There has been much confusion on the left about the events that have unfolded in Syria in the past five years, with some supporting Assad as a supposed "anti-imperialist", while others have supported the so-called "Syrian revolution", de facto ending up in the same camp as the western imperialists who support the so-called "moderate rebels". In order to cut though this fog of confusion it is necessary to analyse the nature of the Assad regime, what it was and what it became, and also the process which cut across the initial revolutionary movement of the Syrian youth in 2011, transforming revolution very quickly into counter-revolution. Here we provide a list of the key articles we have produced on this process.

We are on the eve of the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the most important event in world history. The first time the working class took power and held it. This anniversary also takes place at a time of severe crisis of the capitalist system. The euphoria of capitalist commentators 25 years ago, at the time of the collapse of Stalinism, has turned into depression and deep worry for the future of their own system. This confirms Ted Grant’s prediction at the time when he said that the collapse of Stalinism was only a prelude to a new period of crisis for capitalism, which would make the former look like a tea party by comparison.