AUSTRALIA $1.50 · canada $1.00 · france 1.00 euro · new zealand $1.50 · uk £.50 · u.s. $1.00 INSIDE Canada truckers stand firm in face of order to end strike — PAGE 7 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE vol. 78/no. 13 April 7, 2014 Get ready Moscow troops Miners in discuss for ‘Militant’ grab , fight for sovereignty, rights drive to win US sanctions Coverage from coal region near Polish border new readers target workers by emma johnson BY FRANK FORRESTAL Militant supporters are gearing up KIEV, Ukraine — Russian troops for the spring international subscrip- took over the last of 189 Ukrainian tion and book sales campaign, taking military bases in Crimea March 23 as the working-class paper to neighbor- part of their seizure of the peninsula hoods in city and countryside, on the and have taken up threatening posi- job, to social protests and other politi- tions along Ukraine’s eastern border. cal events. Meanwhile, the imperialist powers of They will be encouraging other America and Europe imposed financial readers of the socialist press to join them in these activities as they cam- paign to free the Cuban Five, back Back Ukrainian the fight for Ukrainian sovereignty working people’s fight and oppose Washington’s economic for sovereignty! sanctions and military threats against Russia. Russian troops out! Last week, New York Militant sup- porters took part in speaking engage- No to US, European Militant/Dag Tirsén ments by representatives of the Fed- sanctions, threats “It’s not true that people from my region don’t support the struggle against Russian oc- eration of Cuban Women (FMC), who cupation,” Xenia Kuznetsova, left, student from Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, told Militant correspondents Joanne Holowchak and Ned Dmytryshn, right, in Kiev’s Maidan March 21. were in the city participating in the against Russia! United Nations Commission on the BY JOHN STUDER Militant worker-correspondents Status of Women, March 10-21. sanctions, for which working people of SOKAL, Ukraine — “While the spoke with a number of miners and The FMC leaders spoke at a meet- Russia will bear the brunt. And Wash- trade unions themselves didn’t play other working people during a couple ing in Brooklyn’s Haitian community ington beefed up joint military maneu- a central role in the Maidan, workers days spent in and around this town of organized by Lakou New York and vers in the Black Sea with a number of and unionists certainly did,” former roughly 20,000 on the western bor- another at the National Black Theatre former Soviet republics and other gov- miner Yuriy Demkiv told the Militant der with Poland. The area is host to in Harlem. They also gave presenta- ernments in central and eastern Europe. March 23. The Maidan, Kiev’s Inde- seven coal mines; a coal processing tions at two classrooms at John Jay Col. Yuli Mamchur, former head pendence Square, was the scene of plant with 900 workers, the majority Continued on page 3 Continued on page 6 bloody street battles with riot police women; and a garment plant with a leading up to the fall of the pro-Mos- workforce of 800 that makes socks. cow government of President Viktor “What we have accomplished is Unionists locked out by Kellogg: Yanukov ych. Continued on page 9 ‘We’re fighting for all workers’ Atlanta art exhibit spurs interest in campaign to free Cuban Five BY JANICE LYNN Black women’s college here. Brown ATLANTA — “I learned some- was among three dozen who came to thing new today and I want to make the March 20 opening at the college a presentation in my class to let them of “I Will Die the Way I’ve Lived,” an know about it,” said Aries Brown, 20, exhibit of paintings by Antonio Guer- a senior at Spelman, a historically rero, one of five Cuban revolutionaries framed up and jailed by Washington. Guerrero painted the collection of Deaths in NY jail 15 watercolors last year — the 15th year of the Five’s incarceration. To- gether they depict in vivid colors, and draw attention Continued on page 4 to reality of US capitalist ‘justice’ Also Inside Militant/Susan Lamont Workers locked out by Kellogg picket March 15 in Memphis, Tenn. From left: Roger Brown, by seth galinsky Harrison Edrington, Christy Small, James Redden, Harold Phillips and Otha Phillips. NEW YORK — The Feb. 15 death Rally marks anniversary of Jerome Murdough, 56, has put the of cop killing in England 2 BY SUSAN LAMONT national Local 252G are fighting to spotlight on conditions at Rikers Is- AND DAVE FERGUSON prevent Kellogg bosses from dealing land prison complex here and the U.S. Judge blocks Arkansas ban MEMPHIS, Tenn. –– Workers at a blow to their union by hiring tem- “justice” system. on post 12-week abortions 2 Kellogg Company’s cereal plant here porary, part-time workers at the plant Murdough was arrested for tres- continue to staff picket lines around- — at $6 an hour less and with fewer passing after cops saw him sleeping Strike at Cambodia shoe the-clock as they head into the sixth benefits and rights than employees in a public housing stairwell on a factory wins pay increase 5 month of a lockout by the food-pro- working under the BCTGM contract. cold night Feb. 7. The homeless man cessing giant. The 226 members “We’re not only in this for our- was sent to Rikers and placed in a Rally backs hunger strikers of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco selves,” Marvin Rush, who has mental-observation unit where he at immigration jail in Wash. 6 Workers and Grain Millers Inter- Continued on page 5 Continued on page 7 Rally marks 2nd anniversary of killing by cops in England By Dag Tirsén lawful,” but the five cops involved were MANCHESTER, England — Some acquitted on manslaughter charges two 50 people gathered in the city center years later. In 2011 Hull city officials here March 2 for a vigil and rally on the confirmed that the Alder family was second anniversary of the police killing given someone else’s body for burial. of Anthony Grainger. Grainger was un- Participants were encouraged to attend armed in his car in Culcheth village near an April 5 action in Hull to protest the Manchester when he was gunned down. police cover-up and killing of Alder. The action was organized by the Jus- “The killings by the police were not tice4Grainger campaign. mistakes, not police departments out of “With the support of the government, control,” Pete Clifford from the Com- they think they have the right to go out munist League told participants. “It is and kill,” said Carole Duggan, who part of a system that criminalizes the spoke about the killing of her nephew working class. It goes hand in hand Mark Duggan by cops in 2011. with the erosion of the legal aid system, Militant photos by Dag Tirsén The killing of Duggan triggered pro- moves toward limiting jury trials and Above, Janet Alder speaks at March 2 rally in Manchester, tests and riots in several cities. In Janu- plans for 100-year sentences.” England, on second anniversary of police killing of Anthony Grainger. Alder’s brother Christopher Alder ary an inquest jury ruled Duggan’s kill- was choked to death by cops while in police detention ing as “lawful,” despite the established Caroline Bellamy contributed to this ar- center in 1998. Inset, Carole Duggan speaks about kill- fact that he had no weapon at the time. ticle. ing of her nephew Mark Duggan by police in 2011. On Jan. 16, a few days after the Dug- gan ruling, the Manchester Crown Pros- ecution Service decided not to charge Judge blocks Arkansas abortion ban after 12 weeks the cop who shot Grainger. Instead, it charged Chief Constable of Greater by BRIAN WILLIAMS and the American Civil Liberties Union ed, which through use of an intrusive Manchester Police Peter Fahy under the A federal judge March 14 struck filed a suit against the law in April 2013. vaginal ultrasound can be as early as Health and Safety at Work Act for “fail- down an Arkansas law banning abor- The following month Judge Wright is- six weeks into a pregnancy. A feder- ing to ensure that unnecessary risk to tions after 12 weeks of pregnancy — sued a temporary injunction against al judge has temporarily blocked this the suspects was avoided.” He will not one of the most restrictive bills passed implementing the 12-week ban, a ruling provision pending outcome of a legal have to appear in court and “does not by state legislatures nationwide. that has now become permanent. challenge. share the criminal liability,” reported In her ruling, U.S. District Judge Supporters of abortion rights in “The North Dakota law is unconsti- Salfordstar.com. Susan Wright wrote that the law “im- North Dakota won a victory in their tutional,” said Hoy. While the heartbeat “Fahy won’t pay a thing and the permissibly infringes a woman’s fight to keep the Red River Women’s issue is being fought out, “there is al- money will go straight back to the same Fourteenth Amendment right to elect to Clinic in Fargo open, the only abortion ready a 20-week ban in effect here, less justice system,” said Wesley Ahmed, terminate a pregnancy before viability.” clinic in the state. A 2013 law mandated than federal guidelines provide.” Grainger’s cousin, who chaired the rally. The court, however, upheld the provi- doctors who perform abortions to ob- In Texas, a law requiring admission Also speaking was Janet Alder, sion requiring a woman seeking an tain admitting privileges at a hospital privileges at nearby hospitals for doc- whose brother Christopher Alder, 37, abortion to undergo an ultrasound and within 30 miles of the clinic, a require- tors performing abortions at clinics has was choked to death by cops in a Hull be informed in writing if a heartbeat ment very difficult to meet for the three led to the closure of a number of clin- police detention center in 1998. An in- was detected. out-of-state doctors who perform abor- ics in working-class areas. Two more quest jury in 2000 ruled the killing “un- The Center for Reproductive Rights tions there. were closed March 6 — in McAllen, Last month, Sanford Health, a Fargo the last one in the Rio Grande Valley; and Sioux Falls, S.D.-based health sys- and in Beaumont, the only site perform- tem, provided the physicians at Red ing abortions between Houston and the River Women’s Clinic with the required Louisiana border. credential. In 2011, before these restrictions “While this settlement is good, we were passed by the state legislature, 44 still need to overturn the law as it sets a clinics performed abortions in Texas; precedent for anti-choice forces to keep the number has now dropped to 24. It Capitalist neglect puts life and limb in jeopardy pressing legislation in other states,” said is expected to further decrease to six Jen Hoy of Stand Up for Women North by September, when an additional reg- From the eight killed in an Dakota, in a phone interview from ulation takes effect requiring clinics to Fargo March 16. perform abortions in “hospital-style explosion from a gas main The North Dakota law bans abor- operating rooms,” reported the New leak in New York City to the tion when a fetal heartbeat is detect- York Times. hundreds dead as a result of GM bosses’ refusal to fix send $85 drawn on a U.S. bank to above known defects, the ‘Militant’ The Militant address. Vol. 78/No. 13 Africa, Asia, and the Middle East: For shows how the rulers’ profit one year send $85 drawn on a U.S. bank to drive puts the lives of work- Closing news date: March 26, 2014 above address. Reuters/Brendan McDermid Editor: Doug Nelson Canada: For one year send Canadian $45 ing people last, especially in Gas explosion in East Harlem, N.Y., March to the Militant, 7107 St. Denis #204, Mon- Editorial volunteers: Róger Calero, Naomi periods of capitalist crisis. 12 destroyed two buildings, killing eight. treal, Quebec H2S 2S5. Craine, Frank Forrestal, Seth Galinsky, United Kingdom: Send £26 for one year Emma Johnson, Paul Pederson, Gerardo Sánchez, John Studer, Brian Williams, by check or international money order Rebecca Williamson. made out to CL London, First Floor, 120 SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Bethnal Green Road (Entrance in Brick Published weekly except for one week in Lane), London, E2 6DG, England. January, one week in July, one week in Republic of Ireland and Continental August and two weeks in September. Europe: Send £85 for one year by check or NEW READERS NAME international money order made out to CL Business manager: Lea Sherman London at above address. The Militant (ISSN 0026-3885), 306 W. France: Send 76 euros for one year to q.$5 for 12 issues ADDRESS 37th Street, 13th floor, New York, NY Diffusion du Militant, P.O. Box 175, 23 rue 10018. Telephone: (212) 244-4899 Lecourbe, 75015 Paris. Fax: (212) 244-4947 New Zealand: Send NZ$50 for one year RENEWAL CITY STATE ZIP E-mail: [email protected] to P.O. Box 3025, Auckland 1140, New Website: www.themilitant.com Zealand. q.$10 for 12 weeks PHONE e-mail Correspondence concerning subscriptions Australia: Send A$50 for one year to P.O. or changes of address should be addressed Box 164 Campsie, NSW 2194, Australia. to the Militant, 306 W. 37th Street, 13th Pacific Islands: Send NZ$50 for one year q.$20 for 6 months UNION/SCHOOL/ORGANIZATION floor, New York, NY 10018. to P.O. Box 3025, Auckland 1140, New Zealand. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY. Submissions to the Militant may be pub- Clip and mail to the militant, q.$35 for 1 year 306 W. 37th st., 13th Floor new york, 10018. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to lished in the newspaper in print and digital the Militant, 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor, format. By submitting, authors represent New York, NY 10018. that their submissions are original and 12 weeks of the Militant outside the U.S.: Australia and the Pacific, A$8 • United consent to publication in this manner. SUBSCRIPTIONS: United States: For Signed articles by contributors do not Kingdom, £3 • Canada, Can$7 • Caribbean and Latin America, US$10 • Continental one year send $35 to above address. Europe, £10 • France, 12 euros • New Zealand, NZ$7 • All other areas, US$16 (Send necessarily represent the Militant’s views. payment to addresses listed in business information box) Latin America, Caribbean: For one year These are expressed in editorials.

2 The Militant April 7, 2014 Sales of ‘Militant,’ books Continued from front page Ukrainians when we went to the College in Manhattan and attended a Ukrainian Orthodox Church in meeting at the Bronx Grail Center, an Cooper City,” Dutrow said. “When international organization initiated they saw the front-page coverage on by Catholic women. Ukraine, they hung the paper and Participants in these events bought forum flyer on the church’s bulletin 27 copies of the Militant, three sub- board. A bus driver in Palm Beach scriptions and 25 books. They includ- County, who is on the board of the ed four copies of Women in Cuba: church, got a subscription on behalf The Making a Revolution Within the of the board.” Revolution and one copy of Cosmet- The following day Dutrow was in- ics, Fashions, and the Exploitation vited to speak at a commemoration of Women in Spanish, two of the 11 held in the church for the 100 people books on revolutionary, working- killed by government forces in Kiev. class politics on special offer with a “We also got names of people we can subscription (see ad below). contact in Ukraine for the Militant’s Top sellers were titles on the fight coverage,” Dutrow said. to free the Cuban Five, including “We helped promote a one-day nine copies of I Will Die the Way I’ve showing of Antonio Guerrero’s wa- tercolors at the Imperfect Gallery Militant/Tom Baumann Lived, five of The Cuban Five: Who Train driver Leslie McMillan in Miami renews subscription after visit by Anthony Dutrow. They Are, Why They Were Framed, March 21,” Chris Hoeppner said by Why They Should Be Free and four phone from Philadelphia. anything similar in ‘leftist’ papers. of Voices From Prison: The Cuban “A couple of student organizations “One person asked if the sales Five. at Temple University and a professor team were ‘the guys who refused to On March 22, a team of Dan Fein there built the event. Some 60 people carry the American flag at the dem- and Candace Wagner sold one sub- attended, many from Temple Univer- onstration?’” said Hoeppner. “He scription and nine single copies door sity and some from the artistic com- had bought a copy of the paper and to door in the Brighton Beach neigh- munity. For many it was the first time read it carefully and liked the cover- borhood of Brooklyn, the heart of the they heard about the Cuban Five.” age on Ukraine, but asked, ‘How can Russian community in New York. Participants bought eight cop- you support Lenin?’ So we discussed “Half the people we talked to were ies of I Will Die the Way I’ve Lived, how Lenin championed the right of Russian, half were other East Euro- the book with Guerrero’s watercol- self-determination for Ukraine and peans, mostly Ukrainian,” said Fein. ors and three copies of Voices From fought for expansion of Ukrainian “Everyone had an opinion on what is Prison. language and culture. And how Jo- happening and everyone wanted to “We also visited the Ukrainian seph Stalin headed a counterrevolu- talk. Some argued strongly against Educational and Russian Cultural tion that overturned Lenin’s course us. Russians were split, half were in Center here,” said Hoeppner. “We on this and many other fronts.” Now available Reprint of ‘Militant’ articles on met some workers who had gotten To get a subscription, to renew or favor and half opposed to the Russian Antonio Guerrero’s watercolors occupation of Crimea.” the paper at earlier demonstrations. to join the campaign to sell the pa- “Two Russian men in their 30s The executive director thought the per and revolutionary books, contact Full color flyer, English and Spanish accused us of swallowing the impe- coverage was good. But the contents a distributor listed on page 8 or call 25¢ Contact distributors on page 8 rialist propaganda,” Fein said. “We had surprised him, he hadn’t seen the Militant at (212) 244-4899. or ‘Militant’ at (212) 244-4899 showed everyone the Militant’s photo story on the demonstration of tens of thousands in Moscow against the Russian invasion of Crimea. Those Special offers with ‘Militant’ subscription defending Moscow’s actions said the protest represented a minority opin- ion, others thought it was very impor- Malcolm X, Black The Cuban Five tant that it took place.” Liberation, and the Road Who They Are, Why They Were Six Ukrainians, as well as a num- to Workers Power Framed, Why They Should Be Free ber of Cubans, Venezuelans and oth- by Jack Barnes from pages of the ‘Militant’ ers were among the 28 participants $10 with subscription(regular $20) $3 with subscription (regular $5) in the March 22 Militant Labor Fo- rum in Miami where Paul Mailhot, a The Working Class and the Cuba and Angola leader of the Socialist Workers Party, Transformation of Learning Fighting for Africa’s Freedom spoke on developments in Ukraine. and Our Own A lively discussion followed his pre- The Fraud of Education sentation, Anthony Dutrow said by Reform Under Capitalism by Nelson Mandela, Fidel Castro, phone March 25. by Jack Barnes Raúl Castro; Cuban generals; “Dean Hazlewood and I met the $2 with subscription (regular $3) Gabriel García Márquez $6 with subscription(regular $12) Women in Cuba The Making of a Revolution The Changing Face of U.S. Politics militant Within the Revolution Working-Class Politics labor by Vilma Espín, Asela de los and the Trade Unions Santos, Yolanda Ferrer by Jack Barnes forums $10 with subscription (regular $20) $10 with subscription (regular $24) Women and Revolution iowa Is Socialist Revolution in Des Moines The Living Example The Crisis Facing Working Farmers. of the Cuban Revolution the U.S. Possible? Speaker: Maggie Trowe, Socialist Workers A Necessary Debate Party. Fri., April 4, 7:30 p.m. 3707 Douglas by Asela de los Santos, by Mary-Alice Waters Ave. Tel.: (515) 707-1779. Mary-Alice Waters and others $5 with subscription (regular $7) $3 with subscription (regular $7) texas Houston Los cosméticos, las modas, We Are Heirs Stop Deportations! Support Immigrant y la explotación de la mujer of the World’s Revolutions Detainees’ Hunger Strike. Fri., April 4, 7:30 p.m. Donation: $5. 4800 W. 34th St., (Cosmetics, Fashions, and by Thomas Sankara Suite C-50L. Tel.: (713) 476-0733. the Exploitation of Women) Speeches from the Burkina by Joseph Hansen, Evelyn Reed, Faso Revolution 1983-87 cANADA Mary-Alice Waters $5 with subscription (regular $10) Montreal $10 with subscription (regular $15) The Fight to End Women’s Oppression Thomas Sankara Speaks Is Key to Workers’ Struggle for Power. Speaker: Beverly Bernardo, Communist The Burkina Faso Revolution League. Fri., April 4, 7:30 p.m. 7107 St. See distributors 1983-1987 Denis, Room 204. Tel.: (514) 272-5840. on page 8 $10 with subscription (regular $24) The Militant April 7, 2014 3 Cuban Five exhibit Continued from front page was on display with

with creativity and humor, their first the paintings. Goertz Militant/Cheryl 17 months in jail at the Miami Fed- Next to a photo and eral Detention Center, the first six biography of Gerardo of which were spent in solitary con- Hernández is his trib- finement. What comes through is not ute to Nelson Mandela only the routine prison practices de- following Mandela’s signed to demoralize and break work- death last year and ers behind bars, but the fighting spirit part of a 1991 speech and social solidarity that marked the Mandela gave in Ha- Five’s conduct under these conditions. vana recognizing the The exhibit will be on display in a decisive role that Cu- traveled hallway on the Spelman cam- ba’s 1975-91 interna- pus through April 6. tionalist combat mis- “I wanted to generate interest in this sion in Angola played case at Spelman and eventually in the in the final defeat of Above, Opening of “I Will Die the Way I’ve Lived” watercolor exhibit by Antonio city of Atlanta,” said Spelman English apartheid. Guerrero, of Cuban Five, at Spelman College in Militant/Janice Lynn Militant/Janice professor Alma Jean Billingslea, who Also displayed is Atlanta, March 20. English professor Alma Jean welcomed everyone to the opening a description by Fer- Billingslea, whose department was one of event’s reception and was part of the effort to nando González of sponsors, is in forefront at left. Morehouse bring the exhibit to the college. Exhibit his experience in An- College student Casey Jones is at right. Inset, sponsors included the English, World Spelman student Aries Brown picks up material gola and part of an on the Cuban Five to present to her class. Languages and Literature, and History interview with René departments; Facilities Management González about his arrest and time in Rachele Fruit of the Socialist Workers amazed at how Antonio Guerrero did and Services; and the Honors Program. prison. Hernández, Fernando González Party. “The fight to free them is part of that with his paintings.” A timeline of events related to the and René González were among some the fight of the working class in the U.S. Several professors said they would government frame-up along with pho- 425,000 Cubans who volunteered to and around the world. When we fight like to integrate the paintings with tos and information on each of the Five take part in the Angola mission. for their release, we are fighting for our- their courses. Many stayed around for Together with Labañino’s photo was selves.” She encouraged participants to light refreshments, Cuban music and a message he sent to family and sup- help build the “5 Days for the Cuban 5” informal discussion about other pos- Showings of paintings porters of Troy Davis Sept. 23, 2011, in Washington, D.C., June 4-11. sible venues for the exhibit in Atlanta. by Antonio Guerrero, two days after Davis was executed by Participants bought seven copies of the state of Georgia. For decades pro- Reactions to paintings I Will Die the Way I’ve Lived; four of one of the Cuban Five tests in Georgia and across the country “The watercolors are very stirring,” Voices From Prison: The Cuban Five; demanded the release of Davis — an said Casey Jones, 21, a junior at near- and one each of The Cuban Five: Who African-American who was framed by Morehouse College. “In one of the They Are, Why They Were Framed, I Will Die the for the 1989 killing of a policeman captions, Antonio Guerrero says, ‘You Why They Should Be Free; United in Savannah — and used this fight to don’t control the light.’ That short state- States vs. the Cuban Five: A Judicial Way I’ve Lived campaign against the death penalty. ment says a lot about the conditions in Cover-Up; and Hoping in Solitude. “Learning about the Cuban Five, prison, about something as basic as be- One Militant subscription was also you also learn about others in the U.S. ing able to sleep and having your sleep sold. prison system and the conditions they constantly disrupted.” Jones said he “This exhibit is a powerful reminder face, about the use of solitary confine- plans to help spread the word about the that even under the toughest adversity, ment, also used against immigrants fight to free Hernández, Guerrero and no one can take away your joy,” com- who are detained for just crossing the Labañino, the three of the Cuban Five mented Bilal Asim, a young worker border without proper documenta- still in prison. who came with his wife and infant tion,” said Bernardo Gómez, a founder “I was moved by the resilient spirit child at the end of the evening. of the Atlanta Network on Cuba. Gó- that is evident in these paintings,” said Exhibits mez encouraged people to support the filmmaker Gayla Jamison. “It’s an ex- Susan LaMont contributed to this ar- Atlanta Pastors for Peace Friendshipment to ample of the resiliency of the Cuban ticle. Cuba, which will stop in Atlanta the people and their creativity.” March 17-April 6 first week in July. “As a music major, I was very in- Spelman College, Cosby Building, 3rd “The Five are being punished be- terested to see how art could be used Voices From Prison: Floor, in the Cloister. 350 Spelman cause they were defending the sover- to build a movement, to get people to The Cuban Five Lane SW. eignty of Cuba, which has been under look at an issue,” remarked 20-year-old The dignity and attack since the 1959 Revolution,” said Spelman student Janae Bryant. “I was integrity of the Chicago Cuban Five has won March 21-April 13 them the respect of Beverly Arts Center, 2407 W. 111th St. Who are the Cuban Five? thousands around Tel.: (773) 445-3838. Exhibition sched- the world as well ule: Mon.-Fri., 9AM-9PM (closes at 5 as fellow prisoners. p.m. if no evening event); Sat., 12PM- Here three who have 5PM.; Sun., 1-4PM. known them behind bars speak out. Also accounts of prison New York life and resistance April 1-29 by Gerardo Hernández, Ramón Opening program: Fri., April 4, 7PM, Labañino, Elizabeth Palmeiro and Bronx Library Center, 5th floor, 310 Fernando González, Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Puerto Rican independence fighter East Kingsbridge Road. Call (718) Labañino and René González are Cuban revolutionaries who during the 1990s Rafael Cancel Miranda. Also in 579-4257 for exhibit hours and tours. accepted assignments from the Cuban government to gather information on the Spanish. Closing program, Fri., April 25, 5:30 operations and plans of Cuban-American paramilitary groups based in south- $7. Special publication offer $5 p.m., Room C21 on concourse level. ern Florida. These rightist outfits, organizing on U.S. soil with virtual impunity, have a long record of carrying out bombings, assassinations and other deadly ‘I Will Die the Way San Francisco attacks, both against targets in Cuba and supporters of the Cuban Revolution in I’ve Lived’ May 4 the United States, Puerto Rico and elsewhere. Fifteen watercolors On Sept. 12, 1998, the five were arrested by the FBI. They were framed up Exhibit and reception: 2PM, San by Antonio Guer- and convicted on a variety of charges, which included acting as unregistered Francisco Public Library, Bayview rero for the 15th agents of the Cuban government and possession of false identity documents. Branch, 5075 Third Street. anniversary of the Without a shred of evidence, three were charged with “conspiracy to gather imprisonment of and transmit national defense information.” the Cuban Five. Auckland, New Zealand Hernández was also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder, based on With text by April 5-24 the pretext that he bore responsibility for the Cuban government’s 1996 shoot- Guerrero, Gerardo Opening program: Sat., April 5, 5-7PM. down of two Brothers to the Rescue aircraft that had invaded Cuban airspace Hernández, Ramón Artstation, 1 Ponsonby Road. Tel.: (09) in disregard of Havana’s repeated warnings. He is serving two life terms plus 15 Labañino. Also in 376-3221; (09) 303-1755. Exhibition years. His wife Adriana Pérez is barred from entering the United States. Spanish. schedule: Mon.-Fri., 9AM-5PM; Sat., René González returned to Cuba in May 2013, halfway through his parole. $7. Special publication offer $5 9AM-4PM. Fernando González was released Feb. 27 and arrived in Cuba the next day. pathfinderpress.com

4 The Militant April 7, 2014 Strikers at Cambodia shoe SF rally protests Russian occupation of Crimea factory win increase in pay transportation allowance from $10 to $15, an end to forced overtime, no pay cuts during strikes and removal of male security guards from outside the factory’s women’s rest- rooms. Thousands of workers rallied outside the com- pany gates on the morn- ings of March 17 and 18. Workers’ representatives walked out of negotiations FTUWKC March 18 after company Militant/Carole Lesnick More than 95 percent of workers at Wing Star Shoes in SAN FRANCISCO — More than 200 people rallied in downtown here Kompong Speu, Cambodia, took part in strike March 14 -24. officials refused to agree to the $5 allowance raise. March 23 to protest the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula of Ukraine by by emma johnson The following day thousands of work- Moscow and to support the struggle against Russian domination. More than 5,000 workers at ers set up a two-hour roadblock outside Participating in the rally was Olga Ryzhko, who was visiting from Kiev. She Taiwanese-owned Wing Star Shoes in the factory, shutting down National was part of a strike at a video game company in support of the Maidan demon- Kompong Speu, about 50 miles west of Road 3. On March 21, a provincial court strations in Kiev. She and her husband helped by bringing food and clothes to Phnom Penh, went on strike March 14- called on workers to return to their jobs. protesters. “It was the attack on the students in November that got us involved,” 24. Workers wrested some gains and re- Workers responded by organizing an- Ryzhko said. “The students were beaten just because they wanted to spend the night in the square. In the next days over a million people were protesting. The turned without reprisals in what was the other rally of thousands outside the fac- entire nation was saying, we don’t want this.” largest industrial action since a bloody tory. — Betsey Stone government crackdown on nationwide On March 24, workers ended the garment strikes in January. strike after bosses agreed to increase “More than 95 percent of the workers the monthly allowance by $2 and not cut While Cambodian garment produc- $20 in May 2013. On Dec. 25, hundreds at the factory took part in the action,” pay during the walkout. tion has been expanding, wages in the of thousands began a nationwide strike Say Sokny, general secretary of the Free “This is a small solution, but our industry dropped 22 percent in real in response to the government’s decision Trade Union, told the Militant by email workers agreed to accept this agree- terms between 2001 and 2011. Between to raise the monthly minimum wage to March 22. FTU is one of four unions ment, and we will continue to negoti- 2010 and 2012, the number of strikes in $100, far short of the workers’ demand in the plant. “Members of all unions as ate for the rest of the demands,” Phorn Cambodia increased by nearly 170 per- for $160. Protests and strike actions sub- well as nonunion workers joined in.” Phal, deputy secretary-general of the cent. sided after riot cops and soldiers opened Workers had 11 demands, including Free Trade Union, told Cambodia Daily Garment workers won a raise from fire on demonstrators, killing five work- an increase in the monthly food and March 25. $50 to $60 a month in 2010 and another ers and injuring dozens. Twenty-one participants in the strike are still in prison.

Kellogg unionists: ‘We’re fighting for all workers’ pathfinderpress.com Continued from front page end to the lockout. of the rain,” said Mike James, who worked as a mechanic at the plant for A few locked-out union members works in Kellogg’s warehouse. seven years, told the Militant. “We’re have lost their homes or cars in recent The company is operating the plant fighting for all workers. When you’re months, said Local 252G President with scabs and supervisory personnel. in a fight, you have to realize that’s Kevin Bradshaw. “And many more are “For a long time, the company tried what it is — a fight.” Like a growing threatened with such losses.” Harold to project a ‘we are family’ image,” number of Local 252G members, Rush Phillips, a maintenance worker with said Harrison Edrington, as he walked recently got another job while continu- 23 years at the plant, said his daughter the picket line March 15. “What they ing to be part of the fight. might have to leave college. should say is ‘we are dollars.’” The locked-out workers recently es- Eight local members have decided to Contributions can be made payable tablished the Coalition for Organiza- retire, as a way to restart health insur- to “Local 252G Hardship” and sent to tional Protection of People and Equal ance, which the company cut off the BCTGM Local 252G, 3035 Directors Rights to involve other unions, church- day they locked out the workers. “Our Row, Building A #1310, Memphis, TN $16 es, civil rights groups, community or- medical plan at this point is to stay out 38131-0417. ganizations and a few elected officials. The coalition organized a “Unity in the Community” meeting March 15 at the 25, 50, and 75 years ago sanitation workers’ union hall. It drew some 75 people, including several doz- en locked-out BCTGM members; rep- resentatives of the United Auto Work- ers, Teamsters and United Food and Commercial Workers; the NAACP; April 7, 1989 April 6, 1964 April 4, 1939 Southern Christian Leadership Con- Exxon’s tanker operations off the One of the lies spread in the U.S. When the Generals and the bosses ference; area ministers; and others. Alaska coast were an environmental di- about the Cuban Revolution is that the sit down together to lay plans for an- “Kellogg’s decided to make an ex- saster waiting to happen. And on March Castro government has suppressed other war to save “democracy” and ample of the Memphis BCTGM mem- 24, when a giant oil spill took place, it freedom of religion. The latest refuta- prepare to protect the financial interests bers for the rest of their plants in this did. tion of the lie is contained in a dispatch of America’s “60 Families” in Europe country and around the world,” Bill As recently as a month ago Exxon from Havana by Juan de Onis to the or South America or the Far East, they Lucy, retired president of the Coali- and other companies that own the Trans- March 29 New York Times. It reads in immediately take stock of the available tion of Black Trade Unionists, told the Alaskan Pipeline assured concerned part: cannon-fodder. gathering. “‘It’s only 220 workers,’ fishers and environmentalists they had a “HAVANA, March 28 — Roman Without large numbers of men and they thought. ‘No one will care.’ But cleanup plan that could contain a major Catholic Churches have been thronged boys who will bear the brunt of the people in Memphis do care about Lo- spill within five hours of a rupture. since Thursday. The Ministry of Labor fighting, to receive the bayonets through cal 252G.” More than 11 million gallons of crude declared a two-day holiday out of re- their stomachs and fill their lungs with “Having more people behind us puts oil have already poured into southern spect for traditions and the principle of poison gas, a war could not be success- us in a stronger position,” Bubba Har- Alaskan waters, and there is the con- the religious idea. ful. bin, a mechanic who has worked at tinuing danger that the reef-stranded “At the Jewish Community Center, a And the 15,000,000 unemployed Kellogg for 38 years, told the Militant Exxon Valdez may break up completely. Passover supper was served last night workers and youth of America have not after the program. “And getting our Exxon officials, and the media, for 200 persons from the four congre- been overlooked — in fact they are al- fight known is super for us.” were quick to try to pin the blame on gations in Havana. Food is tightly ra- ready the very first consideration in the The Congressional Black Caucus the crew. Four days after the spill, an tioned in Cuba, but the government or- plans to throw this country into another and National Football League Play- Exxon official admitted that with the dered special quotas of chickens, eggs world slaughter. ers Association recently sent letters to equipment available, it was impossible and cooking oil so that all Jews might The entire relief and W.P.A. adminis- Kellogg’s CEO John Bryant urging an to contain it. celebrate Passover.” tration is now in the hands of the Army.

The Militant April 7, 2014 5 Rally backs hunger strikers NJ bakery workers fight firings after immigration audit at immigration jail in Wash.

Militant/John Staggs SWEDESBORO, N.J. — More than 50 people assembled outside the La Brea Bakery here March 17 to protest the recent firing of some 100 work- ers following a company audit of immigration records. Demonstrators read a letter to La Brea Bakery management demanding either reinstatement, severance pay or “some compensation for their years of service.”

Militant/John Naubert La Brea Bakery, which employs about 250 workers on three shifts, con- Rally outside detention center in Tacoma, Wash., March 11 in solidarity with hunger strikers. ducted an internal review of I-9 employment authorization forms and fired anyone who couldn’t present the requested paperwork. Many of the fired By Edwin Fruit longer,” said Sandy Restrepo, an attor- workers have 10 or more years seniority. TACOMA, Wash. — Some 250 peo- ney representing several hunger strikers. “We were unjustly fired and weren’t given a chance to prepare for this ple rallied outside the Northwest Deten- “They are human beings, not criminals, step,” said Francisco Cuevas, who worked in the sanitation department. tion Center here March 11 to support and they deserve better treatment.” Two years ago the plant, which bakes organic bread, was bought by hunger strikers inside. The protesters On March 15, supporters of the in- Arytza, a giant international food corporation. Soon afterwards the com- chanted “You are not alone” and “Out of mates held another rally outside the im- pany rolled back medical benefits, eliminated paid sick days and speeded the shadows into the streets!” migration jail. Three detainees were still up production. The prison is privately owned by on hunger strike by the ninth day, March Organizers of the protest included representatives from the Farmworker GEO Group, Inc., and under contract 17. That day inmates at an immigration Support Committee. with Immigration and Customs En- facility in Conroe, Texas, initiated a — George Chalmers and John Staggs forcement to house immigrants pend- hunger strike. ing deportation. Prisoners’ handwritten list of de- mands was presented at the action. It included, “halt deportations, bond so Moscow grabs Crimea, US sanctions target workers we can fight our cases at home with our Continued from front page very concerned,” Lenara Smedlyaeva, Washington has imposed sanctions children; no deportations for parents or of the last Ukrainian base in Crimea, who works at a Tatar restaurant near on 20 individuals and a major bank spouses of citizens”; and “faster resolu- had become a symbol of resistance to the Maidan here, told the Militant. in Russia. “Billions of dollars were tion” of immigration cases. They also the Russian annexation for his refusal “I try to visit my family every three wiped off the value of companies demanded better food, an end to abu- to evacuate the air force barracks. He months, but I don’t know if that is linked to some of Russia’s wealthiest sive treatment, more than $1 a day pay was whisked into Russian custody af- possible now,” said Smedlyaeva, who oligarchs yesterday as the effect of for prison work and lower commissary ter he and the troops under his com- works with Crimea SOS, an organiza- U.S. sanctions on President Vladimir prices. mand finally surrendered the Belbek tion of Crimeans in Kiev. Her grand- Putin’s ‘inner circle’ shook the coun- Maru Villalpando, founder of La- base in face of overwhelming force. mother was deported by the Russians try’s financial sector,” reported theFi - tino Advocacy, said protests last month “A uniform is not for sale. You can- during World War II, she said, when nancial Times. blocked a bus and two vans of immi- not buy it. You cannot sell it,” Ukrai- the Soviet government of Premier Russian Deputy Economy Minister grants being deported from leaving the nian Capt. Aleksandr Lantukh told Joseph Stalin forcefully expelled the Sergei Belyakov told a local business facility. reporters outside the base in Belbek a entire Tatar population from Crimea; conference in Moscow March 24 that Some 750 of the 1,300 inmates re- day after it was taken by Moscow, re- nearly half did not survive the exodus. “the economic situation shows clear fused food beginning March 7, accord- ported the Washington Post. Most of “My grandmother was deported on signs of a crisis.” The ruble is down ing to a statement from immigration of- the troops on the base remained loyal May 18, 1944, to Perm in the Urals,” 11 percent against the dollar this year. ficials. to Ukraine. Smedlyaeva said. “She spent the next Washington reinforced joint naval “It’s time to tell the world what’s hap- But Ukraine’s interim Defense 45 years in the south of Russia work- and air exercises in the Black Sea, pening here,” German Ruvalcaba, 36, a Minister Ihor Tenyukh, who resigned ing in the forests as a laborer, a very adding at least a dozen F-16 fighters construction worker from Mexico, told after Moscow snatched Crimea, said hard job. Our family was so glad when jets. The March 21-April 4 maneu- the Militant. He spent 18 months at the only about one-quarter of Ukrainian she returned to the Crimea in 1989.” vers, which had been planned since jail after being picked up for a speeding troops stationed throughout Crimea Top NATO commander Philip 2013, involve the militaries of Arme- ticket. His case is pending. “Inside we are expected to leave the peninsula Breedlove described Russian mili- nia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, were always in struggle, but finally there and remain under Ukrainian com- tary forces conducting maneuvers Moldova, Poland, Romania, Serbia, is enough support inside and outside to mand, with most of the rest joining along Ukraine’s eastern border March Ukraine, as well as Turkey, Belgium have a hunger strike.” the Russian military, reported Mc- 23 as “very, very sizable and very, and NATO representatives. “I told my children I would come here Clatchy news service. very ready,” reported Reuters. Mos- Moscow has stepped up economic today to support all the hunger strikers,” About 12 percent of the population cow has its eyes not only on eastern pressure on Ukraine, sealing the bor- said Maria, a fast-food worker whose in Crimea is Tatar, an oppressed na- Ukraine, but Transdniestria, which der to most trucks, raising prices of husband is among the strikers. tionality that has lived there for cen- declared independence from Moldova natural gas pumped in from Russia “We are out here to add to the voice turies. “Nearly 30 percent of Crimean in 1990 and lies some 300 miles from and shutting down a chocolate fac- of those inside,” Nadia Bucio of El Co- Tatars voted in favor of reunification Ukraine’s eastern border. The speaker tory in southern Russia owned by mité Pro Reforma y Justicia Social (Im- with Russia,” Deputy Prime Minis- of parliament there has called for the Ukrainian capitalist Petro Poroshen- migration Reform and Social Justice ter Rustam Temirgaliyev of the new province to be incorporated into Rus- ko, who announced plans to run for Committee), told the Militant. “We have pro-Moscow Crimean government sia. president of Ukraine in the May 25 seen deportations of 2 million under this announced March 18, two days after Interim Ukrainian Prime Minis- elections. president.” a rigged referendum there. Temir- ter has called for The government of Ukraine has Juan Jose Bocanegra of the May 1 galiyev also said Crimean Tatars will decentralization of power in eastern requested $15 billion in loans from Action Coalition in Seattle said prison have to vacate part of their lands. Ukraine in an effort to blunt Russian the International Monetary Fund to authorities have threatened to force-feed “Considering that only 0.54 percent designs and provocations there. maintain bond payments and stave those on hunger strike. of Tatars actually voted; it’s disin- Donetsk Mayor Oleksandr off financial collapse. IMF officials “I’m proud of my dad,” said Anthony genuous to say that 30 percent sup- Lukyanchenko is among many po- are demanding Kiev slash 20 percent Garcia, 19, a college student who had ported Russia,” a reader commented litical figures in the east who support from its budget, cut energy subsidies, just visited his father inside. “It takes a online in response to Temirgaliyev’s Yatsenyuk’s calls for greater regional devalue its currency and take steps to lot of courage to do what he did. I think statements as reported in the Moscow powers while opposing any Moscow- squeeze higher “productivity” from they are going to win something.” Times. engineered referendums for closer the working class as conditions for the “People in detention can’t wait any “My family is in Crimea and I am ties with Russia. loan package.

6 The Militant April 7, 2014 Canada truckers stand firm in face of order to end strike

By Steve Penner said Charlie Mann, a former dispatcher VANCOUVER, British Columbia who has been a trucker for less than a — After driving a tractor-trailer convoy year. “Here union and nonunion are from nearby Delta, hundreds of striking united. It makes us very strong.” truckers rallied at Port Metro Vancouver “It’s impossible to live on what we March 21 to protest threats by the pro- make,” said Mann. “This is because vincial government to enact a back-to- of low container rates, unpaid waiting work order. times and rising costs for fuel, insur- “Do they really think these threats are ance, maintenance and fees, all of which going to work?” asked Iqbal Grewal, a we pay for ourselves.” trucker for 15 years. “We have the right “Rates, licensing, wait times, any Militant/Dan Grant Striking union and nonunion truckers rally March 21 at port in Vancouver, British to strike and to protest,” he told the Mili- concerns truckers have will only take Columbia. Walkout of 1,500 has greatly slowed down shipments at Canada’s largest port. tant. place once truckers go back to work,” Grewal, a nonunion trucker, pointed said Transportation Minister Todd Stone on the union for as long as the strike ers are returning to work under the out that the British Columbia govern- prior to the March 21 rally. continues and $400 on each striker. threats. But truckers’ representatives say ment has used back-to-work legisla- Courts have already imposed in- Meanwhile, Port Metro Vancouver au- the claims are exaggerated. tion in the past against striking teach- junctions against picketing at the port thorities announced they have begun “We are not going back to work,” said ers and health care workers, a number and at CN Railway’s container yards. suspending licenses and permits of Raj Dhami, a nonunion trucker. “We are of whom were at the rally in solidarity The government introduced back-to- striking truckers. staying on the picket lines.” with the truckers. Representatives from work legislation March 24. If passed, Vancouver Port Authority officials the B.C. Federation of Labour, telephone it would impose $10,000 daily fines say that as many as 40 percent of truck- Mike Barker contributed to this article. and electrical workers and several other unions also took part. The strike by some 1,500 truckers has substantially reduced shipments from Deaths, abuse at Rikers Island jail in NYC Canada’s largest port, which processes Continued from front page On March 24 former Captain Ter- frame-up mill have become a grow- more than $170 billion worth of goods was supposed to be checked every rance Pendergrass was arrested on ing social, political and economic each year. The majority of the truckers 15 minutes. But temperatures in the charges that he deliberately let inmate problem in the eyes of layers in the are of Punjabi descent. cell reached at least 100 degrees. “He Jason Echevarria die after Echevar- U.S. ruling class, spawning books, re- Roughly 1,200 nonunion truckers af- basically baked to death,” one official ria, who had psychological problems, ports, articles and public debate. filiated with the United Truckers Asso- said. Prison authorities say heaters ingested cleaning powder. When ciation and about 250 union truckers or- malfunctioned. guards reported that Echevarria re- Political problem for U.S. rulers ganized by the Unifor-Vancouver Con- Overheated cells are common in quired medical attention, Pendergrass In the U.S. “the criminal-justice sys- tainer Truckers’ Association are part the prison, Joaquan Smalls told the replied that he didn’t want to be both- tem is a gigantic and ravenous monster of the fight. About 60 percent of Uni- Militant outside the prison March 23. ered unless the guards needed help that convicts 99.5% of the accused, 97% for members are also members of the “A lot of times the cells were so hot with extracting the inmate from his without trial, because of the corrupt op- United Truckers Association, according my throat dried up,” said Smalls, 21, cell or if there was a dead body, ac- eration of the plea-bargain system,” con- to UTA representative Manny Dhillon. who was released from Rikers a few cording to the Daily News. servative columnist Conrad Black wrote There are owner-operators and truckers weeks ago after charges against him While such incidents have recently March 19. “In other civilized countries, who drive company-owned rigs in both were dismissed. gotten some media attention, abuse by defendants do win sometimes, up to organizations. Three Rikers guards were indicted prison authorities is a daily occurrence, nearly 40% of cases in Canada and rath- The nonunion truckers walked off the March 7 for assaulting Carl Williams Smalls said. “I’ve seen guards punch er more than that in Britain.” Workers job Feb. 26. Union members joined the a year ago and then covering it up af- prisoners in the face just for talking who go to trial in the U.S. for drug cases strike March 10.“In this day and age a ter Williams cursed at them for con- back. Sometimes prisoners fight back.” get sentences three times longer than lot of people think of themselves first,” fiscating a bag of food. Rikers Island is one of the largest those who accept a plea bargain. jail complexes in the U.S., with a daily “My cousin was accused of selling population of nearly 12,000, most of drugs and assault on an officer,” said Leader of Egyptian farmers’ them awaiting a verdict or sentencing. José, who asked that his last name not According to the New York Times, be used, while waiting for the bus after the use of force by guards there has visiting hours at Rikers March 23. “But group fights gov’t frame-up jumped nearly 240 percent over the it’s not true.” BY Georges Mehrabian which many did.” last decade. “They keep pressuring him to sign a ATHENS, Greece — Karam Saber, “These charges are an attack on the The proportion of prisoners at Rik- paper to say he’s guilty. They say if he president of the Land Center for Land Center and its activities on behalf ers diagnosed with mental illness has doesn’t sign he’ll be here at least until Human Rights based in Cairo, was of small farmers and fishermen for the doubled to 40 percent in the last eight June because the judge is going on vaca- convicted March 11 in Beni Suef, past 15 years,” said Saber. “We have years, the Times said. According to tion. He’s a permanent resident and they Egypt, and sentenced to five years helped organize 30 farmers’ unions and the Huffington Post, state govern- tell him he’s going to have problems imprisonment. The verdict was based 10 unions of fishermen. We have been ments cut spending on mental health with the immigration authorities. The on an article in the constitution that part of farmers’ fights for land; we have by $4.35 billion from 2009 to 2012. public defenders are not good either. makes it a crime to “promote sedition encouraged cooperative farming and Between 1972 and 2000 the impris- They keep pressuring him to sign too.” or contempt of heavenly religions or fought against farm debts. onment rate in the U.S. increased five- “You’re supposed to be innocent un- harm national unity.” He is free for The fight against Saber’s frame-up fold. Capitalist politicians, Democrats til proven guilty,” said Sabrina Cruz, a now, pending appeal. has received support from prominent and Republican alike, strove to outdo subway conductor, during a trip back “The charge against me was filed Egyptian authors, including Bahaa each other with demagogic calls for from Rikers to visit her son, “but they on April 12, 2011, by individuals who Taher and Ibrahim Abdel Meguid; the more convictions and stiffer sentenc- treat the inmates and those of us visiting are close to the Muslim Brotherhood,” Lawyers’ Union; and dozens of unions. es. The “war on drugs” that began in them like we are animals.” Sabar said in a March 14 phone inter- The Commission of Story Writers, the 1970s, mandatory minimum sen- In 2010 Congress revised drug laws, view. “The General Prosecutor pursued which is affiliated with the government tencing, three strikes and you’re out reducing the disparity in sentencing the charge, which claims my 2010 novel Ministry of Culture, condemned the rul- laws of the 1980s and ’90s and what crack cocaine-related crimes compared Where Is God? was in violation of the ing, saying “the constitution states that the Times calls placing “the justice to those involving powder cocaine from constitution. The novel was declared the state must protect the freedom of ex- system almost entirely in the hands 100-1 to 18-1. Attorney General Eric as being against religion both by the pression and must prevent actions aimed of prosecutors” all played a role in the Holder recently endorsed shortening the Christian diocese of Beni Suef and of- at artists or their work.” skyrocketing numbers of workers be- average sentence for drug dealers by a ficials of the Al-Azhar Mosque.” Letters of protest can be addressed to hind bars. By the end of 2010, 3 per- year. In May 2013, one month before the the President of the Republic of Egypt, cent of Black men were in prison. The per capita rate of prisoners Muslim Brotherhood government of Federal Palace Heliopolis, Cairo; to the A hunger strike by 30,000 prisoners peaked in 2007 and has declined since, President Mohammed Morsi was over- Prime Minister at Al-Kasr Al-Ainy in California last year against solitary but is still the highest in the world. To- thrown, “the police violated the premis- Building, Council of Ministers, Cairo; confinement and other abuses won day there are more than 2.4 million in es of the Land Center in Cairo and tried and to the Attorney General, July 62 public attention and sympathy. And prisons and jails, with 7 million more to take me into custody,” said Saber. Street, Supreme Court, Cairo. Copies the consequences of unprecedented on probation or parole. “I refused to go and called upon law- should be sent to the Land Center for rates of incarceration and the bla- yers and others to come to our defense, Human Rights at [email protected] tant character of the justice system’s Lea Sherman contributed to this article.

The Militant April 7, 2014 7 Lessons of Russian, Cuban revolutions show how to fight and win The following Books of the Month ex- and the — which many cerpt is from Is Socialist Revolution in falsely thought Cuba resembled — im- the U.S. Possible? by Mary-Alice Wa- ploded? ters, a leader of the Socialist Workers How has it been possible for the Cu- Party and president of Pathfinder Press. ban people to hold at bay the most pow- The selection is from a presentation by erful empire history has ever known Waters at the 2007 Venezuela Interna- — or ever will know — for almost fifty tional Book Fair in Caracas. Copyright years? © 2008 by Pathfinder Press. Reprinted Why to this day, despite decades of by permission. struggle throughout the hemisphere, does Cuba remain the only free terri- tory of the Americas? Books of To state that fact is not to diminish the importance of the space that has been the month conquered by the people of Venezu- ela these last years, nor the new ground by mary-alice waters still being taken in struggle. It simply Workers in the United States, wher- registers the indisputable fact that what ever they were born, face the same class will be Venezuela’s January 1 [date enemy, and determined struggles on marks victory of Cuban Revolution] lies any front tend to pull workers together ahead of us, not behind. … in face of the attempts to divide us. That As the Cuban people have proven in is what is beginning to happen. practice, a better world is indeed possi- The massive, national, Black-led ble. But in any radical or enduring man- march on Jena, Louisiana, two months ner, only through socialist revolution. ago by some 20,000 demonstrators — The stakes posed in the questions we Black, white, Latino and more, native- are discussing here at this forum are im- born and immigrant — protesting the Militant photos: Top, Jorge Lertora; bottom, Jacob Perasso measurable. We confront not only the unjust treatment meted out by the “Determined struggles on any front tend to pull workers together in face of attempts to divide destruction of the health, welfare, and us,” says Waters. Top, March in Chicago May 1, 2007, demanding end to deportations and courts to six Black teenagers in that other anti-immigrant measures. Bottom, Sept. 2007 protest against racist bigotry in Jena, La. environment of the earth and all toil- town, is a good example of the ways ing humanity — the destruction of land in which the growing proletarian re- zations and related actions. … dent working-class political action and and labor, the wellsprings of all human sistance in the United States has al- We learn from the traditions of revolutionary socialist leadership. Impe- progress and culture. Those are and ready been registered in the strength- struggle coming together from all rialism can no longer rely on it as enforc- will be the inevitable, devastating con- ening of a broader fighting vanguard. parts of the world. As we fight shoul- er of peaceful coexistence, of “spheres sequences of the workings of capital- It was the first national action of its der to shoulder, it becomes harder for of influence” around the globe. And the ism. The limits we can impose on those size and character in decades in the the bosses to pit “us” against “them.” most combative and courageous lead- consequences are and can only be a by- United States, and the march on Jena It becomes more possible to see that ers of working-class battles, of national product of our revolutionary struggle. was undoubtedly nourished by the our class interests are not the same as liberation movements, of radicalizing And should we fail, we can be sure that power of the recent May Day mobili- those of “our” bosses, “our” govern- youth, will no longer be drawn toward we all ultimately face a future of nuclear ment, or “our” two parties. that Stalinist negation of everything devastation as well. As decades of deepening crises Marx and Engels and Lenin fought for, Every revolutionary struggle, any- April Books and intensifying class struggle open falsely believing it is communism. where in the world — not least impor- of the Month ahead of us, we have something else in The lessons of the Russian Revolution tant right here in Venezuela — is a vi- our favor. The revolutionary potential and the Communist International under tal piece of the international battle. But PATHFINDER of the great radicalization in the 1930s Lenin will be sought after once again as until power is taken from Washington’s

READERS CLUB 25% was squandered and diverted into sup- new generations of vanguard fighters hands by the workers and farmers, and discount SPECIALS port for capitalism’s “New Deal” and search for historical experiences from Yankee imperialism is thus decisively then its inevitable accompaniment, the which they can learn not only how to disarmed, nothing lasting is settled. Is Socialist Revolution in the U.S. “War Deal” — the imperialist slaugh- fight buthow to fightto win. That is why, That is why it is no small matter to Possible? ter of World War II. as these battles politically deepen, the answer: Yes, revolution is not only pos- A Necessary Debate by Mary-Alice Waters It was the resources and attraction of real history of the Cuban Revolution too sible in the United States, it is com- Waters explains why a socialist a powerful bureaucratic social caste in will again be increasingly sought after. ing. Yes, revolutionary struggles are revolution is not only possible, the USSR camouflaging itself as a com- Why has the Cuban Revolution fol- on the agenda — but their outcome but more importantly, why munist leadership on a world scale that lowed a completely different course the depends on us. Yes, fighting shoulder revolutionary struggles by made this possible. Today, however, that last twenty years, salvaging and forti- to shoulder with others determined to working people are inevitable. fying its socialist revolution, as the bu- triumph along this course is the most $7. Special price: $5.25 enormous political obstacle no longer stands across the road toward indepen- reaucratic regimes of Eastern Europe meaningful life possible. The Challenge of the Left Opposition (1926–27) by Leon Trotsky if you like this paper, look us up $34. Special price: $25.50 Where to find distributors of the MINNESOTA: Minneapolis: 416 E. AUSTRALIA Building Socialism in Cuba Militant, New International, and a full Hennepin Ave., Suite 214. Zip: 55414. Sydney: 1st Flr, 3/281-287 Beamish by Fidel Castro display of Pathfinder books. Tel: (612) 729-1205. E-mail: tcswp@ St., Campsie, NSW 2194. Mailing $25. Special price: $18.75 qwestoffice.net address: P.O. Box 164, Campsie, NSW 2194. UNITED STATES Tel: (02) 9718 9698. E-mail: cl_australia@ Understanding History NEBRASKA, Lincoln: Tel: (402) 217- optusnet.com.au by George Novack CALIFORNIA: Los Angeles: 4025 4906. E-mail: [email protected] How capitalism arose, why S. Western Ave. Zip: 90062. Tel: (323) Omaha: 3302 Q St. (Upstairs). Zip: 68107. CANADA 295-2600. E-mail: [email protected] this exploitative system is now Tel.: (402) 779-7697. E-mail: swpomaha@ QUEBEC: Montreal: 7107 St. Denis San Francisco: 5482 Mission St. Zip: 94112- fastmail.net #204 H2S 2S5. Tel: (514) 272-5840. E-mail: outdated and why revolutionary 1015. Tel: (415) 584-2135. E-mail: swpsf change is fundamental to human [email protected] @sbcglobal.net NEW YORK: Manhattan: 545 8th progress. Ave., Room 1410. Zip: 10018. Tel: (212) FRANCE $20. Special price: $15 FLORIDA: Miami: 7100 Biscayne Blvd., 629-6649. E-mail: [email protected] Paris: P.O. 175, 23 rue Lecourbe. Suite 306A. Zip: 33138. Tel: (305) 757-8869. Postal code: 75015. Tel: (01) 40-10-28-37. Woman’s Evolution E-mail: [email protected] PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 3701 E-mail: [email protected] From Matriarchal Clan to Patriarchal Family Pulaski Ave. Zip: 19140. Tel: (215) 225- by Evelyn Reed GEORGIA: Atlanta: 777 Cleveland Ave. NEW ZEALAND SW Suite 103. Zip: 30315. Tel: (678) 528-7828. 1270. E-mail: [email protected] $32. Special price: $24 E-mail: [email protected] Auckland: 188a Onehunga Mall, TEXAS: Houston: 4800 W. 34th St., Onehunga. Postal address: P.O. Box 3025, Les première et deuxième ILLINOIS: Chicago: 806 W. Washington Suite C-50L. Zip: 77092. Tel: (713) 476- Auckland 1140. Tel: (09) 636-3231. E-mail: déclarations de La Havane Blvd. Suite 202. Zip: 60607. Tel: (312) 455- 0733. E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] (First and Second Declarations of Havana) 0111. E-mail: [email protected] $10. Special price: $7.50 WASHINGTON, D.C.: 143 UNITED KINGDOM IOWA: Des Moines: 3707 Douglas Ave. Kennedy St. NW, Suite 15. Zip: ENGLAND: London: First Floor, 120 Join Pathfinder Readers Club Zip: 50310. Tel: (515) 707-1779. E-mail: 20011. Tel: (202) 536-5080. E-mail: Bethnal Green Road (Entrance in Brick for $10 and receive [email protected] Lane). Postal code: E2 6DG. Tel: (020) discounts all year long [email protected] 7613-2466. E-mail: [email protected]

Order online at MASSACHUSETTS: Boston: 13 WASHINGTON: Seattle: 5418 Rainier Manchester: Room 301, 3rd floor, Hilton www.pathfinderpress.com Bennington St., 2nd Floor, East Bos- Ave. South. Zip: 98118-2439. Tel: (206) House, 26–28 Hilton St. Postal code: M1 2EH. Offer good until april 30 ton. Zip: 02128. Tel: (617) 569-9169. 323-1755. E-mail: seattleswp@qwestoffice. Tel: (016) 1478-2496. E-mail: clmanchr@ E-mail: [email protected] net gmail.com 8 The Militant April 7, 2014 Coal miners in Ukraine Continued from front page capitalists. an important victory for the entire The plant supplies three power plants, nation,” Demkiv said. “But we don’t Shkoropad said. After these were priva- trust the new government, or any of tized in 2012, they began to import pro- the political parties. We support the cessed coal from eastern Ukraine, cut- people staying in Maidan. Those in ting back production in the west. the Ministry of Energy and the Coal Workers believe Rinat Akhmetov, the Industry today are the same people richest man in Ukraine, who is report- who served under Yanukovych.” ed to control half of the country’s coal, “But we don’t just need to change steel, iron ore and thermoelectricity in- the faces,” he said. “We need to change dustries, is among the plant’s control- the social and political policies, to get rid ling owners, Shkoropad said. Ukraine’s of the regime of bribery. We say free- capitalist class is drawn from those who dom or death.” were well-positioned through ties to As we talked in Demkiv’s apartment, the government bureaucracy to claim the television was tuned to continual ownership of state-owned industry coverage of the Russian government’s and banking after the fall of the Soviet seizure of Crimea and Moscow’s provo- Union in 1991. cations in the east and south of the coun- The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s try, sections with the largest concentra- office reported March 22 that a search Militant/John Studer Working people played central role in fight to oust Moscow-backed Ukraine President Viktor tion of coal and steel production. of an apartment owned by Eduard Yanukovych. Above, barricade on Instytutska Street in Kiev’s Independence Square. Inset, “Having understood that the people Stavytsky, former Minister of Energy Berkut riot police water cannon truck destroyed by demonstrators during Feb. 18-20 battles. cannot be defeated even by force, Vik- and Coal Mines who fled with the fall of tor Yanukovych and his associates Yanukovych, contained $4.8 million in to death by a shuttle coach.” spread of illegal mines in the east.” fled, leaving the country devastated,” U.S. cash, 110 pounds of gold bars and “The union officials did little in re- These mines, known as kopanki, re- Mikhailo Volynets, chairman of the diamond, gold and platinum jewelry. sponse,” he said. “Workers rely on portedly produce some 10 percent of the Independent Trade Union of Miners of themselves for safety, not on the union country’s coal output. Kopanki miners Ukraine, said in a March 11 statement Workers fight for back pay or mine managers.” work under dangerous conditions and on behalf of the nationwide Confedera- The union has been organizing ac- receive no government benefits. tion of Free Trade Unions. “Ukraine was tions near the coal enrichment plant and Profit drive kills miners The illegal mines were born after the subjected to aggressive interventions by in Kiev demanding back pay, Shkoropad One hundred sixty-one coal miners in fall of the Soviet Union, when many the Russian Federation.” said. The plant produces 11 rail coaches Ukraine were killed on the job in 2011, state-owned mines and other indus- Unemployment and decreasing liv- of processed coal a day, down from 37 a according to official reports, roughly tries closed and tens of thousands were ing standards “have worsened,” said couple years ago. two workers for every million tons pro- thrown out of work. Today they are a Volynets, who opposes proposals from “We are also demanding the govern- duced. This is among the highest min- big business. The coal, greased by cor- Washington and European Union gov- ment keep the coal mines and process- ing fatality rates in the world. ruption, flows onto the state coal market ernments for “policies of austerity.” ing plants open so that we can keep our In July 2011, 28 miners were killed in and is counted as production from state “This targeting of average people is jobs,” she said. an underground explosion at the Sucho- mines. unacceptable and counterproductive,” The potholed-filled road to the plant dilska-Shidna mine in the Luhansk re- “My soul is with the people in the he said, all the more so in Ukraine, outside the city reflected the decay of gion, southeast of Kiev. The law says Maidan,” said Sheremeta. “I was deep- where “wages, pensions and other social infrastructure that runs alongside the that the trade union representing miners ly upset when I saw Russia take over payments are the lowest in Europe.” He road to capitalism here. “When I first who are killed must be involved in the Crimea without any fight. I was inspired called on unionists worldwide to support saw people driving I thought they were official investigation. Seven of the dead by some of the soldiers who showed Ukrainian workers in their “struggle for drunk,” said Volodia, a cab driver. “Now miners were members of the Indepen- spirit and resistance. And I admire the peace for our country, its independence, I know what they were doing.” dent Trade Union of Miners of Ukraine, Tatars who spoke out and protested integrity and the inviolability of its bor- “The mine equipment we have is de- but none of the union’s representatives against the invasion. ders” and for “a decent level of life for cades behind modern technology,” said were allowed to take part. “We are a sovereign nation,” he said. Ukrainian workers.” Yura Sheremeta, a 32-year-old miner Seven coal miners were killed last “We have spirit and we will continue to The economic and social crisis work- who builds tunnels at the Chervonograd month in an underground methane ex- fight. If we don’t succeed this time, we ers and farmers in Ukraine face has No. 2 coal mine. Some 1,500 work at the plosion at the Pivnichna mine near Do- will have another Maidan. spurred their struggle to throw off Rus- mine, 800 underground. netsk in the east, BBC reported. “And I think there will be one in Rus- sian domination and open political space “We have low seams of coal, with “There were 300 mines in Ukraine in sia too.” for discussion, debate and action. miners on their hands and knees,” he Soviet days,” Volynets said In its coverage of a public protest by said. “We put explosives into the coal March 20 in the union’s railroad workers in November, the con- face, set them off, and go in with shovels Kiev office. “Today there federation reported that there had been to fill up the trams and get the coal out. are 143. Forty-three of more than 331 workers’ actions from Nothing has changed under either of the those are private, and they January through October 2013. In 43 last two regimes.” Sheremeta was refer- are the richest mines with percent of them workers were demand- ring to the rule of Yanukovych and his the biggest reserves. The ing unpaid wages from bosses or the rival, former President Yulia Tymoshen- others are the most danger- government. ko, who was jailed on charges of corrup- ous with more deaths. “We have not been paid since Novem- tion. Representatives of Tymoshenko’s “Our independent union ber,” said Olga Shkoropad at the union’s Fatherland party dominate the interim was born out of big battles office in the Public Stakeholder Coal government now in power. in 1989 and ’90, breaking Company of Lviv, the coal enrichment “There is no safety protection in from the old Soviet official plant here, where some 520 women the mine,” Sheremeta said. “Work- union, fighting for pay they make up the majority of the workforce. ers sign off on safety forms everyday, wouldn’t give us and higher The company is 37 percent state-owned but it means nothing. One of my co- wages,” he said. The union with the rest divided among individual workers was killed in 2006, crushed led a mass march of miners from every mining area in the country. Militant/John Studer Squares and streets throughout Ukraine are named for Taras “One of the main prob- Shevchenko (1814-1861), national hero, poet and symbol of lems we face today,” fight against Russian domination. Painting on wall behind his Volynets said, “is the statue in Sokal depicts him in Che Guevara-style beret.

As Moscow uses its troops to rip Crimea from Ukraine and maintain Rus- sian domination of the country, worker-correspondents from the U.S., Can- ada and the United Kingdom are on the scene reporting on the conditions of life and range of views among workers, farmers, youth and others — and talking with them about workers’ struggles and efforts to build proletarian parties in the countries they are from. The team is traveling across Ukraine, speaking to people of various national backgrounds and solidarizing with the fight to defend Ukrainian sovereignty. Militant/John Studer Help defray the substantial costs of this unique coverage. Send a check or Workers at Public Stakeholder Coal processing plant near Chervonograd, Ukraine, orga- money order to: The Militant, 306 W. 37th St., 13th floor, New York, NY 10018. nized by Independent Trade Union of Miners have not been paid since November 2013.

The Militant April 7, 2014 9