Another war to condemn
It now appears that the Russian Federation has launched a full-scale attack upon Ukraine. The World Socialist Movement is not concerned with the so-called rights and wrongs of this war, whether the niceties of international law were breached or the sovereignty of Ukraine was violated. As workers, we are painfully aware that it will be […]
Strikes and protests continue in Kazakhstan
The following report of developments in western Kazakhstan is based on information from the Russian trade union website infoprof.ru. Strikes and protests of working people continue in Kazakhstan despite harsh suppression of the January protests. Workers at the MAEK-Kazatomprom (Kazakh Atomic Industry) and at the Glass and Plastic Pipes Factory in Mangistau Province, who downed […]
How the military-industrial complex works
Andrew Cockburn, The Spoils of War: Power, Profit and the American War Machine. Verso, 2021 In this book Cockburn lays bare the inner workings of the military-industrial complex (MIC). The expression ‘war machine’ in the subtitle is misleading, as the main activity to which the MIC is geared is not warfare but money-making. Even the generals […]
Solidarity forged from the chains of slavery
By Alan Johnstone February is black history month. With conservatives challenging Critical Race Theory, there’s one thing we must always remember when studying history — it is the victors who write the history. So it is the duty of every socialist to tell it like it was, and is, at every opportunity. In the battle of ideas that we wage against the […]
War in Ukraine: Background
Developments within Ukraine Ukraine has been in the grip of civil war since the coups of 2014 — the Ukrainian-nationalist coup in Kiev and the west and the counter-coup in the east. The split between western and eastern Ukraine goes back to the 19th century, when Ukraine was divided between the Austro-Hungarian and tsarist empires. Eastern […]
New issue of Imagine
Our companion party to the north, the Socialist Party of Canada, has just issued the Winter 2021 issue of its quarterly journal, Imagine.
Of particular interest is the article by Comrade L. Gambone of Vancouver Island (pp. 3–5), who argues that nowadays the Indigenous and Ecological movements, by ‘directly challenging capital over questions of ownership and control,’ wage ‘a much higher stage of class struggle’ than the business unions, which have agreed to stick to matters like wages and working conditions.
There is also a poem, originally published in 1909, by Wilfrid Gribble, a member of the Socialist Party of Canada who crossed the border to Detroit and in 1916 helped to found the Workers’ Socialist Party of the US (forerunner of today’s World Socialist Party of the US).
Principle Three
In the last issue of the World Socialist, we explained Clause Two of the World Socialist Movement’s Declaration of Principles, which is regarding the class struggle — the conflict between both of capitalism’s economic classes. In this issue, we’ll expound on Clause Three, which says: This antagonism can be abolished only by the emancipation of […]
World Socialist No. 4 (Summer 2021)
The fourth issue of The World Socialist is out now! It features: a commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune; a call against war from a Russian comrade; a theoretical elaboration on socialist calculation, along with a rebuttal from another comrade; an article touching on the duties of “wealth managers” for the bourgeoisie; […]
Principle Two
In the last issue of the World Socialist, we elaborated on Clause One of the World Socialist Movement’s Declaration of Principles, which deals with private property and the enslavement of the working class. In this issue, we’ll touch on Clause Two, which states that: In society, therefore, there is an antagonism of interests, manifesting itself […]
Eugene Debs and the World Socialist Movement
A collection of quotations from the speeches and writings of Eugene Debs (1855—1926). Debs was a prominent trade union organizer and socialist writer and speaker. Five times he ran for president as candidate of the Socialist Party of America – the last time (1920) from a prison cell following conviction for his opposition to World War One. On the whole we share his outlook.
We don’t need this war
Members of the Socialist Party of Great Britain, our companion party in the UK, have recently been engaged in discussions with members of the Russian group Left Socialist Action (LSA), whose Russian-language website Is levsd.ru. This is a translation of one of the articles on that website, by Ivan Levchenko, a member of the Petersburg branch of LSA. It was posted on May 1, 2021, at a time when open hostilities between Russia and Ukraine appeared to be imminent.
World Socialist No. 3 (Spring 2021)
The third issue of The World Socialist is out now! It feature’s an article on COVID-19’s lab-leak hypothesis, an elaboration on Clause One of our Declaration of Principles, an article on how politicians are bourgeois puppets, a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Kronstadt Rebellion, an explanation of the power crisis that hit Texas […]
Principle One
One of the many things I love about the World Socialist Movement is how long it’s been around. The Socialist Party of Great Britain was founded in 1904, so their website — spgb.net — has a wealth of material you can dig through to find party members’ takes on different historical events, figures, and debates […]
Fight The Power
For those who don’t know, I currently work at a call center where we mainly act as middlemen between towing companies and insurance customers needing roadside assistance. You get the occasional rude caller, but it’s a pretty slow and easy job most of the year until things start to pick up in the winter time. […]
Solidarity with Alabama Amazon Workers
About 6,000 Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama are voting on whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU).
These mostly Black workers, who have formed the Alabama Amazon Workers Union, ask sympathizers to sign a petition against the union-busting abuses of Amazon and its super rich owner Jeff Bezos.
#FreeAssange
Julian Assange’s extradition hearings have been a brazen example of the US government’s corruption. Rather than honoring a real journalist for exposing the war crimes of our military-industrial complex, many government officials instead call for Assange to be punished for heroically informing their constituents of these atrocities. Of course, that’d only come as a surprise […]
Black Wednesday
Some of my 2020 highlights so far have been: wage cuts all spring (but too little to have been eligible for unemployment benefits), having to cancel a short tour my twin, Roméo, had booked, being stuck in my room more often (which I was shocked to find out was physically possible), and wearing a facemask […]
Our new journal ‘World Socialist’
The World Socialist Party of the United States is excited to announce the first issue of our new quarterly journal, World Socialist. It contains articles on the coronavirus pandemic, the Black Lives Matter protests, the US–China confrontation, the presidential election, ‘human nature,’ the Wall Street bombing of 1920, revolution in ancient Anatolia, ‘How I became […]
Bombs Over Wall St
On Thursday, September 16, 1920, at 12:01 PM EST, people were gathered on New York City’s Wall Street for lunchtime. A horse-drawn wagon made its way through the crowd and stopped across the street from the J.P. Morgan bank headquarters at 23 Wall Street – on the busiest corner of Manhattan’s Financial District. The wagon […]
The revolution of 7,200 BCE
The first known revolution took place 9,200 years ago in a Neolithic settlement in eastern Anatolia – present-day Turkey. There are no written records, but we know about it from archeological remains at a site called Çayönü. Çayönü began about 8800 BC as a settlement of hunters and gatherers. Seeds indicate the start of farming about […]
The US–China confrontation
With the closure of China’s consulate in Houston and the American consulate in Chengdu, the confrontation between China and the United States moves up another notch. Not such a big deal, you say? But other recent developments are more worrying. Following her re-election in May, Taiwan President Tsai Ingwen made it clear that Taiwan is […]
William Morris and the treasures of early socialism
What is the point of studying the history of early socialism?
Maybe the question itself is rather pointless. After all, nothing really needs to have a point…
But I do think that there is a special value in studying the early period of socialist history, prior to the Russian Revolution. I say this because the “common sense” among many socialists in that era is quite different from the way of thinking that has prevailed since then. Above all, the understanding of what socialism itself means changed radically in the subsequent years.
The coronavirus, bats, and deforestation
What is a coronavirus? Where does the latest one come from? Why do we now face, about once every decade, an epidemic of some ‘new’ disease? In this article I answer these questions and demonstrate the link between COVID-19 and what might appear an unrelated issue — deforestation.
Including a response from Comrade Paddy Shannon and a counter-response from the author.
Green capitalism?
What if there was a way to make capitalism environmentally friendly and more economically robust, in a way that benefited workers in particular? Liberals like Bernie Sanders and congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are claiming that a ‘Green New Deal’ would do just that. Can it? Or is it the very nature of capitalism that makes it so destructive to the environment?
War with Iran? Teetering on the brink
Strictly speaking, the United States is already at war with Iran. By the rules of international law, the drone attack that killed General Soleimani and other high-ranking figures was an act of war. Iran will now retaliate against an American asset. How long can this crazy game of tit for tat go on without triggering […]
Fire On 9th St
Whenever out-of-towners imagine Las Vegas, they’ll usually think of the extravagance of downtown and the strip. Glistening lights, risqué showgirls, exquisite food – It’s like a never-ending party that grossed over $19.5 Billion in the fiscal year 2018 alone.[1] Settled in 1905, Vegas became the most populated American city founded within the 20th century. Like […]
11 — 11 — 11 — 11: 100 years since the end of World War I
Exactly 100 years ago today the Armistice that ended World War I was signed and came into force. It was signed between 5 and 6 am but did not come into force until 11 am. Fighting continued in many places right up to the last minute: nearly 11,000 men were killed or wounded on that last morning of the war.
‘Revolution, Not Reform’ by Jordan Levi (Swami Netero)
In a new pamphlet published by the World Socialist Party of the United States, our comrade Jordan Levi (known to some as Swami Netero) explains the meaning of basic terms like ‘capitalism’ and ‘socialism.’ He shows why reforms within the existing capitalist structure of society cannot solve the main problems facing humanity and the working class and why it is necessary to replace capitalism by a fundamentally new society — world socialism.
Bernie Sanders and Workers Control
The idea of “workers’ control” or “industrial democracy” is now being discussed in American political circles. Even some of the more far-sighted employers now support the idea of “workers’ participation” or “worker directors”. Bernie Sanders, the progressive presidential hopeful, is set to introduces plan that encourage employee-owner businesses and would require corporations to reserve a […]
Impressions on returning to a strange native land
I have lived more years in Japan than in my native country, the United States. My impressions of American life come from visiting Chicago for a couple of weeks every year. One thing that strikes me immediately, from the moment I arrive at O’Hare Airport, is just how little the basic infrastructure has changed over […]
Iran: again in the crosshairs
An American war against Iran has appeared imminent on previous occasions. Eleven years ago we saw similar military and political preparations for a US attack on that country. Fortunately, it never came. Now Iran is again in the crosshairs. War may again be avoided. However, even establishment analysts acknowledge that the confrontation in and around […]
A Hundred Years Ago: The Winnipeg General Strike
From the May 2019 issue of the Socialist Standard ‘The Winnipeg Strike will go down in history as a magnificent example of working-class solidarity and courage’ (Bill Pritchard). In February 1919, Seattle workers engaged in the general strike tactic, with 30,000 workers in 130 unions walking out for 5 days in sympathy with 38,000 shipyard workers. The city’s […]
How much are you worth?
From the May 2019 issue of the Socialist Standard Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democrat member of the US House of Representatives who calls herself a socialist, tweeted in February: ‘Workers are often paid for less than the value they create.’ The American financial magazine, Business Insider, picked this up, commenting ‘this is essentially a restatement of Karl Marx’s “Labour Theory of […]
What is ‘millennial socialism’?
Opinion polls suggest that the younger age groups in the United States – colloquially referred to as ‘millennials’1– are much more open to socialist ideas than their elders. At least the taboo that used to surround the word ‘socialism’ is rapidly disappearing. The figures are quite striking. A poll conducted in April 2009 found that […]
I Wannabe a Plutocrat! (2013)
The Material World Column from the August 2013 issue of the Socialist Standard Dear Material World, My life’s dream is to become a fully paid-up member of the capitalist class. Do you have any advice? How much money do I need to join? I am willing to work hard, but I need some guidance. Greed is good! […]
Lead poisoning in Flint, Michigan
By Alan Johnstone The wheels of justice turn slowly. Lead poisoning also acts slowly, but is no less pernicious for that. The city of Flint’s water crisis began in April 2014. In a cost-saving measure to save around $5m the state-appointed city manager changed the city’s water source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department […]
May Day: the endless fight for the eight-hour day
Dancing round the Maypole on the First of May is an ancient custom. Only in 1891, however, did May Day become an occasion for workers’ demonstrations. The date was chosen to commemorate a police massacre during a rally at Haymarket Square in Chicago on May 4, 1886. The rally was in support of a strike […]
Arguing with President Trump
On February 5 our great flag-hugging president Donald Trump stood before Congress and delivered his State of the Union Address. Among other things he said: Here, in the United States, we are alarmed by new calls to adopt socialism in our country. America was founded on liberty and independence — not government coercion, domination, and […]
Trump’s Economist Advisors Seeing Red Everywhere (2018)
From the December 2018 issue of the Socialist Standard The word ‘socialism’ is more attractive than scary these days—and that has the White House worried. Two hundred years after the birth of Karl Marx, socialism is making a comeback in the United States. That is not our optimistic claim, but rather the view expressed by the Trump […]
Human Nature and how it can save us
Talk given by Karla Rab at the Community Church of Boston on May 3rd, 2015 “Socialism — A nice Idea, but it’ll never work because it’s against HUMAN NATURE!” That assertion has been encountered many times by socialists explaining the case for socialism to someone new to the idea. Here’s why it’s wrong: Probably the […]
Clash of the Nincompoops — The 2016 Presidential Election (It Matters, But not the Way You Think)
Talk given by Ron Elbert at the Community Church of Boston, November 13, 2016 You might have seen clips of House Speaker Paul Ryan warning a crowd in Wisconsin (Joe McCarthy’s home state!) that if Republicans were to lose control of the Senate, guess who would become chairman of the Senate Budget Committee? A guy […]
Who or what is ALEC?
No, ALEC is not a new kid on the block. ALEC is the American Legislative Exchange Council. ALEC was born in 1973 – the brainchild of Paul Weyrich and a group of Republican Party state legislators. This was not Weyrich’s first brainchild: he also fathered the Heritage Foundation and somewhere along the way coined the […]
Manufacturing the news
Mark Fishman, associate professor of sociology at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, investigated routine news production by examining the work practices of reporters and other news workers. His research findings were published by the University of Texas Press in 1980 in a book entitled Manufacturing the News. At the beginning of his book, […]
USA: illusions of democracy
The United States of America has been under one-party rule since its birth at the drafting of the Constitution. This document was drawn up by a small group of men (the founding “fathers”) representing four major economic interests – money, public securities, manufactures, and trade and shipping. In the conclusion to his classic work An […]
The World Socialist Party of the United States Turns 100
From the July 2016 issue of the Socialist Standard It is now just a century since the World Socialist Party established itself in the USA. Other such organizations arose at about the same time in Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere, from similar circumstances: SPGB comrades became world travelers to escape conscription in The Great War, […]
Bernie Sanders Bows Out
Having acquired less delegates than Hillary Clinton in the primaries, Bernie Sanders has endorsed her as the Democratic candidate for the US presidency in the elections in November. Even if had won the nomination and actually become President of the United States of America, his freedom of action would be very restricted by economic and […]
The insanity of coal mining
National Public Radio (NPR) and the Centre for Public Integrity (CPI) teamed up to produce a special investigative report on the increased incidence of black lung disease in coal miners. The results of their combined investigations were released on the NPR’s radio stations on July 9–10, 2012 and broadcast on Public Broadcasting Systems (PBS) television […]
The ‘democratic socialism’ of Bernie Sanders
To a socialist Senator Bernie Sanders is far and away the least distasteful of the current contenders for the American presidency. He seems decent and sincere. Although he is running in the Democratic Party primaries, he has a long history as an independent politician, starting with his election in 1981 as mayor of Burlington, Vermont. […]