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
All US schools must be closed as part of a strategy to eradicate COVID-19!
The unfolding catastrophe in the US makes clear the need to immediately close all schools as part of a broader strategy of eliminating COVID-19 in the US and ultimately eradicating the virus worldwide.
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Don’t send children into unsafe schools!
The Socialist Equality Party calls on all educators and parents to form rank-and-file committees, independent of the pro-capitalist unions and political parties, to campaign for and stop the drive to reopen schools.
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (US)•
An Open Letter to Maria Svart, National Director of the Democratic Socialists of America
This letter, by Socialist Equality Party Chairman David North, responds to Twitter posts by DSA leaders in support of the 1940 assassination of Leon Trotsky by an agent of Stalin’s secret police.
David North•
Praising the crimes of Stalinism: The DSA and the assassination of Leon Trotsky
During the past week, numerous prominent leaders of the Democratic Socialists of America have posted tweets celebrating the 1940 assassination of Leon Trotsky and portraying the murderer, the Stalinist GPU agent Ramon Mercader, as a hero.
Eric London•
Statement of the International Committee of the Fourth International•
Joseph Kishore, David North•
David North•
Patrick Martin, Joseph Kishore•
Statement of the WSWS International Editorial Board•
Recent online meetings
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•
How to end the pandemic: The case for eradication
In the face of an unrelenting propaganda campaign from governments and the media, it is vital and urgent to arm the public with scientific truth about viable and necessary measures to end the pandemic.
Statement of the World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board•
The October 1 parents’ strike: An important step forward in the international working-class struggle against the pandemic
The call from UK parent Lisa Diaz for a nationwide school strike in the UK has won a significant response from workers and parents throughout the world.
International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site•
AFT President Randi Weingarten’s town hall of death
While parents and rank-and-file workers throughout the world will engage in a powerful demonstration Friday against unsafe school reopenings, another meeting of a decidedly different character is taking place the day before.
Evan Blake•
The eradication of COVID-19 is the only way to stop the pandemic
The global spread of the highly infectious Delta variant and the drive to fully reopen schools worldwide, despite the well-known risks to children, has made clear that the only viable strategy is the eradication of COVID-19 internationally.
Evan Blake, David North•
Andre Damon•
Evan Blake•
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Jerry White•
Niles Niemuth•
Socialism and the Fight Against War
Fifteen years after the United States launched the “war on terror,” the entire world is being dragged into an ever-expanding maelstrom of imperialist violence.
Statement of the International Committee of the Fourth International•
“At least half the battle is at home”: The domestic considerations behind the US provocations against China
The systematic efforts by the United States to provoke a confrontation with China cannot be understood outside of the deepening domestic political crisis.
Andre Damon•
US, UK, Australia military pact threatens war against China
The advanced US preparations for war are being driven not only by fears that China is overtaking the US economically, but the extraordinary economic, political and social crisis of US imperialism intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Peter Symonds•
Biden’s speech on Afghanistan: An admission of a shattering defeat
Biden’s speech included statements never before heard from the White House, acknowledging the devastating costs of a war that ended in a humiliating debacle.
Bill Van Auken•
Joseph Kishore•
The WSWS Editorial Board•
Bill Van Auken•
Bill Van Auken•
Bryan Dyne•
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•
New York’s Ida disaster: A social crime in the center of world capitalism
The massive flooding in New York City—the wealthiest city in the world and home to the world’s high-est concentration of billionaires—has revealed the deadly consequences of the systemic defunding of social infrastructure and the impoverishment of masses of workers.
Daniel de Vries•
The Florida condo disaster
The Surfside condo collapse is only the latest in a string of disasters in the United States that are the result of the decay of infrastructure and the undermining of health and safety regulations over the last four decades.
Niles Niemuth•
The American ruling class “experiments” with eliminating unemployment benefits for millions of workers
The cutoff of unemployment benefits is aimed at lowering wages in the face of rising inflation and blackmailing the jobless into accepting dangerous work as the pandemic continues to claim hundreds of lives daily.
Jacob Crosse•
Niles Niemuth•
Marcus Day•
Niles Niemuth•
David North•
Kate Randall•
Woodward revelations expose Democrats’ calls for “unity” with Republican coup plotters
The Biden White House and Democratic leaders in Congress see any investigation into the January 6 plots as an obstacle to bipartisan collaboration with the Republicans.
Patrick Martin•
September 11, the “war on terror” and the criminalization of American politics
The White House and media have rolled out the red carpet for the war criminals of the Bush administration, showing that the criminality of the “war on terror” has permanently entered the bloodstream of American politics.
Andre Damon•
The Texas abortion ban: A massive assault on democratic rights
The US Supreme Court’s decision to allow the Texas abortion ban to go into effect September 1 must be opposed by the entire working class. The right to free, safe and legal abortion is a fundamental democratic right.
Patrick Martin•
As January 6 hearing details fascist violence of Trump mob, Republicans rally in defense of jailed insurrectionists
The openly fascist faction of the House Republicans, led by Marjorie Taylor Greene, held a press conference in front of the Justice Department to defend what they called the “political prisoners” imprisoned for their roles in the January 6 assault on Congress.
Barry Grey•
Patrick Martin•
Bill Van Auken•
Joseph Kishore•
Jacob Crosse•
Jacob Crosse•
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•
AFT President Randi Weingarten’s town hall of death
While parents and rank-and-file workers throughout the world will engage in a powerful demonstration Friday against unsafe school reopenings, another meeting of a decidedly different character is taking place the day before.
Evan Blake•
Labor Day 2021 takes place amidst surging pandemic and growth of the class struggle
Labor Day is marked in the United States today under conditions of a devastating resurgence of the pandemic and a growing movement of workers to break free of the corporatist trade unions.
Jerry White•
US auto parts workers rebel against Dana Inc. and the unions
Over 8,000 auto parts workers employed by Fortune 500 transnational Dana Inc. at 17 plants across the US are engaged in a rank-and-file rebellion against extreme corporate exploitation enforced by Dana and the United Auto Workers (UAW) and United Steelworkers (USW).
Eric London•
Joseph Kishore•
Marcus Day•
David North•
Tom Hall•
Jerry White•
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•
The trial of Derek Chauvin and the epidemic of police murder in America
The testimony over the last three days has confirmed what millions of workers around the world already know: George Floyd’s death on May 25, 2020 was a brutal police murder in cold blood.
Trévon Austin•
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Niles Niemuth•
Patrick Martin•
Niles Niemuth, Joseph Kishore•
Niles Niemuth•
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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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•
Oppose Texas’ ban on ground transport for undocumented immigrants!
Texas Republican Governor Gregg Abbott’s executive order declares that private individuals, companies and nonprofit organizations cannot transport undocumented people, and that immigrants can only travel in the custody of federal or state police.
Eric London•
After a century of plunder, US imperialism turns away Central American refugees
The American ruling class has systematically destroyed Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador for over a century, forcing millions to flee their homes.
Eric London•
Eric London•
Andre Damon•
Bill Van Auken•
Jordan Shilton•
Eric London•
Free Julian Assange!
This resolution was unanimously adopted by the Socialist Equality Party Congress, held July 22–27.
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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•
The show trial of Julian Assange: A cruel and pseudolegal farce
Yesterday’s hearing in London made clear, if any further proof was needed, that the prosecution of Assange is a shameful and degrading show trial, intended to railroad an innocent man to prison or death.
Thomas Scripps, Kevin Reed•
Vindictive court rulings prove British state wants Assange dead
Judge Vanessa Baraitser has decreed that Assange will remain behind bars and that his extradition show-trial will proceed in May, even as the coronavirus pandemic spreads rapidly in British prisons.
Thomas Scripps•
Eric London, Thomas Scripps•
Chris Marsden•
Niles Niemuth•
Mike Head•
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.
