On Saturday, May 4, the International Committee of the Fourth International will hold an online rally to celebrate May Day. This year's rally is of exceptional importance.
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Biden’s campus crackdown—the Democratic Party bares its fangs, again
What the Biden administration is and what it is prepared to do arises from the class interests the Democratic Party represents--and from its entire history
The adopted motion stated that the Berlin Senate’s draft law "stands in the tradition of the expulsion of politically unwelcome students" and aims to criminalise "legitimate democratic protest culture at universities."
Weingarten, a member of the Democratic National Committee with close ties to the Clintons, “Genocide Joe” Biden and other war criminals, personifies the role of the AFL-CIO bureaucracy as a mouthpiece for US imperialism abroad and austerity at home.
One hour before the midnight April 26 contract deadline for 7,300 Daimler Truck workers a, the UAW apparatus headed by President Shawn Fain announced a supposedly historic deal, in reality a sellout.
Over a year after the UAW rammed through a sell-out contract, ending a nearly nine-month-long strike by CNH workers, the company seeks to slash its Mount Pleasant factory from 660 workers to 170.
An Arizona grand jury indicted 18 individuals, including seven top advisers and 11 fake electors, for the attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential elections. Donald Trump is not named and listed as an unindicted coconspirator.
Trotsky’s political analysis and revolutionary struggle for socialist internationalism against imperialist war, Stalinism and fascism must be studied and assimilated by all those opposed to capitalist barbarism.
The top 1 percent of India’s population gorged on 22.6 percent of national income and 40.1 percent of national wealth in 2022-23.
Today’s Australian splashed over its front page “exclusive” stories demonising arrested Islamic boys, apparently based on prejudicial leaked police information.
The Green politician knows what he's talking about. The last time there was a defence industry minister was under Hitler.
The hush money trial of Donald Trump and the crisis of class rule in America
The opening of the trial marks a new stage in an intense crisis at the highest levels of the American state that has been building for 50 years. This August will mark the 50th anniversary of the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974 as a result of the crisis stemming from his campaign’s break-in at the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.
Trump “hush money” trial begins—A political diversion
The fascist ex-president is being tried, not for his real crimes against democracy, but for an alleged campaign finance violation related to his personal conduct.
An election for the billionaires
The real decision-makers in American capitalism are the hedge fund bosses, bankers and corporate moguls whose financial backing and political influence will largely determine the outcome of the 2024 election.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the 2024 US elections
What accounts for the silence of all the capitalist and middle class parties on this world historic event that has impacted every human being and profoundly altered global society?
This lecture was given by World Socialist Web Site International Editorial Board Chairman David North at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Tuesday, March 12.
Socialist internationalism and the struggle against Zionism and imperialism
This lecture provides a political and historical analysis of the genocidal war now being conducted by the Zionist regime in Israel against the Palestinians. It explains the relationship between the contemporary struggle against imperialism and the international socialist program of the Left Opposition, founded by Leon Trotsky 100 years ago in October 1923.
Biden signs bipartisan bill for world war
The bill signed into law Wednesday by Biden provides a combined $95 billion in additional war spending in Ukraine against Russia, in Israel and against China.
Labor Notes’ 2024 conference stumps for world war, pro-genocide Democrats
The event ws a major effort to promote the union apparatus, which functions as a central pillar of class rule.
The bipartisan politics of imperialism: Democratic liberals and Republican fascists unite in funding Gaza genocide and Ukraine proxy war
The Democrats and Republicans approved massive additional funding for war against Russia in Ukraine, for Israeli genocide in Gaza, and for the US-led war buildup against China over Taiwan.
PEN America cancels World Voices Festival, literary awards ceremony due to protests over its conduct on Gaza
PEN America has canceled its annual festival, as well as its literary awards, after scores of authors withdrew from both programs to protest its acquiescence to the Gaza genocide.
Republican House Speaker Johnson stages provocation at Columbia University, demands repression of protests
Speaker Mike Johnson and fellow far-right Republicans visited Columbia University and demanded the resignation of university President Shafik and the shuttering of a student encampment.
Mobilize workers against the French police state’s ban on opposition to the Gaza genocide!
The Parti de l’égalité socialiste condemns police prosecutions of union officials and members of the France Unbowed party over their statements in solidarity with Gaza.
ACTU statement calls for end to military trade with Israel, but Australian unions are taking no action
The peak union body statement is an exercise in political damage control, aimed at covering over the fact that Australia’s unions continue to prevent any action by workers against the Zionist genocide.
Israel escalates war with Lebanon, plans Rafah invasion, as Nasser hospital atrocity details emerge
An official Israel Defense Forces statement explained that the strikes on Lebanon were not carried out in response to any specific attack but as “part of the effort to destroy [Hezbollah’s] infrastructure in the border area.”
Israel constructs tent camps to hold Gazans displaced by imminent Rafah onslaught
The camps are part of far-reaching plans for an assault on the southernmost city of Gaza, where more than half the population has fled for shelter.
Number of bodies found in Palestinian hospital mass graves rises to 310 as Israel prepares assault on Rafah
The horrific discovery over the past 72 hours provides further evidence of Israel’s imperialist-backed genocide against the Palestinians, which is set to escalate imminently due to the looming assault on the more than 1.5 million Palestinians struggling to survive in Rafah.
Nearly 300 bodies discovered in mass graves at Gaza’s Nasser hospital
The dead include men, women and children, as well as people with clear indications of being medical patients. Some were discovered handcuffed, indicating that victims were killed in mass summary executions.
Ripley: A new series based on the Patricia Highsmith novel
The series is a slap in the face of contemporary cultural backwardness and degradation, and for that alone, writer/director Steven Zaillian deserves credit.
The Dmitriev Affair: A confused and confusing film about the historian of Stalin’s Great Terror
Yuri Dmitriev’s case is important but Gorter’s film is confused and superficial and serves to feed into the anti-Russian war propaganda of NATO.
New York City’s Koch Theater bows to right-wing pressure, cuts performance of Russian dancers at gala
In the banning of Russian dancer Maria Khoreva and Korean Kimin Kim, a right-wing mob has effectively been allowed to hijack proceedings of one of New York City’s premier cultural institutions on the basis of anti-Russian hysteria.
Weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez-Reed receives brutal sentence over 2021 Rust set death
In a crass display of class justice, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armorer (weapons handler) on the set of the film Rust, was handed the maximum allowable sentence, 18 months in prison.
Teamsters Local 952 keeps membership in the dark as Southern California bus drivers contract expires April 30
Teamsters Local 952 members are set to vote on a contract that they have no details on. Teamsters will inform membership of the details and rush a vote after.
Australia: Qenos collapse threatens hundreds of manufacturing jobs
Business analysts have warned that the demise of Qenos is a sign of things to come as other energy intensive industries cease operations in Australia, destroying thousands more jobs.
Near-tragic plant shooting at Dana Fort Wayne puts spotlight on abusive working conditions
The handling of the April 13 shooting incident at the plant highlights the broader disregard of both management and the United Steelworkers for the health and safety of workers.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
Bangladesh police open fire on protesting garment workers; Australia: Fraser Island Council workers protest for better pay and conditions; New Zealand doctors to strike after rejecting pay deal.
Brazilian federal education strikes expose broad attacks by Lula government
The financial markets have hailed the Lula government as its reactionary character has been exposed.
Over one million march in defense of Argentina’s universities as Milei brutally represses protests
Every day the harsh austerity measures being pursued by the government of fascistic President Javier Milei bring Argentina closer to all-out class war.
As AMLO cracks down on migrants, presidential candidates advocate their super-exploitation in Mexico
Cruelty and outright criminality against migrant workers in Mexico are driven by cold, profit-based calculations.
Latin America drawn into Middle East conflict amid warnings of “Third World War”
Latin America’s far-right regimes act as provocateurs, in direct coordination with the CIA, while supposedly anti-imperialist “pink tide” governments issue bankrupt appeals to the UN.
Higher for longer interest rates hit the global economy
Apart from the US, where there are mounting concerns over the levels of government debt, major industrial countries are in grip of a marked economic slowdown.
Rising gold price a sign of emerging financial crisis
The ever-increasing US debt, now on an unsustainable and “unprecedented” trajectory, is a key factor putting a question mark over the role of the dollar as the global currency.
IMF says US debt creating “significant risks” for the global economy
Money to pay the debt will not come from slowing economic growth but through deepening attacks on the working class.
“Something will have to give”—IMF warns of build-up of US debt
Over the next five years, global growth, which has been steadily falling since the 2008 financial crisis, will trend below the historical average.
The WHO updates its terminology for pathogens that transmit through the air
The World Health Organization published a consensus statement on airborne pathogens, finally aligning the WHO with scientists who presented evidence of this early in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, but with no guidance on what measures should now be taken on the pandemic.
UK virtually ends free vaccines as COVID-19 continues to spread
As the National Health Service launches its spring COVID-19 vaccination campaign, significantly fewer people will have access to a free jab and must pay for one or do without.
Global pandemic agreement undermined by corporate interests
The proposed agreement has been repeatedly watered down based on considerations of corporate profit and national interests.
Germany’s Coronavirus Commission of Enquiry aims to criminalise protective measures
After the federal and state governments lifted all coronavirus protection measures and allowed the virus to run free, proclaiming the myth of the “end of the pandemic,” they are now moving to criminalise the protective measures taken in the past.
Polish government steps up military indoctrination in schools
At a press conference, two Polish ministers made abundantly clear that the new school programme is not about imparting neutral knowledge about first aid and disaster control, but instead is aimed at creating a militaristic culture.
Fifty years since Portugal’s Carnation Revolution
The article presented below was published to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the Carnation Revolution. It explains how the Socialist Party and the Communist Party of Portugal, assisted by pseudo-left groups that served as appendages to the main labour bureaucracies, were responsible for its defeat.
UK Prime Minister Sunak pledges 2.5 percent GDP military spending to place economy on a “war footing”
Speaking in front of armoured vehicles and alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Warsaw, Poland, Sunak said the increase in military spending “is a turning point for European security and a landmark moment in the defence of the United Kingdom.”
Attend UK Postal Workers Rank-and File meeting Sunday: “They want Royal Mail on a par with Evri and Amazon”
We urge postal and logistics workers to attend the next online meeting of the PWRFC on April 28 at 7pm, “Oppose Royal Mail’s Assault on the USO! Defeat CWU’s Collusion."
Ukrainian government cancels consular services for military-age men
Facing a military debacle, the Ukrainian government is desperately trying to force more men into the carnage on behalf of imperialism.
German Economy Minister Habeck’s war visit to Kiev
The trip underlined two things in particular: the aggressiveness with which Germany is resorting once again to militarism and war 85 years after the start of the Second World War, and the central role played in this by the formerly pacifist Greens.
Ukrainian parliament expands conscription to dragoon young people to the front
The new mobilization law comes amidst a staggering loss of life and hints by Zelensky that NATO’s proxy forces in Ukraine are planning another “counteroffensive.”
Finland closes border with Russia indefinitely to block asylum seekers, prepare for war
The decision reflects both the Finnish ruling elite’s determination with US/NATO backing to ratchet up tensions with Russia and to clamp down on immigrants and refugees.
US Secretary of State Blinken in China with a bagful of demands and threats
While funnelling ever-more quantities of sophisticated arms to Ukraine, Washington is now demanding that China assist in crippling Russia’s industrial capacity and thus the Russian military.
In huge police raids, Australian teenagers arrested on vague “terrorism” charges
All the circumstances point to a politically-charged and timed police and intelligence operation, directly backed by of the Albanese Labor government.
Feminists demand terrorism designation of Bondi stabbings by mentally ill man
The line of the feminist commentators is profoundly reactionary, denying the responsibility of governments for the social and mental health crisis and promoting sweeping police powers.
Australia: Workers and youth in Melbourne explain why they support the SEP’s electoral member campaign
The SEP has received an important initial response, amid widespread hostility towards the major parties and an anti-war politicisation fuelled by outrage over the ongoing US- and Australian-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Supreme Court hearing on Trump immunity claim debates how far US president can go in committing crimes
Both the attorney for Trump and the Department of Justice representative agreed that the president must have broad immunity from prosecution for actions taken in his capacity as commander-in-chief.
New York appeals court overturns producer Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 conviction, orders new trial
The 2020 conviction of former film producer Harvey Weinstein was thrown out on Thursday by the New York Court of Appeals, which found that he had been denied the right to a fair trial.
US Senate quickly advances $95 billion global war package
On Tuesday, the Senate overwhelmingly voted to invoke cloture on the weapons packages for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as Russia-Iran economic sanctions and a TikTok ban. Biden has already promised to sign the legislation once it reaches his desk.
Senate passes TikTok ban, putting it on track for Biden's signature
The Senate moved a step closer to an official ban of the social media platform TikTok in the US, an attack on free speech and a major step in the preparations for war with China.
The SEP (Sri Lanka) launches party development fund to expand its political work
The SEP has announced an ambitious program to increase its membership, build the International Youth and Students for Social Equality and expand its political analysis for the World Socialist Web Site and its publication of Marxist literature in the Sinhala and Tamil languages.
ILO report reveals severe gender pay gap in Sri Lankan labour force
The pay gap between male and female workers is an integral part of the system of capitalist exploitation that ensures lucrative profits for investors.
Sri Lankan government announces unprecedented anti-democratic restrictions on election candidates
The measure is part of an escalating assault on democratic rights by the ruling classes in every country to block political opponents, particularly the Socialist Equality Party and independents, from contesting elections.
Sri Lankan trade unions seek alliance with opposition parties
Trade union leaders’ effort to block workers’ struggles and subordinate them to capitalist parties must be rejected. Workers can mobilise their industrial and political strength only by organising independently from capitalist parties and trade unions.
Ten years since the lead poisoning of Flint, Michigan water supply
Ten years after the disastrous switch of the city of 100,000's water supply it is more than apparent that this was a bipartisan crime in which the Obama Administration’s policies played a central role.
Right-wing Supreme Court majority seems ready to sanction arrest of homeless people for sleeping in public
In oral arguments on Monday, comments by the six justices who comprise the right-wing majority on the Supreme Court suggested they would overturn a lower court injunction that protects unhoused people in Grants Pass, Oregon from being arrested for sleeping in public.
Bodycam footage and lawsuits detail police killings of Texas men suffering mental health crises
Two men were killed one month apart in the fall of 2022, while a third man died in police custody under suspicious circumstances following a voluntary hospitalization for a mental health evaluation.
FBI opens criminal investigation into Baltimore bridge collapse
Following the collapse of a major bridge in Baltimore after being hit by a container ship, crew members aboard the MV Dali now risk potential criminal liability, even as the ship’s owners use 1851 maritime law to limit their responsibility.
Upcoming IYSSE (Australia) lecture: The fight of Trotskyism against the pseudo-left
The lecture by Nick Beams on April 28 will provide the political weapons required by young people and workers who want to take up the fight for a socialist and revolutionary perspective against the genocide and the broader eruption of militarism and war.
IYSSE meetings in Australia and New Zealand: The crisis of political perspective of the Gaza protests
We encourage youth, students and workers to attend the events which will provide the international socialist revolutionary program necessary to end the genocide of Palestinians by the Israeli state and its imperialist backers.
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.”
Biden administration issues “weasel words” assurances to secure Assange’s extradition
The US is seeking to prosecute Assange on charges under the Espionage Act which carry a de facto life sentence for publishing documents exposing war crimes and human rights abuses carried out by Washington and its imperialist allies.
SEP (Australia) forum in Melbourne demands freedom for Assange
The meeting unanimously passed a resolution condemning the US-led vendetta and demanding Assange’s immediate and unconditional freedom.
Australian Labor government complicit in Assange extradition threat
The Labor government is doing nothing to obstruct Assange’s looming extradition to the US, where he would face 175 years imprisonment for exposing war crimes.
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.
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.
This week in history: April 22-28
Rally for Mumia Abu-Jamal; Coup ousts fascistic dictatorship in Portugal ; Lausanne Conference on Israel-Palestine; German leader backs Dawes Plan
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: April 15-21
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.
Fire disaster in Istanbul kills 29 workers
This fire disaster is an indictment of the entire ruling elite, including business owners and officials.
Mass protests erupt in Turkey after election of Kurdish mayor annulled
The dismissal of Van’s elected Kurdish nationalist mayor in local elections, in which Erdoğan’s AKP suffered a heavy defeat, triggered mass protests.
Erdoğan’s AKP suffers setback in Turkish local elections as CHP comes first
In elections dominated by the cost-of-living crisis and held amidst the genocide in Gaza and NATO's escalating war against Russia, the ruling party suffered a significant defeat.
Turkey: TİP’s Hatay candidacy crisis underscores bankruptcy of the pseudo-left’s orientation to the bourgeoisie
The scandal is fundamentally the product of the TİP’s unprincipled collaboration with the CHP, a pro-NATO, right-wing bourgeois party.
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.
Dangerous heatwaves in West Africa exacerbated by climate change
A World Weather Attribution study shows that climate change has sharply increased both the severity and frequency of extraordinary heat events in Africa’s Guinea region.
Sudan’s “forgotten war” leads to epic suffering and regional instability
Sudan faces famine, displacement, economic breakdown and an almost total absence of international aid. The government, virtually bankrupt, barely functions.
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.
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.
Human-to-human transmission with a novel Mpox virus identified in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
The recent outbreak of a novel Mpox (formerly called monkeypox) virus, showing sustained transmission between humans with the deadlier clade I lineage, poses a public health to the DRC, the region and the globe.
Scientific—and social—dimensions of the 2024 total solar eclipse
The second total eclipse across North America in seven years has drawn the interest of millions across the continent.
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."
In the aftermath of mass layoffs
Ford Rouge worker dies on the assembly line
An autoworker died after suffering a medical emergency after waiting a half hour for medical help at the Ford Rouge complex outside Detroit.
More Stellantis layoffs at Sterling Heights and Mack Avenue Assembly in Detroit, forced overtime announced in Toledo
Stellantis laid off 199 workers Monday at Sterling Heights Assenbly and another 57 at the Mack plant in Detroit as it continues its brutal program of job cuts in the wake of the 2023 contract.
UAW President Fain dines with billionaires, warmongers at White House reception for Japanese PM
Fain’s attendance expressed the fact that the union bureaucracy is joining hands with imperialism for World War III.
Financial assets of UAW rose in 2023 as bureaucracy pushed through sellout contracts
UAW net assets topped $1.13 billion even as membership fell to the lowest level since 2009.
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.
Ghassan Zeineddine’s Dearborn: Short stories about Arab-American life
Zeineddine’s stories concern immigrants who escaped the civil war in Lebanon (1975-90) and their children, who are negotiating their own escapes.
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.
Biden’s campus crackdown—the Democratic Party bares its fangs, again
What the Biden administration is and what it is prepared to do arises from the class interests the Democratic Party represents--and from its entire history
May Day 2024: Build a socialist movement of workers and youth to stop World War III, fascism and dictatorship!
On Saturday, May 4, the International Committee of the Fourth International will hold an online rally to celebrate May Day. This year's rally is of exceptional importance.
Biden signs bipartisan bill for world war
The bill signed into law Wednesday by Biden provides a combined $95 billion in additional war spending in Ukraine against Russia, in Israel and against China.
Biden launches police state crackdown at US universities
The Biden administration, in alliance with the fascist-led Republican Party, is criminalizing political opposition to the Gaza genocide, the greatest war crime of the 21st century.
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.
New Zealand: Court action continues over Pike River mine disaster
Families of some of the 29 workers killed in the 2010 coal mine disaster are continuing their fight for answers about why authorities dropped charges against Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall over the extremely dangerous conditions in the mine.
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.
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.