This speech was given by David North at the second international commemoration of the work of Leon Trotsky on Büyükada (Prinkipo), Turkey, during the first period of his exile from the Soviet Union between 1929 and 1933.
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The event was covered by many national and local media outlets and widely discussed on social media before and after the event in Turkey. However, a former Maoist and current anarchist published an article on his website denouncing and misrepresenting David North’s remarks.
Perspective
Oppose the police-state attacks on anti-war and anti-genocide protests on college campuses!
The attack on the SEP and IYSSE at the University of Michigan is only one component of a nationwide attack on the democratic rights of students and working people opposed to imperialist war and genocide.
The UK Labour Prime Minister has made a crackdown on migration a centrepiece of his government. He travelled to Italy to meet the neo-fascist Meloni, the darling of anti-migrant forces across Europe.
Published for the first time 90 years after they were written, the documents are an irrefutable vindication of the century-long struggle by the Trotskyist movement against Stalinism and for historical truth.
58-year-old Ryan W. Routh was arrested on I-95 in Martin County Florida after allegedly fleeing gunfire from Secret Service agents who claimed to have spotted an AK-47 rifle with a scope pointed into the Trump International Golf Club where the former president was golfing.
The contempt and brutality with which Islamabad deals with the legitimate grievances of the population has fueled the growth of numerous Balochi nationalist groups and an exclusivist insurgency that has seen atrocities on both sides.
The rally was a dismal affair, full of empty demagogy and drawing perhaps 100 participants, mostly lower and mid-level UAW officials.
Tuesday marks five months since the tragic death of Tywaun Long at the Ford Rouge Dearborn Truck Plant on April 17, 2024, at the age of 46.
NYPD officers shot an alleged fare-evader, another cop and two bystanders, one critically, in a subway car in a station in one of New York’s poorest neighborhoods.
China has supplanted the United States and the European Union as Africa’s main trading and investment partner.
Just as Washington backed Fujimori as a defender of big business interests and vehement anti-communist, so today it supports the illegitimate Boluarte regime, including with military aid and training.
Trotsky's assassination was the greatest political crime of the 20th century. Alongside Vladimir Lenin, Trotsky was the leader of the 1917 October revolution in Russia, which led to the establishment of the first workers’ state in history, and the preeminent strategist of world socialist revolution.
On the anniversary of the assassination of Leon Trotsky
Eighty-four years ago today, on August 20, 1940, Leon Trotsky was assassinated by an agent of the Stalinist secret police, the GPU, in his villa in Coyoacan, Mexico, where he spent the final three years of his life as a political exile.
Part One
Trotsky’s Last Year
An appraisal, on the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of Trotsky’s assassination, of the work of the great theoretician and strategist of World Socialist Revolution during the final year of his life.
Leon Trotsky and the Struggle for Socialism in the Twenty-First Century
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.
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.
"We must fight for Bogdan's freedom!"
Ukrainian youth speaks out in support of Bogdan Syrotiuk
This statement in support of Bogdan Syrotiuk was submitted to the WSWS by a Ukrainian youth who fled the war and is now working and studying in Germany.
Russian organizations and social media pages demand Bogdan Syrotiuk’s release
A number of Russian leftist organizations and media outlets have expressed their support for Bogdan, demanding his immediate release.
Release comrade Bogdan Syrotiuk unconditionally and immediately!
The persecution of Bogdan demonstrates that the defense of democratic rights is inseparable from the mobilisation of the international working class against imperialist war and capitalism.
Left-wing organisations in Sri Lanka support “Free Bogdan Syrotiuk” campaign
The United Socialist Party, the Socialist People’s Forum and the Frontline Socialist Party’s “Youth for Change” have issued statements demanding the immediate release of Bogdan Syrotiuk.
Hack work vs. history: Aidan Beatty’s The Party Is Always Right: The Untold Story of Gerry Healy and British Trotskyism
Professor Aidan Beatty, a lecturer at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, has posted an announcement of the upcoming publication of his book on Gerry Healy.
Trump’s campaign of political terror against immigrants in Springfield, Ohio
The campaign of political terror initiated by Donald Trump and the Republican Party against thousands of Haitian workers in Springfield, Ohio, marks a turning point in the crisis of the American political system.
After defeating the IAM sellout, the rank and file must control the Boeing strike!
With the strike by 33,000 aerospace workers entering its first full week, the Boeing Workers Rank-and-File Committee issued the following statement spelling out the issues workers now confront.
Sri Lankan election: The pro-capitalist program of the Frontline Socialist Party charlatans
The FSP seeks to dupe working people into believing that the deepening attacks on democratic and social rights can be resolved within the capitalist system and the framework of discredited electoral politics.
Opening report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US)
We are publishing here the opening report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US), given by David North, the national chairman of the SEP. The congress was held from August 4 to August 9, 2024.
Report to the SEP (US) Eighth National Congress
16 years since the Founding Congress of the Socialist Equality Party
We are publishing here the report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) given by Joseph Kishore, the national secretary of the SEP.
H5N1 Bird flu, climate change, and the social rights of the working class
The threat of pandemics and the deepening climate crisis raise existential concerns for all life and well-being on the planet, with capitalism bringing the world to the brink of annihilation.
Report to the SEP (US) Eighth National Congress
The barbarism of “forever COVID” and the fight for socialist public health
We are publishing here the report to the Eighth Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (US) given by Evan Blake. The congress was held from August 4 to August 9, 2024.
Striking BorgWarner auto parts workers vote down second Teamsters-backed sellout deal
BorgWarner workers in New York have overwhelmingly rejected two contract proposals, defeating a sellout deal backed by the Teamsters last Friday.
East Coast dockworkers demand higher pay, protection from automation
East Coast dockworkers speak on the issues as they prepare for confrontation with shippers over poverty pay, grueling hours and job security.
UAW forces through contract maintaining poverty wages at Sandusky, Ohio Ventra auto parts plant
The 1,120 Ventra workers in Sandusky were only given one day to review the full contract before taking a vote on a four-year agreement.
Workers Struggles: The Americas
Pilots at Aerolineas Argentinas held a one-day strike against layoffs and privatizations, while Canada’s Airline Pilots Association announced a tentative contract agreement for 5,200 pilots at Air Canada.
Australian Labor government opening the door for right-wing Coalition victory
Regardless of the outcome of the next election, a historic crisis of capitalist rule is developing amid intensifying social discontent and political disaffection.
Australia: Build rank-and-file committees on building sites! End the Labor government’s CFMEU administration, defend wages and conditions!
Tens of thousands of workers have shown their determination to fight this anti-democratic travesty. Their struggle can only go forward through the formation of rank-and-file committees and a political offensive against the Labor government.
Australian Labor government unveils sweeping political censorship laws
Taken together, these provisions would result in a wartime-style censorship regime not seen in Australia since World Wars I and II.
Chinese leadership concerned over meeting growth targets
There is little chance of reaching 5 percent unless there is a “bazooka” stimulus by the government.
The Goat Life: Indian workers victims of slave labor in America’s great friend, Saudi Arabia
The novel and film are inspired by the real-life story of a Malayali man from Kerala, who was enslaved in Saudi Arabia for several years in the early 1990s as a goat herder.
Under government pressure and threats from far right, Toronto International Film Festival cancels screenings of Russians at War
The far-right Ukrainian Canadian Congress led efforts to suppress the film merely for its attempt to humanely portray Russian soldiers in the war in Ukraine.
Film director Prasanna Vithanage discusses Paradise with the WSWS
The mass anti-government agitation in Sri Lanka “was the result of real class differences in our society, the divisions between the haves and the have nots” – Prasanna Vithanage
I Saw the TV Glow: A life unfulfilled
Jane Schoenbrun’s film is an enigmatic, at times disturbing portrait of a socially alienated youth.
University of Michigan police ban IYSSE/SEP campaigners from campus
Supporters of the Socialist Equality Party and International Youth and Students for Social Equality were cited for campaigning on the campus of the University of Michigan and barred from university property for one year.
Michigan Attorney General charges 11 pro-Palestinian student protesters at the University of Michigan
The charges are part of of the bipartisan campaign to attack and suppress the rights of students and workers to protest war and genocide.
Venice Film Festival—Filmmakers powerfully denounce Israel’s genocide in Gaza
The Israeli genocide in Gaza was denounced by a number of leading filmmakers at the final awards ceremony of the 81st Venice film festival held last Saturday.
College administrators escalate crackdown on students who protested against the Gaza genocide
Suspensions, banishments, withholding of diplomas, and demands for letters of apology are among the weapons used to attack freedom of speech.
NATO’s top military officer calls for NATO weapons strikes deep inside Russia
Over the weekend, the military committee of the NATO alliance met to plot the next stage in its war against Russia, with the Alliance’s top military leader calling for Ukraine to be allowed to use NATO weapons to strike inside Russia.
An interview with anti-fascist blogger Moss Robeson
On the history of Washington’s ties to the Ukrainian Banderites and their role in the war against Russia
Moss Robeson is a young, independent researcher in New York City who has run a prominent blog “Bandera Lobby,” about the history and contemporary political role of the movement associated with the Ukrainian Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera.
US, UK to announce expansion of NATO weapons strikes inside Russia
The United States and United Kingdom will imminently announce a major expansion of Ukrainian strikes deep inside Russia using NATO weapons, the Guardian and Politico reported on Wednesday.
Ukraine launches largest drone attack on Russia yet as US moves to expand strikes with NATO weapons
Ukraine launched its largest wave of drone attacks deep inside Russia Monday night, including a deadly attack on the capital city of Moscow.
Israel’s permanent war on the Palestinians means permanent war on the working class at home
The warmongers and gangsters running Israel’s finance ministry are talking about a permanent increase of NIS 20 billion a year for the defence budget, while the defence ministry is demanding an annual increase of NIS 60 billion.
Israel kills humanitarian workers, children and displaced people in spree of war crimes
The barely disguised reality is that Israel considers humanitarian workers “terrorists” and enemy combatants, working against its war aims of the extermination and expulsion of the Palestinian people.
UN report exposes Israel’s imperialist-backed “intentional starvation campaign against the Palestinian people”
A report by United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri has indicted Israel for using starvation as a weapon of war to exterminate the Palestinian people and seize their land. The document provides evidence of the genocidal intent of the Zionist regime and the complicity of the imperialist powers in war crimes unprecedented since World War II.
Eyewitness report from the West Bank: “The Israeli army is now commencing major military operations to drive us out”
"The army is now starting major military operations to drive people out of the West Bank to Jordan. Israeli politicians are constantly talking about a ‘substitute solution’ for the Palestinians in Jordan. They want to take the whole country away from us."
Trump doubles down on anti-immigrant lies after bomb threats force closure of Springfield schools, City Hall again
After accusing Haitian immigrants of “destroying their way of life” in Springfield, Trump promised to carry out “the largest deportation in the history of our country, and we are going to start with Springfield and Aurora.”
Republicans continue racist anti-immigrant agitation after bomb threats force closure of Springfield, Ohio City Hall
Despite bomb threats and pleas from local residents to cease the racist attacks, Trump and his fascist allies continued to incite violence and terror against immigrants.
Trump and Republicans spearhead fascistic campaign targeting Haitian immigrants
Ahead of the debate and November election, Republicans and their fascistic supporters are whipping up a pogrom atmosphere against immigrants to further Trump’s “stolen election” lies.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis uses police to intimidate abortion petition signers
Officials in the DeSantis administration are spearheading efforts to invalidate signatures and drive the petition to overturn the six-week abortion ban off the ballot.
Half of UK families on Universal Credit regularly running out of food
Labour’s new welfare payment restriction, means testing winter fuel allowance, will add hundreds of thousands of elderly people to this growing toll of victims of austerity.
Russian authorities step-up anti-immigrant measures and propaganda
The Russian bourgeoisie significantly intensified its anti-immigrant witch-hunt in the wake of the March terrorist attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall.
Labour’s Darzi report details National Health Service crisis, but sets stage for more attacks
Darzi's report is handmade for a Labour government ready to wield the knife, under the cover of “reform”.
Germany’s “migration summit:” A booster for the far-right AfD
For weeks, Germany’s government and opposition parties have been competing with their proposals on how to turn back refugees, seal off borders and undermine the basic right to asylum.
Brazil faces new wave of the pandemic amid shortage of COVID-19 vaccines
The Workers Party government has failed to inform the population about the latest wave of the pandemic in Brazil, while continuing to misinform it about the science of COVID-19.
One month into mpox PHEIC: Redux of vaccine nationalism and pandemic profiteering
With life-saving mpox vaccines barely trickling into Africa, cases continue to rise rapidly, including in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC and home to 17 million people.
The threat of bird flu reaching Australia
While authorities are downplaying the dangers of the H5N1 virus, it can evolve very rapidly and every spillover event into humans heightens the possibility of a variant with human-to-human transmission.
Canadian authorities keep a lid on the ravages caused by Long COVID
After months of insisting that the pandemic is over and dismantling what limited public health measures remained, all levels of government are now working to keep the public in the dark about an upswing in COVID cases and are keeping the lid on data that reveals the dangers of contracting Long COVID.
Government-backed Ukrainian Canadian Congress opposes naming 900 Nazi war criminals who found refuge in Canada
The main argument raised against the Canadian government revealing the names of the mass murderers it allowed into the country following World War II is that it would harm the imperialist powers’ war on Russia. There could hardly be a more damning admission as to the character of the regime backed by Washington and Ottawa in Kiev.
Hurricane Francine brings major flooding and extensive power outages to Louisiana
Despite the widespread damage, the response from the Biden administration and Kamala Harris has been muted with only one brief statement on X being released by the White House.
“It was utter chaos”
Wildfires erupt across Southern California amid sweltering heat wave
Three large fires continue to burn across Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange Counties amid a heat wave that brought triple-digit temperatures over the weekend.
Shooter still at large after 5 motorists injured on Interstate-75 in Kentucky
A manhunt is underway in Daniel Boone National Forest after the alleged shooter took position on a ledge overlooking Interstate-75 and opened fire on motorists
The AFL-CIA’s Solidarity Center expands operations in Latin America
The AFL-CIO is expanding its operations across Latin America to levels not seen since the 1970s, when it trained and sponsored thousands of union officials in support of CIA-backed coups and dictatorships.
The banning of X/Twitter in Brazil and the authoritarian drive of the capitalist state
Brazil’s supreme court has suspended access to X/Twitter, a platform used by tens of millions of Brazilians.
Washington presses regional governments to secure Maduro’s ouster in Venezuela
The Venezuelan crisis has exposed all bourgeois nationalist governments of the Latin American pink tide and their pseudo-left apologists as instruments of US imperialism.
US-organized police-military “stabilization” force deploys in Haiti
The social catastrophe roiling Haiti, the Western hemisphere’s poorest country, is rooted in well over a century of US imperialist predations—including repeated colonial-style occupations and “made in USA” regime changes.
Total capitulation by US Federal Reserve on bank regulation
Proposed measures gutted after an intense campaign by major banks employing nearly 500 lobby groups.
World’s two biggest economies show recessionary trends
US labour market contracts and deflation spreads in China.
Latest economic data put question mark over China’s growth target
A range of economists and commentators have been downgrading their forecasts for growth.
Chinese bond market surge points to economic and financial problems
Due to the lack of investment opportunities, money has been flooding into the bond market, pushing up prices and thereby lowering the yield, or interest rate on government debt.
Kenyan trade unions shut down aviation workers’ strike in one of Africa’s largest airports
The airport contributes more than $9.5 billion to the economy annually—around 4.6 percent of Kenya’s GDP. The unions, however, had no intention of fully leveraging workers’ power.
Strike wave erupts across Kenya despite trade unions’ attempt to strangle it
The working class is confronting a supposed “broad-based” government—a newly installed coalition of President William Ruto and his United Kenya Party and the main opposition party—that is committed to IMF austerity and enjoys the backing of the bureaucrats who run the Central Organization of Trade Unions.
Tinubu government mobilises police and army to crush protests across Nigeria
The protest organisers, NGOs and activist organisations, had called for 10 days of street demonstrations starting August 1. Their demands include: an end to inflation now running at 34 percent, jobs, increased security amid a rise in kidnappings for ransom, a reduction in government costs and electoral, judicial and constitutional reform.
Anger as Kenya’s President Ruto forms government with Orange Democratic Movement opposition
Far from opening a new era of national unity and development, the new Cabinet’s first task is to crush the months of protests, escalate IMF austerity and maintain Kenya’s status as Washington’s non-NATO proxy force across Africa and the Caribbean.
Sri Lanka’s presidential candidates make phony promises, while plotting to enforce IMF austerity
The SEP is the only party fighting for the mobilisation of the Sri Lankan working class on a revolutionary socialist and internationalist program against the capitalist profit system.
Sri Lankan presidential candidates silent over the threat of WWIII
The Socialist Equality Party opposes the direct and indirect support of Sri Lanka’s ruling and opposition parties for the US-led imperialist war agenda and urges the working class to do the same.
Sri Lankan SEP presidential candidate speaks at official media briefing
In opposition to all the pro-capitalist parties and candidates, the SEP is fighting to build an independent political movement of the working class based on socialist policies.
Sri Lanka: SEP presidential candidate speaks to media, public meetings
The SEP is the only party warning of the dangers of world war and fascism and advancing a socialist alternative to massive IMF austerity.
Trial of “Uhuru 3” begins in Florida as US government accelerates anti-Russia campaign, war drive
As four members of Black nationalist groups in the US are facing potentially 15 years in prison for advancing positions in opposition to the Ukraine war, the Department of Justice claimed on Wednesday that Russia and Iran were “interfering” in the 2024 election.
Supreme Court rejects Biden’s appeal to lift injunction on student debt relief plan
The US Supreme Court last week rejected the Biden administration’s request to lift an injunction on its latest student debt relief plan, called “SAVE,” with the plan remaining on hold indefinitely until litigation is resolved.
Ocasio-Cortez and the normalization of genocide as state policy
Less than a week after endorsing Harris and falsely claiming she was working “tirelessly” for a “ceasefire” in Gaza, the DSA member told her followers if they want to protect democratic rights at home, the genocide must continue.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the DNC: The pro-imperialist politics of the DSA
The role of the Democratic Socialists of America and DSA-backed candidates in defending the pro-capitalist and imperialist policies of the Democratic Party has emerged as a significant element of the Democratic National Convention.
This week in history: September 16-22
Taiwan earthquake; Hurricane Fifi in Honduras; ship fire kills 118 in Toronto; US forces leave Dominican Republic
Book Review: The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
Contemporary lessons from the slave power’s plot to overturn the 1860 election
Erik Larson’s new book The Demon of Unrest, published this year by Penguin Random House, contains critical lessons for the fight against Trump and the threat of dictatorship today.
Reflections on the death of Lt. Willam Calley Jr.: Imperialist atrocities, from My Lai to Gaza
Calley spent only three days in prison for his role in directing the mass murder of 504 Vietnamese men, women and children. He is now reported to have died April 28 at the age of 80.
80 years since the liberation of Lublin-Majdanek concentration camp: From Hitler’s war in the East to the Holocaust
The history of the Majdanek camp reveals the links between Nazi Germany’s war of aggression against the Soviet Union and the Holocaust, and the extermination of the Jewish population, which primarily affected Poland and Eastern Europe.
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.
Support the Dakkota auto parts strike! An injury to one is an injury to all! Ban the use of scab parts from Dakkota!
As their strike reached a critical juncture, rank-and-file Dakkota auto parts workers in Chicago issued a statement Tuesday appealing for a ban on scab parts from their factory.
Dakkota workers’ strike in danger as UAW demands fifth vote on sellout agreement: “We have the strength to stand up and fight back”
The courageous rebellion of striking Dakkota parts workers, who defied an unprecedented four sellout agreements, is in danger of being shut down and betrayed as the UAW is threatening workers with a fifth vote on the same agreement.
Dakkota Integrated Systems: The low-wage sweatshop workers are fighting against
Dakkota was founded in 2001 as a joint venture between Rush Group LLC, owned by trucking and auto supply business owner Andra Rush, and Canada-based Magna International Inc.
Autoworkers need to communicate around the world and make a plan to fight back
I have always been told my job is more secure than most because we are one of the most profitable plants for GM. This sense of certainty has dwindled rapidly.
Students speak on mass spread of COVID on college campuses as semester begins
The WSWS spoke to several students who are witnessing the mass infection of their peers on college campuses in the US and Canada.
One fifth of world’s youth not in employment, education or training
These conditions testify to the powder keg that is Africa and indeed vast parts of the world. Youth-led protests have broken out in several countries over recent months calling for political change.
Ten months of the Gaza genocide: The way forward in the fight against war
As millions of students are re-entering their classrooms in schools and on college campuses across the United States for a new semester, the threat of world war and fascism is greater today than at any point since the 1930s.
IYSSE launches petitions for Special General meetings at Australian universities against Gaza genocide
At the working-class campuses of Western Sydney University (WSU) and Victoria University (VU) in Melbourne, the IYSSE clubs’ campaigns have been met with enthusiasm from students.
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.
Failure of Boeing spacecraft strands 2 astronauts on the International Space Station
It should be asked why NASA continues to trust Boeing, the airplane manufacturer which developed the MAX 8 jets responsible for the deaths of 346 men, women and children in two separate crashes in 2018 and 2019.
Scientists reveal two previously unknown mechanisms for Antarctic ice shelf melting
If these gigantic ice shelves disintegrated, they would raise the global sea level by 58 meters, nearly 200 feet.
Coral bleaching threatens 73 percent of world’s reefs
Coral bleaching is another further warning of the climate crisis, with the working class and poor across the world bearing the primary brunt of its consequences as global temperatures rise, including in the oceans.
Global temperature records again broken on Monday and Tuesday
Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, largely as a result of the burning of fossil fuels, are producing record temperatures year after year.
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.
Erdoğan welcomes al-Sisi to Turkey for the first time in the shadow of the Gaza genocide
Erdogan and al-Sisi are taking steps to strengthen their ties amid Israel’s US-NATO-backed genocide in Gaza, which is spreading to the West Bank, and preparations for war against Iran.
The Middle East arena of competition between the US and China
Washington has no intention of allowing Beijing to extend its influence in the Middle East, or anywhere else in the world, and will not hesitate to use all the means at its disposal to prevent this—utilising support for Israel’s annihilation of the Palestinians in Gaza as the basis for an expanding war for control of the region initially targeting Iran.
Twenty-fifth anniversary of the August 17, 1999 Gölcük earthquake
Time is being wasted when the technology and labour are available to build millions of safe houses in a very short time in Turkey and everywhere in the world where there is a risk of earthquakes.
Threat of Middle East war on hair-trigger as Israel kills Hamas official in Lebanon, US lifts ban on weapons sales to Saudi Arabia
The killing of yet another senior Hamas official makes a mockery of the far-right Netanyahu government’s claim to be interested in negotiating a ceasefire with Hamas, not to mention the posturing by its imperialist backers in favour of a ceasefire.
Australian spooks and their media mouthpieces bemoan Assange’s freedom
The complaints have a pathetic character to them, but also underscore the fact that the assault on democratic rights associated with the persecution of Assange persists and deepens.
The Australian Labor Party’s record in the Assange case
The Australian government's involvement in the plea deal arrangements was the result of mass popular pressure. It followed years of Labor actively assisting the persecution of Assange.
Julian Assange arrives in Australia free
In a press conference, Stella Assange hailed a global support movement for creating the conditions for Assange's freedom, while warning of an ongoing assault on press freedom that had to be fought.
Julian Assange is free, but the struggle to defend democratic rights continues
On Monday, Julian Assange walked out of the UK’s Belmarsh Prison a free man, following five years of imprisonment and nearly 15 years of persecution by a cabal of imperialist governments led by the United States which hounded him for exposing their crimes.
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.
SEP in Sri Lanka commemorates second anniversary of death of Trotskyist leader Wije Dias
Wije Dias belonged to the group of young people who took up the initiative in 1968 to form the Trotskyist party in Sri Lanka and he played a leading role in the movement for 54 years until his death.
UK Socialist Equality Party election rally advances socialist and internationalist opposition to war
The meeting’s platform featured many of the principal leaders of the party that the working class needs in the battles ahead—the International Committee of the Fourth International, the world party of socialist revolution founded by Leon Trotsky.
Attendees at UK general election rally speak: “The Socialist Equality Party is what I want to dedicate my efforts to building.”
WSWS reporters spoke to some of those in attendance on their response to the Socialist Equality Party (UK) general election rally held in London on Sunday.
Billions for education not war! Support the Socialist Equality Party (UK) campaign for a unified struggle against capitalism and war!
Teachers in the UK must prepare to take on Labour as it prepares to take office. This requires a break from the trade union bureaucracy whose function, in order to secure their privileged existence, is to block the development of a struggle in defence of educators’ independent interests.
May Day 2024: The working class and the struggle against imperialist war
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.
The political significance of the 2024 May Day Online Rally
This is the text of the speech delivered by Johannes Stern, editor of the German-language edition of the WSWS, as a summation to the 2024 International May Day Online Rally.
The struggle against imperialist war among students and youth
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 fight against imperialist war in New Zealand and the Pacific
This is the text of the speech delivered by Tom Peters, a leading member of the Socialist Equality Group in New Zealand, to the 2024 International May Day Online Rally.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
The Wuhan “lab leak” fraud: A political witch-hunt against science and public health
The hearings before the House subcommittee have been a bipartisan effort to foment anti-Chinese hysteria.
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.
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.
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.
The arrest of journalist Richard Medhurst and the fight to defend democratic rights
Medhurst said of his detention at the UK’s Heathrow Airport, “I believe I'm the first journalist to be arrested under this provision of the Terrorism Act.”
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.
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.
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.
Israel murders 274 Gazans in a further escalation of the genocidal war
For a demonstration on July 24 in Washington D.C. to protest congressional invitation for Netanyahu
The World Socialist Web Site calls on workers and youth to respond to Congress’ invitation to the war criminal Netanyahu with a demonstration in Washington D.C.
Leaders of London rally issue dead-end call for Sunak and Starmer to reverse support for Israel’s genocide
The determined opposition of workers and young people is being corralled into a dead-end, with calls that the only way to stop Israel is to put pressure on the Tories and, above all, the Labour Party of genocide apologist in chief, Sir Keir Starmer.
TikTok bans video demanding Bogdan Syrotiuk’s freedom, branding it “hate speech”
The TikTok ban comes just days after the Zelensky regime issued an order banning access to the World Socialist Web Site across Ukraine. The order was issued by the Ukrainian State Special Communications Service, a wing of the country’s military-intelligence apparatus.
Australian government, opposition launch hysterical attacks on the Greens over Gaza genocide
The Greens are serving as something of a placeholder, with the real target the mass opposition to the genocide among workers and young people.
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.
Book Review: The Demon of Unrest by Erik Larson
Contemporary lessons from the slave power’s plot to overturn the 1860 election
Erik Larson’s new book The Demon of Unrest, published this year by Penguin Random House, contains critical lessons for the fight against Trump and the threat of dictatorship today.
Bankers in the Ivory Tower by Charlie Eaton
The financialization of higher education and the fight against war
Eaton’s book traces the financialization of higher education from the 1980s through the 2010s, which underlay the subordination of academia to Wall Street and the war machine of US imperialism.
The Disappearance of Émile Zola: Zola, Dreyfus and the struggle against antisemitism
Zola was an eloquent opponent of obscurantism and reaction, and played a major role in the exoneration of Alfred Dreyfus and the struggle against antisemitism.
David North’s The Logic of Zionism: From Nationalist Myth to the Gaza Genocide addresses the disastrous consequences of nationalist political programs
The series of lectures on the historical development of Zionism exposes the bankruptcy of all politics based on nationalism and race—and points the way forward for all those who want to fight against genocide, war and dictatorship.
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.
Oppose the police-state attacks on anti-war and anti-genocide protests on college campuses!
The attack on the SEP and IYSSE at the University of Michigan is only one component of a nationwide attack on the democratic rights of students and working people opposed to imperialist war and genocide.
Trump’s campaign of political terror against immigrants in Springfield, Ohio
The campaign of political terror initiated by Donald Trump and the Republican Party against thousands of Haitian workers in Springfield, Ohio, marks a turning point in the crisis of the American political system.
The US and Russia on the verge of open war
On Friday, US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met to discuss the decision to begin striking large sections of the Russian mainland with NATO missiles launched from Ukraine.
Authorizing NATO weapons strikes in Russia, US prepares major escalation of global war
The United States and its NATO allies are imminently preparing to announce that they will facilitate Ukraine firing NATO weapons deep into Russian territory, in the greatest escalation of the war with Russia to date.
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.