Perspectives
Why is the far-right benefiting from the crisis of capitalism?
By Barry Grey, 28 September 2017
Far from an exception, the electoral triumph of the neo-fascist party in Germany is part of a pattern repeated throughout Europe and internationally.
Trump to devastated Puerto Rico: Wall Street must be paid!
By Bill Van Auken, 27 September 2017
The brutal and ignorant tweet from the US president expresses the real attitude of America’s ruling oligarchy toward a population of 3.5 million confronting a humanitarian catastrophe.
Behind Trump’s attack on the NFL football players
By Patrick Martin, 26 September 2017
Trump’s attacks on NFL players for “disrespecting” the national anthem are a calculated effort to whip up racism and militarism.
The rise of the AfD and the rightward lurch of official politics in Germany
By Peter Schwarz, 25 September 2017
For the first time since the fall of the Nazis, a right-wing extremist party is entering Germany’s national parliament.
The St. Louis police riot
By Niles Niemuth, 23 September 2017
The violent and provocative actions of the police, including the “kettling” and mass arrest of protesters and the fascistic spectacle of cops chanting “Whose streets? Our streets!” reveals the real state of class relations in America
Trump’s UN tirade and the logic of imperialism
By Bill Van Auken, 22 September 2017
The absence of any serious evaluation of the implications of war reflects the aggressive militarism and recklessness that prevails within the political establishment.
Obama adviser Samantha Power calls for crackdown on social media
Internet censorship and government war plans
By Andre Damon, 21 September 2017
Samantha Power, US ambassador to the United Nations under Barack Obama, has penned a column in the New York Times advocating the use of “professional gatekeepers” to police public discourse on the Internet.
Trump’s “Mein Kampf” tirade at the United Nations
By Bill Van Auken, 20 September 2017
The American president publicly threatened to unleash a genocidal war, declaring that he was “ready, willing and able” to “totally destroy” North Korea and its 25 million people.
UN General Assembly convenes under shadow of war
By Bill Van Auken, 19 September 2017
On the eve of the opening session of the UN General Assembly, top US officials have reiterated threats of a “military option” on the Korean peninsula that could lead to nuclear war.
The 150th anniversary of the publication of Capital
By Nick Beams, 18 September 2017
September 14 was the 150th anniversary of the publication of the first volume of Capital by Karl Marx. It marked a turning point in mankind’s intellectual and historical development.
CIA vetoes Chelsea Manning’s Harvard fellowship
By Eric London, 16 September 2017
After a quarter century of war, there is hardly a decision made in any of the official institutions of bourgeois power where the military and intelligence agencies do not have the final say.
Democrats seek to prop up Trump’s crisis-ridden government
By Joseph Kishore, 15 September 2017
The moves by the Democrats to stabilize the Trump administration are aimed at creating better conditions for intensifying the assault on the working class and preparing for a major war.
Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi and the fraud of human rights imperialism
By Peter Symonds, 14 September 2017
The desperate plight of Rohingya Muslims demonstrates that the US never had the slightest interest in promoting democratic rights in Burma, but cynically exploited the issue to advance its own economic and strategic aims.
From hurricanes to tax cuts: The ruling class gets down to business
By Joseph Kishore, 13 September 2017
Even as the destruction caused by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma is still being tallied, the US political establishment is moving rapidly to push through a massive handout for the corporate and financial elite.
Sixteen years after 9/11: lies, hypocrisy and militarism
By Bill Van Auken, 12 September 2017
The media has largely blacked out new revelations of the direct role of Saudi Arabia, one of Washington’s closest Mideast allies, in preparing the attacks.
Why was American capitalism unable to prepare for Hurricane Irma?
By Niles Niemuth, 11 September 2017
As Hurricane Irma wreaks havoc on Florida, the failure to adequately prepare for the storm and protect those in its path has exposed the irrationality of American capitalism.
Hurricanes Irma and Harvey: Natural disaster and political breakdown
By Patrick Martin, 9 September 2017
In its response to Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma and other natural disasters, American capitalism has demonstrated its bankruptcy as a social system.
UN chief warns against the march to world war
By Bill Van Auken, 8 September 2017
The comparison of the reckless ratcheting up of tensions on the Korean peninsula to the events that sparked the First World War has gone virtually unreported in the US media.
Unite all workers against the attack on immigrants! For a socialist policy of open borders!
By Socialist Equality Party (US), 7 September 2017
The decision of the Trump administration to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program marks a new stage in the attack on immigrant workers in the United States and internationally.
The logic of imperialist aggression:
Will US threats against North Korea yield a global catastrophe?
By Bill Van Auken, 6 September 2017
With each ratcheting up of threats to unleash a nuclear conflagration on North Korea, the question is posed with increasing force: Will Washington go to war to make good on its war rhetoric?
Macron’s labor decrees in France: A new stage in the international social counter-revolution
By Alex Lantier, 5 September 2017
By unilaterally rewriting the French Labor Code, Macron is setting into motion a confrontation with the working class with international and revolutionary implications.
Trump, North Korea and the danger of world war
By Peter Symonds, 4 September 2017
While North Korea’s nuclear test certainly compounds the risk of conflict, the prime responsibility for pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war rests with US imperialism.
Who will pay for the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey?
By Joseph Kishore, 2 September 2017
The consequences of what by some measures is the greatest natural disaster in American history will be far-reaching, not only for the millions of people directly affected, but for social and political stability in the United States .
UN says 27 dying each day in US-led siege of Raqqa
By Bill Van Auken, 1 September 2017
The mass killing in the Syrian city of Raqqa is part of an arc of US slaughter, stretching from the Horn of Africa through the Middle East and into South Asia.
The working class responds to Hurricane Harvey
By Joseph Kishore, 31 August 2017
The self-sacrifice and organizational initiative of the working class in response to the hurricane make a powerful case for independent workers’ organizations and workers’ control over economic and social life.
The Houston flood, the anarchy of the capitalist market and the case for socialist planning
By Niles Niemuth, 30 August 2017
Twelve years after Katrina, nothing has been done to strengthen flood control systems and build up the social infrastructure to limit the impact of major storms.
The Houston flood disaster: A social crime of the American oligarchy
By Barry Grey, 29 August 2017
Catastrophes such as Hurricane Harvey are the product of a half-century of neglect of America’s social infrastructure, accompanied by a fantastic accumulation of private wealth at the very apex of society.
Capitalism and the Houston flood catastrophe
By Tom Hall, 28 August 2017
Twelve years after Hurricane Katrina, a major hurricane has once against exposed the brutal reality of class relations in the United States.
DreamHost ordered to hand over data on anti-Trump website: The criminalization of political dissent
By Joseph Kishore, 26 August 2017
The court decision that DreamHost must turn over information on the individuals associated with disruptj20.org is a chilling assault on free speech.
An open letter to Google: Stop the censorship of the Internet! Stop the political blacklisting of the World Socialist Web Site!
25 August 2017
David North, chairperson of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site, has sent the following open letter to Google executives Sundar Pichai, Lawrence Page, Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt.
The “military-industrial complex” in power
By Andre Damon, 24 August 2017
The ruling elite has used the crisis surrounding the president’s endorsement of the neo-fascist rampage in Charlottesville, Virginia to consolidate the grip of the military over the White House.
Trump’s speech on Afghanistan: The military in command
By Joseph Kishore, 23 August 2017
Trump’s speech on Afghan policy was a declaration of war on the world that revealed an unprecedented level of military control over the American government.
Behind the political warfare in the US: Rising fears of financial collapse, social unrest
By Nick Beams, 22 August 2017
There are growing concerns in US and global financial circles that the rise in the US stock market that accelerated with the election of Donald Trump is heading for a major downturn.
One week after Charlottesville
Big business, military tighten their grip on Washington
By Patrick Martin and Joseph Kishore, 21 August 2017
The ruling class is seeking to divert popular opposition to Trump behind a palace coup aimed at consolidating the political domination of the military and the corporate/financial elite.
Trump’s firing of Bannon: The military asserts control
By Barry Grey, 19 August 2017
While Democratic politicians hailed the removal of Bannon, his departure in no way signifies a shift away from the Trump administration’s program of war, social reaction and political repression.
The working class and the fight against Trump
By Niles Niemuth, 18 August 2017
Covered up in all the media and political commentary that has followed Trump’s press conference is the fact that the central target of his political strategy is the working class, of all races and ethnicities.
Trump’s defense of Nazi violence: The mask comes off
By Joseph Kishore, 17 August 2017
Trump’s remarks on Tuesday defending Nazi and white supremacist violence have exposed the ugly reality of American capitalism.
Seventy years since the communal Partition of South Asia
By Keith Jones, 16 August 2017
The Partition was one of the great crimes of the 20th century—a crime that has shaped, or more precisely deformed, the entire subsequent history of South Asia.
The political and social roots of fascist violence in the US
By Joseph Kishore, 15 August 2017
The fascist violence in Charlottesville is not an aberration. It is, rather, the manifestation of a profound crisis of American capitalist society.
The White House and the fascist rampage in Charlottesville
By Eric London, 14 August 2017
Trump’s attempt to develop an extra-constitutional fascist movement is a warning to the working class in the US and internationally.
The world on the brink
By The World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board, 12 August 2017
The bellicose language coming from the man in charge of the most powerful military force on the planet is generating increasing shock and fear that nuclear war could break out at any moment.
US imperialism and the threat of nuclear war against North Korea
By Peter Symonds, 11 August 2017
The current crisis is the outcome of a policy of naked aggression pursued by US imperialism for the past quarter-century in the Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and the Balkans.
Trump’s nuclear war threat against North Korea
By Bill Van Auken, 10 August 2017
With the staggeringly reckless statements of Trump and his aides, a fuse has been lit that can lead to the eruption of a nuclear war in Asia with incalculable global consequences.
Trump threatens “fire and fury” against North Korea
By Peter Symonds, 9 August 2017
Not since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 has the world stood so close to the brink of nuclear war.
The guns of August
By Alex Lantier, 8 August 2017
Just over a century since the guns of August 14 announced the outbreak of WWI in Europe, NATO’s military focus is shifting from the Middle East back to Europe, with major preparations underway for war with high-tech and nuclear enemies.
UAW debacle at Mississippi Nissan plant
By Jerry White, 7 August 2017
Workers have drawn conclusions about the UAW after decades in which it has focused all of its efforts on suppressing the class struggle and partnering with the auto companies to destroy jobs and living standards.
Democrats offer pro-corporate health care “compromise”
By Kate Randall, 5 August 2017
The Democratic Party’s response to the debacle for Trump was to offer its services in implementing the demands of the insurance giants for “repairing” Obamacare so as to better ensure reduced costs and fatter profits.
Trump makes an appeal to the fascistic right
By Patrick Martin, 4 August 2017
What has unfolded over the past two weeks is a calculated political strategy aimed at mobilizing an ultra-right movement outside both the Democratic and Republican parties.
Tens of thousands line up at Amazon job fairs as Dow tops 22,000
By Eric London, 3 August 2017
The long lines of job-hungry workers encircling buildings and stretching across parking lots recall scenes from the Great Depression.
Google’s new search protocol is restricting access to 13 leading socialist, progressive and anti-war web sites
By Andre Damon and David North, 2 August 2017
The World Socialist Web Site and other widely-followed left-wing internet publications have experienced a massive drop in Google search traffic.
The US sanctions drive and the danger of war
By Alex Lantier, 1 August 2017
Amid a mounting domestic political crisis and a breakdown of long-standing alliances, the United States is simultaneously escalating its military threats against nuclear-armed Russia and China.
White House shakeup: A further step toward authoritarian rule
By Patrick Martin, 31 July 2017
The installation of retired Marine General John Kelly as White House chief of staff is part of a broader turn by President Trump to the military and police apparatus.
Embattled Trump plays homophobia card to strengthen his fascistic base
By Eric London, 29 July 2017
Trump and Bannon are seeking to whip up homophobic hysteria, uniting religious bigotry with police worship and American nationalism to encourage the growth of a fascistic movement.
Google rigs searches to block access to World Socialist Web Site
By the WSWS Editorial Board, 28 July 2017
Statistical analysis proves that Google is excluding WSWS content from search requests.
Dropping the mask: A war of plunder in Afghanistan
By Bill Van Auken, 27 July 2017
The long stalled plan for reviving the nearly 16-year US war in Afghanistan is being promoted in the Trump White House on the basis of profit and corporate plunder.
US Congress overwhelmingly passes sanctions bill targeting Russia
By Joseph Kishore, 26 July 2017
The new sanctions, combined with measures that restrict the Trump administration’s ability to remove them, expose the essence of the anti-Russia campaign spearheaded by the US intelligence agencies.
US squanders billions on new aircraft carrier
By Andre Damon, 25 July 2017
Donald Trump’s plans to vastly expand military spending will do nothing to offset the persistent decline of American capitalism, of which his administration is itself a malignant manifestation.
American nightmare: Nine immigrants suffocate to death in trailer left in Texas parking lot
By Eric London, 24 July 2017
The 30 survivors of the horrific tragedy will likely be thrown into detention centers and promptly deported without the right to appear before a judge.
Trump pulls plug on CIA’s Syrian “revolution”
By Bill Van Auken, 22 July 2017
The ending of the CIA’s arming and funding of Al Qaeda-linked “rebels” signals not an end to conflict or rapprochement with Moscow, but is part of the preparations for wider war.
The murder of Justine Damond and police violence in America
By Niles Niemuth, 21 July 2017
While few details have been released, what is known about Damond’s killing provides insight into the social and psychological underpinnings of the epidemic of police brutality in the US.
Six months of the Trump administration: The working-class strategy against capitalism and war
By Joseph Kishore, 20 July 2017
The development of a genuine movement against the Trump administration requires that workers and youth draw the necessary political conclusions from the experiences of the past six months.
Amid escalating militarism
Poll shows 76 percent of Americans fear a major war
By Bill Van Auken, 19 July 2017
A poll released Tuesday revealed that 76 percent of the American population is worried about the outbreak of a major war, even as the entire political establishment embraces escalating militarism.
The opioid epidemic in the US: A national health emergency
By Genevieve Leigh, 18 July 2017
The drug epidemic is a symptom of a diseased social system, the product of nearly four decades of social counterrevolution overseen by the ruling class and its political representatives, Democratic and Republican.
One month since the UK Grenfell Fire:
Three die in Honolulu high-rise without sprinkler system
By Andre Damon, 17 July 2017
The disaster in Honolulu makes clear that the London fire was no aberration. All over the world, the lives of working people are treated as expendable in the pursuit of wealth and profits by the financial elite.
Wages and Wall Street
By Barry Grey, 15 July 2017
The 2008 Wall Street meltdown ushered in an intensification of attacks on the working class combined with a record rise on the stock market.
Climate change and the struggle against capitalism
By Patrick Martin, 14 July 2017
The main obstacles to a rational climate policy are capitalist private ownership of the means of production and the division of the world into rival nation-states.
Revelation of meeting with Russian lawyer intensifies political crisis in Washington
By Joseph Kishore and David North, 13 July 2017
Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer in June 2016 has acquired explosive significance in the context of the ferocious political battle being waged in Washington.
The “liberation” of Mosul: Washington’s latest war crime in the Middle East
By Bill Van Auken, 12 July 2017
The crimes carried out against the people of Mosul are on a Hitlerian scale, with tens of thousands killed or wounded and close to one million people driven from their homes.
After Hamburg protests, German government plans crackdown on left-wing views
By Andre Damon, 11 July 2017
High-ranking members of the German government have called for the drawing up of a list of “left-wing extremists” throughout Europe and a permanent ban on their entry into Germany.
The police murder of Iraq War veteran Brian Easley
By Eric London, 10 July 2017
The murder of Easley exposes the establishment’s ritual worship of veterans as nothing more than propaganda, aimed at building support for wars fought by the poor to enrich the wealthy.
The oligarchs assemble in Hamburg
By Alex Lantier, 8 July 2017
Ringed by tens of thousands of heavily-armed police, the representatives of the global financial oligarchy gathered in Hamburg to hurl recriminations at one another.
Bitter conflicts dominate G20 summit in Germany
By Bill Van Auken, 7 July 2017
The G20 summit convenes today in Hamburg, Germany in an atmosphere of global crisis and multisided conflicts that point to the emergence of a new prewar period.
Ahead of G20 summit
US exploits North Korean missile test to threaten war and isolate China
By James Cogan, 6 July 2017
The Trump administration is returning to the bellicose anti-China stance that characterised his campaign in the presidential election.
Three weeks after the Grenfell inferno: Official cover-up and callous indifference
By Robert Stevens, 5 July 2017
The period since the fire has underscored the ruling elite’s contempt for the traumatised survivors and the working class as a whole.
Trump’s attack on the press
By Patrick Martin and Joseph Kishore, 4 July 2017
A recognition of the deeply reactionary content of Trump’s polemics does not require that one be sentimental about his immediate targets.
The media blackout of Seymour Hersh’s exposé on US missile strike against Syria
By Bill Van Auken, 3 July 2017
The same corporate media that praised the US missile strike against Syria has blacked out Hersh’s exposure that its pretext, an alleged chemical weapons attack, is a lie.
The Supreme Court and Trump’s anti-Muslim executive orders
By Tom Carter, 1 July 2017
The Supreme Court’s decision on Monday, which permits Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim ban to go into effect, is one of the most significant cases in the history of the institution.
The human cost of capitalism: The Grenfell fire and the poisoning of Flint, Michigan
By Jerry White, 30 June 2017
In both London and Flint—and cities throughout the globe—modern-day capitalism is condemning the working class to impossible conditions and an early grave.
The emerging class struggle over health care in the US
By Joseph Kishore, 29 June 2017
The Democrats and Republicans are continuing their stage-managed debate over measures that will have devastating consequences for millions of Americans.
Trump’s Syrian chemical weapons claims: A house of cards
By Andre Damon, 28 June 2017
The spurious White House claims that the Syrian government is preparing to use chemical weapons have yet again gone unquestioned in the US media.
The political implications of the Grenfell Tower fire
By Chris Marsden, 27 June 2017
The staggering loss of life epitomises the devastation capitalism has wrought on generations of working people. It is the outcome of a vast and ongoing transfer of society’s wealth from the poor to the rich.
Saudi ultimatum to Qatar brings Middle East to brink of wider war
By Peter Symonds, 26 June 2017
The Saudi-led ultimatum to Qatar contains demands deliberately designed to be rejected, providing the pretext for even tougher sanctions and military action.
Health care and the fight for socialism
By Barry Grey and Kate Randall, 24 June 2017
The most significant feature of both the Senate and House plans is their effective dismantlement of Medicaid as a guaranteed benefit—a milestone in the ruling class drive to destroy what remains of the social reforms of the 20th century.
Political lessons of the French elections
By Alex Lantier, 23 June 2017
The election of Emmanuel Macron is the outcome of the reactionary policies of the organizations in the so-called French left that broke with Trotskyism.
Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods and the case for public ownership
By Eric London, 22 June 2017
The expansion of the Amazon corporate behemoth is an expression of the unprecedented concentration of economic power among a handful of corporations that dominate the world capitalist economy.
The US escalation in Syria and the threat of world war
By Bill Van Auken, 21 June 2017
The seriousness of the rising tensions between Washington and Moscow was underscored Tuesday with Australia’s announcement that it is grounding its planes that have been flying over Syria.
The New York Times steps up its anti-Russia campaign
By Patrick Martin, 20 June 2017
An editorial in Sunday’s Times on the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election is an exercise in disinformation aimed at whipping up support for war with Russia.
Social inequality and the Grenfell Tower inferno
By Chris Marsden, 19 June 2017
Thousands have met Prime Minister May’s promise to hold a public inquiry with denunciations of yet another cover-up, while Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn gives his full support.
Corporate mass murder in London
By Robert Stevens, 17 June 2017
Thousands protested in London Friday to demand justice and the punishment of those responsible for mass murder in the worst housing fire in modern British history.
The political significance of the shooting attack on US congressmen
By Eric London, 16 June 2017
The tragedy of Hodgkinson’s life is that he saw no way out from a political system dominated by the super-rich and no way to address his grievances through the existing organizations.
Washington’s war crimes in Syria
By Bill Van Auken, 15 June 2017
UN war crimes investigators found that the US military has inflicted a “staggering loss of civilian life” with its relentless airstrikes in and around the Syrian city of Raqqa.
Marching toward a wider war in the Middle East
By Bill Van Auken, 14 June 2017
Behind the bitter political warfare in Washington and the endless claims of Russian interference in the election, very real wars in the Middle East are threatening to coalesce into a regional or even global conflagration.
Palace coup or class struggle: The political crisis in Washington and the strategy of the working class
By Joseph Kishore and David North on behalf of the Socialist Equality Party Political Committee, 13 June 2017
The working class cannot remain a bystander in the fight between Trump and the Democrats. Rather, it must develop its struggle against Trump under its own banner and with its own program.
The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming!
By Patrick Martin, 12 June 2017
Thursday’s appearance by fired FBI Director James Comey before the Senate Intelligence Committee has raised the anti-Russian hysteria in the US media to a new level.
Britain’s general election: A new stage in the class struggle
By Chris Marsden and Julie Hyland, 10 June 2017
To those now inclined to accept the portrayal of Corbyn by pseudo-left groups in Britain as the natural leader of the working class, we say: Remember Alexis Tsipras and Syriza.
Comey’s Senate testimony: A political circus in Washington
By Eric London, 9 June 2017
There is nothing progressive in the Democratic Party’s campaign to bring down Trump on the basis of anti-Russian propaganda.
Understanding the geopolitics of terrorism
By Bill Van Auken, 8 June 2017
While the media routinely portrays terrorism as a manifestation of evil and the work of madmen, there are definite geopolitical relations and aims underlying these acts.
Britain’s crisis election and the tasks facing the working class
By Chris Marsden, 7 June 2017
Britain is being destabilised economically, politically and socially as world capitalism descends into its deepest crisis since the end of World War II.
The Saudi offensive against Qatar and the global intensification of geopolitical conflict
By Keith Jones, 6 June 2017
Backed by Egypt and its closest Gulf State allies, Saudi Arabia has announced a series of measures against Qatar, a tiny, energy-rich neighbor, that stop just short of war.
Official account of London terror attack unravels
By Robert Stevens and Chris Marsden, 5 June 2017
Within 24 hours of Saturday’s terror attack at London Bridge, the official narrative presented by British Prime Minister Theresa May has begun to fall apart.
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