Europe

NATO is an international counter-revolutionary apparatus created to defend the imperialist-capitalist order against the revolutionary struggle of the working class. It is a military-political instrument constructed by the bourgeoisie to suppress working-class organization, socialist movements, and national liberation struggles throughout the world. The fact that NATO neither dissolved nor diminished after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, despite the disappearance of its alleged enemy, but instead expanded continuously, demonstrates that its true function has never been “defense against communism.” Its real purpose has always been the global defense of the capitalist order and imperialist hegemony. Today, the struggle against NATO is not merely a matter of foreign policy. It is an inseparable part of defending the democratic rights of the working class, trade union freedoms, and the struggle for social emancipation. Against imperialist wars, against the clandestine machinery of the state, against capitalist barbarism, the genuine alternative is the independent, united, socialist struggle of the international working class.

NATO is not merely a military defence organisation; it is an aggressive structure safeguarding the global political and economic order of US imperialism. In this century, the economic centre of gravity is gradually shifting from the Atlantic to the Pacific. As China becomes the world’s second-largest economy, a significant portion of global trade and production is concentrating in Asia. Consequently, China’s rise is now not merely an economic issue, but a geopolitical one. We view this as the emergence of a new imperialist power; the unipolar world is giving way once more to a multipolar power struggle. As Europe’s security concerns grow, Turkiye’s geopolitical position and military strength will become one of the key factors bearing a significant portion of this burden. So, what price will Turkiye’s working people have to pay for this expanding role within NATO?

War lords and partners in interest in the Epstein scandals are gathering in Ankara on 7–8 July under the guise of the NATO Summit. It is clear that this summit, at which the strategies of US imperialism and its allies to turn the world into a plunder ground and a battlefield will be discussed, will bring no benefit whatsoever to either the Turkish working class or the peoples of the world.

As we explained in the first part of this article, the European Union (EU)—the unified apparatus of big capital in European countries created in a world where U.S. supremacy was unchallenged—is the product of a world order in crisis, one that no longer exists as we knew it after World War II. In this turbulent context, the EU has entered an existential crisis, with its economy in decline relative to those of the U.S. and China and doomed by Trump’s new foreign policy, which explicitly aims to dismantle it.

The European Union (EU), the unified apparatus of big capital in European countries created in a world where U.S. supremacy was unchallenged, is the product of a world order in crisis—one that no longer exists as we knew it after World War II. In this turbulent context, the EU has entered an existential crisis, with its economy in decline relative to those of the U.S. and China and doomed by Trump’s new foreign policy, which explicitly aims to dismantle it.

The annulment decision targeting a CHP party congress and the attempts to reinstall former chair Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu at the head of the party through the judiciary, acting on orders from Erdoğan's Palace like a court-appointed guardian, is proof that the institutions and constitutional order of the bourgeois regime in Türkiye have ceased to function even at a symbolic level. The Supreme Election Council (YSK), which since 1950 existed as the guarantor of electoral security within bourgeois democracy, has now become a direct apparatus of the Palace judiciary. What we face is not a legal process but a political coup; therefore, these decisions are illegitimate. Yet merely stating this does not solve the problem. The solution lies in organizing a broader and more radical united struggle rising from the streets.

May 20th marks the 30th anniversary of the death of Akın Reçber; the Fourth Red Rose (Turkish: Dördüncü Kızıl Gülü) of May Day 1996, who died on May 20, 1996 as a result of the brutal torture he endured in police custody. Despite the brutal torture, Akın Reçber resisted to the end, and for thirty years his courage and determination have continued to live on in our struggle.

Well before Magyar took office, the LGBTQI+ rights and labor movements won significant victories against Orban. Securing those victories will require Hungarian workers to get ready to face the new boss

How can we defend unconditional support for the Palestinian liberation struggle—including the right to resistance—within the space of bourgeois democracy, especially when the government seeks precisely to suppress that support? The answer lies neither in adapting to the rules of the game nor in an abstract rejection of the legal arena. It is possible—and necessary—to use the very contradictions of bourgeois democracy against it. How can revolutionaries and those in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle use the formal freedoms of bourgeois democracy—freedom of speech, assembly, and the press; due process of law—to defend the right to self-determination, which includes, as the UN itself recognizes, “the struggle by all available means, including armed struggle”? This is the central contradiction we face. On the one hand, liberal democracies have been passing laws that equate anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, criminalizing BDS, banning slogans like “from the river to the sea,” and persecuting activists. On the other hand, we know that abandoning the legal arena means abandoning the working class and the youth to repression without defense.

Around the world, Zionist organizations have been leading a charge against free speech based on cynical, false charges of antisemitism.

Straight from the middle of the Global Sumud Flotilla, Mandi Coelho interviews Andriy Movchan, a Ukrainian left organizer, also sailing in the Flotilla, who organizes with the european network for solidarity with Ukraine, and who is a political dissident facing persecution by the right-wing.

On the night of April 12, in Budapest, the capital of Hungary, thousands of people jubilantly filled the streets to celebrate the political and electoral defeat of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party, after 16 years of authoritarian government. A new historical stage had begun. Why did Orbán lose, and what does his […]

On 12 April, a new flotilla will set sail from Barcelona. Hundreds of activists are determined to break the blockade that Israel has imposed on Gaza, preventing any kind of humanitarian aid from entering. This is happening amid the inaction and complicity of European governments. This new flotilla aims to build on the mission of […]

Parliamentary elections were held in Hungary last Sunday. The results left no room for doubt: a massive rejection at the polls brought an end to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s sixteen-year rule. Moreover, Orbán’s defeat deals a serious blow to both Putin and Trump at the same time. As the results came in, a sea of people flooded the streets of Budapest and other cities. The Hungarian masses categorically refuse to continue down Orbán’s path. It remains to be seen—beyond his campaign promises—what course his successor, Péter Magyar, will take.

Beril Saydam Shangun and Tahsin Mert Saygin speak on organizing at private schools in Istanbul, Turkiye as part of Historical Materialism Conference 2026

Half a million people marched in London on 28 March against the far right and for many other reasons. It was organised by Together Alliance, a coalition formed in 2020 to oppose racism and the far right, which brought together over 80 organisations from trade unions to community groups, anti-racist organizations, and environmental activists.