Perspectives
Trump’s election as seen from Europe
By Alex Lantier, 19 November 2016
Well before the content of Trump’s foreign policy has come into focus, it is clear that his election marks a historic shift in world affairs, raising the specter of global conflict.
After the election of Trump: The realignment of US politics
By Patrick Martin, 18 November 2016
The Democratic Party leadership is moving very rapidly to align itself with Trump, based on a program of economic nationalism and trade war.
As anti-Trump protests spread, Democrats scramble to contain opposition
By Barry Grey, 17 November 2016
An entire generation of youth is entering into politics and being radicalized by the advent of the most right-wing government in American history.
Mass student protests against Trump election: The way forward
By The Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, 16 November 2016
The opposition expressed by students and young people in demonstrations across the US stands in sharp contrast to the abject capitulation of the Democratic Party to Donald Trump.
Trump’s appointment of Stephen Bannon: A new stage in the crisis of American democracy
By Joseph Kishore, 15 November 2016
Trump's rise to power signals a drastic political realignment within the American ruling class.
From “political revolution” to collaboration: Sanders and Warren pledge to work with Trump
By Patrick Martin and Joseph Kishore, 14 November 2016
As Trump assembles his administration, the Democratic Party and the media seek to normalize a government of the extreme right the likes of which has never been seen in American history.
The myth of the reactionary white working class
By Eric London, 12 November 2016
The claim that the election of Trump was due to the racism of the “white working class” is a false narrative exploded by the most basic analysis of the data.
From monster to Mr. President-Elect: Democrats grovel before Trump
By Andre Damon, 11 November 2016
In rushing to support Trump, the Democrats and the media are largely remaining silent about a significant fact of the election: the president-elect lost the popular vote.
Race, class and the election of Trump
By Barry Grey, 10 November 2016
The lack of enthusiasm for Clinton was fundamentally a class response to a crony of Wall Street with a record of militarism and corruption.
Trump’s victory and the debacle of American democracy
By Joseph Kishore, 9 November 2016
Such is the level of political crisis in the United States that it has elevated an obscene charlatan and billionaire demagogue to the highest office in the land.
The nightmare election campaign staggers to its end
By Joseph Kishore and David North, 8 November 2016
The contempt felt toward the two candidates expresses a deeper alienation from the entire structure of official capitalist politics.
On the eve of the 2016 US election
By Patrick Martin, 7 November 2016
The election campaign has plumbed new depths of filth and reaction, sparking concerns in ruling circles that it has done lasting damage to the credibility of the United States, both internationally and at home.
US election campaign reveals mass alienation from two-party system
By Patrick Martin, 5 November 2016
A New York Times/CBS poll found that voters, by a six-to-one margin, were disgusted by the Clinton-Trump contest.
Class struggle in US intensifies on eve of election
By Jerry White, 4 November 2016
There is growing opposition among American workers to corporate and government demands for endless rollbacks in wages, health care and pension benefits.
Build an international movement against imperialist war!
By Socialist Equality Party, 3 November 2016
The conference this Saturday in Detroit, Michigan, “Socialism vs. Capitalism and War,” will outline a political strategy for building a socialist movement of the international working class against the danger of a Third World War.
New York Times promotes war hysteria over Estonia
By Bill Van Auken, 2 November 2016
The Times piece amounts to war propaganda, echoing the hysterical claims of the Baltic states that a Russian invasion is imminent and glorifying the legacy of Nazism.
The 2016 US election and the crisis of the two-party system
By Barry Grey, 1 November 2016
The bitter conflict within the political establishment following FBI Director James Comey’s intervention in the election has exposed the deep crisis of bourgeois rule in the US.
Political warfare explodes in Washington
By Patrick Martin and Barry Grey, 31 October 2016
The FBI's announcement of new “investigative steps” against Hillary Clinton has brought to the surface a raging conflict within the American state and ruling elite.
The FBI intervenes in the 2016 election
By Patrick Martin, 29 October 2016
The FBI’s announcement of new “investigative steps” related to Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, made only 11 days before the election, is both extraordinary and unprecedented.
Aleppo, Mosul and “war crimes”
By Bill Van Auken, 28 October 2016
Those denouncing Russia for “war crimes” in Aleppo have carried out atrocities over the course of the past three quarters of a century that vastly eclipse the events in the embattled Syrian city.
Obamacare: The reality hits home
By Andre Damon, 27 October 2016
On Monday, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced that premiums for health insurance plans sold under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will increase on average by 25 percent in 2017, raising health care costs of millions of working people by thousands of dollars.
US “pivot to Asia” in disarray
By Peter Symonds, 26 October 2016
Far from making a retreat, Washington’s response to its setbacks will be to escalate its diplomatic intrigues and military provocations in the Asia Pacific.
Social inequality and the fight against capitalism
By Nick Beams, 25 October 2016
Facts and figures featured in the analysis conducted by French political economist Thomas Piketty underscore that there is no possibility of combating ever-growing social inequality other than by means of socialist revolution.
The 2016 elections and the dead-end of “lesser evil” politics
By Patrick Martin, 24 October 2016
Republican Donald Trump is a billionaire demagogue seeking to lay the basis for a fascistic movement; Hillary Clinton is the representative of Wall Street and the military-intelligence apparatus.
What is behind the anti-Russia campaign in the US?
By Andre Damon, 22 October 2016
A major theme of the 2016 US presidential campaign has been the campaign to depict Russia as intent on manipulating the election through cyber warfare.
The 2016 elections: American democracy in shambles
By Joseph Kishore, 21 October 2016
In condemning statements by Trump that he might not accept the results of the elections, the media and political establishment are rushing to defend a political system that is deeply corrupt and undemocratic.
The siege of Mosul and the crimes of US imperialism
By Bill Van Auken, 20 October 2016
The offensive against Mosul is the latest in a series of US war crimes that have killed, maimed and displaced millions across the Middle East.
Washington moves to silence WikiLeaks
By Bill Van Auken, 19 October 2016
The US political establishment is prepared to use whatever measures are required to prevent a further exposure of the real social and political interests underlying the grotesque 2016 presidential contest.
Is the US election rigged?
By Barry Grey, 18 October 2016
The reactionary character of Trump’s claims that the US election is “rigged” does not lend any credibility to the self-righteous and hypocritical response of the Democratic Party.
The US-directed assault on Mosul and imperialist hypocrisy
By James Cogan, 17 October 2016
In both Syria and Iraq, US objectives are the same: asserting its dominance over the key oil-producing region of the world.
The great diversion: Democrats focus on sex scandal as conflict with Russia escalates
By Andre Damon, 15 October 2016
Behind the scandal-mongering that dominates the presidential election campaign, the United States is weighing a major military escalation against Syria and Russia.
US launches missile strikes against Yemen
By Bill Van Auken, 14 October 2016
Without any debate, the American people are being dragged into an ever-widening war with catastrophic consequences.
Haiti’s hurricane devastation: A tragedy rooted in capitalist oppression
By Bill Van Auken, 13 October 2016
Nearly seven years after the catastrophic earthquake of 2010, Hurricane Matthew has again exposed the historic oppression of the Haitian masses.
The November 5 conference, “Socialism vs. Capitalism and War,” and the building of a new movement against imperialist war
By Eric London and Joseph Kishore, 12 October 2016
Despite the extreme dangers facing the population of the entire world, outside of the International Committee of the Fourth International, there is no organized movement against imperialist war.
Billionaires back Black Lives Matter
By Gabriel Black, 11 October 2016
The $100 million allocated by the Ford Foundation is an acknowledgment by a powerful section of the ruling class that the aims of the Black Lives Matter movement are aligned with its interests.
The Trump scandal and the US gutter election
By Patrick Martin, 10 October 2016
The generally degraded state of American politics entered a new low this weekend following the release of video showing Republican candidate Donald Trump boasting of his ability to use his position of wealth and celebrity to assault women.
One month to the US presidential election—what lies ahead
By Patrick Martin, 8 October 2016
The next president will oversee a deepening global crisis of capitalism, mounting attacks on jobs, living standards and social services at home, and the escalation of military conflicts in the Middle East and against Russia and China.
Fifteen years of the war in Afghanistan
By James Cogan, 7 October 2016
The US has been the central instigator of the Afghan tragedy for a period that now spans 38 years, with a toll in dead and wounded that numbers well over a million people.
Beating the drums for war with Russia
By Bill Van Auken, 6 October 2016
The New York Times and other major media are weighing in on the side of escalating the US intervention in Syria and militarily confronting Russia.
Sanders’ campaign for Clinton: A “political revolution” in defense of the status quo
By Joseph Kishore, 5 October 2016
Sanders’ bid to drum up support for Clinton in a series of campaign appearances this week is based on sophistries and lies.
Trump’s taxes: Capitalist corruption and class privilege
By Patrick Martin, 4 October 2016
The tax dodges that Trump employed provide a glimpse of the real nature of the “free market” system, in which working people are systematically exploited to boost the wealth of the super-rich.
The “major and deadly” wars to come
By Andre Damon, 3 October 2016
A report by a leading geopolitical strategy think tank makes clear that the US military is engaged in intensive planning for wars involving massive casualties.
Deutsche Bank and the global financial crisis
By Nick Beams, 1 October 2016
The contradiction between booming financial markets and intractable slump in the underlying economy is assuming an ever more explosive form.
New York Times brands Russia an “outlaw state”
By Bill Van Auken, 30 September 2016
The Times’ hysterical rhetoric reflects a debate within ruling circles over whether to launch a major escalation of war before or after the US election.
Corbyn’s capitulation to the right wing and the lessons of the UK Labour leadership contest
By Chris Marsden, 29 September 2016
Corbyn’s defence of the Labour Party’s grip on the working class and his continued opposition to any struggle against the right wing is a vindication of the political stand taken by the Socialist Equality Party.
The US presidential debate and the war plans of the ruling class
By Patrick Martin, 28 September 2016
Clinton used the debate to continue the war-mongering diatribes against Russia that have dominated her campaign, along with her attacks on Trump as a stooge of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Syria and the pro-imperialist pseudo-left
By Alex Lantier, 27 September 2016
The response of leading spokesmen of state capitalist and Pabloite tendencies reflect the increasingly open pro-war policies of substantial sections of the international pseudo-left.
On the eve of the US election debate: The politics of the grotesque
By Patrick Martin, 26 September 2016
The first debate of the presidential election campaign takes place under conditions of growing crisis, both at home and abroad.
Police violence and the social crisis in America
By Joseph Kishore, 24 September 2016
Both the killing of Keith Scott and the protests that have erupted in Charlotte, North Carolina starkly expose the deep social tensions and class divisions in America.
The New York bombings: Feeding the “war on terror”
By Bill Van Auken, 23 September 2016
As with virtually every other terrorist act on American soil since 9/11, the latest bombings were carried out by someone known to US intelligence agencies.
The police murder in Charlotte, North Carolina
By Patrick Martin, 22 September 2016
The police killing and eruption of protests in Charlotte, North Carolina are expressions of seething social tensions and the class divide in America.
UN General Assembly convenes amid global military escalation
By Andre Damon, 21 September 2016
US President Barack Obama delivered remarks at the UN assembly on Tuesday against the backdrop of escalating conflicts in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia.
New York Times peddles alibi for US bombing in Syria
By Bill Van Auken, 20 September 2016
Acting as a propaganda outlet of the US government, the Times parrots Washington’s claims that the air strikes that killed scores of Syrian troops were merely an unfortunate accident.
The threat of world war: The great unmentionable in the 2016 campaign
By Patrick Martin, 19 September 2016
Neither Clinton nor Trump is discussing the increasing likelihood of a US war with Russia or China, although the Pentagon is making active preparations.
The international significance of the Berlin election
By Peter Schwarz, 17 September 2016
Amid the widespread discrediting of the established political parties, the German ruling class is contemplating the formation of a “Red-Red-Green” government to suppress opposition to militarism and austerity.
Clinton’s fall in the polls and the crisis of the Democratic Party
By Patrick Martin, 16 September 2016
Clinton holds only a narrowing lead over Trump because the Democratic Party is incapable of making a genuine appeal to working people and youth facing unemployment, poverty and low wages.
Socialism vs. Capitalism and War
The SEP and IYSSE schedule November 5 antiwar conference in Detroit
By The Socialist Equality Party, 15 September 2016
The purpose of the conference in Detroit is to politically mobilize workers and young people against the war policies of US and world imperialism, which threaten to escalate into a nuclear Third World War.
The witch-hunt against Chinese influence in Australia
By Peter Symonds, 14 September 2016
The campaign against politicians, commentators and businessmen not fully supportive of the US “pivot” against China is a warning of the advanced character of war preparations in Asia.
Hunger and the social catastrophe facing America’s youth
By Kate Randall, 13 September 2016
As two new reports document the shocking consequences of food insecurity, the social disaster in America is being ignored in the elections and the contest between Clinton and Trump.
Fifteen years since the 9/11 attacks
By The WSWS editorial board, 12 September 2016
The attacks of September 11, 2001 provided a pretext for a vast escalation of global military operations that threaten a Third World War.
Media misinformation and the US election’s war agenda
By Bill Van Auken, 10 September 2016
The arrest of two young men in North Carolina for hacking into the accounts of top officials and government agencies casts a stark light on the media’s anti-Russia campaign.
Two months until the US elections: The political issues facing the working class
By Joseph Kishore, 9 September 2016
Whether it is Democrat Hillary Clinton or Republican Donald Trump who occupies the White House, the next administration will be one of war, austerity, repression and violence.
Clinton and Trump bow to the military
By Patrick Martin, 8 September 2016
The unstated premise of Wednesday night’s forum before a veteran’s group in New York City was that the military should have veto power in the selection of the next US “commander-in-chief.”
White House to maintain nuclear “first strike” policy
By Andre Damon, 7 September 2016
The US is reportedly keeping its “first strike” policy amid relentless threats against Russia and China and an election campaign aimed at preparing for war.
Obama and the US secret war in Laos
By Peter Symonds, 6 September 2016
Obama is the first US president since the Vietnam War to visit Laos, the scene of one of US imperialism’s bloodiest crimes, even as his administration is preparing new wars on a far greater scale.
The most unpopular candidates in American history
By Patrick Martin, 5 September 2016
The contest between the militaristic Clinton and the fascistic Trump has alienated tens of millions from the corporate-controlled two-party system.
The ouster of Brazil’s Workers Party government
By Bill Van Auken, 3 September 2016
The downfall of the PT marks the end of a political era, posing sharply the need for a new revolutionary leadership in the Brazilian working class.
Clinton’s “American exceptionalism” speech: A bipartisan policy of militarism and war
By Patrick Martin, 2 September 2016
The Democratic presidential candidate’s speech to the American Legion was an attack on Trump from the right, pledging to be more ambitious and decisive in the use of American military power.
Eighty years since the first Moscow Trial
By Fred Williams, 1 September 2016
In carrying out these trials, Joseph Stalin was launching an assault on the legacy and the leaders of the first successful socialist revolution.
EpiPen price gouging: Capitalism and the US health care crisis
By Kate Randall, 31 August 2016
The EpiPen scandal has become a focal point of anger over the subordination of health care to huge corporations driven by an insatiable quest for profit.
The socioeconomic basis of identity politics: Inequality and the rise of an African American elite
By David Walsh, 30 August 2016
A sharp polarization has emerged among African Americans over the past four decades. The privileged layer that has been produced forms an important basis for racialist politics.
Nothing revolutionary about Sanders’ “Our Revolution”
By Patrick Martin, 29 August 2016
The rollout of the new organization founded by Sanders and his campaign makes crystal clear that its purpose is to direct young people and workers into the blind alley of the Democratic Party.
“Godfather” Biden visits Turkey
By Andre Damon, 27 August 2016
One month after the failed coup, the vice president met with Erdogan.
Air of crisis overhangs central bankers’ meeting
By Nick Beams, 26 August 2016
The central bankers and financial authorities gathered at Jackson Hole have no economic answer to the crisis of the profit system over which they preside.
Stop the German government’s preparations for war!
By Socialist Equality Party of Germany, 25 August 2016
The “Civil Defence Concept” presented by German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière on Wednesday proposes a range of measures to prepare the population for war.
Biden’s blank check to the Baltic states: US will wage war on Russia in your defense
By Andre Damon, 24 August 2016
Vice President Biden said Washington’s commitment to militarily defend the tiny states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia was a matter of America’s “sacred honor.”
Twenty years since Clinton’s welfare “reform”
By Jerry White, 23 August 2016
The Clintons’ welfare bill marked the complete abandonment by the Democratic Party of the policy of liberal reform associated with Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s and Johnson’s War on Poverty in the mid-1960s.
Media, Democrats cover up Trump’s fascistic politics
By Patrick Martin, 22 August 2016
Last week’s reshuffle has put the Trump campaign under the leadership of an ultra-right publisher linked to “white nationalist” and other fascistic tendencies.
The ruling class and the spectre of Leon Trotsky
By Chris Marsden, 20 August 2016
Seventy-six years after his assassination at the hands of a Stalinist agent, Trotsky remains not only a towering historical personality, but also a figure of acute contemporary political relevance.
“Human rights” propaganda campaign paves way for military escalation in Syria
By Bill Van Auken, 19 August 2016
The saturation of the airwaves and the press with images of a five-year-old child in Aleppo should be taken as a warning that Washington is preparing public opinion for a major military escalation.
The 2016 elections and the crisis of American democracy
By Joseph Kishore, 18 August 2016
In the 2016 elections, the consequences of record inequality, unending war and the protracted crisis of American capitalism are coming to a head.
The Louisiana flooding—a failure of American capitalism
By Patrick Martin, 17 August 2016
Eleven years after Hurricane Katrina, the social infrastructure and the US political system are no more prepared for a natural disaster.
The social roots of unrest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
By Niles Niemuth, 16 August 2016
The growth of poverty and inequality, the eruption of social anger and the build-up of the police forces are interrelated components of the same class dynamic.
The real issues in the 2016 US elections
By Patrick Martin, 15 August 2016
Regardless of who wins in November, the ruling class is preparing a vast expansion of militarist violence and an intensification of the assault on the social and political rights of the working class.
The provocation in Crimea and the threat of world war
By Bill Van Auken, 13 August 2016
The terrorist attack in Crimea and ratcheting up of the war threat in Eastern Europe have exposed the real purpose of the anti-Putin hysteria in both the US election campaign and the Rio Olympics.
The Justice Department’s whitewash of police violence in Baltimore, Maryland
By Niles Niemuth, 12 August 2016
The DOJ report on Baltimore is another in a series of investigations that will do nothing to stop the violence meted out by police on a daily basis.
The slump in US productivity: Another symptom of capitalist crisis
By Andre Damon, 11 August 2016
Behind the continuing slump in productivity and business investment is an immense growth of financial speculation.
The battle for Aleppo and the hypocrisy of US war propaganda
By Bill Van Auken, 10 August 2016
Fifteen years after launching a “global war on terror” in the name of wiping out Al Qaeda, Washington is arming and funding its associates in Syria to counter Russia.
The national security state and the US elections
By Patrick Martin, 9 August 2016
A letter against Trump from 50 former top military-intelligence officials of Republican administrations is an unprecedented intervention into a presidential campaign.
Rio 2016: The “Olympic ideal” and the reality of capitalism
By Bill Van Auken, 8 August 2016
The Olympics are being held under conditions of military occupation in Brazil, one of the world’s must unequal countries, wracked by economic, social and political crises.
Why the CIA is for Hillary Clinton
By Patrick Martin, 6 August 2016
The Clinton campaign is seeking to direct all anti-Trump sentiment in a right-wing, pro-war direction.
“Thinking Through the Unthinkable”
RAND Corporation lays out scenarios for US war with China
By Peter Symonds, 5 August 2016
The RAND Corporation study provides further evidence that a US war against China is being planned and prepared in the upper echelons of the American military-intelligence apparatus.
Kerry backs Duterte’s murderous anti-drug campaign: “Placing a cheapness on the lives of Orientals”
By Joseph Santolan, 4 August 2016
US Secretary of State Kerry pledged $32 million to fund Philippine President Duterte’s anti-drug campaign, involving death squads, police murders and concentration camps, in order to secure support for Washington’s war drive against China.
After the conventions, Democrats attack Trump from the right
By Patrick Martin, 3 August 2016
The Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party are seeking to use their Republican opponent Donald Trump as a foil for legitimizing their deeply unpopular program of militarism and war.
After Democrats’ celebration of militarism, US warplanes bomb Libya
By Bill Van Auken, 2 August 2016
The bombing of the Libyan coastal city of Sirte was ordered amid an explosive escalation of American militarism.
Democratic Party’s anti-Putin rhetoric prepares escalation of Syrian War
By Andre Damon, 1 August 2016
A campaign to accuse the Putin government of hacking into Democratic Party servers is aimed at creating the conditions for military escalation in Syria and against Russia itself.
After the Democratic and Republican conventions
For a socialist alternative to the parties of austerity and war!
By Socialist Equality Party, 30 July 2016
In the face of an immense economic, social and political crisis, neither Clinton nor Trump has anything to offer but austerity, war and the continued assault on democratic rights.
Obama’s legacy: Identity politics in the service of war
By Bill Van Auken, 29 July 2016
The Obama administration has marked the return of the Democrats to their roots as the premier party of US imperialism.
The end of the Sanders campaign: The political lessons
By Tom Hall, 28 July 2016
The full support of Bernie Sanders for the nomination of Hillary Clinton confirms the analysis made by the World Socialist Web Site from the inception of his campaign.
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