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02/11/2026

On this day, 1 November 1954, the Algerian revolution began as Algerians rose up against French colonial rule, and launched 70 simultaneous attacks on police and military targets around the country between midnight and 3 AM.
The French military responded to the rebellion with extreme brutality, using widespread torture and killing hundreds of thousands of people, mostly civilians. Later on, French paramilitaries joined the conflict, carrying out terrorist attacks and murders of Algerian civilians.
Back at home, French police murdered scores of people who demonstrated against French colonialism, mostly French Muslims and French Algerians, but also several white French communists.
In total, French forces killed between 400,000 and 1.5 million Algerians, while losing around 25,000 troops, but the anti-colonial struggle continued until independence was achieved in 1962.
This is one of hundreds of stories featured in our book, Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance & Rebellion, available with global shipping: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/working-class-history-everyday-acts-resistance-rebellion-book
Pictured: Algerian guerrilla fighters

01/11/2026

On this day, 30 October 1831, the previously-enslaved rebel leader Nat Turner was captured in Virginia. Two months prior, Turner and six other men enslaved by the Travis-Moore family in Southampton County began a rebellion, killing the family while they slept. They proceeded to go from house-to-house, killing enslavers, taking horses and recruiting more rebel fighters.
Eventually white authorities sent in armed militia as well as state and federal troops and succeeded in suppressing the uprising, but Turner escaped and went into hiding. After his arrest, Turner was tried, convicted, hanged and skinned. 54 other Black people were also executed, and up to 200 others murdered by white mobs in revenge attacks.
However, other white people in the state began to advocate abolishing slavery, or repatriating all enslaved and free Black people to Liberia. In 1832 public pressure forced an abolitionist bill to be considered by the Virginia state legislature but it failed to get enough votes to pass, and instead harsh repressive laws were passed against free and enslaved Black people to limit their rights to associate and learn to read to try to prevent future rebellions.
Learn more about global Black revolt in this excellent book: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/books/products/a-history-of-pan-african-revolt-c-l-r-james

Suez 1956 – the crisis of western imperialism - By TED GRANTThis article from the archives, written in 1956, is republis...
29/10/2026

Suez 1956 – the crisis of western imperialism - By TED GRANT

This article from the archives, written in 1956, is republished here to mark the seventieth anniversary of what became known as the Suez Crisis, in October 1956. Ted Grant, (1913-2006) a leading Marxist theoretician and activist in Britian, provides a clear class analysis, both in terms of the geo-politics of the region and the crisis of British imperialism.

Following the nationalisation of the Suez Canal by the Egyptian leader, Nasser, Israel, France and Britain invaded Egypt. But all three countries came under heavy political pressure from both the United States and the Soviet Union to withdraw, which they duly did. The crisis is now recognised a watershed moment in the historic decline of the power and influence of British imperialism. Read article... https://www.left-horizons.com/2026/10/29/suez-1956-the-crisis-of-western-imperialism/

Autumn 1946 : Chinese Communists defeat nationalist armies four times their size in Central JiangsuAndy Ford continues h...
28/10/2026

Autumn 1946 : Chinese Communists defeat nationalist armies four times their size in Central Jiangsu

Andy Ford continues his series of articles on the 80-year anniversary of the Chinese Revolution.
Over the course of autumn 1946, Chiang Kai-Shek continued his ‘general offensive’ against areas held by the Chinese Communist Party guerillas, organised in their emerging army, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Although his forces held a numerical superiority and were well armed (courtesy of the American taxpayer) they did not win the expected knockout blows against the PLA, who deployed superior tactics, had better morale, and enjoyed mass support in the countryside. Read full article... https://www.left-horizons.com/2026/10/28/autumn-1946-chinese-communists-defeat-nationalist-armies-four-times-their-size-in-central-jiangsu/

Labour approve Jackdaw gas field – No to more fossil fuels. For a socialist green transition!We look at the recent gover...
27/10/2026

Labour approve Jackdaw gas field – No to more fossil fuels. For a socialist green transition!

We look at the recent government decisions re fossil fuel extraction and then reprint an extract from our recent booklet “A socialist Programme for the Green party.”

The Burnham government’s decision to authorise drilling in the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea, while not unexpected, has left many socialists, trade unionists and climate activists angry and bewildered. This is a capitulation to the fossil fuel lobby. And the possible development of the Rosebank oil field would be even more disastrous.

It is disappointing, to say the least, that Unite and the GMB have enthusiastically welcomed this decision. The trade union and labour movement must join with the the Green party and environmental campaigners to fiercely oppose any permission to develop Jackdaw and Rosebank. It is likely to be opposed by another wave of direct action. The trade union leaders must organise campaigns against these new fossil fuel extraction schemes. Read full article... https://www.left-horizons.com/2026/10/27/labour-approve-jackdaw-gas-field-no-to-more-fossil-fuels-for-a-socialist-green-transition/

France’s pouvoir d’achat crisis - From Michael Roberts blogThe recent high school and student protests in France have a ...
26/10/2026

France’s pouvoir d’achat crisis - From Michael Roberts blog

The recent high school and student protests in France have a simple objective: to get more resources for education. France’s education crisis is defined by severe teacher shortages, deteriorating student outcomes, and massive funding deficits. State education in France is among the most unequal in the developed world: schools in poorer areas are so under-resourced that the education system is cementing inequality. Students from the poorest neighbourhoods are disproportionately hard hit by staff shortages. French students have experienced a catastrophic and unprecedented 20% drop in the education budget per student since 2017 and French teachers’ salaries consistently fall below the average for advanced economies (OECD).
Although inequalities of income and wealth in France are not nearly so extreme as in the United States, they are still grotesque. Indeed, inequality has worsened in the last 40 years. There is a severe "pouvoir d'achat" (purchasing power) crisis. Read full article... https://www.left-horizons.com/2026/10/26/frances-pouvoir-dachat-crisis/

Film Review: NAZA – the cold depravity of Israel’s killing machine.By Ray GoodspeedEveryone should watch this film. Many...
25/10/2026

Film Review: NAZA – the cold depravity of Israel’s killing machine.
By Ray Goodspeed

Everyone should watch this film. Many should be forced to. It is a British documentary film written and directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, which consists of a series of interviews with members of the Israeli military – the so-called Israeli Defence Force (IDF) – in which they set out, in response to calm, neutral questioning, exactly how the people of Gaza were systematically and deliberately murdered, using various forms of advanced technology as well as more traditional weaponry. In places it is almost unbearable to watch.

It is striking that these young men and women are not, on the face of it, uniquely evil or psychopathic killers, at least not at first. They are the product of an ideology and a society and a system of military training and discipline and that has weakened or destroyed their normal human instincts.
Who knows – those guilty of genocide, not just individual soldiers but those giving out the orders and fomenting such hatred, may be brought to justice in future. Read full article... https://www.left-horizons.com/2026/10/25/film-review-naza-the-cold-depravity-of-israels-killing-machine/

UNITE the union: democratise the Labour Party link!By Andy Ford - Unite EC member for the Health section.Voices are curr...
24/10/2026

UNITE the union: democratise the Labour Party link!
By Andy Ford - Unite EC member for the Health section.

Voices are currently being raised in Unite, and other unions, against the affiliation of the unions to the Labour Party. But before we walk out of the Labour Party – to who knows where? – maybe we should get our own house in order.
The Unite link with the Labour Party has numerous democratic deficits, deliberately inserted by previous union leaderships to give them control. The system in Unite excludes no fewer than 99% of those members who pay the political levy, and no fewer than 95% of those Unite members who are also members of the Labour Party! Read full article... https://www.left-horizons.com/2026/10/23/unite-the-union-democratise-the-labour-party-link/

The day of October 17, 2026: mass protests in FranceBy Boris Campo - La Riposte, and secretary of the PCF in Lorient, Br...
22/10/2026

The day of October 17, 2026: mass protests in France
By Boris Campo - La Riposte, and secretary of the PCF in Lorient, Brittany.

October 17, 2026, brought together nearly a million people in more than 1,700 rallies across the country. This protest is one of the most important in numbers and especially in intensity over the 10 years since Macron came to power. It began at the start of the school year, in September. by young people in high schools, starting with those in working-class areas, and then spread to university students and other categories of the population, including trade unionists, political activists, former Yellow Vests [Gilets Jaune], and many angry parents.
The movement started by the youth has opened a breach. It has brought public anger into public debate. It has put the government in serious difficulty. What explosions of anger cannot do is to stop the machinery of capitalist exploitation. Those who produce wealth, the working people, have the power to do this. A truly general strike could paralyse the economy and create a balance of power much more favourable to the movement. This is why our task is twofold: keep up the pressure, and to build towards a general strike. Read full article... https://www.left-horizons.com/2026/10/22/the-day-of-october-17-2026-mass-protests-in-france/

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