News

Bosses will use debt crisis against poorest

On the other side of the pandemic, many fear there will be a debt crisis. This fear is mainly motivated by the huge amounts of money governments are spending to prop up companies and subsidise wages.

Blame for virus chaos lies at the top - not with ordinary people

People crowding onto public transport this week were mocked as sheep with a death-wish by some on social media.

The battle is on - we can refuse to work

It is possible to refuse to go back to work. Teachers in the NEU union have said it clearest. They’ve laid out five tests that have to be met before they can agree it’s safe to open schools.

Economic crash could leave lasting scars

The bank of England’s latest monetary policy report is a classic example of bad news and good news. The bad news is that the British economy will shrink by 14 percent this year.

Vietnam War student massacre—50 years on

In May 1970 cops opened fire at black students resisting US imperialism. Socialist Worker looks at the forgotten killings at Jackson State

No national unity

People at the top like to claim we’re “all in it together”—that we must make sacrifices to get through the coronavirus crisis. But the only people making sacrifices are those at the bottom

We have to fight to stop return to work

The Tories have spent the past month telling us, “Stay at home, protect the NHS, save lives.” They may as well adopt a new mantra now—“Get back to work, protect the economy, save the bosses.”

Imperialist rivalries heighten the crisis

The Coronavirus pandemic represents a crisis that is simultaneously biological, economic, and political

Internationalism matters

When the working class is faced with global crises, an internationalist response is needed. The coronavirus outbreak is clearly one such crisis.

Workplace action must be central to fight

Worker's Memorial Day on Tuesday showed there is bitterness and anger among the working class about how people have been treated during this crisis.

Science advice is shaped by politics

The latest bombshell to explode in the government’s face has hit its claim to base its policy for the Covid-19 pandemic on “the science” or “the evidence”

Reopening schools won’t help poor children

Governments claim they are reopening schools out of concern for children’s welfare and safety. But Sadie Robinson reveals the real reasons

There are no Tories on our side

Tory disagreements over ending the lockdown reflect splits in the ruling class about how to return to “business as usual”

Inaction makes union leaders complicit

The failures of most trade union leaders to mount any resistance to the Tory government’s fatal handling of coronavirus intensifies the danger to workers

Will US hegemony survive pandemic?

Donald Trump's decision to withdraw United States funding for the World Health Organisation symbolises how the coronavirus pandemic has been dominated by national responses to what is a global problem.

Flying into a storm

Keir Starmer has already failed spectacularly to challenge the Tories since being elected Labour Party leader earlier this month.

Tories’ lies mean thousands die of virus

Tory lies over the coronavirus crisis mean many more people will die. And we are not all in it together—poor, black and vulnerable people will be the hardest hit.

We’re in the fight of our lives—to save our lives

“History has brought mankind to that pinnacle on which the total obliteration of mankind is at last a practical possibility,” wrote the radical scholar Norman O Brown.

Racism, not genetics, explains why Covid-19 hits black and Asian people harder

The front page of Socialist Worker last week featured faces of some of the many workers in Britain who have died from coronavirus. Of the eight people pictured, six were black or Asian.

‘Business as usual’ is killing workers

Ministers say that a “small minority of people” are putting our lives at risk. That’s true—they sit in the Tory cabinet, on the boards of corporations, and are at the top of society.