History of Asia
“A history that the working class has a right to know and must learn”
Statements from the Philippines, Australia, Japan and South Korea defend Dr. Joseph Scalice against Stalinist slanders
By our reporters, 28 September 2020
“Scalice, by exposing the Communist Party of the Philippines, has done a service to the whole anti-capitalist movement and we stand in complete solidarity with him.”
Seventy-five years since the Stalinist murder of Vietnamese Trotskyist leader Ta Thu Thau
By Patrick Martin, 28 September 2020
The leader of a Trotskyist group in Saigon, which had a sizeable following in the working class, was executed on the orders of the leadership of the Vietnamese Communist Party.
Educators must defend historian Joseph Scalice from Stalinist attacks
By the Committee for Public Education, 26 September 2020
“The defence of Scalice and academic freedom is inseparably connected to the broader issues facing educators.”
Joseph Scalice responds to Stalinist Sison’s lies that he is a “CIA agent”
By Joseph Scalice, 24 September 2020
“Unable to respond to any of the substantive historical points raised in my scholarship, [Sison] has taken to repeatedly slandering me as a ‘CIA agent,’ a claim for which he has not a shred of evidence.”
Philippine students and academics defend Dr. Joseph Scalice against Communist Party founder Sison’s “lies and obfuscation”
By our reporters, 24 September 2020
“Scalice’s approach has always been scholarly and evidence-based. His conclusions cannot be countered with lies and obfuscation.”
Forty-eight years since Marcos declared martial law in the Philippines
By John Malvar, 23 September 2020
The Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines played a key role in suppressing opposition to Ferdinand Marcos’ imposition of martial law in 1972, by subordinating the mass movement of workers and youth to rival factions of the bourgeoisie.
Philippine Maoist leader Sison seeks alliance with military against Duterte
By Tom Peters, 22 September 2020
The Communist Party of the Philippines and its allied organisations are seeking to corral mass opposition to fascistic President Rodrigo Duterte behind Vice-President Leni Robredo and pro-US factions of the military.
Letters from Australia, the US and New Zealand defending Philippine historian Dr. Joseph Scalice
By our reporters, 17 September 2020
The Communist Party of the Philippines “is scapegoating an historian for having the principles and courage to tell the truth to the whole world about the anti-democratic and anti-working class role of the Stalinists.”
More statements defending Dr. Joseph Scalice against Stalinist attacks
By our reporters, 15 September 2020
“The clarification of the role of the Communist Party of the Philippines will be a valuable contribution to the struggle against Stalinism and Maoism throughout Southeast Asia.”
More statements defending Dr. Joseph Scalice against Stalinist attacks
By our reporters, 15 September 2020
“The clarification of the role of the CPP will be a valuable contribution to the struggle against Stalinism and Maoism throughout Southeast Asia.”
Stalinist leader Joma Sison doubles down on Big Lie that the CPP never supported Philippine President Duterte
By Tom Peters, 15 September 2020
Jose Maria Sison has not even attempted to refute the evidence presented by Dr. Joseph Scalice that the Communist Party of the Philippines supported the fascistic president Rodrigo Duterte in 2015-2016.
WSWS publishes Chinese translation of Dr. Joseph Scalice’s lecture exposing the betrayals of the Communist Party of the Philippines
By Tom Peters, 15 September 2020
Dr. Scalice’s exposure of Maoism, from the standpoint of genuine socialism, will help readers understand why so many revolutionary opportunities in Asia throughout the twentieth century resulted in defeats for the working class.
CPP founder Sison regurgitates Stalinist lies about Trotskyism
By Peter Symonds, 12 September 2020
Sison’s second interview, defending his politically bankrupt “semi-colonial, semi-feudal” thesis, is a desperate bid to stem the haemorrhaging of support for the Communist Party of the Philippines, and to suppress any questioning in its ranks.
The lessons of the 1953 mass uprising (hartal) in Sri Lanka
By Saman Gunadasa, 2 September 2020
The hartal showed that regardless of the intensity of a mass struggle, it will not succeed without a conscious Marxist leadership
Edited transcript of Joseph Scalice’s lecture on CPP
First as Tragedy, Second as Farce: Marcos, Duterte and the Communist Parties of the Philippines
By Joseph Scalice, 1 September 2020
On August 26, Dr. Joseph Scalice delivered this lecture at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore on the support given by the Communist Party of the Philippines, and the various organizations that follow its political line, for Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte in 2016.
Statements of support from Sri Lanka for Joseph Scalice
By our correspondents, 31 August 2020
We call on our readers to come to the defence of Scalice by sending statements of support to the WSWS opposing the slanderous attack on him by the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Significant support for Joseph Scalice’s lecture on the Communist Party of the Philippines
By our correspondent, 29 August 2020
Overwhelmingly the comments and posts on social media have been supportive of the lecture and opposed to the slanderous attacks of CPP founder Jose Maria Sison on Scalice.
Watch: Lecture exposes role of Communist Party of the Philippines in propping up Duterte regime
27 August 2020
The lecture is a devastating exposure of the duplicitous role of the Communist Party of the Philippines, its founder and “theoretician” Jose Maria Sison and of the bankrupt perspective of Stalinism and Maoism on which they are based.
75 years since the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
By Bill Van Auken, 6 August 2020
The anniversary’s significance has never been greater. Behind the backs of the people of the United States and the world, US imperialism is steadily building up a massive nuclear arsenal and pursuing a doctrine of aggressive nuclear war.
Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue: Documentary about war crimes and historical revisionism in Japan
By Isabel Roy, 20 March 2020
Miki Dezaki interviews revisionists from far-right circles in Japan, politicians and historians who have studied “comfort women,” as well as activists working for the recognition of the victimised women.
India’s highest court greenlights repression of protests against discriminatory citizenship law
By Keith Jones, 18 December 2019
India’s Supreme Court has refused to order a probe into brutal police assaults on students protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Video: 70 years after the Chinese Revolution—How the struggle for socialism was betrayed
31 October 2019
The following lecture was delivered by Peter Symonds at eight campuses in Australia and at meeting in Wellington, New Zealand.
Australian and New Zealand students speak after lecture on 70th anniversary of Chinese Revolution
By our reporters, 31 October 2019
“The real root ideas of socialism were not implemented in China from the bottom-up. I learnt that Trotskyism is internationalism, but Mao did not agree with that perspective.”
Introduction to the 1955 SWP resolution “The Third Chinese Revolution and its Aftermath”
By Peter Symonds, 9 October 2019
The SWP resolution summed up the lengthy discussion within the Trotskyist movement of the significance of 1949 Chinese Revolution and its deformation under the Stalinist leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.
From the archives
SWP resolution: The Third Chinese Revolution and its Aftermath
9 October 2019
On the 70th anniversary of the Chinese Revolution, the World Socialist Web Site is republishing the resolution adopted in 1955 by the Socialist Workers Party, then the Trotskyist party in the United States, on the issues raised by the revolution and its aftermath.
China: Thirty years since the Tiananmen Square massacre
By Peter Symonds, 10 September 2019
This lecture was delivered by Peter Symonds at the Socialist Equality Party (US) Summer School on July 25, 2019. Symonds is a member of the International Editorial Board of the World Socialist Web Site and national WSWS editor of the Socialist Equality Party (Australia).
IYSSE lecture series in Australia
Seventy years after the Chinese Revolution: How the struggle for socialism was betrayed
9 September 2019
While the revolution vastly transformed international relations and class relations within China, the Communist Party, based on the Stalinist program of “Socialism in One Country,” deformed the newly-created state from the outset.
From the archives:
Stop Stalinist Terror Against Chinese Workers
Statement of the International Committee of the Fourth International, 5 June 2019
The ICFI statement entitled “Stop Stalinist Terror Against Chinese Workers” was issued on June 22, 1989, as the scope of the police dragnet and repression against workers and students expanded following the Tiananmen Square massacre.
WSWS republishes ICFI statements on Tiananmen Square massacre on June 4, 1989
4 June 2019
Thirty years after the brutal military crackdown on unarmed workers and students in Beijing, these documents contain the essential political lessons for the revolutionary struggles ahead.
One hundred years since the May 4 movement in China
By Peter Symonds, 4 May 2019
The May 4 movement which erupted in 1919 was part of a broader intellectual ferment, profoundly influenced by the Russian Revolution, that led to the establishment of the Chinese Communist Party in 1921.
The 50th anniversary of the founding of the SEP (Sri Lanka)
Victory of the Trotskyists in the 1985–1986 split in the ICFI
By Saman Gunadasa and K. Ratnayake, 29 December 2018
The political struggle against the WRP prepared the ICFI for the new period of revolutionary class struggles that are now emerging.
SEP (Sri Lanka) to hold lecture on “Lessons of History and the Fight for Socialism Today”
the Socialist Equality Party (Sri Lanka), 21 November 2018
The lecture in Jaffna will focus on the political lessons of key strategic experiences of the 20th century for the working class and their contemporary relevance.
Indonesian authorities ban discussion of 1965 coup at Bali writers festival
By John Roberts, 3 November 2015
Police forced the organisers to cancel film showings and discussion panels referring to the massacre of over 500,000 people in the CIA-backed coup.
Abe accelerates the remilitarisation of Japan
By Peter Symonds, 2 September 2015
The latest defence budget increase, to fund the purchase of sophisticated new hardware and the expansion of bases, will push Japanese military spending to record levels.
Japanese PM snubs China’s World War II victory ceremony
By Peter Symonds, 26 August 2015
Abe’s presence at Chinese ceremonies to mark the end of the “War of Resistance to Japanese Aggression” would have been unacceptable to the extreme right in Japan.
Japanese PM’s speech on World War II riddled with duplicity
By Peter Symonds, 17 August 2015
Abe’s speech maintained a veneer of pacifism and contrition even as his government expands Japan’s military forces and prepares for new wars.
Protesters denounce military legislation as Japan marks anniversary of nuclear bombings
By Ben McGrath, 11 August 2015
A Nagasaki survivor recounted the horrors of the blast and denounced Prime Minister Abe’s moves to amend Japan’s post-World War II constitution.
The 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima
By Peter Symonds, 6 August 2015
Washington’s use of the atomic weapons was aimed at terrorising not just the Japanese regime, but above all the Soviet Union, and ensuring post-war American global dominance.
US historians criticize Tokyo’s efforts to whitewash war crimes
By Ben McGrath, 16 February 2015
American historians have signed a statement condemning the Japanese government’s attempts to whitewash the military’s abuse of “comfort women” in the 1930s and 1940s.
Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
24 January 2015
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.
Fifty years since the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
By Patrick Martin, 7 August 2014
The US Congress voted near unanimously to authorize open-ended military action in Vietnam after a falsified account of supposed clashes between US naval warships and North Vietnamese PT boats in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Thirty years since the start of Sri Lanka’s civil war
By Vilani Peiris and Rohantha De Silva, 7 August 2013
The terrible 26-year conflict is a crucial strategic experience for the working class in Sri Lanka and internationally.
Japan’s elections: the Communist Party’s role
By Peter Symonds, 28 August 2009
At a critical turning point in Japanese politics, the Communist Party is positioning itself as a safety valve for the political establishment.
Historian says US backed “efficacious terror” in 1965 Indonesian massacre
By John Braddock, 7 July 2009
The US and British governments, supported by Australia, were complicit in the murder of more than half a million alleged communist sympathisers in the wake of the 1965 Indonesian coup.
Origins and consequences of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre
Part 2
By John Chan, 5 June 2009
This article is the second of a three-part series examining the origins, consequences and political lessons of the Tiananmen Square massacre twenty years ago. Part 1 was posted on June 4.
Origins and consequences of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre
By John Chan, 4 June 2009
Two decades ago, on June 4 1989, Beijing resembled a war zone, with trucks ablaze, rapid and continuous gunfire and tanks rolling through streets strewn with dead bodies.
The tragedy of the 1925-1927 Chinese Revolution
Part 3
By John Chan, 7 January 2009
The rise and fall of the 1925-1927 Second Chinese Revolution was one of the most significant political events of the twentieth century. One cannot understand modern Chinese history without examining its lessons.
The tragedy of the 1925-1927 Chinese Revolution
Part 2
By John Chan, 6 January 2009
The rise and fall of the 1925-1927 Second Chinese Revolution was one of the most significant political events of the twentieth century. One cannot understand modern Chinese history without examining its lessons.
The tragedy of the 1925-1927 Chinese Revolution
Part 1
By John Chan, 5 January 2009
The rise and fall of the 1925-1927 Second Chinese Revolution was one of the most significant political events of the twentieth century. One cannot understand modern Chinese history without examining its lessons.
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