United States

This special edition of the US Socialist Appeal looks at the forthcoming election year and poses the need for an independent party of the American working class. It also looks at the connections between the top US corporations and the most heinous capitalist regime of all time - the Nazis, showing that far from defending “democracy” the US capitalists have always had one thing at the top of their agenda, their own influence, privileges and most importantly their own profits. ...

Nearly six decades ago, American GIs fighting against Hitler's armies in Europe were astonished to discover that the German military drove Ford trucks. If the GIs had looked up to the sky, they would have seen the Nazis flying planes built by Opel, a wholly-owned subsidiary of General Motors. In 1939, the German branches of GM and Ford supplied 70 percent of cars sold on the German market. German subsidiaries of both auto giants went on to manufacture military materiel for the armies of the German fascist state. Archival research has established that some managers in both firms, US citizens, failed to resist the conversion of GM and Ford plants in Germany and German-occupied France and

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Making predictions in the complex world of electoral politics is difficult, but we can say without any doubt that regardless of who wins in 2004, the interests of the working class will not be served. The 2004 campaign will be a big business campaign and the winner will be a big-business candidate. Still, in the coming months, there will be a lot of pressure from those on the left who want to defeat Bush at all costs. The logic behind this sentiment is understandable - for millions of Americans, GW Bush represents all that is evil, decrepit, and dangerous in the world (a capitalist world).

The American ruling class's open war on working people around the world has intensified in recent months. The capitalist class has plunged the world into the most unstable period since the end of World War II. The invasion of Iraq has solved absolutely nothing for the Iraqi people, and has only increased the risk of further terrorist attacks here at home.

The reader probably knows that the Bush administration is a thieves' kitchen. But we are not talking about naïve politicians in the third world tempted by the rustle of wads of dollars. Bush and his gang were born into big business and are an important part of the establishment in the States. What we see is a corrupt symbiosis between capitalist politicians and the big corporations.

Do you remember the story of private Jessica Lynch? During the Iraq war this US soldier became a heroine, a real "American icon". However there is a second part to this "drama".

The anti-war movement around the world has been a great inspiration to the workers and youth in America. From the seas of demonstrators on mass demos in the US, Spain, Italy, Britain, France, Pakistan, the Middle East, and elsewhere, to the hundreds of smaller demos from small town USA to Antarctica, this is truly a global movement. This wave of radicalization is occurring even before the war on Iraq has formally begun. Above all, it is a reaction against the ongoing war on working people all around the world. More and more, people are realizing that a tiny minority of wealthy parasites makes its profit by leeching off of the majority of humanity. The drive to war has served as a

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The US has announced that it will establish at least four permanent military bases in Iraq once the 'occupation' is over. Maintaining these new "Guantanamos", together with the overall cost of the war and “reconstruction", is going to push US debt to dangerously high levels.

Two years ago, on April 22, 2001, the Spanish paper El Mundo published the following news.

As we have explained many times, the war on Iraq is nothing but an extension of the war on working people and youth here in the US. It is being fought in the interests of the rich capitalists in this country. These people cannot be trusted to work in the interests of the American people as a whole, let alone the Iraqis.