The International Socialist Organization
Leaders of dissolved International Socialist Organization openly embrace Democratic Party politics
By David Walsh, 24 June 2019
The demise of the ISO has permitted leading figures and the membership generally to integrate themselves more firmly and decisively into the bourgeois political set-up.
An assembly of political bankrupts: Historical Materialism and Jacobin host “Socialism in Our Time” conference
By Joseph Kishore, 16 April 2019
A more accurate title for the event would have been, “Democratic Party Politics in Our Time,” or, perhaps, “Socialism not now, not ever.”
Who funded the ISO? An analysis of the financial basis of pseudo-left politics
By Eric London, 15 April 2019
The now defunct International Socialist Organization was funded by government-linked think tanks, wealthy Democrats and right-wing conservative groups.
Factional provocation, middle-class hysteria, and the collapse of the International Socialist Organization
By the Political Committee of the Socialist Equality Party (US), 2 April 2019
Factionally motivated denunciations of an alleged cover-up of sexual assault in 2013 were revived to instigate a leadership purge and liquidate the ISO.
Updated: Letters oppose barring of SEP panel on the fight against fascism from Historical Materialism conference
19 February 2019
The World Socialist Web Site will continue to post new letters as they come in protesting the decision of the organizers of the Socialism in Our Time conference.
Rohini Hensman’s Indefensible: The ISO discovers its muse—the CIA—Part 3
By Alex Lantier, 17 December 2018
For Hensman, being “moral” means embracing the lies and provocations used to market US wars.
Rohini Hensman’s Indefensible: The ISO discovers its muse—the CIA—Part 2
By Alex Lantier, 15 December 2018
Hensman’s arguments tend inescapably in one direction: that US wars have been the main liberating force during the last quarter century.
Rohini Hensman’s Indefensible: The ISO discovers its muse—the CIA—Part 1
By Alex Lantier, 14 December 2018
Hensman’s arguments tend inescapably in one direction: That US wars have been the main liberating force over the last quarter century.
The ISO’s Socialism 2018 Conference: Socialist phraseology in the service of American imperialism
By Alexander Fangmann, 5 July 2018
The International Socialist Organization’s (ISO) annual Socialism conference this weekend features several speakers who support the US-led regime-change war in Syria.
By their friends you will know them: The International Socialist Organization and American imperialism
By Joseph Kishore, 15 June 2018
A book published recently by the ISO’s Haymarket Books contains a series of endorsements from open supporters of aggressive US military intervention in Syria.
The working class must mobilize to free Julian Assange!
By Andre Damon, 30 May 2018
The demand for the freedom of Julian Assange must be connected to the developing international movement of workers against inequality, oppression and exploitation.
The ISO and the imperialist politics of the pseudo-left
By Barry Grey, 16 May 2018
The International Socialist Organization is concerned that politically radicalized students and youth who are attracted to socialism are hostile to American military interventions in Syria and elsewhere.
How Jacobin and the ISO assisted in the betrayal of the Arizona teachers’ strike
By Will Morrow, 12 May 2018
Both organizations played a critical role in the sellout of the strike of tens of thousands of teachers by the Arizona Education Association and Arizona Educators United.
Pseudo-left parties promote US-French-British bombing of Syria
By Will Morrow, 16 April 2018
The DSA and ISO in the US, and the NPA in France are spreading the lies of the media and intelligence agencies to justify the bombings on “humanitarian” grounds.
The pseudo-left’s silent complicity in the drive to war against Syria and Russia
By Tom Hall, 10 April 2018
The major publications of the pseudo-left, including Jacobin and Socialist Worker, have written nothing on the imperialist war drive or on the shutdown of Internet access for Julian Assange.
Jacobin, International Socialist Organization claim “victory” in West Virginia teachers sellout
By Eric London, 9 March 2018
Jacobin and the ISO’s role in the West Virginia teachers strike is an instructive example of how the pseudo-left stifles working-class opposition and directs it behind the trade unions and Democratic Party.
Pseudo-lefts lament United Auto Workers defeat in Nissan vote
By Shannon Jones, 23 August 2017
In their commentaries on the union recognition vote, the International Socialist Organization and Jacobin magazine seek to cover up the anti-working class character of the UAW.
At “Socialism 2017” conference, International Socialist Organization shows its pro-war colors
By Jerry White and Josh Varlin, 21 July 2017
The most striking thing about the four-day conference in Chicago was the virulence of the pro-war policy of the International Socialist Organization.
International Socialist Organization lines up behind Democrats’ anti-Russian campaign against Trump
By Barry Grey, 17 May 2017
The ISO’s article on the firing of Comey articulates the interests of the social layers for which ISO speaks—wealthy, complacent and corrupt sections of the upper-middle class that are separated by an enormous class chasm from the working class.
Stop censorship at Loyola University-Chicago
Students have the right to form political organizations on campus!
By the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (US), 1 March 2017
The IYSSE calls on Loyola University Chicago to reverse its decision barring the International Socialist Organization from forming a student club.
The International Socialist Organization and the CIA-led anti-Russia campaign
By E.P. Milligan, 24 February 2017
The ISO has been virtually silent on the raging conflict between the Trump White House and the intelligence agencies over alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election.
ISO endorses IYSSE application for club status at New York University
By Isaac Finn, 16 February 2017
In replying to the IYSSE’s call that it end its silence on political censorship at NYU, the ISO said it supports the democratic right of students to form an IYSSE club while denouncing the IYSSE’s “aggressive sectarianism.”
New Zealand: International Socialist Organisation glorifies deceased Council of Trade Unions leader
By Tom Peters, 16 November 2016
The ISO portrayed the veteran union bureaucrat Helen Kelly as a champion for workers’ rights, covering up her record of enforcing mass job cuts and other attacks on workers.
The International Socialist Organization campaigns for layoffs, school closures in Chicago
By Eric London, 19 October 2016
A tentative agreement announced by the Chicago Teachers Union, and praised by the ISO, would mark a new stage in the attack on teachers and on public education.
The ISO and the New America think tank denounce opposition to the war in Syria
By Eric London, 17 October 2016
The ISO last week published an interview on its Socialist Worker web site with a journalist linked to the New America think tank who advocates an escalation of the US military intervention in Syria.
International Socialist Organization covers for union treachery in Verizon strike
By Tom Hall, 29 April 2016
The authors equate the selfish institutional interests of the union bureaucracy with the interests of the workers, covering up the actual record of the unions’ treachery.
The International Socialist Organization, Bernie Sanders and the Democratic Party
By Tom Hall and Barry Grey, 9 February 2016
A hallmark of the ISO, as with all the other organizations that comprise the anti-Marxist pseudo-left, is a rejection of any class analysis of political developments.
Ahead of plans for 5,000 layoffs
ISO-led Chicago Teachers Union aligns itself with mayor against teachers
By Kristina Betinis, 27 October 2015
CTU Vice President and ISO member Jesse Sharkey’s statements and actions in relation to the contract talks are indistinguishable from those of any garden variety union sellout artist.
Pseudo-lefts back Washington hardliners on Syria and Russia
By Bill Van Auken, 21 October 2015
The International Socialist Organization has weighed in on the Syria policy dispute in Washington, backing the most bellicose factions within the US state.
The strange death of the antiwar movement
By Bill Van Auken, 14 October 2015
The lack of any organized expression of the overwhelming popular opposition to war is bound up with the right-wing evolution of the socio-political layer that makes up the pseudo-left.
“Lay us off now,” Chicago Teachers Union official says
By Kristina Betinis, 21 August 2015
Jesse Sharkey, a leading member of the International Socialist Organization and the second in command at the CTU, is advising district officials on how best to enact mass layoffs.
What is the pseudo-left?
By The WSWS Editorial Board, 30 July 2015
Political developments in Greece in recent months are a striking confirmation of the WSWS's analysis of “pseudo-left” tendencies.
“Left electoral action conference" in Chicago
The American pseudo-left and the Democratic Party
By Eric London, 4 June 2015
The Chicago conference outlined a framework for politically disarming leftward moving workers and youth in order to prevent them from breaking with bourgeois politics.
International Socialist Organization hails USW backstabbing of oil workers’ strike
By Jerry White and Kevin Reed, 21 March 2015
The ISO does not even pretend to criticize the USW, which from the beginning of the strike worked to prevent it from developing into a broader movement of the working class.
The Nation and the International Socialist Organization respond to the 2014 elections
By David Walsh, 7 November 2014
Various political forces combined in 2008, and again in 2012, to paint Barack Obama as an alternative to Bush and the Republicans, including the Nation magazine and the ISO.
Class, race and the police killing in Ferguson, Missouri
By Joseph Kishore, 21 August 2014
A column by former basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has provoked a howl of protest from political representatives of the upper-middle class who are heavily invested in racial politics, including the International Socialist Organization.
The International Socialist Organization and the betrayal of the Boeing workers
By Jerry White, 10 January 2014
In the aftermath of the defeat of the Boeing workers at the hands of International Association of Machinists, the International Socialist Organization has published a commentary that whitewashes the role of the IAM and seeks to prevent workers from drawing any political lessons from this latest betrayal by the unions.
ISO lines up behind Democrats in New York mayoral election
By Fred Mazelis, 25 October 2013
The ISO’s attitude toward Bill de Blasio flows directly from its class orientation and political program.
The American “left” and Edward Snowden
By Eric London, 24 August 2013
The American “left” exposes its contempt for democratic rights in its coverage of the Snowden revelations and the response of the Obama administration.
Egypt’s Revolutionary Socialists seek to cover up support for military coup
By Johannes Stern, 26 July 2013
As the military regime in Egypt intensifies its crackdown on all opposition, and as the former elements of the Mubarak dictatorship are integrated into positions of power, the counter-revolutionary role of the “left” supporters of the coup is ever more clearly exposed.
Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists support US-backed military coup
By Johannes Stern, 16 July 2013
The pseudo-left stands condemned by its own words and actions as political agents of imperialism.
International Socialist Organization backs Egyptian coup
By Alex Lantier, 11 July 2013
In a July 5 interview, ISO leader Ahmed Shawki declared his support for the military government that took power in Egypt on July 3.
The “Ecosocialist” conference in New York
A fraudulent campaign for “climate justice”
By Sandy English and Jerry White, 23 May 2013
The Ecosocialist conference, chiefly sponsored by the International Socialist Organization and the Green Party, was held at Barnard College in New York City last month.
The International Socialist Organization and the imperialist onslaught against Syria
By David North and Alex Lantier, 11 May 2013
The ISO’s May 1 statement “Solidarity with the Syrian revolution” is written in support of the imperialist-orchestrated conspiracy to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
The petty-bourgeois “left” promotes the CIA war in Syria
By Alex Lantier, 12 April 2013
The petty-bourgeois “left” has reacted to the publication of detailed reports on the CIA’s role in backing Islamist forces for the US proxy war in Syria by intensifying their support for the war.
The CIA war against Syria
By Johannes Stern, 26 March 2013
US president Barack Obama’s so called “peace” trip to Israel last week made clear that, on the tenth anniversary of its criminal invasion of Iraq, US imperialism is intensifying its bloody intervention in the Middle East.
The attack on public education in Chicago
By Alexander Fangmann, 25 March 2013
The announcement of plans to shut down 61 schools in Chicago, Illinois marks a new stage in the social counterrevolution in America.
Hands off Syria!
By Bill Van Auken, 21 March 2013
Ten years after the launching of a criminal war against Iraq, Washington is once again preparing military aggression in the Middle East.
The Steubenville, Ohio rape case
By David Walsh, 20 March 2013
The Steubenville, Ohio rape case is a tragedy, which has been immeasurably worsened by the intervention of the American media, and in particular its so-called left elements.
ISO offers sophistry in the service of the trade union bureaucracy
By Jerry White and Barry Grey, 29 January 2013
The passage of right-to-work legislation in Michigan was a debacle not just for the unions, but also for the host of liberal and pseudo-left organizations that promote these corporatist organizations.
ISO leader endorses Chicago school closings
By Alexander Fangmann, 6 December 2012
Anyone who may still harbor illusions that the International Socialist Organization has anything to do with socialism should take a look at the video of ISO leader Jesse Sharkey’s appearance on Chicago Tonight.
Mursi’s crackdown exposes counter-revolutionary role of Egyptian Revolutionary Socialists
By Johannes Stern, 6 December 2012
Mursi’s bloody crackdown against protesters opposing his power grab exposes the counterrevolutionary character of the Revolutionary Socialists’ support for him.
Where the International Socialist Organization stands on the 2012 election results
By David Walsh, 16 November 2012
The ISO has responded to the recent US election with general satisfaction over Democrat Barack Obama’s return to the White House and an ever-greater obsession with race.
International Socialist Organization promotes Clinton’s new strategy against Syria
By Johannes Stern, 6 November 2012
The International Socialist Organization is working consciously to advance US imperialist interests by promoting Washington’s proxy forces in Syria.
The International Socialist Organization and the 2012 US elections
By David Walsh, 25 October 2012
The ISO operates as an advocacy group in and around the Democratic Party, seeking to improve opportunities for the middle class social layers for which it speaks.
Syria and the pro-imperialist “leftists” of the ISO
By Bill Van Auken, 29 September 2012
After more than a month-long silence on the events in Syria, the International Socialist Organization has resumed its depiction of a bloody sectarian civil war stoked by imperialist intervention as the “Syrian Revolution.”
A brief for racial politics
The New Jim Crow, by Michelle Alexander
By Helen Halyard and Fred Mazelis, 18 September 2012
For Alexander, the driving force of American society is racial “caste” oppression, not the class struggle.
The ISO covers its tracks in betrayal of Con Ed workers
By Dan Brennan and Fred Mazelis, 14 August 2012
Increasingly exposed as tools of management, union bureaucrats at Con Ed and elsewhere welcome the assistance provided by groups like the International Socialist Organization.
ISO complicit in drive to strangle New York Con Ed workers’ struggle
By Sandy English and Joseph Kishore, 24 July 2012
The International Socialist Organization is intervening in the Con Ed struggle with the deliberate aim of bolstering the trade union apparatus and the Democratic Party—and thereby ensuring the defeat of the weeks-long struggle.
ISO silent on Obama’s kill list
By Joseph Kishore, 13 June 2012
In the two weeks since the New York Times report on Obama’s kill list, the International Socialist Organization has not published a single article on the topic.
A reply to the ISO’s Sherry Wolf on racial politics and the killing of Trayvon Martin
By Joseph Kishore, 19 April 2012
The recent World Socialist Web Site article, “The killing of Trayvon Martin and racial politics in America,” provoked a response from the International Socialist Organization’s Sherry Wolf.
ISO covers for New York nurses union
By Peter Daniels, 10 February 2012
The “pseudo-left” finds a silver lining in concessions for New York nurses.
The ISO and the Cooper Tire lockout
By Barry Grey and Charles Bogle, 31 December 2011
In the face of the treachery by the United Steel Workers at Cooper Tire, the International Socialist Organization (ISO) is doing its best to disorient and confuse the rank and file and give a boost to the union leadership.
The Occupy movement, identity politics and the International Socialist Organization
By David Walsh, 11 November 2011
The Occupy Wall Street and associated protests represent the re-emergence of social struggle at the center of American political life after an absence of several decades. In this context, the ISO promotes the unions and identity politics.
Occupy Wall Street: The ISO promotes the unions against workers’ interests
By David Walsh, 28 October 2011
The International Socialist Organization (ISO) is one of the most relentless advocates of the American trade unions anywhere on the political spectrum.
The Nation, ISO seek to channel Wall Street protests back to the Democratic Party
By David Walsh, 7 October 2011
The Nation magazine and the International Socialist Organization are intervening in the Wall Street protests to prevent the emergence of a movement in opposition to the Democratic Party and capitalism.
ISO ignores every question of principle in Strauss-Kahn affair
By David Walsh, 2 September 2011
Socialist Worker has denounced the dismissal of sexual assault charges against French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn by a judge in New York City August 23.
ISO covers for unions’ betrayal of Verizon strike
By Jerry White, 23 August 2011
The International Socialist Organization is defending the unions responsible for the sellout of the strike by 45,000 Verizon telecom workers.
The ISO and the betrayal of the Chicago teachers
By Jerry White, 17 June 2011
The International Socialist Organization, which styles itself a force to lead the struggles of workers, bears direct political responsibility for a major attack against Illinois teachers.
The International Socialist Organization gushes over unions’ role in Wisconsin
By David Walsh, 23 February 2011
The International Socialist Organization reacted to the explosion of working class anger in Wisconsin by encouraging illusions that the trade unions would resist Republican Governor Scott Walker’s attack on public sector workers.
On the US “left” and the Egyptian Revolution
By Jerry White, 1 February 2011
Just as they did in the recent events in Tunisia, the International Socialist Organization is promoting the bourgeois opposition in Egypt, including Mohamed ElBaradei, as the legitimate leaders of the mass movement.
The ISO, the middle-class “left” and the Chicago Teachers Union
By Kristina Betinis and Jerry White, 12 January 2011
More than six months after a supposed militant faction of the Chicago Teachers Union won control of the union, it has refused to mount any struggle against the destruction of teachers’ jobs and conditions.
Break with Obama and the Democratic Party
For an independent working class movement to defend public education!
By the Statement International Students for Social Equality, 7 October 2010
Students are protesting today against attacks on public education under conditions of mounting social distress for millions of young people.
ISO opposes break with Democratic Party at Berkeley planning committee meeting
By Kevin Kearney, 29 September 2010
Paralleling an event earlier in the month in San Diego, members of the International Socialist Organization participating in a planning committee meeting in Berkeley worked actively to defeat any move to break with the Democratic Party in the struggle against education cuts.
Planning committee on education cuts—the ISO supports the Democratic Party
By Jack Cody, 23 September 2010
A meeting called to discuss a “day of action” to protest education cuts in California exposes the role of ex-left organizations like the International Socialist Organization as front groups for the Democratic Party.
Correspondence on “‘Socialism 2010’: The politics of the International Socialist Organization”
30 June 2010
Letters on the ISO convention, "Socialism 2010"
More letters on the International Socialist Organization
30 June 2010
More letters on the International Socialist Organization
New today--Two letters on “‘Socialism 2010’: The politics of the International Socialist Organization”
29 June 2010
Thank you for this important article on the disastrous politics of the International Socialist Organization. This article could only have been written by a Marxist organization like the SEP and ICFI, because every other group out there is in one way or another doing exactly what the ISO is doing. Therefore to attack the ISO would be in many ways attacking their own organization. I really wonder why is it that all these groups aren’t in the same organization.
Further correspondence on “‘Socialism 2010’: The politics of the International Socialist Organization”
28 June 2010
More letters from readers on “‘Socialism 2010’: The politics of the International Socialist Organization”
More letters on “‘Socialism 2010’: The politics of the International Socialist Organization”
26 June 2010
Letters on the ISO convention, "Socialism 2010"
A letter on “‘Socialism 2010’: The politics of the International Socialist Organization”
25 June 2010
The WSWS has received numerous letters on its two-part article on the International Socialist Organization and its conferences, “Socialism 2010.” We post another of those emails today.
An exchange on “‘Socialism 2010’: The politics of the International Socialist Organization”
By David Walsh, 24 June 2010
The WSWS has received numerous letters on its two-part article on the International Socialist Organization and its conferences, “Socialism 2010.” We reply to one of those emails today.
“Socialism 2010”: The politics of the International Socialist Organization Part 2: The ISO and Barack Obama
By David Walsh, 19 June 2010
The International Socialist Organization (ISO) and the Socialist Worker are sponsoring upcoming conferences in Chicago and Oakland, California under the banner “Socialism 2010.” What is the nature of these meetings?
“Socialism 2010”: The politics of the International Socialist Organization
Part 1: The ISO and the American middle-class left
By David Walsh, 18 June 2010
The International Socialist Organization (ISO) and Socialist Worker are sponsoring upcoming conferences in Chicago and Oakland, California under the banner “Socialism 2010.” What is the nature of these meetings?
The presence of Tariq Ali at the “Socialism 2010” conference
By David Walsh, 18 June 2010
If a political meeting is to be judged by its featured speakers, then the presence of Tariq Ali at “Socialism 2010” is pretty definitive. Ali is a political opportunist of the worst sort, as demonstrated by his decades-long political record.
Iran, the media and the World Socialist Web Site
By Joe Kishore, 26 June 2009
The various TV commentators and print reporters—to say nothing of the newspaper columnists—have become open partisans of the oppositional candidate in Iran, who happens to be the candidate favored by the United States.
The struggle against war demands a break with the Democratic Party
The ISO and the dead-end of protest politics
By Patrick Martin, 16 June 2007
This article is available as a PDF leaflet to download and distribute
The International Socialist Organization and the 2006 election
By the Bill Van Auken and Socialist Equality Party candidate for US Senate from New York, 23 June 2006
This article is available as a PDF leaflet to download and distribute
The politics of opportunism: a look at the International Socialist Organization
By Joseph Kay, 7 July 2005
The International Socialist Organization (ISO) held its annual conference, entitled “Socialism 2005: Build the Left Alternative,” in Chicago from July 1-4. The conference was attended by several hundred ISO members, mainly college students.
How not to build an antiwar movement: a comment on the politics of the ISO
By the Bill Van Auken, 1 July 2005
The International Socialist Organization (ISO) is holding a conference in Chicago this weekend under the title “Socialism 2005: Build the Left Alternative.”
Bill Vann replies to a member of the International Socialist Organization
29 April 2002
Dear World Socialist Web Site,
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