello Malema may attract many young and poor voters, but their top-down movement and elements of black nationalism will alienated white workers. Also Malema cannot be trusted as a revolutionary leader. He faces charges of tax evasion to the tune of 16 million ZAR after it was revealed that he was linked to companies that obtained lucrative contracts from locale governments. If the EFF takes power then South Africa will become a top-down centralized state, much like Zimbabwe. Malema may nationalize the economy, but a bureaucratic planned economy cannot work. You need workers self-management and decentralize planning. These elements are alien to Julius Sello Malema, who rules the EFF as ''Commander in Chief''.  

The Workers and Socialist Party offers a genuine democratic socialist alternative. WASP politicians ( if elected ) will live on a average workers salary and donate the rest to social movements. They will stand for a socialist South Africa, free from capitalist exploitation and poverty. Unlike the EFF we do not use ethnic nationalist rhetoric or praise dictatorial leaders. The Workers and Socialist Party is a workers party, build by mine workers and socialist activists!

We call on South African workers 
to vote on the WASP!