Millions of Indian workers went on a one-day General Strike on February 12, 2026 demanding among other things the scrapping of the four Labour Codes that were enacted by the BJP-led NDA regime at the Centre five years ago to enslave working people. It is a strike against anti-strike laws that was brought in by this ‘largest democracy’! It is a strike to defend the right to organise and to retain the right to form trade unions. It is strike against a state-sponsored modern slavery system that the Modi regime wants to inflict upon Indian workers.

Donald Trump likes to win. He made that clear in his 1987 book, The Art of the Deal, where he writes about how he likes to ‘think big’ and ‘win big’. What Trump dislikes is a ‘loser’, a word that he uses frequently in The Art of the Deal, and which he deploys in his conversations to mark the character of people he dislikes. In recent years, it has meant everything to Trump that he wins elections (his loss to Joe Biden in 2020 rattled him so much that he refused to accept the result).

National and international situation has taken a dramatic turn since the CPI(M) decided to hold the Jan Aakrosh rally on March 24, at Delhi. The rally was thought necessary to express deep-seated anger of the productive classes of our country who are reeling under the impact of a holistic, unprecedented crisis. The year 2026 also marks the centenary of the foundation of Naujawan Bharat Sabha, a revolutionary organisation of the Indian youth, striving for freedom of India from the yoke of British imperialism, and which declared its aim of a socialist system.

Left Front West Bengal has announced the list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections. Left Front chairman Biman Bose announced the list of candidates the day after the Election Commission announced the date of the election. In West Bengal voting will take place in two phases on April 23 and April 29, 2026, with the counting of votes to be held on May 4.

The US-Israeli war on Iran is now in well into its third week and, despite deployment of the overwhelming military superiority of the US and Israel, there seems to be no end in sight. Israel is continuing its bloodthirsty “decapitation” campaign against the top political, civilian and military leadership. It has murdered the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the internationally respected security chief and regime interlocutor Ali Larijani and numerous leaders of the regular army, the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Internal Security Basij force.