The global pandemic, the class struggle, and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party
This resolution was adopted unanimously by the Sixth National Congress of the Socialist Equality Party in the US, held July 19–24, 2020.
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The Socialist Equality Party (United States)
Capitalism has failed in the United States and the entire world. The Socialist Equality Party is organizing the working class in the fight for socialism: the reorganization of all of economic life to serve social needs, not private profit.
Socialism means the abolition of all forms of inequality and exploitation. The fight for socialism is at the same time a fight against war, authoritarianism, environmental degradation and all the consequences of capitalist society.
Socialism must be fought for and won by the working class itself. It will be achieved only through a revolutionary movement that has as its aim the establishment of workers' power.
Socialism, moreover, cannot be realized in one country. All the great problems confronting mankind are global problems that require global solutions.
The fight for socialism, therefore, requires the unity and collaboration of workers in every country on the basis of a common program and perspective. The Socialist Equality Party works in political solidarity with the International Committee of the Fourth International, the World Party of Socialist Revolution founded by Leon Trotsky in 1938.
This page contains some of the key documents and statements on the history and program of the SEP.
Historical Foundations of the SEP
The program of the Socialist Equality Party is of a principled, not of a conjunctural and pragmatic character. It is based on an assimilation of the strategic revolutionary experiences of the working class and the international socialist movement.
The SEP traces its political ancestry to the fight for Trotskyism in the US that was initiated in 1928, when veteran revolutionary James P. Cannon, along with Canadian revolutionary Maurice Spector, declared their support for Trotsky's fight against the Stalinist degeneration of the Soviet Union.
The international Trotskyist movement has a long history of principled struggle against Stalinism, reformism and bourgeois nationalism. In the United States, the fight for Trotskyism was carried forward by the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), founded in 1938 under the leadership of Cannon, and then the Workers League, which was founded in 1966 after opposing the national opportunist degeneration of the SWP.
The Workers League, in political solidarity with the International Committee of the Fourth International, based its perspective on the revolutionary role of the American working class in opposition to all forms of nationalism and revisionism, as well as the pro-capitalist politics of the trade union bureaucracy. The Workers League played a significant role in many of the major battles of the working class in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Workers League was transformed into the SEP in 1995, which was followed by a similar transformation of all the sections of the ICFI.
SEP Congress Resolutions and Reports
The Congress of the SEP is the highest body of the party. The SEP held its Founding Congress in 2008 and meets every two years to discuss and adopt resolutions on party policy and elect the party leadership. This section includes reports and resolutions from the SEP Congresses.
The Resurgence of Class Struggle and the Tasks of the Socialist Equality Party
This resolution was unanimously adopted by the Socialist Equality Party Congress, held from July 22–27, 2018.
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Opening report to the Fifth National Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US)
This report was delivered by David North, the national chairperson of the Socialist Equality Party (US), to open the Fifth National Congress of the SEP, held July 22-27, 2018.
David North•
Free Julian Assange!
This resolution was unanimously adopted by the Socialist Equality Party Congress, held July 22–27.
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Perspectives and Tasks of the Socialist Equality Party
The Socialist Equality Party in the US held its Fourth National Congress from July 31 to August 5 in Detroit, Michigan.
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The fight for socialism and the tasks of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality
This resolution was passed by the Fourth National Congress of t he Socialist Equality Party (US), held from July 31-August 5 in Detroit, Michigan .
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For the unity of the working class in the United States and Latin America
This resolution was passed by the Fourth National Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US), held from July 31-August 5 in Detroit, Michigan.
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The Fight Against War and the Political Tasks of the Socialist Equality Party
This is the main resolution of the Third National Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US), adopted unanimously on August 5, 2014.
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2021 SEP Summer School Lectures
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•
Part One
Cliff Slaughter: A Political Biography (1928–1963)
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.
David North•
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•
SEP Summer School 2021 Lecture
From PATCO to Volvo: The resurgence of the class struggle and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party
This lecture was delivered at the Socialist Equality Party (US) 2021 summer school, held August 1 through August 6, by Jerry White, labor editor of the World Socialist Web Site.
Jerry White•
Tom Carter•
Tom Mackaman•
Niles Niemuth•
Eric London•
Patrick Martin•
Statements of the Socialist Equality Party
The NATO-Russia war and the tasks of the international working class
This is the text of the introductory speech delivered by WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North to the 2022 International May Day Online Rally.
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)•
Mobilize the working class to oppose the attack on abortion rights!
The draft opinion of the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade is an illegitimate, anti-democratic and unconstitutional assault on the democratic rights of the entire population.
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Stop the execution of Melissa Lucio! Abolish the death penalty!
The SEP calls on workers and youth in the US and internationally to organize protests to demand a halt to Lucio’s execution, her release from death row and the immediate convening of a new trial to prove her innocence.
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
David North•
Jerry White•
Joseph Kishore, David North•
Joseph Kishore, David North•
Joseph Kishore•
For a Global Workers’ Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic
This Inquest is necessary to break through the cover-up, falsifications and misinformation that have been deployed to justify policies responsible for the avoidable deaths of millions since the initial detection of SARS-CoV-2.
Statement of the World Socialist Web Site International Editorial Board•
Biden marks 1 million US COVID deaths by preparing for the next million
US President Joe Biden finally acknowledged Thursday that over 1 million Americans have now died from COVID-19, issuing a perfunctory written statement and a pre-recorded video characterized by indifference to the lives of those lost and their loved ones still mourning.
Evan Blake•
Half of all Americans infected with COVID-19, three-quarters of children
The Biden administration has scrapped even the pretense of curbing the COVID-19 pandemic, admitting that preventing infections is “not even a policy goal.”
Patrick Martin•
Ending masks on transit, White House demands permanent mass infection
The Biden administration is working to remove all obstacles to the permanent mass infection and reinfection of the population, making every flight or bus ride to work a game of Russian roulette.
Andre Damon•
Evan Blake•
Patrick Martin•
Evan Blake•
Andre Damon•
Andre Damon•
Recent online meetings
On May 1, the International Committee of the Fourth International held on online rally to mobilize the working class against war, inequality, the pandemic and the capitalist system.
On October 24, the WSWS held an international online webinar with a panel of leading scientists and workers engaged in the fight to end the COVID-19 pandemic.
Was There an Alternative? is the first volume of the Russian Marxist historian’s monumental series on the history of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1940.
For a global strategy to stop the pandemic and save lives!
On Sunday, August 22, the World Socialist Web Site hosted an online event featuring leading scientists from around the world. It discussed the realistic and achievable measures that must be taken to eradicate the coronavirus, stop the wave of death and end the pandemic.
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150 years since the Paris Commune
On Saturday, April 3, the WSWS hosted an international online meeting to mark the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune of 1871.
David North, Alex Lantier, Barry Grey, Therese LeClerc•
WSWS online meeting
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.
Peter Schwarz, Ulrich Rippert, David North, Johannes Stern•
WSWS online Q&A with David North and Eric London
Sylvia Ageloff and the assassination of Leon Trotsky
David North and Eric London speak on the significance of the latest revelations, in the context of the decades-long Security and the Fourth International investigation by the ICFI into Trotsky’s assassination by Stalin’s GPU.
David North, Eric London•
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•
Biden massively expands US war with Russia
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden called on Congress to approve $20 billion in weapons shipments for the US war with Russia, increasing US involvement in the conflict by a factor of six.
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•
Andre Damon•
Joseph Scalice•
Andre Damon•
Andre Damon•
Statement of the WSWS Editorial Board•
“Inequality kills”: Capitalism and the COVID-19 pandemic
On Monday, the British charity Oxfam published a report documenting the malignant growth of social inequality during the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kevin Reed•
Winter of death: Two deadly housing fires in less than a week expose the reality of American capitalism
New York City and Philadelphia saw their deadliest housing fires in decades amid a climate of official indifference to death as the COVID-19 pandemic has been allowed to rage out of control.
Niles Niemuth•
The surging cost of living and the class struggle
Amid massive increases in the cost of groceries, housing and gas, workers are entering into struggle to defend their social and economic interests.
Gabriel Black•
US ruling class cuts off pandemic jobless aid, pushing millions over financial cliff
The termination of federal unemployment benefits, supported by the White House and Congress, is aimed at beating back the growing movement by workers against low wages.
Marcus Day•
Daniel de Vries•
Niles Niemuth•
Jacob Crosse•
Niles Niemuth•
Marcus Day•
Text messages reveal Trump’s chief of staff orchestrated January 6 coup attempt
New revelations implicating Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and leading Republicans in the January 6 coup plot further expose danger of dictatorship.
Eric London•
Trump admits aim of January 6 plot was to “overturn election” and “change results”
Trump’s statement not only explodes the claim that January 6 was nothing more than an out-of-control protest, it also reveals the type of fascistic regime he planned to establish had the plot succeeded.
Eric London•
On eve of January 6 attack, Trump lawyers drafted order requiring military to seize ballots
The draft order was a charter for presidential dictatorship. It would have declared a state of emergency, suspended the constitution, and placed the country under military rule.
Eric London•
What Biden did not say in his national address on the January 6 coup attempt
The principle that governs national presidential addresses is to avoid saying what must not be said. The purpose of the speech was not to expose the truth of what took place on January 6, 2021 but to deflect and obfuscate. The real truth can only be extracted by reviewing what Biden did not say.
Eric London•
Eric London•
Patrick Martin•
Patrick Martin•
Andre Damon•
Patrick Martin•
Forward to the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees!
The International Committee of the Fourth International will mark May Day with an online rally to issue a call for the formation of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC).
Statement of the International Committee of the Fourth International•
The Canadian Pacific lockout and UK ferry mass sackings: Ruling class ruthlessness in response to growing class struggle
The ruling class is moving ever-more ferociously to impose austerity and suppress workers’ struggles in the name of the “national interest” and preparations for war with Russia.
Marcus Day•
Judge imposes strike ban on 17,000 BNSF railway workers
While the United States never tires of lecturing other countries about their violation of “human rights” and “democracy,” the US government regularly runs roughshod over the basic rights of workers, including their right to strike and their right to a safe and healthy work environment.
Tom Hall•
Mobilize the working class against the strikebreaking drive at Kellogg’s!
The WSWS urges workers everywhere to come to the defense of strikers at Kellogg’s in the US, who are being threatened with being permanently replaced by management after they overwhelmingly rejected a sellout contract.
Tom Hall•
Jerry White•
Shannon Jones•
Jerry White•
Jerry White•
George Gallanis•
The barbaric reality of American society: Police murder and state executions
The United States is a society riven by grotesque levels of social inequality and overseen by a capitalist ruling elite which has shown time and again its homicidal indifference and outright hostility to the lives of the working class.
Niles Niemuth•
US police have killed more than 30,000 people since 1980
The Lancet study estimated 55 percent of deaths from police violence were not reported or were misclassified in official government databases between 1980 and 2018.
Trévon Austin•
Police violence is directed against working people and youth of all racial and ethnic backgrounds
The unending epidemic of police murder is an outgrowth of the rotten social and economic conditions which define life in the United States.
Niles Niemuth•
The murder of Daunte Wright and the class issues in the fight against police violence
Police violence is a feature of the capitalist system, a social and economic order that exploits the labor of the working class to the benefit of a small minority at the top of society.
Niles Niemuth•
Trévon Austin•
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Niles Niemuth•
Patrick Martin•
Niles Niemuth, Joseph Kishore•
For the unity of the working class in the United States and Latin America
This resolution was passed by the Fourth National Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US), held from July 31-August 5 in Detroit, Michigan.
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The refugee crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border and the danger of war
EU and NATO countries are mobilizing troops, whipping up far-right hysteria, and effectively threatening Belarus and Russia with war.
Peter Schwarz•
Trump and Miller attempted to deploy 250,000 troops to US-Mexico border in Spring 2020
Stephen Miller’s plan to deploy troops with Trump’s support was part of a fascist political strategy that played out over the course of 2020 and 2021 and remains a threat today.
Eric London•
Stop the deportation of Haitian refugees!
Scenes of border agents on horseback charging and whipping defenseless Haitian immigrants on the US southern border have provoked shock and revulsion across America and around the world.
Bill Van Auken•
Eric London•
Eric London•
Eric London•
Andre Damon•
Bill Van Auken•
Free Julian Assange!
This resolution was unanimously adopted by the Socialist Equality Party Congress, held July 22–27.
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UK High Court orders Assange extradited: A pseudo-legal travesty
The UK High Court is greenlighting a prosecution, in open defiance of the American constitution and international law, of a journalist for exposing monstrous criminal wrongdoing by the US government and military.
Thomas Scripps•
The horrific persecution of Julian Assange continues
The attempted US extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange resumed yesterday with the opening of a hearing into a US government appeal. It is a legal abomination in pursuit of a heinous crime.
Thomas Scripps•
The working class must demand an end to the show trial of Julian Assange
Assange’s kangaroo court extradition hearing has seen the UK, which boasts of being one of the world’s oldest democracies, sink to the level of a tinpot dictatorship.
Thomas Scripps•
Thomas Scripps, Kevin Reed•
Thomas Scripps•
Eric London, Thomas Scripps•
Chris Marsden•
Niles Niemuth•
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 20th century and the corresponding struggle waged by Marxists for the program of world socialist revolution.
Leadership
David North has played a leading role in the international socialist movement for forty-five years. He is presently the chairperson of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site and the national chairperson of the Socialist Equality Party (United States).
His many published works include: The Heritage We Defend; The Crisis of American Democracy; In Defense of Leon Trotsky; The Russian Revolution and the Unfinished Twentieth Century; The Frankfurt School, Postmodernism and the Politics of the Pseudo-Left and A Quarter Century of War.
Joseph Kishore has held the position of national secretary of the SEP (United States) since 2008. He joined the SEP in 1999 after becoming politically radicalized by the Clinton administration’s war against Serbia. Over the past two decades, he has written hundreds of articles for the World Socialist Web Site and as national secretary has directed the party’s intervention in the struggles of workers and youth.
Lawrence Porter joined the Workers League, the predecessor of the Socialist Equality Party, in 1972. He has played a leading role in the Trotskyist movement in the US for several decades. He was elected assistant national secretary of the SEP at its founding congress in August, 2008.
The International Youth and Students for Social Equality
The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) is the student and youth movement of the Socialist Equality Party. It fights to unite students and young people for peace, equality, the rights of the working class and socialism.