This is the text of the introductory speech delivered by WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North to the 2024 International May Day Online Rally.
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A lesson in “lesser-evil” politics: Democrats join forces with Republican Speaker Mike Johnson
A week after House Democrats voted to retain Mike Johnson as Speaker, the Louisiana Republican appeared outside the Trump trial in Manhattan to fervently support the fascist ex-president.
As the official death toll since October 7 rises to over 35,200 Palestinians—with well over 40,000 dead when those unaccounted for under the rubble are taken into account, the vast majority being women and children—Washington’s response is to double down on its support for the far-right Zionist regime and to accelerate the shipment of arms.
The momentum of the strike must not be lost, especially now that the 48,000 academic workers in the UC system have voted to strike in response to police attacks against peaceful anti-genocide protests.
Faculty at Tulane and Loyola Universities in New Orleans issue public letters denouncing the violent police assault and disciplinary measures against a peaceful student encampment protest earlier this month.
This is the text of the speech delivered by Dilaxshan Mahalingam, an IYSSE member in Sri Lanka, to the 2024 International May Day Online Rally.
The Colombo Port Workers Action Committee urges all port workers and youth who value democratic rights to come forward and campaign for the release of comrade Bogdan Syrotiuk.
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson told the assembled media, “It is abundantly clear that the process in the courts in the United Kingdom are corrupt. The case is rigged against Julian.”
Tactical differences have emerged in the Green Party, with former co-leader James Shaw declaring that he would have been comfortable joining a right-wing National Party-led government.
The UAW unionization drive has received the blessings of the Biden administration, which is seeking to use the unions to control and stifle social opposition to war and austerity.
With new job cuts being announced every day, analysts are suggesting 384,000 education jobs may be axed this year as federal pandemic aid runs out.
The strike ban underscores that as Canadian imperialism backs Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians, and takes on an ever greater role in NATO’s war on Russia and the US strategic offensive against China the Trudeau government will tolerate no opposition from workers at home.
Demand the release of Bogdan Syrotiuk, socialist opponent of NATO’s proxy war, from a Ukrainian prison
On Thursday, April 25, Bogdan Syrotiuk—a socialist opponent of the right-wing Zelensky regime and the NATO-instigated Ukraine-Russia war—was arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine, the SBU, in his hometown of Pervomaisk in southern Ukraine.
Postal workers in Britain demand: Free Bogdan Syrotiuk!
Defending Bogdan means challenging the endless pro-war propaganda by the British media that the NATO-backed conflict against Russia is being waged to defend democracy and human rights.
Roger Waters calls for release of Ukrainian Trotskyist Bogdan Syrotiuk
In recent days, the campaign for the release of the Ukrainian Trotskyist Bogdan Syrotiuk, who was arrested by the Ukrainian Secret Service (SBU) on April 25 for his socialist opposition to the far-right Zelensky government and the NATO-instigated war between Russia and Ukraine, has gathered momentum.
Australian youth and students call for immediate release of Ukrainian socialist Bogdan Syrotiuk
“Alongside Bogdan’s arrest, students protesting against Israel’s genocide in Gaza are being suppressed around the world.”
This lecture was given by World Socialist Web Site International Editorial Board Chairman David North at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on Tuesday, March 12.
Accomplices in Genocide: Canadian imperialism and fascist barbarism
This is the text of the speech delivered by Keith Jones, National Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (Canada), to the 2024 International May Day Online Rally.
Fight the Australian Labor government’s program of war and austerity!
This is the text of the speech delivered by Max Boddy, Socialist Equality Party (Australia) assistant national secretary, to the 2024 International May Day Online Rally.
The struggle for international socialism in South Asia
This is the text of the speech delivered by Deepal Jayasekera, General Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), to the 2024 International May Day Online Rally.
The reshaping of Latin America by the new imperialist war
This is the text of the speech delivered by Tomas Castanheira, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Group in Brazil, to the 2024 International May Day Online Rally.
Biden administration intensifies economic war against China
Under national security powers, the US has raised tariffs on electric vehicles to 100 percent, along with tariff hikes on a range of high-tech and industrial products.
Australian whistleblower sent to prison for exposing Afghan war crimes
David McBride is the first person prosecuted over the documented war crimes, including extrajudicial killings—not for perpetrating them but for exposing them.
Canadian and US imperialism “modernizing” NORAD for global war
NORAD is viewed by both Washington and Ottawa as central to waging “strategic conflict” and all-out war—including nuclear war—against its great-power rivals, above all Russia and China.
University of California strike vote must be the start of a working class fight against war and assault on democratic rights
The vote by the graduate student workers is a sign of a new stage in which the working class will emerge as the basic social force against war and dictatorship.
Dutch students and faculty members protest against the genocide in Gaza
The University of Amsterdam administration justified the intervention of the Mobile Unit (ME) or the Dutch riot police in the university building, brutally beating and arresting students.
As strike vote against police crackdown continues, students and educators oppose UAW stalling
Only through the mobilization of the working class, which creates all of society’s wealth, can the genocide in Gaza and other criminal wars be stopped. At the same time, the broadening of the struggle will also give grad students the strongest possible position to resist attempts by the UAW bureaucracy to limit or prevent a strike.
“They say we have freedom of speech but when we utilize it, we’re persecuted”: Detroit autoworkers support strike vote by University of California academic workers
Autoworkers in the Detroit area are expressing support for University of California academic workers who are demanding strike action to protect anti-genocide protesters on campus.
Hundreds of lecturers condemn the police terror at Berlin universities
Germany's ruling class is returning to the methods of the Nazis: police terror, the suppression of peaceful protests and the besieging of universities.
Half a million Palestinians forced to flee latest Israeli military attacks
The UN relief agency for Palestinians reported that around 450,000 people have been driven out of Rafah—a city whose population had been swollen to 1.3 million by a huge influx of people escaping the Israeli military onslaught elsewhere in Gaza.
Medical missions in Gaza trapped without access to supplies and basic aid
Two medical missions at the European Hospital in Khan Younis have been trapped in place with limited supplies since the closing of the Rafah border crossing into Egypt.
The onslaught on Rafah: German Chancellor Scholz supports Israel's genocide
The German ruling class plays a key role in the genocide of the Palestinians. This cannot be obscured by the hypocritical "warnings" from Scholz and other leading politicians about the attack on Rafah.
US reiterates “ironclad” support for Israel, as hundreds of thousands displaced from Rafah
With Israel expanding its assault on Rafah and launching indiscriminate bombings and assaults throughout the Gaza Strip, 20 percent of Gaza's population has once again been forced to flee over the past week.
US general confirms UK Special Forces operating in Ukraine
US General Brian Fenton reveals how deeply British imperialism is involved in the NATO-led war against Russia, including the deployment of Special Forces, Royal Air Force pilots and “Royal Navy teammates”.
Russia launches offensive on Kharkov as NATO threatens escalation in Ukraine
As the military situation of the NATO alliance and its puppet regime in Ukraine becomes ever more desperate, the danger of direct military intervention by the NATO powers is growing.
Nordic military operations highlight NATO’s preparations to attack Russia from the north
One major NATO exercise has followed another, with tens of thousands of troops participating, while the US has expanded its bilateral defence agreements with Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden to create what resembles a massive American staging ground for an invasion of Russia from the north.
British foreign secretary gives go-ahead for Ukrainian strikes on Russia with UK-supplied missiles
After speaking with Zelensky, Cameron told reporters, “But let's be absolutely clear, Russia has launched an attack into Ukraine and Ukraine absolutely has the right to strike back at Russia.”
Nationwide construction strike begins in Germany
The strike is the first in the sector for 17 years and the first nationwide strike for 22 years.
UPDATE: UAW calls off strike at University of Washington after less than one day
The eruption of a strike by 6,000 UW workers points to the immense potential for the growing movement against war with the massive opposition in the working class to exploitation and inequality.
University of Michigan lecturers' union imposes sellout contract, isolating student anti-genocide protesters
With far less than half of the membership voting on the contract, the LEO-AFT bureaucracy forced through a sellout contract, isolating pro-Palestinian protesters.
Amazon Labor Union hosts Stalinist Communist Party of Greece
The union’s fraternizing with Stalinist parties, like its relations with the anticommunist trade unions, is aimed at building a new labor bureaucracy while ignoring the needs of Amazon workers.
Child homelessness in England reaches a record high
Child homelessness rose last year by 14 percent to 145,800, while 55 child deaths since 2019 were directly attributed to living in temporary accommodation
UK Prime Minister Sunak warns of nuclear war
Sunak pledged that the Tories were the party to be trusted to wage war at whatever cost. Labour will respond in kind.
The danger of nuclear escalation: What would be the impact of dropping atom bombs on Germany?
Since the release of the SGP’s TV election spot warning of a nuclear third world war, there have been increasing signs that NATO’s war against Russia is entering a new stage that could actually lead to the use of nuclear weapons.
UK Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke defects to Starmer’s right-wing Labour Party
Elphicke is seeking to salvage her political career by jumping ship to a Labour Party expected to easily win a general election later this year, and she can do so by joining a party whose programme is identical to that of the Tories.
Former Fijian PM Bainimarama jailed for 12 months
Bainimarama’s imprisonment over an abuse of office is bound up with the divisions within the country’s ruling elites which confront a worsening economic and social crisis.
Australia: Sweeping pro-business restructuring and job cuts at Western Sydney University College
Educators and professional staff at WSU College face the elimination of more than 13 percent of teaching and learning jobs, and a “spill and fill” regime to force them to compete against each other for the remaining posts.
Australian federal Labor government budget includes paltry student debt “relief”
The HECS-HELP loan indexation adjustment is a tiny fraction of the crippling debt confronting university students amid the worst cost-of-living crisis in a generation.
Australian whistleblower sent to prison for exposing Afghan war crimes
David McBride is the first person prosecuted over the documented war crimes, including extrajudicial killings—not for perpetrating them but for exposing them.
I.S.S.: War in space without—for a change—anti-Russian xenophobia
Directed by American Gabriela Cowperthwaite (Blackfish, 2013) and scripted by Nick Shafir, I.S.S. defies tropes so plentiful in Cold War (and contemporary) fiction and film.
The socially critical films of 1974: Part 4
Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View (1974): America “is a country with many dark secrets”
The film expresses the broadly felt suspicion in the population—at that time and even more so today—that there is something sinister and rotten in the American state.
The socially critical films of 1974: Part 3
Robert Altman’s Thieves Likes Us (1974): “What is robbing a bank compared with founding a bank?”
The socially intriguing and historically authentic film was an opportunity for the director to reveal his attitude towards American capitalism during the Great Depression.
The socially critical films of 1974: Part 2
Hal Ashby’s The Last Detail: “Imprisoned” by the US Navy, two sailors escort a young seaman to the brig
As a US Navy ensign prepares to meet his fate, two older sailors try to give the young victim of the system a taste of the life he will be losing out on.
Study reveals doubling of opioid deaths across Canada during early stages of COVID-19 pandemic
In 2021 the proportion of deaths related to opioids among people aged 20-29 was 29.3 percent. With 29 percent of deaths occurring among people aged 30-39, this means that those under 40 accounted for close to 60 percent of all opioid deaths.
Florida deputy kills airman after entering the wrong apartment
Senior Airman Roger Fortson, 23, was in his off-base apartment when he was fatally shot by a deputy, who was responding to a disturbance call in a difference apartment.
Another Boeing whistleblower dies, the second in two months
Joshua Dean’s death came suddenly—the Seattle Times reported that he began having trouble breathing two weeks ago and was hospitalized and intubated.
Quebec government targets construction workers’ jobs and working conditions
The CAQ government is determined to push through an employer-dictated construction industry “modernization,” aimed at boosting profits at the expense of workers’ jobs and safety.
Oppose imperialist War! SEP/IYSSE public meeting in Sri Lanka
The only social force capable of halting the drive to world war is the international working class which is coming into struggle in Sri Lanka and around the world.
Four-year witch-hunt continues against Alton Estate workers in Sri Lanka
The ongoing repression of Alton Estate workers by management and the police, supported by the trade unions, is calculated to intimidate all estate workers.
Sri Lankan workers enthusiastically support SEP’s party development campaign
Sri Lankan workers and youth have strongly backed the Socialist Equality Party while denouncing government’s attempts to block independent and socialist candidates from participating in forthcoming elections.
Sri Lankan president announces wage rise to dissipate estate workers anger
Wickremesinghe’s so-called pay hike, which is backed by the unions, will do little to overcome the massive increases in the cost of living for plantation workers and their families, let alone lift them out of the desperate social abyss they confront.
Michael Cohen testifies in Trump “hush money” fraud trial
The fascist ex-president faces up to four years in prison if convicted of maintaining false business records to cover up the payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
On behalf of Biden administration, UAW bureaucracy and DSA struggle to contain anti-war sentiment
In recent weeks, the Democratic Party has come to rely increasingly on the UAW bureaucracy and Democratic Socialists of America to protect Joe Biden, insulate his re-election campaign from growing hostility to the genocide in Gaza, and keep weapons flowing both to Israel and to Ukraine in the US-NATO war against Russia.
Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post proposes raising the retirement age
Social Security and Medicare trustees’ reports trigger new calls to cut workers’ benefits
The annual reports for 2024 released Monday by the trustees of the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds have become the signal for renewed demands for cuts in retirement and healthcare benefits on which tens of millions of Americans depend.
US intelligence agencies say Putin “didn’t order” murder of Alexei Navalny, Wall Street Journal reports
The revelation, published by the Wall Street Journal in late April, came from undisclosed sources within the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the State Department and is “broadly accepted” within these institutions.
Biden administration intensifies economic war against China
Under national security powers, the US has raised tariffs on electric vehicles to 100 percent, along with tariff hikes on a range of high-tech and industrial products.
US to quadruple tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles
With tariffs and other barriers going up almost every day, the global economy is increasingly coming to resemble the madhouse of the 1930s.
Jobs assault deepens, while report says workers’ share of national income has fallen to 55 percent
Weekly unemployment in the US jumped by more than 10 percent, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the share labor receives of national income has fallen to an unprecedented 55.8 percent as of the first quarter of 2024.
New bans on Huawei: Another shot in Biden’s economic war on China
The rise of Chinese hi-tech companies such as Huawei highlight the historic decline of US imperialism which is prepared to resort to all methods to maintain its global economic and military dominance.
Democrats step up campaign to block third parties
Political action committees linked to the Biden campaign are attacking the campaigns of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Jill Stein of the Green Party and Cornel West.
Democratic Party enlists Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to cover up Biden’s war crimes
A lengthy New York Times essay has acknowledged that DSA representative Ocasio-Cortez is now the lynchpin in the Democratic Party’s strategy to block growing opposition to imperialist war and genocide in Gaza and channel it behind Biden’s reelection campaign.
The arrest of Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein is an attack on democratic rights
All charges must be dropped against Stein and the hundreds of others who have been arrested while protesting in recent weeks.
The hush money trial of Donald Trump and the crisis of class rule in America
The opening of the trial marks a new stage in an intense crisis at the highest levels of the American state that has been building for 50 years. This August will mark the 50th anniversary of the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974 as a result of the crisis stemming from his campaign’s break-in at the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic National Committee.
Tenth anniversary of the death of 301 miners in the Soma disaster in Turkey
The last decade has witnessed a deepening of the ruling elite's disregard for the safety of workers for the sake of profit, let alone the necessary occupational safety measures, in Turkey and around the world.
Fire disaster in Istanbul kills 29 workers
This fire disaster is an indictment of the entire ruling elite, including business owners and officials.
Mass protests erupt in Turkey after election of Kurdish mayor annulled
The dismissal of Van’s elected Kurdish nationalist mayor in local elections, in which Erdoğan’s AKP suffered a heavy defeat, triggered mass protests.
Erdoğan’s AKP suffers setback in Turkish local elections as CHP comes first
In elections dominated by the cost-of-living crisis and held amidst the genocide in Gaza and NATO's escalating war against Russia, the ruling party suffered a significant defeat.
SEP (Australia) public meeting: Free Julian Assange! Oppose imperialist war!
The Socialist Equality Party in Australia is holding a meeting on Sunday, May 26 in Sydney and online to discuss the urgent struggle to free Julian Assange.
Imperialist leaders cover up illegal detention of Julian Assange on World Press Freedom Day
The leaders of the imperialist powers responsible for the detention and pending extradition from Britain to the US of WikiLeaks founder and publisher Julian Assange remained silent on his illegal imprisonment on United Nation’s World Press Freedom Day.
Biden administration issues “weasel words” assurances to secure Assange’s extradition
The US is seeking to prosecute Assange on charges under the Espionage Act which carry a de facto life sentence for publishing documents exposing war crimes and human rights abuses carried out by Washington and its imperialist allies.
SEP (Australia) forum in Melbourne demands freedom for Assange
The meeting unanimously passed a resolution condemning the US-led vendetta and demanding Assange’s immediate and unconditional freedom.
This week in history: May 13-19
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.
54 years since the Kent State massacre—and a warning for today
The article reviews the experience of the Kent State massacre of anti-war college students in 1970, which has enormous relevance for today amid the massive police crackdown on campus protests against the Gaza genocide.
This week in history: May 6–13
NATO bombs Chinese embassy in Belgrade; Willy Brandt resigns; police attack Canadian asbestos miners; J. Edgar Hoover becomes FBI director.
Liz French on the 40th Anniversary of the British Miners’ Strike: “We were betrayed by the TUC and Labour Party.”
The WSWS spoke with Liz French from Betteshanger, a former pit village in the Kent coalfield in south-east England. Liz was a founding member of the National Women Against Pit Closures during the 1984-85 Miner’s Strike. Among the 200 miners imprisoned during the 1984-85 strike, Liz’s late husband Terry received one of the longest prison sentences of five years.
Union federations turn May Day in Brazil into platform for Lula government
President Lula is pursuing a corporatist agenda to integrate the unions into the state in order to suppress the class struggle in Brazil.
Colombia cuts ties with Israel over Gaza genocide
The decision was first announced in President Petro's May Day speech, delivered Wednesday to tens of thousands of supporters in Bogota.
GM closes Colombia and Ecuador plants as UAW and other bureaucracies remain silent
General Motors announced last Friday the shutdown of its manufacturing plants in Colombia and Ecuador, eliminating about 1,300 jobs, along with thousands more indirectly.
Brazilian federal education strikes expose broad attacks by Lula government
The financial markets have hailed the Lula government as its reactionary character has been exposed.
Boeing 737-300 catches fire on runway in Senegal, injures 10
It is only a matter of time before more people are killed on Boeing planes, repeating or exceeding the tragedies of the two 737 MAX 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Humanitarian crisis looms in Kenya and East Africa as floods kill over 400 and displace tens of thousands
Human Rights Watch published findings that working-class neighborhoods and the poorest areas have been most severely impacted by the floods due to “less solid structures, congestion and poor sanitation infrastructure”.
Dangerous heatwaves in West Africa exacerbated by climate change
A World Weather Attribution study shows that climate change has sharply increased both the severity and frequency of extraordinary heat events in Africa’s Guinea region.
Italian court sets out evidence of Egypt’s state torture and murder of Giulio Regeni in 2016
It was clear that the top echelons of President Abdel Fattah’s al-Sisi’s brutal dictatorship were involved in a state abduction and murder. But the imperialist powers, including Britain where Regeni was studying, largely remained silent on his death.
January 21 marked 100 years since the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924. This page includes a collection of essays reviewing the life and ideas of the great Marxist theoretician, founder of the Bolshevik Party, and co-leader of the Russian Revolution.
Scientists call for urgent action on the threat posed by H5N1 bird flu
The work being conducted by numerous scientists concludes that the H5N1 HAPI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) virus poses a very real threat to human populations.
As bird flu spreads among dairy cattle, CDC scraps COVID reporting for hospitals
As has often been the case throughout the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC is implementing this policy shift during a lull in rates of infections and hospitalizations across the country.
FDA reports fragments of avian influenza found in US commercial milk supply
The FDA reported last week that one in five milks samples from US retail stores contained fragments of the H5N1 bird flu that has recently infected dairy cows in the US.
The WHO updates its terminology for pathogens that transmit through the air
The World Health Organization published a consensus statement on airborne pathogens, finally aligning the WHO with scientists who presented evidence of this early in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, but with no guidance on what measures should now be taken on the pandemic.
Sri Lankan IYSSE to hold public lecture on “Leon Trotsky and his place in history” at Peradeniya University
Trotsky’s political analysis and revolutionary struggle for socialist internationalism against imperialist war, Stalinism and fascism must be studied and assimilated by all those opposed to capitalist barbarism.
Upcoming IYSSE (Australia) lecture: The fight of Trotskyism against the pseudo-left
The lecture by Nick Beams on April 28 will provide the political weapons required by young people and workers who want to take up the fight for a socialist and revolutionary perspective against the genocide and the broader eruption of militarism and war.
IYSSE meetings in Australia and New Zealand: The crisis of political perspective of the Gaza protests
We encourage youth, students and workers to attend the events which will provide the international socialist revolutionary program necessary to end the genocide of Palestinians by the Israeli state and its imperialist backers.
IYSSE holds first meeting at Otago University in New Zealand
The meeting in Dunedin last Thursday was held to establish the International Youth and Students for Social Equality as a student club at Otago, and to discuss the socialist strategy to fight against war and the genocide in Gaza.
Fifty years after Chile’s horrific September 11 coup, its political relevance is becoming ever more urgent as the specter of dictatorship once again haunts the political life of Latin America.
Auroral display dazzles millions around the globe
Vivid displays of the aurora borealis and aurora australis were visible to millions of people around the world on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
Human-to-human transmission with a novel Mpox virus identified in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
The recent outbreak of a novel Mpox (formerly called monkeypox) virus, showing sustained transmission between humans with the deadlier clade I lineage, poses a public health to the DRC, the region and the globe.
Scientific—and social—dimensions of the 2024 total solar eclipse
The second total eclipse across North America in seven years has drawn the interest of millions across the continent.
Climate change report predicts devastating worldwide impacts
“With a few exceptions, increasing warming leads to greater exposure to drought, fluvial and coastal flooding, and greater declines in biodiversity and crop yields.”
Hundreds attend Detroit funeral for Ford worker Tywaun Long
The 46-year-old worker collapsed on the assembly line at the Dearborn Truck Plant on April 17 and reportedly died of a heart attack.
Stellantis Warren Stamping workers approve strike over health and safety
The strike vote at Warren Stamping, a critical components plant, comes as anger is seething among rank-and-file workers over layoffs and a host of issues.
In the aftermath of mass layoffs
Ford Rouge worker dies on the assembly line
An autoworker died after suffering a medical emergency after waiting a half hour for medical help at the Ford Rouge complex outside Detroit.
More Stellantis layoffs at Sterling Heights and Mack Avenue Assembly in Detroit, forced overtime announced in Toledo
Stellantis laid off 199 workers Monday at Sterling Heights Assenbly and another 57 at the Mack plant in Detroit as it continues its brutal program of job cuts in the wake of the 2023 contract.
The essays in this book, though written over the span of more than 40 years, are connected by a central argument: Leon Trotsky was the most significant figure in the history of socialism during the first four decades of the twentieth century, and his legacy remains the critical and indispensable theoretical and political foundation of the ongoing contemporary struggle for the victory of world socialism.
Order your print or epub version of the book from Mehring Books today.
Helen Halyard (1950-2023), a tribute to a life dedicated to the victory of world socialism
We are publishing here the tribute given by David North to Helen Halyard, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Party and the International Committee of the Fourth International for more than half a century, who died suddenly at the age of 73 on November 28. North’s remarks opened a memorial meeting for Helen held Sunday, December 3.
Remarks by David North at the conclusion of the international memorial meeting for Helen Halyard
We are publishing here the summation given by David North to the memorial meeting for Comrade Helen Halyard held on December 3.
“Building the world party was Helen’s goal in life, to which she made an indelible contribution”
We are publishing here the tribute to Helen Halyard written by Patrick Martin, a member of the US editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site and a member of the Workers League and Socialist Equality Party for 52 years, and Esther Galen, a member of the Workers League and Socialist Equality Party for 53 years.
Tribute to Helen: Beverly Lozano, a supporter from California
A tribute to Helen Halyard written by Beverly Lozano, a supporter of the WSWS.
Report to Sri Lanka meetings
Imperialism, the genocide in Gaza, and the world struggle for socialism
Socialist Equality Party (US) National Secretary Joseph Kishore delivered the following report to a meeting titled “Leon Trotsky and the Struggle for Socialism in the 21st Century” in Colombo on December 10.
University of Michigan IYSSE protests attack by pro-government thugs on Sri Lankan SEP members
We are publishing here a letter being sent by the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) at the University of Michigan condemning the violent attack on two members of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in Sri Lanka by pro-government thugs.
Magistrate court hearing on violent assault on Sri Lankan SEP members
While police have visited the crime scene and recorded witness statements they requested more time to obtain hospital medical reports.
Academics denounce pro-government thug attack on Sri Lankan SEP members
The SEP is calling on all those who are concerned to defend democratic rights of freedom of expression to register their opposition by sending protest letters to the relevant authorities.
Wisconsin documents reveal details of strategy behind Donald Trump’s 2020 fake elector scheme
A trove of court documents released on Monday show Wisconsin attorney Kenneth Chesebro and former judge Jim Troupis were instrumental in formulating the strategy of Donald Trump to overturn the 2020 elections through court cases that generated “a cloud of confusion” combined with the appointment of “alternative” electors in seven key states.
Appellate court rejects Trump’s claim that he cannot be prosecuted for seeking to overthrow the 2020 election
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled against Donald Trump's assertion of absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for seeking to overthrow the 2020 election.
Third Trump coup lawyer pleads guilty and agrees to testify in Georgia election case
Jenna Ellis is the third lawyer and fourth defendant to plead guilty in relation to the conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.
Trump coup plot accomplice Chesebro pleads guilty in Georgia fake elector case
Kenneth Chesebro, attorney and close associate of Donald Trump, pleaded guilty on Friday to one felony charge in exchange for his agreement to testify against the former-president and 16 other defendants in the fake elector scheme to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
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.
Put a socialist, anti-war party on the ballot! Join the SEP (Australia) as an electoral member today!
Socialist Equality Party assistant national secretary Max Boddy calls on workers and young people in Australia to sign up as an SEP electoral member.
Sri Lankan SEP meeting to launch two books on the Sinhala chauvinist JVP
The JVP’s rightward evolution is not an isolated, national phenomenon but an expression of the transformation internationally of similar organisations into pro-imperialist outfits.
Comrade Halil Çelik: An inspiration for workers and youth internationally
This is the tribute given by Peter Symonds to Halil Çelik, founder and leader of the Sosyalist Eşitlik Grubu, who died suddenly at the age of 57 on December 31, 2018. The tribute was read at a memorial meeting on the fifth anniversary of Halil’s death.
Comrade Halil Çelik blazed the socialist-internationalist path the workers of Turkey must follow
This is the tribute given by Keith Jones to Halil Çelik, founder and leader of the Sosyalist Eşitlik Grubu, who died suddenly at the age of 57 on December 31, 2018. The tribute was read at a memorial meeting on the fifth anniversary of Halil’s death.
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.
Indigenous Voice leaders denounce Australian voters
An open letter, issued by a privileged layer of indigenous figures who led the Voice Yes campaign, further highlights the immense class chasm shown in the referendum’s overwhelming defeat on October 14.
Australian pseudo-left slanders population as racist after defeat of Voice referendum
Socialist Alternative’s analysis of the referendum is an attack on the working class, exposing this organisation as a rightward moving representative of privileged layers of the affluent upper middle-class.
Defeat of Australian Labor’s Voice referendum highlights stark class divide, not racism
The Voice voting patterns demonstrate the intensifying hostility of working-class people to the entire political establishment.
Australian workers oppose the Voice, call for better conditions for Aboriginal people
“The Labor government is not working class, it is an elite group of people, setting up a puppet called the Voice.”
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.
The Prinkipo commemoration of Trotsky’s exile and the global resurgence of the working class
The event reflects the objective change that has been underway for some time in the relationship between Trotskyism and the international working class.
An Island at the Center of World History: Trotsky on Prinkipo
This is the speech by World Socialist Web Site International Editorial Board Chairman David North given on Sunday, August 20, honoring the life and political legacy of Leon Trotsky.
The ICFI’s investigation exposed the GPU conspiracy to murder Trotsky
The penetration of GPU agents into the Fourth International played a fatal role in the assassination of Trotsky.
Leon Trotsky’s years on Prinkipo
Trotsky spent the critical years of his exile on Prinkipo writing masterpieces and organizing the Left Opposition in the Communist International all over the world.
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.
1985-86: The victory of Trotskyism within the ICFI
The following lecture was delivered by Chris Marsden, the national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (UK), and Ulaş Ateşçi, a leading member of the Sosyalist Eşitlik Grubu (Socialist Equality Group) in Turkey, to the SEP (US) International Summer School, held between July 30 and August 4, 2023.
The Workers League’s defence of the Theory of Permanent Revolution against the opportunism of the Workers Revolutionary Party
The following lecture was delivered by Tom Peters, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Group of New Zealand, and Thomas Scripps, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Party (UK), to the SEP (US) International Summer School, held between July 30 and August 4, 2023.
1982: Marxism, the revolutionary party, and the critique of Healy’s Studies in Dialectics
The following lecture was delivered by Christoph Vandreier, the national secretary of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party) of Germany to the SEP (US) International Summer School, held between July 30 and August 4, 2023.
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.
Vadim Z. Rogovin (10 May 1937 – 18 September 1998) was a Soviet Marxist sociologist and historian. Working in close collaboration with the International Committee of the Fourth International, Rogovin helped lay the foundations for the Trotskyist movement’s fight against the post-Soviet school of historical falsification, including in his six-volume Was There an Alternative? This page collects major essays and commemorations on Rogovin as well as links to his own writings.
Will Lehman issues letter to Mack Trucks coworkers on eve of UAW contract expiration: “We must seriously prepare for a major battle”
It’s clear the UAW hasn’t been negotiating anything at Mack all this time, they’ve just been keeping us in the dark to prevent us from preparing to fight back against the company’s ruthless demands.
Will Lehman sues Biden administration demanding rerun of fraudulent UAW election
On Monday, July 3, rank-and-file socialist autoworker Will Lehman sued the Biden administration’s Department of Labor, demanding that the UAW national officers’ election be rerun with the names of all candidates on the ballot due to massive voter disenfranchisement by the bureaucracy.
Stop the UAW sabotage of the autoworkers struggle! Hold emergency local meetings to demand an all-out strike!
“Let’s be clear on what Fain‘s announcement really means: These strikes will have no impact on production. These are parts warehouses that ship components to the dealerships, not suppliers of the Big Three.”
“It’s almost like we are in a civil war between the rich and the poor”: Autoworkers respond to Will Lehman’s Newsweek op-ed
Autoworkers have responded with enthusiasm to the editorial written by the Pennsylvania Mack Trucks worker and socialist candidate for UAW president in 2021.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Democrats join with Republican fascists to witch-hunt scientist Peter Daszak
During Wednesday’s House Subcommittee on COVID-19 with Dr. Peter Daszak, president of EcoHealth Alliance, Democrats joined ranks with fascistic Republican colleagues to promote the Wuhan lab-leak lies.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Nikole Hannah-Jones’ Center for Democracy and Journalism: Racialist politics in the service of US imperialism
After one year, the Center’s main accomplishment has been to deepen the mutual embrace between sections of the upper middle class and the military-intelligence apparatus.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!”
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”
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!”
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!”
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.
Instagram shutters account of Palestinian publisher Quds News Network
Instagram shut the account without explanation. Quds is one of the most popular Palestinian networks and has featured on-the-spot exposures of the war crimes in Gaza.
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.
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.
Over 80,000 sign petition against NYU Langone’s termination of a pro-Palestinian resident physician
Over 80,000 people have signed a petition opposing the anti-democratic termination of Dr. Zaki Masoud by NYU Langone.
Report exposes fraudulent antisemitism accusations at UK universities
The report concludes that critics of the Israeli state, advocates for Palestinian rights and those teaching the history and politics of the region have been “subjected to false allegations of antisemitism.”
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
Germany’s secret service intensifies persecution of war opponents and warns against “Trotskyism”
The latest “Constitutional Protection Report” published by the Verfassungsschutz (Germany’s domestic intelligence service) at the end of June aims to silence anyone who criticises the mass death being organised by the NATO powers, calls social inequality by its name, and rejects the government’s pro-war narrative.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Ghassan Zeineddine’s Dearborn: Short stories about Arab-American life
Zeineddine’s stories concern immigrants who escaped the civil war in Lebanon (1975-90) and their children, who are negotiating their own escapes.
The Best American Short Stories 2023: A step backward
Perhaps half the pieces are coming-of-age stories, that lyrical standby now usually written in a gritty but still rhapsodic voice.
Killing for Country: A Family History—a harrowing but distorted view of the massacres of Australian Aboriginal people
David Marr’s Killing for Country documents many mass killings of indigenous people but falsely blames the entire population, not the ruling class and Australian capitalism.
DOC NYC Film Festival 2023: Part 3
How to Come Alive with Norman Mailer: A documentary approaches the American novelist with sympathy, but not enough scrutiny
The documentary follows the writer from his boyhood in the 1930s through his service during World War II and throughout his tumultuous literary, journalistic and personal life.
A lesson in “lesser-evil” politics: Democrats join forces with Republican Speaker Mike Johnson
A week after House Democrats voted to retain Mike Johnson as Speaker, the Louisiana Republican appeared outside the Trump trial in Manhattan to fervently support the fascist ex-president.
Biden administration intensifies economic war against China
Under national security powers, the US has raised tariffs on electric vehicles to 100 percent, along with tariff hikes on a range of high-tech and industrial products.
University of California strike vote must be the start of a working class fight against war and assault on democratic rights
The vote by the graduate student workers is a sign of a new stage in which the working class will emerge as the basic social force against war and dictatorship.
Democrats and Republicans: US enablers of Israeli onslaught on Rafah
While the two corporate parties pretend to have major policy differences over the Gaza genocide, they have joined forces to provide record US support for the Israeli military.
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.
New Zealand: Court action continues over Pike River mine disaster
Families of some of the 29 workers killed in the 2010 coal mine disaster are continuing their fight for answers about why authorities dropped charges against Pike River Coal chief executive Peter Whittall over the extremely dangerous conditions in the mine.
Police locate more bodies in New Zealand’s Pike River mine
The police investigation into the 2010 disaster that killed 29 mineworkers has been dragged out until at least the end of 2023, with no guarantee that anyone will be charged over the avoidable deaths.
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.
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.
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.
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.
North and London discussed the significance of the latest revelations of the the Security and the Fourth International investigation into Trotsky’s assassination.