Trump’s first 100 days of counterrevolution and criminality
From his first day in office, Trump has worked methodically to establish a presidential dictatorship, following a blueprint drawn up by his fascist advisors.
Joseph Kishore•
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.
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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.
Recent Statements
The April 19 mass protests against Trump and the need for a revolutionary strategy
The most striking feature of this weekend’s protests was their more militant character compared to previous demonstrations, with many expressing a more conscious opposition to the Democratic Party.
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
The political meaning of the April 5 mass protests against Trump
Mass opposition is developing to the fascist in the White House, but the movement can only go forward through a break with the Democratic Party and a struggle against the capitalist system.
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Trump’s persecution of Mahmoud Khalil for “thought crimes” is the spearhead of dictatorship
The direct precedent for the Trump administration’s positions is the concept of Willensstrafrecht (“punishment of the will”), developed by the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler.
Niles Niemuth•
Stop Trump’s dictatorship! Build a movement of the working class for socialism!
The situation must be stated with absolute clarity: The Trump administration is moving systematically and deliberately to establish a dictatorship.
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
University administrations collaborate in Trump’s reign of terror on campuses
The administrations of the major universities in the United States are playing an absolutely foul role in facilitating the reign of terror against free speech and democratic rights being implemented by the Trump administration.
Joseph Kishore•
5 years of the COVID-19 pandemic: The response of the World Socialist Web Site
The WSWS’ record stands as an irrefutable indictment of the capitalist response to the pandemic and a testament to the necessity for a global socialist public health program to save lives.
WSWS Editorial Board•
Oppose the attack on Momodou Taal, the latest target of Trump’s assault on democratic rights!
The Trump administration is seeking to detain and deport Taal in response to a lawsuit filed by Taal against Trump’s unconstitutional executive orders.
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Trump invokes the Alien Enemies Act: A new stage in the erection of a police-state dictatorship
Trump and his inner circle of fascist sympathizers are systematically demolishing legal and constitutional restraints, with each violation setting the stage for even more brazen assertions of absolute power.
Joseph Kishore•
2024 Elections and the SEP campaign
In this final campaign event, Socialist Equality Party candidates Joseph Kishore and Jerry White will discuss the political crisis in the US with SEP National Chairman David North and an international panel.
In this online event, Socialist Equality Party candidates Joseph Kishore and Jerry White, as well as SEP National Committee members Eric London and Andy Thompson, will assess the social and political issues confronting the working class in their developing class struggle.
In this online event, Socialist Equality Party candidates Joseph Kishore and Jerry White and SEP Political Committee member Tom Hall will assess the social and political issues confronting the working class in their developing class struggle.
In this online event, Socialist Equality Party candidates Joseph Kishore and Jerry White will join SEP national chairman David North in making a Marxist assessment of the expanding global war and the way forward for the international working class.
Hear Joseph Kishore and Jerry White, the Socialist Equality Party’s candidates in the US elections, speak about the genocide in Gaza, the war in Ukraine, the growing threat of fascism, and the other pressing political issues confronting the international working class.
2024 SEP Congress Resolutions and Reports
Opening report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US)
We are publishing here the opening report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US), given by David North, the national chairman of the SEP. The congress was held from August 4 to August 9, 2024.
David North•
SEP (US) Eighth National Congress Resolution
The 2024 US elections and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party
We are publishing here the main resolution adopted by the Eighth National Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US), held from August 4 to August 9, 2024.
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
SEP (US) Eighth National Congress Resolution
Free Bogdan Syrotiuk!
This resolution was unanimously adopted by the Eighth National Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US), held from August 4 to August 9, 2024.
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Report to the SEP (US) Eighth National Congress
16 years since the Founding Congress of the Socialist Equality Party
We are publishing here the report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) given by Joseph Kishore, the national secretary of the SEP.
Joseph Kishore•
Report to the Eighth National Congress of the SEP (US)
2014-2024: The ICFI’s response to a decade of global war
We are publishing here the report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) given by Andre Damon, US national co-editor of the World Socialist Web Site.
Andre Damon•
Report to the SEP (US) Eighth National Congress
The strategic necessity of uniting the international working class against political xenophobia
We are publishing here the report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) given by Eric London. The congress was held from August 4 to August 9, 2024.
Eric London•
Report to the SEP (US) Eighth National Congress
Socialism, history and the defense of democratic rights
We are publishing here the report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) given by Tom Mackaman. The congress was held from August 4 to August 9, 2024.
Tom Mackaman•
Report to the SEP (US) Eighth National Congress
The twilight of American democracy (1991-2024)
We are publishing here the report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) given by Tom Carter. The congress was held from August 4 to August 9, 2024.
Tom Carter•
2023 SEP Summer School
SEP 2023 Summer School Opening Report
Leon Trotsky and the Struggle for Socialism in the Epoch of Imperialist War and Socialist Revolution
The following report was delivered by David North, national chairman of the Socialist Equality Party (US) and chairman of the World Socialist Web Site, to the opening session of the SEP summer school last week.
David North•
SEP 2023 Summer School Lecture
The Historical and Political Foundations of the Fourth International
This lecture on the origins of the Fourth International was delivered by Clara Weiss and Johannes Stern at the 2023 SEP (US) international Summer School.
Clara Weiss, Johannes Stern•
SEP 2023 Summer School Lecture
The Origins of Pabloite Revisionism, the Split Within the Fourth International and the Founding of the International Committee
This lecture was delivered by Joseph Kishore, the national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (US), to the SEP (US) International Summer School, held between July 30 and August 4, 2023.
Joseph Kishore•
The Cuban Revolution and the SLL’s opposition to the unprincipled Pabloite reunification of 1963
Last June marked 60 years since the infamous congress of reunification between the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), alongside its supporters in Latin America and Asia, and the Pabloite International Secretariat.
Tomas Castanheira•
The “Great Betrayal” in Ceylon, the formation of the American Committee for the Fourth International, and the founding of the Workers League
In June 1964, amid a massive crisis pregnant with revolutionary possibilities, the Pabloite LSSP entered into Madame Bandaranaike’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party government. This was the first time that a party claiming to be Trotskyist and historically associated with the Fourth International had entered into a bourgeois government.
Keith Jones•
The continuing struggle against Pabloism, the centrism of the OCI and the emerging crisis within the ICFI
The following lecture was delivered by Samuel Tissot, a member of the Parti de l’égalité socialiste (PES), the French section of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), and Peter Schwarz, a leading member of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP), the German section of the ICFI. It was delivered to the Socialist Equality Party (US) International Summer School, held between July 30 and August 4, 2023.
Samuel Tissot, Peter Schwarz•
The ICFI’s exposure of Ernest Mandel’s “neo-capitalism” and the analysis of the global economic crisis: 1967–1971
This lecture was delivered by Max Boddy, assistant national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), to the SEP (US) International Summer School, held between July 30 and August 4, 2023.
Max Boddy•
Wohlforth’s renegacy, the renewal of the struggle against Pabloism in the Workers League, and the turn to the working class
The break with Wohlforth is among the most significant events in the history of the ICFI, involving fundamental issues of historical perspective, political principle, organizational security and the defense of dialectical materialism.
Evan Blake, Tom Mackaman•
The role of Security and the Fourth International in the fight for the continuity of the International Committee of the Fourth International
The following lecture was delivered by Eric London, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Party (US), to the SEP (US) International Summer School, held between July 30 and August 4, 2023.
Eric London•
2022 Congress Resolutions and Reports
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Report to Seventh Congress of Socialist Equality Party (US)
Build rank-and-file committees, the organs of 21st century working class struggle!
This report was given by Eric London to the Seventh Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) in support of the resolution titled “Build the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees! For a global counteroffensive of the working class!”
Eric London•
SEP (US) 2022 Congress Resolution
Mobilize the working class against imperialist war!
This is one of four Congress resolutions adopted at the Seventh National Congress of the SEP, held from July 31 to August 5, 2022.
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
America’s “New World Order”— The historical and social roots of US plans for war with Russia and China
The following is a report given by Andre Damon to the Seventh Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) in support of the resolution titled “Mobilize the working class against imperialist war!”
Andre Damon•
SEP (US) 2022 Congress Resolution
No to oligarchic rule! Mobilize the working class against the threat of dictatorship!
This is one of four Congress resolutions adopted at the Seventh National Congress of the SEP, held from July 31 to August 5, 2022.
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
SEP (US) 2022 Congress Resolution
The COVID-19 pandemic and the fight for socialism
This is one of four Congress resolutions adopted at the Seventh National Congress of the SEP, held from July 31 to August 5, 2022.
Socialist Equality Party (US)•
Previous 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.
SEP (US) Congress resolution
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.
Resolution of the SEP (US) Fifth National Congress
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•
Resolution of the SEP (US) Fifth National Congress
Free Julian Assange!
This resolution was unanimously adopted by the Socialist Equality Party Congress, held July 22–27.
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Socialist Equality Party (US) 2016 Congress Resolutions
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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Socialist Equality Party (US) 2016 Congress Resolutions
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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Socialist Equality Party (US) 2016 Congress Resolutions
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•
Recent online meetings
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.
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•
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 fifty 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.
Kathleen Martin joined the Socialist Equality Party in 2014 and has been on the National Committee of the SEP since 2018. She was elected to the position of assistant national secretary at the SEP’s Eighth National Congress in 2024.
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.