Perspectives
A record $31.5 trillion hoarded by corporate oligarchs
By Eric London, 8 September 2018
The Wealth X report points to the immense revolutionary potential in the present situation. The resources for the transformation of the planet on an egalitarian basis already exist.
New York Times covers up Google’s censorship
By Andre Damon, 7 September 2018
The Times’ report on allegations that Google is censoring the Internet is a white-wash, echoing the company’s self-serving denials without any serious examination of the facts.
Kavanaugh hearings highlight corporate control of US Supreme Court
By Patrick Martin, 6 September 2018
The Senate hearings on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Supreme Court have shed light on the domination not only of the courts, but of every branch of government by the corporate oligarchy.
As social opposition mounts, Silicon Valley and Washington step up internet censorship
By Andre Damon, 5 September 2018
As executives from Facebook and Twitter prepare to testify on Capitol Hill, the social media monopolies are scrambling to demonstrate how far they have gone to implement censorship.
The fight against fascism in Germany requires a socialist perspective
By the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei, 4 September 2018
Moral outrage is not enough to stop the fascist mob: it is necessary to understand the political roots of its resurgence.
Labor Day 2018: The growth of the class struggle and the case for rank-and-file committees
By Jerry White, 3 September 2018
This year, Labor Day takes place amid a resurgence of class struggle in the US, bringing workers into direct conflict with the corporatist and anti-working class trade unions.
The canonization of John McCain: Media, political establishment turn warmonger into saint
By Joseph Kishore, 1 September 2018
The American media and political establishment are in the middle of a five-day exercise in moral hypocrisy, cant and myth-making surrounding the death of US Senator John McCain.
Reject the anti-Semitism slurs against Jeremy Corbyn! Drive out the Labour Party right wing!
By Chris Marsden, 31 August 2018
The lying campaign to paint Corbyn as an anti-Semite aims to discredit socialism in the hope of preventing any challenge by the working class to austerity and war.
Who is to blame for the neo-Nazi rampage in Chemnitz, Germany?
By Johannes Stern, 30 August 2018
Over 7,000 neo-Nazis marched through the streets of Chemnitz, attacking people they accused of being foreigners, chanting fascist slogans and giving Nazi salutes.
A tragedy born of inequality: Ten children die in Chicago house fire
By Kristina Betinis, 29 August 2018
The horrific fire in Chicago is a crime of capitalism, for which the ruling class and its political representatives are responsible.
Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders praise McCain: An object lesson in the politics of the pseudo-left
By Joseph Kishore, 28 August 2018
The elevation of the Democratic Socialists of America, of which Ocasio-Cortez is a member, is a defensive reaction by the ruling class against growing support for socialism in the US.
Why the US ruling class mourns John McCain
By Patrick Martin, 27 August 2018
The late senator from Arizona represented a bipartisan consensus in support of militarism and the defense of corporate America.
US-backed Saudi regime set to behead female activist and four others
By Bill Van Auken, 25 August 2018
The barbaric beheadings, like the slaughter of the civilian population in Yemen, are carried out with the blessings of a US government that routinely pursues its predatory policies under the phony banner of human rights.
The class dynamics of the stock market bull run
By Nick Beams, 24 August 2018
The record-breaking stock market rally is the outcome of the relentless class war pursued by the ruling elite after the 2008 financial crash.
One year after WSWS open letter to Google
Facebook escalates censorship of left-wing, anti-war organizations
By Andre Damon, 23 August 2018
On Tuesday, Facebook announced the removal of hundreds of user accounts and pages, many of them opposing the crimes of the American, Saudi and Israeli governments in the Middle East.
The United Auto Workers corruption scandal and the case for rank-and-file committees
By Joseph Kishore, 22 August 2018
A sentencing memorandum directly links Fiat Chrysler payouts to the UAW to the effort to “obtain benefits, concessions and advantages in the negotiations and administration of collective bargaining agreements.”
Seventy-eight years since the assassination of Leon Trotsky
By Eric London and David North, 21 August 2018
On August 21, 1940, Leon Trotsky, the founder of the Fourth International and the co-leader of the Russian Revolution, died from wounds inflicted the day before by an assassin, the Stalinist GPU agent Ramon Mercader.
Inequality and the crisis of American democracy
By Andre Damon, 20 August 2018
Ever-increasing social inequality in the United States is incompatible with democratic forms of rule.
Former CIA Director John Brennan’s brief for dismantling democracy
By Joseph Kishore, 18 August 2018
The view advanced by Brennan, the intelligence agencies and their allies in the Democratic Party can be summed up as: “It is necessary to destroy democracy in order to save it.”
Trump revokes security clearance for former CIA chief Brennan: Ruling class warfare intensifies
By Patrick Martin, 17 August 2018
The warfare within the American state pits against each other two deeply reactionary factions of the capitalist ruling elite, personified by Trump and Brennan.
The global implications of the Turkish lira crisis
By Nick Beams, 16 August 2018
Ten years after the 2008 financial crisis, the growing intensity of economic warfare threatens to collapse the financial house of cards created by the multi-trillion-dollar bailout of the global banking system.
The Turkish crisis and the threat of world war
By Bill Van Auken, 15 August 2018
Underlying the reckless and punishing attack by Washington on Turkey’s economy are predatory geostrategic aims that are threatening to drag humanity into a new world war.
Growing support for socialism in the United States
By Joseph Kishore, 14 August 2018
A Gallup poll released yesterday found that, for the first time, more young people and Democratic-leaning voters have a favorable view of socialism than they do of capitalism.
UPS pays out $700 million to stockholders: An object lesson in the operation of capitalism
By Will Morrow, 13 August 2018
UPS announced its corporate handout the same day that the Teamsters national conference voted to endorse contracts for UPS workers that enforce poverty-level wages and introduce major new concessions.
America’s unending reign of police terror
By Niles Niemuth, 11 August 2018
Four years after the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri by police officer Darren Wilson sparked popular outrage over police violence, the daily onslaught of police killings in the US continues.
US complicit in air strike that murdered dozens of children in Yemen
By Bill Van Auken, 10 August 2018
The slaughter of at least 43 children riding a bus is for Washington only a minor incident of “collateral damage” in its drive to war against Iran and hegemony over the Middle East.
Fight back against internet censorship!
By Andre Damon, 9 August 2018
The principal aim of censorship has been, and remains, to shut down left-wing opposition to war, inequality and capitalism.
The Ryanair strike and the resurgence of international class struggle
By Robert Stevens, 8 August 2018
The class struggle is reaching a higher stage of development, posing strategic issues before every section of the international working class.
Washington allies with ISIS as great power conflict trumps “war on terror”
By Bill Van Auken, 7 August 2018
In at least three countries where US forces are engaged in combat operations, the Pentagon and its local proxies are allying themselves with ISIS and Al Qaeda in pursuit of strategic interests.
Bernie Sanders holds rallies to prop up the Democratic Party in Michigan
By Eric London, 6 August 2018
Sanders’ support for Michigan gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed is part of an operation aimed at channeling social opposition behind the Democratic Party.
Class exploitation and the market: The secret of the $1 trillion corporation
By Andre Damon, 4 August 2018
Apple, awash in profits extracted from workers all over the world, has become the first corporation to officially reach the $1 trillion milestone.
Facebook censorship targets the left
By Andre Damon, 3 August 2018
Facebook’s censorship of a major anti-fascist rally is a deliberate effort to repress and criminalize left-wing political views.
Financial parasitism and the American oligarchy
By Patrick Martin, 2 August 2018
Behind the incessant claims of no money for urgent social needs is the drive by the top 0.1 percent to monopolize all the wealth created by the working class.
California’s burning: The social and political background of the deadly infernos
By David Brown, 1 August 2018
For the second year in a row, the US state of California is the scene of death and destruction, as wildfires surge throughout the state and drive thousands from their homes.
German right demands nuclear “weapons of mass extermination”
By Johannes Stern, 31 July 2018
The Welt am Sonntag, a leading German newspaper, has published an article demanding the creation of a nuclear arsenal.
Egypt’s military junta condemns 75 coup protesters to death
By Chris Marsden, 30 July 2018
The blood on Sisi’s hands also drenches the palms of political leaders of all the major parties in the US, Europe and other imperialist powers.
Julian Assange and the betrayal of Latin America’s “left”
By Bill Van Auken, 28 July 2018
The Moreno government’s negotiations to hand over Julian Assange to his persecutors are of a piece with the role played by all of the governments of Latin America’s “Pink Tide” and their pseudo-left satellites.
UAW corruption scandal reaches the top
By Shannon Jones, 27 July 2018
The revelation that the just-retired UAW president authorized the illegal use of money from company-funded joint training centers demonstrates that the organization is engaged in a criminal conspiracy against auto workers.
Military-style immigration raids: Coming to a workplace near you
By Eric London, 26 July 2018
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced plans Tuesday for mass workplace raids and the surveillance of tens of thousands of workplaces.
Democrats’ anti-Russia campaign leaves most Americans unmoved
By Barry Grey, 25 July 2018
Despite the hysteria whipped up inside the Beltway and among affluent sections of the upper-middle class, the Democrats’ anti-Russia campaign is finding no significant response among the broad mass of the American people.
Trump threatens Iran with a catastrophic war
By Keith Jones, 24 July 2018
Trump’s tweet was no idle bluster. His administration is pursuing a provocative and reckless drive for regime change in Iran that threatens to ignite a catastrophic war that would set the entire Middle East ablaze.
Bernie Sanders embraces the anti-Russia campaign
By Patrick Martin, 23 July 2018
There is no contradiction between the influx of military-intelligence candidates into the Democratic Party and the Democrats’ making use of the services of Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez to give the party a “left” cover.
Israel’s Nation-State Law and the dead end of Zionism
By Barry Grey, 21 July 2018
The passage by the Israeli Knesset of the “Nation-State Law” enshrining Jewish supremacy as the legal foundation of the state marks a new stage in the crisis wracking Israel.
What is “our democracy”?
By Eric London, 20 July 2018
At the heart of the Democratic Party-led anti-Russia hysteria is the claim that Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, threaten “our democracy.”
The “treason” charge against Donald Trump
By Bill Van Auken, 19 July 2018
The Democrats have adopted a well-worn narrative from the history of the US right, merely changing the word “communism” to “Russia.”
$3,000 per second for Bezos, poverty wages for Amazon workers
By Eric London, 18 July 2018
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos's $150 billion fortune was squeezed out of hundreds of thousands of warehouse, service and delivery workers.
After Helsinki, Democrats incite “deep state” action against Trump
By Bill Van Auken, 17 July 2018
Trump’s appearance alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki unleashed a wave of denunciations from Democrats and the media, with former top intelligence officials calling for his ouster.
Trump vs. the Democrats: Two reactionary factions fight over foreign policy
By Andre Damon, 16 July 2018
Prior to Trump’s upcoming meeting with Putin, the Democratic Party, the media and intelligence agencies have been demanding that the anti-Russia campaign be intensified.
Mass protests against Trump’s UK visit
By Chris Marsden, 14 July 2018
Friday’s protests by hundreds of thousands of people in London made clear that masses of workers throughout the world despise Trump and everything he stands for.
NATO, at war with itself, rearms for war with the world
By Andre Damon, 12 July 2018
All members of NATO reaffirmed their commitment to massive military rearmament, to be paid for with sweeping cuts to public infrastructure and attacks on the social position of the working class.
The class war over wages
By Eric London, 12 July 2018
In an article published Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal worries that “rising wages are beginning to eat into the profits of some US companies.”
Mutiny on their knees: The Democratic Party’s phony opposition to the Kavanaugh nomination
By Patrick Martin, 11 July 2018
Despite public posturing, Senate Democrats have no intention of conducting any serious struggle against the confirmation of reactionary federal judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.
Allies no more: Trump escalates threats against Europe
By Andre Damon, 10 July 2018
This week’s NATO summit, planned as a showcase of European rearmament, has been overshadowed by increasingly unbridgeable divisions between the US and Europe.
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.
Follow the WSWS