National News
On the wages front
by New Worker correspondent
Now that Easter eggs are appearing in supermarkets it is an appropriate time to take out our crystal ball and attempt to look forward to forthcoming battles. While predictions are an uncertain science, it is reasonable to assume that the Government’s announcement that the review bodies for public sector workers will be awarding rises of 2.8 per cent for 2025 will not be universally accepted.
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A False Dawn
by New Worker correspondent
It was fortunate for him that Monday’s speech on the NHS by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was overshadowed by the latest intervention into British politics by American tech multi-billionaire Elon Musk, this time on the question of the child sex cases in the north of England.
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Free Gaza Medics!
by New Worker correspondent
Pro-Palestinian activists interrupted their seasonal celebrations to join an emergency vigil in London’s West End on 28th December against the Israeli military’s systematic destruction of hospitals in Gaza. The vigil in Piccadilly Circus was organised by the Health Workers 4 Palestine campaign that was co-founded by a group of doctors in October 2023 to combat the censorship they experienced when standing up for the rights of Palestinian health workers and the rights of Palestinians to healthcare.
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Scottish Political News
by our Scottish political affairs correspondent
Another year over so let’s see what 2025 might bring to Scottish politics. Opinion polls at the end of the year suggest that Scottish Labour is sharing in the unpopularity of Sir Keir Starmer and that the SNP will make a comeback. One poll put support for independence at 60 per cent, but no-one takes that very seriously, including the SNP leadership. Indeed, in his Christmas and New Year messages First Minister John Swinney carefully ignored the ‘I’ word entirely, instead pledging “to eradicate child poverty, to grow the economy, to tackle the climate crisis and to improve our public services”. Something we have heard a few times before
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International News
Not just an option but an imperative
by Jack Perry Jr, Global Times
The UK–China relationship has undoubtedly faced significant challenges in recent years. Diplomatic tensions, evolving global priorities, and domestic political shifts have all contributed to what can best be described as a delicate period. Amidst these challenges, however, there is a growing recognition that collaboration – particularly through business – presents a path forward
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Stop Ukrainian Nazism!
by Theo Russell
A candlelit vigil was held in Whitehall last Saturday to remember the thousands of journalists, bloggers, politicians, activists, priests, pensioners and sportspeople who have been arrested, and many tortured or murdered, since the February 2014 NATO-backed coup in Kiev.
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African communists stand by Ukrainian resistance
by New Worker correspondent
Activists from the South African Communist Party, the Zimbabwe Communist Party and the Communist Party of Swaziland have launched a new branch of International Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS) at a protest in Johannesburg on 27th December. The protest was held in co-ordination with the Union of Emigrants and Political Prisoners of Ukraine.
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Lithuanian patriots struggle for peace!
by Anthony Lee
Today we can observe very contradictory political processes taking place in Lithuania. Unfortunately Ukrainian flags fly there just like in many other, but not all, European countries. In some places pro-Ukrainian slogans are even heard, such as: “Let’s support the Ukrainian military! They will win!” More and more often however, we can already hear opposite statements: “Russia cannot be defeated. Ukrainian forces are weakening and losing the war.” Most Europeans want peace and believe that there is no reason to support or prolong a distant and unwanted war.
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Honouring Stalin in Moscow
by New Worker correspondent
Despite the usual freezing temperatures, hundreds of Muscovites gathered on Saturday 21st December in Red Square to commemorate the 145th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Stalin. Russian communist leader Gennady Zyuganov laid flowers on Stalin’s grave while hundreds of other communists, waving Soviet flags and holding portraits of Stalin, followed to pay tribute to the Soviet leader’s grave at the Kremlin wall by Lenin’s Mausoleum in the Russian capital. Similar events took place in other Russian cities as well, including St Petersburg, the former Czarist capital that was called Leningrad in Soviet days .
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Canada: Trudeau quits!
by Dave McKee, People’s Voice (Canada)
So, three weeks after the abrupt resignation of his Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, and amid a growing chorus of Liberal MPs and regional party caucuses calling for him to move aside, Justin Trudeau announced on 6th January that he will step down as Liberal Party leader.
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Features
Ukraine: Death before dishonour!
An open letter to Workers World from Mikhail and Alexander Kononovich
Dear Comrades
We would like to first draw your attention, comrades, to the fact that we, communists and anti-fascists, brothers Mikhail Kononovich and Alexander Kononovich, were arrested for our many years of “Komsomol [Communist Youth League] for Peace” actions, which we held in all the cities of Ukraine, starting in 201.4
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Soundtrack to a coup
by Bill Meyer, People’s World (USA)
Many progressives consider the assassination of the first Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba as among the earliest and certainly best known of the many regime change operations carried out by American imperialism. In 1961, at a time when the newly elected anti-colonialist leader promised the Congolese people independence, the USA, in cahoots with the Belgian colonisers, was working to break away the economically crucial southern mining province of Katanga while at the same time plotting to assassinate this bold charismatic leader.
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