5 March 2019

The shutdown of the GM Lordstown plant: A corporate crime

By Tim Rivers and Shannon Jones, 5 March 2019

Tuesday, March 5, is the last day of production at the GM Lordstown plant, long an economic mainstay of northeast Ohio and the scene of militant struggles in the early 1970s.

House Democrats issue wide-ranging subpoenas in Trump investigation

By Patrick Martin, 5 March 2019

The House Judiciary Committee sent document demands to 81 organizations and individuals associated with the Trump Organization, the Trump campaign and the White House.

“We had several families that have probably lost everybody”
Tornado outbreak kills 23 in Alabama, wreaks havoc across southeastern US

By Ed Hightower, 5 March 2019

While some property damage may be inevitable from any storm, every injury and loss of life is a social crime, the product of inequality and neglect.

Guaidó returns to Venezuela for next stage of US regime-change operation

By Bill Van Auken, 5 March 2019

The US-backed “interim president” staged a five-nation tour of Latin America, shepherded by the CIA, to drum up support for the coup in Venezuela.

Algerian protests continue after Bouteflika launches presidential bid

By Will Morrow, 5 March 2019

Speaking for the former colonial power, Le Monde published an editorial demanding that Bouteflika step down and warning that the situation risks spinning out of control.

Sixteenth week of protests: French “yellow vests” support strikes in North Africa

Mass protests erupt in Algeria against Bouteflika’s bid for fifth term

US-China trade deal reported to be in the making

By Nick Beams, 5 March 2019

The Trump negotiators are insisting that the US retain the right to impose tariffs if it considers a deal has been abrogated and China should not impose any retaliatory measures.

Students and teachers outraged as
Oakland, California school board passes devastating budget cut following union sellout

By Evan Blake and Gabriel Black, 5 March 2019

The betrayal of the seven-day teacher strike by the Oakland Education Association has opened the door to deep cuts and school closings.

Amid widespread opposition, union declares end to Oakland teachers strike

“This is a sellout, a scheme by the OEA executives!”
Oakland teachers denounce agreement to end strike

Denver schools ax jobs in wake of contract pushed through by union

By Andrea Peters, 5 March 2019

After just three days on the picket line, the union sent teachers back to work with about two hours’ notice, claiming that it had won a major victory.

Oakland strike, mass “sickout” in Kentucky
Teacher anger exploding across the United States

More on the defense of public education »

Bernie Sanders adapts to racial politics at Chicago campaign rally

By George Gallanis, 5 March 2019

Sanders’ speech in Chicago used his experiences in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, while a student at the University of Chicago, to make an appeal to identity politics.

“Socialism appeals to me”
Sanders rally attendees speak on socialism, Democratic Party

By George Marlowe and Marcus Day, 5 March 2019

Reporters for the WSWS spoke with attendees at Bernie Sanders’ rally in Chicago Sunday.

Sanders launches his campaign with a blast of demagogy

From the horse’s mouth
Bernie Sanders at CNN Town Hall: My purpose is to promote the Democratic Party

Severe winter weather delays plague train travel in America and Canada

By Jeff Lusanne, 5 March 2019

Passenger trains in the United States and Canada have suffered delays of up to 36 hours as winter weather combines with the cost-cutting private ownership of freight railroads.

UK councils and Tory government play down homeless numbers

By Tom Pearce, 5 March 2018

The number of people sleeping rough has grown 169 percent over the decade, with experts warning the death toll is set to rise.

Canada’s Liberal government on ropes after third high-profile resignation

By Roger Jordan, 5 March 2019

With two top ministers resigning amid claims the Prime Minister’s Office improperly intervened to prevent SNC-Lavalin’s criminal prosecution, the survival of Trudeau and his government have been thrown into question.

New in Portuguese

Mídia brasileira promove generais contra Bolsonaro

Miguel Andrade, 05 Março 2019

A mídia brasileira está promovendo a suposta “independência” dos militares das políticas alinhadas aos EUA de Bolsonaro.

New in French

Bouteflika brigue un 5e mandat et provoque des manifestations en Algérie et en France

Will Morrow, 5 mars 2019

S’exprimant au nom de l’ancienne puissance coloniale, Le Monde a publié un éditorial exigeant le retrait de Bouteflika et s’inquiétant de la montée de l’opposition.

Les ouvriers algériens en France solidaires des mobilisations contre Bouteflika

V. Gnana et Alexandre Lantier, 5 mars 2019

La colère qui éclate en Algérie contre le régime d’Abdelaziz Bouteflika suscite un profond soutien et un élan de solidarité à travers la France.

Sur fond d’une opposition généralisée, le syndicat annonce la fin de la grève des enseignants d’Oakland

Joseph Santolan, 5 mars 2019

Quelques heures après la dénonciation de l’accord au rabais par les enseignants lors d’une assemblée générale, le syndicat OAE a affirmé que l’accord avait été ratifié.

Le rassemblement de Sydney a exigé la liberté de Julian Assange

nos correspondants, 5 mars 2019

James Cogan a déclaré: «Nous envoyons un message clair aujourd’hui à Julian Assange et il l’entendra – vous n’êtes pas seul, vous n’avez pas été abandonné, vous n’avez pas été oublié. Vous serez libéré.»

La liberté de Julian Assange dépend de l’intervention de la classe ouvrière

James Cogan, 5 mars 2019

Le discours suivant a été prononcé par le secrétaire national du Parti de l’égalité socialiste, James Cogan, lors du rassemblement du SEP du 3 mars à la Martin Place de Sydney pour libérer Julian Assange.

L’Espagne organise le procès-spectacle politique des accusés nationalistes catalans

Alejandro López et Alex Lantier, 5 mars 2019

Les poursuites engagées contre les nationalistes catalans pour rébellion, sédition et détournement de fonds publics pour l’organisation du référendum sur l’indépendance de 2017 sont sans fondement.

L’Inde et le Pakistan échange de nouvelles menaces de guerre

K. Ratnayake, 5 mars 2019

Alors même qu’Islamabad acceptait de libérer un pilote indien capturé comme «geste de paix», l’Inde et le Pakistan ont poursuivi leurs préparatifs de guerre.

Ce ne pourrait être plus clair
Bernie Sanders à l’émission Town Hall de CNN: Mon but est de promouvoir le Parti démocrate

Genevieve Leigh, 5 mars 2019

L'objectif de Sanders, en utilisant sa réputation d'«indépendant», est de convaincre les travailleurs désabusés et les jeunes de ne pas chercher une alternative au Parti démocrate de droite.

La Coalition Avenir Québec dépose un projet de loi anti-immigrants

Louis Girard, 5 mars 2019

Poursuivant sur la lancée des gouvernement péquistes et libéraux précédents, la CAQ exploite la question de l'immigration pour attiser le chauvinisme québécois et détourner l’attention de l’immense crise sociale causée par le capitalisme.

New in Spanish

Bernie Sanders lanza su campaña con una ráfaga de demagogia

Patrick Martin, 5 marzo 2019

El discurso de Bernie Sanders en Brooklyn fue una expresión de demagogia porque no existe ninguna relación entre las reformas que prevé y cualquier estrategia realista para su implementación.

El rally de Sydney produce una fuerte demanda por la libertad de Julian Assange

nuestros reporteros, 5 marzo 2019

James Cogan declaró: “Hoy le enviaremos un mensaje claro a Julian Assange y él lo escuchará: usted no está solo, no ha sido abandonado, no ha sido olvidado. Serás liberado".

La libertad para Julian Assange depende de la intervención de la clase obrera

James Cogan, 5 marzo 2019

El siguiente discurso fue pronunciado por el secretario nacional del Partido Socialista por la Igualdad de Australia, James Cogan, en el mitin del 3 de marzo del PSI en el Martin Place de Sydney para liberar a Julian Assange.

New in German

Sanders startet seinen Wahlkampf mit jeder Menge Demagogie.

Von Patrick Martin, 5. März 2019

Bernie Sanders' Rede in Brooklyn war eine Übung in Demagogie, denn es gibt keinen Zusammenhang zwischen den von ihm geplanten Reformen und einer realistischen Strategie für ihre Umsetzung.

Kundgebung in Sydney
Freiheit für Julian Assange

Von unseren Reportern, 5. März 2019

„Wir senden Julian Assange heute eine eindeutige Botschaft, die er hört: Du bist nicht allein, du bist nicht verlassen, man hat dich nicht vergessen. Du wirst befreit.“

Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP) reicht Kandidatur zur Europawahl ein

Von unseren Reportern, 5. März 2019

Am Montag hat die SGP die erforderlichen Unterstützungsunterschriften eingereicht und damit alle Voraussetzungen erfüllt, um am 26. Mai mit ihren 11 Kandidaten im gesamten Bundesgebiet auf dem Wahlzettel zu erscheinen.

EU plant weitreichende Verschärfung der Internetzensur

Von Justus Leicht, 5. März 2019

Eine Richtlinie, die unter dem Vorwand einer Urheberrechtsreform auf den Einsatz sogenannter Upload-Filter in sozialen Netzwerken zielt, steht zur Abstimmung im Europäischen Parlament.

Other Languages

Perspective

The political lessons of the March 3 Free Assange rally

5 March 2019

The demonstration in Sydney won broad support on the basis of mobilising the working class to defend democratic rights and class war prisoners such as Julian Assange.

Earlier Perspectives »

The Fight Against Fascism

Socialist Equality Party April meeting series: “The Threat of Fascism and How to Fight it”
Christoph Vandreier, German Trotskyist and prominent opponent of fascism, to speak in US

By our reporters, 5 March 2019

Vandreier is the deputy national secretary of the Sozialistiche Gleichheitspartei (SGP) and author of the newly published book, Why are They Back? Historical Falsification, Political Conspiracy and the Return of Fascism in Germany.

Attend March 17 of London Book Launch of Why Are They Back?

Workers, youth denounce police decision to close investigation of desecration of Marx’s grave

By our reporters, 4 March 2018

The desecration of Marx’s grave: A warning

Updated: Letters oppose barring of SEP panel on the fight against fascism from Historical Materialism conference

ISO and DSA bar Socialist Equality Party panel on the fight against fascism from upcoming Historical Materialism conference

By Joseph Kishore, 15 February 2019

Free Julian Assange!

Opening remarks to March 3 Sydney rally by Socialist Equality Party leader, Linda Tenenbaum
Hundreds defy slanders, lies and media censorship to demand freedom for Julian Assange

By Linda Tenenbaum, 5 March 2019

Julian Assange has never been charged with a crime; he has an Australian passport; he is an Australian citizen and, as such, the Morrison government is obligated to defend his democratic rights.

Media Serve the Governors, Not the Governed
Speech by Joe Lauria, March 3, 2019

By Joe Lauria, 5 March 2019

Joe Lauria, the editor-in-chief of Consortium News, delivered this speech to the rally organised by the Socialist Equality Party in Sydney to demand the freedom of Julian Assange.

Workers and youth speak out at Free Assange rally in Sydney

By our reporters, 5 March 2019

“People want to bring him home so he can continue his work of bringing these corporate and government criminals to justice.”

Freedom for Julian Assange depends upon the intervention of the working class
Speech by James Cogan, March 3, 2019

By James Cogan, 4 March 2019

“Julian Assange will never obey Big Brother”
Speech by John Pilger, March 3, 2019

By John Pilger, 4 March 2019

Rally to demand the Australian government acts to free Julian Assange!
Sydney Martin Place Amphitheatre, 2pm, March 3! Melbourne State Library, 1pm, March 10!

By the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), 25 January 2019

Attend March 10 Solidarity Vigil in London for Julian Assange

By Robert Stevens, 25 February 2019

The SEP (UK) calls on all defenders of civil liberties and democratic rights, all opponents of imperialist wars for regime change, to attend the March 10 vigil and make it known in your workplaces, campuses and schools.

More on the campaign to free Julian Assange »

Commentary

The fallacies and evasions of the Green New Deal

By Bryan Dyne and Barry Grey, 5 March 2019

Democratic no less than Republican administrations have imposed austerity policies and prosecuted the decades-long social counterrevolution that continues today.

One year since the Skripal poisoning

By Robert Stevens, 5 March 2018

Even now there is no concrete evidence linking the regime of President Vladimir Putin with the Skripal poisoning—or even proof that novichok was involved.

German Left Party congress backs imperialist campaign against Venezuela

By Johannes Stern, 5 March 2019

The Left Party’s European election congress last month sent a clear message: the bourgeoisie can rely on the Left Party’s support for war and attacks on the working class.

India and Pakistan tobogganing toward a catastrophic war

By Keith Jones, 2 March 2019

India-Pakistan war tensions escalate

Trump White House leads fascistic attack on socialism at Conservative Political Action Conference

By Niles Niemuth, 2 March 2019

Trump declares global war on socialism

The Trump presidency: From the Manhattan underworld to the White House

No to the witch-hunt of Chris Williamson!
Oppose the Blairites’ bogus claims of “left anti-Semitism”!

By Chris Marsden, 2 March 2019

“The union abandoned us and allowed for management to blacklist us”
US, Canadian and Mexican workers denounce mass firings of Matamoros strikers

By our reporters, 2 March 2019

Oppose the attacks by company thugs against Mexican worker Luis Daniel Prieto!

Ford production crippled by Mexican workers’ strike

More on the Matamoros workers rebellion »

Arts Review

69th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 4
Brecht: A new film about the famed left-wing German dramatist

By Stefan Steinberg, 5 March 2019

Interest in the playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is undergoing something of a revival.

69th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 3
Israeli films, Mr. Jones and Marighella

69th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 2
Midnight Traveler—“Sometimes life takes you through hell”

69th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 1
Between identity politics and opposition against the far right

On the Basis of Sex and Ruth Bader Ginsburg: The manufacturing of a “living legend”

By Ed Hightower, 2 March 2019

International Youth and Students for Social Equality

Oppose Eastern Michigan University’s privatization schemes!

By IYSSE at Eastern Michigan University, 5 March 2019

University administrators are currently considering privatizing its housing services following the recent privatization of its dining and parking services.

For a unified struggle of Oakland students and teachers to defend public education!

By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality - Berkeley, 23 February 2019

The social crisis in America

“I was treated like a caged animal”
Single mother and healthcare worker jailed for three days in Indiana over unpaid ambulance bill

By George Marlowe, 1 March 2019

Flint water crisis claims its youngest Legionnaires’ victim to date
“Her failing health was due to the government failing her”

By Sheila Brehm, 27 February 2019

Three children dead, four others injured in Imlay City, Michigan mobile home fire

By Niles Niemuth and Zac Corrigan, 27 February 2019

This week in history: March 4-10

25 years ago: Clinton on the defensive over Whitewater

On March 7, 1994, US President Bill Clinton was forced to open a press conference with the declaration that his wife, Hillary Clinton, was “not a criminal,” following a widening investigation, begun in January, into allegations about the Whitewater real estate investment in which the Clintons had lost money.

More »

50 years ago: Scientists organize antiwar protest at MIT

On March 4, 1969, faculty and students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who were working on military projects began a work stoppage to protest the misuse of science and technology.

More »

75 years ago: Greek Stalinists form anti-fascist government

On March 10, 1944, the National Liberation Front (EAM), dominated politically by the Stalinist Communist Party of Greece, formed a Political Committee of National Liberation (PEAA).

More »

 

100 years ago: Arrest of nationalist leader sparks revolution in Egypt

On March 8, 1919, the British colonial regime in Egypt, which had occupied the country since 1882, arrested Saad Zaghloul and two other leaders of the Wafd (Delegation) Party, which was soon to become the leading bourgeois-nationalist organization in the country, for continuing to demand that Egyptians be allowed to send a delegation to the imperialist Paris Peace Conference.

More »

Workers Struggles

Police attack Buenos Aires Coca Cola workers; Spokane nurses protest attack on benefits
Workers Struggles: The Americas

5 March 2019

Police assaulted a protest march by Coca Cola workers in Buenos Aires and their supporters Thursday called to oppose layoffs.

Hundreds laid off at Activision Blizzard and other video game companies

By Zachary Thorton, 1 March 2019

Locomotive builders strike Wabtec in Erie, Pennsylvania

By Shannon Jones, 28 February 2019

History of the ICFI

From the arsenal of Trotskyism
The Political Report by David North to the International Committee of the Fourth International—February 11, 1984

12 February 2019

Thirty-five years ago this week, David North, then the national secretary of the Workers League (predecessor of the Socialist Equality Party), presented at a meeting of the International Committee of the Fourth International a critique of the British Workers Revolutionary Party’s abandonment of key theoretical conceptions and programmatic principles of Trotskyism.

History

How the ruling elite sought to suppress revolution
Renewal: Life after the First World War in Photographs

By Paul Mitchell, 22 February 2019

Halil Celik, 1961-2018

Halil Celik, a fighter for socialism (1961-2018)

By Peter Schwarz, 1 February 2019

On December 31, 2018, Halil Celik, founder and leader of the group Sosyalist Eşitlik, which supports the International Committee of the Fourth International in Turkey, died of cancer at the age of 57. This obituary presents an overview of his life.

In memory of Halil Celik (1961–2018)

February 9 demonstration against GM plant closings

Watch: March to Fight GM Plant Closures

Autoworkers and supporters from across the Midwest marched on February 9 in Detroit to oppose General Motors’ plans for plant closings and layoffs in the US and Canada.

Autoworkers must prepare fight as UAW plans new givebacks in 2019 contracts

By Shannon Jones, 14 February 2019

Striking workers in Matamoros, Mexico support Detroit demonstration against auto layoffs

In this video, striking auto parts workers at Fisher Dynamics in Matamoros, Mexico send their support to last weekend’s demonstration against mass layoffs in the US auto industry called by the Socialist Equality Party.

“It is necessary to base our struggle not on one company or on one nation, but by mobilizing the workers of the world”
Maruti Suzuki workers in India send greetings to February 9 protest

Autoworkers, supporters demonstrate in Detroit to oppose GM closures and layoffs

February 9 demonstration against auto plant closures in Detroit
The program and strategy to defend jobs

Book Review

The State, Business and Education: How rapacious corporations are dismantling public education globally

By Erika Zimmer, 16 February 2019

Billionaires, global tech companies and national governments are imposing a profit-driven, user-pays system.

Socialist Equality Party

The way forward to win wages and social rights
Workers Action Committee in Sri Lanka calls plantation workers’ conference

By the Abbotsleigh Estate Workers Action Committee, 12 February 2019

The conference will discuss the lessons of the recent plantation workers’ struggle and the political strategy needed to win their demands.

Sri Lankan SEP public meetings to launch Tamil edition of The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century

7 February 2019

ICFI meeting announcement

Indian Trotskyists campaign for Kolkata meeting to mark the 80th anniversary of the Fourth International

By Arun Kumar and Ritwik Mitter, 26 January 2019

Indian university students discuss the rising danger of war and the betrayal by the Stalinist parties of the working class.

Indian Trotskyists in Kolkata to celebrate 80 years of the Fourth International

7 January 2019

The Kolkata meeting will review the essential political lessons of the protracted struggle of the Fourth International and their relevance to the fight for socialist internationalism today.

Security and the Fourth International

New book now available
Agents: The FBI and GPU Infiltration of the Trotskyist Movement

By Mehring Books, 21 January 2019

The WSWS announces the release of a new book, Agents: The FBI and GPU Infiltration of the Trotskyist Movement, by Eric London.

The origins and findings of the Security and the Fourth International investigation

By Eric London, 14 November 2018

Seventy-eight years since the assassination of Leon Trotsky

By Eric London and David North, 21 August 2018

International Committee of the Fourth International

The 50th anniversary of the founding of the SEP (Sri Lanka)
Victory of the Trotskyists in the 1985–1986 split in the ICFI

By Saman Gunadasa and K. Ratnayake, 29 December 2018

David North addresses New Zealand meeting celebrating 80 years of the Fourth International

By our reporters, 11 December 2018

80th anniversary of the Fourth International celebrated in Melbourne with public lecture

Eighty Years of the Fourth International: The Lessons of History and the Struggle for Socialism Today

By David North, 9 October 2018

On the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Fourth International

Book Review

Rohini Hensman’s Indefensible: The ISO discovers its muse—the CIA

By Alex Lantier, 14 December 2018

Rohini Hensman’s book, issued by the International Socialist Organization’s (ISO) Haymarket Books publishing house, is an endorsement of imperialist war.

Part one | Part two | Part three | Part four