Dear editor, While discussing the concept of the falling rate of profit with a friend, he asked me if I had evidence or proof that the rule of profit is indeed falling. I replied that I did not but would seek to obtain it.... A reader, Brooklyn, N.Y. NAT WEINSTEIN REPLIES: Dear reader, … Continue reading Our Readers Speak Out
Month: March 2000
Editorials
Socialist Action salutes the 40,000 trade unionists, environmentalists, students, farmers and other concerned people who took to the streets of Seattle to protest the World Trade Organization in November. We are also thrilled with the number of local organizing initiatives that have arisen in the aftermath of Seattle, both to discuss the lessons of that … Continue reading Editorials
Youth in Action
By JAVIER ARMAS "You can't stop us!" "Prop. 21 is war on youth!" "We have the real power!" These are some of the many radical chants that hundreds of young people were repeating when they broke into a school in the Mission District of San Francisco. This was called "the last showdown"-the last day of … Continue reading Youth in Action
Why I Left the SWP and Joined Socialist Action
Below is a letter from a new member of the Twin Cities branch of Socialist Action. I hope to describe some of the experiences that eventually led me to resign from the Socialist Workers Party/Young Socialists and to join Socialist Action. My intent is that it will be useful for others who may have … Continue reading Why I Left the SWP and Joined Socialist Action
White-Collar Workers Defy Boeing
As this is written, nearly 20,000 Boeing aircraft engineers and technical workers have been on strike for over three weeks. Some news reports are calling the Seattle area walkout the largest white-collar strike in memory. The Christian Science Monitor (Feb. 24) says that "because SPEEA [Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace] is a voluntary … Continue reading White-Collar Workers Defy Boeing
Film Review: ‘Cradle Will Rock’
"Cradle Will Rock,"a film directed by Tim Robbins, based on the musical play by Marc Blitzstein. "Cradle Will Rock" has not been nominated for a prize at this year's Academy Awards ceremonies. But if Hollywood gave Oscars for "intelligent dialogue," for "social relevance," and for "playful fun," this film would be in the top running. … Continue reading Film Review: ‘Cradle Will Rock’
Labor Briefing
Gore and the China Trade The AFL-CIO tops say they are determined to defeat the Clinton-Gore administration's campaign in Congress to grant China permanent normal trade status. Still, they are spending at least $40 million and spurring union activists to elect presidential candidate Al Gore, and a Democratic congressional majority. The obvious contradiction in electing … Continue reading Labor Briefing
AFL-CIO Backs Amnesty for Undocumented Workers
Give me your tired, your poor.... Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! -Inscribed on the Statue of Liberty By CHARLES WALKER In February, the AFL-CIO Executive Council unanimously adopted a resolution urging the end of sanctions against employers who hire undocumented workers, as mandated … Continue reading AFL-CIO Backs Amnesty for Undocumented Workers
Ray Rogers Corporate Campaign: Friend or Foe?
Before the transit contract talks began, a union-consulting firm headed by Ray Rogers of the Corporate Campaign Inc. (CCI) approached TWU Local 100. Rogers has a reputation for being a "progressive," but apparently believes that strikes are "out of date." The CCI conducts public relations campaigns against corporate abuses, with a special focus on the … Continue reading Ray Rogers Corporate Campaign: Friend or Foe?
New York City Transit Workers Reluctantly Ratify Contract
By LEO SCHWARTZ Despite a bitter "vote no" campaign waged by union insurgents in the New Directions Caucus (ND), a new contract for New York City transit workers was ratified by 69 percent on Feb. 8 in a count of mail ballots. The contract contains a 12.5 percent wage increase over three years, with an … Continue reading New York City Transit Workers Reluctantly Ratify Contract
Strike Wave Hits India
Following are major excerpts from a statement by the Inquilabi Communist Sangathan, Indian Section of the Fourth International. After long years of one-sided bourgeois offensive, punctuated only by sporadic and scattered resistance, the Indian working class has begun to hit back against the new wave of capitalist offensive. On Jan. 19, the lead news in … Continue reading Strike Wave Hits India
Taxing Our Patience
By CHARLES WALKER Recently, The New York Times (Feb. 8) ran a front-page article that quoted a corporation boss as saying that a congressman was "selling one of the most powerful positions in the Congress, if not the government." Since then I've been waiting for follow-up investigative pieces, with more sordid, devilish details. Those articles, … Continue reading Taxing Our Patience
Mass Protests Denounce Ultra-Right Coalition in Austria
At the beginning of February, the traditional conservative party in Austria formed a coalition with an ultraright , antiforeigner, populist party with features reminiscent of fascism, the Freedom Party of Jörg Haider. It got 25 percent of the vote in the past election. The formation of the right-ultraright government set off alarm bells throughout Europe … Continue reading Mass Protests Denounce Ultra-Right Coalition in Austria
Indonesia Masks Repression with Facade of ‘Democracy’
By GERRY FOLEY With the Chechen capital of Grozny reduced to ruins, inhabited only by a destitute remnant of its population, the champions of Russian "power" can now begin to total up the results of their campaign. One result will be an enduring hatred on the part of the Chechen people. This savage slaughter renews … Continue reading Indonesia Masks Repression with Facade of ‘Democracy’
Who Gains From the Slaughter in Chechnya?
By GERRY FOLEY With the Chechen capital of Grozny reduced to ruins, inhabited only by a destitute remnant of its population, the champions of Russian "power" can now begin to total up the results of their campaign. One result will be an enduring hatred on the part of the Chechen people. This savage slaughter renews … Continue reading Who Gains From the Slaughter in Chechnya?
Uprising in Mexican Village Overpowers Cops
The above photo shows a row of Mexican police, bound, and kneeling on the ground. Outraged by the brutal attacks by these police on striking students at the local teachers' college, the population of the village of Tepatepec rose up and overpowered the cops. It then brought them before a "people's court" and humiliated them. … Continue reading Uprising in Mexican Village Overpowers Cops
Mexican Student Movement Suffers Serious Defeat
By RICARDO MARTINEZ-LACY MEXICO CITY-On Feb. 6, as day broke, a few thousand members of a police body formed by ex-soldiers (Federal Preventive Police, Policia Federal Preventiva) penetrated the barricades erected by the General Strike Council (Consejo General de Huelga, CGH), interrupted a session of this student organization, which thus turned out to be the … Continue reading Mexican Student Movement Suffers Serious Defeat
Profits vs. the Planet: The Fight to End Global Warming
By Roland Sheppard The following "warning" was printed on page A9 of the San Francisco Chronicle on Feb. 24. This is the first time that I have seen such an admission by the oil companies, although they worded their message as a compliance with California's Proposition 65. WARNING: Chemicals known to the State to cause … Continue reading Profits vs. the Planet: The Fight to End Global Warming
U.S. Fabricates Spy Charges Against Cuba
By GILBERTO FIRMAT Havana and Washington stood eyeball-to-eyeball in an unprecedented diplomatic confrontation at the end of February, and the Americans blinked. On Feb. 26, FBI agents picked up Cuban diplomat Jose Imperatori and put him on a plane to Montreal. Cuba had dared the United States to let him stay so that the FBI … Continue reading U.S. Fabricates Spy Charges Against Cuba
Elections in Iran Reveal Crisis of Islamic Republic
By KAMRAN NAYERI On Feb. 18, about 70 percent of the eligible voters, 27 million Iranians 16 years of age or older, gave a loose coalition of organizations and individuals that promised political reforms of the government a decisive majority in the sixth Islamic Consultative Council (parliament). The parliament is a "consultative" body in the … Continue reading Elections in Iran Reveal Crisis of Islamic Republic
Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: Public Servants or Paid Predators?
When are you Black folks gonna throw off the KILLERS that are JAILIN' YOU for murder? -John Africa, from "On the MOVE!", Philadelphia Tribune, July 26, 1975, p.6 The Amadou Diallo trial of four white cops charged in the firestorm slaughter of the West African has ended in the predictable acquittal of his killers. When … Continue reading Commentary by Mumia Abu-Jamal: Public Servants or Paid Predators?
Trial of Cops Who Killed Diallo Exposes Fake System of ‘Justice’
By PAUL SIEGEL With the assistance of DENNIS EDGE Although the prosecution did not seek to make the case, it was not just the four cops who gunned down Amadou Diallo in a hail of 41 bullets who were on trial in Albany this February; it was also the Street Crime Unit of the New … Continue reading Trial of Cops Who Killed Diallo Exposes Fake System of ‘Justice’
Amnesty International at Mumia Conference
An important step forward was registered by the presence at the Feb. 19 conference of Amnesty International's Piers Bannister, author of Amnesty's just released report, "A Life in the Balance: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal." "What can Amnesty bring to the conference," said Bannister, "that you haven't already achieved yourself? ... I'd like to go … Continue reading Amnesty International at Mumia Conference
May 13 Set for International Protests for Mumia Abu-Jamal
By JEFF MACKLER The Feb. 19 Emergency National Conference to Save the Life of Mumia Abu-Jamal represented the broadest unity thus far achieved in the fight to save the life and win the freedom of U.S. political prisoner and death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal. Seven hundred of the nation's leading activists, representing political forces and … Continue reading May 13 Set for International Protests for Mumia Abu-Jamal
Fightback: How French Deal With Teen Pregnancy
by Sylvia Weinstein Once again the French have shown more common sense than this country. The government of France is going to dispense the morning-after pill to young women in junior high schools and high schools. A nonprescription pill called Norlevo will be included in the school nurse's kit along with band aids and iodine. … Continue reading Fightback: How French Deal With Teen Pregnancy