On Friday, Brazilian workers and unions led the first general strike in Brazil for over two decades, protesting austerity measures, and in particular harsh cuts in pensions, which are being implemented by the corrupt Temer government.

Alan Woods, editor of In Defence of Marxism, discusses the recent results of the first round of the French presidential elections. Above all, these results represented a shattering of the status quo, with a complete collapse of the traditional parties of the centre left and the centre right.