How Deep is the Global Depression?

Per-Åke Westerlund is a member of Rättvisepartiet Socialisterna (ISA in Sweden). The world economy is in shock and paralysis The world economy is being shaken as never before. 2.7 billion workers around the world — 81% of the labour force — are under lockdown or travel bans. Hundreds of millions risk acute starvation. And yet, […]

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International Workers’ Day: Capitalism is the Virus: Socialism is the Only Cure

Five Reasons to Fight for a Socialist World in 2020 Five reasons to join the ISA. May Day – International Workers’ Day this year has a special significance at a time when the world is in the grip of the Coronavirus and facing perhaps the worst economic crisis for a hundred years. Even before the […]

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Who’s paying for the wage subsidies?

Anthony Main is a member of Socialist Action Australia. from The Socialist, ISA in Australia The federal government announced a $130 billion wage subsidy package in late March. The measures include provisions for workers in companies that have been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic to be paid up to $1,500 per fortnight. If companies are […]

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Trump Inaction Fuels Disaster

Tony Wilsdon is a member of Socialist Alternative in the US. The threat posed by COVID-19 was not a secret. The devastating spread of the virus in China, and the fact that it could be transmitted person-to-person was world news by the middle of January. The science of virus transmission and the steps to minimize […]

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US: Build a Fighting Labor Movement

Bryan Koulouris is a member of Socialist Alternative in the US. If it wasn’t obvious before, it is clear as day now: working people make this economy run. While billionaire hoarders and corporations get bailed out and millions of us are laid off, workers on the frontlines have been risking everything to deliver essential goods […]

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Capitalism and the Spanish Flu of 1918-1919

Keishia Taylor is a member of the Socialist Party (ISA in Ireland). The 1918-1919 “Spanish Flu” killed between 50-100 million people, more than the number of deaths in the First and Second World Wars combined. According to expert Laura Spinney the Spanish flu “re-sculpted human populations more radically than anything since the Black Death.” The […]

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EU in crisis and COVID-19

Finghín Kelly is a member of the Socialist Party (ISA in Ireland). Last week saw a major clash between eurozone finance ministers with a 16 meeting ending in a deadlock before a face-saving meeting later agreed to a package of measures worth up to €540 billion. This has been heralded with much fanfare as a […]

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EU Crisis: The Hypocrisy and Cynicism of the Rich

Andros Payiatsos is a member of Xekinima (ISA in Greece). “Shame on you. Shame on Europe. Stop this circus now.” These words did not come from an angry demonstrator but from the French Minister of Economy and Finance Bruno Le Maire, during the last meeting of the Eurogroup, made up of the Economy and Finance […]

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Pills for Need Not Profit

Under capitalism, disease is an immensely profitable industry, and huge pharmaceutical corporations excel at extracting enormous amounts of wealth from our public health. They are trying to use COVID-19 to make even more profits. Under capitalism, disease is an immensely profitable industry, and what huge pharmaceutical corporations excel at is extracting enormous amounts of wealth […]

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Capitalism and the pandemic: Why the system has failed

Manus Lenihan is a member of the Socialist Party (ISA in Ireland). Covid-19 has utterly changed the political landscape. Just one month ago, rent freezes were deemed “unconstitutional.” Today a rent freeze is in force, along with a ban on evictions. The healthcare system has been massively expanded. Private hospital beds and facilities have been […]

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