Trump delivers fascist diatribe in year-end speech
The 18-minute nationally televised address was a declaration of war on the working class, delivered by a president who appeared both demented and fearful.
Patrick Martin•
The Socialist Equality Party (Australia)
Socialism AI is a powerful new chatbot developed by the WSWS to advance socialist consciousness globally by bringing the scientific outlook of Marxism to workers, youth, and intellectuals.
For a united global movement against layoffs in the auto industry!
Workers in one country cannot defend their jobs at the expense of the jobs of workers in another. Their class interests transcend national rivalries and the chaos of the market. Workers share a common interest in the use of technology to benefit all of humanity, rather than to enrich a privileged few.
International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees•
40 years since the suspension of the Workers Revolutionary Party from the ICFI
The suspension of the WRP by International Committee in December 1985 marked a decisive victory for Trotskyism over Pabloite opportunism and opened a new stage in the building of the Fourth International.
Peter Schwarz•
Trump threatens neo-colonial war of plunder against Venezuela
The Trump administration is seeking to plunder Venezuela’s oil reserves as part of a campaign to dominate Latin America as a resource base for war with Russia and China.
Andre Damon•
Benjamin Mateus •
WSWS International Editorial Board•
Oscar Grenfell•
Patrick Martin•
Johannes Stern•
50 Years since the Canberra Coup: A Marxist assessment
In Australia, a purportedly stable capitalist parliamentary democracy, this entire democratic facade was thrust aside in 1975 in response to what was a potentially revolutionary upsurge of working-class struggles amid a period of acute crisis of capitalism internationally.
Mike Head•
Australian Labor government scraps energy bill rebates
Ending temporary band-aids on soaring prices for domestic electricity and gas services will intensify the cost-of-living crisis for working-class households.
Mike Head•
Former deputy Australian prime minister defects to far-right One Nation
Barnaby Joyce’s decision to join the far-right party is another expression of the crisis of the conservative Liberal-National Coalition and the lurch to the right by the entire political establishment.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australian economy “flat” amid global volatility
The data shows a drop to zero in the per capita growth rate, under conditions of rising inflation, a continuing cost-of-living crisis and low levels of corporate investment, except for AI-related data centres.
Mike Head•
Oscar Grenfell•
Oscar Grenfell•
Mike Head•
Oscar Grenfell•
Mike Head•
Build neighbourhood and workplace rank-and-file committees! While far advanced, Labor’s devastating plans can and must be defeated by the working class.
Australian safety regulator’s initial report on fatal Cobar mine explosion: more questions than answers
The NSW Resources Regulator’s November 25 “Investigation information release” neither explains what caused the tragedy nor makes any recommendation for how to stop more workers being killed.
Martin Scott•
Australia: Cobar residents oppose rapid reopening of Endeavor mine after fatal explosion
“It is very frightening for workers and their families when they don’t know why this happened. Everyone needs answers—not just the residents of Cobar but people all over Australia.” – Cobar miner’s wife
Our reporters•
Australia: Cobar miner warns fatal accident at Endeavor Mine could be repeated
“I don’t think what the company has done in sending workers back on the job is right at all,” a Cobar worker said, referring to the October 28 mine explosion that killed two workers.
Oscar Grenfell, Richard Phillips•
Australia: Cobar mine workers should defy the company gag order
Endeavor workers have not only been instructed not to speak to the media, but even to their own families about the tragic death of their colleagues and the conditions in the mine.
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Our reporters•
Australia: Concerns that unsafe conditions killed 2 Queensland building workers
Family members and building workers are raising concerns about the reported lack of safety precautions involved.
Our correspondents•
Australia: False claims of “backflip” on job and course cuts at University Technology Sydney
At the UTS rally, union speakers claimed to be “winning,” even as the vice-chancellor’s update showed that the majority of the cuts and course closures are still proceeding.
Erika Zimmer•
Australia: Sawmill closure destroys 73 jobs in Yarram, Victoria
Workers were given no forewarning, arriving at work to be told they would be made redundant, effective immediately.
Taylor Bennington•
Australia: Thousands of Queensland teachers join second one-day strike
At strike rallies, teachers were offered no perspective by union officials except to keep appealing to right-wing Premier David Crisafulli for an unspecified deal or accept arbitration.
Antony Walsh•
Paul Bartizan, Martin Scott•
Stephen Griffiths•
Jim Franklin•
A WSU Rank-and-File Committee member•
John Wilson, Martin Scott•
Contact the SEP!
Phone: (02) 8218 3222
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No cannon fodder for the profits of the rich!
For a socialist perspective against the reintroduction of conscription in Germany
Germany’s ruling elite is preparing a new generation for war, reintroducing conscription as part of the largest rearmament drive since 1945. This statement explains why only a socialist, international movement of young people and workers can stop militarism and the capitalist system that drives it.
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE)•
Trump’s National Security Strategy deepens split within NATO
The US intends to interfere in the internal affairs of its NATO partners, break up the European Union, strengthen fascist parties, and help enforce racist remigration policies.
Peter Schwarz•
Australian Labor government gives $95 million to Ukraine for war with Russia
$50 million is being poured into a US-NATO fund, which supplies strike capabilities to Ukraine, including those that threaten to provoke a war throughout Europe and globally.
Oscar Grenfell•
South Korea ramps up war preparations against China
Under Lee Jae-myung and the Democrats, Seoul is marching in lockstep with Washington’s aggressive imperialist agenda, demonstrating that there is no section of the South Korean ruling class opposed to war.
Ben McGrath•
Oscar Grenfell•
Oscar Grenfell•
Oscar Grenfell•
Johannes Stern•
Peter Symonds•
Summary execution in the West Bank: Trump’s “peace” deal in practice
The summary execution of two Palestinians in the West Bank reveals the "peace" deal signed by Israel and sanctified by the U.N. Security Council as nothing more than an enabling act for genocide throughout all of Palestine.
Andre Damon•
Alliance of war criminals: German Chancellor Merz meets Netanyahu
There is hardly anything more repulsive than when the German ruling class justifies its support for Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians by referring to the “fight against antisemitism” and its own historical crimes.
Johannes Stern•
Israel tightens its grip on West Bank
Functioning as Israel’s subcontractor in policing the Palestinians, President Mahmoud Abbas and the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority have not lifted a finger to oppose any of Israel’s expansionist actions.
Jean Shaoul•
Two Palestinian brothers, 8 and 11, murdered by Israeli drone strike in Gaza
The Israeli military fired a drone strike in Gaza and killed two children in an eastern neighborhood of Khan Yunis on Saturday.
Kevin Reed•
Jean Shaoul•
Jordan Shilton•
Oscar Grenfell•
Our reporters•
Andre Damon•
David North addresses book launches in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia
David North, the chairman of the international editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site and of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP) in the United States, spoke at book launches in Sydney and Melbourne over the past week. The events were part of a visit by North, who has played a leading role in the world Trotskyist movement for more than 50 years, to the SEP in Australia.
Australian health workers voice outrage over Gaza catastrophe
The open letter and the response it has generated speak to the depth of the anguish, shock and anger felt by healthcare workers as they bear witness to the atrocities occurring in Gaza.
A doctor•
Glastonbury’s defiant stand for Palestine and the radicalisation of the working class and youth
There are events which burst through the crust of official politics and media-managed opinion and let popular sentiment erupt to the surface. Saturday afternoon at the UK’s Glastonbury music festival was one of those.
Thomas Scripps•
Australian court rules ABC illegally sacked journalist for opposing Gaza genocide
Antoinette Lattouf’s victory is a damning exposure of the extensive campaign that has been waged by the Labor government and the entire establishment, to falsely brand opposition to the Israeli genocide as antisemitism.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australian workers and youth oppose US-Israeli attacks on Iran and ongoing genocide
“It could be curtains for everybody with World War Three, nuclear war, and I’m trying to stop that. I’m terrified, horrified, especially so because I have children and grandchildren.”
Our reporters•
Eric Ludlow•
Our reporters•
Macquarie University Rank-and-File Committee•
Gabriela Zabala, Richard Phillips•
To stop fascism and war, young people must fight for socialism!
The IYSSE is the only political tendency that advances a genuine socialist perspective based on the lessons of history and the interests of the working class.
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia)•
Australian government prepares assault on privacy for under-16s social media ban
Proposed techniques for age estimation of social media users include facial analysis or tracking individuals’ online metadata to determine if a user is under the age of 16.
Eric Ludlow•
University of Sydney announces further attacks on free speech
While the immediate target of the new rules is clearly opposition to the intensifying Gaza genocide, they could be used to suppress any opposition to management, the government or the political establishment.
Jack Turner•
Australia: University of Melbourne expels pro-Palestinian students
The decision marks a further shift to outlaw political free speech on the campuses and more broadly and must be opposed by students, staff and all those who defend basic civil liberties.
Eric Ludlow•
International Youth and Students for Social Equality (Australia)•
Aditya Syed•
International Youth and Students for Social Equality VU•
Kaye Tucker•
Owen Howell, Oscar Grenfell•
Beams pointed to the roots of the pseudo-left in tendencies that broke from the Trotskyist movement and rejected the revolutionary role of the working class.
Australia: Build rank-and-file committees to fight Labor’s attack on construction workers and the entire working class!
The past three months have demonstrated that the fight against Labor’s administration of the CFMEU requires a rank-and-file movement independent of the ousted union leadership.
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Labor’s attack on the CFMEU: 1 year under state control
The federal Labor government’s appointment of administrator Mark Irving was always aimed at facilitating deeper attacks on wages and conditions in the building industry and more broadly.
Martin Scott•
Australia: Inquiry highlights financial ties between building union and big developers
Incolink, a worker entitlement fund jointly controlled by the Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union and Master Builders Victoria, has handed over tens of millions in investment returns to those organisations in recent years.
Martin Scott•
High Court of Australia rejects challenge to Labor’s attack on the CFMEU
The ruling gives the go-ahead for a stepped-up assault on the wages, conditions and democratic rights of building workers, but it also means those who want to fight the administration can no longer be held back with the lie that all they can do is wait for the court’s verdict.
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
Martin Scott•
This report includes videos of speeches delivered by SEP members at the October 27 meeting, explaining the Labor government’s administration of the construction union and outlining a perspective to fight it.
Expert report shatters fraudulent case against Bogdan Syrotiuk: Deepen the international campaign for his freedom!
The campaign to free Ukrainian socialist Bogdan Syrotiuk has reached a decisive turning point with the publication of a forensic linguistic analysis that shatters the fraudulent case against him.
Johannes Stern•
Ukrainian court rejects motion to dismiss judge for bias as Bogdan Syrotiuk is barred from accessing dental care
The decision to not dismiss the judge for bias underscores yet again that, within the Ukrainian court system, everything is stacked against Bogdan.
Clara Weiss•
1 year since the arrest of the Ukrainian socialist Bogdan Syrotiuk
Exactly one year ago, the Ukrainian socialist and leader of the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists was arrested by the Ukrainian Secret Service.
Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists•
Left Voice calls for release of Ukrainian Trotskyist Bogdan Syrotiuk
One year after the arrest of Ukrainian Trotskyist Bogdan Syrotiuk, Left Voice, which is affiliated with La Izquierda Diario Network, has issued a statement calling for his release.
Clara Weiss•
WSWS Editorial Board•
Clara Weiss•
David North•
Johannes Stern•
Clara Weiss•
Capitalist breakdown, the fight against war and the tasks of the Socialist Equality Party
This resolution was adopted by the Seventh National Congress of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia), held from October 3-6.
Support the SEP in the Australian federal election! Build a socialist movement of the working class against war, austerity and dictatorship!
The Socialist Equality Party is standing candidates in the Australian federal election to build an independent movement of the working class against Labor, the Liberal-National Coalition, the Greens and capitalism itself.
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
WATCH: After the Australian election—The socialist alternative to Labor’s government of war and austerity
At Thursday’s meeting, speakers Oscar Grenfell and Cheryl Crisp, as well as chair Max Boddy, presented a Marxist analysis of the May 3 federal election.
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
The Australian election, global opposition to Trump and the need for a socialist perspective
The election was marked by a mass repudiation of Trumpism, but within the framework of parliamentary politics, the outcome is a pro-business, pro-war Labor government that will collaborate with Trump.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australia’s second-term Labor government will accelerate pro-business, pro-war agenda
The key ministers who prosecuted the previous Labor government’s militarist and socially regressive policies retain their posts but changes to the ministerial line-up signal a further lurch to the right.
Mike Head•
Oscar Grenfell•
Mike Head•
Oscar Grenfell•
Martin Scott•
Our reporters•
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Australian Electoral Commission blocks evidence on its SEP ballot access ban
The AEC’s escalated reasons for refusing to release the information—claiming that it would not be in the “public interest” to do so—further underscore the anti-democratic nature of its ban on the SEP registration.
Mike Head•
Australian Electoral Commission rejects FOI application for evidence to justify election ban on SEP
This Freedom of Information decision further exposes the anti-democratic character of Australia’s electoral laws and the AEC’s totally obscure use of them against the Socialist Equality Party.
Mike Head•
Meeting opposes ban on official registration of SEP, outlines socialist perspective for Australian election
Held in person in the working-class Sydney suburb of Bankstown and streamed on Zoom, the meeting was attended by a broad cross-section of workers, students and young people.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australian Electoral Commission rejects challenge to election ban on SEP
The AEC letter underscores the anti-democratic character of the country’s party registration legislation.
Mike Head•
Our reporters•
Our reporters•
Our reporters•
Our reporters•
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Australian electoral authorities reject Socialist Equality Party’s registration, despite it meeting membership requirements
The decision was made as the looming election is characterised by mass hostility to the official parties and a growing desire among workers and young people for a genuine alternative.
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.
Statement of the World Socialist Web Site editorial board•
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.
Oscar Grenfell•
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.
Oscar Grenfell•
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.
Oscar Grenfell•
Oscar Grenfell•
Thomas Scripps•
Laura Tiernan•
Oscar Grenfell•
Thomas Scripps, Chris Marsden•
Resolution adopted at the Sixth Congress of the SEP (Australia)
The COVID disaster and the political crisis of Australian capitalism
“The criminal ‘let it rip’ pandemic policies of governments—invariably enforced by the labour and trade union bureaucracies—have exposed the brutality of capitalism, and its readiness to sacrifice lives for corporate profit and private wealth accumulation.”
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Resolution adopted at the Sixth Congress of the SEP (Australia)
Build an international movement of the working class against imperialist war!
“The same contradictions and crisis of world capitalism are also propelling the working class into struggle, providing the basis for the building of an international anti-war movement.”
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Build the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees!
A mass network of interconnected rank-and-file committees can and must serve as the foundation for the fight for the abolition of capitalism and the establishment of a workers’ government based on a socialist program.
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Free Julian Assange!
The ongoing persecution of Julian Assange is bound up with imperialist war, escalating online censorship and a broader turn to authoritarianism.
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Defeat of Australian Labor’s Voice referendum highlights stark class divide, not racism
The Voice voting patterns demonstrate the intensifying hostility of working-class people to the entire political establishment.
Mike Head•
Indigenous Voice leaders denounce Australian voters
An open letter, issued by a privileged layer of indigenous figures who led the Voice Yes campaign, further highlights the immense class chasm shown in the referendum’s overwhelming defeat on October 14.
Mike Head•
Australian pseudo-left slanders population as racist after defeat of Voice referendum
Socialist Alternative’s analysis of the referendum is an attack on the working class, exposing this organisation as a rightward moving representative of privileged layers of the affluent upper middle-class.
Oscar Grenfell•
Australian workers oppose the Voice, call for better conditions for Aboriginal people
“The Labor government is not working class, it is an elite group of people, setting up a puppet called the Voice.”
Our reporters•
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Our reporters•
Socialist Equality Party (Australia)•
Oscar Grenfell•
Max Boddy•
Historical Foundations
The program of the Socialist Equality Party is of a principled, not a conjunctural and pragmatic, character. It is based on an analysis of the crisis of world capitalism and an assimilation of the strategic revolutionary experiences of the working class and the international socialist movement.
The Historical and International Foundations of the Socialist Equality Party was adopted by the Founding Congress of the SEP in Sydney in 2010. It traces the historical events and strategic experiences of the working class and Marxist movement spanning more than a century.
Principles
Membership in the Socialist Equality Party is based on agreement with its Statement of Principles. The principles of the SEP incorporate the essential experiences of the revolutionary upheavals of the twentieth century and the corresponding struggle waged by Marxists for the program of world socialist revolution.
Lecture series: Why study the history of Trotskyism?
The lectures, now all available online, reviewed some of the fundamental lessons of the protracted struggle by the Trotskyist movement for socialist internationalism.
Leadership
Crisp was a founding member of the Socialist Labour League, the forerunner of the SEP, in 1972, and has played a leading role in the Trotskyist movement in Australia for more than four decades. She was elected National Secretary at the Fifth National Congress of the SEP in 2020.
Max was elected to the position of assistant national secretary at the 2020 SEP National Congress. He writes regularly for the WSWS on issues facing asylum seekers and their inhumane treatment at the hands of Australian governments. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Newcastle, majoring in Aboriginal Studies.
Authorised by Cheryl Crisp for the Socialist Equality Party, Level 1/457-459 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills, NSW, 2010, Australia.