On Wednesday 9 February, climate activists Orla Murphy and Zac Lumley, will appear at the District Court in Dublin to face serious criminal damage charges, for which they could face up to a year in prison. The ‘crime’ they are accused of committing? Peacefully protesting against the inaction of the Irish government in the face of climate change by painting the words “No More Empty Promises” on the front of a government building. In the case of Zac Lumley, a supporter of the Irish Marxists (IMT Ireland), he is accused of merely live-streaming the protest.

In November 1918, Germany exploded into revolution. In the spring of 1919, the working class succeeded in seizing power and declaring a Bavarian Soviet Republic. In its short, heroic lifetime, the republic had to fight not only against open counter-revolution, but also against the results of its own inexperience. This article was first published in the theoretical magazine ‘In Defence of Marxism’. Get your copy of the latest issue here.