History
Thirty-five years since the “People Power” ouster of Marcos in the Philippines
26 February 2021
The excitement and enthusiasm surrounding the ouster of the tyrant Marcos was rapidly disappointed. “People power” was betrayed. The basic problems confronting the Filipino masses remain unresolved and have in fact worsened.
New York Times racialist vandals descend on Rome and Greece
By Sandy English, 25 February 2021
A feature essay in the New York Times Magazine claims that the study of ancient Greece and Rome is the font of “whiteness” in contemporary culture, and that colleges should “get rid of classics.”
New revelations of FBI and New York police conspiracy in the assassination of Malcolm X
By Fred Mazelis, 24 February 2021
The deathbed confession of former undercover NYPD officer Raymond Wood points to an official cover-up.
This week in history: February 22-28
21 February 2021
25 years ago: Anti-Castro group aircraft shot down over CubaOn February 24, 1996, Cuban fighter jets shot down two planes flown by the Miami-based anti-Castro exile group Brothers to the Rescue. It was the end result of a provocation calculated to induce US economic, political and military retaliation against Cuba.
“We are turning the floodlights on the history of the Fourth International”
Ten highlights from “Sylvia Ageloff and the Assassination of Leon Trotsky”
By Our reporters, 21 February 2021
This article presents 10 key moments from the World Socialist Web Site’s live discussion with David North and Eric London, co-moderated by Joseph Kishore and Tom Mackaman, on the latest series in the International Committee of the Fourth International’s Security and the Fourth International investigation.
Time magazine and Ibram X. Kendi promote a race-obsessed, money-hungry “Black Renaissance”
By Niles Niemuth, 16 February 2021
Unlike the Harlem Renaissance, this “Black Renaissance,” organized by the Democratic Party, funded by corporate America, endorsed by Time, the New York Times and the entire establishment media, is pro-capitalist, pro-imperialist and ethno-communalist.
This week in history: February 15-21
14 February 2021
25 years ago: Wildcat strike over safety issues shuts down Warren Truck plantOn February 17, 1996, workers at the Warren Truck Assembly Plant, located in the northeastern suburbs of Detroit, went on a wildcat strike. The three-day walkout cost the company 1,800 units of production and came as a response to the firing of two union officials for opposing Chrysler’s speed-up drive.
WSWS online Q&A with David North and Eric London
Sylvia Ageloff and the assassination of Leon Trotsky
13 February 2021
David North and Eric London speak on the significance of the latest revelations, in the context of the decades-long Security and the Fourth International investigation by the ICFI into Trotsky’s assassination by Stalin’s GPU.
“Falsifications and slander are the weapons of Stalinism”
Joseph Scalice responds to Stalinist attacks over Diliman Commune article
By Joseph Scalice, 12 February 2021
“The honest assessment of history is the bedrock of revolutionary politics. Falsifications and slander, on the other hand, are the primary weapons of Stalinism.”
Historian Joseph Scalice to deliver public lecture on 50th anniversary of Plaza Miranda bombing
11 February 2021
The bombing marked a critical step toward the imposition of martial law in the Philippines by President Ferdinand Marcos in 1972 and remains one of the most controversial events in the country’s history.
Polish court convicts leading Holocaust historians
By Clara Weiss, 11 February 2021
The political trial of two internationally renowned Holocaust historians represents a new milestone in the assaults on historical truth and democratic rights by the Polish state and the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS).
What are the real lessons of the Diliman Commune?
By Joseph Scalice, 9 February 2021
The lessons of this key event in 1971 for students and workers in the Philippines today can only be drawn through a critical examination of the political forces involved, particularly the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines.
Security and the Fourth International
Sylvia Ageloff and the assassination of Leon Trotsky
Part one | Part two | Part three | Part four
By Eric London, 8 February 2021
New information makes it possible to replace the myth of “poor little Sylvia” with an accurate account of her role in the assassination of Trotsky on August 20, 1940.
This week in history: February 8-14
8 February 2021
25 years ago: IRA bombs London DocklandsOn February 9, 1996, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombed the London Docklands, killing two people and injuring over 100 others. In the incident also known as the South Quay bombing, the IRA had sent warnings prior to detonating the truck bomb, but the area was not completely evacuated.
Security and the Fourth International
Sylvia Ageloff and the assassination of Leon Trotsky
Part one | Part two | Part three | Part four
By Eric London, 7 February 2021
New information makes it possible to replace the myth of “poor little Sylvia” with an accurate account of her role in the assassination of Trotsky on August 20, 1940.
Security and the Fourth International
Sylvia Ageloff and the assassination of Leon Trotsky
Part one | Part two | Part three | Part four
By Eric London, 6 February 2021
On August 20, 1940, Leon Trotsky was assassinated by Stalinist agent Ramón Mercader in the Mexico City suburb of Coyoacán. Mercader’s access to the great revolutionary was made possible through his relationship with Sylvia Ageloff, who presented herself as an innocent victim of Mercader’s duplicity, a claim that was never challenged by the SWP. This series of articles constitutes the first systematic investigation by the Trotskyist movement of Ageloff’s role.
Security and the Fourth International
Sylvia Ageloff and the assassination of Leon Trotsky
Part one | Part two | Part three | Part four
By Eric London, 5 February 2021
On August 20, 1940, Leon Trotsky was assassinated by Stalinist agent Ramón Mercader in the Mexico City suburb of Coyoacán. Mercader’s access to the great revolutionary was made possible through his relationship with Sylvia Ageloff, who presented herself as an innocent victim of Mercader’s duplicity, a claim that was never challenged by the SWP. This series of articles constitutes the first systematic investigation by the Trotskyist movement of Ageloff’s role.
Radium Girls: In the 1920s as now, companies choose profits over workers’ lives
By Joanne Laurier, 4 February 2021
Set in New Jersey, Radium Girls is a historical docudrama dealing with female workers who suffered multiple life-threatening or lethal illnesses from hand-painting watch faces with radium.
This week in history: February 1-7
1 February 2021
25 years ago: Ex-Stalinists, neo-fascists back interim Italian premier On February 1, 1996, merchant banker and two-time former cabinet minister Antonio Maccanico was named as interim prime minister of Italy. He was the first would-be premier to receive the support of both the ex-Stalinist PDS (Party of the Democratic Left) and the neo-fascist National Alliance, an event that marked a further stage in the rightward evolution of the remnants of the Italian Communist Party.
Opposition mounts to San Francisco school board approval of racialist renaming of schools
By Renae Cassimeda, 31 January 2021
As educators across the US enter into struggle against the ruling class drive to reopen the schools, the renaming of schools based on the racialist falsification of history and attack on revolutionary figures such as Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln serves to divide the working class.
Court rules Spanish fascist regime did not commit crimes against humanity
By Alejandro López, 30 January 2021
The Constitutional Court ruling is a warning: If the crimes of Fascism are being rehabilitated, it is because sections of the ruling class are plotting a pre-emptive counter-revolution.
Cold War Exiles and the CIA: Plotting to Free Russia
The American state, the fascists and the Soviet Union’s ex-revolutionaries
By Andrea Peters, 27 January 2021
Author Benjamin Tromly explores the relationship between America’s post-war spy agencies and anti-communist Russian and Soviet émigrés dedicated to regime change in the USSR.
US baseball great Henry Aaron dies at age 86
By Alan Gilman, 26 January 2021
Legendary Major League Baseball player Hank Aaron battled racial bigotry to become baseball’s “home run king.”
This week in history: January 25-31
25 January 2021
25 years ago: Dozens killed in Colombo suicide bombing On January 31, 1996, a suicide truck bomb carrying 440 pounds of explosives blew up in the downtown center of Colombo, killing nearly 100 people. Many victims were severely burned, leaving relatives identifying bodies with great difficulty.
Ten years since the beginning of the Egyptian revolution
By Johannes Stern, 25 January 2021
The decisive lesson from the Egyptian revolution is that a revolutionary leadership in the working class must be built, in opposition to the pseudo left, prior to the eruption of mass struggles.
This week in history: January 18-24
18 January 2021
25 years ago: Arafat wins Palestinian voteOn January 20, 1996, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and his al-Fatah party won the election held among residents of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. The electoral triumph confirmed Arafat’s role as the chief enforcer of Israeli dictates in the territories occupied by Israel since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Arafat won 88 percent of the vote for president of the Palestinian Council while his nominees took more than half the seats on the legislative body.
This week in history: January 11-17
11 January 2021
25 years ago: Hashimoto replaces Murayama as Japan’s prime ministerOn January 11, 1996, Ryutaro Hashimoto, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), became prime minister of Japan. He succeeded Tomiichi Murayama after the latter’s sudden resignation on January 5 opened a new stage in the breakup of the postwar political system in Japan.
This week in history: January 4-10
4 January 2021
25 years ago: First atoms of antimatter created On January 4, 1996, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) announced that a team of German and Italian scientists created the first complete atoms of antimatter, in an experiment carried out the previous September.
Reject the racialist renaming of San Francisco public schools!
By Renae Cassimeda, 4 January 2021
The WSWS calls on workers and youth within SFUSD and beyond to fight against the racialist attacks against Lincoln, Jefferson, Madison and Washington in defense of historical truth and democratic rights.
Racialist campaign in Boston culminates in removal of statue of Lincoln and emancipated slave
By Jacob Crosse, 31 December 2020
This political atrocity is part of an ongoing racialist campaign spearheaded by the Democratic Party to promote divisions in the working class and deny the revolutionary history of the United States.
This week in history: December 28-January 3
29 December 2020
25 years ago: AT&T announces massive cuts, leading corporate assault on jobsOn January 2, 1996, AT&T announced it would slash over 40,000 jobs, bringing the new year in the same way the previous one ended, with major corporations posting record profits while destroying jobs on a massive scale.
Jacobin glorifies Dolores Ibárruri, Stalinist executioner of the Spanish Revolution
Part two
By Barry Grey, 24 December 2020
The glorification of Ibárruri by Jacobin and the DSA is by no means an aberration. It is part of a calculated promotion of Stalinism and the American Communist Party as models for radicalizing workers and youth today.
Jacobin glorifies Dolores Ibárruri, Stalinist executioner of the Spanish Revolution
Part one
By Barry Grey, 23 December 2020
The Stalinist suppression of the Barcelona working class and ensuing blood purge broke the back of the revolution and ensured the victory of Franco’s fascist forces. Ramon Mercader, the GPU operative who murdered Leon Trotsky in Mexico in August of 1940, cut his teeth as a Stalinist killer during the mass repression in Spain. None of this is even mentioned in the Jacobin article.
The Johns Hopkins slavery “scandal”
By Dominic Gustavo, 23 December 2020
The feigned outrage over “revelations” that Hopkins owned slaves serves to obscure the class issues that are the real irrepressible conflict in American society.
This week in history: December 21-27
21 December 2020
25 years ago: Hundreds killed in Dabwali fire On December 23, 1995, some 540 people were killed and a further 160 injured in a fire which broke out in the town of Mandi Dabwali, about 180 miles northwest of New Delhi, the capital of India.
Rafer Johnson, once the “World’s Greatest Athlete,” dies at age 86
By Alan Gilman, 17 December 2020
The US gold medal winner of the decathlon at the 1960 Olympics, Rafer Johnson, was the first African American athlete to achieve world prominence during the period of the Cold War and civil rights movement.
This week in history: December 14-20
14 December 2020
On December 14, 1970, Polish workers in the port city of Gdansk walked off the job protesting the announcement by the Stalinist government, led by Władysław Gomułka, that there would be a major increase in food and fuel prices.
This week in history: December 7-13
7 December 2020
25 years ago: Galileo spacecraft reaches Jupiter On December 7, 1995, the spacecraft Galileo reached Jupiter in a stable orbit around the giant plane, demonstrating the extraordinary capabilities of science and technology.
Author of Ten Days That Shook the World
100 years since US socialist journalist John Reed’s death
By Sandy English and James Macdonald, 3 December 2020
John Reed’s life became devoted to documenting the struggles of the oppressed. His greatest work was Ten Days That Shook the World, an indelible, eyewitness account of the 1917 Russian Revolution.
Engels in the meat grinder
Germany’s Left Party slanders the legacy of Friedrich Engels
By Peter Schwarz, 2 December 2020
The attempt to cut this theoretical giant down to the size of the political needs of the Left Party assumed truly grotesque dimensions.
This week in history: November 30-December 6
30 November 2020
75 years ago: General Douglas MacArthur, the effective leader of US-occupied Japan, ordered the arrest of former Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe and eight of the country’s other civilian and military leaders for war crimes, setting the stage for criminal prosecutions.
200 years since the birth of Friedrich Engels
By Peter Schwarz, 28 November 2020
Born on Nov. 28, 1820, Engels was the co-founder of scientific socialism with his friend Karl Marx, who was two-and-a-half years his senior. Two hundred years later, their life’s work is of burning contemporary relevance.
Further statements from Australia in defence of Dr. Scalice against the slanders of the CPP
By our reporters, 25 November 2020
“Presenting the truth, especially in history, is a dangerous activity because it exposes class interests, interests which the ruling class, and its supporters, will defend with all measures.”
This week in history: November 23-29
23 November 2020
On November 29, 1945, the Federal People’s Republic of Yugoslavia was proclaimed following the successful repulsion of Nazi Germany’s attempt to subjugate the country, and Germany’s defeat in World War II in May. The establishment of the republic involved the deposing of King Peter II and the end of the Karađorđević dynasty that he headed. It was the outcome of a mass partisan struggle against fascism.
The Endless Trench: Hiding for decades from the Spanish fascists
By David Walsh, 20 November 2020
The film fictionally treats an actual phenomenon, the dozens or more of left-wing opponents of Franco, known as “moles,” who concealed themselves in their own homes for 30 years following the defeat of the Republican forces in 1939.
25 years since the massive strike wave in France
French workers in revolt
By David Walsh, 18 November 2020
In December 1995, David Walsh traveled to Europe as part of an international team of reporters to provide on-the-spot coverage of the massive strike wave in France. We are re-posting the series of articles today.
Labour Party reinstates Jeremy Corbyn after suspension over antisemitism comments
The anti-Semitism witch-hunt and the failure of Corbynism
By Chris Marsden, 18 November 2020
This speech was delivered by Socialist Equality Party National Secretary Chris Marsden to a public meeting titled, “The Blairites’ anti-Semitism witch-hunt and the failure of Corbynism,” held on November 15, 2020.
This week in history: November 16-22
16 November 2020
25 years ago: Peres succeeds Rabin as Israeli prime ministerOn November 22, 1995, Shimon Peres officially succeeded Yitzhak Rabin as Israeli prime minister, 18 days after Rabin was assassinated by a religious Zionist fanatic. Peres’s major political moves upon taking office—an appeal for new peace talks with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and the appointment of several new cabinet ministers—demonstrated an acute awareness of the depth and explosive potential of the social and political crisis of the Zionist state.
Forty-five years since the Canberra Coup
By James Cogan, 11 November 2020
The WSWS is republishing our article posted 40 years after the November 11, 1975 removal of the Whitlam Labor government by the Governor-General John Kerr in what became known as the “Canberra Coup.”
Lincoln, the Dakota 38 and the racialist falsification of history
By Renae Cassimeda, 9 November 2020
The WSWS condemns the destruction of the monument to Abraham Lincoln in Portland, Oregon last month and rejects the false narrative put forward by the petty bourgeois promoters of identity politics used to vilify him.
This week in history: November 9-15
9 November 2020
25 years ago: Nigerian junta hangs nine oppositionists On November 10, 1995, nine members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) were executed by the Nigerian military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha.
More statements from Australian workers defending Dr. Scalice against Philippine Stalinist slanders
By our reporters, 7 November 2020
“I know a hatchet job when I see one!! As an older worker I have seen, in my time, the same type of double talk, lies and slanders of Stalinists, like Sison here in Australia.”
WSWS publishes Hindi translation of lecture by Dr. Joseph Scalice exposing Philippine Maoism
2 November 2020
The publication of Dr. Scalice’s lecture in Hindi has brought important historical lessons about the role of Stalinism/Maoism in Philippines to Hindi speaking workers, youths and intellectuals living mainly in India and also among the widespread Indian diaspora throughout the world.
Chinese Communist Party meets amid rising social and geo-political tensions
By Peter Symonds, 2 November 2020
The CCP plenum was held on the eve of the US election in which both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have signalled a ramping up of Washington’s confrontation with Beijing.
The role of the World Socialist Web Site in educating a new generation of revolutionaries
By Genevieve Leigh, 2 November 2020
Young people looking for answers to all of the pressing questions of today are coming to find that there is no greater resource than the WSWS.
This week in history: November 2-8
2 November 2020
25 years ago: Israeli prime minister assassinated On November 4, 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right-wing Jewish fanatic, revealing the depths of the social and political crisis of the Zionist state.
The World Socialist Web Site’s exposure of the 1619 Project and the defense of historical truth
By Niles Niemuth, 2 November 2020
The most powerful weapon the working class has is the knowledge of the historical experiences through which it has passed, in order to know what it has won, what it must defend today and how it must fight to achieve socialism in the future.
“What is Left of American Democracy on the Eve of the 2020 Elections?”
David North and Adolph Reed discuss US political crisis at online forum
30 October 2020
North and Reed discussed and debated their views on the unfolding political crisis in the United States and the way forward for the working class, and responded to audience questions at the forum hosted by the San Diego State University.
Introductory remarks to “What is Left of American Democracy on the Eve of the 2020 Election?”
By David North, 30 October 2020
These remarks were delivered October 28 to an online forum sponsored by the San Diego State University Department of Political Science.
The World Socialist Web Site, the fight against imperialism and for socialism in the Middle East
By Ulaş Ateşçi, 29 October 2020
The remarks below were delivered by Ulaş Ateşçi, a leading member of Sosyalist Eşitlik Grubu in Turkey.
The World Socialist Web Site and the defense of historical truth
By Joseph Scalice, 29 October 2020
The remarks below were given by historian Joseph Scalice.
Online forum with David North and Professor Adolph Reed
What is Left of American Democracy on the Eve of the 2020 Elections?
28 October 2020
The event, hosted by San Diego State University’s Department of Political Science, is taking place Wednesday, October 28 at 7:00 pm Eastern, 4:00 pm Pacific.
Brazilian Morenoites support pro-military parties in mayoral elections
By Miguel Andrade, 27 October 2020
The approaching mayoral elections are exposing all the political forces that claimed a vote for the Workers Party against Bolsonaro in 2018 would advance an “anti-fascist” struggle
This week in history: October 26-November 1
26 October 2020
25 years ago: US orchestrates carve-up of Bosnia in Dayton talks On October 31, 1995, talks on the future of Bosnia with the Clinton administration and the presidents of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina began at the Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Dayton, Ohio. The purpose of the negotiations was to assert American imperialist domination in the Balkans at the expense of its European competitors.
The relaunch of the World Socialist Web Site and the future of socialism
By David North, 26 October 2020
The relaunch of the WSWS and the growth of its influence reflect a process of mass political radicalization under conditions of the greatest crisis since the 1930s.
Russian court extends prison sentence for historian of Stalinist terror to 13 years
By Clara Weiss, 24 October 2020
The brutal vendetta against Dmitriev speaks to the enormous fear of the Russian oligarchy about the growing interest in the historical truth about the October revolution and the Stalinist terror in broad sections of the population.
Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7: An important historical episode
By Joanne Laurier and David Walsh, 24 October 2020
The film deals with the court proceedings in 1969–70 in which organizers of protests at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago faced charges of conspiracy and crossing state lines with the intent to incite a riot.
50 years since Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invoked the War Measures Act
By Keith Jones, 23 October 2020
During the October Crisis, the Canadian state, led by Trudeau, exploited two terrorist kidnappings to carry out a coup de force, jailing and intimidating left-wing government opponents amid a growing working class upsurge.
It is all just a metaphor: The New York Times attempts yet another desperate defense of its discredited 1619 Project
By Tom Mackaman and David North, 23 October 2020
In spite of Times editor Jake Silverstein’s deletion of the “true founding” claim and his other word changes, the Times’ essential position remains the same: The American Revolution was a retrograde event in which the defense of slavery was the primary motivation.
Statements from Canada, India and Sri Lanka in support of Dr. Scalice
By our reporters, 22 October 2020
“Dr. Scalice has thoroughly exposed the politically criminal role played by the Stalinist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in paving the way for the anti-working class dictatorial regimes of Marcos and Duterte.”
This week in history: October 19–25
19 October 2020
25 years ago: Mass protest in Okinawa against US military On Oct. 21, 1995, an estimated 85,000 residents of Okinawa demonstrated to demand reduction in the US military presence in Japan. The rally was sparked by outrage over the rape of a 12-year-old school girl by US soldiers, fanned by Japanese nationalist politicians, including the island’s Governor Masahide Ota.
Student council at Leipzig University opposes invitation to German right-wing extremist professor Jörg Baberowski
By Noah Windstein, 17 October 2020
It is particularly cynical for Baberowski to speak on the issue of peace in light of his trivialisation of the Holocaust and the arson attacks by neo-Nazis on refugee centres.
“Dr. Scalice requires the support of all people who value historical truth”
Statements of support for Dr. Scalice continue to come in from Australia and Sri Lanka
By our reporters, 17 October 2020
“Scalice’s lecture provided a powerful exposure of the catastrophic consequences bequeathed to the international working class by Stalinism and its extension Maoism.”
Stalinist apologetics and intellectual charlatanry: A response to Teo Marasigan
By Joseph Scalice, 16 October 2020
The WSWS is posting Dr. Joseph Scalice’s reply to Teo Marasigan, an apologist for the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines and its founder Jose Maria Sison. Sison has slandered Scalice as a CIA agent in response to his lecture detailing the CPP’s support for the fascistic Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and explaining its roots in the reactionary politics of Stalinism.
Factional warfare erupts in New York Times over the 1619 Project
By Tom Mackaman and David North, 15 October 2020
Following the publication of a highly critical essay by a New York Times columnist, the public statements issued by the publisher and leading editors reflect tensions provoked by the exposure of the 1619 Project’s falsification of history.
Tesla: The cognizable, knowable scientist and visionary
By Joanne Laurier, 15 October 2020
Written and directed by Michael Almereyda, Tesla is a drama about the life of Serbian-American engineer and physicist Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), a remarkable figure. Ethan Hawke plays Tesla.
One year after anti-Semitic terrorist attack in Halle
Right-wing extremist networks in German state apparatus continue to grow
By Jan Ritter, 14 October 2020
Recent days have seen several new instances of right-wing extremists within the German state apparatus come to light.
Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies at UC Berkeley defends historian Joseph Scalice
14 October 2020
“We write to affirm the intellectual excellence and high character of our former Ph.D. student and Lecturer Joseph Scalice, and to denounce recent baseless accusations against him.”
This week in history: October 12-18
12 October 2020
25 years ago: Million Man March in Washington, DCOn October 16, 1995, hundreds of thousands of people turned out on the National Mall in Washington, DC for the Million Man March, called by Louis Farrakhan of the Nation of Islam.
Dr. Joseph Scalice discusses the significance of the fight against Stalinism with the members of Sri Lankan SEP
By Our correspondents, 12 October 2020
Scalice’s guest lecture to members of Sri Lankan SEP is important for their struggle to build the Trotskyist movement in South Asia and fight against Stalinist betrayals.
Thirty years of German unity: Berlin increases military spending, incites nationalism and war
By Johannes Stern, 10 October 2020
The defence minister made no secret of the fact that Germany is arming itself with the deadliest weapons in order to wage war around the world in defence of its economic and geostrategic interest—increasingly against its erstwhile allies.
Stephen F. Cohen, biographer of Nikolai Bukharin, dead at 81
By Clara Weiss, 10 October 2020
Cohen’s academic and political biography was bound up with his 1973 biography of Nikolai Bukharin, the first comprehensive English biography of the leading Bolshevik.
CPP founder Sison recycles anti-Trotskyist lies of Ho Chi Minh
By Peter Symonds, 8 October 2020
Sison is making absolutely clear that the political line and perspective of the Communist Party of the Philippines derives not from Marxism but its falsifiers—Stalin, Mao Zedong and their followers.
An interview from 2016 with Victoria Bynum, historian and author of The Free State of Jones
By David Walsh and Joanne Laurier, 5 October 2020
We are reposting today an interview we conducted with Victoria Bynum in July 2016 at the time of the release of Free State of Jones, which is now available again on Netflix.
This week in history: October 5-11
5 October 2020
On October 10, 1995, workers in France went on a national general strike. The walkout brought nearly all the public sector to a standstill, exacerbating the political crisis of the government of President Jacques Chirac less than six months after taking office.
30 years of German unity
By Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei, 3 October 2020
As German political leaders commemorate the dissolution of East Germany and its incorporation by West Germany 30 years ago, the earlier promises of freedom, democracy, and prosperity are being refuted daily by reality.
Washington D.C. proposes to remove the names of Jefferson, Franklin and others from public places
By Dominic Gustavo, 28 September 2020
While the mayor of the US capital prepares to delete the names of revolutionaries and abolitionists, she recently renamed a building after disgraced former mayor Marion Barry.
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.
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.”
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.
The New York Times and Nikole Hannah-Jones abandon key claims of the 1619 Project
By Tom Mackaman and David North, 22 September 2020
The Times has abandoned, without any public announcement or explanation, the central thesis that 1619, not 1776, was the “true founding” of the United States.
This week in history: September 21-27
21 September 2020
25 years ago: Former Italian Prime Minister Andreotti goes on trial On September 26, 1995, seven-time Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti went on trial in Palermo, facing charges of serving as a longtime front man for the Sicilian Mafia. More than 500 witnesses were expected to be called on in the nationally televised trial, the culmination of the series of scandal investigations which destroyed the postwar Italian party system.
Book Review
Wilmington’s Lie: The 1898 white supremacist coup in North Carolina
David Zucchino, Atlantic Monthly Press, 336 pages
By Fred Mazelis, 17 September 2020
The racist massacre in Wilmington was a major turning point in the entrenchment of Jim Crow segregation throughout the South.
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.
Trotsky’s Last Year
Part Six
By David North, 8 September 2020
An appraisal, on the occasion of the eightieth anniversary of Trotsky’s assassination, of the work of the great theoretician and strategist of World Socialist Revolution during the final year of his life.
The Silence of Others: The victims of Spanish fascism then and now
By Alejandro Lopez and Kevin Martinez, 7 September 2020
Timely and moving, the Spanish documentary details the efforts of activists and torture survivors to prosecute Francoite officials for crimes against humanity.
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.
Follow the WSWS