This article, which first appeared in the Marxist magazine New International in June 1938, is a review of a pamphlet published that year by the American Civil Liberties Union on the use of National Guard troops to break strikes. In light of the recent deployments of National Guard troops by U.S. president Donald Trump across the country, the lessons of history outlined in this article seem relevant today.
This article documents what it describes as “antisemitic dog whistle” posts by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. A number of the posts were ads by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in its effort to recruit thousands of new agents to implement the Trump administration’s goal of rounding up and deporting millions of undocumented immigrants. The revelations show that the Trump administration’s drive to “combat antisemitism” on U.S. campuses and elsewhere is a sham.
On August 12, the White House took control of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., and deployed 2,200 National Guard troops and hundreds of federal agents in the city. For working people and the vast majority in the United States the military takeover is among the most dangerous steps taken by the Trump administration so far. It is part of a rapidly developing pattern leading toward one-man rule.
This is an open letter by Rashid Khalidi to the administration of Columbia University, where the renown Palestinian American historian served as the Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies for 23 years. “Although I have retired, I was scheduled to teach a large lecture course on this topic in the fall as a ‘special lecturer’ but I cannot do so under the conditions Columbia has accepted by capitulating to the Trump administration in June,” Khalidi explains.
As part of an International Day of Action, more than 1,000 people rallied in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York City on July 25 to demand “Stop Starving Gaza Now!” The rally, and subsequent march through midtown Manhattan, was organized by the local chapter of the Palestinian Youth Movement, with the support of many partner organizations, such as Jewish Voice for Peace. This eyewitness photo montage provides a vivid representation of this protest, one among many, frequent pro-Palestinian actions in New York City over the last 20 months.
This article reports on the decision by the Harvard Educational Review’s (HER) publisher to cancel on June 9, 2025, an entire special issue of HER’s journal it had commissioned more than a year ago on education in and about Palestine. The last-minute cancellation is a new development in a mounting list of examples of censorship of pro-Palestinian speech.
This article explains that, far from “protecting” Jewish students, those attacking pro-Palestinian student protests are the ones endangering Jews. Its author, Elijah Kahlenberg, is the president and founder of Atidna International, a university-based peace group uniting Jewish and Arab students. Kahlenberg, who is Jewish, graduated this spring from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin. Last year, he took part in UT student protests condemning Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and demanding the school divest from entities that do business with Israel.
On June 14, U.S. president Donald Trump watched over a military parade in Washington, D.C. The lackluster spectacle was designed to celebrate Trump’s birthday, which coincided with the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, and thus advance the process of establishing one-man rule in the United States. The same day, over 5 million people took part in “No Kings” rallies and marches across the country. These registered the growing opposition to intensifying workplace raids by heavily armed federal agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and to the danger that these — and other actions by the White House — pose to due process, civil liberties, and democratic rights. These protests followed a weeklong social explosion in Los Angeles in response to a spike of ICE raids.
This opinion column, which first appeared in the Washington Post on June 14, 2025, tackles an important cultural dimension of the recent protests in Los Angeles against the Trump administration’s intensified wave of workplace raids and deportations of undocumented immigrants.
On May 14, Logan Rozos, a student at New York University (NYU), gave a brief but powerful speech during the graduation ceremony of Gallatin, a liberal arts school within NYU. In his remarks (transcribed by World-Outlook from the video of Rozos’ speech, and published in this post), the student condemned the U.S.-backed Israeli war on the Palestinian people in Gaza. NYU immediately announced it is withholding the student’s diploma as it pursues disciplinary actions against him, in the latest flashpoint between free speech principles and punishment for pro-Palestinian advocacy on U.S. college campuses.
The recent sweeping tariffs the Trump administration imposed on goods imported from dozens of countries across the globe pose important questions: What’s in the best interests of working people, free trade or protectionism? Do tariffs really benefit U.S. workers, as most top labor union officials claim? This editorial tackles these questions.
This article reports on successful protests in Sackets Harbor, upstate New York, which forced Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to release three kids, and their mother, wrongly arrested during an ICE raid in the nearby North Harbor Dairy Farm in late March. The story offers an example of what can be done to resist some of the most extreme assaults on working families caught in the mass-deportation dragnet the Trump administration has unleashed since taking office in January.
In this essay, Palestinian American scholar Rashid Khalidi describes how Columbia is gagging students and faculty who have opposed Israel’s mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza, as university officials are moving further to the right under pressure from the Trump administration. The university became the epicenter of student encampments and other protests that swept the country last spring opposing the U.S.-backed Israeli war in Gaza and demanding that schools divest from businesses benefiting the Israeli regime.
This article reports on the arrest on March 8 of Mahmoud Khalil by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents. Khalil just graduated from Columbia University in New York City. He is among the thousands of students who have protested the U.S.-backed Israeli war on the Palestinian people and have denounced the disciplinary measures — including suspensions and expulsions — university authorities have carried out against such students to clamp down on pro-Palestinian advocacy. Khalil is an Algerian citizen of Palestinian origin and a legal immigrant to the United States. DHS agents reportedly told Khalil the government “had revoked his student visa,” even though he does not have a visa but a green card that gives him permanent resident status in the United States. Public protests and a letter writing campaign demanding Khalil’s immediate release are already underway.
This article reports on efforts by residents of Lincoln Heights, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, to defend themselves against provocations by neo-Nazi thugs and Ku Klux Klansmen by organizing counter-mobilizations and an armed watch. Nearly 83% of the town’s approximately 3,000 residents are African American. Lincoln Heights was the first self-governing Black community to be founded north of the Mason-Dixon line, which divided the Union from the Confederate South during the U.S. civil war.
In its first month in office, the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump has made clear in word and deed it represents a break from liberal democracy — the form of government that has prevailed in the United States through most of the country’s 250-year-long history. It is an abrupt shift to the right in U.S. politics, one with grave dangers for the working class and all who favor democracy. The evidence points to the danger of the rise of an incipient fascist movement. “Incipient” in the sense of beginning to come into being or to become apparent. This is the second of two parts.
In its first month in office, the administration of U.S. president Donald Trump has made clear in word and deed it represents a break from liberal democracy — the form of government that has prevailed in the United States through most of the country’s 250-year-long history. It is an abrupt shift to the right in U.S. politics, one with grave dangers for the working class and all who favor democracy. The evidence points to the danger of the rise of an incipient fascist movement. “Incipient” in the sense of beginning to come into being or to become apparent. This is the first of two parts.
In the September 10 nationally-televised presidential debate Donald Trump declared, “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating, they’re eating, the pets of the people that live there. And this is what’s happening in this country.” This reprehensible, wild, and utterly false claim was directed primarily at Haitian workers who have moved to Springfield in the recent past. It’s an example of the “Big Lie” technique: amplifying a falsehood over and over with the intention of persuading large numbers of people that the lie is the truth.
The 2024 presidential election is less than three months away. The U.S. working class faces the same challenge posed throughout its history. In this class-divided society, the wealthy minority that makes up the capitalist class has two political parties. The working class has none. We are presented with the claim — by Democrats and Republicans alike — that their candidate speaks for working people and will improve our conditions. That’s an illusion. Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have defended and will safeguard the interests of the capitalist class. The second part of this article takes up the similarities and differences between Trumpism and Buchananism, the failure of Democratic Party liberalism, and the prospects of working-class political action independent of the two parties of the wealthy — Democrats and Republicans.
The 2024 presidential election is less than three months away. The U.S. working class faces the same challenge posed throughout its history. In this class-divided society, the wealthy minority that makes up the capitalist class has two political parties. The working class has none. We are presented with the claim — by Democrats and Republicans alike — that their candidate speaks for working people and will improve our conditions. That’s an illusion. Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris have defended and will safeguard the interests of the capitalist class. The first part of this article takes up the origins of Trumpism and its political continuity with the legacy of ultrarightist Patrick Buchanan.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are fleeing Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, as Israel steps up its bombardment and threatens an imminent, even more massive invasion.Meanwhile, opposition to Israel’s genocidal war continues to grow. It includes encampments and other protests by students on campuses across the United States. Many of these student actions have been violently suppressed by the police on the request of university authorities. Faculty members and others across the country have issued statements condemning this crackdown and defending the students’ right to free speech. They include a statement by the Academic Advisory Council of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), “An Open Call to Fellow Jewish Academics,” which World-Outlook is sharing in this post.
An important and increasingly sharp debate is taking place today on what is antisemitism, or to use a more accurate term — Jew hatred. The Statement from Concerned Jewish Faculty Against Antisemitism we are publishing below, now signed by more than 1,000 Jewish faculty members across the United States, is a welcome and important contribution to this debate.
This statement appeared today on the Substack page Zeteo. The author is Johnathan Ben-Menachem, a graduate student at Columbia University and a participant in the recent protests on that campus. The ongoing student actions oppose Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and demand that Columbia “Divest all finances, including the endowment, from corporations that profit from Israeli apartheid, genocide, and occupation in Palestine.”
In the wake of the October 7 Hamas-led attack and Israel’s brutal retaliatory invasion of Gaza, new challenges have been raised to the right to free speech. Across the United States, restrictions on the democratic right to express one’s views on the conflict in the Middle East center today on college campuses. But precedents set there will be extended, with dangerous consequences for free speech, if they are not answered and opposed.
In recent months World-Outlook has published several articles on the various indictments of Donald Trump, expressing our views on the most effective ways to oppose the danger of Trumpism. The most recent was “Third Trump Indictment: What Is at Stake?” Several readers replied to the article. In response to one of them, we published the column “Confronting the Danger of Trumpism,” which also elicited replies. This is a compilation of all these comments, which we are sharing in the interest of encouraging further discussion and debate.
On August 1, special counsel Jack Smith, appointed by the U.S. Justice Department, indicted former U.S. president Donald Trump on federal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Two days later Trump pled “not guilty” to all four counts in federal court in Washington, D.C.It is indisputable that Trump and his allies engaged in a concerted campaign to overturn the election results. To this day Trump peddles the bold-faced lie that the election was “stolen” from him. The new indictment, however, sets a dangerous precedent that the government can criminalize some political advocacy. If it prevails in this case, who will future administrations — liberal, conservative or extreme rightist — target in years to come? We stand with defense of democratic rights, not defense of Trump. This is the second of a two-part series.
On August 1, special counsel Jack Smith, appointed by the U.S. Justice Department, indicted former U.S. president Donald Trump on federal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Two days later Trump pled “not guilty” to all four counts in federal court in Washington, D.C.It is indisputable that Trump and his allies engaged in a concerted campaign to overturn the election results. To this day Trump peddles the bold-faced lie that the election was “stolen” from him. The new indictment, however, sets a dangerous precedent that the government can criminalize some political advocacy. If it prevails in this case, who will future administrations — liberal, conservative or extreme rightist — target in years to come? We stand with defense of democratic rights, not defense of Trump. This is the first of a two-part series.
The federal indictment of former U.S. president Donald Trump is one more sign of the factionalism that characterizes virtually every aspect of capitalist politics in the United States today, and the crises of the system that underlie it. This is the second of a two-part series.
The federal indictment of former U.S. president Donald Trump is one more sign of the factionalism that characterizes virtually every aspect of capitalist politics in the United States today, and the crises of the system that underlie it. This is the first of a two-part series.
This discussion-with-our-readers column takes up questions on plea bargaining and where do the prevailing ideas in society come from. These questions from World-Outlook readers arose from facts and opinions expressed in the news analysis “Trump Indictment: What Are the Issues?”
The April 5 grand jury indictment of Donald Trump announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg marks the first time a former U.S. president has been charged with a felony. The decision, prosecutors claimed, reinforces the “rule of law.” Many who oppose Trump welcomed the charges, arguing Trump would finally be “held accountable” for some of his actions. Many hope it might derail Trump’s campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination for which he is the front runner. Yet for the moment it appears the indictment has put wind in the sails of the right wing in U.S. politics. In fact, Trump’s indictment threatens to undermine established constitutional protections. These include those related to statutes of limitations, the separation of powers between federal and state governments, and provisions of the Sixth Amendment.
On February 1, the first day of Black History Month, the College Board unveiled its curriculum for a new Advanced Placement (AP) class in African American studies. The course generated controversy prior to its release. Conservative politicians and pundits attacked its content based on a preliminary draft of the curriculum leaked last August to conservative publications, including the Florida Standard and National Review. The attacks on the course aimed to limit how the history of Black people in the United States can be taught and discussed. Subsequently, the College Board made substantial changes to the course prior to its final release. In response to the changes many academics, as well as liberal groups, journalists, and others then accused the board of succumbing to right-wing pressure. Last year, World-Outlook published a three-part series titled, “Critical Race Theory — What Are the Issues?” These articles go to the heart of the debate now under way on how to teach U.S. history. For these reasons we are providing here the links to these articles as a contribution to the current debate.
A reader has asked World-Outlook for our view on “the state of consciousness” of the U.S. working class today. This “Discussion with our readers” column includes his letter, in response to the December 15, 2022, article “What Do U.S. Midterm Elections Reveal?,” and our reply.
In two letters to the editor a reader asked World-Outlook to clarify our use of the term “Bonapartism” in the December 15, 2022, article “What Do U.S. Midterm Elections Reveal?” This “Discussion with our readers” column includes the letters and our reply.
December 15, 2022— The U.S. midterm elections unfolded last month in the not-so-faint shadow of January 6, 2021. That day, a rightist mob of thousands, instigated by then President Donald Trump, stormed the U.S. Congress. It was a bloody but unsuccessful attempt — unprecedented in more than a century — to overturn the results of the 2020 elections. Trump and his allies endorsed, financed, and campaigned for hundreds of candidates, including many outspoken ultra-rightists who beat moderate Republicans in the primaries and represented the GOP in the November general election. A majority of these “election deniers” lost their bids for office in competitive races. This was a blow — at least temporarily — to those who promote or condone a form of dictatorial rule in which a “savior” is anointed to “rescue the nation” in perilous times. Such a regime, as World-Outlook has explained, would accurately be described as Bonapartist.
Congressional hearings on the January 6, 2021, right-wing mob attack on the U.S. Capitol are ongoing. The public debate around these hearings has made one fact clear: The number of Republican office holders and nominees for the upcoming midterm elections who embrace the outlandish lie of a “stolen election” in 2020 has grown in the last 18 months. As recently as last month, the Republican Party of Texas — the second largest state — declared at its convention that President Joe Biden “was not legitimately elected.” Republican office holders across the country echo this falsehood. A week after the 2021 attack on the Capitol, World Outlook noted in its inaugural article that “a not insignificant minority of the privileged classes” backed Trump’s big lie aimed at subverting the popular vote and installing an anti-democratic regime. A few weeks later, we documented the extent of financial support among a number of wealthy ruling families for that fateful assault in an article we are republishing here in two parts, the second of which follows.
Congressional hearings on the January 6, 2021, right-wing mob attack on the U.S. Capitol are ongoing. The public debate around these hearings has made one fact clear: The number of Republican office holders and nominees for the upcoming midterm elections who embrace the outlandish lie of a “stolen election” in 2020 has grown in the last 18 months. As recently as last month, the Republican Party of Texas — the second largest state — declared at its convention that President Joe Biden “was not legitimately elected.” Republican office holders across the country echo this falsehood. A week after the 2021 attack on the Capitol, World Outlook noted in its inaugural article that “a not insignificant minority of the privileged classes” backed Trump’s big lie aimed at subverting the popular vote and installing an anti-democratic regime. A few weeks later, we documented the extent of financial support among a number of wealthy ruling families for that fateful assault in an article we are republishing here in two parts, the first of which follows.
Public hearings on the January 6, 2021, ultra-rightist mob attack on the U.S. Congress are now underway. The facts presented at these hearings offer a reminder that the effort Donald Trump led to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election was far outside the previous norms of U.S. bourgeois politics. For this reason, World-Outlook is republishing its inaugural article posted that fateful January. That analysis largely stands up to the test of time. It outlines the stakes for working people in those events. The issues involved go well beyond establishing historical accuracy. It is still likely that Trump will run again for president in 2024. His unfounded and conspiracy-laden claim that the 2020 election was “stolen” still holds sway among the base of the Republican Party and Republican office holders at the federal, state, and local levels. Trump remains the most authoritative leader of the GOP. What is important to working people is what unfolded after the 2020 election. It begins with recognizing the “big lie” of the “stolen election” and the lengths to which its proponents were willing to go to enforce it. This is the second of two parts.
Public hearings on the January 6, 2021, ultra-rightist mob attack on the U.S. Congress are now underway. The facts presented at these hearings offer a reminder that the effort Donald Trump led to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election was far outside the previous norms of U.S. bourgeois politics. For this reason, World-Outlook is republishing its inaugural article posted that fateful January. That analysis largely stands up to the test of time. It outlines the stakes for working people in those events. The issues involved go well beyond establishing historical accuracy. It is still likely that Trump will run again for president in 2024. His unfounded and conspiracy-laden claim that the 2020 election was “stolen” still holds sway among the base of the Republican Party and Republican office holders at the federal, state, and local levels. Trump remains the most authoritative leader of the GOP. What is important to working people is what unfolded after the 2020 election. It begins with recognizing the “big lie” of the “stolen election” and the lengths to which its proponents were willing to go to enforce it. This is the first of two parts.
Feb. 3, 2021—In the article titled “Radicalism, Bonapartism, and the Aftermath of the 2020 U.S. Elections,” we described the Jan. 6 rightist mob attack on the U.S. capitol as the culminating step in a series of developments that posed serious dangers to civil liberties and the working class. Enough evidence is now established to detail further the extent of financial support from some sections of big business for former U.S. president Donald Trump. That backing, widespread and essential to his re-election campaign, did not end after Trump’s defeat at the polls. It diminished when Trump and his closest allies over-reached with the failed violent assault on U.S. Congress. Between Nov. 3 and Jan. 6, plenty of bankers, merchants, industrialists, and other capitalists kept up their donations to Trump as he peddled outlandish and conspiratorial claims of a “fraudulent vote” and instigated street actions aimed at overturning the popular vote and holding on to power.
Jan. 28, 2021—Following the Jan. 6 rightist mob attack on the U.S. Capitol, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media companies shut down former U.S. president Donald Trump’s accounts on their platforms. Trump had encouraged the assault on U.S. Congress at a Washington D.C. rally earlier that day in a culminating step to a two-month-long campaign to overturn the results of the November election.
Jan. 13, 2021—In a culminating step to a series of developments unprecedented in U.S. politics in more than a century, outgoing U.S. president Donald Trump and his supporters engaged in a riot aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 presidential election. While Congress certified the outcome of the November vote next day, on Jan. 7, it is notable that more than 25% of members of the House and Senate, all Republicans, joined Trump’s challenge to his defeat at the polls, even after the rightist mob attack on the U.S. Capitol had been dispersed.