EVIDENCE on all fronts shows we’re in the midst of global economic, social, political, military and climate crises that are on a scale unprecedented in their severity and depth in many of our lifetimes.

Into this scenario enters the returning Trump, launching a new phase in the ongoing war of US imperialism against the majority of humanity.

This is reflected internally in a deeply reactionary agenda, spearheaded by billionaires with radical plans to make it easier to sack workers, targetting already pitiful levels of public spending in terms of health and welfare; and a barrage of hate against black and migrant communities, women, disabled and LGBTQ+ people that involves revoking years of hard-won steps towards equality.

Internationally, already there are moves towards economic warfare against — and mass deportations with devastating consequences to — nearby countries such as Mexico and Honduras.

Then there is talk of sanctions on China; blockading Venezuela (or if the New York Times gets its way a military adventure); pushing for “regime change” in Iran as part of drives to dominate the Middle East; and commitment to a nuclear arms race threatening the future of humanity.

Enabling a massive increase in fossil fuel extraction in the US, alongside withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, show they will literally wage war on the planet itself.

These are not the actions of the world’s mightiest power in its prime. Instead, they are those of an incresingly desperate empire seeking unsuccessfully to reverse its economic decline and hold off the emerging new global economic reality, not least the rise of China.

These developments are reflected deeply in Britain, where the decline of the first dominant imperialist power continues unabated, with none of the ruling-class neoliberal “solutions,” from the 1970s to today, able to reverse it.

Void of any new ideas, unwilling to tax the rich, and desperate to appease the markets (ie ensuring the profits keep rolling in for the 1 per cent) Rachel Reeves is the latest Chancellor to search for massive cuts, which will cause much suffering.

These moves will meet resistance from sections of the labour movement and beyond — and as that intensifies, we can expect further restrictions on our civil liberties, alongside yet more demonisation of migrants and refugees.

Internationally, Britain clings desperately to the coattails of the US at any cost, as shown by the current Foreign Secretary’s unedifying fawning over Trump, having previously called him a “tyrant” and “a woman-hating, neonazi-sympathising sociopath.”

And the situation in the other imperialist heartlands — including France, Germany, and Japan — is also dire.

This overall desperate economic situation — and lack of routes out of it with capitalist formulas — also directly link to the drive of these counties towards permanent wars.

This has been starkly illustrated by the genocide on Gaza — made possible by the sale of weapons by the US and Britain. As Lenin said: “War is a ‘terrible’ thing? Yes. But it is a terribly profitable thing.”

Yet, Israel’s assault has been responded to by militant, mass, sustained movements for Palestine.

The base of these movements have made the links between the twin drives for war and profits with slogans around ending arms sales, and for welfare not warfare.

In this sense, anger at Israel’s war — and the US-UK backing of it — has acted as a lightning rod for anger at the whole rotten capitalist system.

The attempts to intimidate protesters for Palestine — from Braverman’s actions as Home Secretary to recent police actions — have highlighted the role of the state in protecting the war-mongerers and those who profit from them.

The agenda of both the returning Trump and the crisis-ridden Starmer-led government then, in their own ways, illustrate the connections between the wars we see on our TV screens, the repressive actions of the state we see on our streets, and the megaprofits we read about alongside gloomy forecasts of the economic outlook for the rest of us.

How though can we develop our understanding of this? And use this understanding to forge movements that can change the world? Here, perhaps surprisingly to some new activists, both inspiration and insight can be found in the works and method of a great socialist and democrat responding to the catastrophe of WWI over 100 years ago.

In Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Lenin wrote: “Monopolies, oligarchy, the striving for domination and not for freedom, the exploitation of an increasing number of small or weak nations by a handful of the richest or most powerful nations — all these have given birth to those distinctive characteristics of imperialism which compel us to define it as parasitic or decaying capitalism.”

These words ring truer than ever. And when one takes the time to re-explore his writings on many other issues — from the functioning of capitalist economies; to the role of movements in the global South in helping to spearhead the liberation of humanity; to the need for anti-war internationalism to be at the centre of socialist activity — you find not only ideas still relevant, but also a method of thinking which can help us get to grips with the world.

To this end, the series of events organised under the banner of Lenin 100 has reached far more people than the small band of volunteers behind it could have imagined. Over 1,500 different people have pre-registered for events, and YouTube viewers are 25,000 and counting.

Interaction from participants throughout has confirmed they are not “armchair revolutionaries,” but people engaged in struggle, with Palestine campaigners fittingly the most prominent.

Join us Sunday for the next event — and then in exciting developments in socialist political education in the months ahead.

Matt Willgress is a volunteer for the ‘Lenin 100’ series.Follow at https://twitter.com/lenin100Britain and watch back at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8EACsybbE37JIQ9lL8kAGaVCb2mMC-US&si=...
Online event - Sunday January, 26, 3pm. Hear former advisor to Jeremy Corbyn Steve Howell on 100 years on - what would Lenin make of the world today? Register at bit.ly/lenin100january