Western Europe
Over 10,000 Deutsche Telekom workers walk off the job
More than 10,000 Deutsche Telekom employees refused to turn up for work last Friday to protest the company's plans to outsource 50,000 jobs.
The strikes have also spread to a team wiring up services for officials and the media at the G8 summit next month on the Baltic coast.
Bolshevism and Stalinism - Paul Mattick
Mattick analyses "the superficiality of the ideological differences between Stalinism and Trotskyism" and why "Trotsky's own past and theories", with his role in the construction of the Russian regime, "condemned 'Trotskyism' to remain a mere collecting agency for unsuccessful Bolsheviks".
Article source: The Council Communist Archive - www.kurasje.org
The largest collection of Mattick's work is at the Paul Mattick homepage - http://www.home.no/mattick/
'Bolshevism and Stalinism' was originally published in Politics Vol. 4 - no. 2 - Mar/Apr 1947.
Anti-Bolshevist Communism in Germany - Paul Mattick
The council-communist Paul Mattick looks back at the German revolution he participated in.
He describes the conflicts and tensions between the various political factions; between communist revolutionaries and social democracy, between German revolutionaries and Russian Bolshevism. He discusses reasons for the failure of the revolution in the context of the wider international situation and the development trends of capitalism.
France: Metal workers defend undocumented colleagues
Workers at the Métal Couleur Système factory in Bonneuil went on strike after 19 of their colleagues were fired due to their immigration status.
The workers were originally fired towards the end of January, after a government inspection of the factory showed that 19 of the factory's 64 workers. The worker's contracts were cancelled after the inspector declared that they were using false papers.
Sweden: Wildcat strikes break out in mines
Miners at Sweden's state-owned mining company LKAB started the unsanctioned walkout on Monday, and on Tuesday morning work was at a standstill in Kiruna, in the far north of Sweden.
Harry Rantakyrö, chairman of the mineworkers' union told thelocal.se "In Malmberget [in Lappland] there was a complete stoppage in the mines last night. And I have not heard anything other than that it will continue today."
France: university strikes and occupations against Sarkozy
After the election of Nicolas Sarkozy as President of France there have been successive protests each night, mostly ending in confrontation with the police.
The has been a lot of unrest in France and yesterday; at an general meeting (AG) students at Tolbiac in Paris voted to go on strike and occupy the university. Some 700 of the campus's 10,000 students were present at the AG. It is being reported that some 500 students occupied the buildings overnight.
1900: The assassination of King Umberto I of Italy
A short account of the assassination of King Umberto I of Italy in revenge for the brutal suppression of a workers' demonstration in Milan which left hundreds dead.
See also our biography of Gaetano Bresci
Bresci, Gaetano, 1869-1901
A short account of the life of Gaetano Bresci, who in 1900 assassinated King Umberto I of Italy in response to a massacre of workers in Milan.
Italian taxi drivers back on strike
Almost a year after a wave of wildcat strikes, cab drivers in Italy struck again yesterday against liberalisation of the industry.
Xinhuanet.com reported that Italian taxi drivers resumed strike action Tuesday to protest against government plans to deregulate the sector.
Taxi union officials said some 25,000 cabbies were taking part in the one-day stoppage which caused havoc as travelers left stranded at airports, stations and taxi ranks.
Freemasonry - its historic role
A brief history of the development of freemasonry, its relationship to politics, its mythology and its practice.
Freemasonry has long had a relationship to the politics of both left and right. Bourgeois revolutionaries in France and America and modern mainstream politicians have all been members, as were some founding members of the 1st International.
From; "The Wordworth Dictionary of the Occult"; Andre Nataf, Wordworth, 1991.
