We are publishing here the tribute given by David North to Helen Halyard, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Party and the International Committee of the Fourth International for more than half a century, who died suddenly at the age of 73 on November 28. North’s remarks opened a memorial meeting for Helen held Sunday, December 3.
Top Stories
Perspective
US and Israeli mass rape propaganda, without credible evidence, is being used to justify Gaza genocide
The campaign over alleged mass rape is timed to coincide with the resumption of the Israeli war on Gaza, following the brief “pause.”
The deliberate targeting of the healthcare infrastructure in Gaza is intended to allow “slow death” by starvation, dehydration and disease to kill the population.
Emerging from a tense and angry meeting with members of the “war cabinet” on Tuesday, they denounced the government, saying it had no plan to secure the release of the remaining hostages and that its tactics were endangering their lives.
In a video interview, Kishore spoke about the significance of the meetings being held in Sri Lanka and the connection between the capitalist crisis and the history of the Trotskyist movement.
The SEG in Turkey held a public meeting in Istanbul on Sunday titled “Stop Israel’s genocide in Gaza! Socialist internationalism and the struggle against Zionism and imperialism.”
When Johnson voiced his indifference to mass death, declaring “Let the bodies pile high in their thousands!”, he spoke as the authentic representative of the ruling class and its political and scientific flunkeys.
Families gathered to protest on the day former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose policies led to over 233,000 deaths in Britain, was beginning two days of testimony.
Questions focussed on Johnson’s actions from the summer of 2020 through to January 2022. Attention was drawn repeatedly to the influence of “economic” concerns on government decision making.
To prevail against the big business CAQ government, workers must wrest control of their struggle from the pro-capitalist union apparatuses and transform it into a unified political offensive of the entire working class against the Quebec and Canadian ruling elite’s agenda of austerity and war.
When only a little more than a third of the membership bothers to vote in such circumstances, this has to be considered a vote of non-confidence in the union leadership.
Enthusiastic response to campaign for Sri Lankan Centenary of Trotskyism meetings
Workers and youth at Peradeniya University discuss upcoming meetings to be addressed by SEP(US) National Secretary Joseph Kishore, on “Leon Trotsky and the fight for socialism in the 21st century.”
SEP (Sri Lanka) denounces violent assault by ruling party thugs on its members
The SEP calls upon workers, youth and students in Sri Lanka and internationally to defend our party’s democratic right to freely engage in its political activities.
SEP (US) national secretary to visit Sri Lanka to speak on the centenary of Trotskyism
Joseph Kishore will discuss the contemporary significance of the struggle of the Trotskyist movement for the principles of international socialism.
Seventy years since Cannon’s “Open Letter”
A Letter to Trotskyists Throughout the World — November 16, 1953
Cannon’s Open Letter was written in defense of the essential political principles upon which the Fourth International had been based, in opposition to a form of revisionism and opportunism known as Pabloism.
Behind the UAW unionization campaign: containing the class struggle on behalf of Biden and auto bosses
The UAW has launched what it calls and “unprecedented” effort to unionize nonunion auto plants under conditions of growing militancy and class struggle in an effort to contain this movement in a corporatist straitjacket.
COVID-19 surges across the US despite official cover-up
The American and world population are now flying blind into what could be a catastrophic winter storm of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
Tribute by Sheila Brehm
“Helen’s achievements live on in our fight today under conditions of the emergence of the international working class.”
One of Helen’s oldest and closest comrades paid tribute to her unflagging attention to the education and training of the party membership, particularly the youth.
Helen Halyard (1950-2023), a life dedicated to the liberation of the working class
Comrade Helen played a central role in the Trotskyist movement, both in the United States and internationally, for more than half a century.
Israel steps up ethnic cleansing of Gaza with expansion of ground and air onslaught to the south
On the fifth day of the Zionist regime’s savage onslaught after it unilaterally declared an end to the week-long pause in fighting, the United Nations said it was impossible to ensure “so-called safe zones” for civilians anywhere in Gaza due to the ferocity and scope of air and ground attacks.
British government to send surveillance planes to facilitate Israel’s genocide
Britain’s military role in the region is maintained to ensure its ruling elite profit from the spoils of genocide and war, as the trusted partners of US imperialism.
Israel’s war on women and children
Before the eyes of the whole world, Israel is carrying out a crime of monumental proportions: a deliberate and systematic massacre of the women and children of Gaza.
US pledges to “continue to support Israel” as over 1,000 more Gazans are massacred over the weekend
Saturday was the deadliest day since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza, with over 1,000 people killed, the Euro-Med human rights monitor group said Sunday.
France: Protesters denounce the escalation of Gazan genocide
Protesters denounced the bourgeois French media’s role in promoting phony "humanitarian pauses” as Israeli prepared to expand its bombing campaign to justify their murderous assault on the Gazan population.
No to censorship of opponents of war! Stop the genocide in Gaza! Protest December 12 at Ruhr University Bochum!
While a deliberate massacre of the women and children of Gaza is being committed before the eyes of the whole world, the RUB has banned the International Youth and Students for Social Equality group from organising an event entitled "Stop the genocide in Gaza!"
Biden’s Education Department expands scope of investigations into alleged antisemitism on college campuses
Over 20 Title VI Shared Ancestry Investigations have been initiated by the Department of Education since October 7.
Public meeting in Australia: Stop the Gaza genocide! Build a socialist anti-war movement!
The meeting, in Sydney and online, will discuss the revolutionary socialist perspective required to end the genocide and its source, the capitalist system.
“The measure of my dreams”: Shane MacGowan (1957-2023)
The Pogues were one of the finest bands of the 1980s, infusing Irish traditional music with punk to give new voice to a young Irish diaspora. This owed very much to the poetic songwriting of Shane MacGowan.
SAG-AFTRA contract ratified, with a large abstention
When only a little more than a third of the membership bothers to vote in such circumstances, this has to be considered a vote of non-confidence in the union leadership.
Pushback against Zionist witch-hunt of Sydney Theatre Company performers
In attacking actors, whose only “crime” was to wear Arabic scarves during a curtain call, the proponents of Israel’s genocide have inadvertently pointed to the bogus character of their entire campaign.
Noir City festivals highlight critical US films from 1948 on 75th anniversary
This significant cultural event highlighted films that take a sharp look at postwar American life.
Spain: Trade unions support Telefónica’s scheme to lay off a third of its workforce
Telefónica’s announcement is part of a global offensive against telecommunications workers.
Healthcare workers across Italy strike over austerity budget; steelworkers in Isfahan, Iran walk out over pay and conditions; doctors and dentists begin stoppage in six counties in Kenya
Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
Healthcare workers in Italy including doctors, nurses and midwives in 24-hour strike over staff shortages and austerity budget; three thousand workers at Isfahan Steel Company in Iran walk out for improved pay and pay parity with other steelworkers; doctors and dentists begin stoppage in six counties in Kenya for pay rise and improved conditions
Yellow bankruptcy auction raises $1.9 billion for Wall Street
Yellow’s asset auction raised more than enough funds to pay off its nearly $1.6 billion in debt.
Support Australian school strikes! Build a socialist anti-war movement to stop the genocide and war!
The perspective of pressuring governments is a dead-end. Instead we need to build a movement of the working class against them and the system responsible for the genocide, capialism.
Multiple people killed at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and in Austin, Texas as 2023 breaks record for mass shootings
Several people were shot during an active shooter attack at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas a day after six people were killed during a killing spree in Austin.
Los Angeles area homeless targeted in series of killings last week
Three homeless men were murdered last week in Los Angeles. Their killings were the outcome of sustained ruling class efforts to demonize the homeless population in the nation’s second largest city.
Knoxville, Tennessee postal facility the latest impacted by nationwide restructuring program
The Knoxville facility is one of 29 across the country consolidating its processing operations into mega regional centers as part of the misnamed “Delivering for America” program.
President AMLO invites US special forces to train troops in Mexico
As US imperialism is seen as a pariah across the globe due to its support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza, pseudo-leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has invited US Special Forces to train their Mexican counterparts.
Giant Chinese property developer Evergrande given stay of execution
There is concern that an Evergrande liquidation could severely impact the ability of other corporations, not only highly indebted real estate developers, to raise money in international financial markets.
Uncertainty over where central banks’ monetary policy is headed
Economists warn of significant economic and financial consequences unless central banks around the world start reducing interest rates.
Moody’s lowers US debt outlook to “negative”
US government debt is now more than $33 trillion and rising and stands at more than 120 percent of GDP.
Reserve Bank of Australia: No letup in attack on living standards
Central bank revises inflation forecast upwards, signalling a deeper cut to workers’ wages
Sir Keir Starmer praises Margaret Thatcher: The Labour Party versus the working class
Starmer’s paragraph on Thatcher also praises how Tony Blair “reimagined a stale, outdated Labour Party into one that could seize the optimism of the late 90s”.
UK homelessness figures rise amid council funding crisis
This misery stands in the shadow of the monumental residences of the rich. Perhaps the most obscene example is at Embassy Gardens in Nine Elms, southwest London, where, 10 storeys up, sits the “Sky Pool”, described as the world’s first swimming-pool bridge, connecting two sections of the luxury development.
Spain’s pseudo-left parties divert anger over Gaza genocide behind PSOE-Sumar government
Pseudo-left parties of the affluent middle class are shielding Podemos and Sumar by blocking a movement in the working class against Spain’s capitalist government in which they sit as coalition partners of the Socialist Party (PSOE).
German government prepares huge social cuts
Ever since the Supreme Court struck down the climate fund as unconstitutional, leaving a shortfall amounting to billions in the budget, the government has been preparing to claw this back through massive cuts in social spending.
In McCarthyite congressional hearing
US politicians and university presidents slander anti-genocide protesters, Roger Waters as antisemites
Seeking to curb democratic rights and chill public displays of opposition to the genocide in Gaza, right-wing House members questioned university presidents for over three hours on the false premise that mass opposition by young people and students to Israeli genocide and Zionism was an expression of antisemitism.
US Justice Department alleges Indian intelligence agent plotted assassinations in North America
The Biden administration is doing its utmost to play down and contain the fallout from the explosive DOJ indictment, so as to ensure that the anti-China Indo-US “global strategic partnership” can continue to expand at full throttle.
Texas Republican Party leaders reject resolution disavowing support from Nazis, Hitler-lovers
Two months ago, Texas Republicans were photographed meeting with neo-Nazi Nicholas J. Fuentes at a far-right consulting firm in Fort Worth.
Right-wing Supreme Court majority on brink of gutting federal regulatory powers
The US Supreme Court is poised to gut the power of federal regulatory agencies such as the Security and Exchange Commission to hold hearings and impose penalties for financial swindling.
Former Japanese general reveals plans for war with China over Taiwan
Both Washington and Tokyo are challenging the “One China” policy in order to provoke a clash with Beijing and launch long-standing plans for war against China.
Communist Party of the Philippines announces the opening of peace talks with the Marcos government
The announced resumption of peace talks was the product of nearly two years of secret negotiations with the aim of ending domestic armed conflict so the Philippine military can focus on preparations for war with China.
AUKUS talks underscore accelerating US-led war drive against China
The statement released by top US, British and Australian defence officials makes clear that preparations for providing Australia with a nuclear submarine fleet are proceeding apace.
Australian government seeks to rush through new citizenship cancellation laws
In partnership with the Liberal-National Coalition, the Labor government rammed the Australian Citizenship Amendment (Citizenship Repudiation) Bill 2023 through the House of Representatives in a single day last week and is demanding that the Senate rubberstamp it by this Thursday.
Tribute by Sheila Brehm
“Helen’s achievements live on in our fight today under conditions of the emergence of the international working class.”
One of Helen’s oldest and closest comrades paid tribute to her unflagging attention to the education and training of the party membership, particularly the youth.
Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka) celebrates 80th birthday of veteran Trotskyist K. Ratnayake
Ratnayake has dedicated his entire adult life, encompassing some six decades, to the fight for the socialist emancipation of the working class and the oppressed masses.
Greetings to veteran Sri Lankan Trotskyist K. Ratnayake on his 80th birthday
Six of the eight decades of your life have been inextricably connected to the fight for Trotskyism, the defense of the International Committee, and the building of the Fourth International as the World Party of Socialist Revolution.
Enthusiastic response by Sri Lankan workers and students to upcoming international May Day online rally
“Nowadays May Day is used as political propaganda by the trade unions and the capitalist parties. In fact, May Day belongs to the workers and it should be a day that brings together workers in struggle in every country.” –Kandy Hospital nurse
This week in history: December 4-10
This column profiles important historical events which took place during this week, 25 years ago, 50 years ago, 75 years ago and 100 years ago.
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy
The events of the past decade have further substantiated the half-century appraisal of the event as an initial manifestation of the breakdown, under the pressure of interacting domestic and international contradictions, of American democracy.
Israel and the Palestinians: A state founded on dispossession and ethnic cleansing—Part One
Today’s events are the product of the founding of Israel in 1948 through the forcible expulsion of Palestine’s existing Arab population and of the three-quarters of a century of brutality and mass murder that followed.
October 8, 1923 Letter from Leon Trotsky to the Central Committee and the Central Control Commission of the Russian Communist Party
This letter, sent by Leon Trotsky on October 8, 1923, to members of the Central Committee and Central Control Commission, was one of the most important documents that led to the emergence of the Left Opposition.
SEP (Sri Lanka) denounces violent assault by ruling party thugs on its members
The SEP calls upon workers, youth and students in Sri Lanka and internationally to defend our party’s democratic right to freely engage in its political activities.
A young man dies after torture by the police in northern Sri Lanka
This death points to the repressive conditions in the war-ravaged north and east of Sri Lanka, which has been under military occupation for decades.
Sri Lankan president unveils plans to intensify exploitation of plantation workers
Wickremesinghe’s plan is simply the proposal by the major plantation companies to boost productivity while ending benefits for workers contributions to their pension funds.
Sri Lankan President Wickremesinghe’s 2024 budget deepens attack on workers and the poor
The government’s 2024 budget is designed to fulfill the drastic austerity demands of the International Monetary Fund.
Contrasting inter-group behavior of our two closest evolutionary relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, provides possible insights to human evolution
Chimpanzees are aggressive toward chimps of other groups; bonobos of different groups engage in friendly and cooperative behavior toward each other.
Useless hand wringing and empty platitudes in the latest US climate report
A critical reading of the report underscores the impossibility of combining a scientific approach to resolving climate change with the ongoing existence of capitalism.
Fossil discovery in China raises intriguing questions for human evolution
The fossil skull, including both jaw and cranium, appears to be from an intermediate form between Homo erectus and Homo sapiens.
Nobel Prize awarded to pioneering mRNA scientists who helped develop COVID vaccines
The awarding of the Nobel Prize to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman is justly deserved and has all the more significance in that it takes place under conditions of a vast right-wing anti-science campaign.
Massive new wave of coronavirus infections in Germany
Contrary to the general claims of politicians and the media, the coronavirus pandemic is neither over, nor has the coronavirus become harmless. Germany is currently in the midst of another wave of infection as is shown by all available figures.
Jacobin once again endorses Sweden’s “herd immunity” COVID policies
Jacobin's positions on the pandemic are fundamentally indistinguishable from the talking points of right-wing COVID fanatics who have gushed over Sweden’s response.
CDC’s provisional US life expectancy and suicide rates for 2022: An indictment of the capitalist system
Provisional data from the CDC indicate a rise in life expectancy of 1.1 years due to a decline in COVID deaths for 2022. However, this does not make up for the 2.4 years lost during the first two years of the pandemic.
COVID cases in the US have risen 50 percent in four weeks
Undoutbedly, concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater will surge even more in the weeks ahead, as the impacts of record holiday travel on viral transmission are fully logged.
UAW seeks to ram through fourth sellout contract at Indiana Lear auto parts plant
The deal backed by the UAW is virtually unchanged from the previous three union-endorsed agreements that Lear workers rejected since early August, by 95 percent, 75 percent, and 72 percent respectively.
UAW keeps Allison Transmission workers on job after 96 percent vote to reject union-backed deal
The Rank-and-File Committee of Allison Transmission Workers has issued a statement calling on workers to prepare for strike action
GM execs boast about low costs of UAW contract, hand over billions to shareholders
GM CEO Mary Barra and Chief Financial Officer Paul Jacobson delivered the remarks nine days after the UAW bureaucracy pushed through a company-friendly contract, which was opposed by 47 percent of GM’s production workers.
UAW announces tentative agreement with Allison Transmission, running roughshod over mass sentiment for strike
The UAW has delayed announcing details of the agreement with management, further enraging workers.
Fifty years after Chile’s horrific September 11 coup, its political relevance is becoming ever more urgent as the specter of dictatorship once again haunts the political life of Latin America.
White House warns of funding crisis in war against Russia in Ukraine
The financial emergency comes after the dismal failure of the Ukrainian military offensive against Russian defenses in the south.
Protests demanding a limit to front-line deployments continue, as infighting intensifies within Ukrainian ruling class
The struggle between the Zelensky regime and the Armed Forces of Ukraine led by Valery Zaluzhnyi continues to intensify as the failed counteroffensive and worldwide outbreak of protests against the genocide in Gaza places immense pressure on both Ukraine and its imperialist backers.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky cancels elections as US expands conflict with Russia in Middle East
The canceling of the elections comes amidst a profound military and political crisis of the Zelensky regime and exposes the NATO propaganda about the defense of "democracy" in Ukraine.
Protests in Ukraine demand return of soldiers from the front
The Zelensky regime is refusing to disclose how long Ukrainian soldiers will be expected to remain at the front amid growing nationwide protests against never-ending deployment.
Boric’s police state: 200 Carabineros raid university in Chile
The raid sets a dangerous precedent for the establishment of a police state in Chile.
Militarization of the Brazilian state escalates under Lula
In an attempt to rehabilitate the military, the Workers Party (PT) government has deployed troops to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo ports and the western borders to fight crime.
Peronist Massa lurches further to right ahead of Argentina’s presidential runoff with the fascistic Milei
Both candidates would lead far-right administrations committed to further cutting real wages, social spending, and corporate taxes, subordination to US imperialism and increasingly open forms of dictatorial rule.
Israel provokes diplomatic row with Brazil over Gaza, Hezbollah
Behind the diplomatic tensions that emerged last week between Brazil and Israel lies the US drive to drag Latin America into its global war plans.
The essays in this book, though written over the span of more than 40 years, are connected by a central argument: Leon Trotsky was the most significant figure in the history of socialism during the first four decades of the twentieth century, and his legacy remains the critical and indispensable theoretical and political foundation of the ongoing contemporary struggle for the victory of world socialism.
Order your print or epub version of the book from Mehring Books today.
Indigenous Voice leaders denounce Australian voters
An open letter, issued by a privileged layer of indigenous figures who led the Voice Yes campaign, further highlights the immense class chasm shown in the referendum’s overwhelming defeat on October 14.
Australian pseudo-left slanders population as racist after defeat of Voice referendum
Socialist Alternative’s analysis of the referendum is an attack on the working class, exposing this organisation as a rightward moving representative of privileged layers of the affluent upper middle-class.
Defeat of Australian Labor’s Voice referendum highlights stark class divide, not racism
The Voice voting patterns demonstrate the intensifying hostility of working-class people to the entire political establishment.
Australian workers oppose the Voice, call for better conditions for Aboriginal people
“The Labor government is not working class, it is an elite group of people, setting up a puppet called the Voice.”
Albanese’s comments expose charade that Australian government is trying to free Julian Assange
Albanese’s lie that the Biden administration cannot end the prosecution of Assange is a greenlight for the extradition and persecution of the Australian publisher.
Craig Murray seeks UN protection in Switzerland against British police-state persecution
Murray explained in a statement, “the abuse of special anti-terrorism powers at ports in order to seize all papers and communications of journalists is becoming commonplace.”
Official documents show Australian government doing nothing to free Assange
The Labor government’s full-throated support of imperialist militarism, in Israel, Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific, is incompatible with the defence of a persecuted anti-war publisher.
Australian parliamentarians lobby for Assange in Washington
The tour reflected a groundswell of support for Assange among ordinary people, but also underscored the bankruptcy of a fight for his freedom based on backroom diplomacy and politicking.
US Department of Education announces probe into alleged antisemitism on college campuses
The Biden administration’s investigations follow the month-long campaign to smear the growing opposition to the war crimes of the US and Israel as "antisemitic."
Harvard University escalating anti-democratic attack on opponents of Israel’s genocide in Gaza
The far-right campaign against students has created a chilling atmosphere in which students are faced with threats to their physical safety as well as their future careers.
Growing opposition to Gaza genocide at Columbia University
Last Wednesday, roughly 30 Columbia University (CU) students staged a walkout of a lecture given by 2016 US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
University student walk-out at London’s SOAS against crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests
The action against students’ right to protest is part of a wider clampdown at SOAS. Over the past fortnight, large numbers of security personnel have been deployed at entry points to the campus and inside buildings. Police have harassed and questioned students simply for wearing a keffiyeh.
March 20 marks 20 years since the beginning of the US invasion of Iraq, launched on the basis of lies. At the time of the initial invasion, the WSWS published many statements on the background of the war, its history and its implications. This page features some of the most important statements.
The Prinkipo commemoration of Trotsky’s exile and the global resurgence of the working class
The event reflects the objective change that has been underway for some time in the relationship between Trotskyism and the international working class.
An Island at the Center of World History: Trotsky on Prinkipo
This is the speech by World Socialist Web Site International Editorial Board Chairman David North given on Sunday, August 20, honoring the life and political legacy of Leon Trotsky.
The ICFI’s investigation exposed the GPU conspiracy to murder Trotsky
The penetration of GPU agents into the Fourth International played a fatal role in the assassination of Trotsky.
Leon Trotsky’s years on Prinkipo
Trotsky spent the critical years of his exile on Prinkipo writing masterpieces and organizing the Left Opposition in the Communist International all over the world.
Twenty-five years ago, the International Committee of the Fourth International began posting the World Socialist Web Site. In this video, WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North explains the background to the WSWS, reviews its record and contemporary significance and makes an appeal to all readers to donate to the WSWS and expand its readership.
1985-86: The victory of Trotskyism within the ICFI
The following lecture was delivered by Chris Marsden, the national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (UK), and Ulaş Ateşçi, a leading member of the Sosyalist Eşitlik Grubu (Socialist Equality Group) in Turkey, to the SEP (US) International Summer School, held between July 30 and August 4, 2023.
The Workers League’s defence of the Theory of Permanent Revolution against the opportunism of the Workers Revolutionary Party
The following lecture was delivered by Tom Peters, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Group of New Zealand, and Thomas Scripps, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Party (UK), to the SEP (US) International Summer School, held between July 30 and August 4, 2023.
1982: Marxism, the revolutionary party, and the critique of Healy’s Studies in Dialectics
The following lecture was delivered by Christoph Vandreier, the national secretary of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party) of Germany to the SEP (US) International Summer School, held between July 30 and August 4, 2023.
The role of Security and the Fourth International in the fight for the continuity of the International Committee of the Fourth International
The following lecture was delivered by Eric London, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Party (US), to the SEP (US) International Summer School, held between July 30 and August 4, 2023.
In 2022 the accumulating pressure of these intersecting elements of the world capitalist crisis attained the equivalent of critical mass: that is, they have reached the point where the dynamic of crisis has passed beyond the ability of governments to control the movement toward a social cataclysm.
Burkinabè junta arrests top officers over Burkina Faso coup attempt
The conflicts in the Burkina Faso military are deeply entwined with the NATO-Russia war in Ukraine, as the Burkinabè junta led by Traoré develops ties with the Kremlin.
The social roots of the Moroccan earthquake disaster
The scale of the Moroccan catastrophe is an indictment of the inability of the capitalist system to deliver earthquake-resistant housing and emergency services to the working population.
Macron announces pull-out of French troops from Niger
Amid massive protests in Niger against French imperialism, French President Macron announced the withdrawal of the French ambassador to Niamey on Sunday.
After protests in flood-hit Derna, Libyan officials order journalists to leave
There are growing signs in the region that the eastern Libyan authorities are preparing a bloody crackdown against protests in Derna.
Vadim Z. Rogovin (10 May 1937 – 18 September 1998) was a Soviet Marxist sociologist and historian. Working in close collaboration with the International Committee of the Fourth International, Rogovin helped lay the foundations for the Trotskyist movement’s fight against the post-Soviet school of historical falsification, including in his six-volume Was There an Alternative? This page collects major essays and commemorations on Rogovin as well as links to his own writings.
Will Lehman issues letter to Mack Trucks coworkers on eve of UAW contract expiration: “We must seriously prepare for a major battle”
It’s clear the UAW hasn’t been negotiating anything at Mack all this time, they’ve just been keeping us in the dark to prevent us from preparing to fight back against the company’s ruthless demands.
Will Lehman sues Biden administration demanding rerun of fraudulent UAW election
On Monday, July 3, rank-and-file socialist autoworker Will Lehman sued the Biden administration’s Department of Labor, demanding that the UAW national officers’ election be rerun with the names of all candidates on the ballot due to massive voter disenfranchisement by the bureaucracy.
Stop the UAW sabotage of the autoworkers struggle! Hold emergency local meetings to demand an all-out strike!
“Let’s be clear on what Fain‘s announcement really means: These strikes will have no impact on production. These are parts warehouses that ship components to the dealerships, not suppliers of the Big Three.”
“It’s almost like we are in a civil war between the rich and the poor”: Autoworkers respond to Will Lehman’s Newsweek op-ed
Autoworkers have responded with enthusiasm to the editorial written by the Pennsylvania Mack Trucks worker and socialist candidate for UAW president in 2021.
Mehring Books, the publishing arm of the Socialist Equality Party (US), is proud to announce the publication of Volume 1 of COVID, Capitalism, and Class War: A Social and Political Chronology of the Pandemic, a compilation of the World Socialist Web Site's coverage of this global crisis.
Erdoğan calls Israeli state “terrorist,” maintains flow of Turkish military supplies to Israel
As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ratchets up his rhetoric against Israel, new revelations are emerging that trade with Israel continues apace.
G7 members threaten Iran with regional war amid ongoing Israeli slaughter in Gaza
Just hours after the provocative G7 statement, US aircraft struck a site in eastern Syria allegedly used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, with officials noting that the action was “directed” by Biden. The air strike underscores the impending danger of the imperialist-backed genocide of the Palestinians erupting into a region-wide conflagration.
Amid Israeli genocide in Gaza, Washington threatens Iran with nuclear war
US and European support for Israel’s genocidal onslaught on Gaza is a warning that they will not hesitate to take similar action against Iran or any other power in the region.
US attacks Iranian “proxies” in Syria, as Israel intensifies assault on Gaza
Hours before Israel initiated a communications blackout of Gaza and poured troops across the border, the United States dropped dozens of bombs on what it called Iranian “proxies” in Syria as part of its escalating standoff with Tehran.
The International Youth and Students for Social Equality—the student and youth movement of the Socialist Equality Parties, the national sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International—calls for the building of a mass global movement of young people to end the reckless escalation toward World War III.
Third Trump coup lawyer pleads guilty and agrees to testify in Georgia election case
Jenna Ellis is the third lawyer and fourth defendant to plead guilty in relation to the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Trump coup plot accomplice Chesebro pleads guilty in Georgia fake elector case
Kenneth Chesebro, attorney and close associate of Donald Trump, pleaded guilty on Friday to one felony charge in exchange for his agreement to testify against the former-president and 16 other defendants in the fake elector scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
Top Trump coup lawyer Sidney Powell turns state’s witness on eve of Georgia trial
The 68-year-old far-right lawyer will avoid prison time as long as she abides by the terms of her six-year probation, which includes testifying against her accomplices, including Trump.
Trump-backed election denier Jim Jordan fails in second vote for House speaker
The focus of opposition from the Democrats and a section of House Republicans to Jordan’s becoming Speaker is his stated opposition to further military aid to Ukraine.
The Inquest is necessary to break through the cover-up, lies and misinformation that have been used to justify policies responsible for the avoidable deaths of millions.
May Day 2023: For the international unity of the working class against national chauvinism and war!
The following is the text of the opening report delivered by David North, chairperson of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site, to the International May Day Online Rally 2023, held Sunday, April 30.
The ICFI’s May Day 2023 online rally: A milestone in the building of a global, working class movement against war
Together, the speakers set out a political programme capable of uniting the international working class and mobilising its immense social power in a struggle against the world’s major corporations and governments.
The developing struggle to bring down the Macron government in France
This is the report delivered by Alex Lantier, national secretary of the Parti de l’égalité socialiste (PES), to the 2023 International May Day Online Rally held on April 30.
The struggle for a Democratic and Socialist Congress of Workers and Rural Masses in Sri Lanka
This is the report delivered by Deepal Jayasekera, the General Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in Sri Lanka, to the 2023 International May Day Online Rally held on April 30.
The definitive left-wing critique of the 1619 Project. This volume includes interviews with eminent historians and essays from the World Socialist Web Site exposing the New York Times’ racialist falsification of history.
Former Montgomery, Alabama teacher testifies about the forced reopening of schools in 2020-21
In this interview, Tynisa Williams, former teacher in Montgomery, Alabama, describes the experience of being forced to teach in-person in the fall of 2020 and winter of 2021. She and her coworkers waged a courageous struggle to stop the deadly return to in-person learning that cost the lives of eight educators in the district.
Accomplices to social murder
The international pseudo-left and the lifting of Zero-COVID in China: Part 1
The pseudo-left’s hostility to public health and support for imperialism found sharp expression in their universal demand—echoing that of the Western corporate media and political establishment—that China abandon its Zero-COVID strategy.
Accomplices to social murder
The international pseudo-left and the lifting of Zero-COVID in China: Part 2
The pseudo-left’s hostility to public health and support for imperialism found its sharpest expression in their demand—echoing that of the Western corporate media and political establishment—that China abandon its Zero-COVID strategy.
Immunocompromised mother in Manhattan speaks to Global Workers’ Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic
Melanie, whose children attend public schools in New York City, spoke to the WSWS about the toll the “let it rip” policy toward the pandemic has taken on her and her family.
This five-part series and historical timeline exposes Snyder’s Bloodlands as a work of falsification, aimed at justifying the imperialist proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and the alliance of US imperialism with the Ukrainian far-right.
The Wuhan lab lie: “Weapons of mass destruction” redux
In an uncanny instance of history repeating itself, the lies used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq based on false claims about “weapons of mass destruction” are being used to promote the United States’ unprecedented military buildup around China.
A discredited conspiracy theory about the origins of COVID-19
The Wuhan Lab Leak slander being resurrected to bolster US war drive against China
The Wall Street Journal disclosed that the Department of Energy has shifted its opinion on the origin of the coronavirus to it being most likely a result of a lab leak. However, unnamed sources who have read the report indicate the evidence is of low confidence.
Republicans revive discredited Wuhan Lab Leak theory and call Anthony Fauci to testify
Republicans have demanded Former Biden chief medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci testify on the Wuhan lab leak theory.
Anthony Fauci gives aid and comfort to COVID-19 “lab leak” conspiracy theory
Fauci’s aim in lending credence to the conspiracy theory, which he knows to be a lie, is to distract attention from the antiscientific policies carried out under the Trump and Biden administrations that led to the deaths of over a million Americans.
This interactive timeline presents some of the most important events that have brought humanity to the brink of World War III. It includes links to critical articles and statements produced by the International Committee of the Fourth International over the past 30 years.
Nikole Hannah-Jones’ Center for Democracy and Journalism: Racialist politics in the service of US imperialism
After one year, the Center’s main accomplishment has been to deepen the mutual embrace between sections of the upper middle class and the military-intelligence apparatus.
The 1619 Project and the New York Times’ promotion of the racialist ideology of Ukrainian nationalism
The racialist historical revisionism of the Times and the racialist ideology of the Ukrainian neo-Nazis share a common premise: the mythological reimagining of history as a struggle of “the nation” and “the race.”
Oppose political censorship of antiwar views at Howard University!
We call on all students, faculty and staff members at Howard University to oppose this censorship and demand that the IYSSE be allowed to hold its planned meeting on campus.
Marcus Garvey and the reactionary logic of racialist politics
More than one hundred years after the formation of his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), Marcus Garvey's legacy remains highly relevant in the struggle to overcome efforts to divide the working class along racial lines.
Report to Seventh Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US)
The historical and political principles of the socialist opposition to imperialist war and the Putin regime
This report was given by Clara Weiss to the Seventh Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) in support of the resolution, “Mobilize the working class against imperialist war!”
Report to Seventh Congress of Socialist Equality Party (US)
The historical background of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fight for global elimination
This report was given by Evan Blake to the Seventh Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) in support of the resolution titled “The COVID-19 pandemic and the fight for socialism”
America’s “New World Order”— The historical and social roots of US plans for war with Russia and China
The following is a report given by Andre Damon to the Seventh Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) in support of the resolution titled “Mobilize the working class against imperialist war!”
Report to Seventh Congress of Socialist Equality Party (US)
Build rank-and-file committees, the organs of 21st century working class struggle!
This report was given by Eric London to the Seventh Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) in support of the resolution titled “Build the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees! For a global counteroffensive of the working class!”
October 16 marked the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Tom Henehan, a member of the Political Committee of the Workers League—the predecessor of the Socialist Equality Party in the US. We are republishing here a tribute delivered by David North at a meeting in 1997.
Instagram shutters account of Palestinian publisher Quds News Network
Instagram shut the account without explanation. Quds is one of the most popular Palestinian networks and has featured on-the-spot exposures of the war crimes in Gaza.
WSWS readers demand Facebook reverse ban on SEG in New Zealand
Readers have expressed outrage at the social media company’s anti-democratic censorship of the Trotskyist Socialist Equality Group in New Zealand.
Facebook blocks Socialist Equality Group in New Zealand from advertising
We call on readers to oppose Facebook’s blatant political censorship of the Trotskyist movement in New Zealand.
Elon Musk’s Twitter abruptly reverses ban on promotion of alternative social media platforms
After instituting a ban on sharing links from competitive social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon, Elon Musk canceled the policy less than 24 hours later.
Comrade Wije Dias, the longtime general secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), died in Colombo on July 27, 2022. This exhibit includes two tributes to Wije by WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North as well as a selection of Wije’s most significant articles and speeches.
The June 19 decision followed extensive discussions with representatives of the International Committee in Istanbul on the development of the fight for Trotskyism in Turkey and the Aegean and Black Sea regions.
Over 80,000 sign petition against NYU Langone’s termination of a pro-Palestinian resident physician
Over 80,000 people have signed a petition opposing the anti-democratic termination of Dr. Zaki Masoud by NYU Langone.
Report exposes fraudulent antisemitism accusations at UK universities
The report concludes that critics of the Israeli state, advocates for Palestinian rights and those teaching the history and politics of the region have been “subjected to false allegations of antisemitism.”
An interview with Harvard anthropology Professor John Comaroff—Part one
We spoke recently to South African-born John Comaroff, the Hugh K. Foster Professor of African and African-American studies and of Anthropology, and Oppenheimer Research Fellow in African Studies, Harvard University.
Harvard UAW, pseudo-left groups organize provocation against professor John Comaroff
The right-wing witch-hunt of John Comaroff at Harvard University continued Tuesday with a stage-managed protest during his first class of the semester.
The WSWS is publishing the report delivered by David North 25 years ago, on February 1, 1997, motivating the proposal to end publication of the SEP’s printed newspaper and replace it with an international website; as well as North’s reply to the National Committee ‘s discussion of the proposal.
Russia downs British-supplied long-range missile as Zelensky and Sunak declare “jets coalition”
Central to NATO’s plans to defeat Russia and force regime change in Moscow is aerial supremacy over the Ukrainian battlefield. Speaking to reporters after the talks, Zelensky said, “We want to create this jet coalition.”
Pentagon national strategy document targets China
The US military published a series of documents Thursday outlining US plans for war with Russia and China, and asserting the central role of nuclear weapons in US warfighting.
Australia dispatching military “trainers” to aid the US-NATO war against Russia
Australia, already the largest non-NATO funder of the war in Ukraine, is escalating its involvement amid warnings that the conflict could result in a nuclear catastrophe.
German President Steinmeier delivers war speech to the nation
Steinmeier's remarks to invited soldiers, journalists, think tank representatives and leading politicians can only be described as a “war speech to the nation.” The focus was de facto a declaration of war on Russia and the Russian population.
Germany’s secret service intensifies persecution of war opponents and warns against “Trotskyism”
The latest “Constitutional Protection Report” published by the Verfassungsschutz (Germany’s domestic intelligence service) at the end of June aims to silence anyone who criticises the mass death being organised by the NATO powers, calls social inequality by its name, and rejects the government’s pro-war narrative.
Peace activist sentenced for criticizing German war policy in Ukraine
The Berlin-Tiergarten District Court has sentenced peace activist Heinrich Bücker for a speech he gave on the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s invasion on the Soviet Union.
Large-scale raid against right-wing terrorist network reveals the extent of the fascist danger in Germany
Around 3,000 officers from the special police forces stormed 137 locations in 11 federal states on Wednesday morning and arrested 25 people. Another 27 people are being investigated. The state prosecutor has accused them of being members or supporters of a terrorist organisation.
German secret service operates hundreds of far-right social media profiles
Regardless of whether the pending investigations can demonstrate that the agents gave the impetus to the planned terrorist attacks, a picture emerges of a right-wing extremist milieu organized and controlled by the state.
Review the most critical essays, lectures and letters produced by the ICFI in the course of its intervention in response to the crisis of Stalinism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Why have right-wing forces attacked Adania Shibli’s novel Minor Detail?
After the outbreak of the new Israeli war against Palestinians a number of critics discovered antisemitism in the book and denounced Shibli as a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions activist.
Award-winning novelist Arundhati Roy denounces “brazen slaughter” and “crimes against humanity” in Gaza
Roy’s comments speak to the revulsion felt by hundreds of millions at the savagery of the Israeli destruction of Gaza.
The racialist theory of “color blind racism”: Eduardo Bonilla-Silva’s Racism without Racists
Now in its sixth edition, Racism without Racists has been central to the development and dissemination of the racialist outlook that currently dominates academia, much of the media, and significant sections of the political establishment in the United States.
We Want Them Infected: The integration of pseudoscience into the US pandemic response
The new book by Dr. Jonathan Howard carefully traces how traditional attacks on medical science from the anti-vaccine movement were used by doctors around the Great Barrington Declaration to promote an ongoing political attack on public health.
US and Israeli mass rape propaganda, without credible evidence, is being used to justify Gaza genocide
The campaign over alleged mass rape is timed to coincide with the resumption of the Israeli war on Gaza, following the brief “pause.”
COVID-19 surges across the US despite official cover-up
The American and world population are now flying blind into what could be a catastrophic winter storm of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
Israel’s war on women and children
Before the eyes of the whole world, Israel is carrying out a crime of monumental proportions: a deliberate and systematic massacre of the women and children of Gaza.
Helen Halyard (1950-2023), a tribute to a life dedicated to the victory of world socialism
We are publishing here the tribute given by David North to Helen Halyard, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Party and the International Committee of the Fourth International for more than half a century, who died suddenly at the age of 73 on November 28. North’s remarks opened a memorial meeting for Helen held Sunday, December 3.
The WSWS has published a feature page incorporating a selection of essential essays from its own archives, and other documents produced contemporaneously by the Fourth International.
Police locate more bodies in New Zealand’s Pike River mine
The police investigation into the 2010 disaster that killed 29 mineworkers has been dragged out until at least the end of 2023, with no guarantee that anyone will be charged over the avoidable deaths.
New Zealand police extend investigation into Pike River mine disaster until the end of 2023
Police are delaying their decision on whether to lay charges over the 2010 Pike River mine disaster that killed 29 people, until after the October election.
Nine dead, 44 still missing in mine collapse in China
The disaster tragically exposes the brutal working conditions faced by miners in China in the reckless drive for profits ahead of lives and safety.
New Zealand: Court action over Pike River mine disaster
The fathers of two of the 29 workers killed in the 2010 Pike River mine disaster are campaigning for the release of documents and correspondence relating to a 2013 decision to drop charges against Pike River CEO Peter Whittall.
Cliff Slaughter died on May 3, 2021, in Leeds, England, at the age of 92. His enduring contribution in the 1960s to the defense of Trotskyism stands in tragic contrast with his subsequent political opportunism and repudiation of revolutionary Marxism.
North and London discussed the significance of the latest revelations of the the Security and the Fourth International investigation into Trotsky’s assassination.