We are publishing here the text of the opening report to the 2021 International Online May Day Rally delivered by David North.
David North•
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Perspective
Perspective
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The sentencing of former UAW President Dennis Williams and the case for rank-and-file committees
The rise and fall of the former United Auto Workers president makes it clear the problem is not a few “bad apples,” but the entire organization.
The year 2020 continued the general decline seen since the 2008 financial crash, while the COVID-19 pandemic drove the birth rate down drastically starting in December.
Patrick Martin•
Cliff Slaughter, who between 1957 and 1985 played a leading role in the International Committee of the Fourth International and its British section, died Monday at the age of 92.
David North•
India set a new one-day record for fatalities yesterday, 3,780. But numerous studies suggest the number of Indians dying from COVID-19 is far higher than what is officially reported.
Wasantha Rupasinghe•
Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to meet with the Covid-19 Bereaved Families campaign.
Paul Mitchell•
Britain is using its position as host this year to confirm its wholehearted commitment to President Biden’s aggressive foreign policy and push other nations, especially the European powers, to do the same.
Thomas Scripps•
Dutton’s remarks betray concerns in ruling circles about the widespread anti-war sentiment in Australia, which was intensified by the 2003 Iraq invasion.
Mike Head•
The vote is not an endorsement of the line of the far right, but a devastating exposure of the political implications of Podemos’s “herd immunity” policy.
Alex Lantier•
The selection of the former head of the secret service as a candidate shows the extent to which the ruling class in Germany is once again relying on fascist forces 75 years after the fall of Hitler’s Third Reich.
Johannes Stern•
The article was provoked by the recent controversy surrounding the decision by publisher W.W. Norton, in response to unsubstantiated allegations of sexual misconduct, to remove Blake Bailey’s biography of novelist Philip Roth from print, essentially to “pulp” the book.
David Walsh•
The working class and the struggle against “herd immunity” policies in Europe
Events since our last May Day rally have starkly shown that the task of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic requires coordinated international action by the working class.
Alex Lantier•
May Day 2021 and the struggle for international socialism in Turkey
As the pandemic intensifies the contradictions of global capitalism, we greet May Day 2021 amid growing geopolitical tensions and war dangers in the region surrounding Turkey.
Ulaş Ateşci•
The meaning of the May Day 2021 Online Rally
The May Day rally both reflected and anticipated enormous changes in the world situation produced by the coronavirus pandemic.
Joseph Kishore•
Boris Johnson, social murder and the struggle against the Labour and trade union bureaucracy
The Trades Union Congress and its affiliated unions represent a vast apparatus dedicated to suppressing the class struggle, staffed by a privileged caste that has presided over close to four decades of virtually uninterrupted betrayals and defeats.
Chris Marsden•
Tom Scripps•
Statement of the International Committee of the Fourth International•
Christoph Vandreier•
Nick Beams•
David North•
Howard University students and educators protest elimination of classical studies department
The attack on classical studies is part of a broader assault on the humanities, art and culture in American society.
Dominic Gustavo•
Amazonians United: A new trap for workers
Given the RWDSU’s unsuccessful union drive in Bessemer—resulting from its obviously top-down, officially-sponsored character—a subtler approach is now being pitched by sections of the union apparatus and their middle-class allies.
Marcus Day, George Gallanis, Jerry White•
Writers, biographers protest W.W. Norton’s decision to “permanently” remove Blake Bailey’s biography of Philip Roth from print
Bailey’s book, likely to be the standard work on Roth’s life for some time to come, has been “pulped” and its author turned overnight into a “non-person.” There is no precedent for this in recent times.
David Walsh•
Facebook reverses censorship of WSWS article debunking “Wuhan Lab” conspiracy theory
On Friday, Facebook notified users that it had wrongly censored them for posting a WSWS article exposing the false claim that COVID-19 was released from a Chinese lab.
Andre Damon•
David Walsh•
Joseph Kishore•
John Malvar•
Alex Lantier•
The Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee•
Support grows among Volvo, Mack Truck workers for joint fight against UAW-backed concessions
Workers at Volvo NRV should begin organizing immediately, expanding the Volvo Workers Rank-and-File Committee and campaigning across shifts and tiers to build momentum for an overwhelming “no” vote.
Ed Hightower, Zac Thornton•
The new works council leader at Volkswagen: What does she stand for?
Daniela Cavallo follows in the footsteps of her predecessor Bernd Osterloh and, like him, will faithfully defend the interests of the company and its shareholders.
Dietmar Gaisenkersting•
Lockout of hundreds of oil workers continues in Beaumont, Texas
Workers were escorted off their jobs after the USW union agreed to an “orderly transfer” with management.
Trévon Austin•
UK: Second round of strikes at DVLA over safety at Covid-19 hotspot
The action called by the Public and Commercial Services union is the only strike officially sanctioned by any trade union over Covid-19 since the start of the pandemic.
Tony Robson•
Jessica Goldstein•
Elisabeth Zimmermann•
Marianne Arens•
Kayla Costa, David Fitzgerald•
Laura Tiernan•
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issues executive order removing county-level COVID-19 restrictions
The reckless indifference shown by DeSantis to the lives and health of millions throughout the pandemic is intimately connected to the ruling class’s “herd immunity” policy and the repudiation of scientifically guided health measures.
Alex Johnson, Patrick Smith•
Papua New Guinea parliament adjourned amid escalating COVID-19 crisis
Prime Minister Marape is cynically using the escalating COVID-19 pandemic, which is devastating the population, to block his own removal from office before the 2022 election.
John Braddock•
Criminal response of UK ruling elite to COVID-19 produces huge waiting list for elective procedures
With cancer sufferers and patients with other critical ailments languishing in queues running up to months and years, suffering and death, especially among the working class and the poor, will swell the already shocking tally of the pandemic.
Rory Woods•
New pandemic advice from the New York Times: Practicing good hygiene may be worse than COVID-19
The New York Times opinion piece, written by a freelance writer, Markham Heid, promotes a virulent form of the unscientific construct “the cure can’t be worse than the disease.”
Benjamin Mateus•
Oscar Grenfell•
Julie Hyland•
Tamino Dreisam, Joshua Seubert•
Ken Lagerfeld•
Eduardo Parati•
DNA evidence exonerates Ledell Lee, four years after his execution by lethal injection in Arkansas
Evidence from the scene of the 1993 murder of Debra Reese—that was never tested with modern technology—has exonerated Lee, who was wrongfully executed by lethal injection for the crime in 2017.
Kevin Reed•
Half of Canada’s population less than $200 away from insolvency as billionaires’ wealth surges
While working people have confronted widespread impoverishment, illness and death, Canada’s capitalist elite has seen its wealth soar during the pandemic.
Alexandra Greene•
Quebec’s anti-curfew protests: A political blind alley and entry point for the far right
Young people opposed to the ruling class’ criminal mishandling of the pandemic must fight for the independent political mobilization of the working class to close all schools and nonessential businesses so as to halt the COVID-19 pandemic’s devastating third wave.
Louis Girard, Richard Dufour•
American carnage: Fired Wisconsin casino restaurant manager kills two co-workers, injures another before being killed by police
The shooter, 62-year-old Bruce Pofahl, was targeting a female manager who had a restraining order granted against him less than two months ago.
Jacob Crosse•
Kevin Martinez•
Naomi Spencer•
Gabriel Black•
Clare Hurley•
Hugo Maltais•
Arrest of Wisconsin National Guardsmen marks fourth currently enlisted soldier charged in January 6 attack on Capitol
The outsized role of current and former police and military members in the attempted fascist coup points to the crucial role of the state in facilitating the siege of Congress
Jacob Crosse•
Florida legislatures pass draconian bill restricting voting rights
Republicans in both the Florida House and Senate passed SB 90 last week, which places restrictions on drop boxes and the ability of residents to vote by mail.
Matthew MacEgan•
Clayton County, Georgia sheriff indicted on federal criminal charges for brutalizing detainees
According to federal prosecutors, Sheriff Victor Hill directed his deputies to leave four inmates tightly strapped to a restraining chair for long hours.
Karim Habib, Kranti Kumara•
Killers of Ahmaud Arbery charged with federal hate crimes
Plans have also been announced by the Department of Justice to pursue federal hate crimes against the four officers who killed George Floyd on May 25 last year.
Chase Lawrence•
Erik Schreiber•
Jacob Crosse•
Chase Lawrence•
Nick Beams•
Anthony Wallace•
Sri Lankan government exonerates alleged war criminals and political cronies
President Rajapakse’s moves to further undermine the constitution are another step towards autocratic rule, in the face of the country’s deep social and political crisis.
Pradeep Ramanayake•
Australian university casuals group tries to divide workers and promote trade unions
A CUPUW “summit” attempted to create a rift between casual and permanent university workers, and seek posts within the National Tertiary Education Union.
Eric Ludlow•
“I have never been surrounded by such a huge loss of human life”
Young Delhi resident describes India’s COVID-19 catastrophe
Vaibhavi spoke to the WSWS about the current conditions in Delhi and across India amid a mounting surge of COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Our reporters•
Thousands flock to community pantries in the Philippines as COVID-19 rapidly spreads
Images in the media reveal the degree of desperation for basic resources in the population. Crowds of hundreds line the pavement to try to get a few free vegetables and a canned good or two.
Isagani Sakay•
Mike Head•
Martin Scott•
Rohantha De Silva•
Peter Symonds•
Wasantha Rupasinghe•
UK Johnson government sends unelected commissioners to take over services in Liverpool City Council
This is an unprecedented, dictatorial intervention by central government into an elected council.
Margot Miller•
Amid COVID-19 pandemic, Germany, France spend billions on new fighter jets
The massive military build-up now underway across the European Union exposes official claims there is no money for a scientific fight against the virus.
Kumaran Ira•
Dutch caretaker government scraps partial lockdown as infections mount
Following its European counterparts, the Dutch government has implemented the first stage of its easing of social-distancing restrictions, starting on April 28.
Parwini Zora•
France’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon appeals to President Macron against the fascistic coup-plotting military generals
Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s Unsubmissive France is encouraging the working class to rely on the action of Macron and the top military brass.
Alex Lantier•
Ulrich Rippert•
Will Morrow•
Andrea Peters•
Barry Mason•
Alejandro López•
Climate change impact on Gulf Stream will have severe consequences for weather in Europe and North America
Modeling of the Gulf Stream’s rate of flow, based on data from a variety of proxy indicators demonstrates a dramatic slowing beginning in the mid-20th century.
Philip Guelpa•
Mars robot helicopter completes first rotor-powered flight on another world
Now that Ingenuity’s basic capabilities have been validated, several more flights will be attempted, the first as early as Thursday.
Bryan Dyne•
Major evolution of the human brain correlated with tool-making leap
A comparative study of brain impressions from early and later members of the genus Homo demonstrates a correlation between a major reorganization of the brain and the development of Acheulean tool technology.
Philip Guelpa•
Dinosaur fossil found sitting on eggs in a nest reveals well-developed parental care
The fossil, dating to 70 million years ago, consists of the partially preserved remains of an oviraptorosaur, a feathered, theropod dinosaur lineage tangentially related to those that eventually gave rise to modern birds.
Philip Guelpa•
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party•
Benjamin Mateus•
Benjamin Mateus•
Fred Mazelis, Philip Guelpa•
Bryan Dyne•
This week in history: May 3-9
25 years ago: Bosnian war crimes trials open in The Hague On May 7, 1996, the first in a series of war crimes trials stemming from the war in Bosnia opened in the international court at The Hague, Netherlands. Dusan Tadic, a Bosnian Serb, stood accused of carrying out atrocities against Bosnian civilians, including murder, rape and torture.
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Illinois Democrats race bait Abraham Lincoln—again
Chicago mayor targets monuments to Civil War, American Revolution
Mayor Lori Lightfoot has formed a committee to review the potential removal of five statues of Lincoln, along with monuments to Washington, Franklin, and Grant.
Tom Mackaman•
150 years since the birth of Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg, who was born on 5 March, 1871, was among the most important revolutionary Marxists of the 20th century, and her work contains vital lessons for today.
Peter Schwarz•
Watch lecture video “Three Grenades in August: Fifty Years since the Bombing of Plaza Miranda in the Philippines”—another devastating exposure of Stalinism
Scalice demonstrated that the “overwhelming weight of evidence” suggested that the Communist Party of the Philippines was responsible for the bombing and indicted its claims that fascism and martial law are “good for revolution.”
our reporter•
Peter Schwarz•
Fred Mazelis•
Alejandro López•
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Tyron: Another side of British rapper Slowthai
On his sophomore album, Slowthai’s self-analysis is counterbalanced by regressive bluster.
Erik Schreiber•
2021 San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 4
Serious films about serious things—This Is My Desire (Nigeria), Radiograph of a Family (Iran), Poppy Field (Romania)
There were some well-made and thoughtful films screened at the recent San Francisco film festival, which give one some hope.
David Walsh•
Ocupación S.A.: Documentary exposes Spain’s role in illegal occupation of Western Sahara
The territory has been claimed by both the Kingdom of Morocco and the bourgeois-nationalist Polisario Front since the end of Gen. Francisco Franco’s fascist dictatorship in Spain in 1975.
Alejandro López, Paul Mitchell•
2021 San Francisco International Film Festival—Part 3
Skies of Lebanon, Writing with Fire, Captains of Zaatari and more: Desperate conditions, striking images, weak conclusions
Increasingly, desperate conditions plague masses of people worldwide, dramatically worsened by the COVID-19 disaster. Popular suffering is reaching unbearable levels.
Joanne Laurier•
David Walsh•
James Brewer•
Erik Schreiber•
Erik Schreiber•
David Walsh•
Human Rights Watch declares Israel has crossed apartheid threshold
HRW draws on years of human rights documentation, case studies and a review of government planning documents, statements by officials and other sources. It documents a catalogue of Israeli abuses committed against the Palestinians.
Jean Shaoul•
Fire at COVID-19 hospital in Baghdad kills at least 82 people
After an accident caused an oxygen tank to explode, eyewitness accounts and video clips of the terrible scenes of the fire at the hospital treating COVID-19 patients have provoked shock and anger throughout Iraq.
Jean Shaoul•
Turkish government rejects lockdown as pandemic spins out of control
As a result of the “herd immunity” policy implemented by Erdoğan’s government in the interests of the ruling class, the pandemic has spun out of control.
Ulaş Ateşçi•
Pandemic produced a “catastrophic year” for Middle East and North Africa
The pandemic has inflicted a horrendous toll, with more than 7.3 million recorded cases and 150,000 fatalities, a pale reflection of the real losses and suffering given the lack of testing and recording systems.
Jean Shaoul•
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Jean Shaoul•
Patrick Martin•
Jean Shaoul•
Cross-Canada Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee demands immediate end to all in-person learning
The pandemic’s third wave is the direct product of the ruling class’ open economy/open schools policy, which prioritizes profits over working people’s health and lives.
Cross-Canada Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee•
Oppose the firing of Mitchell High School educators in Colorado!
Over 100 educators and staff members were notified in January that school administrators were laying them all off at the end of the school year and forcing any staff who wish to remain to re-apply for their own jobs.
Texas Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee•
SEIU calls off Sacramento school strike at last minute, allowing all schools to reopen
Over 90 percent of the union’s members had authorized the strike, demanding greater personal protective equipment (PPE) and accommodations for workers with young children at home.
Jonathan Burleigh•
“The unions have actually worked against our interests!”
Educators expose the teachers unions’ role in facilitating the deadly reopening of US schools
The WSWS spoke with teachers across the US on their experiences with the unions pushing teachers and students back into unsafe classrooms over the past year.
Renae Cassimeda•
Chase Lawrence•
Alex Findijs•
Richard Dufour•
Gabriel Lemos•
George Gallanis•
Sri Lankan IYSSE to commemorate 150th anniversary of Rosa Luxemburg’s birth
The IYSSE meeting will discuss Luxemburg’s revolutionary struggle for Marxism in the German and international working class and its lessons for today.
IYSSE•
Columbia graduate workers: Organize opposition to the UAW strike “pause”!
The decision of the bargaining committee to accept a “pause” in the strike was in clear and direct opposition to the will of the 3,000 rank and file members.
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (US)•
Columbia graduate worker strike at a crossroads
The bargaining committee is employing many well-known mechanisms to try to browbeat the students into accepting a sellout proposal.
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (US)•
Support grows among workers for striking Columbia University graduate students
Autoworkers and others support the fight of Columbia graduate student-workers as the strike begins its third week.
Josh Varlin•
our reporters•
International Youth and Students for Social Equality at New York University•
International Youth and Students for Social Equality at University of Michigan•
John Conrad, Genevieve Leigh•
James Langley•
Britain looks to establish digital currency
As with virtually every other economic question, the introduction of a central bank digital currency is being analysed and discussed within the framework of a conflict with China.
Nick Beams•
Cryptocurrency bubble accelerates as Coinbase goes public
This week’s public launch of Grab Holdings, valued at $40 billion, and that of the cryptocurrency trader Coinbase, valued at around $85 billion, are the latest expressions of the speculative bubble fuelled by cheap money.
Nick Beams•
Taiwan, semiconductor manufacture and the US conflict with China
While the strategic importance of Taiwan in any conflict between the US and China is evident, not so obvious is the role that the country plays in the manufacture of semiconductor chips.
Peter Symonds•
Surging global food and fuel prices add further hardships for workers
Global food prices increased for the 10th consecutive month in March, reaching levels not seen since 2014, according to a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) assessment released Thursday.
Gabriel Black•
Nick Beams•
Steve Filips•
Nick Beams•
Fred Mazelis•
Nick Beams•
Facebook reverses censorship of WSWS article debunking “Wuhan Lab” conspiracy theory
On Friday, Facebook notified users that it had wrongly censored them for posting a WSWS article exposing the false claim that COVID-19 was released from a Chinese lab.
Andre Damon•
Biden extends Trump anti-Chinese TikTok policy
The Biden administration is weighing its options for continuing the anti-Chinese propaganda campaign launched by the Trump White House regarding the purported threat to national security posed by the Beijing-based social media platform TikTok.
Kevin Reed•
Democrats and Republicans use House hearing on social media “disinformation and extremism” to advance internet censorship
Democrats and Republicans used the platform of the hearing to advance their equally reactionary proposals to regulate and control online content in the aftermath of the January 6 fascist attack on the US Capitol and one year since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kevin Reed•
Facebook threatens teachers’ groups opposing unsafe school reopenings
Facebook is aggressively removing posts, disabling accounts and shutting down groups that are sharing scientifically accurate information about the COVID-19 pandemic and opposing the government’s deadly policy of reopening schools.
Kevin Reed•
Our reporters•
Tom Casey•
Kevin Reed•
By our correspondent•
Kevin Reed•
Julian Assange mural unveiled in Berlin
The Captain Borderline mural is a powerful reminder of the real issues involved in the persecution of Assange, and of the real forces being deployed against him.
Paul Bond•
Australian Labor Party conference passes mealy-mouthed motion “defending” Assange
Labor’s motion does not even oppose the US attempt to prosecute Assange under the Espionage Act for exposing American war crimes, human rights violations and diplomatic conspiracies.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australian Labor leader criticises Assange’s imprisonment, privately
Albanese’s highly conditional comments, made in a closed-room caucus meeting and leaked to the press, were a cynical public relations exercise that committed Labor to nothing.
Oscar Grenfell•
Assange’s partner exposes ongoing denial of his legal and democratic rights
Assange is still being denied proper access to his lawyers and to crucial legal documents, even after a Magistrates’ Court verdict blocking his extradition to the US last month.
Oscar Grenfell•
Our reporters•
Thomas Scripps•
Oscar Grenfell•
Our reporter•
our reporters•
Brazil’s defense minister issues threat over probe into Bolsonaro’s handling of COVID-19 pandemic
The swearing-in of the new Brazilian Army commander was marked by a threat of military intervention to halt any attempt to hold Bolsonaro accountable for mass COVID deaths.
Tomas Castanheira•
57 years after the 1964 coup, Brazil again confronts specter of dictatorship
President Bolsonaro’s sudden firing of his defense minister and the entire command of the armed forces has unleashed an unprecedented military and political crisis in Brazil.
Miguel Andrade, Tomas Castanheira•
36-year-old Salvadoran mother killed by Mexican police officer
The death of Victoria Esperanza Salazar Arriaza is a result of the anti-immigrant measures demanded by Washington of the Mexican government.
Norisa Diaz•
Mexico reports 417,002 excess deaths during the pandemic
With an official death toll of 201,623, the acknowledgement of a massive undercount stands as a confession by the ruling class of social murder.
Andrea Lobo•
Miguel Andrade•
Tomas Castanheira•
Andrea Lobo•
Andrea Lobo•
Brunna Machado•
The New York Times’ 1619 Project and the Racialist Falsification of History: A significant political and intellectual event
For its powerful explication of major themes related to the American Revolution, the Civil War and the emergence of the working class, this book will be of interest to all readers of American history, teachers, students and workers.
James McDonald•
Republican state legislators move to ban the New York Times’ 1619 Project from schools
Republican lawmakers, taking advantage of the racialist falsifications of the 1619 Project, are seeking to promote their own backward and chauvinistic version of US history.
Dominic Gustavo•
The Trump Administration’s 1776 Report: The far-right attempts to seize opening from the 1619 Project
Attacking the New York Times’ 1619 Project where it is weakest, the Trump Administration’s “1776 Report” responds to the controversy with its own brand of flag-waving “America First” demagoguery.
Tom Carter•
A politically motivated smear: Canada’s Globe and Mail blames “Marxists” for discredited racialist 1619 Project
In an act of political censorship, Canada’s “newspaper of record” has refused to publish a letter from WSWS Chairman David North answering its smear.
Roger Jordan, Keith Jones•
Dominic Gustavo•
David North•
Renae Cassimeda•
Niles Niemuth•
David Walsh•
Ocupación S.A.: Documentary exposes Spain’s role in illegal occupation of Western Sahara
The territory has been claimed by both the Kingdom of Morocco and the bourgeois-nationalist Polisario Front since the end of Gen. Francisco Franco’s fascist dictatorship in Spain in 1975.
Alejandro López, Paul Mitchell•
Indefinite walkout by Georgian manganese miners in Chiatura over pay and conditions; pay strikes across the Netherlands in metal and electronics industries; teachers’ disputes in France and England over lack of COVID safety and privatisation
Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
Indefinite walkout by 3,000 Georgian manganese miners and supporters in Chiatura over pay and conditions; pay strikes across the Netherlands in metal and electronics industries over employers’ 1.1 percent offer; teachers’ disputes in France and England over lack of COVID safety, privatisation and victimisations.
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Pandemic produced a “catastrophic year” for Middle East and North Africa
The pandemic has inflicted a horrendous toll, with more than 7.3 million recorded cases and 150,000 fatalities, a pale reflection of the real losses and suffering given the lack of testing and recording systems.
Jean Shaoul•
Spanish steelworkers at Tubacex in Alva province continue strike against redundancies; UK bus strikes continue at Go North West in Manchester and London United; Italian students at high school in Naples boycott classes over lack of Covid safety; delivery gig workers’ strike in Nantes, France
Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
Spanish steelworkers at Tubacex in Alva province continue strike begun February against redundancies; UK bus strikes continue at Go North West in Manchester and London United over fire and rehire and attacks on pay and conditions; Italian students at high school in Naples refuse in person and online lessons over lack of Covid safety; delivery workers at Uber Eats and Deliveroo strike in Nantes, France over low pay
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Alex Lantier•
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Jean Shaoul•
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Bill Van Auken•
One year of the coronavirus pandemic
March 11 marks one year since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. We are republishing below statements and articles from the WSWS analyzing the response to the pandemic and calling for emergency measures to contain it.
Read more
For a globally coordinated emergency response to the coronavirus pandemic!
Vast resources must be immediately mobilized to contain the spread of the disease, treat and care for those who are infected, and secure the livelihoods of the hundreds of millions of people who will be affected by the economic fallout.
International Committee of the Fourth International•
The coronavirus pandemic crisis intensifies
Capitalism is at war with society
The spread of the coronavirus has exposed the disastrous consequences of decades of the massive concentration of wealth and inequality spawned by capitalism.
Joseph Kishore, David North•
The response of the ruling elite to the coronavirus pandemic: Malign neglect
Governments around the world are making a deliberate decision to minimize their response to the pandemic, threatening the lives of millions of people.
Alex Lantier, Andre Damon•
Message from big business on coronavirus pandemic: Save profits, not lives
As the death toll from the coronavirus soars and hospitals fill up, the White House and the US media are insisting that the profits of the corporate-financial elite must take precedence over the lives of millions.
Andre Damon•
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party•
Joseph Kishore•
Andre Damon•
Statement of the Socialist Equality Party (United States)•
WSWS Online Meeting
150 years since the Paris Commune
A discussion about the first time in history that the working class took power.
Watch the video
The historic and contemporary significance of the 1871 Paris Commune
On April 3, the International Committee of the Fourth International held a meeting commemorating 150 years since the Paris Commune, the world’s first workers’ state.
Joseph Kishore•
150 years since the Paris Commune
On March 18, 1871, the armed working class districts of Paris rose up and established the first workers state in world history, the Paris Commune.
Alex Lantier•
Lessons of the Paris Commune
This essay by Leon Trotsky was first published in French as a preface to the book by C. Talès, La Commune de 1871. It was written in the town of Zlatoust, on February 4, 1921, in the lead up to the 50th anniversary of the Paris Commune.
Leon Trotsky•
Paris Workers’ Revolution and Thiers’ Reactionary Massacres
Armed Paris was the only serious obstacle in the way of the counter-revolutionary conspiracy. Paris was, therefore, to be disarmed.
Karl Marx•
Karl Marx•
Friedrich Engels•
Vladimir Lenin•
Barry Grey•
Vladimir Lenin•
UK to send largest Carrier Strike Group since Falklands/Malvinas war to South China Sea
No Royal Navy force has been mobilised on such a scale since the 1982 Falklands/Malvinas war.
Robert Stevens•
Russian foreign minister warns of a new “cold war”
Despite the recent pullback of Russian troops from the border with Ukraine, the conflict between Washington and Moscow continues and the New York Times continues to promote the right-wing oppositionist Alexei Navalny.
Andrea Peters•
President Zelensky says Ukraine “ready” for war with Russia as tensions mount
Amid mounting tensions in the Black Sea region, President Volodymyr Zelensky declared on Tuesday night that Ukraine is “ready” for war with Russia. He warned that the country would “stand to the last man” in the event of a war.
Jason Melanovski, Clara Weiss•
The Washington Post’s phony campaign on Uyghur “genocide”
With astonishing speed, the US media has swung into action churning out a growing deluge of propaganda with lurid horror stories of life in the detention camps in Xinjiang, calls for the US to boycott the Winter Olympics in Beijing, and demands for tougher measures against China.
Peter Symonds•
Patrick Martin•
Ben McGrath, Peter Symonds•
Jean Shaoul•
Patrick Martin•
Peter Symonds•
Socialist publisher Mehring Books launches Australian website
Mehring Books Australia will feature works by the great socialist fighters and theoreticians of the 19th and 20th centuries, including Leon Trotsky, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Georgi Plekhanov and Rosa Luxemburg.
For more information
US Capitol Police inspector general report confirms police stand-down during January 6 coup attempt
The damning report is the second government document released in the last week to confirm the role of the state in facilitating Trump’s attempted coup.
Jacob Crosse•
Internal Pentagon document confirms military standdown during January 6 coup attempt
The report demonstrates that Trump-appointed officials in the Pentagon ignored pleas from lawmakers and the Vice President to deploy security forces as the fascist-led attack was under way.
Jacob Crosse•
January 6 fascist thug has been working with FBI since 2018, lawyer claims
Florida Proud Boy Joe Biggs is the latest participant in the January 6 storming of the Capitol to claim a long-term working relationship with the domestic intelligence agency.
Jacob Crosse•
House Speaker Pelosi names D.C. National Guard Commander William Walker new Sergeant-at-Arms
The appointment of Walker marks the first time both the House and Senate sergeant-at-arms will be members of military.
Jacob Crosse•
Jacob Crosse•
Jacob Crosse•
Jacob Crosse•
Jacob Crosse•
Barry Grey•
Sylvia Ageloff and the assassination of Leon Trotsky
With David North and Eric London
North and London discussed the significance of the latest revelations of the the Security and the Fourth International investigation into Trotsky’s assassination.
Watch the video
150 years since the birth of Rosa Luxemburg
The meeting examined Luxemburg’s role as a Marxist theoretician and political leader, and discussed the significance of her legacy to the contemporary struggle to build a Marxist leadership.
Watch the video
150 years since the birth of Rosa Luxemburg
The meeting examined Luxemburg’s role as a Marxist theoretician and political leader, and discussed the significance of her legacy to the contemporary struggle to build a Marxist leadership.
Peter Schwarz, Ulrich Rippert, David North, Johannes Stern•
WSWS online Q&A with David North and Eric London
Sylvia Ageloff and the assassination of Leon Trotsky
David North and Eric London speak on the significance of the latest revelations, in the context of the decades-long Security and the Fourth International investigation by the ICFI into Trotsky’s assassination by Stalin’s GPU.
David North, Eric London•
The Trump coup and the rise of fascism: Where is America going?
This essay is based on the transcript of the remarks made by David North, the chairman of the international editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site and national chairman of the Socialist Equality Party (US), in opening an online discussion held January 17 on the significance of the fascist assault on the Capitol in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021.
David North•
The Crisis Elections: 1860 & 2020
An online meeting with historians James Oakes, Richard Carwardine and Tom Mackaman. Moderated by WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North.
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Socialist Equality Party launches campaign for 2021 German federal election
The SGP began its campaign for the 2021 German federal elections with a strong launch meeting that was followed by hundreds of workers and young people online.
Our reporter•
Life instead of profits! Socialism instead of capitalist barbarism!
Support the SGP’s campaign for the German federal election!
Workers in every country around the world confront the same problems and can only oppose exploitation, militarism and fascism by uniting. This is why the SGP’s election campaign is not restricted to Germany, but addresses itself to workers throughout Europe!
Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei•
SEP meeting in Australia discusses political issues facing locked-out Coles workers and the need for independent rank-and-file organisations
Speakers explained the vital stand taken by the Smeaton Grange warehouse workers and outlined the political perspective needed to defeat the escalating assault on jobs and conditions.
our reporter•
Turkish Trotskyists hold international online meeting on student protests
The Socialist Equality Group and IYSSE in Turkey held an international online meeting January 17 titled “Amid the global breakdown of democracy, the way forward for the Boğaziçi University protests.”
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Our correspondents•
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The Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Ten years since the Egyptian Revolution
To mark the anniversary of the 2011 revolution in Egypt, we present a selection of key statements and analyses produced by the WSWS in the course of the events of that year and their aftermath.
Read more
Historian Joseph Scalice exposes the role of Stalinism in the rise of Duterte
What was most significant in the panel was the interaction between Scalice and the second speaker, Walden Bello, who has a prominent international reputation as a figure of the left and an opponent of globalization.
John Malvar•
Watch lecture video “Three Grenades in August: Fifty Years since the Bombing of Plaza Miranda in the Philippines”—another devastating exposure of Stalinism
Scalice demonstrated that the “overwhelming weight of evidence” suggested that the Communist Party of the Philippines was responsible for the bombing and indicted its claims that fascism and martial law are “good for revolution.”
our reporter•
Stalinist CPP attacks Dr. Scalice’s upcoming lecture on the 1971 Plaza Miranda bombing in the Philippines
In a desperate bid to turn people away from this week’s lecture, Marco Valbuena, Chief Information Officer of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), has again slandered Scalice as operating on behalf of the CIA.
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“Falsifications and slander are the weapons of Stalinism”
Joseph Scalice responds to Stalinist attacks over Diliman Commune article
“The honest assessment of history is the bedrock of revolutionary politics. Falsifications and slander, on the other hand, are the primary weapons of Stalinism.”
Joseph Scalice•
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Peter Symonds•
Joseph Scalice•
Peter Symonds•
John Malvar•
A video statement by WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North
Welcoming the relaunch of the World Socialist Web Site
The WSWS has been relaunched with an entirely new design and with vastly enhanced functionality.
The relaunch of the World Socialist Web Site and the future of socialism
The relaunch of the WSWS and the growth of its influence reflect a process of mass political radicalization under conditions of the greatest crisis since the 1930s.
David North•
Closing remarks from SEP national secretary Joseph Kishore
The WSWS has exhaustively documented and analyzed the political crisis and historical decay of American democracy.
Joseph Kishore•
The approach of the World Socialist Web Site to science
The WSWS was the only publication to warn very early on the dangers the working class faced if the coronavirus became a pandemic.
Bryan Dyne•
“The WSWS has not only commented on the struggles of the working class it has been an active participant in them”
In the vast archive of the WSWS, the working class will find the most critical lessons from the history of the global class struggle and an international socialist perspective needed to conduct its fight against world capitalism today.
Jerry White•
Genevieve Leigh•
Niles Niemuth•
Bill Van Auken•
Patrick Martin•
Tomas Castanheira•
From the Marxist Library
Thirty years since the reunification of Germany
To mark the 30th anniversary of the German reunification, the WSWS is presenting a special exhibit of documents and statements produced by the International Committee of the Fourth International amidst the crisis of Stalinism in the former GDR.
The sentencing of former UAW President Dennis Williams and the case for rank-and-file committees
The rise and fall of the former United Auto Workers president makes it clear the problem is not a few “bad apples,” but the entire organization.
Jerry White•
Pfizer announces windfall profits as low-income countries denied vaccines
The drug maker’s windfall profits are inseparable from the US government’s refusal to share the rights to produce vaccines.
Bryan Dyne•
The meaning of the May Day 2021 Online Rally
The May Day rally both reflected and anticipated enormous changes in the world situation produced by the coronavirus pandemic.
Joseph Kishore•
May Day 2021 and the global class struggle
We are publishing here the text of the opening report to the 2021 International Online May Day Rally delivered by David North.
David North•
Alex Lantier•
Patrick Martin, Joseph Kishore•
David Walsh•
Andre Damon•
Marcus Day•
Modern Monetary Theory and the crisis of capitalism: Part one
Modern Monetary Theory is the latest in a long line of attempts by “left” theorists to maintain that capitalism can be made to work for society if only outmoded thinking about the monetary system is abandoned.
Nick Beams•
Book Review
Wilmington’s Lie: The 1898 white supremacist coup in North Carolina
The racist massacre in Wilmington was a major turning point in the entrenchment of Jim Crow segregation throughout the South.
Fred Mazelis•
Two novellas on the #MeToo issue: Mary Gaitskill’s This is Pleasure and James Lasdun’s Afternoon of a Faun
Two recent works of fiction interestingly portray the #MeToo campaign in operation, but don’t criticize (or probe deeply) much of what needs to be criticized.
Sandy English•
The Kill Chain: A new era of world war
The Kill Chain exposes US imperialism’s advanced war preparations against China, with Silicon Valley playing a critical role.
Shuvu Batta•
James McDonald•
David Walsh•
Andre Damon•
Clara Weiss•
Shannon Jones•
The Political Origins and Consequences of the 1982–86 Split in the International Committee of the Fourth International
This lecture was delivered by David North, chairman of the International Editorial Board of the WSWS, at the opening of the Socialist Equality Party (US) Summer School on July 21, 2019.
David North•
Drawing the lessons of the ICFI split—International Strategy and National Tactics: The change in the ICFI’s approach to national liberation movements
This lecture was delivered to the Socialist Equality Party (US) Summer School on July 25, 2019 by Deepal Jayasekera, Assistant Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in Sri Lanka
Deepal Jayasekera•
The World Capitalist Crisis and the Tasks of the Fourth International: An analysis of the ICFI Perspectives resolution of 1988
This lecture was delivered to the Socialist Equality Party (US) Summer School on July 23, 2019 by Andre Damon, regular writer for the World Socialist Web Site and leading member of the Socialist Equality Party in the US.
Andre Damon•
The ICFI and the Crisis of Stalinism
This lecture was delivered to the Socialist Equality Party (US) Summer School on July 24, 2019 by Barry Grey, US national editor of the World Socialist Web Site and leading member of the Socialist Equality Party in the US.
Barry Grey•
