Asia History
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—Part One
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”
By 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
Part 1
By John Chan, 4 June 2009
This article is the first of a three-part series examining the origins, consequences and political lessons of the Tiananmen Square massacre twenty years ago.
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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