Headlines at the World Socialist Web Site today:
1. Perspective: Mobilize the working class against Trump’s dictatorship!
The turn to dictatorship within the United States is inseparable from the eruption of imperialist violence abroad. The expansion of war in the Middle East is part of an escalating global conflict, with the Trump administration setting its sights on China. Trump is building upon the record of the Biden administration, which escalated the US-NATO war against Russia and gave full backing to the genocide in Gaza.
Those who are demonstrating on Saturday must draw the conclusions from this political reality. It is impossible to stop the drive to dictatorship without identifying and fighting its source: the capitalist system.
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The struggle against dictatorship requires the revival of genuine socialism—rooted in the revolutionary, internationalist traditions of Marxism and embodied in the program and history of the Trotskyist movement and the International Committee of the Fourth International. It is only on this foundation that the working class can build the leadership necessary to confront the immense dangers it faces.
A leaflet to download in advance of Saturday protests
2. Israel launches attack on Iran’s nuclear program
The US and Israel have been planning for decades to carry out an attack on Iran’s nuclear refinement facilities, a move that was widely seen as triggering a full-scale regional war. Over the past year and a half, the US has surged aircraft, missile defense systems and warships into the Middle East.
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Israel’s attack on Iran is part of what Netanyahu has called a plan to create a “new Middle East” under US-Israeli domination. This includes the annexation of all of Palestine by Israel through ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, to be followed by the West Bank.
The attack on Iran takes place in the context of the ongoing coup being carried out by US President Donald Trump to transform the United States into a presidential dictatorship. The US has deployed thousands of active-duty combat troops to Los Angeles, and this weekend the Trump administration will be holding a military parade in Washington, involving the deployment of 7,000 troops and over 150 vehicles, including dozens of tanks.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declared a state of emergency in Israel and warned the population to expect retaliatory attacks from Iran.
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US Senator Lindsey Graham wrote on Twitter, “Game on. Pray for Israel.”
On Wednesday, Iran’s defense minister, Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, threatened to attack US bases in the Middle East in retaliation for an Israeli strike on Iran. “If a conflict is imposed on us all US bases are within our reach and we will boldly target them in host countries.”
This sweeping overhaul has raised alarm among public health experts, who warn that the nation’s vaccine policy infrastructure is now under direct attack. Kennedy appears to be acting with breakneck speed to consolidate control and institutionalize his public health agenda before meaningful resistance can be mounted against what many are calling a scientific counter-revolution.
The violent assault on a sitting US senator by government agents in a public setting is unprecedented in American history. Padilla—like every other person in the United States—has the right to free speech. He clearly identified himself and stated that he wished to ask a question at a press conference attended by multiple local and national media outlets. For this, he was tackled, thrown to the ground and handcuffed.
5. Judge rebukes Trump’s seizure of California National Guard, orders return to Newsom
In granting Newsom’s request for a temporary restraining order, Judge Breyer wrote that Trump’s actions exceeded “the scope of his statutory authority” and violated “the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution,” which affirms that the federal government possesses only those powers granted by the Constitution, with all others reserved to the states or the people.
Breyer wrote that Trump “must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.”
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The Trump administration has already appealed the court’s decision. At the time of publication, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has temporarily blocked Judge Breyer’s order, which was set to take effect at noon on Friday. A hearing has been scheduled for next Tuesday.
In the meantime, Republican governors—eager to demonstrate their loyalty to Trump and the growing police state—have activated their own National Guard units in anticipation of mass peaceful protests against the administration scheduled for this weekend.
6. CIA Democrat wins New Jersey nomination for governor
Representative Mikie Sherrill is one of a group of military-intelligence veterans who entered Congress in 2018 as part of a right-wing political makeover of the Democratic Party.
Sherrill had the support of the vast majority of Democratic Party county committees, which control the party apparatus and have an outsize role in intra-party contests. She was widely praised in the corporate media as the most “electable” Democrat, because of her military background and right-wing politics—Sherill is a member of the Blue Dogs, a faction of conservative Democrats who promote bipartisan collaboration with the Republican Party.
With the cynicism typical of capitalist politics, Sherrill nonetheless sought to appease popular hatred of President Trump by posturing as an intransigent opponent of the Trump administration’s attacks on democratic rights and social programs.
The announcement by General Motors that it will invest $4 billion over the next two years in three US auto manufacturing plants, with the enthusiastic endorsement of UAW President Shawn Fain, is a warning to workers that their jobs, living standards and working conditions are going to attacked in the drive for increased exploitation in the global market.
8. John McDonnell proposes to save the Labour Party from Starmer
A balance sheet must be drawn of the Jeremy Corbyn/John McDonnell experience and the necessary conclusion formed that neither can be trusted to fight for the working class.
9. World Bank slashes global growth forecast
The World Bank report warned that ups and downs in financial markets could cause investors to change how much risk they’re willing to take. This could lead to sudden drops in asset prices in wealthy countries, which would affect global markets and might cause chaos if many investors try to reduce their debts at the same time, leading to a shortage of cash.10. West Coast truck drivers sounding the alarm on plummeting work and looming shortages
In addition to their personal struggles stemming from a lack of work, warnings are being made that significant shortages of food and consumer goods are on the very near horizon, as truck drivers are responsible for 90 percent of groceries on shelves.
There is some irony in the fact that Trump, Vance and Kennedy were attending a performance of Les Misérables. The musical, banal as it may be, traces its ultimate origins to Victor Hugo’s epic 1862 novel of the same title about poverty, police cruelty, inequality and insurrection.
The AP reported that the show that tackles themes of protest, power, injustice and poverty featured the sounds of explosions and gunfire, with civilians clashing with soldiers on stage at the very same time that Los Angeles was put under curfew after protesters battled with police over immigration raids by ICE for a sixth day following Trump’s call-up of Marines and National Guard troops to quell the protests.
In any event, Vance indicated on social media ahead of time he had no idea what the musical was about, while Trump proved equally ignorant. When asked by a journalist whether he identified with Jean Valjean (sent to prison for stealing bread in the Hugo novel) or Javert (the policeman who relentlessly persecutes Valjean), the president replied:
That’s tough. I don’t know
Speaking to the Disability News Service, Jodey’s mother Joy backed calls for a public inquiry into the hundreds, and probably thousands, of deaths linked to the Department for Work and Pensions’ actions and failings, and said she hoped to carry on campaigning for other disabled people.
13. Number and wealth of UK billionaires soars as poverty deepens
The richest 50 families in the UK own more than 34 million people, comprising the poorest half of the population
14. Australia: Rich List highlights soaring wealth of billionaires
The 200 wealthiest Australians now control $667 billion, $42 billion more than last year. This amounts to over 36 percent of Australia’s annual gross domestic product.
15. OSHA denies request for information on death of Toledo Jeep worker Antonio Gaston
The details of the fatal accident are critical evidence for the rank-and-file investigation into the death of Ronald Adams Sr. at the Stellantis Dundee Engine Complex on April 7, 2025, less than eight months after Gaston’s death.
16. German ruling class shows sympathy for Trump’s dictatorial plans
Despite Trump’s creeping coup unfolding in plain sight, not a single leading German politician has spoken out or even raised a warning.
Trump and other far-right figures have only achieved electoral success because the Democrats, Social Democrats, and so-called left parties—together with the trade unions—have orchestrated decades of social redistribution in favor of the rich. As a result, they are deeply despised. Unlike Mussolini or Hitler, Trump and his ilk are not leading mass fascist movements of war veterans and down-and-out petty bourgeois. Trump’s real power base is an oligarchy of multi-billionaires that has arisen from the systematic plundering of the working class.
This is precisely why German politicians and media either support Trump or seek to make arrangements with him. They too fear that the escalating capitalist crisis will trigger fierce class struggles. Just like in the 1930s, their response is dictatorship and war. The Merz government, like Trump, is cracking down on migrants in order to attack the democratic rights of the entire working class. It is rearming on a scale not seen since Hitler, aiming to deflect growing social tensions outward and pursue wars of conquest. The Social Democratic Party plays a leading role in this.
17. Workers Struggles: Europe, Middle East & Africa
France:
Waste workers in Angoulême strike for pay increase
Germany:
Auxiliary workers at Charitè Hospital in Berlin, continue strike to force pay agreement
Greece:
Taxi drivers in Athens strike in protest at new road rules limiting access to bus lanes
Thousands of rail workers in national strike over pay and employment conditions
Museum workers hold one-day strike for fairer pay
Health staff at hospitals in Nottingham strike over back pay
Strikes by teachers at school in Wigan and school in London
Further stoppages by UK Civil Aviation Authority over pay
Ongoing protests as economic conditions deteriorate
Nurses and midwives in national stoppage over broken promises on pay
Teachers in schools in KwaZulu-Natal on work-to-rule in protest at education system collapse
Lecturers at the University of Zimbabwe continue strike
18. Free Ukrainian socialist and anti-war activist, Bogdan Syrotiuk!
Bogdan Syrotiuk
Internationally, major artistic figures such as Roger Waters and Ai Wei Wei as well as historians such as Mario Kessler and Christian Gerlach have supported the campaign to free Bogdan Syrotiuk. Many political tendencies have also condemned his imprisonment and called for his release, despite their political differences with the Trotskyist movement. These include Jill Stein from the Greens in the United States, and several groups and websites in Russia and Turkey. Most recently, the website of the Socialist Laborer Party in Turkey, and that of the Partisan Defense Committee, which is affiliated with the Spartacist tendency, have issued statements in support of Bogdan.
