Coronavirus spread is result of capitalist social relations

Vol. 84/No. 11 - March 23, 2020
NASA satellite images show pollution over China before coronavirus clampdown Jan. 23. Clear skies a month later reflect far-reaching shutdown of industry.

As the spread of coronavirus disease continues worldwide, stock prices have plunged more than any time since the 2008 global financial crisis, reflecting growing concerns among capitalist investors about the effect of the outbreak. World economic growth has begun to…


Say no to US gov’t slanders against Cuban Revolution!

Vol. 84/No. 10 - March 16, 2020

Washington has stepped up its economic and political war against the Cuban Revolution over the past year  — increasing the shortages and hardships faced by working people there. The U.S. rulers, and their Democratic and Republican parties alike, have tried…


Budget failure at EU meeting shows the bloc is unraveling

Vol. 84/No. 10 - March 16, 2020
Greek teachers protest against layoffs in Athens, March 21, 2014. “Merkel out” sign shows anger over Berlin’s demand that Athens impose greater “austerity” on working people to get new EU loans. In 2018, Greek rulers agreed to restrictions on social spending for next 40 years!

A rancorous summit over the European Union’s effort to adopt a new six-year budget broke up Feb. 21 with no agreement among its rival capitalist powers. The deep divisions among them show that far from coming together after the U.K.…


Asarco copper strikers face a serious fight and deserve solidarity

Vol. 84/No. 10 - March 16, 2020

With their strike against Asarco now into its fifth month, copper workers continue to put up their picket lines 24/7 and to win solidarity in the face of the company’s blatant union busting and refusal to negotiate. “They’re fighting for…


Syrian, Turkish forces clash in Idlib as 9-year civil war widens

Vol. 84/No. 10 - March 16, 2020

The Syrian and Turkish governments are intensifying airstrikes on each other’s forces as they fight over control of Syria’s Idlib province, a region held by armed groups opposed to the Bashar al-Assad regime. Alongside the two fighting forces, Moscow, Tehran…


For-profit US ‘health care’ will increase virus threat

Revolutionary Cuba points the road forward
Vol. 84/No. 10 - March 16, 2020
Clinic in Camagüey, Cuba, in March. Through its neighborhood doctors, nurses and special programs put in place since outbreak of coronavirus, Cuba has mobilized to confront new disease. Unlike the for-profit system in capitalist countries, in Cuba no one is left on their own.

The coronavirus contagion is now spreading faster outside China, where it first appeared in December, than inside. The Chinese regime’s extremely aggressive lockdown of hundreds of millions slowed the advance of the disease for now, but by March 2 the…


‘We need our own party, a labor party’

Vol. 84/No. 10 - March 16, 2020
Retiree Ernest Williams, left, in North Long Beach Feb. 27, tells SWP candidate for vice president Malcolm Jarrett, right, and campaigner Bernie Senter that half his pension goes for medical expenses. SWP calls for government-guaranteed cradle-to-grave health care, Jarrett said.

LOS ANGELES — The Socialist Workers Party candidates for president and vice president, Alyson Kennedy and Malcolm Jarrett, campaigned among workers at the Farmer John pork processing plant here Feb. 28 during shift change. “It’s good you’re here in the…


Over a million Syrians forced to flee Idlib in face of regime’s offensive

Vol. 84/No. 9 - March 9, 2020

The Syrian dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad — backed by Moscow’s air power and Tehran-organized militias — continues its murderous bombardment of rebel fighters and civilians in the country’s Idlib province, with disastrous consequences for working people. Over a third of…


New Zealand protesters say ‘Abortion is not a crime’

Vol. 84/No. 9 - March 9, 2020
Feb. 18 march in support of abortion rights in Auckland, New Zealand.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — “I am a young person who doesn’t believe abortion should be in the Crimes Act,” high school student Lucy Mackenzie told the crowd as she kicked off a rally here Feb. 18 demanding a woman’s right…


‘We need a labor party, independent of the bosses’

Vol. 84/No. 9 - March 9, 2020
Socialist Workers Party presidential candidate Alyson Kennedy speaks to meeting at Louisville apartment complex Feb. 20, hosted by resident Lamont Anthony, seated behind podium.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — “We don’t say, ‘Vote for me and I’ll fix everything,’” Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Workers Party candidate for president, told a meeting at the Mount Lebanon of Cedars apartments community room here Feb. 20. Instead, Kennedy, running mate…