4 January 2016

2016 will be a year of escalating class struggle

By Jerry White, 4 January 2016

Class conflict will become an ever-more dominant feature of life in 2016 as the ruling classes in the US and around the world demand that workers pay for the global economic crisis.

Worker crushed to death after wall collapses at Chicago Ford plant

By Marcus Day, 4 January 2016

One worker was killed and another critically injured Saturday after a concrete wall collapsed at Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, the company’s oldest continually operating factory.

Analyst says US auto contracts will not increase labor costs

Dictatorship conditions at Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant: Part Two
With UAW complicity, Ford fires workers for voicing opposition

More on autoworkers struggles »

US threatens new sanctions on Iran

By Peter Symonds, 4 January 2016

Washington’s threat is particularly provocative as it came just days after Tehran fulfilled a key aspect of last July’s nuclear deal—to ship its enriched uranium to Russia.

German political establishment calls for faster remilitarization

By Philipp Frisch and Johannes Stern, 4 January 2016

Comments by leading politicians, journalists and academics at the New Year leave no room for doubt that the drive to war will only escalate in 2016.

Large numbers of refugees brutally deported from Germany

By Elisabeth Zimmermann, 4 January 2016

Since the tightening of restrictions on the right to asylum in October, the number of deportations has grown sharply, and inhumane treatment has reached a new level.

German trade union chief agrees to €1 an hour jobs for refugees

One million people fled to Europe in 2015

More on the refugee crisis »

Right-wing Polish government takes control of public media

By Dorota Niemitz and Clara Weiss, 4 January 2016

In another step towards establishing authoritarian rule, the Law and Justice government has adopted a bill to subordinate public broadcast services to its right-wing agenda.

Poland: Anti-government rallies continue as Lech Wałęsa warns of civil war

Chicago Mayor Emanuel’s police “reform”: Increased repression and cover-up

By Kristina Betinis, 4 January 2016

In the name of “reform” and in the midst of a deepening political crisis, Emanuel is planning to double the number of tasers employed by the police.

Chicago police brutality and the Democratic Party

The International Socialist Organization, police violence and the Democratic Party

More on police violence in America »

America’s richest 400 households paid a 16.7 percent tax rate in 2012

By Tom Eley, 4 January 2016

America’s super-rich and giant corporations hide trillions of dollars in order to avoid paying taxes on their earnings.

Death toll rises to 24 in Mississippi River floods

By Tom Hall, 4 January 2016

The floods along the Mississippi, unusual during the winter months, are due to severe storms throughout the central United States which occurred late last month.

Massachusetts: New attacks on public transportation and transit workers

By John Marion, 4 January 2016

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority workers and riders are being pitted against each other by the release of data about employees’ earnings.

Ukrainian government officials celebrate Nazism, anti-Semitism

By Jason Melanovski, 4 January 2016

Several recent incidents in Ukraine have further exposed the far-right nature of the forces unleashed by the 2014 Maidan “revolution.”

Monopolisation of wealth by UK super-rich accelerates

By Barry Mason, 4 January 2016

The concentration of wealth by a tiny minority is revealed in the fact that the top one percent of wealthiest households has as much wealth as the poorest 57 percent combined.

UK government opens vast areas to fracking firms

By Trevor Johnson, 4 January 2016

Exploration for oil and gas across about 5,000 square miles of England will be permitted, in addition to 1,000 square miles in licenses awarded in the summer.

Australia: Over 100 houses destroyed in Victorian bushfires

By Margaret Rees, 4 January 2016

Victoria has been hit by more than 2,500 bushfires since October but the hottest months, when the most dangerous fires usually occur, are still to come.

New in Turkish

Avrupa Birliği’nde kırılma

Peter Schwarz, 4 Ocak 2016

Egemen seçkinler, Avrupa’nın her yerinde, keskin bir şekilde sağa kayıyor. Onlar, askeri harcamaları arttırıyor, Ortadoğu ile Afrika’daki emperyalist savaşlarda yer alıyor, sınırları kapatıyor ve sığınmacılara karşı yabancı düşmanı düşünceleri kışkırtıyorlar.

I. Dünya Savaşı Noel ateşkesinin 100. Yıldönümü

Julie Hyland, 4 Ocak 2016

24 Aralık 1914’te, İsviçre sınırından Kuzey Denizi’ne kadar uzanan 700 kilometrelik Batı cephesi boyunca, kendiliğinden bir ateşkes ortaya çıktı.

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Perspective

The mass beheadings in Saudi Arabia

4 January 2016

The barbaric killing spree carried out by the royal parasites in Riyadh was a calculated political act driven by both domestic and international objectives.

Earlier Perspectives »

Featured Commentary

On the threshold of the New Year

By Joseph Kishore and David North, 31 December 2015

It is characteristic of a period of crisis that more and more the essential nature of capitalism—a system of exploitation, inequality, war and repression—comes into alignment with the everyday experiences of broad masses of people.

Commentary

Justice Scalia repudiates separation of church and state

By Patrick Martin, 4 January 2016

The Supreme Court justice’s statement that there is no barrier to the US government discriminating in favor of religious believers adds to his litany of bigoted attacks on democratic rights.

US Supreme Court Justice Scalia says Constitution allows torture

IMF head warns of slow growth and economic “shocks” in 2016

By Barry Grey, 31 December 2015

US commander prepared to seek more troops for Afghanistan

By Bill Van Auken, 31 December 2015

NATO to station AWACS radar aircraft in Turkey

By Christoph Dreier, 31 December 2015

Top Michigan environmental safety officials resign amidst ongoing Flint water crisis

By Matthew Brennan, 31 December 2015

State of emergency declared in Flint, Michigan over poisoned water supply

The New York Times celebrates “retaking Ramadi”

After Paris attacks, anti-Muslim riot erupts in Corsica

Federal agency prepares new crackdown on US travelers

Arts Review

Lulu: A new production of a challenging 20th century opera

By Fred Mazelis, 4 January 2016

Alban Berg found ways to express drama and emotional power within the atonal framework pioneered by his teacher Arnold Schoenberg.

The Big Short: The criminality of Wall Street and the crash of 2008

By Joanne Laurier, 31 December 2015

Best films of 2015

By David Walsh and Joanne Laurier, 31 December 2015

The year in popular music

This week in history: January 4-10

25 years ago: On eve of war on Iraq, Pentagon muzzles press

On January 4, 1991, Pentagon representatives met with Washington bureau chiefs of the major US news organizations on the just-announced “press guidelines” for the impending war.

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50 years ago: Massacres continue in Indonesia

On January 12, 1966, the first reports of the extent of the slaughter of members and supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party appeared in the capitalist press.

More »

75 years ago: AFL bars strikes by building trades

On January 7, 1941, leaders of 19 national unions affiliated with the Building Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor announced that they would bar strikes on construction sites related to military defense projects.

More »

 

100 years ago: Allied troops complete evacuation of Gallipoli peninsula

On January 9, 1916, the final contingent of British troops left the Gallipoli peninsula, marking the decisive victory for the Ottoman Empire over the invasion by the Allied Powers including France, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

More »

Workers Struggles

Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific

4 January 2016

The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.

The 2016 US Elections

Obama, Trump and the working class

By Niles Williamson, 30 December 2015

The New York Times, fascism and Donald Trump

Socialist Alternative forms group to support Sanders campaign

By Eric London, 24 December 2015

Is Bernie Sanders a socialist?

Fear-mongering and war dominate third Democratic presidential debate

Republican “debate” in Las Vegas
A two-hour commercial for militarism and fear-mongering

More on the 2016 US elections »

Socialist Equality Party

SEP (Sri Lanka) holds public meeting on 75th anniversary of Leon Trotsky’s assassination

By our correspondents, 30 December 2015

Public meetings in Australia mark 75th anniversary of Leon Trotsky’s murder

By our correspondents, 23 December 2015

Workers and youth speak on Trotsky’s life and death

History

Notes on a visit to Łódź, Poland

By Clara Weiss, 24 December 2015

American Nazi web site acclaims Humboldt Professor Jörg Baberowski

By Johannes Stern, 19 December 2015

Autoworkers Struggles

Walter Reuther and the rise and fall of the UAW

By Tom Mackaman, 23 December 2015

More on autoworkers struggles »

International Youth and Students for Social Equality

Second election meeting of IYSSE at Humboldt University
Herfried Münkler: An academic in the service of German imperialism

By our correspondents, 23 December 2015

Mehring Books

Pamphlet on Syriza’s betrayal in Greece now available from Mehring Books

21 December 2015

The betrayal of the anti-austerity struggles of the Greek working class by the Syriza government is a strategic experience for the working class not only in Greece, but internationally.

75 Years Since The Assassination Of Leon Trotsky

Security and the Fourth International, the Gelfand Case and the deposition of Mark Zborowski
An open letter from David North to Susan Weissman

10 November 2015

Seventy-five years since the assassination of Leon Trotsky

Meetings in Germany mark the 75th anniversary of the death of Leon Trotsky