History

This week in history: June 8-14

Mon, 08 Jun 2026 01:37:38 GMT

Charleston Five longshoremen face state repression; Jimmy Carter clinches Democratic presidential nomination; Two of "Trenton Six” convicted in racist frame-up; June Tenth movement in Korea against Japanese rule.

A reply to Edward Luce of the Financial Times on youth radicalization

Fri, 05 Jun 2026 04:09:07 GMT

David North replies on X to Financial Times columnist Edward Luce on the radicalization of youth and the rediscovery of Trotsky.

The balance sheet of Castroism as Trump prepares war on Cuba

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 02:28:27 GMT

Workers in Cuba, the US and across the Americas must urgently mobilize in opposition to Trump’s blockade and war plans, but effective opposition to imperialism requires a historical balance sheet of Castroism and the Cuban Revolution.

Trotsky’s My Life: An imperishable contribution to Marxism and world literature

Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:48:22 GMT

Mehring Verlag, the publishing house of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party) in Germany, will soon release a new German-language edition of Leon Trotsky’s My Life. Written from exile in 1929, the autobiography is at once a literary masterpiece and an essential document of revolutionary history.

This week in history: June 1-7

Mon, 01 Jun 2026 01:34:42 GMT

Massacre of royal family in Nepal; Teton Dam collapse kills 11 in Idaho; US Supreme Court upholds convictions of Communist Party leaders; Pilsudski chooses crony as Polish president.

Miles Davis at 100, a complex figure reflecting a complex time

Sat, 30 May 2026 01:31:38 GMT

The jazz world is celebrating the centenary of jazz trumpet master and bandleader Miles Davis, one of the 20th century’s most impactful musicians.

The Nexteer workers’ revolt and the case for rank-and-file committees throughout the auto parts industry

Tue, 26 May 2026 04:10:38 GMT

The Nexteer rebellion is the concentrated expression of decades of betrayal by the UAW bureaucracy, breaking to the surface across the entire auto parts sector.

This week in history: May 25-31

Mon, 25 May 2026 00:17:02 GMT

US convicts four in embassy bombings; Syria intervenes in Lebanon civil war; Britain opposes Iran oil nationalization; Ukrainian rightist assassinated in Paris.

Lincoln and the enduring legacy of America’s second revolution: A reply to a critic of the “Letter from afar”

Fri, 22 May 2026 20:31:02 GMT

It is “fitting and proper,” to use Lincoln’s words, to invoke the historical experience of America’s past revolutions to bring to the surface and activate the deep-rooted democratic convictions of the working class.

The US indictment of Raúl Castro and the record of CIA terror against Cuba

Thu, 21 May 2026 03:47:39 GMT

The indictment of Raúl Castro is an abominable act of hypocrisy and imperialist propaganda to justify military aggression against an impoverished nation of less than 10 million people.

A letter from afar by A. Lincoln

Tue, 19 May 2026 19:33:54 GMT

The following letter, signed “A. Lincoln” but without a return address or subject line, appeared in my email this morning. No sooner had I made a copy of the letter than it disappeared from my inbox. Despite its strange and unexplained origin, the signature demands that attention be given to the letter; and, for this reason, it is being made available to readers of the WSWS.

Red Dawn over China: An extended exercise in anti-communist propaganda

Mon, 18 May 2026 05:17:00 GMT

Frank Dikötter’s new book is a fundamentally flawed work that makes little pretence of academic objectivity or intellectual honesty.

This week in history: May 18-24

Sun, 17 May 2026 21:14:45 GMT

25 years ago, 14 Mexican migrants die crossing the Arizona desert amid intensified US border militarization; 50 years ago, Pol Pot is installed as Cambodia’s prime minister, consolidating Khmer Rouge rule; 75 years ago, the “17-point” agreement formalizes China’s annexation of Tibet; 100 years ago, French forces capture the Rif rebel capital in Morocco

Trotsky and the British General Strike of 1926

Wed, 13 May 2026 12:43:04 GMT

To mark 100 years since the end of the 1926 General Strike (on May 12, 1926), the WSWS is republishing a lecture by Chris Marsden, the national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (UK). The lecture, "Trotsky and the British General Strike of 1926" was delivered at the SEP (US) International Summer School, held August 2-9, 2025.

90 years of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times

Wed, 13 May 2026 01:39:43 GMT

Released under tumultuous social, political and economic circumstances, Chaplin’s movie retains the artistic, cultural, political and social significance it had in 1936.

This week in history: May 11-17

Sun, 10 May 2026 23:15:19 GMT

Berlusconi returns to power in Italy; Terry Tyler arrested in Louisiana; Battle of Soyang River in Korean War; British General Strike betrayed.

Jörg Baberowski’s Bypassing the People: Fascism as a revitalisation of democracy

Fri, 08 May 2026 05:22:26 GMT

Jörg Baberowski’s latest treatise, Am Volk vorbei—Zur Krise der liberalen Demokratie (Bypassing the People—On the Crisis of Liberal Democracy), is being hailed and praised in countless media outlets. This can only be understood as a deliberate political campaign to secure the AfD a place in government.

From Port Huron to postmodernism: The class politics of the “New” Students for a Democratic Society

Mon, 04 May 2026 01:26:07 GMT

The "New" SDS substitutes identity politics for class analysis, bourgeois nationalism for socialist internationalism and protest theater for the independent mobilization of the working class against the capitalist parties and the system they defend.

This week in history: May 4-10

Sun, 03 May 2026 23:25:29 GMT

South African gold mine explosion kills twelve miners; Red Army Faction founder Ulrike Meinhof is found dead in her prison cell; US conducts the test preparing hydrogen bomb; British General Strike begins.

Stop the war against Iran!

Sat, 02 May 2026 02:33:40 GMT

The editor of the WSWS German site explained the social, political and historical basis of the struggle against imperialist war.

Gettysburg and the New Birth of Freedom—then and now

Tue, 28 Apr 2026 04:14:26 GMT

We are publishing a lecture delivered by WSWS contributor Tom Mackaman to the International Youth and Students for Social Equality at Gettysburg University on April 23.

This week in history: April 27-May 3

Mon, 27 Apr 2026 01:02:02 GMT

Global repression against May Day rallies; Italian parliament dissolved after bribe scandal; Iran nationalizes oil industry under Mossadegh; British unions call General Strike

This week in history: April 20-26

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 01:29:18 GMT

Peru and CIA shoot down missionary aircraft; Socialist Party wins election in Portugal; Mass strikes in Spain against Franco dictatorship; Reza Khan crowned Shah of Iran.

6 films from Iran that should be seen by workers in the US and around the world

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 01:31:14 GMT

These films provide some insight into the problems of Iranian society and help transform the Iranian “devils” into humans very much like ourselves.

April 1776: When America opened its ports to the world

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 21:17:07 GMT

As the Trump administration imposes a military closure of Iranian ports, it is notable that 250 years ago this month, on April 6, 1776, the Continental Congress announced that American ports would be open to world.

Art and the Influence of Revolution

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 23:38:07 GMT

No serious understanding of 20th-century cultural life is possible without considering the impact of the socialist movement and its decades-long struggle to raise the thinking and activity of the working class, culminating in the 1917 Revolution.

Kremlin declares Memorial an “extremist” organization, shuts down data base of victims of the Great Terror

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 04:50:14 GMT

The assault on Memorial is a blow against the ability of workers and youth the world over to come to grips with the crimes of Stalinism.

This week in history: April 13-19

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 03:15:19 GMT

Massacre of students in Ethiopia; India, China resume official ties; European Coal and Steel Community formed; First dance premiere for Martha Graham

This week in history: April 6-12

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 00:09:34 GMT

Police attack South Korean autoworkers; Chinese CP strips Deng Xiaoping of posts; Truman fires Douglas MacArther; Failed assassination attempt on Mussolini

Crimes against peace: The Nuremberg Trials precedent and the illegal US-Israeli war against Iran

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 02:56:11 GMT

In a powerful lecture at Friedrich-Alexander University in Nuremberg, David North demonstrated that the US-Israeli war against Iran constitutes a crime against peace under the legal standards established at the Nuremberg Trials.

This week in history: March 30-April 5

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 22:54:19 GMT

Milošević arrested in Serbia; General strike by Israeli Palestinians; Julius and Ethel Rosenberg sentenced to death; Communal rioting in West Bengal

This week in history: March 23-29

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 23:38:14 GMT

School fire kills 67 in Kenya; Argentine military overthrows Isabel Perón; MacArthur ultimatum to China in Korean War; Fascist killers of Matteotti given light sentence.

Socialism in the “reactionary” Southwest: Lessons from James Green’s Grass-Roots Socialism

Sat, 21 Mar 2026 01:23:15 GMT

Green's book shows that, beneath the familiar myth of the reactionary Southwest, there lay a vibrant world of tenant-farmer revolt, labor militancy, and interracial socialist organizing.

Tom Henehan: A revolutionary life

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 03:48:56 GMT

Yesterday would have been the 75th birthday of Tom Henehan, a member of the Political Committee of the Workers League who was assassinated in 1977. We are republishing here a tribute delivered by David North at a meeting in 1997.

40 years since the People Power ouster of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 02:20:59 GMT

The central lesson of People Power is not that the masses “once saved democracy” and must now do so again, but that no advance is possible so long as their struggles remain chained to any faction of the bourgeoisie.

Kazakhstan demolishes historic site where Trotsky once lived

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 04:00:41 GMT

The city of Almaty in Kazakhstan is currently demolishing the house where Leon Trotsky spent several weeks in exile from the Stalinist bureaucracy.

Roy Medvedev (1925–2026): A critical assessment

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 02:27:46 GMT

A critical assessment of Soviet dissident historian Roy Medvedev (1925–2026), examining both his courageous exposure of Stalinist crimes in Let History Judge and the political limitations that led him from reform-minded dissent to support for the Putin regime.

This week in history: March 9-15

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 03:33:49 GMT

Museveni wins Uganda election; Sadat breaks with Soviet alliance; US forces retake Seoul in Korean War; Fascist Italy bans strikes

This week in history: March 2-8

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 00:41:51 GMT

Fireworks explosion kills 50 children in China; Spanish police massacre workers in Vitoria; Iranian prime minister assassinated; Germany places demands on League of Nations

This week in history: February 23-March 1

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 03:07:54 GMT

Supreme Court upholds $45 million fine on pilots union; British government criminalizes Irish Republican activity; 22nd Amendment to US Constitution ratified; American communist tried for blasphemy.

British Museum caves in to Zionist lobby group, removes “Palestine” from Ancient Middle East displays

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 18:59:23 GMT

The decision of Britain’s premier cultural institution to cave into Zionist browbeating has prompted a furious backlash from scholars in Middle Eastern history, archaeologists and experts in ancient Levantine cultures.

World Socialist Revolution is the answer to imperialist war and fascism

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 03:18:59 GMT

David North delivered lectures online at the invitation of Social Democracy clubs at Bilkent University and Middle East Technical University, both located in Ankara, Turkey. The lectures were delivered on February 17 and 19.

This week in history: February 16-22

Mon, 16 Feb 2026 02:36:57 GMT

Auto factory occupation in Windsor, Ontario; Portuguese Stalinists, social democrats bow to military; US launches counteroffensive in Korea; France sets up puppet advisory group in Annam.

Mehring Yayıncılık publishes The Historical and International Foundations of the Sosyalist Eşitlik Partisi – Dördüncü Enternasyonal

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 18:08:25 GMT

The Foundations, like its counterparts around the world, shows that the outcome of modern Türkiye’s history requires the working class to secure its political and organizational independence from all representatives of the ruling class and to mobilize on the basis of an international socialist programme in the struggle for democracy and social equality.

Australia: “Prohibited hate group” laws recall 1951 referendum to ban “communism”

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 05:16:53 GMT

The Albanese Labor government’s legislation echoes that of 1950 and 1951, when the Menzies government sought to criminalise “communists.”

Trump, the Epstein files and the putrefaction of the American oligarchy

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 03:36:50 GMT

What accounts for the elevation of this sociopathic individual to the most powerful political office on earth? What are the social, economic, and political processes that have produced this outcome? And what class forces are at work?

Jochen Hellbeck’s “World Enemy Number 1, Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and the Fate of the Jews”

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:31:56 GMT

With great empathy for the Soviet people, the German-American historian Jochen Hellbeck deliberately opposes the efforts to minimize the crimes of Nazism and the decisive contribution of the Red Army and the Soviet people to the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Central to Hellbeck’s analysis is the link between Nazi anti-Semitism and anti-Communism.

This week in history: February 9-15

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 01:37:00 GMT

USS Greeneville sinks Japanese fishing vessel, killing 9; Nigerian head of state assassinated; Dockworkers begin largest industrial action in New Zealand’s history; Mussolini issues threats to Germany over South Tyrol.

US energy blockade threatens Cuba with humanitarian “collapse”

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:59:24 GMT

The Trump administration’s attempt to pull the plug on the Cuban economy is aimed at carrying through the nearly seven decades of efforts to overthrow the Castroite government installed by the 1959 Cuban Revolution.

Trump falsifies the history of the Mexican-American War

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 03:12:54 GMT

The Mexican-American War, fought to preserve slavery, helped bring on its destruction in the Civil War and imposed a border whose consequences still shape American politics.