It would not be correct to expect the current global fascist escalation process to be an exact copy of fascism between 1920-40, with all its symbols, institutions, rituals, and practices. Fascism develops by adapting to current conditions, resorting to different forms of dissimulation, wearing modern clothes, adjusting its discourse accordingly, and carrying out its demagoguery according to existing conditions. Until they cross the bridge, the ends justify the means! But the essence, function, goals, and main methods of fascism do not change: to ensure the survival of the capitalist exploitative order and the bourgeois state by eliminating the revolutionary threat in the harshest possible way! Why then call the rising reactionary wave today by different concepts like right-wing populism, totalitarianism, etc., as if it has a considerable difference from fascism? To call fascism by its name today and to link it to the historical system crisis of capitalism is also the first condition for a consistent struggle against fascism.

The primary force resisting the Zionist expansionism and aggressive policies of the Israeli state must be Israeli workers themselves. As in Iran, the correct line of struggle for the proletariat here is to transform the war into a domestic class war and overthrow bourgeois rule. That Israeli workers, like working masses everywhere under conditions of declining consciousness and organisation, largely side with their state is no justification for treating them as enemies. Rhetoric that fails to distinguish between the Israeli state and Israeli workers –or between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism – is at best erroneous, and often deliberately poisonous. On the contrary: Extending the hand of internationalist class solidarity to Israeli workers as our objective class brothers and sisters remains fundamentally essential.

The world has been shaken for a quarter of a century by a deep system crisis and an accompanying imperialist struggle for sharing and hegemony. If the right-wing views that advocate eliminating globalization succeed in taking even a small step towards eliminating the global functioning of capitalism, the only meaning of this will be that both the economic crisis and the war will intensify even more. Nationalist policies, like globalist policies, cannot solve the current system crisis, cannot increase falling profit rates, cannot restore consumption to its former vitality, cannot melt debt mountains, and cannot eliminate the scourge of inflation. If they were to go beyond rhetoric and actually try to implement nationalist nonsense, they would themselves deal a blow to the capitalist system struggling in crisis and drag the world into a much more terrible chaos in every respect. The only solution to the problems that humanity is struggling with is not to try to eliminate the phenomenon of globalization in vain, but to build socialism on the material basis that it has matured. What will pave the way for this is the proletarian world revolution.

In the struggle against the regime and the capitalist order, the decisive factor remains the working class entering the arena as an organised force. This constitutes the urgent task demanding concentrated efforts from all socialists, advanced workers, and militant trade unionists.

What Trump (and American imperialism in general) wants is not to break up the world market, end free trade, eliminate globalization, etc., but to slow down, control, and extract significant concessions from China. It aims not to end globalization, but to reshape it in line with its own interests, to make its rivals accept its hegemony by teaching them a lesson. It is not possible for him to implement even most of the tariffs he has voiced, let alone all of them, permanently. He also knows that the opposite would mean cutting the branch he is sitting on while trying to undermine the Chinese economy.

We are witnessing a rapidly evolving, dynamic process. Despite escalating police violence and mass detentions, the movement persists – with the CHP leadership now framing the resistance as a “defiant stand against fascism,” student protests escalating to school boycotts, and regime-aligned business groups being targeted (albeit currently limited to consumer boycotts). These developments signal a critical juncture, whatever the motives behind Özgür Özel and the CHP’s stance may be – be it pressure from below, existential fear of the party’s suppression, or potential backing from factions within the ruling class. From the perspective of anti-fascist struggle, these events mark a broadly positive beginning. What becomes decisive now is whether organised labour –trade unions in particular– can escalate the fight by leveraging the working class’s power at the point of production.

The capitalist system, floundering in its historical crisis, continues to exist alongside the immense unemployment it has created, the deepening poverty of the masses, and the imperialist wars of division it has spread. The rulers of this system, which is turning our world into an increasingly chaotic and hellish place, maintain their dominance by intensifying their oppression of the masses and spreading authoritarian regimes. The United States, which presented itself as the champion of democracy to the world after the Second World War, is now, under the reckless leadership of the madman Trump, trying to bring countries into line with astonishing audacity. While Trump challenges the institutions that limit the powers of the president in the US and secures his seat of dominance, his crony Elon Musk puts on a show with Nazi salutes in his speeches. The bourgeois democracies that accompanied the rise of capitalism are increasingly giving way, in capitalism’s era of decay, to a general reality of authoritarianism and fascism in political life. What defines our era is the dominance of plutocracy shaped by dictators like Trump and Putin and the pinnacles of financial capital. There is no need to dwell on this point for too long. Because it is clear that wherever we look, filth is oozing from the seams of the capitalist system. Writers who have not sold their conscience to capitalism enough to ignore this reality cannot help but ask, “How will this filth be cleaned up?”

In recent weeks, the regime, which has completely lost restraint, has launched an all-out attack to stem the rising anger and resistance. The pressure on the Kurdish movement continues to intensify with the appointment of trustees to municipalities, unlawful detentions, and the terror unleashed against Kurdish journalists. However, the attacks on the media are not limited to Kurdish journalists. The opposition press is being systematically intimidated through various forms of pressure. As seen in the detention of the editor-in-chief and two publication coordinators of the Birgün newspaper, journalists are being detained on flimsy pretexts, while house arrests or judicial control measures are becoming commonplace, all in an attempt to bring the media under tight control. The head of RTÜK (Radio and Television Supreme Council) has targeted opposition news anchors, threatening to impose the highest penalties on those who refuse to comply. The regime's unrestrained pressure, censorship, and self-censorship are not enough to satisfy it. Street interviews showing reactions against Erdoğan have led to widespread detentions and arrests, while even a well-known female astrologer has been arrested for allegedly “insulting Bahçeli and Erdoğan!” All of this reveals the depth of their fears.

It is obvious that 2025 will be a difficult year for labourers and dissidents in almost every aspect. The picture, which we have tried to sketch above, indicates the tendency of the regime to escalate its aggression to a higher level with its economic, social, political and cultural dimensions. In order to heighten the struggle against this, building a labour front is of burning importance. While some wings of the bourgeois opposition are hostile to the Kurds and some are playing the “red card” comedy, it is also important to make efforts to free the labourers from the artificial polarisation of “secular-religious”, “Kemalist-Islamist” and Kurdish hostility traps. It is also dangerous for the labourers to get caught up in the air that the regime is trying to spread as if it has conquered Syria. Not only is this air empty, but getting carried away by it also carries the danger of becoming the plaything of new bloody campaigns. A perspective based on the brotherhood of all peoples and the unity of labourers in the Middle East is the only real way out for the labourers.

The period between 1960 and 1971 represents a very significant episode in the history of the left-wing movement in Turkey. Indeed, during this period, the socialist movement in Turkey opened itself to masses, leaving behind the protracted years that passed with silence and lack of organisation. Embracing intellectuals, youth and vanguard workers, it gained massive support for the first time in its history. In addition to the general upsurge of the left-wing movement, the 1960s also saw vigorous and intense debates on theoretical, political and organisational matters, to an extent unprecedented in the history of socialist movement in Turkey.