US History
One hundred fifty years since West Virginia statehood
By Clement Daly, 19 June 2013
West Virginia gained statehood 150 years ago in the revolutionary struggle to eradicate slavery in the United States during the Civil War.
From the archive of the WSWS
Fifty years since the execution of the Rosenbergs
By Peter Daniels and Bill Van Auken, 15 June 2013
The WSWS is reposting today an article from June 2003 on the half-century anniversary of the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg on espionage charges, carried out at the height of the anticommunist witch-hunt in the US.
The WSWS speaks to Julius and Ethel Rosenberg’s son
An interview with Robert Meeropol
By Fred Mazelis, 15 June 2013
Robert Meeropol is the younger son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the couple executed by the US government in June 1953 on trumped-up charges of atomic espionage.
America’s revolutionary founding document
For Liberty and Equality: The Life and Times of the Declaration of Independence
By Tom Mackaman, 4 May 2013
A book that seriously considers the impact the Declaration of Independence is most welcome reading in 2013, a year which has seen an intensifying assault on the most basic principles of America’s founding document.
Understanding Lincoln: An interview with historian Allen Guelzo
3 April 2013
Leading Abraham Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo recently spoke with Tom Mackaman of the World Socialist Web Site.
The British working class and the American Civil War: 150 years since London’s St. James’ Hall meeting
By Tom Mackaman, 26 March 2013
March 26 marks the 150th anniversary of the “monster” antislavery, pro-Union meeting of British workers at St. James’ Hall in London.
American Federation of Teachers’ journal slanders historian Howard Zinn
By Charles Bogle and Fred Mazelis, 18 February 2013
A review article on A People’s History of the US in the current issue of American Educator lays bare the union leadership’s slavish support for American capitalism.
PBS’s The Abolitionists: Remembering the political struggle against slavery
By Tom Mackaman, 31 January 2013
The Public Broadcasting System’s The Abolitionists is a reminder that the fight against slavery in the US was a hard-fought political struggle.
Forty years after Roe v. Wade: Abortion rights under sustained attack
By Matthew MacEgan, 28 January 2013
Four decades later, women’s reproductive rights are under severe attack, particularly regarding the affordability and accessibility of services for working class women.
150 years since the Emancipation Proclamation
By Tom Mackaman, 3 January 2013
We repost here a perspective initially posted on September 22 celebrating the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s order that legally freed 4 million slaves and altered the course of the American Civil War.
Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln and the historical drama of the Civil War
By Tom Mackaman, 12 November 2012
Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is a powerful cinematic treatment of the Lincoln administration’s struggle to pass a Constitutional amendment abolishing slavery in 1865, the final year of the American Civil War.
An exchange of letters on the Emancipation Proclamation
29 September 2012
The WSWS posts a letter from a reader on “150 years since the Emancipation Proclamation” and a reply by the author, Tom Mackaman.
150 years since the Emancipation Proclamation
By Tom Mackaman, 22 September 2012
On September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln made public the Emancipation Proclamation, which transformed the Civil War into a social revolution.
Prelude to the Emancipation Proclamation
150 years since the Battle of Antietam
By Tom Mackaman, 17 September 2012
The Battle of Antietam, fought 150 years ago in the second year of the American Civil War, set the stage for Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.
Thirty years since the murder of Vincent Chin
By Shannon Jones, 23 June 2012
Thirty years ago this week, on June 19, 1982, Vincent Chin, an Asian-American draftsman, was beaten to death by a Chrysler foreman and his son in a racially motivated killing.
Remembering the Ludlow Massacre
Part 4: The Ludlow memorial
By Jack Hood, 1 June 2012
The World Socialist Web Site publishes the concluding installment in a series on the Colorado miners’ strike of 1913-1914.
Remembering the Ludlow Massacre
Part 3: The Massacre and the Ten Days War
By Jack Hood, 31 May 2012
The World Socialist Web Site publishes the third installment in a four-part series on the Colorado miners’ strike of 1913-1914.
Remembering the Ludlow Massacre
Part 2: The strike of 1913-14
By Jack Hood, 30 May 2012
The World Socialist Web Site publishes the second installment in a four-part series on the Colorado miners’ strike of 1913-1914.
Seventy-five years since the Memorial Day Massacre
By Tom Eley, 29 May 2012
Wednesday marks the 75th anniversary of the Memorial Day Massacre, when Chicago police opened fire on unarmed striking steelworkers, killing 10 and wounding 30.
Remembering the Ludlow Massacre
Part 1: Background to the Colorado miners’ strike of 1913-1914
By Jack Hood, 29 May 2012
The World Socialist Web Site publishes the first installment in a five-part series on the Colorado miners’ strike of 1913-1914, which culminated in the Ludlow Massacre and the Ten Days war.
Chicago’s Hull House closes after 120 years of service
By Shane Feratu and Scott Martin, 8 February 2012
The Jane Addams Hull House Association, one of the largest non-profit social service organizations in Chicago, abruptly shut down on Friday, January 27, after 120 years.
Forty years since the Attica uprising
Nixon-Rockefeller tapes praise bloodbath—“A beautiful operation”
By Nancy Hanover, 26 September 2011
This month marks the 40th anniversary of the 1971 uprising by prisoners at the Attica Correctional Facility in upstate New York and its bloody suppression by state police called in by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller.
Thirty years since the PATCO strike
Part one
By Tom Mackaman, 3 August 2011
This is the first installment of a series of articles marking the 30th anniversary of the PATCO air traffic controllers’ strike in the US.
The Conspirator: Film on Lincoln assassination trial misses the mark
By Shannon Jones, 2 May 2011
The Conspirator, directed by Robert Redford, examines the trial by military commission of Mary Surratt.
One hundred and fifty years since the US Civil War
By Tom Eley and David North, 13 April 2011
This week marks the 150th anniversary of the Confederate attack on federal soldiers at Fort Sumter, in South Carolina, which began the Civil War between the Union and the Confederacy—an epochal event in American and world history.
100 years since the historic workplace tragedy in New York City
HBO’s Triangle: Remember the Fire
By Charles Bogle, 25 March 2011
The excellent production values of Triangle: Remember the Fire leave an indelible visual memory of one of the greatest tragedies in American workplace. Sadly, the documentary’s limited perspective dishonors the legacy of the tragedy.
150 years ago: The election of Abraham Lincoln touches off secession crisis
By Shannon Jones, 24 December 2010
On December 20, 1860, six weeks after voters of the United States elected Abraham Lincoln as the 16th president, South Carolina seceded from the union. Other Southern states soon followed, leading within little over five months to the outbreak of the American Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in US history, and ultimately to the freeing of 4 million slaves.
Leon Trotsky’s Analysis of the Emerging Global Role of US Capitalism
By Nick Beams, 24 November 2010
The WSWS organized a panel on “The Cultural, Economic and Geo-strategic Thought of Leon Trotsky: A Retrospective Analysis 70 years after His Assassination,” at the 42nd annual convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies (formerly the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies), held November 18-21 in Los Angeles. About 1,400 historians, political scientists, economists, and literary scholars presented papers on a wide array of topics.
The Story of Us on History channel—an attempt to revive the myths of American capitalism
By William Moore and Fred Mazelis, 28 June 2010
History (the cable television channel) recently presented a 12-hour series entitled “America: The Story of Us.” The ambitious project spanned the history of the United States from the first European settlements of North America until the present day.
US: Forty years since the national postal strike
By Hector Cordon, 24 April 2010
Forty years ago postal workers defied their unions, anti-strike laws, and the Nixon administration’s deployment of the military in New York City to carry out the first national strike against the US government in history.
Howard Zinn, 1922-2010
An assessment of A People’s History of the United States
By Tom Eley, 15 February 2010
Howard Zinn died on January 28 at the age of 87. Any serious evaluation of Zinn requires consideration be given his book, A People’s History of the United States.
150 years since the execution of John Brown
By Fred Mazelis, 4 December 2009
One hundred and fifty years after his execution for the failed raid he led on the Federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, the legacy of John Brown continues to generate controversy and disquiet.
75 years since the San Francisco general strike
By Marge Holland and Robert Louis, 18 September 2009
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the San Francisco general strike, which began as a strike of longshoremen.
Revolutionary leadership and the struggle of 1934
75th anniversary of the Minneapolis truck drivers’ strike
By Ron Jorgenson, 31 August 2009
We are posting here an article on the 1934 Minneapolis general truck drivers’ strike, originally published in four parts. It is also available in PDF.
Revolutionary leadership and the struggle of 1934
75th anniversary of the Minneapolis truck drivers’ strike—Part four
By Ron Jorgenson, 29 August 2009
The final part of a four-part series on the 1934 Minneapolis general truck drivers’ strike.
Revolutionary leadership and the struggle of 1934
75th anniversary of the Minneapolis truck drivers’ strike—Part three
By Ron Jorgenson, 28 August 2009
The third part of a four-part series on the 1934 Minneapolis general truck drivers’ strike.
Revolutionary leadership and the struggle of 1934
75th anniversary of the Minneapolis truck drivers’ strike–Part one
By Ron Jorgenson, 26 August 2009
The first part of a four-part series on the 1934 Minneapolis general truck drivers’ strike.
Writer Budd Schulberg, unrepentant informer, dead at 95
By David Walsh, 7 August 2009
Schulberg was a member of the Communist Party in the late 1930s and subsequently “named names” before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) in May 1951. To the end of his life he defended his informing, and that experience largely defines his legacy.
Citizen of the world: a brief survey of the life and times of Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
By Ann Talbot, 8 June 2009
June 8 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of 18th century revolutionary Thomas Paine.
75th anniversary of the Toledo Auto-Lite strike
Historic 1934 struggle
By Charles Bogle, 27 May 2009
In 1934 workers in Toledo, Ohio, carried to victory one of the most important strikes in US history. Led by socialists, the Auto-Lite strike won broad support from the unemployed.
Book review: Death in the Haymarket
The eight-hour-day movement and the birth of American labor
By James Brewer, 19 May 2009
Death in the Haymarket by James Green is an important contribution to the early history of the American labor movement.
The Haymarket frame-up and the origins of May Day
Part three
By Walter Gilberti, 13 May 2009
We are republishing a series of articles that originally appeared in April 1986 under the title “One hundred years since the Haymarket frame-up.” The articles were published in the Bulletin, the newspaper of the Workers League, forerunner of the Socialist Equality Party in the US.
The Haymarket frame-up and the origins of May Day
Part two
By Walter Gilberti, 12 May 2009
We are republishing a series of articles that originally appeared in April 1986 under the title “One hundred years since the Haymarket frame-up.” The articles were published in the Bulletin, the newspaper of the Workers League, forerunner of the Socialist Equality Party in the US.
The Haymarket frame-up and the origins of May Day
Part one
By Walter Gilberti, 11 May 2009
We are republishing here a series of articles that originally appeared in April 1986 under the title “One hundred years since the Haymarket frameup.” The articles were published in the Bulletin, the newspaper of the Workers League, forerunner of the Socialist Equality Party in the US.
In honor of the bicentenary of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin
12 February 2009
It is among the most remarkable coincidences of history that Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin were born on the same date, February 12, 1809. Lincoln, as the 16th president of the United States, made an immense contribution to the political liberation of mankind. Darwin, in the sphere of science, contributed mightily to its intellectual liberation. Today the World Socialist Web Site pays tribute to the memory of these two very great men.
John Adams: A serious rendering of the American Revolution
By Charles Bogle, 8 January 2009
John Adams, first aired on HBO in early 2008 and now released on DVD, is the latest and in some ways most satisfying rendering of the American Revolution on film. The television series covers the last 56 years of Adams’ 90-year life.
Chrysler 1979: Lessons from an early corporate “bailout”
Lessons from history
By Tom Eley, 26 September 2008
In 1979, Chrysler Corporation, the third largest US automaker, hovered on the verge of collapse, a victim of sharply declining revenue and cash-on-hand that had reached the level of threatening daily operations.
Declassified grand jury transcripts confirm frame-up of Ethel Rosenberg
The trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg
By Tom Eley, 13 September 2008
The recent release of previously secret grand jury transcripts has revealed that crucial testimony was perjured in the conviction and 1953 execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for conspiracy to commit espionage on behalf of the Soviet Union.
Citizen of the world: a brief survey of the life and times of Thomas Paine (1737-1809)
By Ann Talbot, 30 September 2004
The lecture below by World Socialist Web Site correspondent Ann Talbot was presented on September 24 to a meeting in Britain organised by the Rotherham Metropolitan District Local History Council, as part of the Rotherham Arts Festival.
US Justice Department opens investigation into the 1955 murder of Emmett Till
By Helen Halyard, 11 June 2004
The federal Justice Department announced last month that it would reopen its long-suppressed investigation into the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a black 14-year-old from Chicago who was the victim of a brutal racist murder while visiting family in Money, Mississippi.
On the 40th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination
12 December 2003
Dear Messrs. North and Vann:
The California recall in historical perspective: Lessons of Upton Sinclair’s 1934 campaign
By Shannon Jones, 3 December 2003
The recall of California Democratic Governor Gray Davis and the installation of film celebrity Arnold Schwarzenegger was a significant event in the political life of the United States. In particular, the California election exposed the impotence of the Democratic Party, which once again, as in the Clinton impeachment and the stolen presidential election of 2000, proved incapable of mounting a serious struggle against the extreme right.
Reflections on the 40th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination
By David North and Bill Vann, 22 November 2003
In November 1963, 37 years before George W. Bush was installed as president by means of a political conspiracy, the assassination of John F. Kennedy demonstrated how a man could be removed from the presidency by conspiratorial means.
A landmark in the fight against capital punishment in the US
Lessons of the 1924 Leopold and Loeb murder case
By Shannon Jones, 8 September 2001
The United States remains one of the few advanced industrialized countries in the world that still practices capital punishment. Since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, 731 individuals have been executed. These condemned inmates have included women, the mentally ill, foreign nationals and those sentenced to death for crimes committed when they were juveniles.
Documentary on Scottsboro case distorts 1930s struggle against racism in US South
By Fred Mazelis, 23 April 2001
On March 25, 1931, nine black youth, ranging in age from 13 to 21, were arrested in Alabama on charges of raping two young white women. Thus began the notorious Scottsboro case, a racist frame-up that led to years of trials and legal appeals, along with mass protests in the US and around the world.
A presidential family in time of war
By Joseph Kay, 7 March 2001
Abraham and Mary Lincoln: A House Divided, Produced and directed by David Grubin, a presentation of the Public Broadcasting System series The American Experience
The Jefferson-Hemings controversy
In defense of history
By Helen Halyard and Shannon Jones, 31 December 1998
Substantial debate and controversy have accompanied the science journal Nature's release of genetic test results supporting the claim that Thomas Jefferson fathered children by one of his slaves, Sally Hemings.
Equality, the Rights of Man and the Birth of Socialism
By David North, 24 October 1996
The following is a lecture given by David North, national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor on 24 October 1996.
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