Headlines at the World Socialist Web Site today:
1. In step toward war, Trump orders “a total and complete blockade” of Venezuelan oil
US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday evening that he is ordering “a total and complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela.” This is an act of war aimed at devastating the Venezuelan economy and overthrowing the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump’s blockade and the series of murders American imperialism has carried out on the high seas off the coast of Venezuela are part of a campaign aimed at subjugating Venezuela, and all of Latin America, to colonial slavery in order to seize their energy and mineral resources.
In his statement on Truth Social, Trump declared: “Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America. It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
Trump demanded that Venezuela “return to the United States of America all of the Oil, Land, and other Assets that they previously stole from us.” He wrote that he had designated the Venezuelan government a “Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
Trump’s statement dispenses with his earlier pretense that the US military campaign is aimed at combating drug trafficking. Trump is openly demanding that Venezuela hand over its oil and “land” to the United States in an act of colonial plunder.
The United States has no claim to any Venezuelan territory or resources. Trump’s claim that Venezuela “stole” US assets is a fraud: The country has stolen nothing from the United States. Trump acts as a gangster running a protection racket, but he speaks on behalf of a criminal oligarchy that believes that it can steal anything by force.
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Trump’s political allies are openly calling for regime change. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Tuesday: “If he’s still standing when this is over, this is a fatal, major mistake to our standing in the world. If, after all this, Maduro is still in power, that’s the worst possible signal you can send to Russia, China, Iran.”
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Trump’s announcement Tuesday came hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to release video footage of the September 2 missile strike in the Caribbean that killed two people clinging to the wreckage of a destroyed boat.
“In keeping with long-standing Department of Defense policy, of course we’re not going to release a top-secret, full, unedited video of that to the general public,” Hegseth told reporters after delivering a classified briefing to senators.
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After the meeting, Schumer did not call for the video to be released to the public, only for senators to view it in a classified setting. Last week, the Democratic congressional leadership joined with Republicans to pass the largest military budget in US history—over $1 trillion when combined with supplemental funding.
2. 40 years since the suspension of the Workers Revolutionary Party from the ICFI
The Control Commission presented its interim report—based on an examination of secret internal documents—which meticulously exposed the unprincipled relations that had been established by the WRP leadership, behind the back of the ICFI, with several bourgeois regimes in the Middle East. Had the International Committee not insisted on the investigation, the documents and the relationships they exposed would have remained concealed and unknown.
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As a Trotskyist organization, the WRP was finished. It splintered into numerous groups, all of which turned away from Trotskyism in the following years. Slaughter became an anarchist; Banda denounced Trotsky and Trotskyism within weeks of the split with the ICFI, proclaimed his admiration of Stalin, and became a supporter of Kurdish nationalism. Pirani repudiated Trotskyism and made a career as an academic.
For the Fourth International, the suspension of the WRP marked a historic turning point. It was the culmination of the long struggle that the International Committee had waged against Pabloite opportunism since 1953. Now, after 32 years, the Trotskyists finally had reestablished control of the Fourth International.
A flowering of Marxism followed. The cadre reappropriated the rich theoretical and historical heritage of the ICFI, analyzed the objective changes underlying the crisis of the WRP, and thus prepared for the restoration of capitalism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. While the entire petty-bourgeois “left” reacted to the dissolution of the Soviet Union with a wave of renunciationism, declaring socialism a failure and making its peace with capitalism, the ICFI drew entirely different conclusions.
The collapse of the Stalinist regimes was only the sharpest expression of the irreconcilable contradiction between the international character of the world economy and the nation state, on which both capitalism and Stalinism, with its perspective of “socialism in one country,” are based. It ushered in a new epoch of violent crises, wars and revolutionary struggles, in which the perspective of Permanent Revolution defended by the ICFI would play the decisive role.
The International Committee based all its work on this understanding. In the mid-1990s, it transformed its sections from leagues into parties, in recognition of the qualitative degeneration of the old national organizations and a corresponding change in the relationship of the Fourth International to the working class. In 1998, the ICFI founded the World Socialist Web Site as the authentic voice of international socialism. And on December 12, the WSWS presented Socialism AI as a groundbreaking application of cutting-edge technology for the political education and mobilization of the international working class.
Against this background, the historical significance of the events of 40 years ago becomes clear. The process of clarification within the revolutionary party anticipates the orientation of the masses in great revolutionary struggles. As a result of its principled intervention in the crisis of the WRP, the ICFI was able 40 years ago to set the course for the building of a truly international Trotskyist world party that corresponds to the global character of the modern working class. Under conditions of a deepening crisis of world capitalism, the Fourth International, led by the International Committee, will emerge as the leadership of mass revolutionary struggles throughout the world.
3. Documents of the International Committee of the Fourth International on the suspension of the WRP
4. Resident doctors’ strike goes ahead in England, defying Labour Health Secretary’s ultimatum
The British Medical Association announced the ballot result on Monday: a 65.34 percent turnout with an overwhelming 83.2 percent voting to strike between December 17 and 22.
5. United Kingdom: Stop David Lammy killing political prisoners! Release all Palestine protesters!
These are the vindictive, lawless actions of a police state. Labour has branded Palestine Action and its supporters “terrorists” to justify swallowing innocent people into the prison system and subjecting them to cruel and unusual punishment.
6. NATO-Ukraine war on Russia spreads to commercial vessels in the Black Sea
Attacks on civilian merchant shipping in the Black Sea expand the scope of the war and threaten to drag NATO members like Türkiye deeper into the maelstrom.
7. Fascist admirer of Pinochet to assume presidency in Chile
Boric’s government, like its “Pink Tide” counterparts in Latin America, paved the way for the right by defending capitalist property relations and failing to alter conditions of poverty and extreme social inequality confronting the masses.
8. What was behind the rise of Pinochet in Chile? Answers from Socialism AI
This new feature will highlight selected questions and answers from Socialism AI—concise, clear and politically insightful responses to some of the most pressing issues of our time.
9. US unemployment highest in 5 years, as Ford, other companies announce layoffs before Christmas
The situation underscores the need for action by the working class to defend the right to a job.
10. Measles infections in Australia reach highest level since 2019
The rise in cases of the highly contagious, potentially deadly disease, 10 years after it was eliminated, is due to attacks on vaccination and public health, in Australia and internationally.
11. Russians at War: An honest portrayal of the people inside Russia’s military
As the US and NATO-instigated proxy war with Russia over Ukraine tilts dangerously toward a direct great-power clash and a potential nuclear catastrophe, broadening opposition to the war is finding expression in cultural productions. One of these is the documentary film Russians at War from Russian-Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova.
The film does not undertake to explain the origins of the conflict in Ukraine—the soldiers interviewed do not themselves agree about the causes, and in her public comments the filmmaker does not fully address the issue. Nonetheless, in its rejection of the bogus narrative peddled by US imperialism and its Canadian and European allies of “Putin’s unprovoked war”—a war which supposedly had no pre-history and erupted in February 2022 solely because of the greed and malevolence of the “Russian aggressor”—Trofimova’s film offers a refreshing look at the conflict. It makes clear that the war did not simply begin with the Russian invasion of February 2022, and gives voice to the ordinary Russian soldiers the western media has cast as brutes and worse, serving to humanize them.
12. Growing problems in Chinese economy
China has recorded a $1 trillion trade surplus for the first 11 months of the year, despite the imposition of tariffs by US President Trump, but all is far from well in its internal economy.
13. GM workers look to fight layoffs at Factory Zero in Detroit
In recent days many workers have reached out to the World Socialist Web Site to express their anger and frustration with both GM and the UAW.
13. Mass protests in Bulgaria: Government collapses immediately ahead of introduction of the euro
Sustained mass protests have forced the resignation of Bulgaria’s government just weeks before the planned introduction of the euro. The upheaval reflects deep popular opposition to austerity, corruption and militarization driven by the EU and enforced by successive governments.
14. Australia: Governments, police prepare a cover-up of Bondi shootings
Prime Minister Albanese and New South Wales Premier Chris Minns, along with top police and intelligence officials, are fashioning a narrative that protects the interests of governments and the state apparatus.
Rod Paige, US Secretary of Education under George W. Bush from 2001-2005, died on December 9, 2025, at the age of 92. While Paige himself is not particularly well known, his death provides an opportunity to review the bipartisan assault on public education in which he played a pivotal and disgraceful part.
Paige is best known for promoting Bush’s reactionary “No Child Left Behind” (NCLB), signed into law on January 8, 2002. Paige, the first African American to head the Department of Education, framed the legislation as a defense and extension of civil rights. He argued that NCLB was the “logical next step” to the landmark Supreme Court ruling Brown v. Board of Education, by claiming NCLB would end the “soft bigotry” of educational neglect that allowed poor and minority students to fail.
This was, in fact, a grotesque lie. NCLB led to an estimated 4,000 school closures nationally, mostly in impoverished districts. Meanwhile, edu-businesses and charter school chains cashed in. Paige oversaw the most significant reorganization of education in 50 years, shifting the education landscape from neighborhood public schools to market-style choice systems. Siphoning funds from public education, NCLB systematically subordinated education to corporate interests and promoted Christian indoctrination.
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Rather than narrowing achievement gaps, NCLB institutionalized a two-track education structure: One of enriched programs for the privileged, and another of test, drill, austerity and punitive discipline for the working class.
But while Paige is justifiably notorious for these measures, none of them could have been implemented without bipartisan Democratic Party support. Subsequent history shows that Democrats’ role has been more systematic and ultimately more effective at embedding market-based “reforms” into American education.
The open partnership of the teacher unions with the capitalist reorganization of public schools was decisive. The well-heeled bureaucracy suppressed teacher opposition and in coming years would preach “reform with us, not against us,” enabling the big business agenda to be imposed on districts across the US.
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If NCLB laid the foundation, the Obama administration built the demolition apparatus. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s Race to the Top (RTTT) initiative, announced in 2009, represented a quantum leap in federal pressure for privatization. RTTT required states to commit to specific policies to be eligible to compete for federal funding: increasing charter school caps, implementing test-based teacher evaluations and closing “persistently low-performing” schools.
The impact was dramatic. Thirty-four states changed education policies and 48 states collaborated to create Common Core standards. The initiative’s competitive structure—pitting states against each other for federal dollars—created a “race to bureaucracy” that expanded standardized testing, data collection and centralization.
Standardized testing was wielded to produce a steady supply of “failing schools” that could be targeted for closure, forced reorganization, or conversion to charters.
Education was recast as a market. Parents became “consumers,” schools “providers,” students “data points,” and teachers “deliverers of measurable outcomes.” Public funds were shifted to charter operators, education management organizations (EMOs), and testing conglomerates such as Pearson and Educational Testing Service (ETS).
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High-stakes testing regimes served another critical function: weakening and disciplining the teaching profession. Merit pay schemes and “value-added” metrics stripped teachers of job security, intensified surveillance and eroded working conditions. By tying funding and employment to test scores—measures deeply correlated with poverty—the system scapegoated teachers for the growing social inequality caused by capitalism.
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RTTT was, for all practical purposes, designed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which invested hundreds of millions of dollars to reorganize the US education system as a reliable “human capital” pipeline for what was touted as a technology-driven economy.
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Within months of Obama’s launch of RTTT, Gates invested $335 million in “effective teaching” and “fairer and more reliable evaluative measures” to meet RTTT standards. This was welcomed by AFT President Randi Weingarten, who endorsed Gates’ policy, saying, “This process has been a thoughtful, deliberative, collaborative way to understand—and then design and implement—systems that improve teaching and learning.”
Gates explicitly noted that “Important partners in this effort are the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA) and their affiliates in the participating communities.” Between 2009 and 2014, the Gates Foundation gave over $10 million directly to the AFT and about $4 million to the NEA to “train” members on the new standards and ensure ideological alignment with the Gates mission.
Rising anger among rank-and-file teachers eventually boiled over, prompting Weingarten to stop accepting Gates Foundation funds. However, by then the critical rollout period had already passed, and Common Core and teacher-evaluation laws were firmly established in state law.
Throughout this period, the AFT and NEA bureaucracies suppressed strike actions over the results of NCLB/RTTT and the destruction of jobs. When strikes exploded out of their control, they demanded “cooling-off” deals, imposed return-to-work orders and isolated struggles.
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Rod Paige’s legacy is one of a brutal assault on education in line with the needs of the capitalist profit system. With Trump and current Education Secretary Linda McMahon repeating many of Paige’s lies and justifications, the lessons of the not-so-distant past are crucial.
Every attack on education has been carried out at the behest of the financial elite and executed by both Democrats and Republicans. The pro-capitalist union bureaucracies have acquiesced and prospered through the betrayal of workers and students. This underscores the necessity of forming independent rank-and-file organizations of education workers, politically independent from the union bureaucracy and the two capitalist parties.
These new organizations of struggle, democratically controlled by workers themselves, must be built to link up the defense of public education, jobs and social rights with the escalating struggles against fascism and war by workers across the world.
16. UK Armed forces head demands “sacrifice for our nation” amid calls for military spending surge
“Sons and daughters. Colleagues. Veterans… will all have a role to play. To build. To serve. And if necessary, to fight,” Sir Richard Knighton insisted.
This customization of HE workers’ struggles within a single city is an acute expression of the union's policy of isolating a series of local recent strikes over job losses, and other issues, including many dozens of course closures, at universities in Edinburgh, Nottingham, Cardiff, Bradford, Leicester and Dundee—all which face defeat.
18. United Kingdom: Lecturer and students speak on jobs fight at University of Sheffield
World Socialist Web Site reporters spoke to lecturers and students about the implications of shutting down entire departments and the continuing financialisation of higher education.
19. Free Ukrainian socialist and anti-war activist, Bogdan Syrotiuk!
The fight for the Ukrainian socialist and anti-war activist's freedom is an essential component of the struggle against imperialist war, genocide, dictatorship and fascism.
