The Politics of the Pseudo-Left
New Anti-capitalist Party demands military escalation against Turkey in Syria
By Alex Lantier, 12 October 2019
The Pabloite NPA bitterly opposes a struggle to unify the working class internationally in a movement against imperialist war and the Middle Eastern bourgeoisie.
Seattle Democrats endorse Socialist Alternative’s Kshama Sawant
By Julio Patron, 12 October 2019
As the working class moves to the left, Kshama Sawant and Socialist Alternative are even more fully integrating themselves into the Democratic Party.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's “just society”: Palliatives that will never be implemented
By Genevieve Leigh, 11 October 2019
Most of the proposals involve tweaks and adjustments to existing laws, with little new funding to address social needs.
Bernie Sanders halts campaign activities over health crisis
By Patrick Martin, 4 October 2019
The candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination was hospitalized Wednesday in Las Vegas, Nevada and received two stents in an artery.
After the Turkish elections: How the pseudo-left rallied behind the CHP
Part III: The role of the Revolutionary Workers Party (DİP)
By Ulas Atesci and Alex Lantier, 4 October 2019
The 2019 municipal elections and re-run of the vote in İstanbul were a milestone in the integration of a whole layer of middle-class parties into the ruling establishment.
After the Turkish elections: How the pseudo-left rallied behind the CHP
Part II: The dead end of the petty-bourgeoisie’s orientation to the CHP
By Ulas Atesci and Alex Lantier, 3 October 2019
The 2019 municipal elections and their re-run in İstanbul were a milestone in the integration of a whole layer of middle-class parties into the ruling establishment.
After the Turkish elections: How the pseudo-left rallied behind the CHP
Part I: A political liquidation into the capitalist establishment
By Ulas Atesci and Alex Lantier, 2 October 2019
The 2019 municipal elections and re-run of the vote in İstanbul were a milestone in the integration of a whole layer of middle-class parties into the ruling establishment.
In photo op at GM picket line, Sanders promotes nationalism, covers for Democrats and UAW
By Tom Hall, 26 September 2019
Bernie Sanders put in a brief media appearance on the picket line at GM’s Detroit-Hamtramck Assembly Plant Wednesday morning.
Labor Notes, DSA line up with UAW bureaucrats against GM strikers
By Shannon Jones and Barry Grey, 23 September 2019
In the face of the UAW’s strategy of isolating and betraying the powerful strike by US General Motors workers, middle-class “left” groups like Labor Notes and the Democratic Socialists of America are working to keep strikers chained to the union apparatus.
21 September 2019
Canada’s pseudo-left Fightback group covers for Steelworkers’ betrayal of ABI workers
By Félix Gauthier and Richard Dufour, 14 September 2019
Fightback’s miserable apologetics for the union bureaucracy goes hand in hand with its promotion of Quebec nationalism.
The Legacy of Syriza: Four years of austerity, privatizations, militarism and attacks on refugees—Part 3
By Katerina Selin, 13 September 2019
The intention of this series of articles is to depict what the four years of Syriza’s government policy meant concretely for workers, youth and retirees in Greece.
Democratic Socialists of America launches nationwide campaign for Bernie Sanders
By Genevieve Leigh, 12 September 2019
The DSA is a faction of the Democratic Party, which is backing the Sanders campaign as it seeks to divert opposition among workers and youth into safe channels.
The legacy of Syriza: Four years of austerity, privatizations, militarism and attacks on refugees—Part 2
By Katerina Selin, 12 September 2019
The Syriza government did not choose its coalition partner Anel despite, but rather because of, its reactionary nationalism, aggressive militarism and xenophobia.
The legacy of Syriza: Four years of austerity, privatizations, militarism and attacks on refugees—Part 1
By Katerina Selin, 11 September 2019
The intention of this series of articles is to explain what four years of Syriza’s government has meant concretely for workers, youth and retirees in Greece.
UAW apologists try to cover up corruption scandal
By Jerry White, 10 September 2019
Organizations and publications in and around the UAW apparatus have responded to the expanding corruption scandal by trying to buttress its political stranglehold over autoworkers.
215 DSA Sanders campaign
7 September 2019
035 Seattle teachers and social equity
3 September 2019
The New York Times’ 1619 Project: A racialist falsification of American and world history
By Niles Niemuth, Tom Mackaman and David North, 3 September 2019
PART ONE | PART TWO | COMBINED
The 1619 Project, launched by the New York Times, presents racism and racial conflict as the essential feature and driving force of American history.
The Democratic Socialists of America Convention: A marketing gimmick for the Democratic Party
By Joseph Kishore, 30 August 2019
The main resolutions adopted at the convention centered on the DSA’s political support for the Democratic Party and its dedication to bolstering the anti-working-class trade unions.
Whitney Biennial 2019: What this year’s “snapshot” of contemporary art reveals
By Clare Hurley, 26 August 2019
It would seem that artists have not responded profoundly, either directly or indirectly, to the social and political crisis that has increasingly gripped the US, particularly since the 2016 Trump election.
Blairites and Zionists escalate witch-hunt of Labour MP Chris Williamson
By Robert Stevens, 20 August 2019
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has refused to issue a single public word in defence of his former shadow cabinet minister.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon hails Mexican government as embodiment of “citizens’ revolution”
By Will Morrow, 20 August 2019
Mélenchon’s hailing of the AMLO government speaks volumes about what type of government he would lead, were he to win the presidential elections in 2022.
Facial recognition technology and identity politics
By Kevin Reed, 17 August 2019
The Democrats are seeking to channel mass opposition to the wholesale invasion of privacy into a campaign to regulate and “equalize” facial recognition technology.
DSA candidate concedes Queens District Attorney race
By Josh Varlin, 15 August 2019
Despite the rhetoric of Democratic Socialists of America member Tiffany Cabán, the Queens election was a conflict between two factions of the right-wing Democratic Party.
220 San Francisco mural leaflet
14 August 2019
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Wall Street financial vultures: Please be nice to Puerto Rico
By Genevieve Leigh, 10 August 2019
Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has intervened to attempt to contain growing social unrest and anger.
Book Review: Red State Revolt – Part II
The Democratic Socialists of America shows its hostility to socialism
By Nancy Hanover, 10 August 2019
Part II of the review of a new book by Eric Blanc of the DSA. See Part I
Book Review: Red State Revolt – Part I
The DSA’s dishonest and self-serving account of the US teachers’ strikes
By Nancy Hanover, 8 August 2019
A new book by Democratic Socialists of America member Eric Blanc reviewing the role of the DSA during the teacher strikes in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona aims to boost the credibility of the unions and the Democratic Party.
Bowing to House Democratic leadership, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez purges staff
By Genevieve Leigh, 7 August 2019
The purge came after staff members criticized Democratic Party leaders over the passage of a bill funding Trump’s war on immigrants.
Leading Pabloite Gilbert Achcar provided counter-insurgency advice to British Army
By Thomas Scripps, 6 August 2019
The pseudo-left groups are enlisting in the service of the military and security apparatus, providing their academic expertise on the nations of Africa and the Middle East targeted by imperialism.
As Mexican economy stagnates, ruling Morena party imposes state law to suppress social protests
By Don Knowland, 6 August 2019
The government of Mexican President Lopez Obrador is increasingly turning to authoritarian measures.
Spanish petty-bourgeois groups call on Podemos to install social-democratic government
By Alejandro López, 6 August 2019
Their call to back the PSOE from outside government is a cynical ploy to avoid taking responsibility for the right-wing policies of the PSOE regime they are supporting.
210 SF murals
6 August 2019
One year after its conference to “refound” the Fourth International
Argentina’s Partido Obrero splits with longtime leader Jorge Altamira
By Bill Van Auken, 5 August 2019
Amidst all of the charges and counter-charges within the PO, what emerges most clearly is that both factions base themselves entirely upon a petty-bourgeois nationalist orientation.
Berlin’s Jewish Museum director Peter Schäfer forced to resign
By Verena Nees, 2 August 2019
The campaign against alleged “left” anti-Semitism and the BDS boycott movement serves to suppress leftist movements and fuel genuine anti-Semitism.
French populist Mélenchon gives advice to AMLO in Mexico amid growing social unrest
By Andrea Lobo, 2 August 2019
While supporting his right-wing policies and crackdown on immigrants, Mélenchon advised AMLO on creating new nationalist traps to divert the movement of the working class.
The Democratic Party politics of the “Democratic Socialists of America”
By Joseph Kishore, 2 August 2019
Under conditions of a growing political radicalization of workers and youth, the DSA serves as a principal block to the development of a genuine socialist movement.
A reply to Die Zeit editor Jochen Bittner
By Johannes Stern, 1 August 2019
The following is a reply by WSWS editor Johannes Stern to a letter from Jochen Bittner, a New York Times contributor and the political editor of Die Zeit.
1 August 2019
220 Facial recognition and identity politics
31 July 2019
Social democrats fail to win Podemos support to form Spanish government
By Alejandro López and Alex Lantier, 29 July 2019
Podemos took a calculated decision not to enter government with the PSOE, fearing rising opposition on its left in the working class in Spain and internationally.
Podemos, Catalan nationalists cover up role of intelligence in Barcelona attack
By Alejandro López, 22 July 2019
The reactionary forces promoted in the bourgeois media as the “left” in Spain are downplaying or ignoring Spanish intelligence’s complicity in the 2017 attacks.
A blow to the #MeToo sexual witch-hunt: The ignominious collapse of the case against actor Kevin Spacey
By David Walsh, 19 July 2019
Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O’Keefe in Massachusetts announced Wednesday that his office was dropping its sexual assault case against Spacey.
Socialism 2019: The ex-International Socialist Organization embraces the Democratic Party
By Alexander Fangmann, 19 July 2019
Amid Trump’s threats of war, unprecedented assaults on immigrants and attacks on democratic rights, Jacobin and the ex-leaders of the ISO hosted an event promoting the Democratic Party and American imperialism.
Syriza’s election defeat: A balance sheet of a political betrayal
By Alex Lantier, 9 July 2019
Hailed as a “radical” alternative to capitalism by the middle-class left, the Syriza-led government of Alexis Tsipras spent four years carrying out austerity measures on behalf of the EU.
Syriza poised to hand over power to New Democracy in Greece’s July 7 elections
By Alex Lantier, 6 July 2019
Syriza called early elections to hand power to fascistic, right-wing forces amid growing opposition among workers to its reactionary policies.
"Socialism 2019" conference: A Democratic Party operation
By Alexander Fangmann, 4 July 2019
The featured speakers and panels at the Socialism Conference reveal an event devoted to channeling the leftward movement of workers and youth back into the confines of the Democratic Party.
DSA-endorsed “progressive” wins Democratic primary for Queens District Attorney
By Isaac Finn, 29 June 2019
Cabán had the backing of Representative Ocasio-Cortez, presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, and the New York Times, voice of the Democratic Party establishment.
Artists, writers, film scholars protest Bowling Green State University decision to remove Lillian Gish’s name
By David Walsh, 25 June 2019
More than 50 filmmakers, actors, writers, academics and film scholars have signed a petition urging Bowling Green State University in Ohio to restore the names of famed actresses Lillian and Dorothy Gish to its film theater.
Leaders of dissolved International Socialist Organization openly embrace Democratic Party politics
By David Walsh, 24 June 2019
The demise of the ISO has permitted leading figures and the membership generally to integrate themselves more firmly and decisively into the bourgeois political set-up.
025 AOC attacked for commment on "concentration camps"
21 June 2019
London: Julian Assange Defence Committee lobbies Jeremy Corbyn’s Constituency Labour Party
“This is not a time for fence-sitting”
By our reporters, 21 June 2019
The Julian Assange Defence Committee urged rank-and-file Labour Party members in leader Jeremy Corbyn’s constituency to oppose US extradition proceedings against WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange.
Video shows neo-Nazis attacking woman at Detroit Pride festival while police look on
By Muhammad Khan, 20 June 2019
The fascistic attackers openly carried firearms, which is legal under Michigan’s open carry laws, and threatened festival-goers and pedestrians with violence while police looked on.
Bernie Sanders and the myth of Franklin Roosevelt
By Tom Hall, 18 June 2019
Sanders’ speech last week at George Washington University exposed his effort to combine populist and “socialist” rhetoric with a defense of American capitalism and the Democratic Party.
Cuba conference tailors Trotsky to the politics of bourgeois nationalism
By Bill Van Auken, 13 June 2019
A collection of pseudo-lefts and Pabloite revisionists was invited to Havana to suppress the revolutionary content of Trotskyism.
Six months of AMLO: Jacobin defends the Mexican president
By Alex González, 8 June 2019
Jacobin claims that Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s “progressive agenda” is being restrained by opposition parties and finance capital.
230 Jacobin and Amlo
7 June 2019
Bernie Sanders answers attacks on socialism with defense of capitalist “democracy”
By Tom Hall, 6 June 2019
In response to attacks on socialism from within the Democratic Party as well as by Trump and the Republicans, Bernie Sanders has published a cowardly op-ed piece in the New York Times that omits the “S” word and makes clear he was no intention of challenging the profit system or the property of the ruling class.
Workers Party theorist pens diatribe against Brazilian “white trash”
By Miguel Andrade, 5 June 2019
The use of this reactionary term to describe poor whites exposes the anti-working class character of the PT.
230 Jacobin and AMLO
5 June 2019
Germany: Left Party suffers massive vote loss in European elections
By Gregor Link, 1 June 2019
The Left Party is rightly perceived, not as an opposition to the reactionary policies of the German government, but as part of them.
Jacobin editor Bhaskar Sunkara makes a fool of himself
By Joseph Kishore, 31 May 2019
Anyone under the impression that Bhaskar Sunkara, Jacobin or the Democratic Socialists of America have anything to do with socialism should listen to an interview with Sunkara published by the New York Times on Thursday.
Why is the Democratic Socialists of America silent on the persecution of Julian Assange?
By Andre Damon, 29 May 2019
The DSA and its affiliated publication Jacobin have maintained a complicit silence on Assange’s indictment under the Espionage Act.
Financial Times hails four years of Syriza rule in Greece
By John Vassilopoulos, 25 May 2019
To be favourably featured in a leading mouthpiece of the global financial aristocracy is testament to the high regard in which Alexis Tsipras is held in ruling circles.
Knock Down the House and the Democratic Party politics of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
By Genevieve Leigh, 25 May 2019
Knock Down the House reviews the election campaigns of several Democratic Party primary candidates in the 2018 congressional elections, focused on Ocasio-Cortez in New York City.
The bankruptcy of Lutte ouvrière’s European election campaign
By Alex Lantier, 25 May 2019
Despite growing social anger over the period since the 2002 elections, when it won 10 percent of the vote, the so-called “far left” expects to get only 1 percent.
“Identity politics has created a prison of the mind…while Julian rots in one which is far more real”
Oxford University student calls for defence of Julian Assange
24 May 2019
The following letter was received from a student at Oxford University who attended the May 12 public meeting in London convened by the SEP, in defence of jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
Washington revives Syria chemical weapons propaganda as pretext for war
By Bill Van Auken, 23 May 2019
The threat of a new US attack on Syria follows a report exposing the last chemical weapons incident attributed to the Syrian government as a staged provocation.
Spain: No “red lines” in talks for a Socialist Party-Podemos coalition government
By Alejandro López, 11 May 2019
Iglesias stressed that during their parliamentary collaboration, both parties were able “to build a relationship of trust” and dealt with each other “with frankness and empathy.”
German Young Socialist leader unleashes storm of debate about socialism
By Peter Schwarz, 11 May 2019
Kühnert, an unscrupulous careerist, can only pose as a socialist because he relies on the inexperience and lack of knowledge of today’s young generation.
The nationalist “socialism” of Bernie Sanders
By Patrick Martin, 6 May 2019
Sanders presents Chinese workers, the largest single contingent of the international working class, as the enemy of American workers.
After Spanish elections, Podemos pushes for pro-austerity PSOE government
By Alejandro Lopez and Alex Lantier, 3 May 2019
Even as the PSOE’s police-state and austerity policies fuel the far right’s rise, Podemos is asking to join a PSOE government and defending it from criticism on its left.
Victorian Socialists’ fake left election campaign
By Patrick O'Connor, 2 May 2019
The Australian pseudo-left groups are seeking to channel the left-wing shift among workers and young people behind the parliamentary set-up.
“Socialism Event” in Germany: Pro-capitalist politics in a pseudo-left garb
By Johannes Stern, 30 April 2019
The pseudo-left tendencies within and around the Left Party are reacting to the growth of the international class struggle with a sharp turn to the right.
Assembly by Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri: A compendium of pseudo-left and anti-Marxist politics
By Emanuele Saccarelli, 22 April 2019
Assembly is saturated with reactionary postmodern conceptions, recycles worn-out anarchist recipes as innovative and progressive experiments and endorses virtually every political dead end of the recent and not-so-recent past.
Britain’s Socialist Workers Party renews “rape allegations” witch-hunt of Julian Assange
By Chris Marsden, 18 April 2019
The SWP have joined in the efforts to railroad Assange and blacken his name, justifying a course of action that would end with the WikiLeaks editor facing a show trial in the US.
An assembly of political bankrupts: Historical Materialism and Jacobin host “Socialism in Our Time” conference
By Joseph Kishore, 16 April 2019
A more accurate title for the event would have been, “Democratic Party Politics in Our Time,” or, perhaps, “Socialism not now, not ever.”
Bernie Sanders silent on Assange, vocal in promoting nationalism at Michigan rally
By Tom Hall, 15 April 2019
Sanders’ silence on Assange signals his support for the persecution of the former WikiLeaks editor.
Who funded the ISO? An analysis of the financial basis of pseudo-left politics
By Eric London, 15 April 2019
The now defunct International Socialist Organization was funded by government-linked think tanks, wealthy Democrats and right-wing conservative groups.
At Detroit panel discussion
DSA Democrat Rashida Tlaib opposes fight against GM plant shutdowns
By Shannon Jones, 4 April 2019
Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib spoke at a panel discussion Saturday at Wayne State University in Detroit, touting the Green New Deal while rejecting any fight to defend the jobs of GM workers facing layoff.
3 April 2019
Podemos could lose half its seats in Spain’s general election
By Alejandro López and Paul Mitchell, 2 April 2019
A major reason the party’s loss of support is mass abstention, particularly among the youth, who no longer identify Podemos as a radical alternative.
Factional provocation, middle-class hysteria, and the collapse of the International Socialist Organization
By the Political Committee of the Socialist Equality Party (US), 2 April 2019
Factionally motivated denunciations of an alleged cover-up of sexual assault in 2013 were revived to instigate a leadership purge and liquidate the ISO.
“Progressive” Philadelphia District Attorney exposed by appeal of Mumia Abu-Jamal ruling
By Fred Mazelis, 29 March 2019
Larry Krasner, one of the Democrats recently hailed by the pseudo-left, has demonstrated the role of the Democratic Party and those fraudulent “socialists” who support it.
Chicago mayoral run-off: The cost-cutter or the cop?
By Kristina Betinis, 29 March 2019
Two Democratic candidates, Toni Preckwinkle and Lori Lightfoot, are locked in a bitter fight for the mayor’s office.
Democrats abstain from voting on their own “Green New Deal”
By Genevieve Leigh, 28 March 2019
Despite the policy’s co-sponsorship by 100 Democrats, including 11 senators, not a single Democrat backed the Green New Deal in Tuesday’s Senate vote.
In defense of To Kill a Mockingbird: The 1962 film about racism in theaters this week
By Joanne Laurier and David Walsh, 28 March 2019
Fathom Events, TCM and Universal Pictures are screening To Kill a Mockingbird in select cinemas this week. The Robert Mulligan movie is based on Harper Lee’s 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same title.
Democratic Socialists of America endorses Bernie Sanders presidential bid
By Genevieve Leigh, 23 March 2019
The predictable decision by the DSA, a faction of the Democratic Party, to back Sanders in the 2020 election was made official at Thursday’s meeting of the National Political Committee.
The guilty silence over the jailing of Chelsea Manning
By Andre Damon, 18 March 2019
The jailing of Chelsea Manning has been met with silence in the establishment media, the “liberal” press, the “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party, and the middle-class pseudo-left.
Extinction Rebellion: “Green” capitalism versus world socialism
By Steve James, 14 March 2019
The global environmental crisis is a powerful argument for the socialist reorganisation of society.
Democratic Socialists of America and Jacobin cover for union sellout of Oakland teachers strike
By Norisa Diaz, 8 March 2019
The function of the DSA and other pseudo-left organizations is to provide a political cover for the unions, which are doing everything they can to isolate and suppress the rebellion of teachers.
“Socialism appeals to me”
Sanders rally attendees speak on socialism, Democratic Party
By George Marlowe and Marcus Day, 5 March 2019
Reporters for the WSWS spoke with attendees at Bernie Sanders’ rally in Chicago Sunday.
German Left Party congress backs imperialist campaign against Venezuela
By Johannes Stern, 5 March 2019
The Left Party’s European election congress last month sent a clear message: the bourgeoisie can rely on the Left Party’s support for war and attacks on the working class.
Sanders launches his campaign with a blast of demagogy
By Patrick Martin, 4 March 2019
Bernie Sanders’ speech in Brooklyn was an exercise in demagogy, because there exists no relationship between the reforms he envisages and any realistic strategy for their implementation.
France’s New Anti-capitalist Party sabotages fight against Ford Blanquefort plant closure
By Will Morrow, 2 March 2019
Leading NPA member Philip Poutou, a Ford employee and union official at Blanquefort, is seeking to prevent any fight by workers against the closure.
999 Green New Deal
2 March 2019
220 Green New Deal
22 February 2019
Frontline Socialist Party prepares political trap for Sri Lankan plantation workers
By K. Ratnayake, 21 February 2019
The FSP is attempting to prevent plantation workers from breaking with the unions and developing an independent struggle against the employers and the government.
Updated: Letters oppose barring of SEP panel on the fight against fascism from Historical Materialism conference
19 February 2019
The World Socialist Web Site will continue to post new letters as they come in protesting the decision of the organizers of the Socialism in Our Time conference.
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