28 May 2012

IMF chief: It’s “payback time” for Greek workers

By Stefan Steinberg, 28 May 2012

In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde vented her class hatred for the workers of Greece, denouncing them as tax scofflaws and ruling out any respite from the austerity measures that have devastated the country.

NATO air strike kills Afghan family of eight

By Patrick Martin, 28 May 2012

Six children are among those killed in the eastern Afghanistan province of Paktia.

US CEO pay continues to climb

By David Brown, 28 May 2012

Two recent studies on executive compensation show a marked increase in the pay of America's top business figures.

Germany: Lafontaine and the Left Party move to the right

By Ulrich Rippert, 28 May 2012

A bitter dispute has broken out in the leadership of the German Left Party.

French bourgeois “left” manipulates fight against Fralib factory closure

By Anthony Torres, 28 May 2012

The Hollande government is preparing to impose austerity and mass layoffs in June.

Mladic trial postponed indefinitely

By Paul Mitchell, 28 May 2012

Dutch judge Alphons Orie said the US-led prosecution’s failure to disclose some 37,000 documents to the defence would lead to a delay in the trial, which is already predicted to last several years.

Israel’s ruling Likud party incites racist attacks on migrants

By Jean Shaoul, 28 May 2012

Racist attacks injured dozens of asylum seekers following a rally where leading members of the ruling Likud party made inflammatory remarks against African migrants.

Sri Lankan president’s salute to militarism

By Wije Dias, 28 May 2012

This year’s “victory” parade only underscored the degree to which his government rests on the country’s huge military apparatus.

Ten years on, the myths of East Timor independence stand exposed

By Patrick O’Connor, 28 May 2012

The tiny island state remains subject to the diktats of the IMF and World Bank and the intrigues of rival powers vying for regional influence.

Canadian government attacks wages and unemployment benefits

By Vic Neufeld, 28 May 2012

The Harper government released details of changes to Employment Insurance eligibility rules and temporary worker provisions that constitute a major attack on workers.

New in Chinese

希腊伪左派露出真面目

作者: 亚历克斯 • 兰提尔， 2012年5月28日

在激进左翼联盟成为了6月17日希腊大选的领跑者还没几天，它的政治破产已清楚暴露出来。

New in French

Les élections frauduleuses de la junte égyptienne et les tâches incombant à la classe ouvrière

Par Johannes Stern, 28 mai 2012

Les élections en Egypte ont révélé le caractère faux de la soi-disant « transition vers la démocratie » organisée conjointement par la classe dirigeante égyptienne et ses alliés de Washington après le renversement de Hosni Moubarak.

L’élite dirigeante grecque se prépare à une épreuve de force avec la classe ouvrière

Par Robert Stevens et Chris Marsden, 28 mai 2012

Alors que la Grèce se prépare pour les élections du 17 juin dans un contexte de rejet populaire énorme de l’austérité, la classe dirigeante se prépare en secret pour une répression militaire contre les travailleurs.

Québec s’apprête à adopter une loi spéciale pour briser la grève étudiante

Par Keith Jones, 28 mai 2012

L’Assemblée nationale du Québec s’est exceptionnellement réunie hier soir pour que le gouvernement libéral puisse passer une loi spéciale afin de briser la grève étudiante qui dure maintenant depuis 14 semaines à travers la province.

New in Greek

Η Ελλάδα και η παγκόσμια κρίση του καπιταλισμού

Του Κρίς Μάρσντεν, 27 Μάιου 2012

Η πολιτική, οικονομική και κοινωνική κατάρρευση στην Ελλάδα εκφράζει με οξύτητα την ευρύτερη κρίση του Ευρωπαϊκού και παγκόσμιου καπιταλισμού.

Η Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση και η Ελλάδα

Του Πέτερ Σβάρτς, 26 Μάιου 2012

Θα πρέπει κανείς να γυρίσει σε τέτοιες στρατιωτικό-φασιστικές δικτατορίες όπως εκείνη του Πινοσέτ στην Χιλή για να βρει κάτι ανάλογο των επιθέσεων που επιβάλλονται από την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση στους Έλληνες εργαζομένους.

Ελληνικό πακέτο λιτότητας: Προανάκρουσμα της κοινωνικής αντεπανάστασης στην Ευρώπη

Του Πέτερ Σβάρτς, 25 Μάιου 2012

Στις 29 Ιουνίου η Ελληνική βουλή, με τις ψήφους του σοσιαλιστικού κόμματος του ΠΑΣΟΚ πέρασε ένα περαιτέρω μέτρο λιτότητας. Η ψηφοφορία αυτή σηματοδοτεί ένα πολιτικό ορόσημο για ολόκληρη την Ευρώπη.

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Perspective

Mass repression in Quebec: A warning to the working class

28 May 2012

The mass arrests are testimony both to the depth of popular opposition to Bill 78 and the determination of Canada’s ruling class to stamp out the student strike and run roughshod over all opposition to its class-war agenda.

Earlier Perspectives »

Socialist Equality Party (US) Election Campaign

SEP campaigns for election meeting in Quad Cities

By our reporters, 28 May 2012

Supporters of the Socialist Equality Party and the International Students for Social Equality have been campaigning in the Quad Cities (Iowa and Illinois) in preparation for a public meeting with presidential candidate Jerry White on Tuesday, May 29.

WhiteDetroit workers speak out against budget cuts

By Shannon Jones, 28 May 2012

Socialist Equality Party campaign teams spoke to workers and young people in Detroit over the weekend about the campaign of Jerry White for president and Phyllis Scherrer for vice president.

videoSEP presidential candidate Jerry White demands release of jailed Quebec students

25 May 2012

Socialist Equality Party presidential candidate Jerry White denounces Wednesday's mass arrests of students in Quebec and calls for the building of a socialist movement to defend the social and democratic rights of all working people.

SEP candidate speaks with Detroit Chrysler workers

By a WSWS reporting team, 26 May 2012

Visit the Socialist Equality Party campaign site »

This Week in History: May 28-June 3

25 years ago: Argentine senate passes amnesty bill for torturers

On May 29, 1987, the Argentine senate passed legislation amounting to a blanket amnesty for the military officers responsible for torturing and murdering tens of thousands during Argentina’s “dirty war.”


More »

50 years ago: Eichmann executed

On May 31, 1962, Adolf Eichmann, 56, a central figure in the mass deportation of Europe's Jews to Nazi extermination camps in Germany and occupied Poland during World War II, was executed by hanging in Israel.

More »

75 years ago: Chicago police gun down workers in cold blood

An event that became known as the "Memorial Day Massacre" occurred May 30, 1937, when Chicago police shot to death ten workers at point blank range during an attack on a picket line.

More »

100 years ago: 600 Moroccans killed in uprising against French rule

On May 30, 1912, Moroccan tribesmen opposed to the proclamation of Morocco as a protectorate of France attacked the French garrison at Fez.

More »

Arts Review

Dissecting class relations: The film collaborations of Joseph Losey and Harold Pinter

By Robert Maras, 28 May 2012

Three of US director Joseph Losey’s best films were made in collaboration with British playwright Harold Pinter.

AvengersThe Avengers: Not at all the way truths can be explored

By Joanne Laurier, 26 May 2012

Donald “Duck” Dunn, legendary bass player, dead at 70

By James Brewer, 26 May 2012

Commentary

The Egyptian junta’s fraudulent elections and the tasks of the working class

By Johannes Stern, 26 May 2012

Greek ruling elite prepares for showdown with working class

By Robert Stevens and Chris Marsden, 26 May 2012

Chinese leadership turmoil continues

By John Chan, 26 May 2012

Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow offered access to US military death squad

By David Walsh, 25 May 2012

New: Greek translation of “Greece and the global crisis of capitalism”
Η Ελλάδα και η παγκόσμια κρίση του καπιταλισμού

Two additional new Greek translations available. See “New in Greek” section in left column.

Workers Struggles

Australia: New South Wales teachers’ stop-work against devolution agenda

By our reporters, 25 May 2012

Canadian Pacific railway workers strike

By Carl Bronski, 24 May 2012

Socialist Equality Party

Sri Lanka: SEP holds plantation workers’ congress

By W. A. Sunil, 25 May 2012

The SEP plantation workers congress in Hatton last Saturday reflected important political shifts in the Sri Lankan working class.

History

“Of course, Trotsky was an alternative to Stalin”
An interview with Professor Mario Kessler on the Trotsky biography by Robert Service—Part two

Kessler

By Wolfgang Weber, 22 May 2012

This is the second part of a two-part interview with German historian Professor Mario Kessler on the 2009 biography of Leon Trotsky by Robert Service. Part one was posted on Monday, May 21. Professor Kessler is a co-signatory of a letter sent by 14 European sociologists and political scientists to the Suhrkamp Verlag publishing house raising grave reservations about its plan to bring out a German edition of Service’s book.