Perspective
Perspective
Perspective
The Ukrainian “counter-offensive”: A new stage in the US-NATO war against Russia
The operations in Ukraine are only one part of an expanding and evermore open war between NATO and Russia.
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Despite the lineup of state forces behind the campaign by far-right Ukrainian nationalist forces, including Ontario’s labour minister, the IYSSE was able to hold the first anti-war meeting in Toronto since the war in Ukraine began 16 months ago.
Niles Niemuth•
This message of solidarity was sent by the YGBL to the antiwar meeting held in Toronto, Canada, on June 4 by the International Youth and Students for Social Equality.
Young Guard of Bolshevik Leninists•
The New York Times palms off the deep historical and present-day links of Ukrainian nationalism to Nazism and genocide as merely "thorny issues," i.e., a public relations problem for media propagandists, who are trying to sell NATO's proxy war as a struggle for democracy.
David North•
It was not only Scholz’s roar that was reminiscent of Hitler, but also the content of what he said.
Johannes Stern•
The Biden administration played a thoroughly duplicitous role at the Singapore meeting: professing the need for improved relations with China, while parading its aggressive military build-up throughout the region.
Peter Symonds•
Of the ten declared candidates, only the two most openly fascist, Trump and DeSantis, have significant support in polls of likely Republican primary voters.
Patrick Martin•
On May 24, two CSX locomotives collided, resulting in a diesel fuel spill in a rail yard next to Curtis Bay in Baltimore, polluting the air for the residents.
Leon Gutierrez•
Mélenchon's Unsubmissive France party is complicit in the union bureaucracies' attempt to demobilize the struggle against Macron's pension cuts and against the escalating NATO war against Russia in Ukraine.
Anthony Torres•
Whether Wagenknecht stays in the party or founds a new one at the end of the year is in essence a dispute within the ruling class as to how best to conduct the war in the face of broad popular opposition.
Ulrich Rippert, Christoph Vandreier•
Accounts sent in show the shared experience of postal workers is crippling workloads and failed deliveries resulting from the cost cutting revisions rammed through.
Our reporters•
The Cabinet Office took the extraordinary decision June 1 to launch legal action against the Inquiry via a judicial review, claiming that making available requested material would compromise ministers' and other individuals' right to privacy.
Robert Stevens•
The UAW Local 598 shop chairman said instructions to unload and handle scab batteries from the strikebound Clarios plant had come from the UAW International.
Greg Adams, Jerry White•
A worker in the facility’s single pack department describes the exhausting work, low pay, poor benefits and company surveillance that persist despite workers’ vote for the Amazon Labor Union in 2022.
Erik Schreiber•
Leon Trotsky and the Struggle for Socialism in the Twenty-First Century
This essay by WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North is the preface to the upcoming book, Leon Trotsky and the Struggle for Socialism in the Twenty-First Century. The print and epub versions of the book are available now for pre-order from Mehring Books.
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Train horror in India: Another crime of decaying capitalism
The government has been spending lavishly on the military, as part of its deepening strategic alliance with US imperialism against China, while refusing to make the necessary investments in a rail system that is a crucial means of transportation for the country’s more than a billion people.
Arun Kumar, Patrick Martin•
Biden’s debt deal: A bipartisan blueprint for war and austerity
The rapid and lopsided passage by both houses of Congress of the debt ceiling bill worked out between President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with the Democrats supplying the bulk of the votes, must serve as an object lesson on the unbridgeable class chasm between the entire political establishment and the working class.
Barry Grey•
US Supreme Court issues far-reaching attack on the right to strike
The 8-1 ruling throws open the door for employers to sue unions for damages in the event of a strike, implying that strikes are only allowed so long as they do not in any way harm the company’s bottom line.
Tom Carter•
Stop the state-led censorship of opponents of the US/NATO war against Russia! Defend the IYSSE’s Toronto June 4 meeting!
The open intervention of a government minister in the campaign to shut down an antiwar meeting organized by the International Youth and Students for Social Equality in Toronto marks a new stage in the efforts of ruling elites around the world to censor opponents of imperialist war.
Socialist Equality Party (Canada)•
Our reporters•
Sosyalist Eşitlik Grubu•
WSWS International Editorial Board•
Tom Mackaman•
Chris Marsden, Thomas Scripps•
Sydney’s Macquarie University refuses to affiliate IYSSE club, despite it meeting all requirements
The refusal to affiliate the IYSSE, based on entirely false claims, forms part of a broader crackdown on anti-war opposition amid the danger of a global conflagration.
Eric Ludlow, Oscar Grenfell•
Greens offer Labor a rotten “compromise” on Australia’s housing crisis
The Greens are seeking to politically rescue the Labor government as rents and home mortgage interest rates have continued to soar, threatening millions of working-class households with acute financial stress and evictions.
Mike Head•
Why hasn’t alleged Australian war criminal Ben Roberts-Smith been charged?
While prosecuting whistleblowers who exposed war crimes with zeal, Australian authorities are refusing to charge those credibly accused of murdering Afghan civilians.
Oscar Grenfell•
Electricity and rent hikes expose Australian government’s “cost-of-living” budget
Working-class households are being driven into destitution by skyrocketing rents, mortgage payments and power prices, making a mockery of Labor’s budget and election promises.
Max Boddy•
Ben McGrath•
Mike Head•
Oscar Grenfell•
Patrick O’Connor•
John Braddock•
Over 150,000 teachers on strike in Romania
Romanian teachers join workers in the UK, Spain, Portugal, France and Germany, who are engaged in mass protests and strikes against austerity.
Andrei Tudora•
Australian Public Service workers reject federal Labor government wage cut
More than 85 percent of workers who took part in the ballot voted against the deal, despite its tacit endorsement by the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU).
Martin Scott•
Workers Struggles: The Americas
Striking copper miners blockaded the major highway in northern Mexico to press grievances, while locomotive workers in Pennsylvania are gearing up for a June 9 contract deadline.
Australian university union blocks call by CFPE members for broader struggle
This was a blatant act of political censorship, showing that the NTEU bureaucrats are intent on stifling the democratic rights of members as they rush to push through sell-out enterprise bargaining deals at one university after the other.
Max Boddy•
Tony Robson•
Steve James•
Our reporters•
Robert Stevens•
Joshua Rodriguez•
Telecom union leader calls on Sri Lankan government to maximise profits at state-owned enterprises
Union calls for increased involvement in the government’s restructuring and privatisation policies are not new and saw the elimination of over 2,000 Telecom jobs between 2000 and 2006.
Vilani Peiris•
Sri Lankan government approves paying wards in state hospitals
The introduction of paying wards, to convert the free public health system to a paid service, is occurring amid a deliberate rundown of the public health system and its network of government hospitals.
Tisara Senanayake, Kamal Mahagama•
Oppose the witch-hunting of Sri Lanka Insurance Corporation workers
The Socialist Equality Party opposes the victimisation of SLIC workers and stands unconditionally in defense of the jobs and democratic rights of all insurance corporation employees.
S.K Keerthei, Jotipala Dadigama•
Oppose Sri Lankan government’s privatisation of state enterprises! Build workers’ action committees to fight for jobs and wages!
The working class can only halt the IMF’s savage austerity measures by mobilising its independent political and industrial strength to bring down the Wickremesinghe regime.
Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka)•
Wasantha Rupasinghe•
Kapila Fernando, K. Ratanayke•
M. Thevarajah and G. Devakumar•
Pani Wijesiriwardena•
Saman Gunadasa•
Video: Clarios strikers and Toledo Jeep workers call for UAW ban on scab batteries
Workers on strike at the Clarios auto battery plant in Holland, Ohio are calling for solidarity action from GM, Ford and Stellantis workers who are facing their own contract battle in September.
Jerry White•
At UAW town hall, Fain & Co. falsely claim “transparency” while blacking out Clarios strike
The tightly scripted, 25-minute event was aimed at projecting an air of “transparency” and militancy on the part of the UAW’s new top leadership, while they in fact prepare to carry out the same policies as their predecessors: brutal attacks on jobs, wages and working conditions at the behest of the auto companies.
Marcus Day•
“They are trying to strong-arm us”: Clarios workers call for support as company steps up strikebreaking campaign
Striking workers in Ohio are battling the giant auto battery manufacturer and the sabotage of the United Auto Workers bureaucracy.
Jerry White•
Clarios workers are taking a stand for all autoworkers. We must stand with them! No handling of scab batteries!
The following statement was adopted by the Steering Committee of the Autoworkers Rank-and-File Committees to defend the striking Clarios auto battery workers in Holland, Ohio.
Statement of the Steering Committee of the Autoworkers Rank-and-File Committees•
Our reporters•
Samuel Davidson•
Jerry White•
Our reporters•
Attacks inside Russia continue as NATO head declares “Ukraine will become a member”
The combination of sustained attacks inside of Russia, accelerated moves to accept Ukraine into the NATO alliance structure, and the massive deployment of US troops on Russia’s border point to an extremely dangerous escalation of the war.
Andre Damon•
Drone attack on Moscow aims to escalate US-NATO war with Russia
Ukraine's attacks on Moscow are aimed at provoking a retaliatory response by Russia, which could then be used to justify a massive escalation by NATO, including the potential entry of NATO troops directly into the conflict.
Andre Damon•
US imperialism’s relentless escalation in Ukraine
The decision to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine is only the latest and most provocative in a series of moves by Washington aimed at escalating the war in Ukraine.
Andre Damon•
UK’s BAE Systems announces plan to produce armaments in Ukraine
BAE’s plans to produce weapons in Ukraine is confirmation of the fact that Britain is in an undeclared war with Russia.
Robert Stevens•
Dylan Lubao•
Andre Damon•
Kevin Reed•
Andre Damon•
Clara Weiss•
Directors Guild of America leadership announces tentative agreement, stabbing striking writers in the back
The tentative agreement is a deliberate and ruthless stab in the back of television and film writers, in the second month of a strike against the AMPTP, which represents major film and television studios and networks.
Marc Wells•
Roger Waters faces attacks by Zionists, Labour and Tory politicians as tour hits UK
For the ruling class, Waters’ “crimes” are that he has opposed the US-NATO-instigated war against Russia in Ukraine and vocally supported the Palestinian people in the face of criminal attacks on them by Israel.
Paul Bond•
Why is musician Roger Waters being witch-hunted in Germany?
While tens of thousands of fans cheered on rock musician Roger Waters, politicians and the media organized an unprecedented witch-hunt.
Peter Schwarz•
As US film and television writers strike enters second month, union officials organize “joint stab in the back”
Instead of appealing to other sections of the working class in common struggle against the major studios and their Wall Street owners, the union bureaucracies are releasing empty statements of “solidarity” while appealing to rapacious studios for a “fair” agreement.
Marc Wells, Jacob Crosse•
Paul Bond•
James McDonald•
Adam Mclean•
Sandy English•
James Brewer•
This week in history: June 5-11
This column profiles important historical events which took place during this week, 25 years ago, 50 years ago, 75 years ago and 100 years ago.
As Clarios strike ends second week:
Lessons of the 1984-1985 AP Parts strike in Toledo
The 285-day strike by Toledo AP Parts workers was the longest in the history of the city and bears important lessons for autoworkers today.
Shannon Jones•
Zelensky’s wartime visit to Berlin and Germany’s new “Drive to the East”
Zelensky’s visit to Berlin marks a new stage in the intervention of German imperialism in the war in Ukraine. It continues a dark tradition. Already in the 20th century, German imperialism tried twice to subdue Russia militarily and failed. Now the ruling class is trying a third time.
Johannes Stern•
May 8 and the rehabilitation of Nazism in Germany
At least 13 million Soviet soldiers and 14 million civilians lost their lives in the war. But at the Berlin commemorative events this year, the displaying of the Soviet flag was forbidden.
Peter Schwarz•
Johannes Stern•
Chris Marsden•
Paul Bond•
Paul Bond•
David North•
French National Assembly to examine €413 billion defense spending bill
While imposing an illegitimate and overwhelmingly unpopular pension cut, Macron is building a “war economy” amid the NATO war with Russia.
Kumaran Ira•
Russian autoworkers protest low wages
Seven workers were arrested when they and dozens of others laid down their tools at the lunch hour and refused to restart the line until that night.
Andrea Peters•
Strikes across Italy opposing Meloni’s social cuts and war policy
In Milan, Naples and Turin, strikers marched through the city center chanting, "Abbassate le armi, alzate i salari!" (Down with arms, up with wages!).
Marianne Arens•
Struggle against Macron continues as strikes break out in multiple French industries
Despite the union bureaucracies’ efforts to strangle the struggles of millions of workers to throw out Macron, workers are determined to continue the fight.
Samuel Tissot•
Santiago Guillen•
Alejandro López and Alex Lantier•
Marianne Arens•
Harvey Thompson•
Ulaş Ateşçi•
Psych examiner reported “no suicidal thoughts” days before Epstein death
The release of documents from the period of Epstein’s imprisonment come as more information is emerging on his high-level connections in the rancorous world of the ultra-rich.
Gabriel Black•
US unemployment rate inches up despite 339,000 new jobs added in May
The US jobs report delivered mixed signals Friday, with the unemployment rate rising to from 3.4 to 3.7 percent while the economy added 339,000 new jobs, well above expectations.
Shannon Jones•
Davenport, Iowa building inspector resigns as evidence emerges of lax oversight of apartment which collapsed
Despite numerous complaints from residents and even serious warning from local contractors about serious structural problems, the building passed numerous city inspections in the months prior to the deadly collapse.
Alexander Fangmann•
Alleging financial crimes, Georgia police arrest 3 organizers of Atlanta Solidarity Fund in militarized SWAT raid
The Atlanta Solidarity Fund has been heavily involved in raising funds in support of those arrested while protesting “Cop City,” a proposed multimillion-dollar military-style police training facility on the city’s outskirts.
Jacob Crosse•
Kevin Reed•
Chase Lawrence •
Hugo Maltais, Richard Dufour•
Kevin Reed•
George Gallanis•
New spike of COVID in Australia, highest deaths since February
Even more than in previous surges of the virus, mass illness and death are being treated by governments and the official media as a non-event.
Oscar Grenfell•
COVID spreading through schools in Australia
Outbreaks in New South Wales schools give an indication of the severity of a new pandemic wave across the country.
Carolyn Kennett•
Sri Lankan government’s “let it rip” policy produces COVID-19 surge
Colombo continues to cover up the growing danger of a new wave of the deadly COVID-19, while maintaining its criminal “let it rip” policies which place profits before human lives.
Wasantha Rupasinghe•
Chinese health authorities warn of a new surge in COVID-19 infections with the XBB subvariant
Chinese health authorities warn of another wave of COVID-19 Infections to peak at the end of June with more than 65 million weekly infections.
Benjamin Mateus•
Benjamin Mateus•
Frank Gaglioti•
Benjamin Mateus•
Dylan Lubao•
Nancy Hanover•
May Day 2023: For the international unity of the working class against national chauvinism and war!
The following is the text of the opening report delivered by David North, chairperson of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site, to the International May Day Online Rally 2023, held Sunday, April 30.
David North•
The ICFI’s May Day 2023 online rally: A milestone in the building of a global, working class movement against war
Together, the speakers set out a political programme capable of uniting the international working class and mobilising its immense social power in a struggle against the world’s major corporations and governments.
Thomas Scripps•
The developing struggle to bring down the Macron government in France
This is the report delivered by Alex Lantier, national secretary of the Parti de l’égalité socialiste (PES), to the 2023 International May Day Online Rally held on April 30.
Alex Lantier•
The struggle for a Democratic and Socialist Congress of Workers and Rural Masses in Sri Lanka
This is the report delivered by Deepal Jayasekera, the General Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in Sri Lanka, to the 2023 International May Day Online Rally held on April 30.
Deepal Jayasekera•
Stepan Geller, Andrei Ritsky•
Andre Damon•
Joseph Kishore•
Tom Peters•
Keith Jones•
China growth rate falters as youth unemployment rises
The youth jobless rate has reached a record high of more than 20 percent with around 11.5 million graduates entering the labour force in coming months.
Nick Beams•
What next in the growing dollar crisis?
Sanctions imposed by the US and the major imperialist powers against Russia at the start of the Ukraine war have produced some unintended consequences, most notably attempts to shift away from dependence on the dollar as the global reserve currency.
Nick Beams•
As Biden and Republicans move to slash social spending to pay for war
“60 Minutes” exposé reveals massive Pentagon price-gouging
The scale of the criminality revealed by the TV program prompted senators from both parties to announce an investigation into the Pentagon.
Jacob Crosse•
Interest rate hikes, inflation, rent and financial parasitism
According to economist Ross Garnaut, interest rate hikes actually increase rather than decrease inflation because of changes in the structure of the Australian economy over the past several decades, above all the rise of monopolies which make their money not through productive activity but by the extraction of economic rents.
Nick Beams•
Nick Beams•
Patrick Martin•
Nick Beams•
Nick Beams•
Nick Beams•
Democrats provide critical votes to pass budget-cutting bill on US debt ceiling
More Democrats than Republicans supported the Fiscal Responsibility Act, the deal worked out between the Biden White House and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
Patrick Martin•
DeSantis, Trump compete over who is the bigger fascist
The two leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination are threatening, as part of a war against socialism, to destroy democratic rights embedded in the US Constitution.
Patrick Martin•
Democratic New York City mayor uses Memorial Day speech to rail against socialism and communism
Adams is increasingly channeling the red-baiting Senator Joseph McCarthy of the 1950s and the fascistic former president, Donald Trump.
Fred Mazelis•
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton impeached by state House of Representatives on corruption charges
A sharp crisis has broken out at the highest levels of the Republican Party with the abrupt suspension and removal of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was impeached by the Texas House of Representatives on Saturday for corruption and abuse of power.
Andy Hartmann, Tom Carter•
Barry Grey•
Benjamin Mateus•
Daniel de Vries•
Barry Grey•
Kevin Reed•
Brazil’s Congress launches January 8 coup inquiry as Lula covers for the military
The PT wishes to prevent at all costs the exposure of the military’s involvement in the bid to overturn Brazil's election.
Tomas Castanheira•
Pentagon sending troops to train Peruvian coup regime’s killers
The US “trainers” are being sent after multiple bodies have charged the regime and its security forces with massacres and extra-judicial executions.
Bill Van Auken•
27 gold miners perish in Peru
The May 6 fire of the Esperanza 1 gold mine in the Arequipa region in southwestern Peru killed 27 miners 80 meters below ground.
Rafael Azul•
Argentine pseudo-left coalition FIT-U joins section of Peronist government in a “united front”
The May 18 “Federal March” in Buenos Aires joined the misnamed Left and Workers Front-Unity (FIT-U) with organizations that directly belong to the Fernandez government.
Andrea Lobo•
Mauricio Saavedra•
Eduardo Parati•
Andrea Lobo•
Andrea Lobo•
Andrea Lobo•
Erdoğan wins reelection in Turkish presidential elections
Erdoğan kept his seat thanks to the bankruptcy of the bourgeois opposition, but he is heading for a clash with the working class amid NATO’s war on Russia.
Ulaş Ateşçi•
Jacobin backs Kiliçdaroğlu's reactionary campaign in Turkish elections
Pseudo-left groups support Kiliçdaroğlu for his bitter hostility to the developing movement in the working class and his support for the NATO war on Russia.
Alex Lantier•
HDP, pseudo-left back anti-refugee, anti-Kurdish candidate Kılıçdaroğlu in Turkish elections
The Kurdish-nationalist HDP is backing Kılıçdaroğlu’s right-wing campaign even after he pledged to attack the democratic rights of Kurds and refugees.
Ulaş Ateşçi•
Israel agrees to ceasefire in Gaza amid mounting provocations against Palestinians
Netanyahu has refused to cancel a march of right-wing Israeli nationalists through the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City, one of Islamic Jihad’s conditions for a ceasefire.
Jean Shaoul•
Ulaş Ateşçi•
Barış Demir•
Ulaş Ateşçi•
Jean Shaoul•
Jean Shaoul•
FBI appears to be continuing investigation of Julian Assange
On Thursday it was reported that FBI agents are trawling around, apparently seeking dirt on Assange despite him being locked up in a maximum-security British prison for the past four years.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australian war crimes whistleblower David McBride demands freedom for Julian Assange
Assange faces life behind bars for revealing war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan as a publisher. McBride could be jailed indefinitely for exposing the same atrocities as a whistleblower.
Richard Phillips, Oscar Grenfell•
Assange’s brother and Australian lawyer speak out: “Julian must be brought home”
Lawyer Stephen Kenny warned: "If we don't have people telling us the truth like Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange, then we are going to be ignorant. Our democracy is at stake."
Richard Phillips, Oscar Grenfell•
Stella Assange at Sydney rally: “It’s not just Julian who has lost his freedom, but all of us”
Stella Assange, wife of imprisoned Wikileaks publisher Julian Assange, spoke at a rally in Sydney yesterday morning demanding his immediate freedom.
Oscar Grenfell•
Our reporters•
Oscar Grenfell•
Oscar Grenfell•
Oscar Grenfell•
Oscar Grenfell•
Support builds for IYSSE anti-war Toronto meeting in face of right-wing censorship campaign
Workers and young people have spoken out powerfully in defence of the IYSSE’s right to hold its anti-war meeting in opposition to the threats and intimidation from the far-right UCC and its allies within the Canadian state.
Our reporter•
An emergency meeting of the Michigan Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee discusses death of Jimari Williams and fight against school layoffs
The May 20 meeting was called in the aftermath of the tragic death of the six-year-old Detroit student and the outbreak of a cluster of "flu-like illnesses" at his elementary school.
Gwen Lee•
IYSSE member calls on U-M students, faculty, staff to mobilize in support of graduate student instructors’ fight for a living wage
“The graduate students, they’re the ones I think of as my teachers because I get into discussions with them. They’re the ones I interact with. Their work is just as important as that of the lecturers and faculty.”
Luke Galvin•
Following a wave of protests IYSSE anti-war meeting at Goethe University in Frankfurt will take place
Withdrawal of the ban by the ESG followed a wave of angry protests against what was clearly a flagrant act of political censorship.
Gregor Link•
Our Reporters•
Nancy Hanover•
Debra Watson, Walter Gilberti•
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Germany)•
20 years since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq
March 20 marks 20 years since the beginning of the US invasion of Iraq, launched on the basis of lies. At the time of the initial invasion, the WSWS published many statements on the background of the war, its history and its implications. This page features some of the most important statements.
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A new interpretation regarding the origin of Homo sapiens
Our species, Homo sapiens, evolved not from a single, local population but from a broadly distributed, “stem” of genetically and culturally interacting populations.
Philip Guelpa•
Uncrewed SpaceX rocket Starship explodes after launch
The company’s CEO, Elon Musk, claims the spacecraft will one day ferry humans to Mars.
Bryan Dyne•
New insight into the possible origin of chipped stone tool technology
The use of a hammer-and-anvil technique to crack nuts by monkeys and chimpanzees may represent the precursor of human stone tool technology.
Philip Guelpa•
Preview release of ChatGPT shows potential of artificial intelligence
ChatGPT, released as a free prototype by the research laboratory OpenAI last November, is a powerful artificial intelligence technology with socially transformative potential that is being used under capitalism to eliminate jobs, increase exploitation and automate warfare.
Kevin Reed•
Frank Gaglioti•
Frank Gaglioti•
Benjamin Mateus•
Benjamin Mateus•
Benjamin Mateus•
On the 25th anniversary of the World Socialist Web Site
Twenty-five years ago, the International Committee of the Fourth International began posting the World Socialist Web Site. In this video, WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North explains the background to the WSWS, reviews its record and contemporary significance and makes an appeal to all readers to donate to the WSWS and expand its readership.
Watch now
Oath Keeper founder Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years in prison for 2021 attack on US Capitol
While the sentences are two of the longest handed down so far in the January 6 cases, both judgments are well under the prosecutors’ request and recommended minimum sentencing guidelines.
Jacob Crosse•
Washington D.C. police lieutenant indicted for tipping off, obstructing investigation into convicted Proud Boys leader
Shane Lamond, the former supervisor of the MPD intelligence division during the January 6 coup, exemplifies the support Trump’s coup had and still retains within the police-intelligence apparatus.
Jacob Crosse•
Navy reservist and intelligence contractor sentenced to four years in prison for storming Capitol with Proud Boys
Hatchet Speed, who spent more than 20 years in the US Navy as a cryptologic technician and intelligence analyst, was previously sentenced to three years in prison for stockpiling illegal silencers, which he planned on using in a kidnapping and assassination plot targeting Trump’s political enemies and Jewish people.
Jacob Crosse•
January 6 conspiracy trial: Prosecutor alleges Proud Boys saw themselves “as Donald Trump’s army”
US Assistant attorney Conor Mulroe told jurors that the Proud Boys were a “violent gang” fighting to “keep their preferred leader in power no matter what the law or the courts had to say about it.”
Jacob Crosse•
David North, Jacob Crosse•
Jacob Crosse•
Jacob Crosse•
D. Lencho•
Jacob Crosse•
Statement of the Editorial Board
For a Global Workers’ Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic
The Inquest is necessary to break through the cover-up, lies and misinformation that have been used to justify policies responsible for the avoidable deaths of millions.
Find out more
Enthusiastic response by Sri Lankan workers and students to upcoming international May Day online rally
“Nowadays May Day is used as political propaganda by the trade unions and the capitalist parties. In fact, May Day belongs to the workers and it should be a day that brings together workers in struggle in every country.” –Kandy Hospital nurse
our reporters•
SEP (Australia) holds well-attended post-election public meeting
The SEP held an important meeting Sunday afternoon entitled: “After the NSW Elections—How to fight AUKUS, War & Austerity!”
Our reporters•
World Socialist Web Site launches its Ukrainian-language edition
The Ukrainian edition of the WSWS will publish critical historical and programmatic documents that will create the foundations for a Ukrainian section of the ICFI.
World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board•
Watch SEP online memorial meeting: A Tribute to Regina Lohr – Australian Trotskyist
The SEP held an online memorial meeting to pay tribute to the life of Regina Lohr, who passed away on October 10 at the age of 66.
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Our reporters•
2023: The global capitalist crisis and the growing offensive of the international working class
In 2022 the accumulating pressure of these intersecting elements of the world capitalist crisis attained the equivalent of critical mass: that is, they have reached the point where the dynamic of crisis has passed beyond the ability of governments to control the movement toward a social cataclysm.
Read statement
Japan dispatches military to evacuate citizens from Sudan
Japan’s involvement in Africa is above all aimed at securing access to resources while promoting remilitarization.
Ben McGrath•
Sudan fighting provokes mass exodus
United Nations figures show that more than 420 people have been killed, including at least 256 civilians, and more than 3,500 wounded since fighting broke out on April 15.
Jean Shaoul•
South Africa roiled by global crisis of capitalism
South Africa, in comparison to its most important trading partners, is a leaf in the gale-force maelstrom of the global economy.
Iqra Qalam•
Sudan fighting erupts between rival military factions backed by external powers
Violence broke out amid increased army deployment, security measures and jockeying for public and international support over the planned integration of various militia groups into the Sudanese army.
Jean Shaoul•
Kipchumba Ochieng•
Kipchumba Ochieng•
Kipchumba Ochieng•
Jean Shaoul•
Jean Shaoul•
NOW AVAILABLE
COVID, Capitalism, and Class War: A Social and Political Chronology of the Pandemic
Mehring Books, the publishing arm of the Socialist Equality Party (US), is proud to announce the publication of Volume 1 of COVID, Capitalism, and Class War: A Social and Political Chronology of the Pandemic, a compilation of the World Socialist Web Site's coverage of this global crisis.
Read the introduction
Will Lehman responds to Department of Labor decision denying access to former UAW President Ray Curry’s election protest
On Saturday, rank-and-file candidate for UAW president Will Lehman wrote to Thomas Murray, Detroit-Milwaukee District Director of the Department of Labor’s Office for Labor-Management Standards, objecting to the withholding of Curry’s election protest.
Will Lehman•
DSA leaders of U-M grad students’ strike promote top UAW sellouts Shawn Fain and Bob King
The outbreak of the campus strikes in New Jersey and Illinois threatens to break through the isolation imposed by the AFT bureaucracy and its local enforcers on the strike by U-M grad student instructors. This makes all the more sinister the promotion by the GEO leadership at U-M, dominated by the DSA, of the phony “reform” wing of the United Auto Workers bureaucracy headed by newly installed UAW president Shawn Fain.
Barry Grey, Tim Rivers•
UAW Monitor conflict of interest exposed: Jenner & Block and Crowell & Moring are longstanding lawyers for General Motors and auto corporations
UAW presidential candidate Will Lehman’s complaint to the Department of Labor, filed March 29, reviews the UAW monitor’s conflict of interest, which Lehman said is a ground to re-run the election in its own right.
Will Lehman•
Fear of rank-and-file rebellion looms on last day of UAW convention
In a report on the 2021 Deere strike, UAW Vice President Chuck Browning said officials had faced a “serpent” of opposition from workers.
Jerry White•
Shannon Jones•
Jerry White•
Eric London•
Will Lehman•
A call to youth throughout the world: Build a mass movement to stop the Ukraine war!
The International Youth and Students for Social Equality—the student and youth movement of the Socialist Equality Parties, the national sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International—calls for the building of a mass global movement of young people to end the reckless escalation toward World War III.
Read statement
NSW election: Australian workers and youth speak about COVID, war and social crisis
One worker said: “I think it’s a good idea to have an international movement for the working class against war and for democratic rights, for workers to unite, it makes sense.”
Our reporters•
Australia: After media lies about a Labor landslide, NSW election likely to result in minority government
The media misinformation was aimed at covering up the crisis of the two-party system and trying to ensure a “stable” government to implement budget austerity.
Oscar Grenfell•
SEP (Australia) election campaign finds intense opposition to war and austerity in northern NSW
Among those who spoke out were victims of last year’s floods in Lismore, a regional city, where thousands of residents are still living in substandard accommodation more than a year after the floods.
Mike Head•
Australia: NSW election sees further crisis of Liberals, but no landslide to Labor
Contrary to media claims, the result is no ringing endorsement of Labor. Instead it expresses a deepening of the crisis of the two-party set-up.
Oscar Grenfell•
Our reporters•
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Our reporters•
Max Boddy, SEP candidate for Bankstown in NSW•
Oscar Grenfell•
The definitive left-wing critique of the 1619 Project. This volume includes interviews with eminent historians and essays from the World Socialist Web Site exposing the New York Times’ racialist falsification of history.
Former Montgomery, Alabama teacher testifies about the forced reopening of schools in 2020-21
In this interview, Tynisa Williams, former teacher in Montgomery, Alabama, describes the experience of being forced to teach in-person in the fall of 2020 and winter of 2021. She and her coworkers waged a courageous struggle to stop the deadly return to in-person learning that cost the lives of eight educators in the district.
Emma Arceneaux, Evan Blake•
Accomplices to social murder
The international pseudo-left and the lifting of Zero-COVID in China: Part 1
The pseudo-left’s hostility to public health and support for imperialism found sharp expression in their universal demand—echoing that of the Western corporate media and political establishment—that China abandon its Zero-COVID strategy.
Evan Blake•
Accomplices to social murder
The international pseudo-left and the lifting of Zero-COVID in China: Part 2
The pseudo-left’s hostility to public health and support for imperialism found its sharpest expression in their demand—echoing that of the Western corporate media and political establishment—that China abandon its Zero-COVID strategy.
Evan Blake•
Immunocompromised mother in Manhattan speaks to Global Workers’ Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic
Melanie, whose children attend public schools in New York City, spoke to the WSWS about the toll the “let it rip” policy toward the pandemic has taken on her and her family.
Tim Avery•
George Kirby•
Tom Peters•
Dylan Lubao•
Evan Blake•
Tom Peters•
Timothy Snyder’s Bloodlands: Right-wing propaganda disguised as historical scholarship
This five-part series and historical timeline exposes Snyder’s Bloodlands as a work of falsification, aimed at justifying the imperialist proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and the alliance of US imperialism with the Ukrainian far-right.
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The Wuhan lab lie: “Weapons of mass destruction” redux
In an uncanny instance of history repeating itself, the lies used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq based on false claims about “weapons of mass destruction” are being used to promote the United States’ unprecedented military buildup around China.
Andre Damon•
A discredited conspiracy theory about the origins of COVID-19
The Wuhan Lab Leak slander being resurrected to bolster US war drive against China
The Wall Street Journal disclosed that the Department of Energy has shifted its opinion on the origin of the coronavirus to it being most likely a result of a lab leak. However, unnamed sources who have read the report indicate the evidence is of low confidence.
Benjamin Mateus•
Republicans revive discredited Wuhan Lab Leak theory and call Anthony Fauci to testify
Republicans have demanded Former Biden chief medical advisor Dr Anthony Fauci testify on the Wuhan lab leak theory.
Benjamin Mateus•
Anthony Fauci gives aid and comfort to COVID-19 “lab leak” conspiracy theory
Fauci’s aim in lending credence to the conspiracy theory, which he knows to be a lie, is to distract attention from the antiscientific policies carried out under the Trump and Biden administrations that led to the deaths of over a million Americans.
Andre Damon•
Andre Damon•
Benjamin Mateus•
Kevin Reed•
Frank Gaglioti•
Timeline of thirty years of war: The historical background to the US-NATO conflict with Russia
This interactive timeline presents some of the most important events that have brought humanity to the brink of World War III. It includes links to critical articles and statements produced by the International Committee of the Fourth International over the past 30 years.
View the Timeline
The 1619 Project and the New York Times’ promotion of the racialist ideology of Ukrainian nationalism
The racialist historical revisionism of the Times and the racialist ideology of the Ukrainian neo-Nazis share a common premise: the mythological reimagining of history as a struggle of “the nation” and “the race.”
Tom Carter•
Oppose political censorship of antiwar views at Howard University!
We call on all students, faculty and staff members at Howard University to oppose this censorship and demand that the IYSSE be allowed to hold its planned meeting on campus.
International Youth and Students for Social Equality•
Marcus Garvey and the reactionary logic of racialist politics
More than one hundred years after the formation of his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), Marcus Garvey's legacy remains highly relevant in the struggle to overcome efforts to divide the working class along racial lines.
Lawrence Porter•
1619 Project creator Nikole Hannah-Jones was paid over $1 million to speak about race at colleges in 2022
The race-obsessed middle class layers which Hannah-Jones epitomizes are fundamentally fearful of and hostile to the growing movement of the working class. The last thing they want is for the party to end when there is yet so much money to be made.
Dominic Gustavo•
Tom Mackaman•
Douglas Lyons•
Tom Mackaman•
Tom Mackaman•
Tom Mackaman•
Report to Seventh Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US)
The historical and political principles of the socialist opposition to imperialist war and the Putin regime
This report was given by Clara Weiss to the Seventh Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) in support of the resolution, “Mobilize the working class against imperialist war!”
Clara Weiss•
Report to Seventh Congress of Socialist Equality Party (US)
The historical background of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fight for global elimination
This report was given by Evan Blake to the Seventh Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) in support of the resolution titled “The COVID-19 pandemic and the fight for socialism”
Evan Blake•
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•
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•
Ulaş Ateşçi•
Tom Peters•
Keith Jones•
Tomas Castanheira•
Forty-five years since the assassination of Tom Henehan (1951-1977): A Revolutionary Life
October 16 marked the 45th anniversary of the assassination of Tom Henehan, a member of the Political Committee of the Workers League—the predecessor of the Socialist Equality Party in the US. We are republishing here a tribute delivered by David North at a meeting in 1997.
WSWS readers demand Facebook reverse ban on SEG in New Zealand
Readers have expressed outrage at the social media company’s anti-democratic censorship of the Trotskyist Socialist Equality Group in New Zealand.
Facebook blocks Socialist Equality Group in New Zealand from advertising
We call on readers to oppose Facebook’s blatant political censorship of the Trotskyist movement in New Zealand.
Tom Peters•
Elon Musk’s Twitter abruptly reverses ban on promotion of alternative social media platforms
After instituting a ban on sharing links from competitive social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and Mastodon, Elon Musk canceled the policy less than 24 hours later.
Kevin Reed•
Musk continues to ban from Twitter journalists who criticize him
Twitter owner and fascistic billionaire Elon Musk acknowledged late Thursday that he had shut down the accounts of numerous prominent journalists earlier in the day, claiming falsely that they had violated a new policy on the platform against “doxxing."
Kevin Reed•
Kevin Reed•
Dominic Gustavo•
Eric Ludlow•
Our reporter•
Kevin Reed•
Wije Dias: A fighter for Trotskyism (1941-2022)
Comrade Wije Dias, the longtime general secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), died in Colombo on July 27, 2022. This exhibit includes two tributes to Wije by WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North as well as a selection of Wije’s most significant articles and speeches.
A historic advance in the fight for Trotskyism
The International Committee of the Fourth International accepts application of the Sosyalist Eşitlik Grubu to become its section in Turkey
The June 19 decision followed extensive discussions with representatives of the International Committee in Istanbul on the development of the fight for Trotskyism in Turkey and the Aegean and Black Sea regions.
Read more
An interview with Harvard anthropology Professor John Comaroff—Part one
We spoke recently to South African-born John Comaroff, the Hugh K. Foster Professor of African and African-American studies and of Anthropology, and Oppenheimer Research Fellow in African Studies, Harvard University.
David Walsh•
Harvard UAW, pseudo-left groups organize provocation against professor John Comaroff
The right-wing witch-hunt of John Comaroff at Harvard University continued Tuesday with a stage-managed protest during his first class of the semester.
Mike Ingram•
Defend Harvard professor John Comaroff against the right-wing witch-hunt!
This shameful campaign reached new heights Tuesday when concerted efforts were made to prevent Comaroff from teaching. Provocations were organized both inside and outside the classroom.
Socialist Equality Party (US), International Youth and Students for Social Equality•
The politically driven campaign against Harvard anthropologist John Comaroff
The attack on Harvard anthropology professor John Comaroff has taken to a new level the campaign to purge American colleges and universities on the basis of anti-democratic identity politics.
David Walsh•
David Walsh•
James McDonald, Sam Wayne•
Mike Head•
Matthew Brennan, Barry Grey•
Barry Grey•
The fight for Trotskyism and the political foundations of the World Socialist Web Site
The WSWS is publishing the report delivered by David North 25 years ago, on February 1, 1997, motivating the proposal to end publication of the SEP’s printed newspaper and replace it with an international website; as well as North’s reply to the National Committee ‘s discussion of the proposal.
Russia downs British-supplied long-range missile as Zelensky and Sunak declare “jets coalition”
Central to NATO’s plans to defeat Russia and force regime change in Moscow is aerial supremacy over the Ukrainian battlefield. Speaking to reporters after the talks, Zelensky said, “We want to create this jet coalition.”
Robert Stevens•
Pentagon national strategy document targets China
The US military published a series of documents Thursday outlining US plans for war with Russia and China, and asserting the central role of nuclear weapons in US warfighting.
Andre Damon•
Australia dispatching military “trainers” to aid the US-NATO war against Russia
Australia, already the largest non-NATO funder of the war in Ukraine, is escalating its involvement amid warnings that the conflict could result in a nuclear catastrophe.
Oscar Grenfell•
German President Steinmeier delivers war speech to the nation
Steinmeier's remarks to invited soldiers, journalists, think tank representatives and leading politicians can only be described as a “war speech to the nation.” The focus was de facto a declaration of war on Russia and the Russian population.
Johannes Stern, Christoph Vandreier•
Jordan Shilton•
Tom Peters•
Jean Shaoul•
Peter Symonds•
Tom Peters•
Peace activist sentenced for criticizing German war policy in Ukraine
The Berlin-Tiergarten District Court has sentenced peace activist Heinrich Bücker for a speech he gave on the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s invasion on the Soviet Union.
Justus Leicht•
Large-scale raid against right-wing terrorist network reveals the extent of the fascist danger in Germany
Around 3,000 officers from the special police forces stormed 137 locations in 11 federal states on Wednesday morning and arrested 25 people. Another 27 people are being investigated. The state prosecutor has accused them of being members or supporters of a terrorist organisation.
Peter Schwarz•
German secret service operates hundreds of far-right social media profiles
Regardless of whether the pending investigations can demonstrate that the agents gave the impetus to the planned terrorist attacks, a picture emerges of a right-wing extremist milieu organized and controlled by the state.
Christoph Vandreier•
German Interior Minister Faeser wants to fight climate change activists “with all her might”
While right-wing extremist terrorist networks operate unhindered in Germany’s state apparatus and are covered up by the highest authorities, federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (Social Democrats) has called for a fight against alleged “left-wing extremists” and young climate change activists.
Christoph Vandreier•
Justus Leicht•
Statement of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei•
Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee (UK)•
Peter Schwarz•
Christoph Vandreier•
WSWS Review
Thirty years since the dissolution of the USSR
Review the most critical essays, lectures and letters produced by the ICFI in the course of its intervention in response to the crisis of Stalinism and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Read more
The Ukrainian “counter-offensive”: A new stage in the US-NATO war against Russia
The operations in Ukraine are only one part of an expanding and evermore open war between NATO and Russia.
Joseph Kishore, David North•
Train horror in India: Another crime of decaying capitalism
The government has been spending lavishly on the military, as part of its deepening strategic alliance with US imperialism against China, while refusing to make the necessary investments in a rail system that is a crucial means of transportation for the country’s more than a billion people.
Arun Kumar, Patrick Martin•
Biden’s debt deal: A bipartisan blueprint for war and austerity
The rapid and lopsided passage by both houses of Congress of the debt ceiling bill worked out between President Joe Biden and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, with the Democrats supplying the bulk of the votes, must serve as an object lesson on the unbridgeable class chasm between the entire political establishment and the working class.
Barry Grey•
Stop the state-led censorship of opponents of the US/NATO war against Russia! Defend the IYSSE’s Toronto June 4 meeting!
The open intervention of a government minister in the campaign to shut down an antiwar meeting organized by the International Youth and Students for Social Equality in Toronto marks a new stage in the efforts of ruling elites around the world to censor opponents of imperialist war.
Socialist Equality Party (Canada)•
Sosyalist Eşitlik Grubu•
Andre Damon•
Chris Marsden, Thomas Scripps•
Patrick Martin•
Johannes Stern•
Eighty years since the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union
The WSWS has published a feature page incorporating a selection of essential essays from its own archives, and other documents produced contemporaneously by the Fourth International.
Read more
New Zealand police extend investigation into Pike River mine disaster until the end of 2023
Police are delaying their decision on whether to lay charges over the 2010 Pike River mine disaster that killed 29 people, until after the October election.
Tom Peters•
Nine dead, 44 still missing in mine collapse in China
The disaster tragically exposes the brutal working conditions faced by miners in China in the reckless drive for profits ahead of lives and safety.
Jack Wang•
New Zealand: Court action over Pike River mine disaster
The fathers of two of the 29 workers killed in the 2010 Pike River mine disaster are campaigning for the release of documents and correspondence relating to a 2013 decision to drop charges against Pike River CEO Peter Whittall.
Tom Peters•
New Zealand police to drill more boreholes at Pike River mine
Police have made no guarantee that there will be any prosecution for the 2010 Pike River coal mine disaster, which killed 29 workers.
Tom Peters•
Tom Peters•
Tom Peters•
Socialist Equality Group (New Zealand)•
Tom Peters•
Tom Peters•
Cliff Slaughter: A political biography (1928-1963)
By David North
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.
A Hell Called Ohio: The working class and American fiction
A Hell Called Ohio centers on the life of its narrator, Warrell Swanson, a worker in a metal factory on the Maumee River in Defiance, in northwest Ohio.
James McDonald•
Publisher agrees to an uncensored edition of Roald Dahl’s books, but not before PEN America exposes its own hypocrisy
Puffin has announced it will publish another edition of Dahl’s books without changes, but not before the writers' advocacy group, PEN America, exposed itself as a phony opponent of censorship, given that it is a purveyor of Ukraine war propaganda and anti-Russian chauvinism.
Sandy English•
Year of Wonders: A Novel of the Plague—A portrait of a 17th century lockdown
Drawing on original historical records, Geraldine Brooks has written an absorbing account of how a small village tried to combat the bubonic plague in 17th century England.
Margaret Rees•
Novelist Russell Banks (1940-2023): “Go, my book, and help destroy the world as it is.”
The American writer Russell Banks, who wrote about the lives of working-class people and historical figures such as John Brown, died on January 3 at the age of 82.
Sandy English•
James McDonald•
Tom Mackaman•
Carola Kleinert, Verena Nees•
Margaret Rees•
James McDonald•
Sylvia Ageloff and the assassination of Leon Trotsky
With David North and Eric London
North and London discussed the significance of the latest revelations of the the Security and the Fourth International investigation into Trotsky’s assassination.
Watch the video