Utah Miners Protest Boss Plan to Hire Replacements for Unionists
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AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · ICELAND KR100 · NEW ZEALAND $2.00 · SWEDEN KR10 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE How Red Army under Stalin's command stood by while Nazis slaughtered Poles — PAGES 6–7 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 69/NO. 13 APRIL 4, 2005 Utah miners protest boss plan to Schiavo case: Most oppose hire replacements for unionists gov’t intrusion BY JOEL BRITTON AND GUILLERMO into right ESQUIVEL PRICE, Utah—“Protest the il- legal fi rings by Co-Op mine.” to privacy “We want our jobs back.” BY KARL BUTTS “Kingstons: You can run but TAMPA, Florida—U.S. Congress met you can’t hide.” in an emergency session March 20 to pass “Cockroaches: We know where legislation aimed at determining the medi- your hiding hole is.” cal care of a single individual. Three days “Honk for support!” before the vote, with the demagogic claim These were some of the signs that the aim of the bill was to guarantee that in English and Spanish that Co- a “culture of life must extend to individu- Op miners held up at an informa- als with disabilities,” U.S. president George tional picket line March 23 as coal Bush gave his backing to the legislation, trucks and passenger vehicles titled “A bill to provide for the relief of the drove by on busy Ridge Road a parents of Theresa Marie Schiavo.” few miles south of Price. The measure aims to take the decision- The weather was cold, with making power over the fate of Terri Schiavo, freezing rain giving way to hail, a Florida woman who has been in what and fi nally sunshine as a dozen doctors describe as a “persistent vegetative miners and supporters pressed Militant photos by Terri Moss state” for 15 years, out of the hands of her their case to get their jobs back Miners fi ghting to win UMWA spouse and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo. at C.W. Mining, owned by the representation at the Co-Op mine His decision to remove the artifi cial feeding Kingston family, and win recogni- in Utah picketed company’s Rail tube that is keeping his wife alive has been tion as a local of the United Mine Co. Load Out March 23 (above). challenged by her parents. Workers of America (UMWA). “Kingstons, you can run but you Opinion polls indicate that large majori- Spirits were high. can’t hide,” said one sign, referring ties oppose this government intervention. The miners were picketing to the owners. “We want our jobs Opponents of the legislation argue that it is within sight of Rail Co. Coal Load back,” said another. Most miners a blow to the right of individuals to make Out, a Kingston-owned facility. were fi red in December, a week fundamental decisions concerning their They were also near the house before a union representation medical care and other personal affairs. where C.W. Mining boss Shane election. A truck driver passing by “I’m outraged, and I think that every Stoddard has set up a contracting (right) honked in solidarity. Continued on Page 10 outfi t in his basement, according to the miners, to hire workers for the Co-Op mine. workforce is organized by the UMWA. turning off Ridge Road stopped to get a Dozens of double-trailer trucks bringing About a third of the many drivers passing UMWA leafl et. “I’m for you guys!” one Kurdish parties coal from area mines pulled into another by blew their horns in support as they read woman yelled. Others expressed their sup- nearby load out and into Rail Co. to dump the signs, some blasting away for a good port more quietly, but fervently. press for control their loads for waiting rail cars. A number while. Cheers went up from the miners, Miners pointed down the road to where of mines send their coal to Rail Co., includ- who gestured with their hands and arms for they said Stoddard last week was conduct- of Kirkuk in talks ing the Co-Op and other nonunion mines in the next driver to pull on the horn. ing mine safety classes in Spanish and pre- the area, as well as the Consol mine, whose Some of the cars and pickup trucks Continued on Page 4 to form Iraqi gov’t BY SAM MANUEL WASHINGTON, D.C.—Offi cials of the main Kurdish parties in Iraq announced Join campaign to sell ‘New International’ that they have “agreed on the principles” but not the details of the formation of a Effort to distribute new issues of Marxist magazine to last till August 15 coalition government with the Shiite-led To those coming to the March 26 meet- United Iraqi Alliance. Debate over the NOW AVAILABLE! ing in New York to celebrate the publication form and extent of Kurdish control of the of two new issues of the New International, oil-rich city of Kirkuk and its surrounding TWO NEW ISSUES OF ‘NEW INTERNATIONAL’ we say welcome! We also urge Militant Tamin province has been at the center of readers—including those who didn’t make negotiations between the two groups aimed Special offer — $25 for both! it to New York—to join the campaign to at forming a government since the U.S.-or- sell copies of these new issues of the chestrated national elections in January. At the same time, U.S. defense secretary Back cover text from ‘New International’ no. 12 magazine of Marxist politics and theory to thousands of workers, farmers, youth Donald Rumsfeld gave widely publicized interviews on Fox News and ABC TV “One of capitalism’s infrequent long winters has and others around the world. marking two years of the U.S. military oc- begun. Accompanied by imperialism’s accelerating cupation of Iraq. Rumsfeld said Ankara’s drive toward war, it’s going to be a long, hot winter” decision to not allow U.S. troops to use —Jack Barnes EDITORIAL Turkish soil to launch a northern front in the 2003 invasion of Iraq allowed most Today’s sharpening interimperialist confl icts are fueled of the best units of Saddam Hussein’s both by the opening stages of a world depression— This campaign is being launched at the Continued on Page 7 March 26 meeting. It will be at the heart what will be decades of economic, fi nancial, and social of the work of class-conscious workers in convulsions and class battles—and by the most far- the next fi ve months. It will last through reaching shift in Washington’s military policy and August 15, the end of the 16th World Fes- organization since the late 1930s, when the U.S. rulers tival of Youth and Students taking place Also Inside: prepared to join the expanding Asian and European in Caracas, Venezuela. The widespread International meeting in Vietnam wars, transforming them into World War II. promotion of the new issues of the maga- builds world youth festival 2 zine—for which the Militant is proud to Class-struggle-minded working people must face this have taken the lead—will be combined not historic turning point for imperialism, this cataclysmic Friendship Village in Hanoi only with the efforts to distribute them in treats Agent Orange victims 3 crisis for “the West” and for “Christendom.” And draw all the corners of the globe but with classes satisfaction and enjoyment from being “in their face” to study and absorb their contents. Latest on harassment lawsuit as we chart a revolutionary course to confront it. The two new issues of New Interna- by Utah mine bosses tional have simultaneously been published 4 in Spanish as numbers 6 and 7 of Nueva Thousands march, rally New International no. 12 (In Spanish: Nueva Internacional no. 6)—$16 Internacional. This will facilitate their promotion, sales, and study worldwide. on second anniversary New International no. 13 (In Spanish: Nueva Internacional no. 7)—$14 Efforts are already underway to translate of U.S.-led invasion of Iraq 5 and publish them in French and other lan- For new ‘Militant’ readers: get each issue for $10 guages. That’s a magnifi cent illustration of Communist League in UK what’s summarized in the title of the lead launches election campaign 9 with an introductory subscription Continued on Page 10 Int’l meeting in Vietnam plans outreach, program for world youth festival BY JACOB PERASSO ezuela NPC and the general secretary of the AND ARGIRIS MALAPANIS Communist Youth of Venezuela, reported HANOI, Vietnam—Sixty-seven people that the host organizations proposed the from 36 countries attended the Second In- dates of the festival be set for August 7-15, ternational Preparatory Meeting for the 16th which was approved. This is slightly later World Festival of Youth and Students, held than the dates approved last year, he said, here February 27-28. Delegates discussed so the closing of the gathering can coincide activities they have been involved in to build with the fi rst anniversary of the defeat of delegations to the festival around the world. the so-called recall referendum aimed at They also agreed to an initial outline of the unseating the country’s elected government. program for the gathering. A national demonstration to mark that an- National Preparatory Committees niversary is planned in Caracas that day. (NPCs) have been established in at least The Aug. 15, 2004, vote had been spear- two dozen countries to build delegations headed by Coordinadora Democrática, a to the festival, reported Miriam Morales, pro-imperialist opposition coalition that Militant/Jacob Perasso general secretary of the World Federation has had the backing of weighty sections of Panel at closing on February 28 of Second International Preparatory Meeting in of Democratic Youth (WFDY) and a leader Venezuela’s capitalist class and Washington.