The bond markets, rearmament and the global assault on social spending
The immediate ruling class agenda is budget cuts amounting to €54 billion which will make major inroads into social spending. But this is only the start.
Nick Beams•
The Socialist Equality Party (Australia)
The Socialist Equality Party (Australia) held its eighth biannual national Congress from September 26–29, adopting five resolutions that outline a socialist and internationalist perspective on the key issues facing the working class and reelecting a leadership to spearhead the fight for that program.
SEP (Australia) eighth national congress resolutions
The Socialist Equality Party is standing candidates in the November 28 Victorian election to provide workers with a socialist and internationalist perspective against every other party.
After mass October 17 protest, French government prepares dictatorship
The crisis of rule revealed by the mass protests against Macron on October 17 will not be resolved by social concessions granted to workers from above.
Alex Lantier•
Massive Ukrainian drone attack on St. Petersburg escalates US-NATO war against Russia
Ukraine attacked Russia with more than 1,000 drones overnight Saturday, in the largest bombardment of St. Petersburg since the Second World War.
Andre Damon•
Oppose the Trump administration’s drive to strip Ilhan Omar of citizenship!
Citizenship is being made vulnerable to a government determined to punish opposition.
Jacob Crosse•
Andre Damon•
Patrick Martin•
Tom Hall•
Patrick Martin•
Jerry White•
The appeal of Bogdan Syrotiuk exposes a political frame-up
The appeal against Bogdan Syrotiuk’s 15-year sentence demonstrates that political views, journalism and socialist opposition to war were transformed into alleged acts of high treason without evidence of assistance to Russia or any other subversive activity.
Johannes Stern•
University speakouts in Australia and New Zealand demand freedom for Bogdan Syrotiuk
“I think that Bogdan has definitely been wronged. He has just written his own truth, and the truth is not being accepted by Zelensky. After the Russian invasion, democracy has basically collapsed in Ukraine.”
Our reporters•
Freedom for Bogdan Syrotiuk! Stop political persecutions!
This statement calling for the release of Ukrainian Trotskyist Bogdan Syrotiuk was submitted to the WSWS by Maxim Goldarb, who has himself been persecuted by the Ukrainian state under Volodymyr Zelensky.
Statement by the party Union of Left Forces - For a New Socialism! •
Australian novelist, photographers and a human rights activist demand immediate release of Bogdan Syrotiuk
“History is littered with a plethora of men who start homicidal wars. In far fewer numbers, history is peppered with courageous men who stand up to the behemoth of war and say ‘No!’ Bogdan Syrotiuk is such a man.”
Our reporters•
Our reporters•
Industrial Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Health Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Our reporters•
Our reporters•
Trump’s threat to “annihilate” Iran: The criminalization of imperialist foreign policy
US President Donald Trump told the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday that he is deciding whether to “annihilate the Islamic Republic” of Iran and “drive them into hell with no chance of survival.”
Andre Damon•
Netanyahu delivers genocidal tirade at the United Nations as Mamdani’s police arrest more than 100 protesters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a genocidal tirade at the United Nations General Assembly Thursday, calling the victims of Israel’s rampage throughout the Middle East “barbarians,” “monsters,” “butchers” and “the worst mass murderers on earth.”
Andre Damon•
Trump administration covered up deaths of US troops in war against Iran
At least 22 US troops have died in the US war against Iran, the Washington Post reported Friday, four more than the official death toll of 18.
Andre Damon•
US war against Iran enters new phase with strikes on oil tankers
The US launched strikes on five Iranian oil tankers on Tuesday, bringing the conflict to a new level of aggression that amounts to a declaration that Washington will use military force to assert its control over maritime trade, regardless of the consequences for the world economy.
Kevin Reed•
Andre Damon•
Kevin Reed•
Kevin Reed•
Andre Damon•
Andre Damon•
Speakers at the May Day rally analyzed the war against Iran as the culmination of a 35-year capitalist crisis and advanced a revolutionary program for the international working class entering a new period of global struggle.
Australian Labor government spearheads assault on immigrants
The Albanese government’s measures will mean Border Force raids on homes and workplaces in working-class areas to hunt down so-called visa “overstayers.”
Mike Head•
Australia’s far-right One Nation announces plan for massive assault on immigrants
One Nation’s plan is an extension of anti-immigrant policies implemented by the federal Labor government, which has scapegoated international students for the social crisis and persecuted refugees.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australian businessman jailed for “reckless” foreign interference
Alexander Csergo’s imprisonment underscores how someone can be ensnared into being accused of supplying information to a foreign entity under draconian foreign interference laws.
Mike Head•
Australia: Karl Stefanovic’s turn from breakfast compere to the far-right
Stefanovic’s trajectory is part of a broader lurch to the right by the political and media establishment.
Cheryl Crisp•
Max Boddy•
Mike Head•
Oscar Grenfell•
Mike Head•
Oscar Grenfell•
Australia: The Victorian educators’ struggle—lessons of a sellout
After twice rejecting union-Labor government agreements and taking statewide strike action, a majority of Victorian public school educators voted to accept a fundamentally unchanged deal that entrenches four more years of untenable workloads, low wages and a worsening staffing crisis.
Committee for Public Education•
Australia: Qantas ground workers set to strike
Up to 650 Qantas ground workers plan to walk off the job later this week, with 24-hour strikes called for Wednesday in Victoria and Thursday across the rest of the country.
Martin Scott•
Australia: Post office closures to escalate amid ongoing Post30 restructure
The closure of post offices, already underway, is part of AP’s broader restructuring operation, aimed at transforming the state-owned mail service into a profit-driven parcel delivery business.
Jim Franklin•
Australia: 600 jobs slashed at Whyalla steelworks
Labor government-appointed administrator KordaMentha announced Monday that efforts to repair and restart the plant’s 60-year-old blast furnace would be permanently abandoned.
Martin Scott•
Kaye Tucker•
Mitya Moor, Eric Ludlow•
Our reporters•
Sue Phillips•
A WSU Rank-and-File Committee member•
Capitalist breakdown, the fight against war and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party
This resolution was adopted by the Seventh National Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), held from October 3-6.
Australian state Labor government announces more police-state laws
The Minns government’s planned vast police powers and new offences apply far more broadly than Labor’s supposed target of gang violence.
Mike Head•
Australian state Labor government bans pro-Palestinian teacher
A New South Wales educator has been barred from teaching over social media posts condemning Israel and expressing solidarity with the Palestinian resistance.
Erika Zimmer, Mike Head•
Mass arrests in Brisbane add to repression of anti-genocide protests in Australia
The arrests of 22 demonstrators in Brisbane follow police raids conducted by the state Labor governments in New South Wales and Victoria.
Antony Walsh•
Australian state Labor government defends unconstitutional anti-protest law
The NSW Labor government is defiantly proceeding with arrests and charges under its invalid anti-protest legislation.
Mike Head•
Oscar Grenfell•
Oscar Grenfell•
Sofia Devetzi•
Jason Quill•
Our reporters•
Speakers Oscar Grenfell, Cheryl Crisp and chair Max Boddy exposed both the reactionary character of the mass shooting and the ruthless exploitation of the tragedy by the political establishment, led by state and federal Labor governments, as a pretext for a deepening assault on democratic rights.
Australia: Interim report provides no answers on Bondi terrorist attack
The section of the report dealing with the role played by the federal policing and intelligence agencies, about which so many questions remain, has been suppressed entirely.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australia: Questions about Bondi terrorist attack remain unanswered
The perpetrators were known to ASIO, the domestic spy agency, and appear to have been active in an extremist milieu that included supporters of the Islamic State terrorist organisation.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australia: “Prohibited hate group” laws recall 1951 referendum to ban “communism”
The Albanese Labor government’s legislation echoes that of 1950 and 1951, when the Menzies government sought to criminalise “communists.”
Mike Head•
Crucial questions posed by Labor’s censorship and destruction of Australian writers’ festival
The defence of artistic freedom is inseparably connected to the fight to mobilise the entire working class against social austerity, dictatorship, imperialist war and barbarism.
Richard Phillips•
Mike Head•
Oscar Grenfell•
Martin Scott•
Oscar Grenfell•
Martin Scott•
Socialism AI is a powerful new chatbot developed by the WSWS to advance socialist consciousness globally by bringing the scientific outlook of Marxism to workers, youth, and intellectuals.
“Get the knowledge that you need, at SocialismAI.com”
Ty, an educator who led sickouts against COVID in 2020, explains how workers can use Socialism AI to get the knowledge they need.
Ty•
Science vs. suspicion and fear: An Open Letter to a critic of Socialism AI
This is an Open Letter responding to several harsh criticisms of Socialism AI posted by Professor Tony Williams in the comments section of the WSWS.
David North•
Technology and the working class: Responding to an opponent of Socialism AI
This response seeks to clarify important issues related to the technical and political development of Socialism AI.
Evan Blake, David North•
Australia postal worker encourages use of Socialism AI
“I call on my brothers and sisters around the world to use Socialism AI to educate, organise and unite.”
Our reporters•
Build neighbourhood and workplace rank-and-file committees! While far advanced, Labor’s devastating plans can and must be defeated by the working class.
Australia: 6 months since the fatal Endeavor mine explosion in Cobar
There is still no official explanation of what caused the explosion at Polymetals Resources’ Endeavor mine on October 28, 2025, that killed workers Patrick “Ambrose” McMullen and Holly Clarke.
Martin Scott•
Australian safety regulator’s initial report on fatal Cobar mine explosion: more questions than answers
The NSW Resources Regulator’s November 25 “Investigation information release” neither explains what caused the tragedy nor makes any recommendation for how to stop more workers being killed.
Martin Scott•
Australia: Cobar miner warns fatal accident at Endeavor Mine could be repeated
“I don’t think what the company has done in sending workers back on the job is right at all,” a Cobar worker said, referring to the October 28 mine explosion that killed two workers.
Oscar Grenfell, Richard Phillips•
Australia: Cobar mine workers should defy the company gag order
Endeavor workers have not only been instructed not to speak to the media, but even to their own families about the tragic death of their colleagues and the conditions in the mine.
Martin Scott•
Our reporters•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Contact the SEP!
Phone: (02) 8218 3222
Email: sep@sep.org.au
Facebook: SocialistEqualityPartyAustralia
Twitter: @SEP_Australia
Instagram: socialistequalityparty_au
TikTok: @SEP_Australia
PO Box 4033
Bexley North, NSW, 2207
What next in the school strike against conscription in Germany?
Tens of thousands of students have launched a powerful strike against the reintroduction of conscription in Germany, expressing mass opposition to militarism and war. This struggle can succeed only if it is extended to the working class and developed into an international socialist movement against war and capitalism.
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE)•
Trump’s National Security Strategy deepens split within NATO
The US intends to interfere in the internal affairs of its NATO partners, break up the European Union, strengthen fascist parties, and help enforce racist remigration policies.
Peter Schwarz•
Australian Labor government gives $95 million to Ukraine for war with Russia
$50 million is being poured into a US-NATO fund, which supplies strike capabilities to Ukraine, including those that threaten to provoke a war throughout Europe and globally.
Oscar Grenfell•
South Korea ramps up war preparations against China
Under Lee Jae-myung and the Democrats, Seoul is marching in lockstep with Washington’s aggressive imperialist agenda, demonstrating that there is no section of the South Korean ruling class opposed to war.
Ben McGrath•
Oscar Grenfell•
Oscar Grenfell•
Oscar Grenfell•
Johannes Stern•
Peter Symonds•
Israel kills 14 Palestinians as Trump prepares imperialist “Board of Peace” for Gaza
Israel launched strikes on Thursday and Friday that killed at least 14 Palestinians, including children, as the White House organizes its “Gaza Board of Peace,” made up of imperialist war criminals including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Kevin Reed•
Palestine Action hunger strikers in imminent danger of death as Labour government still refuses to meet
Irish Republican Bobby Sands died after 66 days of a hunger strike—a milestone reached by Muraisi on Tuesday. Other Irish hunger strikers died between 46 and 61 days.
Paul Bond•
Trump and Netanyahu pledge Middle East bloodbath will continue in 2026
US President Donald Trump threatened to “knock the hell out of” Iran and warned there would be “hell to pay” in Gaza, while reiterating his calls for ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population.
Andre Damon•
Israel’s far-right government seeks to tighten its grip on power
The measures are aimed at strengthening the powers of the Netanyahu government as it continues its wars in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen and prepares for another offensive against Iran, amid plunging living standards.
Jean Shaoul•
Andre Damon•
Johannes Stern•
Jean Shaoul•
Kevin Reed•
Jean Shaoul•
David North addresses book launches in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia
David North, the chairman of the international editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site and of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in the United States, spoke at book launches in Sydney and Melbourne over the past week. The events were part of a visit by North, who has played a leading role in the world Trotskyist movement for more than 50 years, to the SEP in Australia.
Australian health workers voice outrage over Gaza catastrophe
The open letter and the response it has generated speak to the depth of the anguish, shock and anger felt by healthcare workers as they bear witness to the atrocities occurring in Gaza.
A doctor•
Glastonbury’s defiant stand for Palestine and the radicalisation of the working class and youth
There are events which burst through the crust of official politics and media-managed opinion and let popular sentiment erupt to the surface. Saturday afternoon at the UK’s Glastonbury music festival was one of those.
Thomas Scripps•
Australian court rules ABC illegally sacked journalist for opposing Gaza genocide
Antoinette Lattouf’s victory is a damning exposure of the extensive campaign that has been waged by the Labor government and the entire establishment, to falsely brand opposition to the Israeli genocide as antisemitism.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australian workers and youth oppose US-Israeli attacks on Iran and ongoing genocide
“It could be curtains for everybody with World War Three, nuclear war, and I’m trying to stop that. I’m terrified, horrified, especially so because I have children and grandchildren.”
Our reporters•
Eric Ludlow•
Our reporters•
Macquarie University Rank-and-File Committee•
Gabriela Zabala, Richard Phillips•
As capitalism hurtles to dictatorship and world war, young people must join the struggle for socialism!
For young people to have a future, they must take up a political fight against the capitalist system and fight for the establishment of socialism, which is the only way the drive towards dictatorship and war can be stopped.
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia)•
Australian high school students oppose social media ban
Teenagers in the industrial city of Newcastle, north of Sydney, speak out against the Labor government’s legislation to bar them from accessing social media platforms.
Robert Bond•
Mobilise the working class to end the Gaza genocide! Take up the fight for socialism against war!
A socialist perspective for mass student meetings in Australia against the Gaza genocide
The IYSSE will be urging students at the meetings to take up a fight for the mobilisation of the working class against the Gaza genocide and the Labor government.
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia)•
Australian teenagers oppose police repression, social media ban after beach clash
What happened at Mordialloc beach last week was not a pre-planned “youth riot” as the media and government claim, but a confused chain of events sparked by a heavily-armed police operation.
Eric Ludlow, Owen Howell•
Hector Cordon•
Our reporters•
Eric Ludlow•
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia)•
Jack Turner•
Beams pointed to the roots of the pseudo-left in tendencies that broke from the Trotskyist movement and rejected the revolutionary role of the working class.
Australia: Build rank-and-file committees to fight Labor’s attack on construction workers and the entire working class!
The past three months have demonstrated that the fight against Labor’s administration of the CFMEU requires a rank-and-file movement independent of the ousted union leadership.
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Labor’s attack on the CFMEU: 1 year under state control
The federal Labor government’s appointment of administrator Mark Irving was always aimed at facilitating deeper attacks on wages and conditions in the building industry and more broadly.
Martin Scott•
Australia: Inquiry highlights financial ties between building union and big developers
Incolink, a worker entitlement fund jointly controlled by the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union and Master Builders Victoria, has handed over tens of millions in investment returns to those organisations in recent years.
Martin Scott•
High Court of Australia rejects challenge to Labor’s attack on the CFMEU
The ruling gives the go-ahead for a stepped-up assault on the wages, conditions and democratic rights of building workers, but it also means those who want to fight the administration can no longer be held back with the lie that all they can do is wait for the court’s verdict.
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
This report includes videos of speeches delivered by SEP members at the October 27 meeting, explaining the Labor government’s administration of the construction union and outlining a perspective to fight it.
Support the SEP in the Australian federal election! Build a socialist movement of the working class against war, austerity and dictatorship!
The Socialist Equality Party is standing candidates in the Australian federal election to build an independent movement of the working class against Labor, the Liberal-National Coalition, the Greens and capitalism itself.
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
WATCH: After the Australian election—The socialist alternative to Labor’s government of war and austerity
At Thursday’s meeting, speakers Oscar Grenfell and Cheryl Crisp, as well as chair Max Boddy, presented a Marxist analysis of the May 3 federal election.
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
The Australian election, global opposition to Trump and the need for a socialist perspective
The election was marked by a mass repudiation of Trumpism, but within the framework of parliamentary politics, the outcome is a pro-business, pro-war Labor government that will collaborate with Trump.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australia’s second-term Labor government will accelerate pro-business, pro-war agenda
The key ministers who prosecuted the previous Labor government’s militarist and socially regressive policies retain their posts but changes to the ministerial line-up signal a further lurch to the right.
Mike Head•
Oscar Grenfell•
Mike Head•
Oscar Grenfell•
Martin Scott•
Our reporters•
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Australian Electoral Commission blocks evidence on its SEP ballot access ban
The AEC’s escalated reasons for refusing to release the information—claiming that it would not be in the “public interest” to do so—further underscore the anti-democratic nature of its ban on the SEP registration.
Mike Head•
Australian Electoral Commission rejects FOI application for evidence to justify election ban on SEP
This Freedom of Information decision further exposes the anti-democratic character of Australia’s electoral laws and the AEC’s totally obscure use of them against the Socialist Equality Party.
Mike Head•
Meeting opposes ban on official registration of SEP, outlines socialist perspective for Australian election
Held in person in the working-class Sydney suburb of Bankstown and streamed on Zoom, the meeting was attended by a broad cross-section of workers, students and young people.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australian Electoral Commission rejects challenge to election ban on SEP
The AEC letter underscores the anti-democratic character of the country’s party registration legislation.
Mike Head•
Our reporters•
Our reporters•
Our reporters•
Our reporters•
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Australian electoral authorities reject Socialist Equality Party’s registration, despite it meeting membership requirements
The decision was made as the looming election is characterised by mass hostility to the official parties and a growing desire among workers and young people for a genuine alternative.
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.
Statement of the World Socialist Web Site editorial board•
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.
Oscar Grenfell•
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.
Oscar Grenfell•
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.
Oscar Grenfell•
Oscar Grenfell•
Thomas Scripps•
Laura Tiernan•
Oscar Grenfell•
Thomas Scripps, Chris Marsden•
Resolution adopted at the Sixth Congress of the SEP (Australia)
The COVID disaster and the political crisis of Australian capitalism
“The criminal ‘let it rip’ pandemic policies of governments—invariably enforced by the labour and trade union bureaucracies—have exposed the brutality of capitalism, and its readiness to sacrifice lives for corporate profit and private wealth accumulation.”
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Resolution adopted at the Sixth Congress of the SEP (Australia)
Build an international movement of the working class against imperialist war!
“The same contradictions and crisis of world capitalism are also propelling the working class into struggle, providing the basis for the building of an international anti-war movement.”
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Build the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees!
A mass network of interconnected rank-and-file committees can and must serve as the foundation for the fight for the abolition of capitalism and the establishment of a workers’ government based on a socialist program.
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Free Julian Assange!
The ongoing persecution of Julian Assange is bound up with imperialist war, escalating online censorship and a broader turn to authoritarianism.
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Defeat of Australian Labor’s Voice referendum highlights stark class divide, not racism
The Voice voting patterns demonstrate the intensifying hostility of working-class people to the entire political establishment.
Mike Head•
Indigenous Voice leaders denounce Australian voters
An open letter, issued by a privileged layer of indigenous figures who led the Voice Yes campaign, further highlights the immense class chasm shown in the referendum’s overwhelming defeat on October 14.
Mike Head•
Australian pseudo-left slanders population as racist after defeat of Voice referendum
Socialist Alternative’s analysis of the referendum is an attack on the working class, exposing this organisation as a rightward moving representative of privileged layers of the affluent upper middle-class.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australian workers oppose the Voice, call for better conditions for Aboriginal people
“The Labor government is not working class, it is an elite group of people, setting up a puppet called the Voice.”
Our reporters•
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Our reporters•
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Oscar Grenfell•
Max Boddy•
Historical Foundations
The program of the Socialist Equality Party is of a principled, not a conjunctural and pragmatic, character. It is based on an analysis of the crisis of world capitalism and an assimilation of the strategic revolutionary experiences of the working class and the international socialist movement.
The Historical and International Foundations of the Socialist Equality Party was adopted by the Founding Congress of the SEP in Sydney in 2010. It traces the historical events and strategic experiences of the working class and Marxist movement spanning more than a century.
Principles
Membership in the Socialist Equality Party is based on agreement with its Statement of Principles. The principles of the SEP incorporate the essential experiences of the revolutionary upheavals of the twentieth century and the corresponding struggle waged by Marxists for the program of world socialist revolution.
Lecture series: Why study the history of Trotskyism?
The lectures, now all available online, reviewed some of the fundamental lessons of the protracted struggle by the Trotskyist movement for socialist internationalism.
Leadership
Crisp was a founding member of the Socialist Labour League, the forerunner of the SEP, in 1972, and has played a leading role in the Trotskyist movement in Australia for more than four decades. She was elected National Secretary at the Fifth National Congress of the SEP in 2020.
Max was elected to the position of assistant national secretary at the 2020 SEP National Congress. He writes regularly for the WSWS on issues facing asylum seekers and their inhumane treatment at the hands of Australian governments. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Newcastle, majoring in Aboriginal Studies.
Authorised by Cheryl Crisp for the Socialist Equality Party, Level 1/457-459 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills, NSW, 2010, Australia.