AUSTRALIA $1.50 · canada $1.50 · france 1.00 euro · new zealand $1.50 · uk £.50 · u.s. $1.00 INSIDE Frank Gorton built communist movement in Canada, UK, US — PAGE 5 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE vol. 84/no. 24 June 22, 2020 Workers fight French auto Worldwide protests say, boss attacks on workers strike ‘End police brutality!’ jobs, pay, work over Renault conditions plant closures by Roy Landersen by brian williams From airlines to auto plants, oil Facing plant closings by the bosses companies to food packing, bosses at Renault, autoworkers in France are around the world are pushing to crank organizing strikes and protest rallies up production as governments lift against company plans to eliminate onerous lockdowns, opening the door 4,600 jobs nationwide. These actions for the employers to ratchet up cut- have forced the company to back off throat capitalist competition for mar- from some of the plant closings for now. kets and profits. Some 8,000 union workers rallied As an essential part of doing this, at Renault’s Maubeuge plant in north- they’re discarding “excess” workers ern France May 30 after bosses said and pressing wages down, while si- they would close that factory and shift multaneously trying to force remain- some production to another plant. The ing workers to work longer and hard- 2,000 workers there went on strike, er, and turning a blind eye to increas- returning to work June 3 after bosses ingly dangerous working conditions. “reassured” them and union officials Militant/Candace Wagner Workers are responding. Actions that a deal is being worked out to keep Old Bridge, New Jersey, June 4, one of hundreds — perhaps thousands — of protests that defending jobs, pay and safety are the plant open. have exploded in small towns across U.S. after Minneapolis cops brutally killed George Floyd. breaking out — from fruit packers in The day before that strike ended, Cops and their violence are an Workers, youth march in cities, Yakima Valley, Washington, to sani- Renault Chairman Jean-Dominique tation workers in New Orleans and Senard announced that the Choisy-le- essential part of capitalist rule towns, rural areas across US from autoworkers in France and Spain Roi plant near Paris would be closed. Alyson Kennedy, the Socialist by seth galinsky to sacked Debenhams store workers This will be the first of the company’s Workers Party candidate for presi- More than two weeks after Minneap- in Ireland. plants in France to be shuttered. In re- dent, issued the following statement olis cops brutally killed George Floyd, Scores of immigrant blueberry sponse, the 262 workers there went on June 9. Malcolm Jarrett is the party’s protests on an unprecedented scale con- Continued on page 6 Continued on page 7 candidate for vice president. tinue to sweep the world. From big cities to rural towns in the U.S. and elsewhere, Socialist Workers hundreds of thousands, if not millions, have joined the protests — most for the Planned Parenthood wins fight to Party statement first time in their lives — and have fo- The explosion of demonstrations cused attention on countless other cases keep Missouri abortion clinic open against the Minneapolis cop killing of police brutality. of George Floyd that have swept the The widespread protests forced country — from big cities to small prosecutors to indict the four cops in- rural towns — and spread around the volved in killing Floyd and to lodge world give a picture of what work- more weighty charges against Derek Continued on page 9 Continued on page 2 Protests, workers’ resistance to bosses spur interest in the ‘Militant,’ books by seth galinsky to working people on their doorsteps The protests against police brutal- in big cities, small towns and farming ity that are sweeping the U.S. and the areas and find the same interest. world — combined with resistance Participants in June 5 and 6 rallies to the bosses’ attacks as the capital- Continued on page 4 ist economic crisis unfolds — have boosted interest in the Militant news- paper, books by Socialist Workers Party leaders and other revolutionists, Inside Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP and the Socialist Workers Party elec- Supreme Court upholds St. Louis Planned Parenthood, only clinic open in Missouri for women who choose to have tion campaigns. an abortion, hangs huge banner May 29 after defeat of state officials’ move to shut it down. attack on right to worship 3 Over the last week more than 250 by emma johnson clinic and Gov. Mike Parson’s admin- working people and youth have sub- Florida: restrictions on former Supporters of women’s right to istration. When the clinic’s operators scribed to the Militant and purchased felons right to vote pushed back 4 choose whether to have an abortion filed to renew their license last year, at least that number of books. This is $1,200 ‘stimulus’ appeal registered an important victory May the state’s health department refused, a reflection of the thirst to understand climbs over $116,000 5 29 when the state government’s at- claiming to have uncovered “serious why cop brutality and other oppres- tempt to shut down Missouri’s only re- and extensive” problems during its sive conditions exist and to learn more Hong Kong workers mark maining abortion clinic was blocked. annual inspection. After seizing the about what working people can do to Tiananmen Square massacre 6 The Planned Parenthood clinic in St. medical records of over 4,000 women chart a road forward to end them. Protest in Syria: ‘Down with Louis now has its annual license to who had abortions at the clinic since Socialist Workers Party members Assad! Moscow, Tehran out!’ 7 operate. Their office is festooned with 2018, the state inspectors claimed have been joining the actions, intro- a giant banner reading, “Still here.” they had turned up four instances of ducing the Militant and books and en- ‘Building socialism is a voluntary This victory ends — at least for what they called “failed abortions.” couraging others to do the same. At task of free men and women’ 8 now — a yearlong battle between the Continued on page 9 the same time, they continue talking Marches in cities, rural areas Continued from front page talism, which seeks to foster divisions Chauvin, who pressed his knee down among working people, to pit them on the handcuffed man’s neck for nearly against each other and divert them from nine minutes, from third-degree to sec- their real enemy. ond-degree murder. Throughout the day on June 8 people The actions boosted the fight to pros- attended a wake for Floyd at the Foun- ecute the cops who shot dead Breonna tain of Praise Church in Houston, where Taylor, an emergency room technician, he was brought up. “I owe my condo- during a midnight no-knock raid on lences to George Floyd,” Martin Dailey her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky, told Alyson Kennedy, Socialist Work- March 13. The cops who burst into Tay- ers Party candidate for president, at the lor’s home, spraying the bed where she event. “I am fighting a firing from my slept with bullets, are still on paid desk job as an operator from a PVC chemi- duty, while an “investigation” is under- cal plant in Freeport, Texas, because of way. discrimination.” On June 5, which would have been The massive protests take place as Taylor’s 27th birthday, calls for the pros- working people also confront growing ecution of the cops who killed her were assaults on our jobs, wages and working heard at many of the actions. conditions. Hundreds rallied at the Brunswick courthouse in Georgia June 4, following Rural Kentucky an ‘ally’ Hazard, Pikeville, Paintsville and other Bridge, New Jersey, a majority Cauca- a hearing for the three white vigilantes More than 100 mostly young work- smaller towns across Kentucky. sian town of 24,000. She was part of a charged with the February killing of ers joined a protest in Harlan, Kentucky, Over 100 people joined a rally in contingent of Black high school students Ahmaud Arbery, a Black youth slain June 2, organized by high school student Havre, Montana, a farm town of 9,700. on the march. “We are here to build our while he was jogging. and Arby’s worker Bree Carr. Harlan The protest was organized by Melody community, not burn it,” she said. In a sign of the depth of the outrage County, which is 96% Caucasian, has Bernard, a Chippewa Creek tribal mem- “My grandmother grew up in the over police killings, several hundred a long history of strikes and protests by ber. One participant was Dorian Miles, South and had to sit on the back of the demonstrations have taken place in coal miners. a young Black man, who moved there bus,” high school student Zora Dancy small towns and rural areas across the Carr told the Harlan Enterprise that just five months ago to play football for told Candace Wagner, the SWP’s candi- U.S. This shows the ongoing impact of she’d “been thinking how much I want Montana State University. date for U.S. Congress in New Jersey’s the fight for Black rights in the 1950s to do something.” So she put out a flyer He was blown away. “A SMALL 8th District, at the march. “She joined and ’60s that overturned Jim Crow seg- and recruited others she met at Walmart town of predominantly older white the fight to change that. And now here I regation in the South and advanced the to help organize the protest. Americans stood with me to protest the am still fighting.” fight against racism across the country The turnout was better than she ex- wrongdoings at the hands of police EV- During the first week after Floyd was and around the world. That fight, led by pected, and passing cars honked in sup- ERYWHERE,” he wrote to friends on killed, many of the U.S. protests — es- Black workers, transformed social re- port. “Deep within rural Appalachia, Facebook. pecially in larger cities — were marred lations in the country, making it more especially in southeastern Kentucky, Two young Black women, Ande by looting and in some cases violent at- possible for workers of all nationalities people look upon us like we ignore is- Green and Essence Blue, put out a flyer tacks on police stations. Some were car- to work, live and fight together. sues that are happening and like we’re announcing a protest in Alliance, Ohio, ried out by provocateurs on the march. Protesters at today’s actions are young uneducated,” Carr told the press. “My population 21,616, 80% Caucasian. “We Most were organized by gangs or frus- and old, Black, Latino, Caucasian and idea was to show people of color who didn’t know what to expect,” Green told trated youth, targeting jewelry, electron- Asian — proof that there is less racism are struggling right now all over the The Associated Press. “But over 300 ics, shoe as well as grocery stores and than ever among working people. The country that there are people in this ru- people showed up.” other large and small businesses, many real source of racist discrimination and ral place that are allies.” Green also put her finger on the re- already reeling from the government- cop brutality is the functioning of capi- There have been similar protests in ality of the working class in the U.S. imposed coronavirus shutdowns. “These small towns matter because it’s Many of the attacks on cops and po- a lot of small towns,” she said. “All of lice stations were carried out by antifa these small towns coming together, it’s groups and other middle-class radicals. what we need to make a change.” All of these weakened the protests, put- The blows of today’s capitalist social ting barriers in the way of involving crisis hit hard on the countryside with more working people who backed the hospitals closing, jobs gone and social aims of the actions. Back fights to defend wages, jobs, work conditions aid programs slashed. Government authorities took advan- tage of the violent acts to go after demo- From fruit packers in ‘People’s thinking has evolved’ cratic and political rights. Washington state to auto- What happened to George Floyd can’t In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio workers in Spain and France be accepted as the “status quo,” Emma imposed a weeklong 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. to lumber workers in Chile Boateng told a protest of 800 in Old curfew. Some 2,000 people had been — working people are find- ing ways to stand up to boss- Latin America, Caribbean: For one year send es’ speedup and attacks on The Militant $85 drawn on a U.S. bank to above address. Vol. 84/No. 24 Africa, Asia, and the Middle East: For wages and safety. The ‘Mili- one year send $85 drawn on a U.S. bank to Courtesy Claudio Higueras Osorio Closing news date: June 10, 2020 above address. tant’ reports on these fights Workers at lumber company in Los Ángeles, Editor: John Studer Canada: For one year send Canadian $45 and builds solidarity. Chile, block road during 43-day strike. to the Militant, 7107 St. Denis #204, Mon- Managing Editor: Terry Evans treal, Quebec H2S 2S5. Editorial volunteers: Róger Calero, Seth Ga- United Kingdom: Send £30 for one year linsky, Emma Johnson, Martín Koppel, Roy by check or international money order SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Landersen, Jacob Perasso, Brian Williams. made out to CL London, 5 Norman Road (first floor), Seven Sisters, London, N15 Published weekly except for one week in 4ND, England. January, one week in June, one week in NEW READERS NAME July, one week in September. 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2 The Militant June 22, 2020 Thousands defy Australia gov’t, protest brutality

Facing page: Instagram; above, Ande Green Facing page, Atlanta June 5. Above, May 31 action in Alliance, Ohio. “These small towns com- ing together, is what we need to make a change,” said Ande Green, protest organizer there. Militant/Baskaran Appu arrested as of June 5 for curfew viola- would not be tolerated, helping reduce SYDNEY — Tens of thousands protested across Australia June 5-6, includ- tions, “unlawful assembly,” disorderly provocative actions. ing more than 20,000 here, in solidarity with U.S. demonstrations against the conduct and resisting arrest. But with The protests have a deep impact. police killing of George Floyd as well as against Aboriginal deaths in police large peaceful demonstrations continu- Todd Winn, a U.S. Marine, joined a custody. The cops in New South Wales appealed to a Supreme Court judge ing past curfew every day, it was lifted. June 5 protest in Salt Lake City in uni- for a ban on the protest, ostensibly because of the government’s ban on social form for three hours holding a sign that gatherings due to coronavirus, and got it. Just before the action began, the ‘New York Times’ defends looting said, “Justice for George Floyd, Breonna Court of Appeals voided the ban. Outrage had been further fueled after a Sydney cop was caught on cam- While most working people oppose Taylor, Tamir Rice, Countless Others.” era just a week before, slamming an Aboriginal teenager face first into the the pillaging, the New York Times took Unlike the cops, workers and farmers in ground. The rally in Melbourne also went ahead despite government de- the lead in justifying it. “Violence is the armed forces can and are being won mands to cancel it. The authorities say organizers still face fines for disobey- when an agent of the state kneels on to the side of working-class struggles. ing public health orders. a man’s neck until all of the life is Many carried handmade signs saying, “Aboriginal lives matter” and “432 International protests leached out of his body. Destroying deaths — No convictions.” That’s the number of Aboriginal people a govern- property, which can be replaced, is Protests against police brutality and ment inquiry said have died at the hands of police or prison guards since not violence,” Pulitzer Prize winning racism have spread to more than 40 1991. Not one of those responsible has been convicted. Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones countries, often centered around cases of In Wollongong, a city of about 300,000 just south of Sydney, several thou- claimed on CBS News June 2. “To use brutality perpetrated by the cops there, sand marched through the city center. the same language to describe those including in Australia (see article on this At the rally here messages were read out from family members of indig- two things is not moral.” page), Canada, France, Iran, Israel, Italy, enous people who have died in custody. One was from Leetona Dungay, the To Hannah-Jones, the people who Kenya, Germany, Spain, Thailand, the mother of David Dungay, a 26-year-old man killed by prison guards at Long own now-destroyed small businesses, U.K. and many more. Bay jail in Sydney in December 2015. the workers out of a job because the At June 6 protests in major cities Dungay, like Floyd, had repeatedly told guards, “I can’t breathe” before he stores they worked at lie in ruins, and across Brazil, marches carried “Black died. “I am determined to continue to fight to see justice for my son,” she said. the working people who depend on Lives Matter” banners emblazoned with — LINDA HARRIS them to shop — often their only source the name of João Pedro Matos Pinto, of basic necessities — are of no concern. 14, who was gunned down by cops in a She just sees “property.” suburb of Rio de Janeiro. After storming take part,” Will Goodlake told Mili- working people in their millions to Areas hard hit by looting include the youth’s home, throwing a grenade tant worker-correspondents at a pro- unite and organize against police bru- the Minneapolis neighborhoods near inside and spraying it with bullets, the test of thousands marching to the U.S. tality, acts of racist discrimination, and where Floyd was killed, with many police claimed it was an accident. Embassy in London. all the iniquities rooted in capitalist ex- stores destroyed. “Now is the time to stand up and These actions show the potential for ploitation and oppression. A two-block area there has been roped off and become a center of discus- sion and protest. More than a dozen vol- unteer stands — organized by individu- Supreme Court upholds attack on right to worship als and church groups — provide free by terry evans gatherings in that state to no more on concerts and sports events. hot meals and water all day and late into In a dangerous violation of constitu- than 10 people. Regardless of the severity or lax- the evening to neighborhood residents tional rights, the U.S. Supreme Court Both decisions strike blows at the First ness of other restrictions, the work- and thousands streaming in to visit the May 29 in a 5-4 vote upheld restrictions Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ing class has an unequivocal stake memorial set up to Floyd. on freedom of worship imposed by Cali- which forbids the government from es- in safeguarding the right to freedom Several places donate food, dia- fornia Gov. Gavin Newsom. tablishing a state religion or prohibiting of worship. It is a central conquest of pers and other supplies that are now Claiming to safeguard public health anyone from free exercise of the religion the bourgeois-democratic revolution harder to get because of shuttered or from coronavirus, Newsom compro- of their choice. The same amendment in the U.S., barring the government destroyed stores. mised protections enshrined in the Bill forbids the government from abridging from interfering with our rights. of Rights that are needed and used by freedom of speech, or of the press, or Restrictions enforced by govern- Postal workers union joins protests workers and farmers to defend our- “the right of the people peaceably to as- ments in the name of “combating the On June 7, 75 members of the postal selves from government interference semble, and to petition the government virus” have been used to attack free workers union and some bus drivers in our lives and in our struggles. Those for a redress of grievances.” speech and the right to protest, from marched into the area carrying a banner voting to back government limits on Pastor Jim Franklin at Cornerstone Hong Kong to Chile. Bans that have that read “Postal Workers Demand Jus- religious freedom included all four so- Church in Fresno, California, says he hit the working class especially hard tice for George Floyd.” They had started called liberal justices, along with Chief will defy the court’s ruling. His church include constraints on visiting relatives out at the remains of the nearby post of- Justice John Roberts. has a 1,400 capacity and he will allow in nursing homes and participating in fice that was gutted by fire during loot- The court rejected a challenge by the 350 people into its services — in line face-to-face first-step meetings like ing the week before. South Bay United Pentecostal Church with the 25% capacity ruling but well Alcoholics Anonymous. Many unions and national farmers in Chula Vista, which sought to over- over the 100 limit Newsom says is legal. This type of abrogation of the Bill of organizations have spoken out against turn Newsom’s executive order banning No justice stood for the principle that Rights will be used by the capitalist rul- the killing. More organized labor par- people from worshipping together once the government of California is barred ers to justify curbs on rights we need to ticipation would significantly strengthen a church had reached 25% of its capacity from interfering with the free exercise organize today. It will increasingly be the fight against police brutality. But or 100 congregants, whichever was less. of religion. They all voted for or against relied upon as battles against the em- even in its absence, many protesters The church had argued that under backing Newsom’s order by compar- ployers, their governments and other successfully pushed back looters and Newsom’s order many secular estab- ing it to bans that California imposes social struggles pick up. provocateurs. Protesters in Spokane, lishments — including retail outlets on other activity. Chief Justice Roberts Legal challenges are still pending Washington — like in many other cities — weren’t saddled with such restric- voted for the ruling, arguing the gover- against executive orders restricting — formed a human chain to prevent the tions, making the executive order nor’s restriction on church gatherings the right to worship in other states. looting of a Nike store June 1. discriminatory. was not as severe as the state govern- In Oregon, Gov. Katherine Brown Organizers of many of the thousands The same day, the court upheld a ment’s complete bans on what Roberts threatens to jail people for up to 30 of protests around the country also now-lapsed limit imposed by Illinois claimed were “comparable secular days if they attend a church service of made clear that looting and violence Gov. Jay Pritzker restricting religious gatherings,” such as the outright ban more than 25 people. The Militant June 22, 2020 3 Interest in ‘Militant,’ books Continued from front page “In the last week we’ve sold 24 sub- in Louisville, Kentucky, calling for scriptions and 47 books,” he said, “most- prosecution of the cops who killed ly at literature tables we’ve set up near Breonna Taylor, bought 20 subscrip- the memorial site for George Floyd.” tions to the Militant and 17 books. At one protest SWP member Jac- Strength in numbers quie Henderson showed union carpen- “Our strength is in our numbers,” ter William Martin the article writ- Demartin Taylor told Alyson Kennedy ten in 1866 by Karl Marx in the book and Malcolm Jarrett, the SWP candi- Tribunes of the People and the Trade dates for U.S. president and vice presi- Unions. Marx wrote that the unions dent, at the June 8 viewing for George “must convince the world at large that Floyd in his hometown of Houston. their efforts, far from being narrow and Taylor was impressed with the par- selfish, aim at the emancipation of the ticipation of working people and youth downtrodden millions.” of many different nationalities. “There “That’s what I’m talking about!” said are many races out here today,” he said. Martin. He subscribed and purchased “This shows we can make a difference.” the book along with The Turn to In- The SWP candidates showed Taylor dustry: Forging a Proletarian Party the book Malcolm X, Black Liberation, by Jack Barnes, national secretary of and the Road to Workers Power. It de- the Socialist Workers Party. In that title scribes how the entire working class Militant photos: Above, Hilda Cuzco; inset, Alyson Kennedy Barnes describes “the working-class was strengthened by the explosive rise Above, SWP presidential candidate Alyson program, composition and course of of the fight for Black liberation from Kennedy and Senate candidate Gerardo conduct” of the party, and why its mem- the mid-1950s, and why the conquest Sánchez march in June 2 Dallas protest against bers strive to join the struggles against cop killing of George Floyd. Inset, Sánchez talks of power by the working class will to Blanca Reyes at her door in Strawn, June 8. the bosses’ attacks on our wages and make the final battle for Black free- working conditions today at the places dom possible. Taylor got the book and asso, SWP candidate for Congress in demands a price guarantee for small where they work. a subscription. New York’s 21st District, met Paul farmers to ensure enough income to In New York City, participants in While Kennedy and Jarrett were Plouffe, one of just 10 remaining cover costs.” demonstrations purchased some 30 campaigning on doorsteps in rural small dairy farmers in the Cham- “In Cuba they made a socialist revo- subscriptions to the Militant and well West Texas a few days before, work- plain Valley. The big milk-processing lution,” Jarrett said, “and one of their over 30 books, including The Jewish ers they met told them about protests companies, banks and feed suppliers, first acts was guaranteeing farmers Question by Abram Leon, a vital ac - that took place in several small towns combined with government regula- would not lose their land, in addition to count of the causes of Jew-hatred in the in the area. tions that favor the big capitalist dair- distributing land from the largest land- imperialist epoch; titles by leaders of Christine Oles in Weatherford told ies, are driving many working farm- holders to those who wanted to farm.” the Cuban Revolution; and numerous Kennedy she had been falsely arrested ers out of business. “People will fight when they are books of speeches by Malcolm X. by cops twice in Dallas. “The police “I need a price between $26 and $30 pushed over the edge,” Plouffe said. thought I had been drinking, even per hundred weight to meet my costs,” “Fifteen small farmers getting togeth- Reform the cops? though I told them I have a disease that Plouffe said, explaining he is only get- er could begin to have an impact.” “We’ve been discussing and debating makes it hard for me to walk,” she said. ting $15. “Prices have been too low for To join the ongoing effort to intro- with people whether the police can be “They wouldn’t listen and refused to five years.” At the same time the prices duce workers and youth to the Mili- reformed, what kind of movement we give me a breathalyzer test.” of seed and other inputs have gone up. tant and books on revolutionary pro- need to build to defend the interests of Oles subscribed to the Militant and “Our campaign calls for an end to gram and history, contact distributors the working class,” David Rosenfeld, purchased Red Zone: Cuba and the farm foreclosures,” Perasso said. “And nearest you listed on page 8. Socialist Workers Party candidate for Battle Against Ebola in West Africa and U.S. Senate in Minnesota, told the Mili- Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? tant June 8. He has participated in many Florida gov’t restrictions on former protests in the Twin Cities since George Campaigning in Vermont Floyd was killed. During the first week of June, SWP Rosenfeld explains it’s possible to vice presidential candidate Jarrett cam- prisoners’ right to vote pushed back push back police brutality by winning paigned in Vermont, where the SWP’s By Steve Warshell restrictions imposed by Gov. Ron De- indictments and prosecutions. But the presidential ticket will be on the ballot. and Anthony Dutrow Santis and the state legislature on the only way to put an end to their brutality “I am fed up with both parties in MIAMI — An important victory for newly won right of ex-felons to vote. once and for all is for the working class Washington,” Chris Brezizicki, a baker working people was registered in Flor- The decision will have a direct impact to replace capitalist rule with a workers in Barre, told Jarrett. ida May 24 when U.S. District Judge on tens of thousands of workers with and farmers government. In Rutland, Jarrett and Jacob Per- Robert Hinkle overturned some of the convictions here. Over a million people signed petitions to put Amendment 4 on the ballot in 25, 50, and 75 years ago 2018 to overturn Florida’s longstanding prohibition on former prisoners’ right to vote. The state constitution was amend- ed after more than 64% voted yes. But the governor and state legisla- June 26, 1995 June 26, 1970 June 23, 1945 ture passed a vindictive law last year REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Five thou- When President [Richard] Nixon or- [Though the second imperialist world making it illegal for those with felony sand workers on more than 300 trawlers dered the U.S. invasion of Cambodia war was winding down] Wall Street’s convictions to vote if they hadn’t paid and fishing ships in Iceland walked off April 30, he maintained that the purpose spokesmen continued this week to press off all outstanding fines, court costs the job May 26, demanding higher and was to “destroy North Vietnamese sanc- for peace-time conscription. The capi- and victim compensation awards. This more uniform wages. The fishermen’s tuaries.” Nixon promised to withdraw talists want huge “peace-time” armies would bar some 775,000 ex-prisoners, strike is the biggest of many labor strug- all U.S. forces by June 30. to put down working-class revolutions over half of those who would be able to gles that have developed here recently. But it is now evident that neither and colonial rebellions. vote from the passage of Amendment 4, The main daily newspaper in Iceland Nixon’s promises nor Senate bills can The fat-headed proposals of the AFL from doing so. complained about the unrest, saying, prevent the war in Cambodia from de- and CIO bureaucrats deserve nothing The judge ruled that the requirement “Most fishing ships are in the har- veloping into a full-scale civil war. The but condemnation by class-conscious is unconstitutional. The plaintiffs — bors. Trade unions prepare a strike in Pnom Penh government, like the gov- workers. The militarists cannot be an- former inmates — argued the state had Straumsvik aluminum plant. Bankers ernment in Saigon, has no popular base. swered by Utopian proposals to reduce essentially imposed a new poll tax. are planning a strike in mid-June. Tour As the civil war has deepened in arms, give up military training. They Ex-felons need to get a court order bus drivers are on strike. Bakers are just Cambodia, there are indications of a want armies to maintain Wall Street’s acknowledging they are unable to about to strike. This is the picture we new domestic crisis facing the regime in plunder and profits. pay before they can register, which have in front of us.” Saigon. Popular hatred for the war has In order to achieve emancipation the “will still deter at least some eligible Fishermen receive payment pro- been heightened in recent months by in- working class needs military training. It citizens from registering and voting,” portional to their catch and operating tensification of war-primed inflation. is the duty of labor’s representatives to Judge Hinkle said. expenses. The captain receives two On June 15, more than 60 of Saigon’s demand that training — at government DeSantis gave notice in court May 29 “shares,” an engineer and the cook one 124 unions began a 24-hour strike in expense — be placed under control of that he intends to appeal. He requested and a half, and the workers one “share.” sympathy with government workers the trade unions. The unions need con- the ruling be stayed while the appeal is Workers on the fleets can be laid off on who have been fired. The workers were trol to make sure military training does considered, which would again bar for- one week’s notice. supported by student demonstrators. not become training against unionism. mer felons from registering.

4 The Militant June 22, 2020 Frank Gorton built communist movement in Canada, UK, US BY JOHN STEELE “deeply immersed in proletarian par- MONTREAL — The political ac- ty-building at home, a course which tivity and contributions of Frank Gor- he carried out inseparably with col- ton, a 56-year cadre of the world com- laborating with forces to forge parties munist movement, were celebrated around the world and the international here at a May 31 event sponsored by communist movement.” the Communist League. Speaking at the meeting, chaired by Gorton dedicated his life to build- Michel Prairie and conducted in both ing communist parties in Canada, the French and English, were Communist United Kingdom, and the U.S. He died League executive committee members in Toronto March 30 at age 79. Beverly Bernardo, Félix Vincent Ar- The 33 participants came from Mon- dea and CL organizer Steve Penner. treal, Hamilton and Toronto. They in- Excerpts from messages were read throughout the program. Frank Gorton, far right with bullhorn, was union spokesperson in 1969 demonstration for cluded Frank’s lifelong companion, Toni wage parity between skilled, unskilled workers at Raleigh bike factory in Nottingham, England. Gorton, also for many decades a party member and now active supporter of Joining the communist movement play booklet with a bullhorn at a Raleigh by Jack Barnes, aims to meet growing the communist movement. Others who When Gorton was born in a working- workers demonstration during their suc- opportunities to be part of struggles would have liked to come from the U.S., class district of London in 1940 during cessful struggle for wage parity for the around wages and job conditions, build- the U.K., or elsewhere were denied the the second imperialist war, Penner said, factory workers,” Penner said. “This ing the unions and winning workers to opportunity by a ban on foreign travel- Britain was being hit daily by bombing was the kind of thing Frank loved to do. the party. To help lead the turn, Gorton ers imposed by Canada’s rulers. runs from Berlin. “He and his mother And he was good at it.” quit his draftsman’s job and took one on Many sent messages, including Jack were placed under the delivery table by The Gorton house became an or- the factory floor. Barnes, national secretary of the Social- nurses to protect them. Frank, with his ganizing center for the anti-Vietnam Gorton knew these struggles were ac- ist Workers Party in the U.S., Jonathan well-known sense of humor, always said War movement. “Toni and Frank were companied by new openings to expand Silberman for the Communist League that experience marked his personality members of the National Council of the circulation of revolutionary literature in the U.K., and the leaderships of for the rest of his life.” Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, which among workers and other exploited pro- Communist Leagues in Australia and Gorton began his political activ- organized two mass anti-war marches ducers. During the 1984-85 strike by New Zealand. ity when he was in school, initiating in London, one of 100,000 and another more than 100,000 coal miners against The messages were bound together a fund campaign for refugees from of 200,000, in 1968,” said Penner. Gor- the drive of the Margaret Thatcher gov- under the title, “Frank Gorton — pro- Hungary after the Stalinist regime in ton also joined in the party’s solidarity ernment to bust their union, Penner said, letarian internationalist.” This fact was Moscow sent troops to crush the 1956 efforts with the Irish struggle against “Frank took the responsibility to orga- exemplified by a photo of Gorton from revolutionary uprising by workers the U.K.’s ongoing colonial rule in nize party book tables at miners’ rallies the Facebook page of The Greater To- there. After graduating and apprentic- Northern Ireland. all across the country.” ronto Kurdish House showing him par- ing as an engineer for five years, he For some two decades, Gorton helped In his message celebrating Gorton’s ticipating in a Toronto demonstration emigrated to Canada in 1964. lead a political struggle for a proletarian contributions, SWP leader Jack Barnes supporting the Kurdish people’s historic “Frank met the League for Socialist orientation in the party in the U.K. He said that “Frank was a big help to me struggle for a homeland. Action, then the section of the Fourth and other IMG members advocated a in understanding more concretely the “The man was always there with International in Canada and a prede- program and course of conduct in conti- evolution over the past several decades us and supporting our Nation’s cause cessor of the Communist League, at nuity with the world communist move- in the class composition of the Labour by participating in our protesting and a large anti-Vietnam War meeting at ment founded at the initiative of V.I. Party membership and leadership.” marching activities,” the group wrote. Massey Hall in downtown Toronto,” Lenin and the Bolshevik leadership of In the 1980s, leaders of the former This was also stressed by Silberman Bernardo told the meeting. the October 1917 revolution in Russia. IMG, renamed the Socialist League, had in his message on behalf of the CL in “LSA member Toni Foster (now Among other issues, this involved a sent members into the Labour Party on the U.K., who worked with Gorton for Gorton) sold him a copy of the party’s political fight against the call on revolu- what proved to be a wrong assessment years there. “That’s how I remember paper, Workers Vanguard. He joined tionaries to orient to prolonged guerrilla it would be a central arena for working- Frank: as a political worker-Bolshevik soon after and became involved in party war in Latin America. This disastrous class political activity. and internationalist,” Silberman said, work in the Fair Play for Cuba Commit- course, adopted by a majority at a 1969 But Gorton, by then a member of a tee defending the Cuban Revolution. He Fourth International congress, was ex- Labour Party club in a more and more was also active in the growing move- tended to ultraleft policies by parties in middle-class part of London, told ment against the Vietnam War and Ot- Europe and beyond. Barnes that Labour was well on the tawa’s complicity with Washington’s Gorton and other IMG cadres also way “to no longer being a party whose warmakers, and in other political and fought to implement a turn to the indus- members in the main were miners, dock union struggles. trial unions initiated by the SWP leader- workers, engineers and other wage ship and adopted in 1979 by the Fourth workers, organized in a structured way Party building in United Kingdom International. This course, presented through their unions. It was increasingly In 1967 Frank and Toni moved to the in the new book The Turn to Industry Continued on page 9 U.K. to help build what became the In- ternational Marxist Group, the section of the Fourth International there. Frank SWP ‘stimulus’ appeal climbs over $116,000 got a job in Nottingham as a draftsman at the Raleigh bicycle factory. In the last week the Socialist Workers Party “stimulus” appeal grew “There’s a photo of Frank in the dis- by $11,200 to a total of $116,200, from 11 more people, for a total of 105 contributors. Many contributions come with notes. “Enclosed is my contribution from ‘stimulus’ payments to help build a new society based on humanity and solidarity,” Jean Luc Duval wrote from Detroit. “It’s a great pleasure to join with so many others in helping to trans-

Militant/Beverly Bernardo form these so-called economic stabilization payouts into much-needed funds for the long-term work of building the proletarian party!” said Patti Iiyama and Jerry Freiwirth from the San Francisco Bay Area in a note with their contributions. The appeal is in the long-time tradition of the workers’ movement to build its resources on the only reliable foundation — political support and commit- ment. The result of the continuing response is a significant expansion of the SWP’s long-term capital, dedicated to building a proletarian party now and in the future. A party that will organize workers in their millions to end capitalist exploitation and rule, and join hands with toilers worldwide to build a new social order based on solidarity. “When Washington announced their ‘Stimulus Program’ nearly three months ago, I knew I wanted to contribute. I received the check only last week. Here is my contribution,” wrote Ray Parsons from Delmar, New York. If you’d like to donate from your government payout, send a check to the Socialist Workers Party at 306 W. 37th Street, 13th Floor, New York, NY Bottom, Toni and Frank Gorton at mid-1980 action in solidarity with Nicaraguan Revolution 10018, marked “Special Fund.” and growing fight against apartheid in South Africa. Top, Gorton promotes books by SWP — Emma Johnson and other revolutionary leaders at Toronto 2017 convention of Association of Asian Studies.

The Militant June 22, 2020 5 Workers fight boss attacks Hong Kong workers mark Tiananmen Square massacre Continued from front page to look “beyond the clear human trag- pickers at Durango Farms in Cutler, edy,” CEO Bernard Looney said, and California, walked out May 25 af- focus on the “consequences for our ter their piece rate pay was reduced industry and our company.” from $7 to $6.50 per bucket. With the BMW bosses announced plans to help of their union, the United Farm get rid of 5,000 “positions.” Renault, Workers, they won improvements Nissan and other auto companies have in pay and conditions. They gained similar plans. cleaner and more accessible bath- At the same time, food prices are ris- rooms in the fields and the promise ing rapidly — the fastest inflation in of no retaliation. over four decades. The bosses’ answer? Workers at Columbia Reach Pack in They’re going to help out by putting less Yakima are keeping their picket lines food in smaller packages to cut the price! up as their strike nears four weeks. Sup- When the bosses and their govern- porters of the packing plant workers, ments tell us over and over that “we’re including Larry Brown, president of the all in this together” — it’s a patent Washington State Labor Council, par- lie. Their greed to rake in profits on ticipated in an 85-car caravan May 30 to our backs is in direct conflict with Reuters/Tyrone Siu bolster the picket lines. our need for jobs, pay at union-scale Thousands poured into Victoria Park in Hong Kong June 4 in an annual Every one of these fights deserves sol- wages and control over every aspect event to honor those who gave their lives fighting for political rights in 1989 in idarity. Only through building a fighting of production. Their morals arise from Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. They cast aside metal barriers set up by the cops, working-class movement that unites their system of exploitation, ours from defying a ban on the commemoration by the city’s pro-Beijing government. all of us who are forced to sell our la- growing solidarity in struggle. Cops looked on as the 10,000-strong rally went off without interfer- bor power to survive can we push back Shutdowns for the past two months ence, while others held vigils elsewhere across the city. Protesters chant- against the attacks of the bosses and have left depression-era levels of un- ed, “Fight for freedom! Stand with Hong Kong!” and “Hong Kong inde- their government. employment in the U.S., with 30 mil- pendence! The only way out!” Under these conditions, millions of lion workers getting unemployment “We fight for the same things as they did [in Tiananmen Square] 31 workers and youth have flooded into the benefits. This official figure hides those years ago,” 24-year-old Hammond Tong told the Washington Post. “We streets to join unprecedented worldwide unable to get any benefits, including must not forget, nor can we stop fighting.” mobilizations against police killings and immigrant workers, many temps, “self- “The local and Chinese governments have ignored us,” construction brutality. These actions give workers a employed” workers like Uber drivers worker Daniel Au told the Wall Street Journal. sense of our capacity to come together and many others. Another 6 million For over a year hundreds of thousands of working people have repeatedly and fight in our own interests, dealing have stopped looking for work altogeth- mobilized in the streets of the city to fight a growing raft of restrictions on their blows to months of social isolation. er. But for the first time in two months, rights and to demand more control over the local government. The cops and the capitalist rulers’ with the economy beginning to open The Chinese rulers have continued to tighten their grip on the city, most whole oppressive and violent criminal up, there is an uptick in jobs, with gains recently bypassing the Hong Kong legislature to impose new repressive “na- “justice” system exists for only one outweighing losses. tional security” measures. They are determined to deal blows to the move- purpose — to “serve and protect” the This is what workers need — eco- ment for political rights in Hong Kong and to minimize its effect on millions tiny handful of billionaire families and nomic expansion and more hiring, that of workers and farmers in China itself. their hangers-on who profit off our ex- can give them more confidence to fight — Terry Evans ploitation. It’s part and parcel of con- for higher wages and better conditions. trolling our class amid the social crisis The government says 2.5 million we’re living through. jobs were “created” in May, largely deepening is among government work- severance pay. “Debenhams think they Millions of workers have been fur- through the recall of furloughed ers. Of the 1.9 million fresh applicants can walk all over them, like they’re loughed, some for months, some per- workers as employers reopened. for unemployment benefits in May, over trying to do to us,” Crowe said. “We manently. The bosses have more in More than half were jobs in restau- a quarter were government employees, all need to stand together.” store as they try to get lean and mean. rants and bars. Nearly half a million as state and municipal authorities slash According to government figures, BP announced June 9 that they will were in construction. jobs to “balance” soaring budget deficits there are over 40 million jobless workers dump 10,000 oil workers. You’ve got One of the areas where layoffs are caused by the lockdowns. across Europe. Led by a deep slump in Millions of workers face mounting the auto industry, industrial production bills, credit card and all kinds of other in Germany — the dominant economic We are extending these special offers below because of the debts, car payments, and rent or mort- power in the EU — fell by 25% com- special interest among fighters against police brutality and the gages. The daily papers are full of pic- pared to a year ago. attacks of the bosses. Take advantage now! tures of miles-long lines of cars full of Hundreds of millions across the semi- workers waiting to get some help from colonial world in Latin America, Asia Books workers food banks all across the country. and Africa have been thrown out of need today… …ABOUT BUILDING THE ONLY KIND OF PARTY WORTHY OF THE NAME work by a combination of government “REVOLUTIONARY” Workers fight job cuts, boss attacks shutdowns and the collapse of world Some 2,000 workers at Debenhams production and trade. In contrast to un- The Turn to Industry: department stores were unceremoni- employment protections — however Forging a Proletarian Party ously laid off when the British-based inadequate — that workers have won by Jack Barnes $8 with a subscription chain shuttered their Irish stores April in most imperialist countries, most now Tribunes of the People 19. They’ve been picketing and protest- face life with little or no social “safety and the Trade Unions ing since and gaining solidarity for their net.” Strikes and protests by workers by V.I. Lenin, Farrell Dobbs, Karl Marx, fight to win their jobs back. Through demanding jobs and relief have broken Leon Trotsky and Jack Barnes daily pickets they seek to prevent bosses out in India, Chile, Colombia, Nigeria, $7 with a subscription from removing stock to sell in the U.K. Ecuador and elsewhere. Malcolm X, Black Liberation, At the main Dublin store, they’ve gotten and the Road to Workers Power support from nearby supermarket work- Crisis facing workers on the seas by Jack Barnes $10 with a subscription ers and customers, Jane Crowe, one of Fifteen Romanian crew members on the workers, told the Militant June 5. Royal Caribbean’s cruise ship Naviga- SPECIAL OFFER By putting the Irish wing of the com- tor of the Seas staged a hunger strike pany into liquidation, Debenhams boss- in early May after the company post- $25 FOR ALL THREE BOOKS es ensured workers also lost severance poned their flights home several times at left pay, so some have no income. Since then over two months. Some 100,000 crew with a Militant subscription workers, backed by their union, Man- members on cruise ships were left in date, have held weekly protests outside limbo at sea after the coronavirus shut Red Zone: Cuba and the Battle stores and at the Irish parliament. down the industry. The Atlanta-based PLUS Against Ebola in West Africa Meanwhile, Debenhams stores in Centers for Disease Control and Pre- by Enrique Ubieta the U.K. were shut down by the gov- vention stipulated that foreign crews 20% $12 with a subscription ernment’s lockdown orders. The boss- can only be repatriated by charter off Are They Rich Because They’re Smart? es laid off hundreds of workers before flights. Cruise bosses balked at paying All OTHER Class, Privilege, and Learning under Capitalism the stores are being allowed to reopen for expensive private airlifts. Pathfinder by Jack Barnes June 15. Like their workmates in Ire- Government restrictions on air books $5 with a subscription land, this means they won’t receive Continued on page 7 See distributors page 8 or visit pathfindeRpress.com

6 The Militant June 22, 2020 Renault workers fight closures Continued from front page due to the coronavirus,” he said. “We strike, taking to the streets. They’re struck the plant for five days.” Work- backed by the four unions represent- ers decided to return to work when the ing Renault workers in France — the bosses said they will announce further CFE-CGC, FO, CFDT and CGT. Sev- details about the plant and its workforce eral hundred workers rallied outside June 16. “We will have daily actions in the plant June 3 and 6. the plant until then.” “A lot of union delegations from Renault bosses have announced nearby plants came to the factory plans to cut production by 20% and during the week to support us,” Nix- slash 14,600 jobs worldwide, includ- on Jacquet, a forklift operator at the ing 4,600 at its 14 plants in France. Choisy plant for seven years, told the These cuts come amid a worldwide Militant at the June 6 demonstration, decline in production and trade, fu- “including from the big Sanofi phar- eled by capitalist depression condi- maceutical plant nearby.” tions. Auto bosses worldwide — and “These attacks by Renault are in many other industries — are mov- not because of the virus epidemic,” ing to slash their workforces and take Samir Slim, a worker for 30 years other anti-working-class steps to put at the Choisy plant and union shop themselves in better shape to fight for Militant/Derek Jeffers steward, told the Militant by phone profits as markets shrink. Renault workers lead 1,000 autoworkers and their supporters in June 6 march to plant that bosses say they want to shutter. Lead banner says, “No to the closing of the Renault-Choisy fac- June 5, “but from years of declining tory after 70 years of existence.” Workers chanted, “We won’t move! Renault-Choisy is ours!” auto production in France and the French government’s Renault stake new technology Renault and other The French government is Re- Hundreds of workers at Renault’s May 4, continue to organize protest automakers want to install, to go over nault’s largest shareholder with just factory in Caudan, France, struck actions against the bosses’ plan to shut to electric cars, which will take only over 15%. Three days before job cuts during the last week in May, “protest- down all production in the country by half as many workers. were announced, the government of ing at factory gates, anticipating their the end of December. “But they didn’t count on the mobi- French President Emmanuel Macron plant would be shuttered,” reported Several “slow marches” involving lized opposition of workers who defied gave a $8.8 billion handout to Renault Reuters. In response the bosses an- 1,000 vehicles took place June 4, travel- the government’s ban on demonstrations to ease its losses. nounced that the plant’s future will be ing from Nissan’s three plants in Cata- put under “strategic review.” lonia to the Barcelona city center, the “The hardest part is still to come,” Catalan News reported. Mael Le Goff from the CGT union at Protest in Syria: Down with Assad! the plant, told Reuters. Retired autoworkers Nat London and At the same time, Nissan workers in Derek Jeffers in Paris contributed to Moscow, Tehran out of our country Spain, who have been on strike since this article. Workers fight boss attacks Continued from page 6 More than 150,000 seafarers, large travel, and 14-day or longer quaran- numbers of whom are from the Philip- tine requirements for those who are pines and India, have been stranded on able to get around, have created a cri- merchant ships for months beyond their sis for tens of thousands of workers contractual limits. A similar number of in the global shipping industry. Ship- workers slated to replace them are in- ping bosses have used these restric- stead stuck at home without pay. tions to largely halt any crew changes Without the opening of borders and aboard their vessels. Workers’ con- air travel to seafarers, said Steve Cotton, tracts and union agreements call for general secretary of the International limits on the duration of service, but Transport Workers Federation, “the al- these are being ignored. This affects ternative is exhausted crews and the some 80% of the world trade still tak- shutting down of global trade.” ing place today. The crew of at least one ship has al- Unlike in the cruise ship industry, ready gone on strike, refusing to sail these workers don’t get exposed to until they are relieved. coronavirus. They’re either at sea or, when they dock to load or unload cargo, Pete Clifford from Manchester, Eng- they’re prevented from going ashore. land, contributed to this article. Rudaw Mainly youthful protesters in Suweida, southern Syria, June 7, chanted “Get out Bashar,” and “Syria is for us, it is not for Assad’s family.” They called for Russian and Iranian forces, which have propped up Bashar al-Assad’s regime during brutal civil conflicts since 2011, to get out. New from Pathfinder by Terry Evans River. It also advanced Moscow and Chanting, “The people want the fall Tehran’s military and political influ- of the regime” and other slogans call- ence in the region. The Jewish Question: ing for the toppling of Syrian dictator In recent weeks working people have A Marxist Interpretation Bashar al-Assad, hundreds of demon- born the brunt of the regime’s growing by Abram Leon strators marched in Suweida June 7. economic crisis, marked by shortages This is an area in Syria where most of fuel and other basic necessities, along During the opening years of the 21st century, anti-Semitic venom and incidents of violent as- people backed Assad and didn’t join with rampant inflation. This crisis is sault on Jews have begun spreading. They are the popular 2011 uprising for political also deepening divisions within Assad’s not a historical aberration. They are fueled by to- rights, nor fight against his forces in ruling family. day’s capitalist crises and fracturing of the post– the country’s subsequent civil war. Protests in solidarity with demonstra- World War II imperialist “order,” described in re- The action was the second straight tors in Suweida were held in Deraa, the cent decades as “globalization.” day of protests, led primarily by area birthplace of the 2011 rebellion, which is Why is Jew-hatred still raising its ugly head? youth. now back under Assad’s control. What are its class roots? Why is there “no solu- Protesters called for Moscow and Assad’s tyranny is based on capi- tion to the Jewish question under capitalism, just as there is no solution to other problems before Tehran to get their forces out of Syria. talist families mainly from Syria’s humanity,” without revolutionary struggles that The Russian and Iranian rulers sent Alawites, a Muslim minority in the transform us as we fight to transform our world? warplanes, weaponry and troops to country. It has defended their interests Abram Leon was killed in October 1944, at age battle those who rose up to challenge against working people from the coun- 26, in the Nazi gas chambers at Auschwitz. He Assad’s rule, helping shore up his re- try’s Sunni majority and oppressed left us this book to help answer those questions. gime. Their intervention was decisive Kurdish nationality. Suweida is home $17. Special offer until Sept. 1— $14 in the government recapturing most to most of Syria’s Druze minority, of the country west of the Euphrates whose leaders had allied with Assad. pathfinderpress.com

The Militant June 22, 2020 7 ‘Building socialism is a voluntary task of free men and women’ Cuba’s Internationalist Foreign Pol- maneuvers there in U.S. territory. What icy 1975-80 by Fidel Castro is one of we do contest is their right to hold ma- Pathfinder’s Books of the Month for neuvers on Cuban soil. June. Castro was the central leader of Doubtless, this is a noteworthy victo- the Cuban Revolution that triumphed ry for our people’s struggle and interna- in 1959. Excerpted here is his 1980 tional solidarity. [Applause] Therefore “Speech to the Fighting People,” giv- the Cuban government will suspend en at the May Day rally in Havana. the special maneuvers that the East- The Cuban government and people ern Army was going to hold under the were responding to a series of mili- name of Girón 19, which were to have tary threats and provocations by the begun on May 7. [Applause] Democratic administration of Jimmy But the March of the Fighting People Carter against the 1979 revolution in is still on; the March of the Fighting Peo- Nicaragua and rising struggles in the ple is still on! [Applause] The March of region. Five million people mobilized the Fighting People was to be not only nationwide May 17 in a March of the against the maneuvers but also against Fighting People to stay Washington’s the blockade, against the Guantánamo hand. Copyright © 1981 by Pathfinder base, and against the SR-71 spy flights. Press. Reprinted by permission. [Applause] We aren’t going to let the Yankees get an advantage by demobi- Faced with provocations and war threats from Washington in 1980 as struggles spread across lizing the people in the middle of the Latin America and the Caribbean, including revolutions by workers and farmers in Nicaragua battle. [Shouts of “Never!”] Books of and Grenada, millions of working people mobilized across Cuba in defense of their revolution. The March of the Fighting Peo- caragua and the growing upsurge in basis, absolutely no basis in principles; ple must go on, and it has to be even the month the revolutionary movement in Central it is simply an act of force. stronger than the march of April 19. America. It began to prepare a mecha- The United States sends modern SR- [Applause] It is a people’s mobiliza- by Fidel Castro nism for intervention. Naturally, it used 71 planes over Cuba’s territory. They tion against the blockade; against the Mariel was opened, and we were the pretext of the Soviet military per- fly between 25,000 and 30,000 meters Guantánamo base; and against the rigorously, strictly complying with our sonnel in Cuba to pressure and threaten up, at very high speeds. They are what violation of our airspace. Rather than watchword that anyone who wanted to Cuba, and it carried out small-scale cause those unusual explosions that can sit back quietly, we should show world go to any other country that would ac- maneuvers at the Guantánamo base at be heard every so often throughout our public opinion our rejection of and our cept them could do so [Shouts of “Good the end of last year. These maneuvers, country, as they break the sound bar- militant opposition to all that. … riddance!”] and that the building of so- however, are much larger, on a much rier, shaking the walls, the glass, and The party has issued instructions cialism, the work of the revolution, was greater scale, with more equipment and the windows whenever they fly past. to the armed forces to create the Ter- a task for free men and women. Don’t more soldiers — and something strange [Someone shouts “Shoot them down!”] ritorial Troop Militia as an additional forget this principle; don’t forget this about them. And we said, No, no, no; It isn’t easy to bring down an SR-71; it force. [Applause] This militia will be principle; which has tremendous moral this cannot be. We are not going to sit isn’t very easy, technically. composed of men and women, work- value. [Applause] … by passively while the Yankees orga- Now, is it legal for them to do that? Is ers, farmers, students — everyone who [Washington’s] main concern was nize maneuvers like that. it legal to blockade our country? Is it le- is able to fight — to be organized and over the revolutionary triumph in Ni- As has already been said, they are gal to have a naval base on our soil? Is it united so they can defend every bit of a flagrant rehearsal for an invasion of legal to violate our airspace? [Shouts of our national territory. [Applause] Ev- our country, a shameless invasion re- “No!”] They do these things. And then, eryone who can fight and isn’t already June Books hearsal on our own soil. This, really, there are the maneuvers. a member of the reserve units of the of the Month is what is intolerable, unacceptable: And that isn’t all imperialism has regular troops can belong to the Ter- maneuvers for invading Cuba — held done over the years. Many of the ritorial Troop Militia. PATHFINDER on our own soil. … comrades who have spoken here have Let our enemies see clearly that, READERS CLUB 30% The United States has imposed mentioned it and also referred to La in Cuba — as in Nicaragua, though, discount SPECIALS a blockade against Cuba for more Coubre, Playa Girón, the Escambray, logically, Cuba has a much stronger than twenty years, a tight economic the acts of sabotage, the plans for army than Nicaragua, because Cuba Cuba’s Internationalist blockade that even prohibits the sale subversion, the attempts to introduce has had much more time and has a Foreign Policy of foodstuffs and medicines — even and the introduction of agricultural larger population — let them see that Speeches, Vol. 1, 1975-80 by Fidel Castro medicines! It has been a brutal thing, blights, the plans to assassinate the if they attack Cuba they will have to Castro discusses Cuba’s internation- for twenty-one years. leaders of the revolution, the sabotage face not only a regular war but also a alism from Angola to Grenada, Nica- The United States occupies a part of of the Cubana plane off Barbados. … people’s war. This means two things: ragua and how proletarian solidarity our territory by means of force, against It seems that now they’re saying resistance by the regular units and re- guides Cuba’s foreign policy. the will of our people. What doctrine, they’ll restrict the maneuvers to the sistance by all the people. $23. Special price: $16 what principles, what law, and what Florida coast and the East Coast of the Do you know what makes us really The Lesser Evil legality justify its maintenance of a United States. We know that these ma- strong — us, Nicaragua, and Grenada? 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8 The Militant June 22, 2020 Socialist workers party statement Abortion clinic open Continued from front page Planned Parenthood appealed the decision and a Cop violence essential part of capitalist rule judge allowed the clinic to provide abortions while Continued from front page band” police departments and set up something the case was fought out. This led to an administrative ing people in action are capable of. They’ve had “new” will do nothing to alter which class the cops hearing last October followed by a review of records a broad social impact and paved the way for even serve, nor the violence they mete out. submitted by the clinic. Administrative Hearing more effective actions against cop brutality and “These institutions of class rule, of bourgeois Commissioner Sreenivasa Rao Dandamudi issued a racist violence wherever they occur. And they’ve ‘law and order,’ do brutally serve and protect the ruling May 29 that the St. Louis clinic in fact meets inspired workers everywhere looking to stand property, profits, and assumed prerogatives of the requirements, and ordered their license renewed. up to the bosses’ assaults on our jobs, wages and the U.S. capitalist class,” Barnes said, “from the “We have no concerns with the substance of working conditions we confront today. streets, factories, fields, mines, border crossings, Planned Parenthood’s quality assurance review, The breadth of the outpouring shows the long-term and prisons across the United States, to Afghani- and there are no other indications of deficient prac- effects wrought by the Black-led proletarian move- stan, Pakistan, Iraq, and beyond.” tices,” Dandamudi said. ment in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s that tore down Jim Among those joining today’s protests — and those Alexis McGill Johnson, CEO of Planned Parent- Crow segregation. It transformed the attitudes and inspired by them — there is widespread interest in hood Federation of America, hailed the decision as conduct of millions of working people, opening the the SWP’s call to action to meet the bosses’ attacks a “hard-fought victory.” door to unity in action by workers who are Caucasian on our wages, jobs and working conditions. Fight In addition to having only one provider in the state, and who are Black. for a federally funded public works program to cre- laws pushed through the Missouri legislature require They show that those middle-class radicals who ate millions of jobs at union-scale wages to build the women seeking an abortion to undergo in-person insist racism is gaining ground among workers to- hospitals, homes and schools we need. For workers to compulsory “counseling” aimed at intimidating day are dead wrong. There is more interest in act- organize in their millions to rebuild our unions and them, as well as waiting periods, insurance coverage ing together against racist violence and discrimina- fight to wrest ever more control over production from only when the woman’s life is endangered, a ban on tion than ever before. And they confirm that in the the bosses. To build our own political party, a labor using telemedicine for medical abortions, parental big class battles to come, workers who are Black party, to fight for workers and farmers to take political consent for minors and more. will play a central role. power out of the hands of the capitalist rulers and run “The data shows that many have already paid the The protests today send a warning to cops that society ourselves. This is the road to end cop violence price, with the vast majority of Missouri patients hundreds of thousands will fight and can prevent cops and capitalist exploitation once and for all. forced to cross state lines to get the care they need,” from killing with impunity. And, when they are orga- This is a perspective worth fighting for! Join to- McGill Johnson said. “This is what it looks like when nized to be large, powerful and disciplined, they can day’s protests! Join the SWP campaign to deepen abortion is a right in name only.” attract and involve millions. this discussion on the road forward. Last year Parson signed a law banning all abor- But calls by the liberals, Democrats and Republi- tions after eight weeks, with the only exception be- cans for “reforming” the cops mask the true character In Defense of ing if the woman’s life is in danger. A federal judge of the capitalist “justice” system. More body cams, blocked the law from going into effect, holding it restrictions on the use of chokeholds and more civil- the US Working was a violation of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. ian police review boards will not stop cops from in- Class Wade decision making abortion legal. flicting lethal violence on working people. by Mary-Alice Waters In addition to Missouri, there are five other states As Socialist Workers Party National Secretary Jack where there is only one abortion provider. Opponents Barnes said in a book that is very useful today — “The years that are coming will bring organized resis- of women’s right to choose have been making gains Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Work- in limiting access to abortion, with the ultimate goal ers Power — “The historical record gives ample evi- tance — worldwide — by growing vanguards of work- of criminalizing the procedure once again. dence that even the most ‘democratic’ bourgeois state ing people.” At the same time, public support for the right to is at bottom a massive and all-pervasive apparatus of $5 abortion is at a solid 61%, higher than it’s been over violence, dedicated to preserving capitalist rule.” pathfinderpress.com the two and a half decades since the Pew Research Growing calls to “defund,” “restructure” or “dis- Center has conducted polls. This support was registered in Kentucky, where the clinic in Louisville — the only one in the state — was vandalized and its front smashed May 29. Supporters and clinic escorts put out an appeal to raise $100,000 Frank Gorton built parties in Canada, UK, US for repairs. In only two days more than $114,000 Continued from page 5 Frank and Toni moved to Toronto in 2000 and be- came in from 3,000 contributors. One donor sent in a party of middle-class professionals, better-off office came part of the supporters auxiliary of the Commu- $100 “in honor of Breonna Taylor,” an African Amer- and ‘tech’ workers, teachers, and so on.” nist League. Frank engaged in political activity and ican health care worker in Louisville who was shot to Barnes continued: “‘The new leaders are simply took on tasks alongside volunteers the world over who death in her bed by Louisville cops March 13. Dona- radicals,’ Frank said. ‘You’ll someday be seeing a produce Pathfinder books, making it possible for the tions came from across the U.S., and from Canada, new Labour Party leadership unlike anything in party to introduce its program to workers and youth. Denmark, Finland and the United Kingdom. the history of the workers movement in the U.K.’” “As a supporter, Frank continued to be drawn to the And he was right. League’s participation in union battles,” Bev Bernardo Growing international support Expelled by Socialist League leaders after win- told participants. “He loved being with fighting work- Growing support for abortion rights has been reg- ning a majority in the organization, communists ers, and they appreciated having him there.” istered around the world in recent years. They have who were determined to build a party in the U.K. Félix Vincent Ardea described how he and several all been won by broad and sustained public mobiliza- that was working class in program, composition, others involved in the massive 2012 Quebec student tions in the streets, most of them led by young women. and habits, founded the Communist League in strike were won to the Communist League, the kind of The movement in Ireland won a national referen- 1988. Frank and Toni were among them. Frank was proletarian party Gorton dedicated his life to building. dum and pushed the government to legalize abortion elected to the Central Committee. “Frank set the same example set by Cuban revo- for the first time ever, in 2019. In March, the New Zea- The Montreal meeting also paid tribute to two lutionaries,” said Ardea. “That working people can land Parliament decriminalized abortion after many other decadeslong communist workers who re- transform ourselves and accomplish great things, as decades of tireless work by women’s rights stalwarts. cently died: Alan Harris, a cadre since 1955 in both we organize collectively to fundamentally change the In Argentina hundreds of thousands have Canada and the U.K., who collaborated with Gor- society in which we live. marched and rallied over the past few years, push- ton for many years; and 55-year-long SWP cadre “If, like me, you are attracted to the political course ing President Alberto Fernández to promise to in- Cheryl Goertz in the U.S. Frank Gorton followed throughout his life, then join troduce a bill in parliament to legalize abortion. He the Communist League and help build the party we backed off earlier this year, saying the coronavirus Joining party print shop in U.S. need today as we face the deepest capitalist crisis outbreak meant it would have to wait, but leaders of In 1990 Frank and Toni Gorton were released since the 1930s depression.” the campaign say they will be back in the streets if by the Communist League to spend time in the “I was happy to be at this celebration,” Ahmed Gar- he doesn’t act quickly. U.S., where they helped lead the movement’s print baya, a delivery driver and student, told the Militant Hundreds of thousands of young women are get- shop in New York. at the meeting. “The internationalism of the Commu- ting experience with mass protest today as they join In her greetings, Holly Harkness, who worked in nist League is very striking to me. And the best thing actions against the cop killings of Taylor, George the shop at the time and now organizes Pathfinder’s about it was the number of committed young people Floyd and many others, and the vigilante killing of book distribution, pointed to the stress of meeting tight here who are ready to pick up the torch and wage the Ahmaud Arbery. This bodes well for the fight to de- deadlines for commercial customers. “Luckily, we had fight against capitalism.” fend women’s right to choose abortion. people like Frank, who took it all in stride and never Chairperson Michel Prairie invited everyone to It also bodes well for the needed political fight to lost sight of the reason for the shop in the first place join with the Communist League in a demonstra- put the movement on the right footing. Women’s right — a print shop for producing the party’s publications.” tion to protest the cop killing of George Floyd in to choose abortion is not a “health issue,” as it’s treat- After he left the shop, Gorton helped build SWP the U.S. later that day. ed in Roe v. Wade, with provisions that can and are branches in Newark and Detroit, joining trade union He appealed to participants to celebrate Frank being used to weaken abortion rights around fetal vi- fractions in auto, garment and meatpacking. He was a Gorton’s life by contributing to a special party- ability and the need for doctors’ consent. Instead, it’s worker-correspondent for the Militant, covering work- building fund. A total of 2,060 Canadian dollars a question of the equal protection for women under ing-class struggles wherever he lived. was raised ($1,500). the Constitution. “My body, my choice.” Period.

The Militant June 22, 2020 9