Editorials
Macron announces mass bankruptcies and layoffs as coronavirus restrictions are ended
By Alex Lantier, 16 June 2020
With Macron’s brief televised address, the ruling class is declaring an international class war against workers.
Wall Street celebrates Milken pardon
By Nick Beams, 20 February 2020
Milken was a pioneer of the financial mechanisms which have led to the greatest accumulation of wealth by the financial oligarchy ever seen, at the expense of the working class.
A reply to the American Historical Review’s defense of the 1619 Project
By David North and Tom Mackaman, 31 January 2020
The disrespect expressed by editor Alex Lichtenstein toward leading historians reveals the extent to which racialist mythology, which has provided the “theoretical” foundation of middle-class identity politics, has been accepted, and even embraced, by a substantial section of the academic community as a legitimate basis for the teaching of American history.
My Response to Alex Lichtenstein Regarding the 1619 Project
By Victoria Bynum, 31 January 2020
Bynum, one of the many academics who have raised fundamental criticisms of the New York Times’ 1619 Project, wrote this letter to the editor of the American Historical Review in reply to his defense of the project published online last week.
Terry Jones (1942-2020): From Monty Python to Geoffrey Chaucer
By Paul Bond, 31 January 2020
Alongside his role in the development of British comedy, Monty Python writer and director Terry Jones, who has died at 77, made significant contributions to Chaucerian scholarship and mediaeval history.
Why Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is in the same party as Joe Biden
By Genevieve Leigh, 28 January 2020
The New York congresswoman declared recently that, in any country but the United States, she and former Vice President Joe Biden would be in different political parties.
Martin Luther King Jr. and the fight for social equality
By Tom Mackaman and Niles Niemuth, 23 January 2020
King’s conception of a mass democratic movement for civil rights based on the unified action of all the oppressed sections of the population is being replaced with an essentially racialist narrative that presents all of American history in terms of a struggle between whites and blacks.
Google suppressing World Socialist Web Site content in its search results for the New York Times’ 1619 Project
By Kevin Reed, 20 January 2020
The popular, authoritative and original content published by the World Socialist Web Site on the New York Times Magazine’s 1619 Project is being manually suppressed by Google in search results.
Delta workers poisoned by toxic work uniforms file class action lawsuit
By Tom Carter, 17 January 2020
“I am confident that these uniforms are affecting many thousands of people,” lead attorney Bruce A. Maxwell told the World Socialist Web Site.
The New York Times’ 1619 Project promoted in schools across the US
By Genevieve Leigh, 10 January 2020
Despite its historical errors and omissions, major efforts are underway to establish the 1619 Project as the official narrative of American history at schools and major academic institutions.
The growing fascist influence in German politics: The case of Christian Democratic politician Robert Möritz
By Gregor Link and Johannes Stern, 7 January 2020
At the end of last year, the case of the former Christian Democratic Union (CDU) politician highlighted the sharp shift to the right of the ruling class in Germany.
The US sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and the danger of World War III
By Peter Schwarz, 31 December 2019
The decision by the US Congress to impose sanctions on companies involved in the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline underscores the danger of world war.
“Reinventing the past to suit the purposes of the present”
An interview with political scientist Adolph Reed, Jr. on the New York Times’ 1619 Project
By Tom Mackaman, 20 December 2019
The World Socialist Web Site recently spoke with Professor Reed at his University of Pennsylvania office.
Socialist Equality Party used UK general election to put forward a socialist perspective
By our reporter, 16 December 2019
The SEP's candidates reached thousands of workers and youth and was followed across Britain and internationally.
The sordid deal between former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and his accusers
By David Walsh, 13 December 2019
Weinstein and his bankrupt company have reached a $25 million settlement with dozens of women who charged him with sexual misconduct, various media outlets reported on Wednesday.
The DSA on impeachment or: How the DSA learned to stop worrying and love Bolton
By Genevieve Leigh, 3 December 2019
The Democratic Socialists of America has given its full support to the impeachment campaign, lining up behind John Bolton and the other reactionaries promoted by the Democratic Party.
US Attorney General William Barr’s brief for presidential dictatorship
By Tom Carter, 2 December 2019
Even by the degraded standards of American political discourse at present, Barr’s speech was exceptional for its essentially anti-democratic and fascistic content.
On the death of Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky (1942–2019)
By Clara Weiss, 19 November 2019
An understanding of Bukovsky’s life and role in politics over the past half century must be placed within the broader context of the development of the October Revolution of 1917 and the Stalinist reaction against it.
As contract vote approaches, DSA defends sellout by Chicago Teachers Union
By Kristina Betinis and Jerry White, 12 November 2019
DSA is seeking to block political discussion and opposition to the Chicago Teachers Union contract that meets none of the teachers’ central demands.
Pabloites prepare new betrayal of the Chilean working class
By Andrea Lobo, 8 November 2019
The PTR, while rhetorically glorifying the spontaneity of the protests, has worked to channel them behind the Stalinist PCCH and the Broad Front.
Growing inequality risks social revolution, hedge fund chief warns
By Nick Beams, 8 November 2019
With one eye clearly on the upsurge in the class struggle around the world over the past months, including in the United States, hedge fund chief Ray Dalio told a business conference the growth of social inequality was a national emergency and urgent steps had to be taken to address it.
One year since the first Boeing 737 Max 8 crash
By Bryan Dyne, 29 October 2019
The year since the crash in Indonesia has exposed the collusion between Boeing, the federal government and the trade unions that led to the deaths of 346 men, women and children.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez backs internet censorship
By Kevin Reed and Andre Damon, 25 October 2019
At a hearing Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez demanded that Facebook “fact-check” political statements and “take down lies,” endorsing calls by the intelligence agencies for technology companies to censor the internet.
Right-wing terror in Germany: the responsibility of the Grand Coalition
By Johannes Stern, 22 October 2019
The responsibility for right-wing terror lies not only with the AfD, but also with the Grand Coalition and its political supporters in the Left Party and the Greens.
GM strike at the crossroads
UAW preparing sell-out contract as workers fight to expand the struggle
By the WSWS Autoworker Newsletter, 4 October 2019
The alternative to the conspiracy of GM and the UAW is for workers to form rank-and-file factory committees, extend the strike to Ford and Fiat Chrysler and mobilize the entire working class.
Capitalism and the climate disaster: The issues posed by the worldwide protests
By Bryan Dyne, 1 October 2019
Efforts to save the natural environment while preserving the capitalist system have proven to be a blind alley for half a century.
Seattle union pushes through deal that includes hiring and firing of teachers based on race
By Kayla Costa and Alec Andersen, 6 September 2019
The Seattle Education Association forced through a contract last week which does nothing to address subsistence levels of pay, inadequate classroom funding and opens to the door to further layoffs.
One year after its conference to “refound” the Fourth International
Argentina’s Partido Obrero splits with longtime leader Jorge Altamira
By Bill Van Auken, 5 August 2019
Amidst all of the charges and counter-charges within the PO, what emerges most clearly is that both factions base themselves entirely upon a petty-bourgeois nationalist orientation.
Mobilize the working class in defense of abortion rights
the WSWS editorial board, 21 May 2019
The Socialist Equality Party and the International Youth and Students for Social Equality are distributing this statement at demonstrations across the US on Tuesday to defend the right to an abortion.
Columnist urges more female involvement in “building, deployment, targeting and use of nuclear weapons”
New York Times promotes a woman’s right to annihilate millions
By David Walsh, 18 May 2019
Times editorial board member Carol Giacomo complained May 15 that women were “particularly underrepresented in senior positions dealing with nuclear issues.”
India’s election and the revolutionary program to oppose austerity, war and communal reaction
By Keith Jones, 8 May 2019
The BJP’s turn to militarism and unabashed communal reaction is animated, above all, by its fear of growing social opposition.
Bernie Sanders joins Trump’s attack on “open borders”
By Tom Hall, 9 April 2019
Sanders echoed the right-wing fraud that a nation with nearly 600 billionaires, whose net worth totals over $3 trillion, cannot afford to welcome people emigrating to the US to work.
Ronan Farrow promotes #MeToo witch hunt in University of Michigan talk
By Oscar Gray, 26 March 2019
The Farrow event, ostensibly held to celebrate “excellence in journalism,” instead celebrated self-promotion and contempt for due process.
The US pseudo-left’s conspiracy of silence on the Matamoros workers’ rebellion
By Alex González, 4 February 2019
Through its dishonest silence, the US pseudo-left is demonstrating its hostility to the courageous struggle of one of the most oppressed sections of the international working class.
Mobilize the working class to defend public education!
Virginia teachers and the fight against social inequality
By the WSWS Teacher Newsletter, 28 January 2019
The demonstration today in Virginia is part of a growing movement of teachers, students and workers against attacks on public education.
Detroit auto show protest over GM plant closings
DSA and pseudo-left provide cover for the UAW, Democrats
By Shannon Jones, 22 January 2019
At no point in her brief remarks did Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib mention the GM plant closures, let alone call for opposition.
For fifth year in a row, US police kill more than one thousand
By George Gallanis, 7 January 2019
The relentless wave of killings is an indictment of identity politics and the pseudo-left groups who promote racialist politics as an antidote to police violence.
Behind the epidemic of police killings in America: Class, poverty and race
Part two
By Benjamin Mateus, 21 December 2018
A statistical analysis of every police killing in the United States during 2017 demonstrates that socio-economic class, not race, plays the most decisive role.
Sully at George H.W. Bush’s funeral: Washington goes to the dogs
By Eric London, 6 December 2018
A service dog in the (unwitting) service of the political establishment.
France's “yellow vest” protests expose Jean-Luc Mélenchon's pro-capitalist populism
By Alex Lantier, 6 December 2018
Jean-Luc Mélenchon's attack on socialism and his proclamation of the political irrelevance of the working class reflect his hostility to growing social anger among workers.
Socialist Equality Party opposes RMT rail union sellout at Liverpool meeting
By our reporters, 6 December 2018
For over two years, RMT and the drivers’ union ASLEF in the UK have sabotaged the fight by thousands of guards in defence of their jobs and the safety of railway users.
New York Times tries to shame “disillusioned young voters” into supporting the Democrats
By Barry Grey, 2 November 2018
As masses of people grow increasingly disillusioned with capitalism and the two-party system, the Times is doing its best to shore up support for the Democratic Party.
A discussion with Helen Pluckrose, co-author of “Grievance Studies” hoax article
By Eric London, 18 October 2018
The WSWS spoke to one of the authors of a recent study exposing the charlatanry that dominates postmodern-obsessed academic circles.
A reply to French daily Libération
Is the WSWS exaggerating the threat of war?
By Alex Lantier, 17 October 2018
While admitting the WSWS accurately reports US military measures aimed at Russia and China, Libération claims that we are overstating US preparations for “total war.”
Former first lady Michelle Obama declares George W. Bush “my partner in crime”
By Nick Barrickman, 16 October 2018
Bush is guilty of war crimes of the highest order, but they are crimes that the entire political establishment supports and is pledged to continue.
WSWS demands Turkey release Max Zirngast, Hatice Göz and Mithatcan Türetken
the World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board, 25 September 2018
Zirngast, an Austrian graduate student and journalist, was arrested September 11 together with the two Turkish leftists on trumped-up terrorism charges.
A quarter century since the Thai toy factory fire
By Richard Phillips, 14 July 2018
The Kader fire exposed the rapacious character of global capitalism, which was not improving factory conditions but further undermining them.
Teachers and the political struggle
By Nancy Hanover and Jerry White, 26 June 2018
In the aftermath of the union betrayal of their strikes and protests, teachers are running for seats in their state legislatures in unprecedented numbers, posing fundamental political issues for the working class.
French rail workers strike at a crossroads
By Kumaran Ira and Alex Lantier, 1 June 2018
As the unions begin calling to put an end to the strike, the strike must be taken out of the hands of the unions and waged on an independent, revolutionary perspective.
Argentina’s Socialist Workers Party (PTS) denounces Brazilian truckers strike
By Eric London, 1 June 2018
The PTS labeled the strike as right-wing, solidarizing itself with the government’s repressive measures.
Break the silence on the danger facing Julian Assange
By James Cogan, 31 May 2018
A profound shift has taken place among a layer that previously postured as “liberal,” “left” and even “socialist.”
The cancellation of Roseanne Barr’s television series
By David Walsh, 31 May 2018
On Tuesday, ABC television cancelled the revived Roseanne after its star Roseanne Barr posted a racist tweet.
A reply to the communications director of the South Carolina Education Association
By the WSWS Teacher Newsletter, 24 May 2018
The following is an exchange about the May 21 World Socialist Web Site article, “Teachers and public workers protest in South Carolina.”
Oppose the slaughter of Palestinians! Oppose imperialist war!
David Moore—SEP candidate for Senate in California, 17 May 2018
The Democratic senator from California, Dianne Feinstein, has a long record of support for the Israeli government’s war crimes.
Billionaire Bloomberg and union chief Weingarten join forces to undermine teachers’ struggle
By Fred Mazelis and Steve Light, 9 May 2018
The former New York City mayor and the head of the American Federation of Teachers are worried the wave of strikes and protests initiated by the rank and file will spread and challenge decades of austerity.
“I Want to Be Rich and I’m Not Sorry”
New York Times columnist promotes “women who aggressively seek money and power”
By David Walsh, 30 April 2018
Los Angeles novelist Jessica Knoll spells out her credo in her NYT article: “Success, for me, is synonymous with making money …”
The betrayal of the Oklahoma strike and lessons for the next stage of the teachers’ revolt
By the WSWS Teacher Newsletter, 18 April 2018
The end of the strike, and the inevitability of a new social eruption, directly pose the need for workers to consciously work over the lessons of the struggle.
International Socialist Organization covers for union treachery in the teachers’ strikes
By Tom Hall, 7 April 2018
In a recent article, ISO writer Lee Sustar appeals to the trade unions to work with the pseudo-left to provide them with a “left” cover.
The New York Times takes on the social media “hordes”
By Andre Damon, 3 April 2018
Times columnist Farhad Manjoo demanded in a recent article that the government do something to “fix” social media to keep the online “herd” from voicing their opinions.
Yulia Skripal “improving rapidly”: The unravelling of the Russian Novichok narrative
By Chris Marsden, 31 March 2018
The recovery of Yulia Skripal after having been supposedly poisoned by a “military-grade” nerve agent is just one of the innumerable inconsistencies and contradictions in London’s case against Russia.
The Stormy Daniels scandal: Political warfare in Washington hits a new low
By Patrick Martin, 27 March 2018
The campaign of sexual allegations against Trump serves only to pollute popular consciousness and divert attention from the political dangers confronting working people.
Yale witch hunters and the decline of democratic consciousness
By Eric London, 14 March 2018
The Yale Daily News does not understand that “Not guilty” most certainly does mean “innocent.”
The New York Times procures salacious details of “gray-zone sex”
By Eric London, 1 March 2018
The Times has issued a call for college students to describe and submit images related to sexual encounters.
A tool of imperialism: Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s Unsubmissive France calls for military buildup
By Alex Lantier, 19 February 2018
As Paris threatens to bomb Syria, and Washington threatens Russia and China, Jean-Luc Mélenchon is stampeding behind calls to build a European war machine.
Marx’s analysis of the laws of capital and the share market crisis
By Nick Beams, 17 February 2018
The largest fall in markets since the crisis of 2008 has provided a damning exposure of the entire framework of bourgeois economics and a living confirmation of the analysis of Karl Marx.
Chomsky’s pro-imperialist Afrin petition
By Nick Beams, 6 February 2018
Right on cue, as if acting in accordance with a carefully drafted script, pseudo-left organisations and individuals have stepped forward to provide justifications for new US operations in the Middle East.
Nothing learned from Auschwitz
By Johannes Stern, 6 February 2018
Just a cursory glance at the politicians assembled in the German parliament to commemorate the 73rd anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz makes clear the same ruling class that made Hitler chancellor 85 years ago is returning to its infamous traditions.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde gives #MeToo the banks’ seal of approval
By Alex Lantier, 5 February 2018
International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde’s interview in Le Monde hailing #MeToo underscores that this movement has the support of the financial aristocracy.
Sulzbergers pass gilded baton at the New York Times
By Bill Van Auken, 5 January 2018
In assuming the post of Times publisher, A.G. Sulzberger, 37, inherits his father’s $5.1 million annual paycheck.
Behind the New York Times’ concern about Washington’s “forever wars”: Plans for new war authorization and conscription
By Bill Van Auken, 24 October 2017
The roiling public debate surrounding the deaths of four special forces troops in Niger has threatened to lift the lid on the unbridled power of the Pentagon and the drive toward world war.
Move to Spanish military rule in Catalonia exposes bankruptcy of Podemos
By Alejandro López and Alex Lantier, 24 October 2017
Despite winning 5 million votes, Podemos neither wanted nor sought to mobilize opposition to the turn to authoritarian rule by Madrid, backed by the European Union.
How the Internet keeps us safe from people like Thomas Friedman
By Andre Damon, 14 October 2017
Friedman, the notorious war propagandist, is demanding that technology companies censor news outlets that would hold him to account for his lies.
Race, class and the protests against police violence in St. Louis, Missouri
By Genevieve Leigh, 3 October 2017
As part of its efforts to inject racialist politics into the protests against the police officer who killed Anthony Lamar Smith, groups around the Democratic Party held a “white allies only” rally.
One week in the media’s McCarthyite witch-hunt against Russia
By Andre Damon, 27 September 2017
Since Facebook announced it would collaborate in investigating Russian “meddling,” the New York Times and Washington Post have whipped themselves into a McCarthyite frenzy.
New York Times surveys the results of 35 years of affirmative action
By Fred Mazelis, 13 September 2017
The Times article reveals that masses of Hispanic and African-American youth are unable to afford higher education, but obscures the underlying class reality.
Mélenchon sets nationalist trap for opposition to austerity in France
By Anthony Torres, 7 September 2017
Mélenchon is proposing a populist and nationalist movement, compatible with a strategy of entry into the Macron government that he claims to oppose.
Mélenchon denies France’s responsibility for the Nazi-era deportation of the Jews
By Alex Lantier, 31 July 2017
The social movement Mélenchon aims to launch would be a nationalist and petty-bourgeois movement hostile to historical truth and the working class.
Global financial parasitism and the political strategy of the working class
By Nick Beams, 10 July 2017
The statement “Palace coup or class struggle: The political crisis in Washington and the strategy of the working class,” issued by the SEP (US), is grounded on the “life situation” facing the working class, resulting from the rise of financial parasitism and its domination over every aspect of economic and social life.
Haymarket Books’ #Resist: The International Socialist Organization props up the Democratic Party in Chicago
By Jessica Goldstein, 22 May 2017
Michelle Alexander and Naomi Klein discussed reforming the Democratic Party and their support for Bernie Sanders at a public discussion hosted by the ISO’s Keeanga-Yahmatta Taylor.
French media, political parties hush up PS government’s coup plan
By Alex Lantier, 20 May 2017
Thursday’s edition of L’Obs magazine revealed that the outgoing Socialist Party government planned a coup d’état if National Front candidate Marine Le Pen had won the May 7 presidential elections.
Veteran drives through crowd in Times Square: The war comes home
By Eric London, 20 May 2017
There are many young people in the US who know a veteran who “came back crazy” with “nobody to help them,” as Rojas’ friends put it.
New evidence of UAW vote-rigging in 2015 Ford contract
Part Two
By Eric London, 11 May 2017
Documents provided to the World Socialist Web Site show a UAW conspiracy to silence autoworkers with access to evidence that the union committed election fraud to pass the 2015 contract with Ford.
What is behind the German drive to war with Syria?
By Johannes Stern, 11 April 2017
Following the Merkel government’s declaration of support for the US attack on Syria, the German media launched a campaign for the expansion of aggression against the country.
French NPA candidate Philippe Poutou defends Trump’s bombing of Syria
By Alex Lantier, 11 April 2017
The NPA is defending the war, shamelessly denouncing any opposition to the reckless US military escalation as support for mass murder by the Syrian regime.
Vote “no” on Turkey’s constitutional referendum! For the United Socialist States of Europe and the Middle East!
Statement of Toplumsal Esitlik
5 April 2017
Toplumsal Esitlik (TE, the Social Equality Group), in political sympathy with the International Committee of the Fourth International, calls for a “no” vote in the referendum on April 16.
Jörg Baberowski: A right-wing extremist professor
By Johannes Stern, 29 March 2017
The Cologne District Court issued a ruling on 15 March which confirmed that students at Bremen University can identify Professor Jörg Baberowski as a right-wing extremist.
The New York Times demands a Trump special prosecutor
By Patrick Martin, 22 March 2017
The Times is the media spearhead of the campaign by the Democratic Party and the military-intelligence apparatus to whip up a war frenzy against Russia.
Trump turns to American history
The strange political afterlife of Andrew Jackson
By Tom Mackaman, 21 March 2017
The political art of Jackson, which so inspires the Trump administration, consisted of his ability to obscure powerful contradictions behind a veil of nationalism and populist demagogy.
What did billionaire Mike Ilitch leave Detroit?
By Shannon Jones, 15 February 2017
Behind the official paeans to the late billionaire Mike Ilitch lies the reality of a city devastated by the ruthless workings of capitalist “free enterprise.”
The significance of the IYSSE’s electoral success at Berlin’s Humboldt University
the International Youth and Students for Social Equality, 27 January 2017
At the student parliament elections, the IYSSE received more votes than the student groups of the Christian Democratic Union, the Greens and the Left Party.
Trumka on Trump: AFL-CIO chief urges president-elect to work with unions to save capitalism
By Jerry White, 30 December 2016
AFL-CIO head Trumka wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times offering the services of the unions to suppress working-class opposition to the incoming administration.
Pseudo-left covers for Corbyn’s capitulation to Blair over Iraq war
By Laura Tiernan, 14 December 2016
The pseudo-left’s support for Corbyn gives Labour a blank cheque to facilitate British military aggression.
The New York Times' hypocritical rant against social media
By Andre Damon, 12 December 2016
While the Times editorial is framed as a critique of Trump, its real target is public access to information that is not censored and massaged by the US intelligence apparatus.
From a reader: A second comment on Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight
By Thomas Douglass, 12 December 2016
The authentic and genuinely interesting character of the protagonists is one of Moonlight’s greatest appeals.
Lessons of protests against murder of Jaffna University students in Sri Lanka
By K.Nesan and V. Gnana, 24 November 2016
Workers and youth must be unified across ethnic lines in struggle against nationalism, both Sinhala and Tamil, and against the imperialist war drive in Asia.
A chilling attack on free speech
Trump attempts to bully cast of Hamilton over criticism of anti-democratic policies
By David Walsh, 21 November 2016
President-elect Donald Trump responded to concerns about his incoming administration as expressed by the cast of the Broadway show Hamilton with a series of thuggish, threatening Tweets.
Guardian columnist Will Hutton rants against the Brexit “mob”
By Paul Mitchell, 21 November 2016
Hutton’s defence of a political and economic system that is committed to austerity only legitimises UKIP’s demagogic posturing as the voice of the “people” against “the elites.”
New York Times apologizes for coverage of presidential election
By David Walsh, 16 November 2016
In two open letters last Friday, the New York Times expressed regret for its coverage of the US election and promised to approach the Donald Trump administration “without bias.”
Trump’s victory, Brexit and Paul Mason’s call for a new “progressive alliance”
By Chris Marsden, 16 November 2016
Mason and others within Britain’s pseudo-left and liberal commentariat seek to dress up a strategic reorientation of imperialist policy in a progressive cloak.
After backing Clinton, Michael Moore calls for “takeover” of Democratic Party
By Gabriel Black, 14 November 2016
Moore has been brought forward to keep the broadly felt popular opposition to president-elect Donald Trump from breaking free of the political semi-corpse of the Democratic Party.
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