A new moment in Britain

The EU referendum has brought into the open stark divisions within the Tory party, raising the real prospect of a split. This crisis of capitalist political representation is being played out as the fate of the Corbyn insurgency within the Labour Party is still unresolved. In extracts from a statement discussed at the Socialist Party’s recent congress we look at the new period that is unfolding in Britain.

Ireland: government routed as new left rises

Ireland’s Fine Gael/Labour Party coalition government was routed in general elections on 26 February. A deep class anger at the government’s austerity, especially at the Labour Party’s betrayal of working people, saw voters inflict a humiliating defeat on both parties. The political panorama has been totally transformed and fragmented, with a new socialist left rising to prominence. DANNY BYRNE reports.

When Khrushchev denounced Stalin

Sixty years ago Nikita Khrushchev stunned Communist Party members around the world with a speech attacking Stalin, the then recently deceased dictator deified as the Soviet Union’s ‘great leader’. It sparked revolt against the rotten regimes in Russia and eastern Europe. Ultimately, it showed that top-down Stalinist rule had reached its limits. NIALL MULHOLLAND writes.