Headlines at the World Socialist Web Site today:
1. The human cost to children of Trump’s cuts to food stamps and Medicaid
On July 4, 2025, President Trump signed into law the “One Big Beautiful Bill”—a sweeping legislative package providing massive tax breaks for the wealthy and deep reductions in critical safety-net programs, particularly Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, food stamps). The bill slashes $930 billion from Medicaid and another $285 billion from SNAP over the next decade.
This legislation marks the greatest redistribution of wealth from the working class to the rich in US history. It makes permanent $3.8 trillion in tax cuts, overwhelmingly benefiting corporations and the super-rich, while gutting Medicaid and food assistance. In addition, it allocates $150 billion to the military, including the Golden Dome missile shield and another $200 billion for expanding immigrant detention camps and adding 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and 3,000 Border Patrol officers. This is a direct transfer of wealth from society’s most vulnerable to the oligarchy and its repressive apparatus—yielding a net gain of $2.4 trillion for the ultra-wealthy.
Medicaid and SNAP are not merely line items on a federal ledger; they are hard-won lifelines rooted in social struggles. Both programs emerged from the Great Society initiatives of the 1960s. Medicaid was established under the Social Security Amendments of 1965 as a federal-state health insurance program for low-income families, building upon earlier patchwork efforts like the Kerr-Mills program. SNAP has its origins in a 1939 Depression era pilot, before being formally codified in 1964 through the Food Stamp Act, under President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty.
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The child poverty rate in America is now at 13.7 percent. This staggering increase from 2021, when 5.2 percent of children were living in poverty, is partly due to the expiration of the enhanced Child Tax Credit, which was implemented in July of 2021.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” is a calculated assault on public health, education and the very notion of a democratic society. Behind each of these numbers lies a child denied medication, a school without a nurse, a family without food.
This counterrevolutionary bill, measured in suffering and enforced with calculated cruelty, will not be tolerated by the working class. A socialist society that feeds children with the earth’s abundance and educates them will not emerge from the largess of the powers that be. It must be fought for by the working class. This means joining the Educators Rank-and-File Committee.
2. Zohran Mamdani woos Wall Street
In a matter of weeks, Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidate for New York City mayor, has undergone a rapid transformation. After declaring that billionaires should not exist, he is now leading a charm offensive, initiating meetings this week with the gang of financial speculators, real estate swindlers, and corporate chiefs who dictate economic conditions in the center of American capitalism.
Mamdani’s efforts to court New York City’s business elite were paired with overtures to the Democratic Party establishment, including what he described as a “constructive meeting” Friday with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
These are the very forces responsible for deepening social inequality and the cost-of-living crisis—conditions Mamdani campaigned against as a vocal critic. His primary victory last month expressed widespread anger toward the Democratic Party apparatus and the oligarchy it serves. But Mamdani’s inevitable evolution since securing the nomination, including his concessions this week, is an unmistakable indication that he ultimately serves the same class interests.
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The claims by Mamdani and the DSA that sufficient pressure can force the Democratic Party establishment to return to a bygone era of progressive reforms are a recipe for disaster. The policies of both parties are driven by an immense objective crisis, beset by a massive debt burden and held together in a financial system resembling a house of cards. The ruling class is turning towards fascism and war, not social reform. It will not be pressured to sacrifice profits for equality and affordability any more than it has been pressured to cease the genocide in Gaza.
The growing opposition to inequality and war, which found distorted expression in support for Mamdani, must be converted into a political break from the Democrats and Republicans, and the conscious striving of the working class to take political power for itself. The role of Mamdani and the DSA is to prevent this from happening.
3. Contract details expose sellouts of Safeway and King Soopers strikes in Colorado
United Food and Commercial Workers Local 7 has announced the ratification of contracts at Safeway and King Soopers in Colorado. The agreements ended a three-week strike at Safeway that began on June 15. The contract at King Soopers follows a two-week strike at King Soopers in February that ended with a 100 day “labor peace agreement.”
The UFCW has declared the contracts a great victory for grocery workers but the details show they are sellouts that sabotaged the struggle of nearly 20,000 workers.
4. Disaffection grows in US military amid ICE raids and domestic deployments
Troops and their families have expressed the view that they did not sign up to suppress domestic protests or serve as pawns in a political conflict. “What we’re hearing from our families is: ‘This is not what we signed up for,’” said Brandi Jones of the Secure Families Initiative. Janessa Goldbeck, a Marine veteran, reported a “universal expression” among service members that this is “an unnecessary deployment” and one that pits soldiers against their own communities.
Participation in the strike reportedly reached 100 percent on the railways in cities such as Istanbul, Kayseri, Sakarya, and Izmir. It was also reported that production had come to a halt at the Adapazarı Wagon Factory of Turkish Rail Vehicle Industry Inc., while the strike by locomotive engineers working on the Marmaray in Istanbul caused disruptions in services throughout the day; it was also said that Pendik-Ataköy services were not operating. Approximately 600,000 people use the Marmaray daily.
In a statement issued by Marmaray, which is under the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, it was claimed that the disruptions in service were due to “general maintenance,” and the work stoppage was portrayed as insignificant, even non-existent.
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The average wage for public sector workers is currently around 37,500 TL ($929 US), and a 24 percent raise would raise it to 46,500 TL ($1152 US). But this is barely half the average poverty line for a family of four. According to a study conducted by Türk-İş, as of June 2025, the total amount of necessary monthly expenses (poverty line) for a family of four for food, clothing, housing (rent, electricity, water, fuel), transportation, education, health and similar needs is 85,065 TL ($2107 US).
Public sector workers in Turkey, like other sections of the working class, are facing class warfare measures implemented by the government—by municipalities under both President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party and the opposition Republican People’s Party—and by companies, aimed at suppressing wages and eliminating social benefits.
The wildcat action last Wednesday, followed by the stoppage which started on Tuesday this week, was triggered by workplace bullying by senior management. It has been ended after the removal of one manager from the site, pending an investigation.
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Management bullying is symptomatic of the manifold problems confronting workers at Hinkley Point C. The construction site, reportedly the largest in Europe, exemplifies the brutal conditions and corporate indifference prevailing at workplaces across Britain and internationally.
In April, workers complained that the site was “overrun by rats,” especially around the canteens. One told The Observer, “They’re all over. You see them just sat there, looking at you… They are everywhere now.”
8. In memory of Nathan Steinberger: a fighter against fascism and Stalinism
On the eve of May Day 1937 Nathan was arrested. His wife Edith met the same fate in 1941, at the beginning of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Their six-year-old daughter was taken in by a Jewish family they had befriended.
The martyrdom that now began was to last until 1956. Nathan was first incarcerated in the notorious Butyrky prison, and then transported to Kolyma in Siberia. He was charged with “counterrevolutionary Trotskyist activity,” his “guilt” compounded, among other things, by his expulsion from the German Communist Youth Federation at the age of 15. His wife was deported to a labour camp in Kazakhstan, where she only just managed to survive.
In Butyrky prison, Nathan recognised that the arrests were not arbitrary. They were primarily aimed at the most devoted party members who had actively participated in the October Revolution. He shared his first prison cell with a son of the Left Oppositionist Zinoviev and with the Old Bolshevik and party historian Vladimir Ivanovich Nevsky, who had been involved in the military preparation of the 1917 revolution as a member of the Petrograd Revolutionary Committee and was minister of transport in the first workers government under Lenin. Only a few weeks after Nathan’s arrival at Butyrki, Nevsky was taken from his prison cell and shot.
Unlike almost all of their friends of that time, Nathan and Edith Steinberger somehow survived. Reunited with their daughter, they were allowed to return to (East) Berlin in 1956, but were subjected to absolute silence in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). They were not allowed to say a single word about the Stalinist prison camps. It was only after the collapse of the GDR and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union that Nathan Steinberger began to recount his experiences under Stalinist terror. Unlike many other survivors of the Gulags, he did not embrace right-wing politics, but remained faithful to the socialist ideals of his youth.
9. Sordid scandal erupts in the UK over cover-up of military leak of Afghan names
In February 2022, six months after the imperialist withdrawal from Afghanistan, a British soldier was asked to pass on 150 names of Afghans applying for asylum in the UK after the Taliban’s takeover to several contacts for verification. He mistakenly sent the entire database of 18,000 names. The list subsequently made its way to people in Afghanistan.
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Two decades and trillions of dollars later, the “War on Terror” left Afghanistan as one of the poorest countries in the world. It was handed back to the Taliban as the corrupt and reviled puppet government of Ashraf Ghani collapsed.
The occupation was such a debacle for the imperialist powers that the agreement to withdraw US and allied forces—initially proposed by Donald Trump but initiated by President Biden in May 2021—left thousands of their former allies to their fate.
10. Australia’s rising jobless rate points to trade war impact
Australia’s official unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent in June, up from 4.1 percent in May. That takes it to the highest level since November 2021, following the dismantling of COVID-19 pandemic protection measures.
The result is an early indicator of the impact of the economic slump and nervousness within the corporate elite caused by the Trump administration’s worldwide tariff war, which is above all targeting China, Australian capitalism’s largest export market by far.
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Moreover, full-time employment fell by 38,000 people and the number of hours worked dropped by nearly 1 percent, although part-time employment grew by 40,000 people. In Victoria, one of the most industrialized states, the jobless rate rose to 4.6 percent.
The brunt of the downturn is being felt most by young workers. Youth unemployment (workers aged 15 to 24 years) surged from 9.5 to 10.4 percent, also its worst level since November 2021.
11. A 19-year-old killed in California meat grinder: Workers must take control of safety!
The Vernon Police Department immediately ruled the killing an “industrial accident.” But all evidence points to social murder and gross negligence in the pursuit of profit.
12. Trump, Republicans maneuver to defuse Epstein crisis
Trump and his MAGA allies promoted claims of a “deep state” conspiracy to cover up the scandal in order to protect leading Democrats, such as ex-president Bill Clinton, and pledged to release the Epstein file. But earlier this month, Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a two-page report declaring that no “client list” had been found, that there was no suspicion of foul play in his death, and that no further information would be released about Epstein’s criminal activities.
This triggered an uproar from sections of Trump’s fascistic base, including former White House aide Steve Bannon, Elon Musk, and social media pundits Tucker Carlson, Alex Jones and Laura Loomer, who demanded the release of the documents and called for Bondi’s resignation. Even House Speaker Mike Johnson called for the release of the files.
Trump denounced his MAGA critics as “stupid” and “weak” and claimed they had fallen for a Democratic provocation. But following the Wall Street Journal article, he announced that he had instructed Bondi to go to court to seek the release of grand jury testimony in the federal case against Epstein. Bondi promptly reversed course and on Friday filed in court for the release of the testimony.
This move, however, falls far short of the demand to release the FBI’s Epstein file, which includes, among other things, reams of video recordings taken from Epstein’s homes. Moreover, it is very difficult to secure the release of grand jury testimony, which is highly protected by the courts, and in any event would take many months of legal wrangling to obtain. The move has more the character of a diversion than a concession to Trump’s enraged base.
The Socialist Equality Party (SEP) has been campaigning against the Victorian Labor government’s plan to demolish 44 public housing towers across Melbourne. The planned destruction will displace some 10,000 people, among the most vulnerable layers of the working class in Australia’s second most populous city.
14. Talisman Sabre military exercise in Australia: A dress rehearsal for war against China
The depiction of China as the aggressor and the US as the protector of sovereignty and international law turns reality on its head. The fascistic Trump administration is trampling on the US Constitution domestically, while dispensing with all pretenses of legal norms in international relations, from the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza to a tariff regime that has the character of an economic war on the world.
In reality, the Trump regime is escalating a more than decade long US military build-up in the Indo-Pacific, directed against China, because it is viewed as the chief threat to the economic dominance of American imperialism.
The line was set by Trump’s Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, who delivered a bellicose tirade against China at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in late May. Hegseth declared that Beijing posed a “threat” that “could be imminent.” Top US military commanders have predicted a war against China over control of Taiwan within the next several years.
15. Workers Struggles: Asia, Australia and the Pacific
India:
Outsourced Vijayawada municipal sanitation workers strike for better conditions
Odisha dairy workers strike for permanent jobs
Postal workers at Hubbali, Karnataka protest for better conditions
West Bengal child development workers demonstrate in Kolkata
Australia:
Cleanaway waste management workers strike at Chevron in Western Australia
Komatsu excavator maintenance workers in New South Wales strike for pay rise
Peabody’s Helensburgh coal miners walk out again in New South Wales
Bestbar steel reinforcement workers in Victoria demand improved pay offer
Virtus Health IVF nurses in Queensland strike for pay increase
Western Australian court security workers strike for improved pay and safety
New Zealand:
New Zealand nurses vote for nationwide strike
16. Free Ukrainian socialist and anti-war activist, Bogdan Syrotiuk!
Bogdan Syrotiuk and Leon Trotsky
