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.
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Perspective
The suspicious “suicide” of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
One can and should ask, who benefits from the silence surrounding the challenges to the official narrative of Barnett’s death?
US employers announced over 84,000 layoffs, as part of a continuing offensive against jobs to smash the resistance of the working class.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that Israel would proceed with its plans to assault Rafah, the southernmost city in Gaza where over 1.5 million refugees are sheltering.
A flurry of diplomatic activity over the past 10 days has made clear that the trade union-backed Liberal government led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fully endorses the far-right Israeli government’s looming onslaught on Rafah.
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.
The hearing was the latest in a series chaired by Sanders to stump for the corrupt trade union bureaucracy, which is enabling the automation-driven corporate jobs bloodbath.
Crocker is in a position to know. Beginning his diplomatic career with a posting in the US consulate in the inland port city of Khorramshahr, near Iran’s oilfields, in 1972 during the Shah’s reign, he later served in Lebanon, Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Kuwait.
Under conditions of seemingly irresolvable Tory meltdown, the ruling class is working closely with Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party to prepare a politically like-for-like replacement to rescue British capitalism.
Under the guise of placing limits on political donations by the wealthy, the legislation will erect onerous fund-raising and bureaucratic hurdles for smaller parties.
An internal paper from the defence ministry, quoted by Der Spiegel, plans to “present options for a German military service model” by 1 April.
After workers on Germany’s railways, in public transport and at airports proved once again over the past week their readiness to fight for better working conditions and wages, the trade unions are beating a retreat.
Socialist Equality Party selects Joseph Kishore and Jerry White as its presidential and vice presidential candidates for the 2024 US election
Kishore has served as the party’s national secretary for nearly 16 years, while White is the labor editor of the World Socialist Web Site . Both candidates have run in prior elections as the SEP’s presidential candidate.
The SEP launches its campaign for a socialist alternative in 2024 to Biden and Trump, the corporate candidates of war and dictatorship!
David North, the national chairman of the Socialist Equality Party (US), announced today the selection of Joe Kishore and Jerry White as the SEP's candidates in the 2024 presidential election campaign.
Socialist Equality Party vice presidential candidate Jerry White campaigns at Detroit area auto factories
Stellantis and Ford workers warmly greeted SEP vice presidential candidate Jerry White and many signed petitions to place the SEP ticket on the ballot.
Socialist Equality Party (US) candidates Joseph Kishore and Jerry White discuss campaign for international socialism on the Punch Up Pod
Kishore said, “We are seeking through our campaign, to appeal to the working class, which is increasingly entering political life and becoming radicalized, to offer a political program based on internationalism and socialism.”
Democrats set up unit to attack third-party candidates
The new operation by the Democratic National Committee is only part of an array of anti-democratic attacks primarily directed against left-wing candidates.
YouTube censors David North’s lecture on the death of Aaron Bushnell
The underlying aim of censoring North’s lecture—which uniquely examines Bushnell’s death from a Marxist perspective—is to bury this event and keep it hidden from the public.
US anti-TikTok bill: Escalating online censorship and preparing for war with China
Censorship of the internet is seen as a key part of the American ruling class’s preparations for great power conflict, most openly against China and Russia, that is, preparations for World War III.
The corporate plundering of America: Major companies spend more on executive pay than on federal taxes
A new report published March 13 documents two interconnected processes: A steep decline in federal tax payments by top US corporations and an explosive rise in executive compensation.
Artists protest at London’s Barbican Centre over suppression of opposition to Israeli genocide
The episode is part of an ongoing conflict between the Barbican, the largest performing arts center in Europe, and opponents of the horrifying genocide.
Leading Spanish Stalinist calls for more Gaza protests—against his own government!
The unbridled cynicism involved is breathtaking. Pineda is speaking about his own government, which has been arming the Zionist regime as it carries out its onslaught in Gaza.
Columbia University latest target in state-led McCarthyite campaign against anti-genocide protests
In an intensifying attack on academic freedom, the US House Committee on Education is focusing Columbia University in New York City in its crosshairs.
Australian protests against Gaza genocide: “I don’t think we can trust Labor ever again”
“I think we can very easily lay the blame for all the mass atrocities that are occurring, both on governments and the corporations who have captured them through the way that capitalism currently operates in the world.”
Charles Schumer’s Senate speech and the US-Israeli “Final Solution” in Gaza
The Netanyahu government is carrying out the “Final Solution of the Palestinian Problem” by means of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the population of Gaza. It has the full support of the Biden administration and both political parties in the United States.
Israel kills more than 60 Gazans in latest breadline massacre
Israeli troops carried out another massacre of civilians waiting to receive aid Thursday, killing 60 people and injuring 160, the Euro-Med Monitor reported.
Spain’s Podemos politically complicit in the genocide of Palestinians
The cynical political maneuvers of Podemos in parliament and on the streets are aimed at keeping mass anger against the Israeli genocide in Gaza trapped within the straitjacket of the PSOE-Sumar government.
Australian Labor government helping to starve Gaza
While shedding crocodile tears over mass civilian deaths, Australia continues to march in lockstep with the Biden administration that is funding and overseeing the genocide.
More than 100 bands, musicians boycott SXSW festival to protest US Army and military contractor sponsorships
More than 100 music acts have withdrawn from SXSW, the largest music festival of its kind, in opposition to sponsorships by the US military and defense contractors responsible for the Gaza genocide.
Welsh singer-songwriter Charlotte Church receives death threats for defending Palestinians in Gaza
Church and her family have been threatened by Zionists and fascists for her participation in events supporting the Palestinian people.
In defense of Jonathan Glazer: The Zone of Interest director comes under venomous attack for Academy Awards statement
Someone letting the general public in on a dirty secret had to be denounced and smeared.
UK Whitworth Art Gallery exhibits Material Power: Palestinian Embroidery, but is silent on Gaza genocide
The people who contributed to this segment of world culture are being slaughtered mercilessly in Gaza, with the backing of the NATO powers funding and arming the Israeli government’s genocide.
Mount Sinai Health System fined $2 million for persistent understaffing
The latest penalties demonstrate that the contract imposed by the New York State Nurses Association has institutionalized understaffing.
Amid mass layoffs across the US, Dollar Tree announces nearly 1,000 Family Dollar store closures
Many of the stores to be closed are located in rural areas and impoverished towns and cities.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
India: Tamil Nadu Primary Cooperative Bank employees demand higher wages: Bangladeshi garment workers violently attacked by police in Gazipur; Qantas pilots in Western Australia strike again for pay rise; New Zealand nurses protest over payment delays.
“I’d like to live in a world where I work one job”: Flint, Michigan teachers vote to strike after sickout over pay and conditions
Teachers have faced years of poverty wages and struggle with inadequate resources to help students in the city made infamous for its lead-laced water.
Questions remain surrounding Nex Benedict’s death following release of autopsy summary
Summary autopsy report lists cause of death as suicide by overdosing on a medication combination which experts call ‘very, very uncommon’, while failing to list extensive injuries documented in the full report as exposed by the family
Draconian crime bill becomes law in Washington, D.C. as “law-and-order” campaigns spread across the country
The “Secure DC” bill is the latest salvo in the Democrats' punitive attacks on the urban working class and poor.
Florida launches crackdown on Haitians fleeing violence
Haitians escaping the violence produced by imperialist oppression are summarily deported back to the island.
James Crumbley found guilty of involuntary manslaughter for Oxford High School shooting
James Crumbley, father of Oxford High School shooter Ethan Crumbley, who killed four of his classmates on November 30, 2021, was found guilty on all counts of involuntary manslaughter on Friday in Pontiac, Michigan.
Macron reiterates call to send French ground troops to Ukraine for war on Russia
Macron’s remarks show that the European powers are preparing a ground intervention into Ukraine, threatening to unleash nuclear war between NATO and Russia.
As Putin warns Russian nuclear forces “ready” for war
Pentagon sends $300 million in additional weapons to Ukraine
The US Defense Department will send another $300 million in weapons to Ukraine, amid growing warning signs that the US-NATO war with Russia is on the verge of a significant escalation.
German Green and Christian Democratic politicians dismiss danger of nuclear war
In an angry commentary in the Monday edition of the FAZ, foreign policy experts Anton Hofreiter (Greens) and Norbert Röttgen (Christian Democrats, CDU) called for a massive escalation of the NATO war against Russia in Ukraine.
Amid ongoing recruitment crisis, Zelensky government prepares to mobilize Ukrainian convicts
The measures to further expand the draft follow the announcement of the mobilization of another 500,000 men to the front, where hundreds of thousands have already died.
Sri Lankan police arrest two journalists in a direct attack on freedom of speech
The Wickremesinghe government, which confronts rising working-class opposition to its austerity measures, is attempting to intimidate and silence journalists.
Sri Lankan Trotskyists hold critical meetings on the Tamil translation of Trotsky’s The Revolution Betrayed
The Colombo event was the final in a series of island-wide meetings by the SEP/IYSSE on Trotsky’s classic analysis of the Soviet Union.
Sri Lankan health unions to strike as government talks near collapse
Discussions between HTUA bureaucrats and health ministry officials have been held behind closed doors, ensuring that the more than 100,000 members of the alliance know nothing about on the proposals under discussion.
Sri Lankan police attack student protests against austerity measures
These violent attacks on students, with water cannons, tear gas and batons, are part of the Wickremesinghe government’s assault on the democratic and social rights of the working class.
As DSA Democrats back Biden's war policies
New York Democratic Socialists of America endorses Ocasio-Cortez, Jacobin calls for “left” support for Jamaal Bowman
The DSA is reaffirming its pro-capitalist, pro-war policies by endorsing Biden shill AOC and backing pro-Israel fake-left Rep. Jamaal Bowman.
Democrats set up unit to attack third-party candidates
The new operation by the Democratic National Committee is only part of an array of anti-democratic attacks primarily directed against left-wing candidates.
Teamsters bureaucrats meet with President Biden while continuing to court Republican extreme right
The meeting with Biden came as the Teamsters made numerous mutual shows of support with Josh Hawley, one of the main co-conspirators in the Senate on January 6.
US House passes bipartisan bill to ban TikTok or force its sale
The US House of Representatives passed a bill banning the short-form video-sharing app TikTok on Wednesday, with Democrats and Republicans coming together in support of a law to promote anti-Chinese propaganda and attacks on First Amendment rights.
Australian pseudo-left group Solidarity defends maritime union’s promotion of pro-genocide Prime Minister Albanese
With Labor and the unions increasingly discredited, the pseudo-left is desperately seeking to channel opposition back behind these forces, which are complicit in the Gaza genocide.
Australia: Staggering Labor losses in Queensland elections underscore wider political breakdown
In the Brisbane western suburb of Inala, which has among the lowest income levels and highest unemployment rates in the state of Queensland, Labor lost almost half its primary vote.
Five years since the Christchurch terror attack, many unanswered questions remain
Five years after the Christchurch terror attack, which killed 51 people at two mosques, disturbing questions remain about why the fascist gunman Brenton Tarrant was not stopped from carrying out his massacre.
Political instability continues as Pakistan cobbles together a pro-austerity minority government
Widely viewed as illegitimate, Pakistan’s new military-orchestrated minority government is tasked with implementing another round of savage austerity measures, ensuring it will rapidly come into headlong conflict with the country’s impoverished masses.
“Stakeknife” murders report a cover-up of Britain’s dirty war in Northern Ireland
The interim report from Operation Kenova confirmed that British agents within the Provisional Irish Republican Army committed multiple murders. No one is to be charged.
Germany, France and Poland pledge to escalate war with Russia at Berlin summit
The Berlin summit came as the European powers’ bellicose statements threaten to unleash total war between NATO and Russia in Ukraine.
Spain’s Podemos politically complicit in the genocide of Palestinians
The cynical political maneuvers of Podemos in parliament and on the streets are aimed at keeping mass anger against the Israeli genocide in Gaza trapped within the straitjacket of the PSOE-Sumar government.
What is German Chancellor Scholz hiding in the debate about sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine?
Scholz and his antagonists are deceiving the public. They know far more than they publicly admit and are working closely behind the scenes to escalate the Ukraine war.
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.
Another layer of criminality in the capitalist response to the pandemic
Disability rights of Long COVID patients are routinely trampled upon
As a result of governmental negligence, millions of people across the United States are fighting for long-term disability benefits to which they have wrongfully been denied access.
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.
This week in history: March 18-24
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.
Mehring Yayıncılık publishes Turkish edition of Vadim Rogovin’s 1937: Stalin’s Year of Terror
Mehring Yayıncılık is pleased to announce the publication of the Turkish edition of 1937: Stalin’s Year of Terror by Vadim Z. Rogovin.
Book Review
Bryan Palmer’s James P. Cannon and the Emergence of Trotskyism in the United States, 1928-1938
The second of the three-volume biography of Cannon is an indispensable source on the early history of Trotskyism in the US.
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.
Growth of US debt threatens dollar dominance
The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that the total US debt burden will go above 100 percent of GDP next year and reach 116 percent by 2034.
Mass layoffs sweep Canada as interest rate hikes push economy toward recession
Bell Canada Enterprises announced on February 8 that it was slashing 9 percent of its workforce, accounting for 4,800 jobs, adding to a rising wave of layoffs sweeping the country.
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.
Climate change disruption of Atlantic currents reaching dangerous tipping point
The further weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a major system of currents throughout the Atlantic Ocean, is likely to have drastic climatic consequences in northern Europe and globally.
Earliest known example of a human-built wood structure, dating to nearly a half-million years ago, discovered in Africa
This discovery significantly pushes back the known evidence of wooden architecture and the investment by humans in permanent structures suggesting relatively more settled occupation at certain locations.
Mexican police kill Ayotzinapa student hours after AMLO likened protest to “dirty war”
The deadly shooting and subsequent coverup took place under the Guerrero state government controlled by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party.
Brazil’s anti-COVID activists denounce Lula government’s “forever COVID” policy
In this, the second part of the interviews, four anti-COVID activists in Brazil talk about Long COVID and the lack of measures by the Workers Party government to stop the transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
US military strengthens presence at Haitian embassy as gang violence in Port-au-Prince escalates
The US and its imperialist allies are trying to cobble together a “transitional government” supported by all the warring factions of Haiti’s corrupt political elite to provide a fig-leaf of “national unity” and “legality” for another foreign military intervention in the western hemisphere’s most impoverished country.
Former US-backed president of Honduras found guilty of drug trafficking
Revelations during the trial further confirm that US imperialism is ultimately responsible for the extreme poverty and violence that plague Central America.
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.
An interview with Giacomo Abbruzzese, director of anti-war Disco Boy: “The stranger’s gaze sees things we no longer see or perhaps have never seen”
The film defies the banality of Hollywood narratives and depictions, returning to the cinema the humanity and richness that belong in the arts and that audiences deserve.
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.
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.
Automakers announce billions in Brazil investments after jobs bloodbath imposed by unions
Volkswagen Brazil’s president pointed to union suppression of opposition as the decisive factor in the “largest post-pandemic investment by an automaker in the country.”
Fired Stellantis temps issue open letter: “Unite all workers to stop the job cuts!”
The Rank-and-File Committee to Fight Job Cuts, set up by fired Stellantis temporary workers, has issued the this statement.
Public meetings called by the SEP/IYSSE in Britain: The fight to free Julian Assange is the fight against war!
Assange’s case embodies the struggle against imperialist war, the authoritarian measures used to suppress anti-war sentiment and the lies used to justify it all.
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.”
Assange supporters march to Downing Steet as two-day hearing ends in London
Stella Assange told a rally, “They are liars, they are criminals, and they are persecuting a journalist who exposed them.”
Demonstrators outside UK High Court demand Assange’s freedom
Many drivers on the busy road adjacent to the court beeped their horns in support, with bus passengers also expressing support and giving thumbs up signs.
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.
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.
Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka) celebrates 80th birthday of veteran Trotskyist K. Ratnayake
Ratnayake has dedicated his entire adult life, encompassing some six decades, to the fight for the socialist emancipation of the working class and the oppressed masses.
Greetings to veteran Sri Lankan Trotskyist K. Ratnayake on his 80th birthday
Six of the eight decades of your life have been inextricably connected to the fight for Trotskyism, the defense of the International Committee, and the building of the Fourth International as the World Party of Socialist Revolution.
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 suspicious “suicide” of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett
One can and should ask, who benefits from the silence surrounding the challenges to the official narrative of Barnett’s death?
Charles Schumer’s Senate speech and the US-Israeli “Final Solution” in Gaza
The Netanyahu government is carrying out the “Final Solution of the Palestinian Problem” by means of genocide and ethnic cleansing against the population of Gaza. It has the full support of the Biden administration and both political parties in the United States.
US anti-TikTok bill: Escalating online censorship and preparing for war with China
Censorship of the internet is seen as a key part of the American ruling class’s preparations for great power conflict, most openly against China and Russia, that is, preparations for World War III.
The Gaza genocide and the death of Aaron Bushnell: What are the political lessons?
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.
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.