Perspective
Perspective
Perspective
Democrats fund Ukraine war at the expense of American workers
Having baited Russia into its reactionary invasion, the Biden administration seeks to make working people pay for the staggering cost of the war.
Top Stories
The extensive deployment of the state’s repressive machine shows that Rajapakse is systematically preparing to take on the working class now moving into struggle to defend its rights.
K. Ratnayake•
The Socialist Equality Party, the Sri Lankan section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, issued this statement in Sinhalese and Tamil.
Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka)•
Deaths from drug overdoses in 2021 neared 108,000, fueled by an ever-worsening fentanyl crisis and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Overdose deaths have now surpassed a staggering 1 million since the CDC began collecting data about two decades ago.
Kate Randall•
The Times paints a fantastic picture of social conditions in the US, claiming that hundreds of millions of American workers have never had it better.
Eric London•
Abu Akleh, a widely respected journalist who was also a US citizen, was one of Al Jazeera’s first on the spot reporters, having worked for the network since 1997.
Jean Shaoul•
The detainment of the anti-war Shariy abroad signals an escalation in Kiev’s attempts to stamp out opposition wherever it exists.
Jason Melanovski•
Detroit Diesel workers are in an immensely powerful position, but it would be a serious mistake to hope that their rejection of the contract will force the UAW to either come back with a better contract or call a strike.
WSWS Autoworker Newsletter•
The UAW has disabled commenting on social media posts and attempted to threaten and intimidate reporters distributing the Autoworker Newsletter outside of the plant.
Kathleen Martin•
By forming an alliance with the PS, a bourgeois party, Mélenchon is turning his back on the promises he made to his voters.
Alex Lantier•
The gathering of 400 top DGB officials and its eight affiliated unions is completely dominated by war and military rearmament this year.
Ulrich Rippert•
Bolsonaro’s fascistic claims that the upcoming elections will be rigged are now joined with the demand that the armed forces conduct a parallel ballot count.
Tomas Castanheira•
Vaught faces up to eight years in prison after being unjustly convicted for a medical error she made in 2017.
WSWS Health Care Workers Newsletter•
The World Socialist Web Site received this letter from a nurse in Kentucky describing the transformations in hospitals, the exploitation of nurses and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nurse Sheri•
The election of Marcos in the Philippines and the death rattle of democracy
The outcome of the election is a result of the impact of US imperialism on the country’s history expressed in a concentrated form under the conditions of the current global crisis of capitalist rule.
Joseph Scalice•
Timothy Snyder falsifies the history of the Holocaust
Portraying the Holocaust as just one element of a territorially determined phenomenon of mass killing in Eastern Europe, Snyder plays down the extent of Western and Central European victims.
David North•
Suspend the sentence of Tennessee nurse RaDonda Vaught! No jail time, fines or penalties!
Nurses and health care workers around the US and the world have rallied to the defense of RaDonda because they know the real causes of tragic medical errors are chronic understaffing, inhuman workloads, and the subordination of medical care to corporate profit.
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
On anniversary of defeat of Nazi regime, German Chancellor Scholz delivers war speech
Seventy-seven years after the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht, Scholz used the anniversary to justify an unprecedented rearmament of the German army and a massive expansion of the proxy war against Russia.
Christoph Vandreier•
Evan Blake•
Norisa Diaz, Benjamin Mateus•
Jean Shaoul, Chris Marsden•
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka)•
May Day 2022: The NATO-Russia war and the tasks of the international working class
In his introduction to the International May Day Online Rally, WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North reviews the historical origins of the US-NATO war drive against Russia and outlines the political strategy of the working class to oppose the danger of World War III.
Watch the recording
May Day 2022: The revolutionary role of the American working class
This is the report delivered by Joseph Kishore to the 2022 International May Day Online Rally held on May 1. Kishore is the national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in the United States.
Joseph Kishore•
May Day 2022: The class struggle in the Asia-Pacific
This is the report delivered by Tom Peters to the 2022 International May Day Online Rally held on May 1. Peters is a leading member of the Socialist Equality Group in New Zealand, which is fighting to build a section of the ICFI.
Tom Peters•
May Day 2022: Young people must turn to the working class and the fight for socialism!
This is the report delivered by Gregor Link to the 2022 International May Day Online Rally held on May 1. Link is a leading member in Germany of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, the youth movement of the International Committee of the Fourth International and its affiliated Socialist Equality Parties.
Gregor Link•
May Day 2022: Australian ruling class promotes anti-China campaign
This is the report delivered by Cheryl Crisp to the 2022 International May Day Online Rally held on May 1. Crisp is the national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in Australia.
Cheryl Crisp•
Nick Beams•
Ulaş Ateşçi•
Alex Lantier•
Chris Marsden•
M. Thevarajah•
United States seeks to provoke Russia into escalation in Ukraine
The New York Times and NBC published reports, based on the statements of US officials, documenting both the extent of direct US involvement in the war in Ukraine and the deliberate effort to provoke a direct conflict with Russia.
Andre Damon•
The Guns of April
The United States and the NATO powers of Europe have set into motion a chain of events that is leading to World War III.
WSWS Editorial Board•
“Breaking the back” of Russia: US war aims emerge in Ukraine
Two months after the outbreak of war between Russia and Ukraine, US officials are making it clear that their goal in the conflict is not a ceasefire or end to the war, but a decisive strategic defeat for Russia.
Andre Damon•
A letter to a friend on the historical and political background to the war in Ukraine
This letter was sent by WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North to a friend who requested North’s opinion on a recent online discussion held at a US college on the Russia-Ukraine war.
David North•
Timeline of thirty years of war: The historical background to the US-NATO conflict with Russia
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.
View the Timeline
The hypocrisy of Anthony Fauci’s graduation remarks at the University of Michigan
The appearance of the former White House Coronavirus Task Force leader and current chief medical adviser to the president signifies his acceptance of the normalization of the Biden administration’s distortion of science.
International Youth and Students for Social Equality at University of Michigan•
Canadian education worker infected by COVID-19 speaks to the Global Workers Inquest: “An indifferent, sociopathic regime equal to any despotic cabal in any era”
“I was denied a medically justified request for accommodation. Then, when incapacitated by the very malaise I had asked to be spared exposure to, I was left too sick to work and without medical benefits,” the worker said.
Malcolm Fiedler•
Covid-19 still spreading in Spain as PSOE-Podemos government ends mask mandate
Throughout the pandemic, the PSOE-Podemos government has refused to follow a scientifically guided policy to eliminate the virus, instead placing profits over lives.
Alice Summers•
Study finds unmitigated spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the US could lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths
The White House changes its rosy assessment of the pandemic as evidence emerges for mass infection and deaths this fall and winter.
Benjamin Mateus•
Thomas Scripps•
Malcolm Fiedler, Roger Jordan•
Benjamin Mateus•
Tom Peters•
D. Lencho•
Texas oil worker calls for industry-wide mobilization to back Chevron strike
A Texas oil worker spoke with the World Socialist Web Site about the significance of Valero workers turning down the contract amid a nationwide struggle of oil workers against the corporatist unions and the oil companies.
Trévon Austin•
Amazon fires managers for not being sufficiently aggressive against union organizing efforts at JFK8
The firing of several senior managers at JFK8 after the victory of the Amazon Labor Union is meant to be an intimidating message to all workers.
Philip Guelpa•
UAW blocks strike, moves for snap contract vote for 1,300 Detroit Diesel workers
Workers at Detroit Diesel are scheduled to hold a contract ratification vote next Tuesday after the UAW announced an 11th-hour settlement, blocking a strike by workers against the maker of commercial truck engines.
Kathleen Martin•
Suspend the sentence of Tennessee nurse RaDonda Vaught! No jail time, fines or penalties!
Nurses and health care workers around the US and the world have rallied to the defense of RaDonda because they know the real causes of tragic medical errors are chronic understaffing, inhuman workloads, and the subordination of medical care to corporate profit.
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
David Fitzgerald, Kayla Costa•
Statement by the London Bus Rank-and-File Committee•
James Martin, Andy Thompson•
Our reporters•
Alan Gilman•
Elon Musk says he will restore Donald Trump’s account on Twitter
Elon Musk, whose offer to purchase Twitter for $44 billion has been accepted by the company, stated on Tuesday that he plans to restore Donald Trump’s account on the platform.
Kevin Reed•
Media intensifies campaign to exonerate cop who killed Patrick Lyoya
Following the release of information from the Kent County Medical Examiner that Patrick Lyoya’s blood alcohol concentration was three times the legal limit, local news media has ramped up the campaign to exonerate Officer Christopher Schurr after he shot the Congolese refugee in the back of the head.
Kevin Reed•
Six US Air Force personnel indicted for stealing thousands of rounds of ammunition from air base
According to the indictment, Air Force Staff Sgt. John Sanger became a subject of investigation after posting on social media his belief that the 2020 election was stolen and that “people have to die.”
Jacob Crosse•
Mother of twins killed in New Jersey house fire abandoned by local and state officials: “I’m pretty much on my own at this point”
Sadiyyah Brown, a health care worker and mother of three other children, has been left on her own to grieve. Her experience reveals the callous disregard that the ruling class has for the lives and well-being of workers.
Erik Schreiber•
Jacob Crosse•
Michael Anders•
Steve Hill•
Nick Beams•
Erik Schreiber•
France’s Jean-luc Mélenchon announces a “New popular union” with the capitalist Socialist Party
By forming an alliance with the PS, a bourgeois party, Mélenchon is turning his back on the promises he made to his voters.
Alex Lantier•
UK: BT imposes below inflation pay award as telecom workers prepare strike ballot
BT has justified its pay award stating it “contrasts well with the average of 3% typically being awarded by UK employers.” This is a measure of how the trade unions have helped impose de facto pay cuts.
Tony Robson•
The Greek government’s responsibility for violent attacks on Russians in Athens
During the Orthodox Easter festival in Greece, Ukrainian nationalists beat up Oksana Maryakhina, who has lived in Greece for 20 years. Right-wing radicals feel emboldened by the nationalist warmongering.
Katerina Selin•
Germany’s conservative CDU wins state election in Schleswig-Holstein
In order to suppress growing popular resistance to war and social cuts, Germany’s political parties are closing ranks and working ever more closely together.
Peter Schwarz•
Robert Stevens•
Peter Schwarz•
Andrea Peters•
Steve James•
Gregor Link•
Australian union turns aged care workers’ strike into Labor election stunt
While workers voted to strike almost a month ago, the action was timed to occur in the closing weeks of the federal election campaign.
Our reporters•
Australian election features “wage growth” sham
The Labor Party is working with the trade unions to keep a lid on the eruption of strikes by holding out false hopes of wages relief under a Labor government.
John Davis, Socialist Equality Party Senate candidate for Queensland•
Australia: Labor and the Coalition in lockstep as COVID-19 infection toll passes six million
The Socialist Equality Party is the only party in this election advancing a program of action for the working class to protect lives and end the pandemic.
Jason Wardle, Socialist Equality Party candidate for the Senate in Victoria•
Strong support for SEP’s socialist program in Australian rural city of Shepparton
“There’s no way I’m voting for another capitalist government in my life” – Cherrill
Our reporters•
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Oscar Grenfell, Socialist Equality Party Senate candidate for New South Wales•
Patrick O'Connor•
Our reporters•
BBC Panorama exposes crimes committed against hundreds of sub-postmasters by the Post Office
Panorama described what befell the sub-postmasters as the “most widespread miscarriage of justice in British legal history”.
Barry Mason•
2022 San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 3
Wet Sand, Private Desert, Montana Story and Fire on the Plain: Dramatic possibilities
The filmmakers forget that “the consciousness of men depends on their being, and not vice versa.”
David Walsh•
Actor Frank Langella denounces “cancel culture” in response to firing from Netflix’s Fall of the House of Usher
Langella’s letter to the Deadline industry publication exposes the anti-democratic, artistically stifling atmosphere that pervades the media and entertainment industry.
Nick Barrickman•
The Batman: Obscuring reality behind shadows and capes
The latest entry in the comic book film franchise is grim, murky and pointless.
Carlos Delgado•
Bernd Reinhardt•
Joanne Laurier•
David Walsh•
Kevin Reed•
Sybille Fuchs•
Coronial inquiry into Christchurch terror attack will continue cover-up of state agencies
Coroner Brigitte Windley has said she will not investigate whether there were “missed opportunities” for police and intelligence agencies to prevent the 2019 attack by fascist gunman Brenton Tarrant, which killed 51 people.
Tom Peters•
Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wins Philippine presidential election
The outcome of the 2022 election in the Philippines represents a victory for the most reactionary forces in the country’s politics.
Joseph Scalice•
Two New Zealand port workers killed in one week
Ongoing deaths and injuries among port workers are the result of decades of restructuring and profiteering, exacerbated by the recent global supply chain crisis.
John Braddock•
Solomon Islands PM warns of invasion by Australia and US
In an address to parliament, Sogavare denounced the ultimatums issued by the US and Australian governments that no Chinese military presence in Solomon Islands would be tolerated.
Mike Head, Socialist Equality Party candidate for the Senate in Queensland•
John Braddock•
Nick Beams•
Patrick O'Connor•
Ben McGrath•
Patrick O’Connor•
Sri Lankan workers defy curfew, government-organised violence
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across Sri Lanka yesterday to express their opposition to the attack by government-organised thugs on anti-government protesters encamped in central Colombo for the past month.
Peter Symonds•
Oppose the draconian State of Emergency! No to presidential dictatorship! Abolish the executive presidency!
The declaration of a state of emergency is in preparation to crush the working class and the month-long struggle of working people for the president’s resignation and an end to the social misery created by skyrocketing inflation and chronic shortages of essentials.
Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka)•
As Sri Lankan protests grow, Ceylon Workers Congress courts India’s Hindu-supremacist BJP
BJP officials attended the CWC union’s May Day meeting in Nuwara Eliya as envoys of India’s Hindu-supremacist government.
Athiyan Silva•
Following yesterday’s general strike, Sri Lankan president imposes state of emergency
President Rajapakse has clearly been shaken by the entry of the working class into the mass protest movement against his government, fuelled by intolerable social and economic conditions.
Our reporters•
Our reporters•
Pani Wijesiriwardena•
Our reporter•
Our correspondents•
our reporters•
Bring down Sri Lanka’s Rajapakse government! Abolish the executive presidency! No to austerity and starvation!
Neither the Sri Lankan government nor the opposition parties have any solution to the hunger and want facing working people. The SEP is advancing a program of action for the working class which alone can resolve the immense social and economic crisis.
Read the statement
This week in history: May 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.
•
Alexei Yarotsky’s remarkable memoir about the early Soviet Union and the Stalinist terror: Part One
The Soviet engineer wrote his memoirs in the 1970s of experiencing the October Revolution, the Civil War and the Great Terror.
Clara Weiss•
This week in history: May 2-8
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
•
This week in history: April 25-May 1
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
•
•
•
•
Patrick Martin•
Verena Nees•
Mélenchon turns his back on his voters to negotiate with French social democrats
Mélenchon's return to talks with a discredited, reactionary party shows that he aims not to mobilize his 7.7 million voters, but to push them to the right.
Kumaran Ira•
Mélenchon to ally with Greens, PCF, NPA in French legislative election
Jean Luc-Mélenchon is not trying to mobilise the workers, but to bring together discredited bourgeois or petty-bourgeois political parties.
Kumaran Ira•
“Between Le Pen and Macron, it’s plague and cholera.”
Workers and youth in northern Paris speak against candidates in French election
On Saturday, the day before polling in the French presidential elections, WSWS journalists interviewed workers and young people in the working-class north Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis about the vote between Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen.
our reporters•
French student speaks out on election “catastrophe”
In the city of Amiens, WSWS journalists interviewed Clémence, a student and job seeker, on the French presidential elections.
Antoine Lerougetel•
Alex Lantier•
Samuel Tissot•
Alex Lantier•
Kumaran Ira•
Alex Lantier•
Democrats duck any real fight on abortion rights
Despite rhetorical denunciations of the attacks on women’s rights at weekend protests, Senate Democrats are doing nothing outside of bringing up an abortion bill they know will fail.
Patrick Martin•
Bernie Sanders speaks at “Unity Fest” rally in Richmond, Virginia: A trap for Starbucks workers
On April 24, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders spoke at Unity Fest, an event organized to celebrate the successful unionization vote at five Starbucks locations in Richmond, Virginia under Starbucks United, a section of the Workers United union.
James Langley•
Contractors linked to fascist paramilitary groups paid to train police in at least 12 US states
Police departments across the country have employed the services of fascist trainers, according to a new report by Reuters.
Jacob Crosse•
Court documents in latest Oath Keeper seditious conspiracy plea deal reveal
Fascist militia leader Stewart Rhodes sought Trump’s approval on January 6 for more violent attacks
After the initial attack failed, Rhodes over the phone lobbied a Trump intermediary and asked to speak directly with the then president to suggest that he order far-right militia groups to take Congress by force.
Jacob Crosse•
Patrick Martin•
Jacob Crosse•
Andre Damon•
Chase Lawrence•
Patrick Martin•
Questions over May Day demonstration shootings in Santiago, Chile: Who ordered the attack on unarmed protesters?
Security forces and the police stood by as criminals shot at the demonstrators.
Mauricio Saavedra•
Sharp rise in cost of living, high unemployment portend renewal of class conflict in Chile
Police repression is already taking hold under the Boric administration against hunger riots and looting, school occupations, road blockades by truck owner-operators, and striking port and health workers.
Mauricio Saavedra•
British Virgin Islands premier’s arrest exposes Britain’s central role in global corruption and criminality
The arrests expose the financial skullduggery of not only the BVI, one of the world’s premier tax havens, but Britain, which retains overall control of the islands.
Jean Shaoul•
Working class struggles explode in Peru
The popular slogan has been “out with all of them,” reflecting a rejection of Peru's entire bourgeois governmental setup.
Don Knowland, Cesar Uco•
Brunna Machado•
Eric London•
Mauricio Saavedra•
Tomas Castanheira•
Cesar Uco, Don Knowland•
Canadian education worker infected by COVID-19 speaks to the Global Workers Inquest: “An indifferent, sociopathic regime equal to any despotic cabal in any era”
“I was denied a medically justified request for accommodation. Then, when incapacitated by the very malaise I had asked to be spared exposure to, I was left too sick to work and without medical benefits,” the worker said.
Malcolm Fiedler•
Global Workers’ Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic
UK nurse testifies about life on a COVID ward: “There was a general feeling that we were expendable”
The following testimony to the Global Workers Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic has been submitted by a Senior Health Care Assistant in a busy hospital in the north of England. The nurse normally works on a gerontology ward caring for the old and infirm and those suffering from dementia.
•
“This is a mass disabling event that’s taking place”: Canadian mother speaks to the Global Workers’ Inquest on her struggle to protect her children from COVID-19
Jessica Bleasdale spoke to the WSWS about her experiences advocating for her son and others who are vulnerable, as well as her thoughts on the New Brunswick government’s decision to drop all protective measures.
Dylan Lubao•
“The Gamma variant was maliciously created in Manaus by Bolsonaro’s herd immunity policy”
Brazilian researcher Lucas Ferrante testifies on the role of schools in spreading COVID-19
The studies led by Ferrante showed that the reopening of schools in Manaus in late 2020 led to the emergence of the Gamma variant, responsible for two-thirds of the COVID-19 deaths in Brazil.
Guilherme Ferreira•
Emma Arceneaux•
Evan Blake•
Richard Phillips, Cheryl Crisp•
Our reporters•
Tom Peters•
Statement of the Editorial Board
For a Global Workers’ Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic
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.
Find out more
Australian government, Labor wash their hands of Assange amid imminent extradition threat
Any conception that a Labor government would defend Assange is refuted by over a decade of experience and the statements of Labor leaders themselves.
Oscar Grenfell, Socialist Equality Party candidate for the Senate in NSW•
UK court approves extradition of Julian Assange to US, decision with home secretary Patel
According to the Extradition Act (2003) which governs the process, Assange now has four weeks (to May 18) to make representations to Patel before her decision is announced.
Thomas Scripps•
Labor-Greens bury Assange’s plight ahead of Australian federal election
A particularly pernicious role is played by Greens MPs who have criticised Assange’s persecution, but are working with Labor to ensure it is buried in the forthcoming election.
Oscar Grenfell•
Julian Assange marries Stella Moris in London’s Belmarsh prison
By holding their wedding, Moris said, they were fighting back against the British state’s efforts to keep Assange “invisible to the public at all costs”.
Thomas Scripps•
Our reporters•
Oscar Grenfell•
Thomas Scripps•
Our correspondents•
Thomas Scripps•
US Federal Reserve raises rates, outlines class war policy against workers
The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point as part of the fight against what Chairman Jerome Powell called “wage inflation.”
Jerry White•
Fed monetary tightening hits Wall Street
Yesterday, the tech-heavy NASDAQ index dropped by 4.2 percent, bringing its loss for April to 13 percent, making it the worst month since the global financial crisis of 2008.
Nick Beams•
US interest rate policies leading to major shifts in global currency markets
The value of the euro and the yen has fallen sharply in recent weeks because of the expectation that interest rates will not rise as fast as in the US, if at all.
Nick Beams•
European Central Bank paints bleak picture of economy
The ECB resisted pressure to follow the lead of the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, as well as other central banks, to lift interest rates in response to the global surge in inflation
Nick Beams•
Nick Beams•
Nick Beams•
Kevin Reed•
Shannon Jones•
Nick Beams•
Stop the drive to World War III!
In this webinar, an international panel of leading members of the ICFI and WSWS writers reviewed the causes and consequences of the US-NATO war drive against Russia and present the political basis for a fight against war.
Watch the recording
Right-wing radical Professor Jörg Baberowski faces trial for causing bodily harm and damage to property
In early 2020, Professor Baberowski physically assaulted an IYSSE member of the student parliament at Berlin’s Humboldt University and destroyed large amounts of student election campaign material.
Gregor Link, Christoph Vandreier•
The fight for a future free of climate change and war is the fight for world socialism!
Any suggestion that the upcoming federal election will resolve anything on climate change, or any other substantive issue facing youth and workers, is a lie.
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia)•
UIC graduate student workers continue strike against poverty wages, as AFT prepares austerity agreement
A mood of growing frustration is building among university faculty and grad student workers throughout the University of Illinois system, centered on the surging cost of living and eroding incomes.
James Martin•
Detroit youth stage “die-in” to demand more school counselors
Michigan schools have the nation’s second-worst student-to-counselor ratio, 691 to 1, under conditions of a deepening mental health emergency nationally.
Nancy Hanover•
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia)•
Our reporters•
Our reporters•
Claude Delphian•
Tim Rivers•
Israel’s anti-Palestinian provocations threaten stability of Israel, Gaza, West Bank and Jordan
The Al Aqsa Mosque compound, holy to Jews and Muslims, has been occupied illegally along with the West Bank, Gaza and Syria’s Golan Heights since the 1967 Arab Israeli war. Israel has broken longstanding agreements that allow Jewish visits but bar Jewish worship at the site, as extremists groups demand access to pray there.
Jean Shaoul•
Israel attacks worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque to stoke war
According to the Palestinian Red Crescent, 153 Palestinians were hospitalised, while “dozens of other injuries” were treated at the scene. Nearly 400 people were arrested.
Jean Shaoul•
International Monetary Fund agrees minimal loan for Lebanon amid potential social and political meltdown
According to the UN’s World Food Programme, which has previously warned that the war in Ukraine could drive millions in the Middle East into food poverty and lead to global food insecurity, the cost of the basic food basket in Lebanon, the minimum a family needs per month, soared by 351 percent in the past year.
Jean Shaoul•
Tunisian president assumes dictatorial powers amid deepening social unrest
This year has seen numerous demonstrations protesting social and economic conditions, with the total number of demonstrations in the eight months since Saïed’s July coup topping those that proceeded it.
Jean Shaoul•
Jean Shaoul•
Jean Shaoul•
Jean Shaoul•
Patrick Martin•
Patrick Martin•
David North speaks on the NATO-Russia war on Turkey’s KİTABA DAİR
David North, the chairman of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site, spoke with Turkey’s KİTABA DAİR on his book, The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished 20th Century, and the rapidly intensifying conflict between Russia and NATO over Ukraine.
Watch the recording
Workers and youth condemn Facebook censorship of Socialist Equality Party’s anti-war video
“This censorship is not only directed against us, but against the mass opposition to a world war,” says Vandreier. The socialist anti-war perspective of the SGP “is to be banned and censored in the midst of deafening war propaganda for a third world war.”
Our reporters•
Socialist Equality Party discusses building an anti-war movement with UK workers
Workers including bus drivers, healthcare staff and teachers active in rank-and-file committees in the UK were invited by the SEP to discuss a fight against war based on the working class and socialism.
Richard Tyler•
Sri Lankan SEP/IYSSE holds well attended online meeting against US-NATO war drive and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
The speakers emphasized that the opposition of the working class to the war is needed to be developed as a conscious political movement for socialism.
our correspondents•
Sri Lanka: SEP/IYSSE meeting participants denounce US-NATO war and Russian invasion of Ukraine
“The destruction created by the COVID-19 pandemic and the drive towards a third world war clearly shows that capitalism neither wants nor is able to resolve the basic questions faced by mankind”
Our correspondents•
David Walsh•
Marianne Arens•
Our reporter•
Helen Hayes, Usman Khan•
Shannon Jones•
Stop censoring the opponents of war!
On Saturday, Facebook deleted a video posted by the Socialist Equality Party of Germany opposing the German government’s participation in the US-led NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine.
Christoph Vandreier•
Social media platforms expand censorship of anti-war and anti-imperialist voices
Six years of Chris Hedges’ On Contact program erased by YouTube
YouTube deleted the archive of Chris Hedges’ On Contact television program from its platform with no explanation.
Kevin Reed•
Whistleblower testimony launches bipartisan campaign for Facebook censorship
The Senate testimony by former Facebook employee Frances Haugen has intensified the bipartisan drive to clamp down on left-wing and socialist political content on social media platforms.
Kevin Reed•
US seizes PressTV.com and 32 other Iranian media website domains
In a provocative act of censorship and imperialist gangsterism, the Biden administration took control of three dozen internet domains and shut down websites affiliated with Iran-based media organizations on unsubstantiated grounds of “disinformation campaigns and malign influence operations.”
Kevin Reed•
Kevin Reed•
Alex Johnson•
Trévon Austin•
WSWS Educators Newsletter•
The fight for Trotskyism and the political foundations of the World Socialist Web Site
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 New York Times 1619 Project: A New Origin Story: History as the emanation of race
The Times, which wishes readers to take the 1619 Project seriously as a “reframing of American history,” has said more than it intended.
Tom Mackaman•
An interview with Mark Kruger, author of The St. Louis Commune of 1877: Communism in the Heartland
The World Socialist Web Site recently spoke with Mark Kruger about his new book, the 1619 Project, and the current state of American politics.
Douglas Lyons•
Historian Jack Rakove on American history writing and the falsifications of the 1619 Project and its defenders
Professor Jack Rakove is a leading scholar of the American Revolution and the framing of the Constitution.
Tom Mackaman•
The New York Times’ Jake Silverstein concocts “a new origin story” for the 1619 Project
Having previously disregarded historiography, Silverstein now falsifies it—and admits to privileging “narrative” over “actual fact.”
Tom Mackaman•
Tom Mackaman•
Niles Niemuth•
Niles Niemuth•
David North•
David North•
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.
Climate change will lead to increasing spillover of viruses to humans, potentially causing new pandemics
A new modeling study of climate change finds that the resulting forced migrations of animals will significantly increase the transfer of pathogens to humans.
Philip Guelpa•
Letter from a concerned scientist:
Oppose the bans on Russian scientists
“As part of the anti-Russian campaign that followed Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Russian research institutes and Russian scientists are being ostracized from the international scientific community.”
•
Climate scientist Michael Mills describes the devastation of a nuclear detonation
The World Socialist Web Site five years ago interviewed Michael Mills, an expert on the dangers of nuclear war. Today we are republishing that interview.
Bryan Dyne•
“In a nuclear war between the US and Russia, everybody in the world would die”
Nuclear expert speaks on the dangers of war between the US and Russia
The World Socialist Web Site five years ago interviewed Greg Mello, an expert on the dangers of nuclear war. Today we are republishing that interview.
Bryan Dyne, Barry Grey•
Daniel de Vries•
Bryan Dyne•
Ronan Coddington•
Philip Guelpa•
Bryan Dyne, Don Barrett•
Miners force ANC President Ramaphosa to abandon May Day speech
COSATU is warning its ANC partners that they have massively underestimated the anger building in the working class.
Jean Shaoul, Chris Marsden•
Tunisian president assumes dictatorial powers amid deepening social unrest
This year has seen numerous demonstrations protesting social and economic conditions, with the total number of demonstrations in the eight months since Saïed’s July coup topping those that proceeded it.
Jean Shaoul•
Sudan erupts as millions in Africa go hungry due to Ukraine war and sanctions on Russia
According to the World Food Programme, 44 million people worldwide are on the brink of famine and another 232 million are only one step behind.
Jean Shaoul•
War in Ukraine and Russia sanctions threaten food supplies in Middle East and North Africa
Russia and Ukraine account for nearly one third of the world’s grain exports, one fifth of its corn trade and almost 80 percent of sunflower oil production.
Jean Shaoul•
Alex Lantier•
Jean Shaoul•
Jean Shaoul•
Jean Shaoul•
Matthew Brennan•
The politically driven campaign against Harvard anthropologist John Comaroff
The attack on Harvard anthropology professor John Comaroff has taken to a new level the campaign to purge American colleges and universities on the basis of anti-democratic identity politics.
David Walsh•
The concerted, cowardly #MeToo attack on Harvard professor John Comaroff
John Comaroff, professor of African and African American studies and of anthropology at Harvard University, has become the target of what has all the earmarks of another filthy #MeToo witch-hunt.
David Walsh•
Campus opposition at University of Michigan mounts to victimization of Bright Sheng
Professors and students continue to speak out against the anti-democratic victimization of University of Michigan professor and composer Bright Sheng.
James McDonald, Sam Wayne•
Australian High Court sets precedent for sacking dissenting academics
The judges effectively cleared the way for universities to dismiss staff for criticising management or breaching confidentiality rules.
Mike Head•
Matthew Brennan, Barry Grey•
Barry Grey•
James McDonald•
David Walsh•
•
WSWS Review
Thirty years since the dissolution of the USSR
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.
Read more
Germany’s preparations for a third world war in full swing
Although a third world war would mean the end of humanity, the German government is busily making the economic and geopolitical preparations for it, in addition to the military ones. In recent weeks, it has set a course to reorganise trade and economic relations for a war against Russia and China.
Peter Schwarz•
White House announces another $800 million in military aid to Ukraine
.The White House announced on Thursday that it will be sending an additional $800 million in military aid to Ukraine for its proxy war with Russia which is now focused in the East of the country.
Clara Weiss•
German government invests billions into prolonging Ukraine war
NATO wants the military defeat and economic ruin of Russia. It has no interest in ending the war through a ceasefire.
Peter Schwarz•
White House says “nothing will dissuade” US from arming Ukraine
Russia has submitted a formal note protesting the US transfer of billions of dollars in military hardware to Ukraine, and raising the prospect of Russian retaliation against US/NATO arms shipments.
Andre Damon•
Andre Damon•
Robert Sutherland•
Mike Head•
Roger Jordan•
Joseph Kishore, David North•
Berlin Administrative Court affirms secret service observation of left-wing newspaper junge Welt
On 18 March, the Berlin Administrative Court rejected an emergency application by junge Welt that it no longer be described as “left-wing extremist” in the secret service annual report.
Justus Leicht•
Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei lawsuit against the Secret Service
Berlin Administrative Court declares criticism of capitalism unconstitutional
The German court judgement and its written grounds represent a fundamental attack on democratic rights. The aim is to ban socialist ideas and any criticism of capitalism.
Statement of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei•
UK Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee denounces court ruling upholding designation of Germany's Socialist Equality Party as “left wing extremists”
The Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee (UK) passed a resolution Monday condemning the ruling of the Berlin Administrative Court, which on November 18, 2021, upheld the designation of the German security service of the German section of the ICFI as “left wing extremists”.
Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee (UK)•
Berlin Administrative Court rules socialist ideas are “anti-constitutional”
The court’s ruling against the Socialist Equality Party stands in the tradition of National Socialist ideological jurisprudence and Bismarck’s anti-socialist laws, and opens the door for the surveillance and suppression of all opposition to capitalism and arbitrary state power.
Peter Schwarz•
Christoph Vandreier•
Christoph Vandreier•
our reporters•
Christoph Vandreier•
Wolfgang Weber•
100 years since the birth of Jean Brust
August 31, 2021 marks 100 years since the birth of Jean Brust, a leading figure in the Trotskyist movement. Comrade Jean, who died November 24, 1997 at the age of 76, joined the Trotskyist-led Young Peoples Socialist League as a teenager in 1937.
Three international studies into the origins of coronavirus refute the fabricated Wuhan “lab leak” claim
Three just-released studies provide substantive evidence for the natural origin of SARS-CoV-2, with the Huanan market in Wuhan, China the location of the first zoonotic (animal to human) transfer.
Benjamin Mateus•
Promoters of “Wuhan lab” conspiracy theory fume as their claims fall apart
As scientific studies continue to undermine the conspiracy theory that SARS-CoV-2 is a genetically engineered virus, journalist Glenn Greenwald has accused the New York Times and Washington Post of being insufficiently faithful to the lab leak “theory.”
Andre Damon•
A disgraced liar accuses scientists: Matt Ridley’s Viral
In the most systematic defense of the Wuhan lab libel to date, Matt Ridley proves only the falsehood of his bad-faith attack on science.
Andre Damon•
Washington Post calls for a COVID-19 cover-up
The commission advocated by the Washington Post will be aimed at shielding the government and corporate officials responsible for the deaths of more than one million Americans, while scapegoating China for the pandemic.
Andre Damon•
Andre Damon•
Andre Damon•
Andre Damon•
Andre Damon•
John Braddock•
Twenty years since the September 11 terror attacks
The horrific massacre of civilians was immediately exploited by the imperialist powers, led by the United States government itself, to justify far-reaching attacks on the democratic rights of their own populations, and the launching of decades-long wars in the Middle East and Africa.
Read more
Democrats fund Ukraine war at the expense of American workers
Having baited Russia into its reactionary invasion, the Biden administration seeks to make working people pay for the staggering cost of the war.
Patrick Martin•
The election of Marcos in the Philippines and the death rattle of democracy
The outcome of the election is a result of the impact of US imperialism on the country’s history expressed in a concentrated form under the conditions of the current global crisis of capitalist rule.
Joseph Scalice•
On anniversary of defeat of Nazi regime, German Chancellor Scholz delivers war speech
Seventy-seven years after the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht, Scholz used the anniversary to justify an unprecedented rearmament of the German army and a massive expansion of the proxy war against Russia.
Christoph Vandreier•
One hundred million coronavirus cases in the US predicted for fall and winter surge
The implications of the level of mass infection predicted by the White House are staggering. One hundred million new cases implies, using the accepted infection fatality rate of the virus of 0.5 percent, 500,000 new deaths in the United States alone.
Bryan Dyne•
Eric London•
Andre Damon•
Evan Blake•
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Andre Damon•
Cliff Slaughter: A political biography (1928-1963)
By David North
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.
Fascist militia leader Stewart Rhodes sought Trump’s approval on January 6 for more violent attacks
After the initial attack failed, Rhodes over the phone lobbied a Trump intermediary and asked to speak directly with the then president to suggest that he order far-right militia groups to take Congress by force.
Jacob Crosse•
Quebec Court of Appeal covers up violent activities of far-right
Although the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal of the notorious neo-Nazi Raphaël Lévesque for a 2018 assault, it did so on narrow legal grounds, trivializing and covering up the increasingly violent activities of the far-right in Quebec and across Canada.
Hugo Maltais•
Nancy Pelosi touts arms shipments to Ukraine, refuses to answer questions on Republican role in January 6 coup
In her weekly press conference, Pelosi lashed out at reporters who asked her to respond to audio tapes confirming that Republican House leader Kevin McCarthy blamed Trump for the coup and feared further violence following the attack.
Jacob Crosse•
Kevin McCarthy meets with Republican House conference amid ongoing revelations regarding January 6 coup
McCarthy received a “standing ovation” from House Republicans at a closed-door meeting Wednesday, his first with the conference since the release of audio recordings from January 2021 in which McCarthy suggested Trump should resign following the failed coup.
Jacob Crosse•
Eric London•
Jacob Crosse•
Jacob Crosse•
Jacob Crosse•
Jacob Crosse•
Eighty years since the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union
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.
Read more
Socialist Equality Party summer school prepares membership for growth of class struggle
The Socialist Equality Party in the United States held a summer school from August 1 through August 6. It was devoted to an analysis of the major social and political events in the US and internationally since the previous SEP school, held in July of 2019.
Barry Grey•
SEP Summer School 2021 Lecture
The historical background and initial stages of the COVID-19 pandemic
This report to the 2021 SEP summer school was delivered by Dr. Benjamin Mateus, who has led the coverage on the WSWS of the scientific and medical issues posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Benjamin Mateus•
SEP Summer School 2021 Lecture
January 6, 2021: Donald Trump’s plot against America
The following lecture was delivered at the Socialist Equality Party (US) 2021 summer school by Eric London, a writer for the WSWS and author of Agents: The FBI and GPU Infiltration of the Trotskyist Movement.
Eric London•
The lessons of the 2021 Volvo strike
This lecture was delivered at the Socialist Equality Party (US) 2021 summer school, held August 1 through August 6, by Marcus Day, a writer for the World Socialist Web Site .
Marcus Day•
Tom Carter•
Jerry White•
Tom Mackaman•
Andre Damon•
Patrick Martin•
Sylvia Ageloff and the assassination of Leon Trotsky
With David North and Eric London
North and London discussed the significance of the latest revelations of the the Security and the Fourth International investigation into Trotsky’s assassination.
Watch the video
Introduction to new book Pike River: The Crime and Cover-up
Pike River: The Crime and Cover-up, published by Mehring Books, examines the causes of the 2010 New Zealand mine disaster, which killed 29 people, and the decade-long cover-up by successive governments and the judicial system, which have shielded the company leadership from prosecution.
Tom Peters•
Son of New Zealand mine disaster victim denounces lack of accountability
Ben Joynson was 10-years-old when his father William died, with 28 other workers, in the 2010 Pike River coal mine disaster. He said the trauma suffered by the victims’ families has been made worse by the lack of accountability.
Tom Peters•
Brother of New Zealand mine disaster victim denounces abandonment of underground investigation
Gordon Dixon, whose brother Allan died in the 2010 Pike River mine disaster, told the WSWS that the Labour Party-led government’s decision to permanently seal the mine was part of an ongoing cover-up to protect those responsible.
Tom Peters•
New Zealand police end borehole drilling at Pike River mine after finding more human remains
The Labour Party-led government permanently sealed Pike River mine last year, preventing the recovery of the bodies of 29 men who perished in the 2010 underground disaster, and locking away vital evidence of what caused the explosions.
Tom Peters•
Tom Peters•
Tom Peters•
Tom Peters•
Tom Peters•
Tom Peters•
150 years since the birth of Rosa Luxemburg
The meeting examined Luxemburg’s role as a Marxist theoretician and political leader, and discussed the significance of her legacy to the contemporary struggle to build a Marxist leadership.
Watch the video
Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes: New poems by Nicky Beer
In this new collection, the stated theme of illusion is not always probed deeply—nor is it the only theme.
Erik Schreiber•
A comment on American author Joan Didion (1934-2021)
Joan Didion, the essayist and novelist who critically described nearly 60 years of American social and cultural life, died on December 23.
Sandy English•
Customs: Poet Solmaz Sharif examines imperialism and exile
The second book by an acclaimed and politically engaged young poet is notable for its international and historical perspective.
Erik Schreiber•
An unoriginal hagiography of the Democratic Party: Michael Kazin's What it Took to Win
Michael Kazin’s book What It Took To Win: A History of the Democratic Party is as unoriginal as it is wrong
Eric London•
James McDonald, David Walsh•
Tom Mackaman•
James McDonald•
Douglas Lyons•
Andrea Peters•
