On 12 May, the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INDEC) reported that inflation in April was 6%, pushing annualised inflation up to 58%, its highest level in thirty years. On the same day, hundreds of thousands of protesters arrived in Buenos Aires from all over the country, filling the Plaza de Mayo to participate in the Federal March organised by the unemployed workers’ organisation, Unidad Piquetera. The protest denounced hunger and poverty, and demanded work and wages.

This article was produced several months ago by our Italian comrades of Sinistra, Classe, Rivoluzione in response to a polemic by Francesco Ricci concerning the counter-revolutionary demonstration in Cuba last year, which he supported. Ricci’s organisation (the PDAC) inherits the tradition of Nahuel Moreno, a leader of the Argentine Trotskyist movement who historically swung back and forth between ultra leftism and opportunism.

The recent agreement between the IMF and Argentina, passed against the backdrop of mass protests, avoids through postponement what would otherwise have been an imminent default of its 2018 loan. The conditionalities of the agreement will mean a severe austerity programme, and the further subjection of the country to the IMF through quarterly inspections. The two parties are actually extremely unlikely to achieve their stated aims. The passing of the IMF agreement has opened up deep rifts within the ruling coalition Frente de Todos and is exerting powerful pressure towards national unity at the top to prevent a social explosion at the bottom.

Argentina’s approval of a one-off wealth tax has been presented as a model by some on the left in Britain, as well as in other Latin American countries – where the idea is very popular. What is its real content, however, and is it a useful proposal to deal with the crisis of capitalism and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic?

The COVID-19 pandemic has created one disaster after another in Latin America, exposing the naked contempt of the ruling class for the workers of the region. But with the memory of Red October still fresh, this explosive new development is preparing revolutionary upheaval in the near future.

We republish here an article Alan Woods wrote on 9 February 2002 as a polemic with the Argentinean Partido Obrero (PO - Workers’ Party) on the question of the slogan of a Constituent Assembly. The debate took place in the aftermath of the Argentinazo: the powerful uprising on 19-20 December 2001 against the government of De la Rúa, under the slogan of ¡Que se vayan todos! (Kick them all out). The mass uprising managed to overthrow one president after another and clearly posed the question of who ruled Argentina: the official institutions or the masses on the streets.

The Argentine comrades of Corriente Socialista Militante discuss the economic and social impact of the coronavirus. The workers cannot be made to pay for this disaster! They will not die so the bosses can continue to enrich themselves!

On 9 March, comrades of the IMT participated in marches and strikes in commemoration of the International Working Women’s Day in Argentina, participating in the mobilisations in Buenos Aires and Rosario. In both places, the marches were massive, in Rosario alone, more than 50,000 people gathered, including women, men and youth; a mix of political parties; feminist groups and unions, who marched to the Monument to the Flag.

In this article for America Socialista (published 17 January), Jorge Martin looks back on the tremendous ‘Red October’ that swept Latin America last year, with insurrectionary movements in one country after another. Where did these eruptions come from? What were their limitations? What lessons were learned? And what is the perspective going forward?

Mauricio Macri has been defeated at the ballot box. Undoubtedly, these elections have demonstrated the willingness of the workers, students and youth to put an end to Argentina’s structural adjustment policies.

“Money is the universal self-established value of all things. It has, therefore, robbed the whole world – both the world of men and nature – of its specific value.” – Karl Marx (1843)

From space, in various satellite images, you can see columns of smoke and suspended particles ascending above the most extensive and biologically diverse tropical forest in the world: the Amazon.

The political life cycle of Macri’s government seems to be over. It only remains to be seen how it will all end.

In the last week of March, the global capitalist crisis was expressed in the fall in value, over two consecutive days, of the most important stock exchanges in the world. Added to this is the collapse in the currencies of the so-called emerging economies and the deepening trade war between China and the United States. Although still in its early stages it is set to be a shock to the global economic system. In short, we are in the throes of a recession and are yet to witness its full extent.

On 25 September, a general strike paralysed the Argentinian economy. In a demonstration of the enormous power of the working class, public transport came to a standstill, schools and universities were shut, public institutions and banks closed and private industry ceased to function. Meanwhile, president Macri was in the US making further concessions to the IMF in a desperate attempt to get a larger bailout.

Since the beginning of 2018, the Argentinian peso has fallen 30 percent against the dollar, reaching 25 pesos per dollar. The severity of the crisis has forced the government to raise interest rates to 40 percent. Seeing that this didn’t help, the government has taken steps to ask the IMF for a multi-billion-dollar loan to prop up the faltering economy. Seemingly coming like lightning from a clear blue sky, what this pending disaster really reveals is the fragile state of the Argentinian and world economy.