Perspectives
Refugees ensnared in European dragnet
By Johannes Stern and Andre Damon, 9 July 2018
Germany’s establishment parties have agreed to set up mass refugee internment camps inside the country, based on the criminal and racist immigration policies of the neo-fascists.
Trade war and the political independence of the working class
By Nick Beams, 7 July 2018
On the eve of World War II, Leon Trotsky wrote that that the bourgeoisie “toboggans with closed eyes towards an economic and military catastrophe.” Eighty years on, his words have a profound resonance.
Three years since Syriza’s referendum on EU austerity in Greece
By Alex Lantier, 6 July 2018
Syriza’s repudiation of the Greek workers’ “no” vote on austerity exposed the class gulf separating the workers from pro-capitalist middle-class parties like Syriza.
Ten years after the Wall Street crash, record stock buybacks and mergers
By Gabriel Black, 5 July 2018
The money-mad fixation of the financial oligarchy on ever rising share values is starving society of resources and preventing any social problem from being addressed.
America on the Fourth of July: From Thomas Jefferson to Donald Trump
By Patrick Martin, 4 July 2018
The most fundamental right asserted by the Declaration of Independence is the right of the people to revolt against tyranny and despotism, a right that this generation will be called on to exercise.
Democrats fast-track Trump’s Supreme Court pick
By Eric London, 3 July 2018
The announcement by the Democrats that they will not seek to block Trump’s Supreme Court appointee reveals certain truths about the two-party system.
European Union intensifies campaign of terror against refugees
By Johannes Stern, 2 July 2018
The EU summit at the end of last week marked a dangerous turning point in post-World War II European history.
The elections in Mexico and the political tasks of the working class
By Bill Van Auken, 30 June 2018
The coming to power of López Obrador will yield not a way out of the current crisis, but rather its sharp intensification.
Supreme Court vacancy exposes bankruptcy of the Democratic Party
By Joseph Kishore, 29 June 2018
Trump’s shaping of the Supreme Court following the resignation of Anthony Kennedy will mark another stage in the consolidation of power by far-right, fascistic forces over the institutions of the American state.
What the New York primary victory of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez means
By Patrick Martin, 28 June 2018
A member of the Democratic Socialists of America, Ocasio-Cortez offered not a hint of genuine socialism in her campaign.
The new Dred Scott: Supreme Court upholds Trump travel ban
By Eric London, 27 June 2018
By upholding Trump’s power to seal the country’s borders, the court has granted the president limitless authority to enact his fascistic policies against immigrants and political opponents.
In defense of the Red Hen
By Andre Damon, 26 June 2018
The Washington Post and leading Democrats have lined up with Donald Trump in condemning protests against Trump administration officials over human rights violations on the Mexican border.
Concentration camps in America
By Eric London, 25 June 2018
The social force that can and must halt the drive toward dictatorship is the working class, the central target of the assault on democratic rights.
Amid Trump’s war on immigrants and social programs
Democrats back massive Pentagon budget for war and repression
By Andre Damon, 23 June 2018
Democrats voted overwhelmingly for a bill to vastly expand the US nuclear arsenal, authorize Trump’s planned military parade, and keep the Guantanamo Bay prison camp open.
Trade war and the eruption of economic nationalism
By Nick Beams, 22 June 2018
As in the 1930s, the re-emergence of trade war and protectionism are accompanied by the most grotesque forms of right-wing xenophobia and authoritarianism.
The working class and the global war on immigrants
By Bill Van Auken, 21 June 2018
The brutality and lawlessness of the Trump administration in ripping children from their parents at the US border is part of a global war by capitalist governments against refugees.
The United States of America: Land of internment camps
By Eric London, 20 June 2018
The attack on immigrants and democratic rights is of urgent importance to the entire working class.
The death of Ed Sadlowski and the demise of trade union reformism
By Shannon Jones, 19 June 2018
The failure of the reform movement headed by Sadlowski in the United Steelworkers and similar efforts in other unions foundered on the conflict between the needs of workers and the pro-capitalist program to which the unions are wedded.
The Sydney rally to defend Julian Assange: An important step forward
By Linda Tenenbaum, 18 June 2018
The international socialist movement and the working class are the decisive force in the fight for Assange’s freedom and the defense of all democratic rights.
Abolish Washington’s immigration Gestapo! Stop the persecution of immigrants!
By Eric London, 16 June 2018
The abolition of the agencies responsible for mass deportations, workplace raids and the separation of families is a life or death question for the working class.
The siege of Hodeidah, Washington’s war crime in Yemen
By Bill Van Auken, 15 June 2018
The near genocidal war against the impoverished people of Yemen represents one of the greatest war crimes since the end of World War II.
One year since the Grenfell inferno
By Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (UK), 14 June 2018
The refusal of the ruling elite to pursue the real criminals guilty of the Grenfell atrocity is in stark contrast to their determination to silence anyone fighting to establish the truth about events.
The Singapore summit and the growing war threat
By Bill Van Auken, 13 June 2018
The meeting between Trump and Kim heralds not a new era of peace in Northeast Asia, but rather the continuing shakeup of the global geopolitical order that is paving the way to war.
The end of net neutrality: The US ruling elite escalates campaign of internet censorship
By Andre Damon, 12 June 2018
The move marks a major milestone in the efforts of the US intelligence agencies, technology monopolies, and both political parties to undermine free speech.
The G7 summit collapses
By Alex Lantier, 11 June 2018
The acrimonious breakdown of the G7 summit gave jarring expression to the tensions ripping apart the crisis-ridden world geopolitical order.
US-European tensions erupt at the G7 summit
By Andre Damon, 9 June 2018
The bitter denunciations of America’s trade war measures by its closest allies are just one manifestation of the divisions ripping apart the world geopolitical order.
Gestapo-style immigration raids in Ohio: An urgent warning to the working class
By Eric London, 8 June 2018
State repression against immigrant workers is an attack on the democratic rights of the entire working class.
US war crimes in Syria exposed
By Niles Niemuth, 7 June 2018
Unlike the hysteria generated over the fake gas attack in Douma earlier this year, the revelations of massive US war crimes in Raqqa have been treated as a non-event by the media.
The assassination of Robert F. Kennedy and the end of American liberalism
By Patrick Martin, 6 June 2018
The events of 1968 marked the effective end of any prospect for liberal reforms under American capitalism.
A day of reaction at the US Supreme Court
By Eric London, 5 June 2018
In two separate decisions, the US Supreme Court set back rights for immigrants, the right to abortion, and protections for gay and lesbian couples.
Lift the ban on communications! Free Julian Assange!
By James Cogan, 4 June 2018
The American state and its allies are seeking to destroy WikiLeaks and Julian Assange in order to intimidate every critical and independent media organisation.
Extreme right takes power in Italy
By Peter Schwarz, 2 June 2018
The new Italian government sworn in yesterday in Rome is the most right-wing since the fall of the fascist Duce Benito Mussolini in 1945.
The New York Times and the murder that wasn’t
By Andre Damon, 1 June 2018
The response to the staged murder of the Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko stands as an exposure of the US media.
A social crime and cover-up exposed
Five thousand deaths in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria
By Genevieve Leigh, 31 May 2018
A Harvard study estimating nearly 5,000 deaths of Puerto Ricans in the aftermath of Hurricane María is a damning exposure of the official cover up of death and devastation on the island.
The working class must mobilize to free Julian Assange!
By Andre Damon, 30 May 2018
The demand for the freedom of Julian Assange must be connected to the developing international movement of workers against inequality, oppression and exploitation.
The abortion vote in Ireland: A blow against reaction
By Patrick Martin, 29 May 2018
The referendum vote demonstrates that working people, and broad sections of the middle class, are fully prepared to fight for the extension and expansion of democratic rights.
For international action to defend Julian Assange!
By The ICFI and WSWS international editorial board, 28 May 2018
The June 17 demonstration in Sydney will demand that the Australian government immediately act to secure Assange’s unconditional freedom and return to Australia.
The Tuticorin massacre and Modi’s India
By Keith Jones, 26 May 2018
The barbarity of class relations in contemporary India was laid bare in Tuesday’s police massacre of protesters in Tuticorin demanding the closure of a copper smelter that has spewed toxic chemicals for decades.
The nightmare inside America’s child immigrant jails
By Eric London, 25 May 2018
An ACLU report details widespread rape, beatings and neglect by prison guards in America’s immigration jails.
The way forward for French workers
Build rank-and-file committees to oppose Macron’s austerity measures!
By Alex Lantier, 24 May 2018
In voting to reject privatization, French rail workers are at the forefront of a struggle of the entire working class against the Macron government. This struggle requires a revolutionary perspective.
Ken Livingstone forced out of British Labour Party
By Thomas Scripps and Chris Marsden, 23 May 2018
The witch-hunt and expulsions within Labour will be held up as an example to follow by right-wing forces all over the world, above all in Israel and the United States.
Militarism and fascist demagogy in the German parliament
By Johannes Stern, 22 May 2018
The neo-fascist faction of the German parliament opened the first general debate of the legislative period with a racist tirade. This was simply ignored by Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has largely adopted the fascists’ refugee program.
Wealth-X report shows billionaires gained $1.8 trillion in 2017
By Eric London, 21 May 2018
The social needs of the working class can be met and its democratic rights defended only by expropriating the wealth of the super-rich.
Google, drone murder and the military-intelligence-censorship complex
By Andre Damon, 19 May 2018
The publication of this week’s open letter by leading technology academics protesting Google’s role in drone murder exposes the partnership between the major technology giants and the US military/intelligence complex.
The US political police and the 2016 elections
By Patrick Martin, 18 May 2018
A 4,000-word front-page report in the New York Times paints a picture of an American political system in which the FBI and CIA play a critical and at times decisive role.
Senate Intelligence Committee approves “black site” torturer to head CIA
By Barry Grey, 17 May 2018
Behind the threadbare trappings of parliamentary procedures, American “democracy” has been reduced to a dictatorship run by a military/intelligence/industrial apparatus.
The massacre in Gaza and imperialist war policy
By Andre Damon, 16 May 2018
The defense by the imperialist powers of Israel’s murder of over 60 Palestinian demonstrators Monday makes clear that they have adopted the mass killing of unarmed civilians as a legitimate policy tool.
Mass murder in Gaza
By Bill Van Auken, 15 May 2018
The shooting dead of at least 60 unarmed protesters in Gaza, along with the wounding of over 2,700 more, is a war crime for which all involved bear collective and personal responsibility.
Israel marks 70th anniversary amid war crimes and deepening social crisis
By Bill Van Auken, 14 May 2018
Washington’s ripping up of the Iran nuclear treaty and moving of its embassy to Jerusalem have given the Israeli state a green light for war with Iran and violent suppression of the Palestinians.
Amid political warfare in Washington, Trump steps up his fascistic appeal
By Patrick Martin, 12 May 2018
In a series of rallies in the industrial Midwest, Trump is spreading the poison of economic nationalism and anti-immigrant racism.
For a working-class strategy against the imperialist repartition of the Middle East!
By Keith Jones, 11 May 2018
In Iran, as around the world, the struggle against imperialist aggression and war must be founded on the independent political mobilization of the working class and the perspective of Permanent Revolution.
US Senate pays homage to CIA torturer
By Bill Van Auken, 10 May 2018
Gina Haspel, nominated by Trump to head the CIA, defended her intimate role in the torture of detainees as “lawful” at her Senate confirmation hearing.
Trump torpedoes Iran nuclear accord
By Keith Jones, 9 May 2018
In its reckless and ruinous drive for global hegemony, US imperialism, like the Nazi regime, makes diplomatic agreements only to break them when expedient.
Educators’ struggle in US continues in aftermath of union betrayal in Arizona
By Jerry White, 8 May 2018
The strikes and protests that have erupted so far this year are initial expressions of a powerful, objective social movement that raises basic political questions for all workers.
Trotskyism is the Marxism of the 21st Century
By Joseph Kishore, 7 May 2018
The ICFI’s fifth annual May Day Online Rally demonstrated that the continuity of Marxism is embodied in the history of the Fourth International.
US special forces operations in Yemen presage wider regional war
By Jordan Shilton, 5 May 2018
The secretive decision to deploy US special forces to Yemen last December underscores once again Washington’s reckless drive towards a regional conflagration with Iran.
Global military spending at record $1.7 trillion
By Niles Niemuth, 4 May 2018
After a quarter century of regional wars, the imperialist powers are rearming for a third world war to redivide the planet.
In barbaric treatment of Central American refugees
US denies right to asylum
By Eric London, 3 May 2018
The decision to block nearly 200 Central American immigrants from applying for asylum marks a turning point in the attack on democratic rights.
Washington and Tel Aviv lurching toward a war with Iran
By Bill Van Auken, 2 May 2018
The aggression that is being prepared by the US and Israel threatens to drag all of the major powers into what could prove a catastrophic world war.
May Day 2018
By Joseph Kishore and David North, 1 May 2018
On May Day, the day of international working-class solidarity, the International Committee of the Fourth International and the World Socialist Web Site extend our greetings to workers engaged in struggles all over the world.
As CEO pay, corporate profits and corporate cash hit new highs
US housing secretary proposes tripling of rent for the poor
By Kate Randall, 30 April 2018
The Trump administration’s latest proposal would impose even greater suffering on families already beset by hunger, poor housing and lack of medical care.
“Old Europe” comes to Washington
By Alex Lantier and Andre Damon, 28 April 2018
Fifteen years ago, the European powers opposed the US-British invasion of Iraq. Now they are scrambling to serve as junior partners in the new carve-up of the Middle East.
The Democratic Party and the confirmation of Mike Pompeo
By Patrick Martin, 27 April 2018
The nominal “opposition” party paved the way for the installation of an advocate of war, mass surveillance and torture as the new US secretary of state.
The growing threat of an Israeli war against Iran
By Bill Van Auken, 26 April 2018
In the shadow of US-French discussions on the Iranian nuclear deal, Israel is preparing for a military confrontation with Iran, threatening to ignite a regional and even global war.
The teachers’ struggle spreads to Arizona and Colorado
By Jerry White, 25 April 2018
With the teachers’ struggle spreading, it is urgent that workers review the political lessons of the experience of educators in the first stage of this battle.
The slaughter in Gaza and the crisis of Israel on its 70th anniversary
By Bill Van Auken, 24 April 2018
The number of unarmed demonstrators murdered by Israeli army snipers firing into Gaza has risen to at least 40, with another 5,000 wounded, 1,600 by live ammunition.
The CIA Democrats vs. Julian Assange
By Patrick Martin, 23 April 2018
The lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee is an attack on the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech and the press.
Social inequality and oligarchy in the US and Europe
By Eric London, 21 April 2018
A report by Thomas Piketty shows that the Democratic Party in the US, the Labour Party in Britain and the Socialist Party in France have become the preferred parties of dominant sections of the ruling elite.
Macron and the democracy of class war
By Peter Schwarz and Andre Damon, 20 April 2018
For French President Macron, “democracy” means the untrammeled domination of the banks and the corporations.
Trump’s secret diplomacy with North Korea
By Peter Symonds, 19 April 2018
The Trump administration senses the possibility of advancing US imperialism’s interests in Asia against its chief rivals, Russia and China, and potential competitors such as Japan.
Trump and Abe meet amid war and domestic crisis
By Peter Symonds, 18 April 2018
The two longstanding military allies—the US and Japan—are united in their determination to contain and confront China, but are increasingly at odds over the means for doing so.
No to World War III! For the building of a socialist anti-war movement!
By Statement of the World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board, 17 April 2018
The assault by the imperialist powers on Syria is only the prelude to a far broader and bloodier conflict with Iran, Russia, and China.
US-British-French missile strikes on Syria heighten danger of a catastrophic war
By Barry Grey, 16 April 2018
The bases for new provocations and fresh pretexts for military aggression are already being laid.
US and imperialist allies launch strikes against Syria
By The World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board, 14 April 2018
All of the governments participating in this new onslaught are crisis-ridden and lack any electoral legitimacy.
War, lies and censorship
By Andre Damon, 13 April 2018
The New York Times, Washington Post and other mainstream news outlets function not as journalists, but as propagandists for the US/NATO war drive against Syria.
US, Britain and France prepare onslaught against Syria
By Statement of the World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board, 12 April 2018
The imperialist powers, based on fraudulent allegations, are on the verge of launching another bloodbath in the Middle East.
The noose tightens around Trump
By Barry Grey, 11 April 2018
The extraordinary events of Monday suggest that a criminal indictment of the president, or the threat of one, is overtaking a strategy based on impeachment.
On the brink of war: US and NATO prepare military strike on Syria
By Keith Jones, 10 April 2018
The American and European ruling elites see in war a means not only to reverse a series of geopolitical setbacks in the Middle East, but also to crack down on domestic political opposition.
CIA stages gas attack pretext for Syria escalation
By Patrick Martin, 9 April 2018
The rhetoric of the Trump administration indicates that preparations are being made by the Pentagon for stepped-up military operations in Syria.
Fifty years after May-June 1968, the class struggle erupts in France
By Alex Lantier, 7 April 2018
With growing opposition to French President Emmanuel Macron’s labour decrees, the class struggle in Europe is entering a new and explosive stage.
Capitalism and the artificial intelligence revolution
By Andre Damon, 6 April 2018
Google’s collaboration in the US government’s drone murder program expresses how the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology—with its vast potential for the enrichment of humanity—is being corrupted under capitalism.
The lies of the imperialist powers over the Skripal affair unravel
By Robert Stevens, 5 April 2018
Not since Nazi Germany has the world witnessed such a shameless falsification of events as the provocation concocted around the poisoning in England of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter.
Trump proposes to deploy troops to US-Mexico border
By Eric London, 4 April 2018
The deployment of the military on US soil to arrest or deter immigrants raises the specter of martial law and violates the basic democratic principle of posse comitatus.
Teachers’ rebellion spreads as tens of thousands strike in Oklahoma and Kentucky
By Joseph Kishore, 3 April 2018
The growing wave of unrest among educators requires not only the attention and support of all workers, but their active participation.
US media’s silent complicity in Israeli massacre in Gaza
By Jean Shaoul and Barry Grey, 2 April 2018
Major American media outlets, led by the New York Times, are treating the Israeli military’s mass killing and wounding of unarmed, peaceful Palestinian protesters as a non-event.
Why has Ecuador silenced Julian Assange?
By Bill Van Auken, 31 March 2018
The Ecuadorian government’s measures to silence Assange are bound up with a sharp turn to the right by the governments of a number of countries associated with Latin America’s so-called “Pink Tide.”
Sisi’s sham election and the fate of the Egyptian Revolution
By Bill Van Auken, 30 March 2018
The rubber-stamp reelection of Egypt’s dictator General Sisi is symptomatic of a regime beset by insoluble economic, social and political contradictions.
The murder of Stephon Clark and the fight against police violence
By Niles Niemuth, 29 March 2018
Amid a growing strike wave by workers throughout the country, demonstrations have once again broken out against the reign of police terror that has claimed over 300 lives this year.
The poisoning of Skripal and the campaign against Russia
By Bill Van Auken, 28 March 2018
From the Zinoviev Letter of 1924 to the alleged poisoning of a double agent in the UK, both US and British intelligence have a long record of employing lies to justify war and reaction.
The arrest of Catalan President Carles Puigdemont: Another step toward a police state in Europe
By Peter Schwarz, 27 March 2018
The Europe-wide police-state structures, which emerged under the pretext of combatting terrorism and cracking down on refugees, are now being deployed against political opponents.
The international significance of the March for Our Lives demonstrations
By Eric London, 26 March 2018
The mass demonstrations in the heart of world imperialism point to the intensification of social tensions and the class struggle worldwide.
The protests against school shootings and the growth of the class struggle
By Joseph Kishore, 24 March 2018
The simultaneous development of a movement among workers and student youth portends a major eruption of social and class conflict in the United States and internationally.
Behind the Facebook data scandal: The drive to censor the Internet
By Andre Damon, 23 March 2018
The media, working with the intelligence agencies and leading congressional Democrats, is using the scandal as a cover for a crackdown on political opposition on the world’s largest social network.
Geoffrey Rush lawsuit strikes blow against anti-democratic #MeToo campaign
By Richard Phillips and James Cogan, 22 March 2018
A judge ruled that the Murdoch media could not substantiate the allegations of sexual misconduct it made against acclaimed Australian actor Geoffrey Rush.
Fifteen years since the launching of the Iraq War
By Patrick Martin, 21 March 2018
Neither the warmongers in Washington and London, nor their media apologists, have been held to account for the greatest crime of the 21st century.
Teachers unions intensify efforts to suppress growing class struggle in the US
By Jerry White, 20 March 2018
A recent article by a former top executive at the American Federation of Teachers argues that the unions exist to “maintain labor peace” and “tamp down rank-and-file gripes and discord.”
Political warfare in Washington enters new stage following firing of former FBI deputy director
By Patrick Martin, 19 March 2018
Former CIA Director John Brennan replied to the firing of FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe by telling Trump: “You will take your rightful place as a disgraced demagogue in the dustbin of history.”
The campaign over the Skripal poisoning: An international war provocation
By Chris Marsden, 17 March 2018
The campaign by the imperialist powers in Europe and the United States over the poisoning of former Russian spy and British double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter stinks to high heaven.
The significance of the mass student protests against gun violence in America
By Genevieve Leigh, 16 March 2018
While Democrats and the media have sought to restrict the protests to calls for gun control, there are much broader issues behind the politicization of young people in the US.
Seven days in March: The Trump administration and the breakdown of American democracy
By Patrick Martin, 15 March 2018
Actions taken by the Trump administration this week reveal its ever more open turn to authoritarianism, while the Democrats have become the party of the CIA.
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