Australia is currently the third wealthiest country in the world. Most Australians would probably feel like that statement cannot be correct. And that’s median wealth, so overall a lot of Australians are wealthier than most…
The Australian political scene has been subject to a shake-up never seen before. The once steady Labor-Coalition duopoly has become massively discredited in the eyes of the working masses. Labor has failed to improve the lives of workers at home and has backed the Israeli state while it carries out its genocide on Gaza and atrocities in the West-Bank, while the leadership of the Liberal-National coalition have floundered about. Consequently, One Nation has seen a serious bump in the polls, primarily due to its anti-establishment veil.
The crisis of capitalism has many expressions: new wars and inter-imperialist conflicts, environmental destruction, the growing chasm between rich and poor, the decline of science and culture, etc. One especially conspicuous symptom of capitalism’s failure is its inability to meet the basic human need for adequate housing, even in the wealthiest countries.
AI is seeing a huge growth of investment due to stagnant growth in the global economy generally. It is largely an attempt by industrial monopolists to lower the cost of production and remain competitive as the global market marches towards decline. The short-sighted nature imposed by private ownership and competition leads our economic overlords not to actually solve the crises, but to put off the effects until a later date, ‘kicking the can down the road’. Contradictorily, the massive investment undermines the very consumer base these profits are realised from by cutting jobs in the pursuit of profit and thus reducing the purchasing power of the average worker, not to mention the inflation eroding real wages due to its lack of meaningful use to the economy.
The Australian trade union movement today finds itself in a peculiar position. It remains, despite everything, the largest organised expression of the working class in this country. More than a million workers remain union members.
The ‘joint statement on energy security’, the signed partnership between Australia and Japan as answer to both advanced capitalist states growing economic instability amidst the ongoing war on Iran, reveals more than a cobbled together response to the global fuel shortage.
The oil blockade decreed by Trump on 29 January is slowly but surely asphyxiating Cuba, which relies on oil imports for 60 percent of its energy production. The Cuban government has admitted talks are taking place with the United States, but these take place in conditions of extreme imperialist blackmail. How can the Cuban Revolution be defended?
The war in Iran, which started as a reckless gamble on the part of Trump, is developing into a significant strategic defeat for US imperialism, which can have important consequences for the world economy, the position of America as a world power, and world relations in general.
The economic and social consequences of US and Israeli imperialism’s war on Iran continue to rip through Asia and the Pacific. Australia, formerly a bastion of stability in the region, is facing its worst economic crisis in years, and the ruling class is becoming increasingly desperate. What for many was previously unthinkable has now become reality. Alarm bells are sounding across the ‘Lucky Country’.
The first casualty of war is truth. This is also the case of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. Marxists need to be able to cut through the fog of lies and war propaganda and analyse the real reasons behind the conflict; what has caused it; and the real interests that lie behind the excuses and justifications of the different parties involved. Above all, we must do so from the point of view of the interests of the world working class.
This February, the leadership of the Revolutionary Communist International met in Italy to assess the world situation and how the forces of communism are being gathered and trained around the globe, and to plan ahead. Below we publish a transcript of a talk on the world situation by Jorge Martín of the International Secretariat of the RCI, assessing where the world is going in these turbulent first months of 2026.
The war in the Middle East, ignited by the US and Israel’s full-scale attack on Iran, has dealt a hammer blow to the world economy. Asia, though bearing no responsibility for Trump and Netanyahu’s reckless adventure, is among the heaviest casualties of the economic fallout. As the war rages with no end in sight, Asian workers must be ready to resist any attempt by the ruling class to make them foot the bill.
