The National Congress of the Trades Councils (TUC’s) was held on Saturday, June 11 in Leicester, England. On the agenda was the following emergency motion, tabled by the Greater Manchester Association of TUC’s grouping 10 TUC’s. 

After the motion was read out, the demand for the immediate release of the trade unionist Kirill Ukratsev, president of the Courier trade union, and the official recognition of the trade union by the Russian authorities was unanimously adopted by the delegates of the 150 TUC’s represented at congress. 

In a show of national unity, in early June and by a very large majority, German MPs voted to provide 100 billion euros for the army.

On June 3, the Bundestag (Parliament) voted to amend the Fundamental Law (which serves as the Constitution) to allow for the creation of a "special fund for the Bundeswehr", the German army. This special fund, worth 100 billion euros, was then adopted. 

An activist involved in the campaign for the release of trade unionist Kirill Ukraintsev tells us about the appeal hearing he attended in a Moscow court on 23 May.

The lawyers of the head of the Kurier trade union (kurier means “deliveryman” – translator’s note) and left-wing activist Kirill Ukraintsev had appealed against the court's decision to remand him in custody. His lawyers had appealed against the pre-trial prison sentence, requesting that he be placed under house arrest pending trial. 

Currently in pre-trial detention until 25 June, Kirill risks being sentenced to five years' imprisonment under Article 212.1 of the Criminal Code, an ultrarepressive and arbitrary article that punishes alleged "repeated violations of the legislation on public gatherings". 

On May Day 2022, workers and their organisations gathered in many countries around the world – with many exceptions this year: in many countries, war, repression, and restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic – prevented workers from gathering. Conversely, in some countries where workers are on the offensive, such as Sri Lanka (photo), some of the May Day rallies called by labour organisations were extremely massive. 

Where trade union and political initiatives did take place, the rejection of war was sometimes expressed among the demands. Present in these demonstrations and marches were the activists who took part in the International Emergency Meeting against War on 3 April. They circulated the meeting’s appeal, which had originally been signed by labour activists from 50 countries, and translated into some twenty languages, to make it known and to get it signed. 

In November 2016, delegates who had gathered in Mumbai at an Open World Conference formed the "International Workers' Committee Against War, Exploitation and Precarious Labour, For a Workers' International." Over the past five years, unprecedented developments have shaken the world. 

For us, this confirms that a Workers' International is more than ever a necessity. We, 601 militant activists from 57 countries, call for the preparation in all countries of the Open World Conference (Paris, October 2022). 

Daniel Gluckstein and Nambiath Vasudevan, IWC co-coordinators, call for solidarity with the Indian workers, peasants and youth, and for the demand to lift the ban on putting patents for the production of vaccines in the public domain.

Presently India is facing a second wave of Covid-19. Pictures coming out from India are scary. 

IWC correspondents in India informed us: “The number of people infected with Covid-19 is rising every day. Those who can get a hospital bed are considered lucky. Deaths are mounting owing to lack of hospital beds, medicines, oxygen – the health care system has collapsed, there are no doctors and para medical staff to cope up with the mounting cases."