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, […]

Continue Reading

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 […]

Continue Reading

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 […]

Continue Reading

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 […]

Continue Reading

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 […]

Continue Reading

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 […]

Continue Reading