World Socialist Web Site

History of the Fourth International

David North addresses press conference in Sri Lanka

By David North, 2 October 2018

These remarks were delivered by David North, chairman of the WSWS International Editorial Board, at a press briefing in Colombo on October 1.

Sri Lankan students discuss upcoming anniversary meetings on the history of the Trotskyist movement

By our reporters, 2 October 2018

University students in Kandy and Colombo outline their financial difficulties, concerns about unemployment and voice support for David North’s forthcoming lectures.

David North warmly welcomed on his arrival in Sri Lanka

28 September 2018

80th anniversary of the Fourth International and 50th anniversary of the SEP (Sri Lanka)
David North to address meetings in Sri Lanka on the lessons of the history and contemporary struggle for socialism

The 50th anniversary of the founding of the SEP (Sri Lanka)
The lessons of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party’s Great Betrayal

By Rohantha De Silva and Vilani Peiris, 24 September 2018

This series of articles published by the Socialist Equality Party in Sri Lanka marks the fiftieth anniversary of its foundation in June 1968.

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE

David North, the chairperson of the international editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site, will be speaking in the United States this fall to mark the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Fourth International.

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

By David North, 3 September 2018

Historic discovery of Left Opposition manuscripts from the early 1930s

SEP 2018 Election Campaign

Niles Niemuth brings Socialist Equality Party congressional campaign to US Steel workers in suburban Detroit

By our reporter, 2 October 2018

Niles addressed the issues confronting steelworkers, who have not had pay raises in years and face constant speedup and dangerous work conditions.

Mobilize the working class to defend nurses and secure the right to health care!

By Niles Niemuth, 2 October 2018

The interests of nurses cannot be separated from the fight to ensure the social right to health care through the abolition of the for-profit health care system.

Victors Care brings class-based medical care to University of Michigan hospital

“Genuine socialists are fighting to put the working class in control”

Socialist Equality Party congressional candidate Niles Niemuth answered questions from commenters at this live online event on September 29. Follow Niles on Facebook now to participate in upcoming live events.

Campaign meeting with Niles Niemuth brings socialism to Wyandotte, Michigan

Oppose Michigan National Guard deployment against operating engineers!

Campaign events for Socialist Equality Party candidate Niles Niemuth
Socialism: What it is and how to fight for it

18 September 2018

Vote for Niles! Fight for Socialism!

Niles Niemuth, the Socialist Equality Party's candidate for US congress, is fighting for genuine revolutionary socialism for workers and youth in Michigan's 12th district and all around the world. Find out more at Niles2018.com

Share this video widely: Facebook, Twitter, Youtube

Socialist Equality Party campaign for Michigan’s 12th congressional district website

16 August 2018

Visit our website to find out how you can get involved in Niles Niemuth’s campaign against war, inequality and dictatorship, and for the socialist transformation of society.

Workers Struggles

Protest march on October 2 in the Netherlands
The fight against public sector cutbacks requires a socialist perspective

By the European Editorial Board of the WSWS, 2 October 2018

The World Socialist Web Site supports today's march in The Hague, in which thousands employed in the public sector, health and above all education will participate.

Vote “yes” on resolution to force out Royal College of Nursing leadership! Build rank-and-file committees!

By NHS FightBack, 28 September 2018

Costa Rican public workers’ strike enters its fourth week
Workers Struggles: The Americas

2 October 2018

The striking workers are resisting government austerity measures in the teeth of savage state repression.

“The union is not for all of us”
Indianapolis Allison Transmission workers face stonewalling by UAW over contract terms, pensions

By George Kirby and Shannon Jones, 29 September 2018

UAW corruption scandal widens as US workers press for wage increases

“Collectively we are powerful beyond measure”
Kokomo Chrysler workers press for strike action

More on autoworkers struggles »

Joint strike by Ryanair pilots and cabin crew hits six European countries

By our correspondents, 30 September 2018

Argentina’s Macri responds to fourth general strike with yet another IMF package

By Andrea Lobo, 28 September 2018

As Teamsters pushes for “yes” vote on concessions contract
UPS unveils $1 billion cost-cutting “transformation plan”

By Will Morrow, 15 September 2018

What is the Teamsters for a Democratic Union?

More on the struggle at UPS »

Commentary

Hundreds of thousands demand strike action in the US

By Jerry White, 1 October 2018

Democrats, media press Kavanaugh sexual assault campaign

By Patrick Martin, 1 October 2018

The Kavanaugh hearing: A spectacle of political filth and reaction

Kavanaugh’s nomination, Cosby’s sentencing: News media pornography and the enraged middle class

More on US politics »

Julian Assange appoints new WikiLeaks’ editor-in-chief

By Patrick O’Connor, 1 October 2018

Macron whitewashes French state murder of Maurice Audin

By Francis Dubois and Alex Lantier, 1 October 2018

“History never teaches anyone anything”
Russian neo-Stalinist defends Partido Obrero’s “refounding” of Fourth International

By Bill Van Auken, 24 September 2018

WSWS demands Turkey release Max Zirngast, Hatice Göz and Mithatcan Türetken

Release the framed-up Istanbul airport workers!
No to pressure and intimidation against the working class!

The New York Times promotes the Democratic Socialists of America

The Growth of the Extreme Right in Europe

The neo-Nazi offensive in Germany and the role of historians

By Christoph Vandreier, 27 September 2018

German grand coalition backs secret service head who defended neo-Nazis

The fight against fascism in Germany requires a socialist perspective

“A whiff of 1933”
Sharp rise in far-right attacks in Germany

More on the growth of the extreme right in Europe »

Arts Review

Toronto International Film Festival 2018: Part 2
Capernaum, Screwdriver, Rosie, The Public and Black 47: Socially critical films from the Middle East, Ireland and the US

By Joanne Laurier, 1 October 2018

Toronto International Film Festival 2018: Part 1
An intriguing film festival—above all, Mike Leigh’s Peterloo

Toronto International Film Festival 2018
An interview with Mike Leigh, director of Peterloo: “You don’t run out of steam if what you do … is to literally hold the mirror up to nature”

Why is HBO’s Game of Thrones so popular?

There was far more to Leonard Bernstein than mere charisma

Public meetings in Australia

Nick Beams to lecture at Australian universities on the contemporary significance of Karl Marx

The lectures will make clear that Marx’s theoretical breakthroughs were inextricably linked to his political work as a revolutionary determined to arm the emerging working class with a program that advanced its independent interests.

IYSSE

After Parkland: The militarization of high schools in the US

By Alex Johnson, 29 September 2018

US spy agencies come to Northern Virginia Community College

By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality at NOVA, 25 September 2018

Join the International Youth and Students for Social Equality and take up the fight for socialism!

By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (US), 31 August 2018

Growing support for socialism among students across the US

History

Vadim Rogovin and the sociology of Stalinism

By Andrea Peters, 25 September 2018

September 18 marked the 20th anniversary of the death of Soviet Marxist historian and sociologist Vadim Rogovin, the author of a seven-volume series on Stalinism and the Marxist opposition to the Soviet bureaucracy.

Twenty years since the death of Marxist historian and sociologist Vadim Rogovin

By David North, 18 September 2018

Socialist Equality Party

Socialist Equality Party (UK) Public Meetings:
The fight to drive out the right-wing from the Labour Party and the struggle for socialism

27 September 2018

The Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality are holding a series of meetings explaining the political issues posed by the campaign against Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn by the Blairite right in alliance with the Tory government and intelligence agencies. The meetings will discuss the call by the SEP for Labour members and supporters to drive out the right-wing and why Corbyn is opposed to this elementary task.

Science

Japanese space agency lands two rovers on surface of asteroid

By Bryan Dyne, 26 September 2018

Although an asteroid was first landed on in 2001, the Japanese Hayabusa2 mission is the first to successfully deploy rovers on the surface of one.

Book review

Dopesick by Beth Macy
Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America

By Gary Joad, 25 September 2018

Author Beth Macy paints a searing and heartbreaking portrait of the Appalachian victims of the current opioid epidemic in the United States.

Adam Tooze’s Crashed: The limitations of a Left-liberal historian

By Nick Beams, 22 September 2018

The historian Adam Tooze has published a detailed account of the origins and development of the global financial crisis of 2008 and its aftermath.

International Amazon Workers Voice

“I’ve been wanting to speak up for a long time. I have nothing to lose”
Another homeless grandmother details nightmarish aftermath of Amazon workplace injury

By Eric London, 21 September 2018

“Amazon thinks I’m a piece of trash on the ground and they’ll walk all over me”
Amazon Nightmare: Grandmother injured on the job goes homeless, suffers pneumonia

By Eric London and Zac Corrigan, 3 September 2018

Injured Amazon worker Angela: “If workers controlled Bezos’ billions, nobody would be homeless”

The International Amazon Workers Voice (IAWV) spoke to Angela Shelton, an injured worker at the DFW7 Amazon fulfillment center in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, where a number of injured workers have recently been made homeless.

Life under capitalism for an American youth
Injured Texas Wal-Mart worker describes how and why she switched to socialism

By Eric London, 5 September 2018

More on Amazon »

Mehring Books

Mehring Books UK publishes The Heritage We Defend 30th anniversary edition

15 September 2018

The new edition of the foundational 1988 work by David North, chairman of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site, is now available for order in the UK and Ireland.

Preface to the thirtieth anniversary edition of The Heritage We Defend

By David North, 21 June 2018

We are posting the new preface written by David North for the soon to be released thirtieth anniversary edition of The Heritage We Defend: A Contribution to the History of the Fourth International.

International Committee of the Fourth International

Resolution of the SEP (US) Fifth National Congress
The Resurgence of Class Struggle and the Tasks of the Socialist Equality Party

8 August 2018

This resolution was unanimously adopted by the Socialist Equality Party Congress, held from July 22–27, 2018.

Opening report to the Fifth National Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US)

By David North, 4 August 2018

Support the Socialist Equality group in Turkey!
Statement of the SE group, in sympathy with the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), on the snap elections in Turkey

Security and the Fourth International

An “Exemplary Comrade”: The Socialist Workers Party’s 40-year-long cover-up of Stalinist spy Sylvia Callen: Part one

By Eric London, 14 August 2018

This is the first part in a four-part series examining the cover-up by the Socialist Workers Party beginning in 1947 of information exposing the role of Sylvia Callen, the personal secretary of long-time party leader James P. Cannon, as a Stalinist agent.

Part two | Part three | Part four

Seventy-eight years since the assassination of Leon Trotsky

By Eric London and David North, 21 August 2018

On August 21, 1940, Leon Trotsky, the founder of the Fourth International and the co-leader of the Russian Revolution, died from wounds inflicted the day before by an assassin, the Stalinist GPU agent Ramon Mercader.

Defend Julian Assange!

London: Ecuador embassy vigil marks six years since Julian Assange granted asylum

By Paul Mitchell, 18 August 2018

Christine Assange, mother of WikiLeaks editor: “I’ve not been able to speak to my son for four months”

By Richard Phillips, 24 July 2018

Mueller investigation seeks to implicate WikiLeaks and Julian Assange in “Russian interference”

Protest in London against Ecuadorian President Moreno’s persecution of Julian Assange

The Turnbull government must act to repatriate Australian citizen Julian Assange to Australia

Bringing Julian Assange Home

More on the campaign to free Julian Assange »

WSWS 20th Anniversary

Twenty years of the World Socialist Web Site: 1998–2018

By David North and Joseph Kishore, 14 February 2018

As the WSWS marks its 20th anniversary of daily posting, it is taking the lead in exposing the conspiracy by governments and corporations to censor the Internet as the ruling class prepares for war and domestic repression.

Lenin, Trotsky and the Marxism of the October Revolution

By David North, 19 March 2018

David North, chairperson of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site and of the Socialist Equality Party (US), delivered this lecture at the University of Leipzig on March 16.