This speech was given by David North at the second international commemoration of the work of Leon Trotsky on Büyükada (Prinkipo), Turkey, during the first period of his exile from the Soviet Union between 1929 and 1933.
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The event was covered by many national and local media outlets and widely discussed on social media before and after the event in Turkey. However, a former Maoist and current anarchist published an article on his website denouncing and misrepresenting David North’s remarks.
Perspective
Authorizing NATO weapons strikes in Russia, US prepares major escalation of global war
The United States and its NATO allies are imminently preparing to announce that they will facilitate Ukraine firing NATO weapons deep into Russian territory, in the greatest escalation of the war with Russia to date.
The revolt is a massive repudiation of the IAM bureaucracy and the Biden-Harris administration, which has worked closely with IAM leaders to prevent a walkout at the key US aerospace and defense corporation.
BMWED’s proposed contracts are part of a broader effort by the rail union bureaucracies to force through pro-company deals across the industry before the expiration of the current contract on December 31, 2024.
The barely disguised reality is that Israel considers humanitarian workers “terrorists” and enemy combatants, working against its war aims of the extermination and expulsion of the Palestinian people.
Moss Robeson is a young, independent researcher in New York City who has run a prominent blog “Bandera Lobby,” about the history and contemporary political role of the movement associated with the Ukrainian Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.
Despite bomb threats and pleas from local residents to cease the racist attacks, Trump and his fascist allies continued to incite violence and terror against immigrants.
For weeks, Germany’s government and opposition parties have been competing with their proposals on how to turn back refugees, seal off borders and undermine the basic right to asylum.
People made decisions they knew risked working-class lives, and they were happy to do so because they considered those lives valueless next to the profits to be made.
The airport contributes more than $9.5 billion to the economy annually—around 4.6 percent of Kenya’s GDP. The unions, however, had no intention of fully leveraging workers’ power.
The AFL-CIO is expanding its operations across Latin America to levels not seen since the 1970s, when it trained and sponsored thousands of union officials in support of CIA-backed coups and dictatorships.
With life-saving mpox vaccines barely trickling into Africa, cases continue to rise rapidly, including in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC and home to 17 million people.
While authorities are downplaying the dangers of the H5N1 virus, it can evolve very rapidly and every spillover event into humans heightens the possibility of a variant with human-to-human transmission.
Trotsky's assassination was the greatest political crime of the 20th century. Alongside Vladimir Lenin, Trotsky was the leader of the 1917 October revolution in Russia, which led to the establishment of the first workers’ state in history, and the preeminent strategist of world socialist revolution.
On the anniversary of the assassination of Leon Trotsky
Eighty-four years ago today, on August 20, 1940, Leon Trotsky was assassinated by an agent of the Stalinist secret police, the GPU, in his villa in Coyoacan, Mexico, where he spent the final three years of his life as a political exile.
Part One
Trotsky’s Last Year
An appraisal, on the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of Trotsky’s assassination, of the work of the great theoretician and strategist of World Socialist Revolution during the final year of his life.
Leon Trotsky and the Struggle for Socialism in the Twenty-First Century
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.
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.
"We must fight for Bogdan's freedom!"
Ukrainian youth speaks out in support of Bogdan Syrotiuk
This statement in support of Bogdan Syrotiuk was submitted to the WSWS by a Ukrainian youth who fled the war and is now working and studying in Germany.
Russian organizations and social media pages demand Bogdan Syrotiuk’s release
A number of Russian leftist organizations and media outlets have expressed their support for Bogdan, demanding his immediate release.
Release comrade Bogdan Syrotiuk unconditionally and immediately!
The persecution of Bogdan demonstrates that the defense of democratic rights is inseparable from the mobilisation of the international working class against imperialist war and capitalism.
Left-wing organisations in Sri Lanka support “Free Bogdan Syrotiuk” campaign
The United Socialist Party, the Socialist People’s Forum and the Frontline Socialist Party’s “Youth for Change” have issued statements demanding the immediate release of Bogdan Syrotiuk.
Hack work vs. history: Aidan Beatty’s The Party Is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism
Professor Aidan Beatty, a lecturer at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, has posted an announcement of the upcoming publication of his book on Gerry Healy.
The Harris-Trump debate: A degraded exhibition of political reaction
The degraded spectacle of Tuesday’s debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris held a mirror to a political system in extraordinary crisis. Between the mad ravings of the fascist Trump and the empty-headed platitudes of the warmonger Harris, the debate presented the vicious face of American capitalism.
JVP/NPP leader in Sri Lanka pledges to impose IMF austerity
Buoyed by opinion polls showing its candidate as a frontrunner, the party is determined to demonstrate that it is a reliable and ruthless political tool for implementing the agenda of the capitalist class.
UN report exposes Israel’s imperialist-backed “intentional starvation campaign against the Palestinian people”
A report by United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri has indicted Israel for using starvation as a weapon of war to exterminate the Palestinian people and seize their land. The document provides evidence of the genocidal intent of the Zionist regime and the complicity of the imperialist powers in war crimes unprecedented since World War II.
Opening report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US)
We are publishing here the opening report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US), given by David North, the national chairman of the SEP. The congress was held from August 4 to August 9, 2024.
Report to the SEP (US) Eighth National Congress
16 years since the Founding Congress of the Socialist Equality Party
We are publishing here the report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) given by Joseph Kishore, the national secretary of the SEP.
Report to the SEP (US) Eighth National Congress
The barbarism of “forever COVID” and the fight for socialist public health
We are publishing here the report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) given by Evan Blake. The congress was held from August 4 to August 9, 2024.
Report to the SEP (US) Eighth National Congress
The SEP intervention in the UAW election and the fight for socialism among autoworkers
We are publishing here the report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US), given by Jerry White. The congress was held from August 4 to August 9, 2024.
Trump and Republicans spearhead fascistic campaign targeting Haitian immigrants
Ahead of the debate and November election, Republicans and their fascistic supporters are whipping up a pogrom atmosphere against immigrants to further Trump’s “stolen election” lies.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis uses police to intimidate abortion petition signers
Officials in the DeSantis administration are spearheading efforts to invalidate signatures and drive the petition to overturn the six-week abortion ban off the ballot.
Two months to the US presidential vote
An election dominated by the threat of war and dictatorship
The corporate-controlled two-party system offers only the alternatives of would-be dictator Donald Trump and warmonger Kamala Harris.
Trump, Republicans openly plot to suppress vote, overturn election
Emboldened by the complicit Democrats, Trump, with the Republican Party behind him, is mounting a fascist campaign aimed at suppressing the vote on the way to a presidential dictatorship.
Australian union boss Sally McManus defends government attack on construction workers
McManus’ comments were a graphic display of the role of the entire union bureaucracy as an agency of the government and the major employers.
Two days of transport stoppages across Italy over pay and conditions; strikes and protests continue across Iran over collapse in cost-of-living; confectionery workers in Johannesburg, South Africa fight food giant Premier Foods over living wage
Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
Rail strikes across Italy over two days to protest low wages and poor work-life balance; cost-of-living strikes and protests continue across Iran, involving energy and telecommunication workers, teachers, farmers and retirees; confectionery workers at Premier Foods in Johannesburg, South Africa on indefinite walkout to demand living wage
Vote “No” on the sellout contract! Build the Boeing Workers Rank-and-File Committee to fight for workers’ control!
The mass protests over the past few days have shown our collective power. But this power must be organized so that Boeing workers can take control and countermand decisions that violate our will.
CWU’s Martin Walsh wins endorsement at the TUC after Royal Mail betrayal
Walsh managed to cram in as much deceit and hypocrisy as was possible in his four-minute remarks on Monday, promoting the fraud that the CWU is engaged in a fight at Royal Mail to defend the postal service backed by “the trade union movement”.
Canadian authorities keep a lid on the ravages caused by Long COVID
After months of insisting that the pandemic is over and dismantling what limited public health measures remained, all levels of government are now working to keep the public in the dark about an upswing in COVID cases and are keeping the lid on data that reveals the dangers of contracting Long COVID.
As over 1 million Americans continue to be infected with COVID each day, updated vaccines belatedly rolled out
Neither the FDA, nor the vaccine manufacturers, nor the capitalist politicians saw any urgency in protecting the public from the newly evolved SARS-CoV-2 strains.
Groundbreaking study uncovers mechanism of blood clotting caused by COVID-19, points to possible treatments
A pivotal study published in the journal Nature elucidated the pathogenesis of COVID infections.
Missouri health officials report first bird flu case in adult without previous known animal contact
The laissez-faire attitude of international and national public health agencies to emerging pandemic pathogens, which threaten human populations and the well-being of animal life in general, is nothing short of criminal.
“It was utter chaos”
Wildfires erupt across Southern California amid sweltering heat wave
Three large fires continue to burn across Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange Counties amid a heat wave that brought triple-digit temperatures over the weekend.
Shooter still at large after 5 motorists injured on Interstate-75 in Kentucky
A manhunt is underway in Daniel Boone National Forest after the alleged shooter took position on a ledge overlooking Interstate-75 and opened fire on motorists
With closure of Ontario Science Centre, Conservative Premier Ford attacks science, education and the working class
Ontario Progressive Conservative Premier Ford’s snap decision to order the immediate and permanent closure of the Ontario Science Centre, located in a working class Toronto neighbourhood, has provoked widespread popular opposition.
New details emerge about warnings before Georgia school shooting
Details have been reported based on text messages and phone logs from family members about an exchange between the mother of 14-year-old Colt Gray and a school counselor about an “extreme emergency” approximately 30 minutes before the shooting began at Apalachee High School on September 4.
Total capitulation by US Federal Reserve on bank regulation
Proposed measures gutted after an intense campaign by major banks employing nearly 500 lobby groups.
World’s two biggest economies show recessionary trends
US labour market contracts and deflation spreads in China.
Latest economic data put question mark over China’s growth target
A range of economists and commentators have been downgrading their forecasts for growth.
Chinese bond market surge points to economic and financial problems
Due to the lack of investment opportunities, money has been flooding into the bond market, pushing up prices and thereby lowering the yield, or interest rate on government debt.
I Saw the TV Glow: A life unfulfilled
Jane Schoenbrun’s film is an enigmatic, at times disturbing portrait of a socially alienated youth.
SAG-AFTRA continues to sabotage video game strike, signing 80 interim agreements
The corporations are determined to wipe out entire crafts and professions. “Informed consent” means nothing when all the power is in the hands of conglomerates.
Appeals court ruling backs big publishers’ lawsuit against the Internet Archive
A three-judge US appeals court panel ruled that the Internet Archive violated copyright law by lending eBooks to borrowers at the beginning of the pandemic without authorization from the publishing industry.
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra doubles down against British-Australian pianist Jayson Gillham
The law firm defending MSO censorship is prominent in the barrage of legal action against artists, journalists and other public figures opposing Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
US, UK to announce expansion of NATO weapons strikes inside Russia
The United States and United Kingdom will imminently announce a major expansion of Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia using NATO weapons, the Guardian and Politico reported on Wednesday.
Ukraine launches largest drone attack on Russia yet as US moves to expand strikes with NATO weapons
Ukraine launched its largest wave of drone attacks deep inside Russia Monday night, including a deadly attack on the capital city of Moscow.
One month of Ukraine’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk region
President Vladimir Putin, whose government failed to prevent the first seizure of Russian territory by an imperialist-backed army since World War II, is attempting to manage the debacle by downplaying the crisis in Kursk.
Zelensky begins mass dismissal of cabinet ministers
The turnover of the Zelensky cabinet comes amid an impending military defeat in the Donbass region.
Australian police rampage against protesters at massive weapons expo in Melbourne
The police operation, involving the use of rubber bullets and flashbang grenades, was an assault on the population aimed at criminalising the right to protest.
Venice Film Festival—Filmmakers powerfully denounce Israel’s genocide in Gaza
The Israeli genocide in Gaza was denounced by a number of leading filmmakers at the final awards ceremony of the 81st Venice film festival held last Saturday.
“A shame and a sham”
Noguchi Museum in New York City fires workers for opposing Gaza genocide
The museum has begun firing staff who wear Palestinian keffiyehs to work.
Holocaust survivor and other protesters speak at London Gaza demonstration
WSWS reporters spoke to some of those attending Saturday’s national rally against the genocide in Gaza, including Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos.
UN report exposes Israel’s imperialist-backed “intentional starvation campaign against the Palestinian people”
A report by United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri has indicted Israel for using starvation as a weapon of war to exterminate the Palestinian people and seize their land. The document provides evidence of the genocidal intent of the Zionist regime and the complicity of the imperialist powers in war crimes unprecedented since World War II.
Eyewitness report from the West Bank: “The Israeli army is now commencing major military operations to drive us out”
"The army is now starting major military operations to drive people out of the West Bank to Jordan. Israeli politicians are constantly talking about a ‘substitute solution’ for the Palestinians in Jordan. They want to take the whole country away from us."
UN expert accuses Israel of “deliberate starvation” as a means of exterminating the Palestinians
The UN rapporteur’s report stands as an indictment not only of Israel but also of the imperialist powers, including the United States, UK, France, Germany and Canada, that have funded, armed and politically defended the genocide.
US citizen killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces
Turkish-American Aysenur Ezgi Eygi was shot in the head and killed on Friday as Israel Defense Forces fired on protesters who were defending Palestinians against Zionist settlers in the West Bank.
Mounting concerns in US-NATO circles over critical minerals and war with China
The United States and its European allies are increasingly concerned that efforts taken so far to stop China’s control over the global critical mineral supply chain are inadequate, complicating US-led preparations for war.
Washington secretly oversees military activity as
Philippine and Chinese vessels repeatedly collide in the South China Sea
Each resupply mission is being secretly conducted as a joint military operation between the Philippines and United States.
Key minister deserts unravelling Australian Labor government
Former Labor leader Bill Shorten is quitting, in a further signal of an historic crisis engulfing not just the Albanese government but the whole political establishment.
Top Australian, Japanese ministers prepare for war against China
The joint communiqué reveals the advanced preparations not just involving these two key American military allies, but throughout the Indo-Pacific, for a US-led war against China.
UK Labour government cuts fuel allowance for 10 million pensioners unopposed by the “left”
Despite talk of a rebellion against Starmer's leadership, this time just one Labour MP, Jon Trickett, could bring himself to vote against a measure that will kill elderly people in their thousands. Only five of the seven suspended Labour MPs joined him.
Work accidents at Germany’s national rail operator Deutsche Bahn: “We don’t know how many there are”
The short film “Death on the Tracks” shown on broadcaster ZDF’s Frontal investigative programme highlights two fatal work accidents for which Deutsche Bahn management has still not provided an explanation or taken responsibility.
After the far-right AfD’s election success, Social Democrats and Christian Democrats intensify their anti-refugee agitation
The establishment parties paved the way for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) by outdoing them from the right on their core issue: scapegoating refugees and immigrants.
UK unions campaign facilitates thousands of Tata Steel/British Steel job losses
This looming defeat for workers without any fight organised by the unions illustrates how the union bureaucracy operates as an arm of management and the government to suppress the class struggle.
Strike wave erupts across Kenya despite trade unions’ attempt to strangle it
The working class is confronting a supposed “broad-based” government—a newly installed coalition of President William Ruto and his United Kenya Party and the main opposition party—that is committed to IMF austerity and enjoys the backing of the bureaucrats who run the Central Organization of Trade Unions.
Tinubu government mobilises police and army to crush protests across Nigeria
The protest organisers, NGOs and activist organisations, had called for 10 days of street demonstrations starting August 1. Their demands include: an end to inflation now running at 34 percent, jobs, increased security amid a rise in kidnappings for ransom, a reduction in government costs and electoral, judicial and constitutional reform.
Anger as Kenya’s President Ruto forms government with Orange Democratic Movement opposition
Far from opening a new era of national unity and development, the new Cabinet’s first task is to crush the months of protests, escalate IMF austerity and maintain Kenya’s status as Washington’s non-NATO proxy force across Africa and the Caribbean.
Austerity protests in Uganda violently crushed
The protests have instilled fear within the Museveni regime of unrest similar to that in neighboring Kenya. In a televised address Saturday evening Museveni threatened the protestors, "We are busy producing wealth… and you here want to disturb us.”
Sri Lankan presidential candidates silent over the threat of WWIII
The Socialist Equality Party opposes the direct and indirect support of Sri Lanka’s ruling and opposition parties for the US-led imperialist war agenda and urges the working class to do the same.
Sri Lankan SEP presidential candidate speaks at official media briefing
In opposition to all the pro-capitalist parties and candidates, the SEP is fighting to build an independent political movement of the working class based on socialist policies.
Sri Lanka: SEP presidential candidate speaks to media, public meetings
The SEP is the only party warning of the dangers of world war and fascism and advancing a socialist alternative to massive IMF austerity.
SEP (Sri Lanka) holds public meeting to launch presidential election campaign
“None of the burning issues facing the masses can be solved within the capitalist profit system or on a national basis.”
The banning of X/Twitter in Brazil and the authoritarian drive of the capitalist state
Brazil’s supreme court has suspended access to X/Twitter, a platform used by tens of millions of Brazilians.
Washington presses regional governments to secure Maduro’s ouster in Venezuela
The Venezuelan crisis has exposed all bourgeois nationalist governments of the Latin American pink tide and their pseudo-left apologists as instruments of US imperialism.
US-organized police-military “stabilization” force deploys in Haiti
The social catastrophe roiling Haiti, the Western hemisphere’s poorest country, is rooted in well over a century of US imperialist predations—including repeated colonial-style occupations and “made in USA” regime changes.
Chile’s Boric and Argentina’s Milei join exercises of US Southern Command
Boric’s pseudo-left government in Chile and Milei’s fascistic government in Argentina are participating in military exercises this week that are part of the war preparations by US imperialism and NATO.
Trial of “Uhuru 3” begins in Florida as US government accelerates anti-Russia campaign, war drive
As four members of Black nationalist groups in the US are facing potentially 15 years in prison for advancing positions in opposition to the Ukraine war, the Department of Justice claimed on Wednesday that Russia and Iran were “interfering” in the 2024 election.
Supreme Court rejects Biden’s appeal to lift injunction on student debt relief plan
The US Supreme Court last week rejected the Biden administration’s request to lift an injunction on its latest student debt relief plan, called “SAVE,” with the plan remaining on hold indefinitely until litigation is resolved.
Ocasio-Cortez and the normalization of genocide as state policy
Less than a week after endorsing Harris and falsely claiming she was working “tirelessly” for a “ceasefire” in Gaza, the DSA member told her followers if they want to protect democratic rights at home, the genocide must continue.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the DNC: The pro-imperialist politics of the DSA
The role of the Democratic Socialists of America and DSA-backed candidates in defending the pro-capitalist and imperialist policies of the Democratic Party has emerged as a significant element of the Democratic National Convention.
This week in history: September 9-15
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
Book Review: The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
Contemporary lessons from the slave power’s plot to overturn the 1860 election
Erik Larson’s new book The Demon of Unrest, published this year by Penguin Random House, contains critical lessons for the fight against Trump and the threat of dictatorship today.
This week in history: September 2-8
Puerto RIcan nationalists freed; Ford pardons Nixon; MacArthur hails US rule in Japan; Saudi massacre near Mecca
Reflections on the death of Lt. Willam Calley Jr.: Imperialist atrocities, from My Lai to Gaza
Calley spent only three days in prison for his role in directing the mass murder of 504 Vietnamese men, women and children. He is now reported to have died April 28 at the age of 80.
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.
Support the Dakkota auto parts strike! An injury to one is an injury to all! Ban the use of scab parts from Dakkota!
As their strike reached a critical juncture, rank-and-file Dakkota auto parts workers in Chicago issued a statement Tuesday appealing for a ban on scab parts from their factory.
Dakkota workers’ strike in danger as UAW demands fifth vote on sellout agreement: “We have the strength to stand up and fight back”
The courageous rebellion of striking Dakkota parts workers, who defied an unprecedented four sellout agreements, is in danger of being shut down and betrayed as the UAW is threatening workers with a fifth vote on the same agreement.
Dakkota Integrated Systems: The low-wage sweatshop workers are fighting against
Dakkota was founded in 2001 as a joint venture between Rush Group LLC, owned by trucking and auto supply business owner Andra Rush, and Canada-based Magna International Inc.
Autoworkers need to communicate around the world and make a plan to fight back
I have always been told my job is more secure than most because we are one of the most profitable plants for GM. This sense of certainty has dwindled rapidly.
Students speak on mass spread of COVID on college campuses as semester begins
The WSWS spoke to several students who are witnessing the mass infection of their peers on college campuses in the US and Canada.
One fifth of world’s youth not in employment, education or training
These conditions testify to the powder keg that is Africa and indeed vast parts of the world. Youth-led protests have broken out in several countries over recent months calling for political change.
Ten months of the Gaza genocide: The way forward in the fight against war
As millions of students are re-entering their classrooms in schools and on college campuses across the United States for a new semester, the threat of world war and fascism is greater today than at any point since the 1930s.
IYSSE launches petitions for Special General meetings at Australian universities against Gaza genocide
At the working-class campuses of Western Sydney University (WSU) and Victoria University (VU) in Melbourne, the IYSSE clubs’ campaigns have been met with enthusiasm from students.
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.
Failure of Boeing spacecraft strands 2 astronauts on the International Space Station
It should be asked why NASA continues to trust Boeing, the airplane manufacturer which developed the MAX 8 jets responsible for the deaths of 346 men, women and children in two separate crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Scientists reveal two previously unknown mechanisms for Antarctic ice shelf melting
If these gigantic ice shelves disintegrated, they would raise the global sea level by 58 meters, nearly 200 feet.
Coral bleaching threatens 73 percent of world’s reefs
Coral bleaching is another further warning of the climate crisis, with the working class and poor across the world bearing the primary brunt of its consequences as global temperatures rise, including in the oceans.
Global temperature records again broken on Monday and Tuesday
Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, largely as a result of the burning of fossil fuels, are producing record temperatures year after year.
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.
Erdoğan welcomes al-Sisi to Turkey for the first time in the shadow of the Gaza genocide
Erdogan and al-Sisi are taking steps to strengthen their ties amid Israel’s US-NATO-backed genocide in Gaza, which is spreading to the West Bank, and preparations for war against Iran.
The Middle East arena of competition between the US and China
Washington has no intention of allowing Beijing to extend its influence in the Middle East, or anywhere else in the world, and will not hesitate to use all the means at its disposal to prevent this—utilising support for Israel’s annihilation of the Palestinians in Gaza as the basis for an expanding war for control of the region initially targeting Iran.
Twenty-fifth anniversary of the August 17, 1999 Gölcük earthquake
Time is being wasted when the technology and labour are available to build millions of safe houses in a very short time in Turkey and everywhere in the world where there is a risk of earthquakes.
Threat of Middle East war on hair-trigger as Israel kills Hamas official in Lebanon, US lifts ban on weapons sales to Saudi Arabia
The killing of yet another senior Hamas official makes a mockery of the far-right Netanyahu government’s claim to be interested in negotiating a ceasefire with Hamas, not to mention the posturing by its imperialist backers in favour of a ceasefire.
Australian spooks and their media mouthpieces bemoan Assange’s freedom
The complaints have a pathetic character to them, but also underscore the fact that the assault on democratic rights associated with the persecution of Assange persists and deepens.
The Australian Labor Party’s record in the Assange case
The Australian government's involvement in the plea deal arrangements was the result of mass popular pressure. It followed years of Labor actively assisting the persecution of Assange.
Julian Assange arrives in Australia free
In a press conference, Stella Assange hailed a global support movement for creating the conditions for Assange's freedom, while warning of an ongoing assault on press freedom that had to be fought.
Julian Assange is free, but the struggle to defend democratic rights continues
On Monday, Julian Assange walked out of the UK’s Belmarsh Prison a free man, following five years of imprisonment and nearly 15 years of persecution by a cabal of imperialist governments led by the United States which hounded him for exposing their crimes.
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.
SEP in Sri Lanka commemorates second anniversary of death of Trotskyist leader Wije Dias
Wije Dias belonged to the group of young people who took up the initiative in 1968 to form the Trotskyist party in Sri Lanka and he played a leading role in the movement for 54 years until his death.
UK Socialist Equality Party election rally advances socialist and internationalist opposition to war
The meeting’s platform featured many of the principal leaders of the party that the working class needs in the battles ahead—the International Committee of the Fourth International, the world party of socialist revolution founded by Leon Trotsky.
Attendees at UK general election rally speak: “The Socialist Equality Party is what I want to dedicate my efforts to building.”
WSWS reporters spoke to some of those in attendance on their response to the Socialist Equality Party (UK) general election rally held in London on Sunday.
Billions for education not war! Support the Socialist Equality Party (UK) campaign for a unified struggle against capitalism and war!
Teachers in the UK must prepare to take on Labour as it prepares to take office. This requires a break from the trade union bureaucracy whose function, in order to secure their privileged existence, is to block the development of a struggle in defence of educators’ independent interests.
May Day 2024: The working class and the struggle against imperialist war
This is the text of the introductory speech delivered by WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North to the 2024 International May Day Online Rally.
The political significance of the 2024 May Day Online Rally
This is the text of the speech delivered by Johannes Stern, editor of the German-language edition of the WSWS, as a summation to the 2024 International May Day Online Rally.
The struggle against imperialist war among students and youth
This is the text of the speech delivered by Dilaxshan Mahalingam, an IYSSE member in Sri Lanka, to the 2024 International May Day Online Rally.
The fight against imperialist war in New Zealand and the Pacific
This is the text of the speech delivered by Tom Peters, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Group in New Zealand, to the 2024 International May Day Online Rally.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 leak” fraud: A political witch-hunt against science and public health
The hearings before the House subcommittee have been a bipartisan effort to foment anti-Chinese hysteria.
Democrats join with Republican fascists to witch-hunt scientist Peter Daszak
During Wednesday’s House Subcommittee on COVID-19 with Dr. Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, Democrats joined ranks with fascistic Republican colleagues to promote the Wuhan lab-leak lies.
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.
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.
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.
The arrest of journalist Richard Medhurst and the fight to defend democratic rights
Medhurst said of his detention at the UK’s Heathrow Airport, “I believe I'm the first journalist to be arrested under this provision of the Terrorism Act.”
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.
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.
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.
Israel murders 274 Gazans in a further escalation of the genocidal war
For a demonstration on July 24 in Washington D.C. to protest congressional invitation for Netanyahu
The World Socialist Web Site calls on workers and youth to respond to Congress’ invitation to the war criminal Netanyahu with a demonstration in Washington D.C.
Leaders of London rally issue dead-end call for Sunak and Starmer to reverse support for Israel’s genocide
The determined opposition of workers and young people is being corralled into a dead-end, with calls that the only way to stop Israel is to put pressure on the Tories and, above all, the Labour Party of genocide apologist in chief, Sir Keir Starmer.
TikTok bans video demanding Bogdan Syrotiuk’s freedom, branding it “hate speech”
The TikTok ban comes just days after the Zelensky regime issued an order banning access to the World Socialist Web Site across Ukraine. The order was issued by the Ukrainian State Special Communications Service, a wing of the country’s military-intelligence apparatus.
Australian government, opposition launch hysterical attacks on the Greens over Gaza genocide
The Greens are serving as something of a placeholder, with the real target the mass opposition to the genocide among workers and young people.
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.
Book Review: The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
Contemporary lessons from the slave power’s plot to overturn the 1860 election
Erik Larson’s new book The Demon of Unrest, published this year by Penguin Random House, contains critical lessons for the fight against Trump and the threat of dictatorship today.
Bankers in the Ivory Tower by Charlie Eaton
The financialization of higher education and the fight against war
Eaton’s book traces the financialization of higher education from the 1980s through the 2010s, which underlay the subordination of academia to Wall Street and the war machine of US imperialism.
The Disappearance of Émile Zola: Zola, Dreyfus and the struggle against antisemitism
Zola was an eloquent opponent of obscurantism and reaction, and played a major role in the exoneration of Alfred Dreyfus and the struggle against antisemitism.
David North’s The Logic of Zionism: From Nationalist Myth to the Gaza Genocide addresses the disastrous consequences of nationalist political programs
The series of lectures on the historical development of Zionism exposes the bankruptcy of all politics based on nationalism and race—and points the way forward for all those who want to fight against genocide, war and dictatorship.
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.
Authorizing NATO weapons strikes in Russia, US prepares major escalation of global war
The United States and its NATO allies are imminently preparing to announce that they will facilitate Ukraine firing NATO weapons deep into Russian territory, in the greatest escalation of the war with Russia to date.
The Harris-Trump debate: A degraded exhibition of political reaction
The degraded spectacle of Tuesday’s debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris held a mirror to a political system in extraordinary crisis. Between the mad ravings of the fascist Trump and the empty-headed platitudes of the warmonger Harris, the debate presented the vicious face of American capitalism.
UN report exposes Israel’s imperialist-backed “intentional starvation campaign against the Palestinian people”
A report by United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri has indicted Israel for using starvation as a weapon of war to exterminate the Palestinian people and seize their land. The document provides evidence of the genocidal intent of the Zionist regime and the complicity of the imperialist powers in war crimes unprecedented since World War II.
Vote “NO” on the Boeing sellout contract! Organize the rank and file against the sellouts in the IAM bureaucracy!
In bringing this contract to a vote, the IAM bureaucrats have declared they are not on the side of workers but of management, and behind them a government which does not want a strike at a major defense contractor.
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.