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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Statements of the Socialist Equality Party
The political lessons of the pandemic and the fight for socialism in 2021
The pandemic is a “trigger event” that manifests in a highly concentrated form the contradictions of the global capitalist system and is unleashing long-suppressed forces of social transformation.
Joseph Kishore, David North•
Facebook escalates attack on socialist left
Facebook is engaged in an escalating campaign of state-backed internet censorship targeting socialist organizations, including the International Youth and Students for Social Equality.
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party•
Mobilize the working class against Trump’s conspiracy! Prepare for a political general strike!
The ongoing threats of far-right violence throughout the United States, focused on Inauguration Day, January 20, must be taken seriously and counteracted by the organization of working class opposition.
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party•
For a full, public investigation of Trump’s January 6 coup!
The Democratic Party is joining with the Republicans and the Trump administration to cover up for those politically responsible for fascist violence at the US Capitol.
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party•
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party•
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party•
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party•
Socialist Equality Party (US) Political Committee•
Sylvia Ageloff and the assassination of Leon Trotsky
The meeting followed the publication of a four-part WSWS article series, exposing the role played by Sylvia Ageloff, a former member of the Socialist Workers Party of the United States, in the Stalinist assassination of Leon Trotsky. North and London discussed 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.
Trump’s coup and the rise of fascism: Where is America going?
On January 17, the WSWS hosted an international online meeting on the extraordinary political crisis in the United States, following the January 6, 2021 fascist insurrection at the US Capitol instigated by Donald Trump. Leading members of the Socialist Equality Parties in the US, Germany and the UK spoke on the national and global significance of the rise of fascism in America, its social and political origins, and the necessary strategy for the working class to fight back.
For a socialist response to the coronavirus pandemic!
The unprecedented catastrophe of the coronavirus pandemic is fundamentally a social and political, not simply a medical, question. The technology and medical expertise exist to contain the virus and ensure the safety of the entire working class, but under capitalism everything is subordinated to the profit interests of the corporate and financial elite.
The video on the right is from the International Committee of the Fourth International's 2020 May Day Online Rally, which featured remarks on the pandemic from leaders of the ICFI throughout the world.
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•
Joe Biden’s cabinet: A rainbow coalition of imperialist reaction
The nomination of a series of right-wing women and minority representatives of the military-intelligence complex encapsulates and exposes the right-wing essence of identity politics.
Eric London•
Seventeen years after 9/11: From “war on terror” to “great power conflict”
On the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, Washington is on the verge of launching a massive new Syrian offensive in defense of Al Qaeda-linked forces.
Andre Damon•
Oppose Trump’s criminal war against Iran!
Trump’s provocation of a war with Iran is an attempt to find a way out of the increasingly desperate crisis of American capitalism—international and domestic—through spectacular acts of violence.
The International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site•
Bill Van Auken•
Patrick Martin•
David North•
David North•
David North•
Capitalism vs. socialism: The pandemic and the global class struggle
One year since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” the response of the ruling class to the pandemic has led to the deaths of more than 2.2 million people.
David North•
“Our society is sick:” The Lancet condemns American capitalism
The Lancet, one of the world’s premiere medical journals, argues that the dead from COVID-19 in the US should be added to the toll of “missing Americans” whose deaths were attributable to the rise of social inequality over the past four decades.
Andre Damon•
The class dynamic of the massive Wall Street speculation
The year is ending amid the greatest economic contraction since the Great Depression of the 1930s, but Wall Street is finishing the year at a record high.
Nick Beams•
Congress to America’s workers: “Let them eat cake”
While the government spends money like water to prop up big business and the Federal Reserve funnels trillions into the stock market, nothing is being done to spare the working class.
Niles Niemuth•
Eric London•
Niles Niemuth•
Kevin Reed•
Nick Beams•
David North•
Impeachment video reveals scale and intensity of Trump-incited assault on Capitol
The video that opened the impeachment trial leaves no doubt that what occurred on January 6 was a coup d’état whose aim was the establishment of a presidential dictatorship.
Joseph Kishore, David North•
Democrats’ impeachment cover-up leaves coup-plotter Trump emboldened
The Democrats deliberately protected Trump’s co-conspirators, including the Republican House and Senate members who sought to overturn the election and those forces within the state who worked with Trump to orchestrate a stand-down of federal forces.
Andre Damon•
The Democratic Party and the fascist “enemy within”
Three weeks after the failed coup attempt by the fascist right, the Democrats have effectively dropped any effort to hold accountable those who are politically responsible.
Patrick Martin•
For a full, public investigation of Trump’s January 6 coup!
The Democratic Party is joining with the Republicans and the Trump administration to cover up for those politically responsible for fascist violence at the US Capitol.
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party•
David North•
Patrick Martin•
Joseph Kishore, David North•
Andre Damon•
David North•
Chicago teachers take a stand to save lives over profits
The struggle unfolding in Chicago is of monumental significance and must become the spearhead of a broader movement of the entire working class in a nationwide political general strike, which would send shock waves throughout the world and provoke similar struggles globally.
Evan Blake•
Build rank-and-file factory and workplace committees to prevent transmission of the COVID-19 virus and save lives!
The government and corporations are demanding a return to work in the midst of a pandemic, which is claiming thousands of lives every week. Their drive for profits takes priority over the health and safety of workers and their families.
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Stop the deadly reopening of Nashville schools!
Without teachers developing their own independent organizations to fight against school reopenings, the pressure from state officials and school boards will force them into unsafe and potentially deadly working conditions.
Tennessee Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee•
Faurecia Gladstone parts workers in Indiana support Chicago teachers
The Rank-and-File Safety Committee at the Faurecia Gladstone plant in Columbus, Indiana, has issued the following statement in support of the Chicago teachers.
Faurecia Gladstone Rank-and-File Safety Committee•
Chicago Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee•
Shannon Jones•
Joseph Kishore—SEP candidate for US president•
the National Committee of the Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Tom Hall•
The protests against police murder: The way forward
The fight against police violence must be connected to the struggles of the working class, in the United States and internationally, against inequality, war and the capitalist system.
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (US)•
After the exoneration of Breonna Taylor’s killers: The way forward in the fight against police violence
The ubiquity of police violence in the US, with approximately 1,000 people killed every year, is bound up with the extreme growth of social inequality and class tensions.
Niles Niemuth•
Trump’s police-state attack in Portland, Oregon
The crackdown on demonstrators by Trump’s fascistic border agents is the latest move in his administration’s years-long assault on democratic rights in the United States.
Patrick Martin•
Police violence and class rule
What is absent from all of the media commentary on police violence, let alone the statements from bourgeois politicians, is any examination of what the police are and their relationship to capitalist society.
Niles Niemuth, Joseph Kishore•
Niles Niemuth•
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party•
Statement of the Political Committee of the Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Joseph Kishore—Socialist Equality Party candidate for US president•
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 global pandemic and global war on immigrants and refugees
As with attacks on the working class as a whole and the drive to war, capitalist ruling classes the world over have responded to the pandemic by intensifying the brutal assault on migrant workers.
Bill Van Auken•
The COVID-19 pandemic and the global plight of refugees and migrant workers
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to tear through the global population, the disease is having an especially devastating impact on the tens of millions of displaced people throughout the world.
Jordan Shilton•
Trump announces plan to halt all immigration to US
Trump’s “pause” on immigration is a desperate attempt by the crisis-riddled administration to distract from the criminality of the ruling class’s own response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Eric London•
Norissa Santa Cruz—SEP candidate for US vice president•
Eric London•
Eric London•
Eric London•
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.
