On behalf of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei, the German section of the ICFI, I would like to bring revolutionary greetings to this rally celebrating the relaunch of the World Socialist Web Site.
I will focus my remarks on the critical role of the WSWS in mobilizing the international working class against the rise of the far right and the growing danger of fascism.
Our definition of the COVID-19 pandemic as a trigger event certainly applies to the ruling classes’ turn to dictatorial and fascistic forms of rule.
The events in the US on the eve of the presidential elections make clear how openly the bourgeoisie is once again relying on fascist forces to impose its policy of militarism, social attacks and herd immunity against the growing opposition among workers and youth.
Two weeks ago, the exposure of a plot to kidnap and assassinate Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer revealed the existence of a far-right terrorist network across the US.
While the bourgeois media, the Democrats and their pseudo-left appendages do everything to either conceal or downplay them, the WSWS provides extensive coverage of these extremely dangerous events.
The great revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg once said: “To say what is remains the most revolutionary act.” This is exactly what the World Socialist Web Site does.
The fascist militias are part of a comprehensive strategy by US President Donald Trump not to recognize his likely defeat in the elections and remain in power through a fascist coup.
In sounding the alarm, the WSWS insists that the working class is not just confronted with Trump. The gangster in the White House is only the embodiment of a decayed and brutalized ruling class, whose degeneration is symptomatic of the historical crisis of the capitalist system. Trump’s policies are more a continuation than a break with those of his Republican and Democratic predecessors. And they are essentially shared by the bourgeoisie internationally.
This is especially true for Germany. In the face of the deepest economic and social crisis since the 1930s and growing tensions between the major powers, the ruling class in Germany is showing its true face. As it returns to an aggressive great power foreign policy, it builds a fascist party—the AfD—and grooms Neo-Nazi networks in the army and police. Leading academics with close ties to the established parties relativize and whitewash the crimes of the Nazis.
Seventy-five years after the Holocaust, the poison of anti-Semitism is also back. Last week, the Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of the largest daily newspapers in Germany, published an anti-Semitic diatribe against world-famous pianist Igor Levit, who has spoken out powerfully against the resurgence of fascism in Germany. Other right-wing papers immediately joined the attack. The goal of the campaign is clear: it aims to make anti-Semitic arguments presentable and to intimidate all opposition.
The bourgeoisie is terrified by the growing movement to the left among workers and youth. Above all, it fears that this opposition is increasingly coming together with the political perspective and activity of the WSWS and the ICFI. In response to our campaign against the revival of German militarism and fascism, the German media has described the WSWS as “extremely effective” [wirkungsmächtig] and the SGP has been placed on the watchlist of the Verfassungsschutz, Germany’s domestic secret service.
We can be sure that the forces of counterrevolution see the relaunch as a threat. The new site provides the working class with a powerful weapon to advance the fight against fascism. We have curated a special topic page which presents not only our current statements and analysis, but also important lectures and books by leaders of the IC, as well as some of the most important writings by Leon Trotsky. His analysis and perspective remain essential to understand “What fascism is and how to fight it.”
Trotsky explained in 1933 that fascism is the mobilization of the ruined petty bourgeoisie in the interests of finance capital as “a battering ram against the organizations of the working class and the institutions of democracy.” Today’s fascist organizations are not based on a mass movement, but are rather the product of a conspiracy of the ruling classes. This makes them not less dangerous, as their function is the same: to enforce a barbaric agenda of exploitation, social inequality and war.
As in the 1930s, the great challenge is to provide the mass of the working population with a clear program and perspective. The fight against fascism and war requires the independent political mobilization of the working class, united internationally on the basis of its common class interests, against capitalism and for socialism. It’s a matter of record that only the WSWS and the ICFI advance this perspective. Trotsky would not only be proud of the new site, he would be convinced that it will become the main tool for workers and youth to not only defeat fascism, but establish socialism internationally.
The International Committee of the Fourth International is the leadership of the world party of socialist revolution, founded by Leon Trotsky in 1938.