I started to read the WSWS in early 2008 and, although I was to a certain extent already familiar with Marxism, it took me some time to develop a higher understanding of dialectical materialism, the very core of Marxist thought, the key to understanding society and its trends. That was possible through the constant reading of the WSWS.
A few months later, with the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the consequent bipartisan enactments such as the bailout of the banks at the expense of the American population and the beginning of an era of social devastation, vindicated the uncompromising class analysis of the WSWS.
As a matter of fact, the election of an African American president, if on one hand it was presented by most “left” newspapers as a lesser of two evils, when not directly as an upward turning point for the working class, the WSWS placed that election in its historical context and stated the following at the conclusion of an article about the victory of the Democratic Party :
“Whatever satisfaction the Democratic Party draws from its victory is tempered by the realization within President-elect Obama’s inner circle, the party leadership and the political establishment that the mass expectations and hopes aroused by the election will not be easily contained. The outcome of the election sets the stage for a new and protracted period of intense class conflict in the United States.”
After more than four years into the crisis, the reality for the working class not only in the US but internationally, has gotten worse. The claims that there’s a recovery in place is exclusively about the stock market, bankers and speculators, not for the ordinary worker. Hence the growing discontent that can’t find expression within the present establishment.
The immense amount of knowledge contained in the WSWS can’t be fully described in a letter like this; nonetheless I still want to mention some articles by which I was particularly impressed, such as the obituary of the pope Wojtyla, an article that, among various aspects, exposes the devastating role of the church in the dismantling of the USSR in favor of the soon-to-be Russian oligarchs; an article on the book “The God Delusion” by Richard Dawkins, where the writer (Joe Kay), while welcoming such a publication, also demonstrates with scientific accuracy, its limitations. A remarkable point is when he puts in direct relation the progress of human society with the retreat of religion .
One extremely important article, that can actually be considered as the watershed that separates the WSWS from what is considered “left,” is the one called Anti-Americanism: The “anti-imperialism” of fools. The article exposes the ideological rot of the various pseudo-left groups that in one way or another blame the American working class for the crimes of US imperialism, instead of seeing it as a victim itself.
As we enter a period characterized by stronger class conflicts, it becomes an urgency to develop the readership of the WSWS.