The presence at our Conference of a leading member of the Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP) was an event of historic significance. Although this was not the first time a Republican Socialist had attended an international gathering of the tendency, this was the first time the IRSP decided to send an observer in an official capacity.

In the first week of August 2004 a meeting of almost 300 Marxists from 26 countries, including Venezuela and Cuba, met in Spain to discuss the world situation and the tasks of the international revolutionary Marxist tendency. This was for many reasons an historic turning point that registered a qualitative advance of the forces of Marxism on a world scale.

This book by Ted Grant is a unique contribution to the history of British Trotskyism. It begins with the debate on Trotskyism in the British Communist Party in 1924 and ends with the break-up of the Revolutionary Communist Party in 1949 and the beginning of more than thirty years of work within the Labour Party. Ted Grant was the founder and political leader of the “Militant Tendency”, which haunted the Labour leadership, and was eventually expelled along with the Militant editorial board in 1983. A postscript by Rob Sewell, who was the national organiser for the Militant throughout the 1980s, brings this unique history up to date.

We have just received an inspiring report of the congress of The Struggle which was the largest congress of any Marxist, communist, or left party ever held in Pakistan. Esteban Volkov (Trotsky's grandson) was present, who also attended the launching of the Urdu language edition of Trotsky's My Life. In addition there is a report on the March 20 antiwar demonstration in Lahore, and the commemoration of Bhagat Singh, a fighter for independence hanged by the British imperialists in 1924.

The In Defence of Marxism web site is not merely a site where you can find interesting Marxist material. The site is an expression of a political tendency active in many countries. Our aim is to develop a Marxist current within the labour movement of all countries, with the long-term objective of winning the whole of the labour movement and its organisations to the ideas of revolutionary socialism.

As our readers will be aware, comrade Alan Woods, the editor of the In Defence of Marxism web site, was in Argentina for 10 days, from December 1 to 10. The balance sheet of this visit is extraordinarily positive. It has made the ideas and publications of this web site and political tendency better known in Argentina. The main purpose of the visit was to present the Spanish edition of Reason in Revolt (Razon y Revolucion) in Argentina. The interest was so great that all the copies of Reason in Revolt were sold out. In all, over 300 people attended the five different events we organised. And many people left their addresses to be contacted for our future activities.

Trotsky's struggle with Stalin was a life or death struggle. It was a struggle to defend the clean banner of Lenin against the growing bureaucratic reaction within the Soviet state and party. Rob Sewell examines the origins of Trotskyism in Britain.

This book by Ted Grant is a unique contribution to the history of British Trotskyism. It begins with the debate on Trotskyism in the British Communist Party in 1924 and ends with the break-up of the Revolutionary Communist Party in 1949 and the beginning of more than thirty years of work within the Labour Party. Ted Grant was the founder and political leader of the “Militant Tendency”, which haunted the Labour leadership, and was eventually expelled along with the Militant editorial board in 1983.