"The real purpose of socialism is to advance above and beyond the predatory environment. ... The economic anarchy of capitalism is, in my opinion, the real source of evil." -Albert Einstein, Time magazine's Man of the Century The turn of the century is a mathematical calculation. But the changing of the age is a social … Continue reading Editorials
Month: January 2000
Youth in Action
By JOE SEIDMAN During finals week at UCLA (Dec. 13-17), students were studying diligently for their upcoming exams. But during this week, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) gave all the students a first-hand lesson that they couldn't learn from a book, and a lesson they won't soon forget. Traditionally, starting the Sunday night of … Continue reading Youth in Action
Lordstown GM Workers Forced to Give Concessions
By SHIRLEY PASHOLK CLEVELAND-Management at GM's Lordstown, Ohio, plant and officials of UAW Local 1112 were shocked when local members defeated a proposed local agreement by better than two to one in voting ending Nov. 24. This vote was followed up by an overwhelming strike authorization vote. A revote then took place on Dec. 16. … Continue reading Lordstown GM Workers Forced to Give Concessions
NY Transit Workers are Defiant as Voting on New Contract Nears
BY LEO SCHWARTZ NEW YORK-The most popular chant by transit workers at two large contract rallies was "strike!" but the union bureaucrats were determined to sabotage any real confrontation with the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) and the city's ruling class. A tentative contract agreement was reached two hours after the expiration date of midnight, Dec. … Continue reading NY Transit Workers are Defiant as Voting on New Contract Nears
Religious Struggle Highlights Crisis in Indonesia’s New Regime
By GERRY FOLEY Clashes between Christians and Muslims in the Moluccas, a chain of a thousand islands in the east of the Indonesian archipelago, have grown into another major crisis for the post-dictatorship regime. In the recent flareup that began on Dec. 27, reportedly around 300 people have been killed. Over the past year about … Continue reading Religious Struggle Highlights Crisis in Indonesia’s New Regime
Labor Briefing
Teamsters urge members to fight U.S. postal monopoly Organized labor rightly takes credit for its early support of public services, such as schools, libraries, hospitals, and the like. More recently, unions have opposed the privatization of public-sector jobs held by teachers, clerks, and custodians. Now the Hoffa-led Teamsters Union has taken a step backwards. The … Continue reading Labor Briefing
Shaun ‘Jack’ Maloney: A Working-Class Hero
Shaun "Jack" Maloney, one of the leaders of the Minneapolis Teamsters in the 1930s, died in Seattle on Dec. 19, 1999. He was 88 years old. In the Minneapolis Teamster Strikes of 1934-1937, he was a leader of the "flying squads" organized by the union to enforce strikes. During the 1934 strike, he and 66 … Continue reading Shaun ‘Jack’ Maloney: A Working-Class Hero
Curtis Mayfield: His Legacy Will Live On
By GAETANA CALDWELL-SMITH Most people who are into soul music and R&B, now in their 40s and older, remember Curtis Mayfield, a two-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Perhaps even some younger R&B and pop fans, or "blaxploitation" movie aficionados are hip to him. Mayfield inspired three generations of musicians to … Continue reading Curtis Mayfield: His Legacy Will Live On
The Genesis of Proletarian Internationalism
It's in the nature of things that capitalist exploitation and oppression on a global scale begets its own opposite-that is, brings into existence the internationalism of the exploited and oppressed. Both nationalism and proletarian internationalism are relatively recent expressions of the social nature of the human animal. There are many social species, from ants and … Continue reading The Genesis of Proletarian Internationalism
Romania: Ten Years After the Revolution
BY GERRY FOLEY Bucharest during 1989 revolt that overthrew Ceaucescu bureaucracy With the onset of the 10th anniversary of the Romanian revolution that overthrew the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaucescu, the social crisis caused by the attempts of successive governments since December 1989 to restore capitalism seemed to be reaching a new peak. The Italian left … Continue reading Romania: Ten Years After the Revolution
British Journalists Reveals ‘Hidden Agendas’
By PAUL SIEGEL John Pilger, "Hidden Agendas." New Press, 1998. 412 pp. $18.95 (paperback). Author John Pilger is a veteran radical British journalist and documentary film-maker who is much less known to Americans than he should be. He twice received the coveted British Journalist of the Year Award, and as a filmmaker he won an … Continue reading British Journalists Reveals ‘Hidden Agendas’
It is Critical that We Defend Police Victims in Seattle
The following letter was received from Steve Argue, who was arrested on charges of assaulting a police officer after cops attacked a Santa Cruz, Calif., rally against the U.S. bombing of Yugoslavia last May. Steve was sentenced to nine months in jail, which he is now serving. Dear Socialist Action, I have received the December … Continue reading It is Critical that We Defend Police Victims in Seattle
Incident at US Embassy in Mexico City Reveals Deep Tensions Within Student Strike Strategy
MEXICO CITY-In the afternoon of Dec. 11, some 200 people rallied outside the U.S. Embassy here. Some of the protesters threw tomatoes and stones at the facade of building. The rally had been convened to protest Mumia Abu-Jamal's condemnation to death. It had been called by the General Strike Council (Consejo General de Huelga, CGH), … Continue reading Incident at US Embassy in Mexico City Reveals Deep Tensions Within Student Strike Strategy
Student Protests Resume in Iran
By KAMRAN NAYERI Thousands of students at several colleges and universities in Tehran have returned to the streets in recent weeks to protest the jailing of Abdullah Nouri and closing down of his newspaper, Khordad. Nouri, a central leader of the reform wing of the Islamic Republic regime, was tried by a "special court for … Continue reading Student Protests Resume in Iran
A Critical Period in the Battle to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
The following letter was initiated by the National Coordinators of the movement to free the framed-up Black political prisoner, Mumia Abu-Jamal. The coordinators and other prominent defense activists have listed a number of the upcoming major events designed to win new support for Mumia's demand for a new trial. The new millennium will usher in … Continue reading A Critical Period in the Battle to Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
FIGHTBACK: Children Here and There
by Sylvia Weinstein You can know a country by the children-the way it treats them and the way it wants them. Recently, in Houston, Texas, the city put up a billboard pleading for mothers not to abandon their babies. It reads, " DON'T ABANDON YOUR BABY! Take your child to an emergency medical technician at … Continue reading FIGHTBACK: Children Here and There
Why Was King Murdered?
By ROLAND SHEPPARD On Dec. 8, a jury awarded Corretta Scott King and her family $100 in damages resulting from the conspiracy to murder her late husband, Martin Luther King. The trial was initiated by the admission of Lloyd Jowers on national TV in 1993 that he had hired King's assassin as a favor to … Continue reading Why Was King Murdered?
The War on Chechnya and US ‘Humanitarianism’
By NAT WEINSTEIN Every major political current and politician in Russia, from the most rabid Great Russian chauvinists on the right to the Communist Party of the Russian Federation on the so-called "left," supports the cruelly repressive and utterly reactionary war on Chechnya. Although American-led world imperialism has loudly condemned the Russian assault on Chechnya, … Continue reading The War on Chechnya and US ‘Humanitarianism’
Will Yeltsin’s Stepdown Bring Stability to Russia?
The surprise resignation of Russian president Boris Yeltsin on Dec. 31 was obviously designed to create the impression that political stability is being restored in Russia. Premier Vladimir Putin, now interim president, has been getting high ratings in public opinion polls. On the other hand, the largely discredited Yeltsin was a physical and political ruin. … Continue reading Will Yeltsin’s Stepdown Bring Stability to Russia?
‘The People in Cuba are Solidly Behind Getting Elian back Home’
Michael Smith: Michael, what's at stake in the Elian Gonzalez situation? Obviously this case is about more than returning a six-year-old to Cuba. Michael Ratner: Clearly from a legal point of view there's never been any issue here. There's an absolute right of the father, particularly after he is recognized as the father and is … Continue reading ‘The People in Cuba are Solidly Behind Getting Elian back Home’