Perspectives
The crimes behind the US lead water crisis
By Andre Damon, 19 March 2016
The revelation of widespread lead contamination in drinking water in the US, and the complete indifference of the government to it, have shown where the priorities of American capitalism lie.
Syrian war enters sixth year with graver dangers still ahead
By Bill Van Auken, 18 March 2016
The recent “cessation of hostilities” and partial withdrawal of Russian forces will not stop the escalation of US militarism in the region and beyond.
After the March 15 US primaries: The political role of the Sanders campaign
By Joseph Kishore, 17 March 2016
From the beginning, Sanders’ role has been to serve as a lightning rod for social discontent and direct it into the dead end of the Democratic Party.
What is behind the electoral success of the Alternative for Germany?
By Peter Schwarz, 16 March 2016
The Left Party created the conditions that enabled the right-wing nationalist AfD to tap into social frustration and anger and channel it in a reactionary direction.
Economic nationalism, war and the fight for international socialism
By Nick Beams, 15 March 2016
The end result of the program of economic nationalism can be seen in the experience of the 1930s, when it brought about social devastation and led to world war.
The Trump campaign: A new stage in the crisis of American democracy
By The WSWS Editorial Board, 14 March 2016
With the eruption of violence inside and outside rallies of billionaire Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, American politics has reached a turning point.
Violence, racism and the Trump campaign
By Patrick Martin, 12 March 2016
Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s thuggery and racist agitation against immigrants must be taken as a warning of the emergence of a fascistic movement out of the putrefaction of the American two-party system.
The refugee crisis and the polarization of Europe
By Peter Schwarz, 11 March 2016
Large sections of the population look on the brutal conditions of refugees with horror and disgust, but the official political debate takes place within a narrow spectrum ranging from the right to the ultra-right.
Sanders’ upset win in the Michigan primary
By Patrick Martin, 10 March 2016
The glaring failure of media polling to detect the shift in class sentiment is itself a demonstration of the chasm that separates the entire political establishment from the vast majority of the population.
The arrest of former President Lula and the crisis of rule in Brazil
By Bill Van Auken, 9 March 2016
The detention and questioning of the founder of the Workers Party and former president has dramatically intensified the crisis of Brazil’s ruling party.
US moves to harness India to anti-China “pivot”
By Keith Jones, 8 March 2016
Washington is determined to make India a “frontline state” in its drive to strategically isolate, encircle and potentially wage war against China.
The Flint water crisis and the US elections
By Jerry White, 7 March 2016
The economic nationalist policies promoted by Sanders complement the anti-immigrant racism and xenophobia of Republican front-runner Donald Trump.
TVA pension cuts: A new stage in the assault on American workers
By Niles Williamson, 5 March 2016
The attack on the pensions of federal employees is a warning that no section of the working class is exempt from the social counterrevolution being carried out in the interests of the financial aristocracy.
China and Brazil: Two expressions of the deepening capitalist breakdown
By Nick Beams, 4 March 2016
As the “BRICS model” of economic growth disintegrates, conditions are emerging for another financial crisis.
What political conclusions must be drawn from Trump’s Super Tuesday?
By David North, 3 March 2016
The emergence of Trump marks a new and dangerous stage in the crisis of American democracy.
Imperialism intensifies pressure on Russia and China
By Andre Damon, 2 March 2016
Leading strategists of US imperialism increasingly see the fomenting of national secessionist movements as a means to destabilize and subjugate the Eurasian land mass.
The Australian Defence White Paper and the drive to war
By James Cogan, 1 March 2016
The militarist agenda spelled out in the White Paper is incompatible with the democratic and social rights of the working class.
For an active boycott of the Brexit referendum!
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party, British section of the International Committee of the Fourth International
29 February 2016
The Republican debate and the degradation of US politics
By Patrick Martin, 27 February 2016
Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate was a demonstration of the degraded state of American politics and the intellectual and moral decay of the American ruling elite.
Perplexity and divisions mark G-20 meeting
By Nick Beams, 26 February 2016
The G-20 meeting in Shanghai is riven by the widening divisions between the major capitalist powers as the crisis of the global economy intensifies.
Sticking point in Syria truce: Washington’s support for Al Qaeda
By Bill Van Auken, 25 February 2016
Amid bitter recriminations over the “cessation of hostilities” brokered by the US and Russia, all the lies used to promote both regime-change in Syria and the “war on terror” are disintegrating.
The assault on encryption and the drive to expand police state spying
By Joseph Kishore, 24 February 2016
With its highly public court battle over access to an encrypted phone, the Obama administration is seeking to expand spying powers and counter the popular anger that followed the revelations by Edward Snowden.
Nationalism and “Brexit”
By Chris Marsden, 23 February 2016
The first responsibility of a socialist in the referendum on “Brexit” is to reject all appeals for working people to fall in behind one or another faction of the bourgeoisie fighting over which strategy best upholds the interests of British imperialism.
War and the 2016 US elections
By Joseph Kishore, 22 February 2016
There is no discussion in the US presidential campaign of the preparations of the ruling class for an immense escalation of war following the elections in November.
Once again on Sanders and socialism
By Barry Grey, 20 February 2016
Outside of a mass struggle that directly challenges the bases of capitalist rule—private ownership of the corporations and banks and the system of wage slavery—no genuinely progressive changes can be achieved.
White House steps up drive to outlaw encryption
By Andre Damon, 19 February 2016
Tuesday’s ruling by a US judge demanding that Apple create a “backdoor” to its mobile device operating system is part of the drive to weaken, or even criminalize, encrypted communications.
Europe at the breaking point
By Alex Lantier, 17 February 2016
France's denunciations of Germany's policy of accepting Middle Eastern refugees fleeing to Europe have exposed deep divisions within the EU.
The glorification of Antonin Scalia
By Tom Carter, 16 February 2016
The sickening tributes across the official US political and media spectrum to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who died suddenly on Saturday at the age of 79, are a barometer of the putrefaction of American democracy.
Inequality, class and life expectancy in America
By Barry Grey, 15 February 2016
The widening disparity in life expectancy between the poor and the rich is a stark commentary on the growth of social inequality and class polarization in the United States.
The detection of gravitational waves: A scientific milestone
By Bryan Dyne, 13 February 2016
The discovery of gravitational waves is a vindication of science and the ability of human reason to tackle and overcome the most complex problems.
The US “Plan B” for Syria and the threat of world war
By Bill Van Auken, 12 February 2016
With the war for regime change in Syria on the ropes, Washington and its allies are in feverish discussions over implementing a “Plan B” of direct military intervention.
The political role of the Bernie Sanders campaign
By Joseph Kishore, 11 February 2016
Sanders does not speak for the working class, but for a section of the ruling class and political establishment that views the growth of social opposition with fear and is seeking some way of containing it.
The looting of US workers’ pensions
By Andre Damon, 10 February 2016
The assault on the pension benefits of retirees is an escalation of the decades-long drive to reduce American workers to the conditions of life that existed in the 19th century.
A new stage in the global economic breakdown
By Nick Beams, 9 February 2016
The growing financial crisis in China, marked by capital flight and mounting concerns over debt levels, is accompanied by increasing doubts about the stability of the entire global banking system.
Detroit and Chicago teachers fight to defend public education
By Jerry White, 8 February 2016
The struggle to defend the right to education poses political questions that are critical for the entire working class.
Sanders and the left feint in capitalist politics
By Patrick Martin, 6 February 2016
Sanders is not the representative of a working class movement. He is rather the temporary beneficiary of a rising tide of popular opposition that is passing through only its initial stages of social and class differentiation.
UN panel condemns detention of WikiLeaks founder
Stop the persecution of Julian Assange!
By Bill Van Auken, 5 February 2016
Despite a ruling that Assange has been subjected to “arbitrary detention,” both the UK and Sweden vow to continue his persecution.
Pentagon budget: A blueprint for World War III
By Bill Van Auken, 4 February 2016
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s preview of the Pentagon budget spelled out Washington’s advanced preparations for war against both Russia and China.
The Sanders vote in Iowa
By Patrick Martin, 3 February 2016
The mass support for Sanders explodes the myth, peddled endlessly by the American media, that the American people are unalterably wedded to capitalism.
Geneva talks begin as US-backed war in Syria expands
By Bill Van Auken, 2 February 2016
The opening of the talks was overshadowed by a vicious bombing attack on a Shia shrine outside the Syrian capital of Damascus.
On eve of first presidential contest: US two-party system in crisis
By Patrick Martin, 1 February 2016
Tonight’s Iowa caucuses mark the first primary contest in a presidential election campaign already characterized by political convulsions in both corporate-controlled parties.
Wall Street celebrates mounting signs of US slump
By Andre Damon, 30 January 2016
The financial markets responded to a series of reports pointing to a sharp economic downturn in the US by staging a euphoric rally.
Pentagon prepares another war in Libya
By Bill Van Auken, 29 January 2016
Having first devastated Libya in the name of “human rights,” Washington is now about to attack it again on the pretext of fighting terrorism.
War and the destruction of social infrastructure in America
By Andre Damon, 28 January 2016
The water crisis in Flint, Michigan highlights the slashing of funds for public infrastructure to pay for war and the enrichment of the financial elite.
Sanders and socialism
By Barry Grey, 27 January 2016
The continued and growing support for Sanders has exploded a whole series of fictions about the American people and American politics.
US think tank outlines master plan for war with China
By Peter Symonds, 26 January 2016
The CSIS report represents the voice of the vast American military establishment, which regards China as the chief threat to untrammelled US strategic dominance in Asia.
Five years of the Egyptian Revolution
By Johannes Stern, 25 January 2016
The basic problem of the Egyptian Revolution was to establish the political independence of the working class from all of the different bourgeois forces.
The end of liberal Europe
By Peter Schwarz, 23 January 2016
The shift to the right by the European elites is rooted in explosive social, economic and political contradictions that have been building up since the collapse of the Soviet Union 25 years ago.
The roots of the crisis in Flint and Detroit
By Eric London, 22 January 2016
The catastrophe in Michigan, including the lead poisoning of thousands of residents in Flint, has provoked outrage across the country.
The political significance of the global economic turmoil
By Nick Beams, 21 January 2016
The turmoil on global markets is an expression of the breakdown of the mechanisms and structures that have sustained world capitalism over the past quarter-century.
The Flint water crisis and the criminality of American capitalism
By Jerry White, 20 January 2016
In a State of the State address, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder sought to cover up and evade responsibility for the poisoning of an American city.
The ruling class meets at Davos
By Andre Damon, 19 January 2016
This year’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland takes place against the backdrop of a deepening global crisis and soaring inequality.
What is driving the stock market panic?
By Barry Grey, 18 January 2016
After more than seven years of bailouts and trillions in virtually free cash for the banks and financial markets, the real economy has not only not recovered from the Wall Street crash of 2008, it is rapidly deteriorating.
Washington invokes hunger to promote war in Syria
By Bill Van Auken, 16 January 2016
Allegations that Syrian government forces are deliberately starving besieged villagers have become the basis for yet another propaganda campaign for regime change.
Flint, Michigan: Portrait of an American city
By Andre Damon, 15 January 2016
The man-made disaster in Flint has revealed the reality of social relations in America behind the official facade constructed by the media and politicians.
Obama’s State of the Union address and the breakdown of American democracy
By Eric London and Barry Grey, 14 January 2016
There is an objective significance to the reduction of the State of the Union address, an American political tradition that goes back to George Washington, to an empty and cynical media spectacle.
The Detroit teachers’ fight to defend public education
By Jerry White, 13 January 2016
It is no accident that social opposition is taking the form of a rebellion against the trade unions, which have long served as industrial police for the corporations and government.
German media incites racist hysteria
By Peter Schwarz, 12 January 2016
Unsubstantiated and racist allegations of mass sexual harassment are being used to witch-hunt immigrants and legitimize German preparations for an expanded military intervention in the Middle East.
Bowing to Trump’s racist agitation
Obama rejects pleas to halt deportations
By Patrick Martin, 11 January 2016
The White House has rebuffed pleas to call a halt to the summary deportations of women and children fleeing violence in Central America.
The lottery and social despair in America
By Andre Damon, 9 January 2016
For millions of people, the dream of winning the lottery has replaced the “American Dream” of living a decent life.
Lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan
By James Brewer and Jerry White, 8 January 2016
The poisoning of the population in the former manufacturing center for General Motors—and the cover-up by state officials—highlights the socially destructive character of American capitalism.
Crocodile tears from the commander-in-chief
By Patrick Martin, 7 January 2016
Obama professes to mourn for children killed by gun violence while presiding over a never-ending escalation of military violence around the world.
German Luftwaffe joins the Syrian war
By Johannes Stern, 6 January 2016
The entry of the Luftwaffe into the Syrian war, backed by some 1,200 German soldiers and a frigate, opens a new and ominous chapter in the resurgence of German militarism.
The New Year stock sell-off
By Barry Grey, 5 January 2016
The indicators of a deepening crisis in production sent shock waves through the financial markets because they portend the looming collapse of a vast speculative house of cards built up since the 2008 Wall Street crash.
The mass beheadings in Saudi Arabia
By Bill Van Auken, 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.
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.
A New Year’s sense of foreboding over the global economy
By Nick Beams, 30 December 2015
Economic developments in 2015 were dominated by intensifying recessionary trends throughout the world economy.
US military to expand global operations in 2016
By Thomas Gaist, 29 December 2015
US imperialism is expanding its global Special Forces network, preparing new deployments of combat forces to confront Russia and China, and flooding every region of the world with advanced weaponry.
The fracturing of the European Union
By Peter Schwarz, 28 December 2015
In the last century, great power aspirations, nationalism and fascism made the continent the focus of two world wars, which claimed nearly 100 million victims. Now, these same tendencies are spreading once again.
No “peace on Earth” in 2015
By Andre Damon, 24 December 2015
The official promotion of the “Christmas spirit” collides against the reality of ever-expanding war, violence and social misery that dominate capitalist society.
Political issues in the Spanish election crisis
By Alex Lantier, 23 December 2015
Podemos, while posing as a populist opponent of austerity, will prove as hostile to the working class as Syriza in Greece.
WTO buries Doha Round: Another rupture in the post-war order
By Nick Beams, 22 December 2015
The decision to end the Doha Round signifies the end of the multilateralism that formed a crucial foundation of post-World War II economic expansion.
The US terror scare
By Patrick Martin, 21 December 2015
The US ruling elite is whipping up an atmosphere of panic after the killings in San Bernardino, laying the ground for a further military escalation in the Middle East and North Africa.
After Fed rate hike, global economic fault lines deepen
By Nick Beams, 19 December 2015
The growing turbulence in financial markets is a manifestation of deepening recessionary trends in the global economy.
Saudi Arabia and the “war on terror”
By Bill Van Auken, 18 December 2015
US officials hailed the Saudi monarchy’s proclamation of a Sunni sectarian alliance “against terrorism,” as the Saudi regime prepares another round of beheadings.
The French regional elections and the threat of dictatorship
By Alex Lantier, 17 December 2015
The ascendant neo-fascist National Front aims to win the 2017 presidential election and emerge atop the police state being built by the Socialist Party.
The climate crisis and imperialism
By Andre Damon, 16 December 2015
Far from fostering the international collaboration that would be required to reverse climate change, capitalist society is increasingly characterized by xenophobia, international conflict and war.
“Left” propagandists for escalation of imperialist war
By Bill Van Auken, 15 December 2015
A collection of pseudo-left groups that have promoted the CIA-orchestrated proxy war in Syria as a “revolution” are now agitating for a major escalation.
Junk bond panic signals new stage in crisis of world capitalism
By Barry Grey, 14 December 2015
The mounting crisis in the junk bond market has profound and convulsive implications for the entire credit system, in the US and internationally.
Social inequality and the disintegration of the American middle class
By David Walsh, 12 December 2015
The decline of the middle classes in America has profound and revolutionary implications.
The Venezuelan elections and the dead end of Latin America’s “turn to the left”
By Bill Van Auken, 11 December 2015
The defeat suffered by the ruling chavistas in Venezuela is part of a growing crisis of the so-called “left” bourgeois parties throughout Latin America.
Trump: The ugly reality of American politics
By Patrick Martin, 10 December 2015
The emergence of an open racist as the leading Republican presidential contender is a consequence of decades of imperialist war and the brutalization of American society.
Imperialism, the “war on terror” and anti-Muslim hysteria
By Andre Damon, 9 December 2015
The call by Donald Trump that Muslims be prevented from traveling to the United States exemplifies the reactionary politics that go hand-in-hand with the drive to war.
Obama’s San Bernardino speech and the rightward lurch of US politics
By Barry Grey, 8 December 2015
The drumbeat for military escalation is the result of a calculated decision to utilize the San Bernardino killings to overcome growing popular disaffection and opposition to war.
The new imperialist carve-up of the Middle East
By Joseph Kishore, 7 December 2015
The reasons presented to the public for the rapid escalation of war in Syria have little to do with the strategic discussions taking place in top ranks of the military and the intelligence agencies.
The significance of the elevation of the Chinese renminbi
By Nick Beams, 5 December 2015
The renminbi’s elevation to the status of a global reserve currency is an expression of vast shifts in the world economy that underlie the rise in geopolitical tensions.
The mass killing in San Bernardino, California
By Joseph Kishore, 4 December 2015
The mass killing at the Inland Regional Center is only the latest in a long string of tragedies that point to the deeply diseased and dysfunctional state of American society.
Chicago police brutality and the Democratic Party
By Jerry White, 3 December 2015
The brutal police murder of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald and the subsequent orchestrated cover-up lift the veil on the reality of class relations and class rule in the United States.
Parasitism and the slump in US manufacturing
By Andre Damon, 2 December 2015
The money that corporations are refusing to spend on productive investment is being channeled back to the financial elite in the form of share buybacks, dividend hikes and increased CEO pay.
Corbyn opens door to Labour backing for British bombing of Syria
By Chris Marsden, 1 December 2015
In declaring a “free vote” for Labour MPs on military action against Syria, Jeremy Corbyn has given the green light for the Labour right wing to join with the Tories and drag Britain into war.
The police crackdown in Paris and the drift towards dictatorship in France
By Alex Lantier, 30 November 2015
Yesterday, police seized upon the standing ban on all public protests during the state of emergency to stage a brutal crackdown on ecological protesters in Paris.
No to German intervention in Syria!
By Statement by the Partei für Soziale Gleichheit—German section of the ICFI, 28 November 2015
The decision of the German government to participate in the war in Syria marks a new stage in the resurgence of German militarism.
Syria and the South China Sea: Two flashpoints for world war
By Peter Symonds, 27 November 2015
US strategists have long regarded the Eurasian landmass as the key to world domination and view China and Russia as the chief obstacles to American ambitions.
A police killing and a criminal conspiracy in Chicago, Illinois
By Patrick Martin, 26 November 2015
The brutal police murder of Laquan McDonald was followed by a line-up of the police, the political authorities, the media and the “civil rights” establishment to cover up the crime under a barrage of lies.
Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet and the danger of world war
By World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board, 25 November 2015
The downing of a Russian jet threatens to provoke all-out war between Russia on the one hand, and Turkey and the rest of the NATO alliance on the other.
Financial parasitism and the destruction of democracy
By Andre Damon, 24 November 2015
Under conditions of deepening economic and political crisis, the world’s ruling classes are willing to use any means necessary to ensure their continued monopolization of society’s wealth.
Lessons of the autoworkers’ battle
By Jerry White, 23 November 2015
The resort to gangster-like methods has further discredited the UAW and taught workers that the only way they can defend their interests is by casting off the dead weight of this corporate-labor syndicate.
Paris terrorists operated “in plain sight”
By Patrick Martin, 21 November 2015
At least six of the nine men involved in the November 13 terrorist attacks in Paris were known to the French and Belgian security services.
The vote at Ford and the way forward for autoworkers
By Joseph Kishore, 20 November 2015
Whether or not the UAW succeeds in securing or manufacturing a “yes” vote, the developments at Ford have once again exposed the unbridgeable gulf between the UAW and the workers it claims to represent.
The state of emergency and the collapse of French democracy
By Alex Lantier, 19 November 2015
Hollande’s proposed amendments to the French Constitution provide the legal basis for transforming France into a presidential dictatorship.
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