The Australian federal election has ended the reign of one of the most despised national governments the country has endured since WWII. Against a backdrop of the skyrocketing cost of living, a housing crisis, general economic malaise and intensifying concerns regarding climate change, the Scott Morrison-led (conservative) Liberal-National Coalition has been tossed aside by a population that is feeling the brunt of intensifying tumult.

Forty-two years ago this week, South Korea was engulfed in the flames of class struggle. Amidst the fight by the masses for democracy and to bring down the military, a heroic episode took place in Gwangju – a city of nearly one million people. The workers beat back a vicious military, and for a few days the working class de facto took over the running of the city, which was briefly under the control of armed workers’ militias.