On Saturday, David North presented the German edition of his book Leon Trotsky and the Struggle for Socialism in the Twenty-First Century at the Leipzig Book Fair.
Top Stories
The presentation of David North’s book Leon Trotsky and the Struggle for Socialism in the 21st Century at this year’s Leipzig Book Fair, as well as the Mehring Verlag stand, received great interest under conditions of heightened political concerns.
Perspective
The Baltimore bridge disaster: A product of profit-driven cost-cutting
The collision between the container ship and the bridge has also exposed the collision between private profit and the needs of a modern society, which has at its disposal the technical and economic resources to prevent such disasters.
Amid a systematic US-Israeli campaign to deliberately starve the 2.2 million residents of Gaza, the entire population is on the brink of famine.
Portending a jobs bloodbath, UPS CEO Carol Tomé confirmed the company would be automating “everything.”
The scandal is fundamentally the product of the TİP’s unprincipled collaboration with the CHP, a pro-NATO, right-wing bourgeois party.
Sudan faces famine, displacement, economic breakdown and an almost total absence of international aid. The government, virtually bankrupt, barely functions.
The essay presents a new and more virulent form of racialism justified, as in the 1619 Project, through the falsification of history.
The former chair of the RNC is only one of dozens of discredited and corrupt political operatives given well-paid positions in the corporate media.
“The Palestinians have been caught up in a struggle against colonialism, imperialism, so that we are talking about class, the class interests of the capitalist class—oil and finance—and opposition from the working class.”
Washington is whitewashing Prabowo’s history of atrocities as it courts Jakarta in preparation for war with China.
Right-wing presidential candidate RFK Jr. picks wealthy Silicon Valley lawyer Nicole Shanahan as running mate
Shanahan, 38, is a longtime donor to Democratic Party campaigns and was formerly married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin, the 10th wealthiest person in the world.
Growing opposition to Democrats’ “all-out war” to block third parties from ballot
In response to the hemorrhaging of support for Joe Biden due to his blatant role in facilitating Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians, the Democrats are seeking to suppress all political parties outside the framework of the corporate-controlled two-party system.
The Democrats’ “all-out war” on third parties and independent candidates
The Democratic Party is spending millions of dollars on lawyers, operatives and propaganda to ensure that workers and youth will have no choice in the 2024 US presidential election except Biden and Trump.
Democratic Party escalates efforts to block third parties from US presidential ballot
On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that the Democratic Party has assembled a “new team of lawyers” tasked with blocking third-party candidates from appearing on the ballot.
An appeal from David North: Build the socialist movement against war and fascism! Support the WSWS!
Amidst the descent of capitalism into barbarism, the arming of the working class with a socialist perspective is of decisive importance. For this reason, the World Socialist Web Site needs the support of all of its readers.
Baltimore-area bridge collapses following collision with cargo vessel
While more details will emerge in the coming days, what is certain is that cost-cutting and profiteering played a central role in the disaster.
Terrorist attack in Moscow: The Ukrainian trail
If ISIS or one of its offshoots actually committed the attack in Moscow, this does not speak against but for the complicity of Ukraine and NATO.
Biden’s budget for world war
The United States will spend more on the military than the next 11 countries combined.
Joan Baez: I Am a Noise—A documentary about the American folk singer
I Am a Noise sheds relatively little light on Baez’s artistic and social development, and what light it sheds on her inner life seems distorted.
Little Rope: Rock band Sleater-Kinney shows signs of wear
On its second album without the drummer who helped define it, Sleater-Kinney seems enervated and uninspired.
Guitarist Steve Hackett brings Genesis Revisited–Foxtrot at 50 tour to Kalamazoo, Michigan
Steve Hackett, the internationally acclaimed progressive rock guitarist and former member of the band Genesis, performed Foxtrot at 50 with his band at the Kalamazoo State Theater on Saturday night to an enthusiastic audience.
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival—Part 5
Herzsprung (1992): A sober look at German reunification
The recent Berlinale presented a series of German films from the postwar period as part of its annual Retrospective with the title: “An Alternate Cinema—From the Archives of the German Cinematheque.”
Young people speak at UK public meetings on fight to free Julian Assange: “It should be a focus for this generation”
Public meetings held this month by the Socialist Equality Party and International Youth and Students for Social Equality provoked important discussion among workers and young people on the campaign needed to free WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange.
UK High Court puts Assange on the brink of extradition to the United States
The essential task posed before Assange’s supporters is to link his defence to the mass movement emerging in opposition to these crimes. The same eruption of militarism and aggression fuelling the persecution of Assange is producing a mass radicalisation among workers and young people.
Julian Assange and the fight against imperialist war
The World Socialist Web Site is publishing the text of the speech delivered by Socialist Equality Party National Secretary Chris Marsden and Assistant National Secretary Tom Scripps at public meetings held in Manchester, London, Inverness and Sheffield.
Assange lawyers rebuff anti-democratic US government extradition arguments
Mark Summers KC told the High Court, “What happened in this case is state retaliation ordered from the very top.”
US insists UN resolution calling for Gaza ceasefire will have “no impact at all”
Biden administration officials made it clear that they allowed the resolution to pass because it is “non-binding” and will have “no impact at all” as the US continues to arm and support Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
EU, IMF and regional powers bail out Egypt in return for services rendered to Israel’s genocidal war
These deals with Egypt’s brutal dictator indicate the real nature of the talks between the US, Egypt and the Gulf states held under the cover of negotiations for a ceasefire in Gaza.
US/Israeli talks in Washington to plot offensive in Rafah
The Biden administration’s meaningless expressions of concern are simply window-dressing for behind-the-scenes talks that will focus on how, not if, the Israeli war in Gaza is going to reach a bloody climax in Rafah.
Israel to force cancer patients being treated in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv back to Gaza
According to reports, Israel’s Supreme Court has temporarily suspended the transfer, but the government plan is another expression of the Zionist regime’s brutal oppression of the Palestinians.
The “divest from Israel” referendum at the University of Michigan and the pro-Democratic Party politics of the DSA
The fight against world war raises the most serious and fundamental political issues. This is already demonstrated by the more than five months of bombings, executions, and deliberate starving of the people of Gaza.
Oppose UM’s anti-democratic attack on opponents of US/Israeli genocide in Gaza!
The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) at the University of Michigan (UM) condemns the latest moves by the administration to intimidate and silence opposition to the US/Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Pro-Palestinian sit-in forcibly removed by Vanderbilt University police, reporter arrested
Vanderbilt University students who organized a sit-in at the office of the chancellor to protest the administration’s suppression of pro-Palestinian voices on campus were forcibly removed on Wednesday and given interim suspensions.
Australian protests against Gaza genocide continue as Labor governments step up police repression
“The protests signify that the people are not in line with the politicians in the parliament and the government. They have a very different position than the public, they are not listening to them; they still align with the Zionists agenda.”
Strikes in Finland continue against austerity and attacks on right to strike; general strike on West Bank after Israeli army kills 10 Palestinians over 24 hours; Kenyan doctors’ national stoppage enters third week
Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
Strikes across all sectors in Finland against austerity and right to strike extended to four weeks, but unions reduce the number of workers called out; general strike on West Bank after Israeli army kills 10 Palestinians among hundreds murdered since October 7; Kenyan doctors’ national stoppage continues into third week over low pay and poor conditions
Spanish Acerinox metalworkers strike in Cádiz
The heroic 50-day strike has lost the company almost 1,200 tonnes per day of production and over €3.5 million ($3.80 million) over the last four weeks.
German train drivers’ union, GdL, submits to the dictates of the company executive
In its current contract round the German Train Drivers’ Union (GdL) has caved in to the dictates of Deutsche Bahn (DB, German Rail) and is now trying to cover its tracks with its usual bluster and evasions.
Junior doctors mount 96-hour stoppage against de facto pay cut by Labour-run Welsh Assembly
The British Medical Association junior doctors’ leadership presents the Labour controlled Welsh Assembly as a supposed ally in a fight against the Sunak Conservative government in Westminster.
New Zealand sinks into recession amid escalating assault on jobs, social conditions
As the far-right National Party-led government imposes thousands of job cuts, its sweeping austerity program underpins a massive transfer of wealth to the rich.
Australia: SEP electoral members call on workers and youth to help put a socialist anti-war party on the ballot
“They’re trying to make it harder for minority parties to exist—it’s crazy. I’m for our voices being heard, normal people, not the billionaires sponsoring all the other parties.”
Australian government fails to ram through bill to quickly deport non-citizens
This legislation marks a further lurch in a right-wing, autocratic direction, spearheaded by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor government.
Campaigning begins for South Korea’s general election
The two main big-business parties have offered nothing but empty populist pledges while ignoring the major issues facing the working class.
Sri Lankan parties in sordid manoeuvres over presidential and national election dates
Irrespective of which election is held first, and whoever wins, all of Sri Lanka’s capitalist parties and their respective leaders are committed to ruthlessly implementing the IMF demands.
Sri Lankan government, companies and unions conspire to impose poverty wage on estate workers
Irrespective of the outcome of these tripartite meetings the pay rates will not provide a living wage or address the endemic poverty afflicting these highly exploited workers.
Sri Lanka: Ceylon Electricity Board witch-hunting workers opposed to privatisation
The trade unions have isolated victimised CEB workers, further exposing them to management’s bullying actions and opening the way for the government’s privatisation and cost-cutting agenda.
Sri Lankan students and lecturers speak out about deteriorating conditions
Students face increased expenses for meals, books and stationery, higher charges for transport and electricity, and inadequate bursaries to live on.
“Unprecedented” growth of US debt could bring market shock
The Congressional Budget Office director has warned the US could face a Liz Truss style financial crisis.
Wall Street hits record high on the back of Fed decision
According to “dot plot” projections by members of the Fed’s governing body, interest rates will drop 0.75 percentage points by the end of the year.
US financial regulators concerned about another crisis
Fearing that the much vaunted “resilience and stability” of the banking and financial system could be undermined at any point regulators are working to put in place measures to prevent such an occurrence.
Surge in gold and bitcoin prices points to concerns over stability of US dollar
Amid a developing global slump there is a growing financial bubble that increasingly resembles that which preceded the crisis of 2008.
Media blackout of “suicide” of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett continues as company CEO David Calhoun steps down
The numerous incidents on Boeing aircraft in the past three months reflect the drive of the company’s executives to maximize profits for stockholders to the detriment of safety on its fleet of commercial airliners.
Top Boeing executives announce early retirements as questions over whistleblower “suicide” remain unanswered
Decades of prioritizing profit over safety and quality have provoked a massive crisis within the former staple of American industrial power.
Massive budget cuts and layoffs announced for K-12 will devastate school districts across the US
School districts across the US face an unprecedented fiscal cliff for the approaching 2024-2025 school year.
Educators block budget-cutting measure at Wayne-Westland school board meeting in Detroit area
Anger erupted at a local school board meeting last week when teachers, school bus drivers and other educational staff challenged the board’s plans to slash jobs and impose deep budget cuts.
Neo-Confederate Texas state law remains at center of attacks on migrants
Texas is openly defying federal constitutional authority to an extent without precedent since the civil rights struggles that resulted in the end of Jim Crow apartheid and school segregation.
Democratic Party escalates efforts to block third parties from US presidential ballot
On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that the Democratic Party has assembled a “new team of lawyers” tasked with blocking third-party candidates from appearing on the ballot.
Top Trump aide and coup plotter, Peter Navarro, begins four-month sentence
Navarro was sentenced to four months in prison last year for failing to comply with a subpoena issued by the now-defunct January 6 House Select Committee.
Trump hails January 6 “hostages,” says migrants are not people, threatens “bloodbath” if he is not returned to the White House
As Trump escalated his violent rhetoric and defense of his January 6 foot soldiers at an Ohio rally, Biden attended a $400-a-plate dinner in Washington D.C.
Zelensky government intensifies shelling of Russia’s Belgorod region in wake of Moscow terror attack
As the crisis of the Ukrainian military on the front has deepened, Kiev has intensified its attacks on Russian territories.
Terrorist attack in Moscow: The Ukrainian trail
If ISIS or one of its offshoots actually committed the attack in Moscow, this does not speak against but for the complicity of Ukraine and NATO.
Pro-NATO media doubles down on propaganda narrative about Moscow terror attack
As with all imperialist war propaganda over the war in Ukraine, the narrative spouted by the New York Times and the Financial Times relies on a complete obfuscation and distortion of facts and context.
Spain’s PSOE-Sumar government steps up anti-Russia war propaganda
Spanish officials took their distances with Macron’s call to send European ground troops to Ukraine, but only to state that NATO powers should use less provocative language to promote the war policy.
As 8th wave of mass infection finally recedes
Over 1,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 each week since August 26
In total, the CDC estimates that there have been roughly 1,185,000 COVID-19 deaths in the US, but reliable estimates of excess deaths attributable to the pandemic place the real figure at over 1.4 million.
On the eve of Long COVID protest: An interview with Julie Lam, photographer and founder of MaskTogetherAmerica
Scheduled to address the March 15 protest by Long COVID patients at the Lincoln Memorial, Julie Lam speaks with the WSWS.
Brazil’s anti-COVID activists denounce Lula government’s “forever COVID” policy
In the midst of a new wave of the pandemic in Brazil, the WSWS spoke to four anti-COVID activists who have been denouncing on social media a number of aspects of the Workers Party government's criminal negligence in response to the pandemic.
US ends free rapid antigen tests as CDC sabotages the fight against COVID
With the announcement of CDC’s policy shift towards COVID, the White House has suspended the program that provided free rapid antigen tests to Americans.
Argentine President Milei defends fascist-military junta on anniversary of 1976 coup
The ruling class is desperately seeking to undermine democratic consciousness and popular opposition to the military in order to prepare a return to dictatorial forms of rule.
Latin America faces unprecedented dengue outbreak
An outbreak of dengue fever has hit Latin America and is expected to make 2024 the year with the highest number of cases and deaths in the region’s history.
Pseudo-left Workers’ Cause Party (PCO) denounces WSWS for exposing fascist coup attempt in Brazil
The article consists of a miserable attempt to deny the established fact that former president Bolsonaro and the Brazilian military top brass actively prepared a fascist coup d’état.
With mass auto investments in Brazil and Argentina, capitalism recognizes the “Pink Tide’s” Lula and fascist Milei as loyal servants
The fact that the transnational corporations see the policies of the fascist Milei and the PT’s Lula as alternate means of securing their interests shows that the “Pink Tide” poses no real alternative to the turn toward dictatorship in Latin America.
Niger’s junta cancels military agreement with the United States
The decision followed a provocative, unannounced meeting by US officials to the Nigerien capital, Niamey, to demand that they cut off ties with Russia and Iran.
170 killed in Burkina Faso massacre as French-Russian rivalry grows in Sahel
Burkina Faso, a former French colony, was plunged into bloody internal fighting by French imperialism’s 2013-2021 war in neighboring Mali.
At Washington’s behest, Kenyan President Ruto moves ahead with police deployment to Haiti
While cast as a response to the desperate plight of the Haitian people amid massive gang violence, the true aim of the planned Multinational Security Support intervention is to uphold US, Canadian and French imperialist interests and domination over the Caribbean.
Protests erupt across Senegal as President Sall cancels elections
The Constitutional Council voided Sall’s cancellation of the election last night, after protests erupted across Senegal in defiance of mass arrests launched by Sall.
Liz French on the 40th Anniversary of the British Miners’ Strike: “We were betrayed by the TUC and Labour Party.”
The WSWS spoke with Liz French from Betteshanger, a former pit village in the Kent coalfield in south-east England. Liz was a founding member of the National Women Against Pit Closures during the 1984-85 Miner’s Strike. Among the 200 miners imprisoned during the 1984-85 strike, Liz’s late husband Terry received one of the longest prison sentences of five years.
India’s 1983 Nellie communal massacre in historical perspective
The Nellie massacre—in which India’s now governing party, the Hindu supremacist BJP, played a major role—was the outcome of a campaign of communal incitement targeting “illegal foreigners,” that is highly impoverished refugees and migrants from Bangladesh.
This week in history: March 25-31
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.
Forty years since the British miners’ strike
The strike’s fortieth anniversary takes place amid a resurgence of the class struggle not just in Britain but internationally.
Climate change report predicts devastating worldwide impacts
“With a few exceptions, increasing warming leads to greater exposure to drought, fluvial and coastal flooding, and greater declines in biodiversity and crop yields.”
Genetic makeup of modern Europeans derived through ancient migrations from Asia
The studies provide further confirmation that modern populations are the result of a complex mixing of migrants of varying origins and cultures that have nothing to do with the pseudo-concept of “race."
Average global surface temperatures rose to more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels in 2023
Every year, millions are temporarily or permanently displaced and tens of thousands die from the impacts of climate change, none of which has ever been seriously addressed by capitalist governments.
Latest privately-owned Moon mission ends abruptly after botched landing
The failure of the Odysseus lander, built and launched by Intuitive Machines, is a further demonstration that the exploration of outer space is incompatible with the profit motive.
January 21 marked 100 years since the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924. This page includes a collection of essays reviewing the life and ideas of the great Marxist theoretician, founder of the Bolshevik Party, and co-leader of the Russian Revolution.
UK ramps up tensions with China, in alliance with the US
Five national newspapers led their front pages Tuesday with the anti-China message and three of them—the Telegraph, the Times and Mail—demanded the government go much further against China.
At least 60 dead, 145 wounded, in Moscow terrorist attack
Regardless of the immediate culprit of Friday's terrorist attack, it is clear that it took place in a context of an expanding and escalating war against Russia by the imperialist powers.
Greek government enacts private university laws, facing down mass protests with police repression
Greece’s ruling elite, with many ties to those in power during the junta era, wants to quell an area of society that has long been a bastion of left-wing ideology and activity.
Sunak UK government oversees “catastrophic” teacher shortage and education funding crisis
Teacher numbers in the UK are showing no signs of improving as recruitment and retention of teachers continue to fall due to the pressures of the profession.
Stellantis fires 400 white-collar workers during mandatory remote workday
Stellantis is continuing its ruthless cost-cutting drive, slashing jobs as it offloads the cost of EV transition onto workers.
More details emerge exposing pro-corporate character of 2023 UAW contracts
On Friday Stellantis announced further cost-cutting, stating that 400 US salaried employees in engineering, technology and software will be terminated as of March 31, about 2 percent of its salaried workforce.
Anger explodes as Stellantis terminates hundreds more temp workers at Toledo and Detroit Jeep factories
The firing of 1,000 more supplemental workers this weekend by Stellantis has sparked an upsurge of rank-and-file anger.
UAW reaches deal with Ford, calls off bogus strike threat at Ford Kentucky Truck Plant
As anger simmers among plant workers over the 2023 contract betrayal the UAW local at KTP is attempting a militant pose by talk of a strike Thursday.
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.
Erkan Baş’s local election campaign shows the TİP’s orientation towards the bourgeoisie and trade union bureaucracy
The entire electoral campaign of the TİP is based on unprincipled horse-trading for seats with the Kemalist CHP, the Kurdish nationalist DEM Party and various pseudo-left parties, and serves to politically disarm the working class and youth.
United Nations human rights experts oppose UK decision to make Shamima Begum stateless
Following a Court of Appeal decision to back the Conservative government’s stripping of Shamima Begum’s citizenship, human rights experts appointed by the United Nations called on the UK to allow her to come home from a refugee camp in Syria.
Thousands of textile workers strike at Egypt's largest industrial plant in Mahalla al-Kubra
While the imperialist powers and their Arab stooge regimes in the region support Israel's genocide against the Palestinians, resistance is growing among the working class.
Australian government expands military involvement in US-led attacks on Yemen
While the increase is small, the decision signals the Labor government’s unalloyed political commitment to US war plans in the Middle East and its full support for the Israeli regime’s genocide in Gaza.
IYSSE holds first meeting at Otago University in New Zealand
The meeting in Dunedin last Thursday was held to establish the International Youth and Students for Social Equality as a student club at Otago, and to discuss the socialist strategy to fight against war and the genocide in Gaza.
Australian IYSSE wins support at universities for its opposition to the Gaza genocide
“What’s happening in Gaza is so hard and so sad, because many people and many kids are getting killed. We have to stop these things, we have to stand with the people of Gaza.”
Build the IYSSE!
Capitalism leads to genocide and war—youth and students must fight for world socialism!
The fact that genocide has been adopted as policy by all the major capitalist powers is a warning. Gaza is the test case, the imperialist powers are making clear that there are no “red lines” they will not cross in their struggle to sustain their hegemonic rule.
Former IDF soldiers attack pro-Palestinian student protesters at Columbia University
During a pro-Palestinian student and faculty protest at Columbia University, two Zionists who had served in the IDF sprayed students with an irritant resembling an Israeli chemical weapon called “Skunk.”
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.
Remarks by David North at the conclusion of the international memorial meeting for Helen Halyard
We are publishing here the summation given by David North to the memorial meeting for Comrade Helen Halyard held on December 3.
“Building the world party was Helen’s goal in life, to which she made an indelible contribution”
We are publishing here the tribute to Helen Halyard written by Patrick Martin, a member of the US editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site and a member of the Workers League and Socialist Equality Party for 52 years, and Esther Galen, a member of the Workers League and Socialist Equality Party for 53 years.
Tribute to Helen: Beverly Lozano, a supporter from California
A tribute to Helen Halyard written by Beverly Lozano, a supporter of the WSWS.
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.
Report to Sri Lanka meetings
Imperialism, the genocide in Gaza, and the world struggle for socialism
Socialist Equality Party (US) National Secretary Joseph Kishore delivered the following report to a meeting titled “Leon Trotsky and the Struggle for Socialism in the 21st Century” in Colombo on December 10.
University of Michigan IYSSE protests attack by pro-government thugs on Sri Lankan SEP members
We are publishing here a letter being sent by the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) at the University of Michigan condemning the violent attack on two members of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Sri Lanka by pro-government thugs.
Magistrate court hearing on violent assault on Sri Lankan SEP members
While police have visited the crime scene and recorded witness statements they requested more time to obtain hospital medical reports.
Academics denounce pro-government thug attack on Sri Lankan SEP members
The SEP is calling on all those who are concerned to defend democratic rights of freedom of expression to register their opposition by sending protest letters to the relevant authorities.
Wisconsin documents reveal details of strategy behind Donald Trump’s 2020 fake elector scheme
A trove of court documents released on Monday show Wisconsin attorney Kenneth Chesebro and former judge Jim Troupis were instrumental in formulating the strategy of Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 elections through court cases that generated “a cloud of confusion” combined with the appointment of “alternative” electors in seven key states.
Appellate court rejects Trump’s claim that he cannot be prosecuted for seeking to overthrow the 2020 election
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled against Donald Trump's assertion of absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for seeking to overthrow the 2020 election.
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.
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.
Put a socialist, anti-war party on the ballot! Join the SEP (Australia) as an electoral member today!
Socialist Equality Party assistant national secretary Max Boddy calls on workers and young people in Australia to sign up as an SEP electoral member.
Sri Lankan SEP meeting to launch two books on the Sinhala chauvinist JVP
The JVP’s rightward evolution is not an isolated, national phenomenon but an expression of the transformation internationally of similar organisations into pro-imperialist outfits.
Comrade Halil Çelik: An inspiration for workers and youth internationally
This is the tribute given by Peter Symonds to Halil Çelik, founder and leader of the Sosyalist Eşitlik Grubu, who died suddenly at the age of 57 on December 31, 2018. The tribute was read at a memorial meeting on the fifth anniversary of Halil’s death.
Comrade Halil Çelik blazed the socialist-internationalist path the workers of Turkey must follow
This is the tribute given by Keith Jones to Halil Çelik, founder and leader of the Sosyalist Eşitlik Grubu, who died suddenly at the age of 57 on December 31, 2018. The tribute was read at a memorial meeting on the fifth anniversary of Halil’s death.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Best American Short Stories 2023: A step backward
Perhaps half the pieces are coming-of-age stories, that lyrical standby now usually written in a gritty but still rhapsodic voice.
Killing for Country: A Family History—a harrowing but distorted view of the massacres of Australian Aboriginal people
David Marr’s Killing for Country documents many mass killings of indigenous people but falsely blames the entire population, not the ruling class and Australian capitalism.
DOC NYC Film Festival 2023: Part 3
How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer: A documentary approaches the American novelist with sympathy, but not enough scrutiny
The documentary follows the writer from his boyhood in the 1930s through his service during World War II and throughout his tumultuous literary, journalistic and personal life.
A comment on the life and death of Czech-French novelist Milan Kundera (1929-2023)
No doubt Kundera bore responsibility for his own art, his own development and his own mistakes. However, the greater, deeper blame for his unhappy trajectory and fate lies above all with Stalinism.
The Baltimore bridge disaster: A product of profit-driven cost-cutting
The collision between the container ship and the bridge has also exposed the collision between private profit and the needs of a modern society, which has at its disposal the technical and economic resources to prevent such disasters.
UK High Court puts Assange on the brink of extradition to the United States
The essential task posed before Assange’s supporters is to link his defence to the mass movement emerging in opposition to these crimes. The same eruption of militarism and aggression fuelling the persecution of Assange is producing a mass radicalisation among workers and young people.
Biden’s budget for world war
The United States will spend more on the military than the next 11 countries combined.
Instant denials of Ukrainian intelligence involvement in Russian terror attack are not credible
The principal mouthpieces of US imperialism, the New York Times and the Washington Post, have initiated a campaign to deny the all but obvious involvement of the US and Ukraine in this attack.
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.
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.
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.
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.