Germany: the youth, Die Linke and the class struggle Young people are looking for change, a dignified life and meaningful and secure work. This desire for a better society must sooner or later turn into class struggle. The electoral success of Die Linke has revealed the militant mood among young people. Shortly before the election, Die Linke was able to strengthen its reputation as a force for social justice and, above all, as a champion against racism and reactionary migration policies. The vote in the Bundestag between the CDU and AFD in favour of a racist asylum bill sent a shockwave through the youth. Die Linke countered this by saying that it would ‘take to the barricades’ against racism, austerity, rearmament and war. This was the central factor that enabled Die Linke to achieve its surprising electoral success. This promise to fight inspired a broad section of young people to get behind Die Linke. The party was able to build on the militant energy with which hundreds of thousands demonstrated against Friedrich Merz (CDU) and the AfD. Die Linke is perceived as a militant party that opposes the open racism and brutal austerity policies of the established parties in Berlin. In doing so, it has been able to tap into the concerns of a large proportion of young people. Yet Die Linke has been in a deep crisis for years. …
https://marxist.com/germany-the-youth-die-linke-and-the-class-struggle.htmGustavo Petro’s Final YearThe first left-wing government in Colombia’s recent history enters its fourth and final year with the same sense of instability that has accompanied it from the start, a result of its lack of a parliamentary majority and the relentless pressure from economic, media, and judicial elites. Some of the reforms promised in 2022 have been approved, while others remain stalled in a Congress controlled by the traditional parties, and the goal of “total peace” with domestic armed groups remains a dream. The outcome of the 2026 elections will depend on the final balance of the government’s reformist agenda, Petro’s ability to mobilize his supporters, and the conservative opposition’s capacity to unite behind candidates. The former M-19 guerrilla turned president is well aware that the streets are the battleground where he can outmaneuver conservative forces. That is why he responded to the Senate’s rejection of his labor reform, which sought to reduce working hours and improve overtime pay, by calling for a popular referendum on the measure. For the referendum to succeed, it needs 13.5 million votes, a very difficult figure to achieve given Petro was elected with 11.2 million votes. However, polls show majority support for holding the vote, suggesting the appeal of Petro’s anti-elitist rhetoric against opposition lawmakers. Even if the referendum does not take place, the Pacto Histórico, Petro’s broad-left coalition, has found in the referendum a rallying cry to mobilize its base and political momentum for the Left at a time when the government’s perceived decay was becoming unsustainable.
https://jacobin.com/2025/04/colombia-petro-election-pacto-historicoJack London: The Scab The laborer who gives more time or strength or skill for the same wage than another, or equal time or strength or skill for a less wage, is a scab. This generousness on his part is hurtful to his fellow-laborers, for it compels them to an equal generousness which is not to their liking, and which gives them less of food and shelter. But a word may be said for the scab. Just as his act makes his rivals compulsorily generous, so do they, by fortune of birth and training, make compulsory his act of generousness. He does not scab because he wants to scab. No whim of the spirit, no burgeoning of the heart, leads him to give more of his labor power than they for a certain sum. It is because he cannot get work on the same terms as they that he is a scab. There is less work than there are men to do work. This is patent, else the scab would not loom so large on the labor-market horizon. Because they are stronger than he, or more skilled, or more energetic, it is impossible for him to take their places at the same wage. To take their places he must give more value, must work longer hours or receive a smaller wage. He does so, and he cannot help it, for his will "to live" is driving him on as well as they are being driven on by their will "to live"; and to live he must win food and shelter, which he can do only by receiving permission to work from some man who owns a bit of land or a piece of machinery. And to receive permission from this man, he must make the transaction profitable for him. Viewed in this light, the scab, who gives more labor power for a certain price than his fellows, is not so generous after all. He is no more generous with his energy than the chattel slave and the convict laborer, who, by the way, are the almost perfect scabs. They give their labor power for about the minimum possible price. But, within limits, they may loaf and malinger, and, as scabs, are exceeded by the machine, which never loafs and malingers and which is the ideally perfect scab.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/london/1903/04/05.htm