Venezuela se moviliza 12 Socialismo y juventud 12

Workers and oppressed peoples of the world unite! workers.org Vol. 61 No. 12 March 21, 2019 $1

Editorial Venezuelan masses build Combat resistance to U.S. covert war Islamophobia

By Sam Ordóñez worldwide! The world reverberated on March 15 to the horrify- March 17—A massive anti-imperialist march filled ing news that 50 people had been murdered and scores the streets of Caracas this Saturday, March 16, cele- wounded, some critically, at the Al Noor and Linwood brating another victory against the latest wave of U.S. mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. aggression against Venezuela. We knew immediately, without the shadow of a This mobilization is another example of the increas- doubt, that this was an act of white supremacist ter- ing organization and mobilization of the Venezuelan ror, aimed specifically at Muslim people. Here in the masses. The latest phase of imperialist aggression was U.S., the act called up the heart-wrenching memory of designed to destroy the Bolivarian Revolution, but white supremacist murders of African-American peo- instead it has sparked a new wave of working-class, ple at a Bible class in the Emanuel African Methodist anti-imperialist organization. Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., in 2015, and of Venezuela’s conflict with imperialism seems to Jewish people at worship in the Tree of Life Synagogue be entering a period of prolonged siege, where the in Pittsburgh in 2018. Venezuelan masses’ ability to organize and develop Attacks of white terror and white supremacy continue domestic production, along with the strength of the worldwide. To be in utmost solidarity with oppressed international solidarity movement fighting to end the peoples, and to be in defense of our own lives, we must blockade, will be the decisive factors. focus on what is to be done. There has been much outrage at the role of social Electricity restored media and Islamophobic, racist rhetoric motivating the According to official sources, as of March 15 electric- killer’s action. Using a head-mounted camera, the white ity has been restored in Venezuela after a power outage supremacist live-streamed his brutality in real time to that began on March 7. The outage, which lasted a week the world, documenting his hate-filled language and in some parts of the country, was caused by a failure in action. Someone with advance knowledge of the attack the hydroelectric plant known as “El Guri.” announced it, before it happened, on the right-wing The Venezuelan, Cuban and Russian governments forum 8chan. have denounced various forms of attack against the But the killer’s racist language has been trum- electrical grid. The primary attack was digital, with WW PHOTO: SARA FLOUNDERS peted for years by white supremacist U.S. politicians. Rally in Caracas against U.S. threats and sabotage, various cyber attacks originating from Houston and A March 15 Intercept article listed the comments of March 16, 2019. Chicago, according to statements made by President Continued on page 10 Nicolás Maduro. These attacks managed to take down the electrical grid’s central data capture and control system. Even Forbes magazine, which describes itself as a “capitalist tool,” published a report March 9 which detailed exactly how the U.S. could realistically carry out such an attack. Meeting with Maduro 3 Journalist Max Blumenthal revealed that CANVAS, an organization that evolved out of destabilizing Labor on the move 4 groups in the former Yugoslavia, had published a plan for regime change in Venezuela. This plan included a power outage as a “watershed event” for “galvanizing Make subways accessible! 5 public unrest.” CANVAS, which receives funds from various U.S. state agencies, trained Juan Guaidó and Racism and basketball 8 several of his political allies inside Venezuela. (tinyurl. com/yxl6th8w) There have also been reports of physical attacks, such Editorial: as detonating explosives at substations and high-tech- nology attacks using electromagnetic waves to disrupt Brexit and workers 10 distribution stations. TeleSUR has also reported explo- sions at the state oil company’s main facility. (tinyurl. com/y53dy9lt) Juan Guaidó, the self-proclaimed “interim presi- dent,” blames the government for failing to maintain International Working the electrical grid. While it is true that the grid needs further investment, the U.S.-imposed financial block- Women's Day 6-7 ade has cost Venezuela billions of dollars that could Continued on page 3 • Cuban women speak Subscribe to Workers World • Elizabeth Jennings­—pioneer ☐ 4 weeks trial $4 ☐ 1 year subscription $30 • 1929 Gastonia strike ☐ Sign me up for the WWP Supporter Program: workers.org/donate WW PHOTO: BRENDA RYAN March 17, New York City. • Garment workers then and now Name ______

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Street ______City / State / Zip ______The crime against Yugoslavia 9 Workers World Weekly Newspaper workers.org 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10011 212.627.2994 Global youth walkout 9 Page 2 March 21, 2019 workers.org White House protest hits aggression against Venezuela this week

By Ted Kelly ◆ In the U.S. Washington, D.C. D.C. protest hits aggression vs Venezuela . . . . .2 Over a thousand activists On the picket line ...... 4 converged on Lafayette Park UAW workers, retirees call for better contracts . . 4 in front of the White House March 16 in a show of sol- Minn. Amazon workers walk out over grievances . 4 idarity with the Bolivarian Struggle for transit accessibility gains ground . . .5 Revolution of Venezuela and Solidarity with women worldwide ...... 6 the government of President Ella May: Anti-racist strike martyr ...... 6 Nicolás Maduro. Coming just days after the U.S. sabotage Elizabeth Jennings -- a New York City pioneer . . 7 of Venezuela’s electrical grid, Triangle Shirtwaist fire & garment workers today . 7 which left the country without Russell Westbrook incident exposes racism . . . .8 power for over 48 hours, the Protest calls for release of trans man ...... 8 protest, called by Answer, was a rebuke to the ongoing coup Georgia rules against DACA students ...... 8 attempt orchestrated by the Corporate media pave way for war, then and now . 9 Trump administration. Students, pupils protest climate policies . . . . . 9 Representing Workers Generals over the White House ...... 10 World and the International Action Center, Loan T. and WW PHOTO: TED KELLY ◆ Around the world Taryn Fivek spoke from the "No sanctions, no coup, Venezuela, we stand with you!" stage to the rally. Venezuela's mass response to power grid attack . . 1 “We remember Vietnam, we remember Libya, we Undeterred by a hundred or so pro-coup Venezuelans Maduro: 'Humanity's battle is for socialism' . . . 3 remember Syria, we remember Yemen. We know what who had gathered to disrupt the rally, the strong col- Cuban women's ‘revolution within the Revolution’ . 6 is happening in Venezuela right now,” said Loan T., from umn of Venezuela supporters marched past the White Durham, N.C. “Democracy under capitalism is democracy House and down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Trump ◆ Editorials for the rich, it is democracy for killer cops, it is democracy International Hotel. Members of Workers World Party After New Zealand, fight Islamophobia worldwide . 1 for Jeff Bezos and for Donald Trump. It is not democracy marched alongside activists from Veterans For Peace, for working people!” Code Pink and the Party for Socialism and Liberation in In Brexit, workers' struggles have no borders . . . . . 10 Leading the crowd in a chant of “No sanctions, no coup! a united front against the racism and aggression of the ◆ Noticias en Español Venezuela, we stand with you!” Fivek, from New York City, Trump administration. linked the struggle against U.S. militarism and occupa- An upcoming D.C. mobilization scheduled for March Manifestación anti-imperialista en Caracas . . . 12 tion abroad to the successful fight waged against the plan 30 will unite the struggle to defend Venezuela with the Una nueva generación de socialistas en EUA . . . 12 to build the second Amazon headquarters in New York. global fight against NATO, from Colombia to Ukraine. Issuing a challenge to the crowd, Fivek asked, “What are NATO will be meeting in D.C. to mark the 70th anni- people here willing to do to stop this war on Venezuela? versary of this global capitalist military alliance. Go to What are people here willing to unite around in order to no2nato2019.org ☐ end U.S. imperialism?” Workers World 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Fl. New York, NY 10011 Join us in the fight Phone: 212.627.2994 E-mail: [email protected] for socialism! Web: www.workers.org

Workers World Party is a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist people are gunned down by cops and bigots on a regular Vol. 61, No. 12 • March 21, 2019 party inside the belly of the imperialist beast. We are a basis. Closing date: March 20, 2019 multinational, multigenerational and multigendered orga- The ruthless ruling class today seeks to wipe out Editor: Deirdre Griswold nization that not only aims to abolish capitalism, but to decades of gains and benefits won by hard-fought strug- Managing Editors: John Catalinotto, LeiLani Dowell, build a socialist society because it’s the only way forward! gles by people’s movements. The super-rich and their Monica Moorehead, Minnie Bruce Pratt; Capitalism and imperialism threaten the peoples of the political representatives have intensified their attacks on Web Editors: Ben Carroll, John Steffin world and the planet itself in the neverending quest for the multinational, multigender and multigenerational ever-greater profits. working class. It is time to point the blame at—and chal- Production & Design Editors: Gery Armsby, Sasha Capitalism means war and austerity, racism and repres- lenge—the capitalist system. Mazumder, Scott Williams sion, attacks on im/migrants, misogyny, LGBTQ oppres- WWP fights for socialism because the working class Copyediting and Proofreading: Paddy Colligan, sion and mistreatment of people with disabilities. It means produces all wealth in society, and this wealth should Sue Davis, S. Hedgecoke joblessness, increasing homelessness and impoverishment remain in their hands, not be stolen in the form of capi- and lack of hope for the future. No social problems can be talist profits. The wealth workers create should be socially Contributing Editors: G. Dunkel, K. Durkin, solved under capitalism. owned and its distribution planned to satisfy and guaran- Fred Goldstein, Martha Grevatt, Teresa Gutierrez, The U.S. is the richest country in the world, yet no one tee basic human needs. Betsey Piette, Gloria Rubac has a guaranteed right to shelter, food, water, health care, Since 1959, Workers World Party has been out in the Mundo Obero: Alberto García, Teresa Gutierrez, education or anything else—unless they can pay for it. streets defending the workers and oppressed here and Carlos Vargas Wages are lower than ever, and youth are saddled with worldwide. If you’re interested in Marxism, socialism Supporter Program: Coordinator Sue Davis seemingly insurmountable student debt, if they even make and fighting for a socialist future, please contact a WWP it to college. Black, Brown and Indigenous youth and trans branch near you. ☐ Copyright © 2019 Workers World. Verbatim copying and distribution of articles is permitted in any medium Contact a Workers World Party branch near you: workers.org/wwp without royalty provided this notice is preserved. National Office Bay Area Durham, N.C. Philadelphia Workers World (ISSN-1070-4205) is published weekly 147 W. 24th St., 2nd floor P.O. Box 22947 804 Old Fayetteville St. P.O. Box 34249 except the last week of December by WW Publishers, New York, NY 10011 Oakland, CA 94609 Durham, NC 27701 Philadelphia, PA 19101 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl., New York, NY 10011. Phone: 212.627.2994 [email protected] 919. 322 .9 970 610.931.2615 212.627.2994. Subscriptions: One year: $30; institu­ [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Buffalo, N.Y. tions: $35. Letters to the editor may be condensed and Atlanta 335 Richmond Ave. Houston Salt Lake City edited. Articles can be freely reprinted, with credit to PO Box 18123 Buffalo, NY 14222 P.O. Box 3454 801.750.0248 Workers World, 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl., New York, NY 716.883.2534 Houston, TX 77253-3454 [email protected] Atlanta, GA 30316 10011. Back issues and individual articles are available 404 .627.0185 [email protected] 713.503.2633 San Antonio on microfilm and/or photocopy from NA Publishing, [email protected] [email protected] Charlotte [email protected] Inc, P.O. Box 998, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-0998. Knoxville, Tenn. Austin [email protected] San Diego A searchable archive is available on the Web at [email protected] [email protected] Cleveland [email protected] www.workers.org. Boston P.O. Box 5963 Minneapolis Tucson, Ariz. A headline digest is available via e-mail subscription. 284 Amory St. Cleveland, OH 44101 [email protected] [email protected] Boston, MA 02130 216.738.0320 Subscription information is at workers.org/email.php. Pensacola, Fla. Washington, D.C. 617.522.6626 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y. [email protected] Portland, Ore. West Virginia POSTMASTER: Send address changes to [email protected] [email protected] Workers World, 147 W. 24th St. 2nd Fl. New York, N.Y. 10011. workers.org March 21, 2019 Page 3 MADURO TELLS U.S. DELEGATION: ‘Humanity’s battle is between socialism and capitalism’

Workers World online editor John Steffin situation? interviewed Sara Flounders, co-direc- SF: Maduro said that for tor of the International Action Center, 200 years, since the time on March 17. Flounders is in Caracas, of Simon Bolivar and U.S. Venezuela, as part of a solidarity dele- President James Monroe, gation of a dozen anti-war leaders from there has been a strug- all over North America, organized and gle between sovereignty sponsored by the U.S. Peace Council. and colonialism. But in a Members of the delegation arrived in larger way the battle of all Caracas on March 9 and 10. As of March humanity today is a strug- 18, the delegates have finally begun gle between socialism and returning home after American Airlines capitalism. canceled their flights. A full list of dele- He said they face right gation participants is at the end of this now the heaviest sanc- article. tions ever imposed! Even for essential medicines. All Workers World: We saw pictures their accounts are stolen. posted on social media of Peace Council The situation is so severe WW PHOTO: SARA FLOUNDERS delegates meeting with President Nicolás that they are preparing for the U.S. to Maduro. What was the purpose of the attack. Through Community Councils, Members of U.S. delegation who met with President Maduro (pictured at left). meeting? the organizing units are being told to start Sara Flounders: The U.S. Peace storing food, water, batteries. Urban Agriculture, introduced us to the Council delegates, Comité de Solidaridad While we met, Maduro received a union that day, and the union let us each They know the right wing is mobilizing. Internacional Venezuela (COSI) and threatening tweet from Marco Rubio and give a short revolutionary greeting to the So they are determined to far outnumber President Maduro met to discuss one from Elliott Abrams. He read them demonstration. The petroleum union’s them. It is a political battle in every sense. strengthening cooperation and com- to us with great laughter. He said his gov- women’s caucus told us they want to meet munication. Suggestions were for send- ernment always has to be ready to talk, with women from the United States. The U.S. Peace Council delegation ing more delegations to Venezuela and of course. But Venezuela’s path is deter- Since we were unable to return home consists of Bahman Azad, the orga- more social media exchanges. When mined by all the people, not by a govern- as expected, we also attended a mas- nizational secretary of the U.S. Peace Maduro heard from Sarah Martin that ment Washington appoints. sive demonstration in support of the Council; Ajamu Baraka, national coor- there was a demonstration for Venezuela WW: And what is the determination of Bolivarian Revolution on Saturday, dinator of Black Alliance for Peace; in Minneapolis happening that day, he the Venezuelan people? March 16. There were tens of thousands progressive journalist Eva Bartlett; immediately sent a twitter message to SF: After our meeting, we could see of people out in the streets. Hundreds Gerry Condon, president of Veterans them. the level of determination first hand. We of buses brought people into the city For Peace; Darien De Lu, president The Venezuelans are very supportive went to the People’s Encampment guard- from surrounding areas. These kinds of of the Women’s International League of the upcoming action on March 30 in ing the Presidential Palace. Thousands demonstrations have been taking place for Peace and Freedom-U.S.; Miguel support of the Bolivarian Revolution in are rotating on security 24 hours a day in every Saturday since the coup. Figueroa, president of the Canadian Washington, D.C. They see it as a next anticipation of an imperialist attack on WW: The corporate media in the Peace Congress; Sara Flounders, co-co- step in solidarity in response to the cri- the president. U.S. say that the people do not support ordinator of the International Action sis. We told Maduro that the Boston Bus We saw people’s militias and mass out- Maduro. Based on what you’ve told us, Center; Margaret Flowers of Popular Drivers Union (Steelworkers Local 8751) pourings of organized community groups, that is another imperialist lie. Resistance; Joe Lombardo, co-coordi- were driving a bus to D.C. and Maduro housing groups, student groups, etc. That SF: Absolutely. These massive rallies nator of the United National Antiwar said he was ready to join them! day (March 15) the Oil Workers Union had really confirm that the people are mobi- Coalition; Sarah Martin of Women WW: That’s great to hear. I’m sure a big rally. They said: We are armed and lized, determined, very enthusiastic and Against Military Madness; Daniel Shea, they would be happy to have him. What ready to defend what belongs to all of us. combative. They come with their unions, board of directors, Veterans For Peace; is Maduro’s perspective on the current Madeline Arias, head of the Ministry of housing or community groups, schools. and Kevin Zeese of Popular Resistance. VENEZUELA Mass mobilization answers attack on power grid Continued from page 3 is destroy countries and commit war survived the hurricane, the Venezuelan imperialism and ensure that the people’s crimes. Marco Rubio spends his time government sent a tanker of fuel. Now basic rights are met. Popular power is have been used to upgrade computer on Twitter and the Senate floor as an police and mercenaries violently repress expressed through the more than 500 systems, buy spare parts or otherwise enforcer of imperialism’s will in Latin Puerto Rican dissent and people travel communes, which represent thousands improve the system. America. for hours to find a working dialysis clinic. of communal councils in poor and work- Since Pompeo was a CIA director The worst lies that the imperialists have ing-class neighborhoods. Media and imperialist hypocrisy before he was Secretary of State, only a spread about Venezuela have been a real- Besides coordinating efforts to meet The U.S. corporate media have focused few people in the world know the extent of ity for almost two years in Puerto Rico. the people’s basic needs, the communes on Venezuela in the last few months, pub- his crimes. But as an example of his great are also the vehicle for organizing com- lishing story after story about the suffer- humanitarianism, he recently barred Solidarity and organization munal militias. Thus they are defend- ing of the Venezuelan people. This has entry into the U.S. of International resist imperialism ing the country both in a literal sense, nothing to do with genuine concern for Criminal Court investigators looking into Despite what the corporate media through the armed and organized masses, Venezuelans. The media’s reporting has crimes committed in Afghanistan. (AP, claim, there has been no descent into and in the more abstract sense of guaran- demonized the legitimate government March 15) chaos. The response to the power outage teeing the distribution of food, water and and manufactured the narrative now While his government threatens war has been a surge of grassroots organiz- other needs. being used to justify the Trump admin- with Venezuela, Donald Trump has ing to meet the people’s needs. That’s The only imperialist tactic that has istration’s economic and covert attacks. declared a national emergency to get the report from a delegation of U.S. anti- worked as intended is the financial block- During the blackout, CNN and the New funds to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexican war leaders in Venezuela. (workers.org, ade in the form of unilateral sanctions. York Times rushed to blame the “corrupt border—a racist border wall. He recently March 16) The violent “guarimba” street protests dictatorship” in Venezuela for images of went so far as to use a presidential veto The government, for its part, enacted in 2014 and 2017 failed to overthrow black-colored drinking water and other to stop it from being overturned by plans to ensure that hospitals would con- the Bolivarian government by force. horrors. They seem to have forgotten Congress. This is the latest step on a path tinue functioning and distributing drink- Guaidó’s self-proclamation on Jan. 23 Flint, Mich., where the water remains that included the separation of migrant ing water. In the areas the government and the attempt to bring in U.S. trucks undrinkable years after cameras stopped families and the placement of refugee trucks couldn’t reach, communities orga- with so-called humanitarian aid on Feb. filming. children in concentration camps. nized themselves to collect and distribute 23 failed to split the Bolivarian National Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Mike But perhaps the most insulting exam- water from springs and wells. Armed Forces. Pompeo, John Bolton, Elliott Abrams and ple of imperialist hypocrisy is Puerto Grassroots organizations like CLAP, For now, the U.S. financial blockade, Marco Rubio talk a lot about “human- Rico. After Hurricane Maria, the archi- which distribute food boxes, continued which as of January has also become an itarian aid” and their concern for the pelago was without power or running operating throughout the week, and some oil embargo, continues to cause problems Venezuelan people. To even entertain water for months. Some areas still haven’t communities organized spontaneously to for the Venezuelan economy. The danger that claim is insulting given their collec- recovered 18 months later. share resources and information. of further attacks against the country’s tive public records. While the U.S. government used the Popular power has placed itself on infrastructure remains, as the demon- The only thing Bolton and Abrams fiscal control board, known in Puerto Rico the frontline in Venezuela’s battle to strators in Caracas know, as they shouted, have done in their entire political careers as "la junta," to destroy anything that defend the country’s sovereignty against “U.S. hands off Venezuela!” ☐ Page 4 March 21, 2019 workers.org

At UAW Bargaining Convention On the Workers, retirees call for better contracts By Martha Grevatt this category “third tier” and insisted we picket line Detroit fight for equal pay for equal work. By Alex Bolchi and Sue Davis Pensions, which were not increased for From March 11 to 13 the United Auto current or future retirees in the 2015-19 Struggle by Kentucky Workers held a “Special Bargaining automotive contracts, were another issue Convention” in this city. Thousands of delegates spoke about. A large group of educators continues delegates from locals all over the country retirees, including three busloads from came together to discuss issues pertaining Local 12 in Toledo, Ohio, demonstrated Ten Kentucky school districts have closed since Feb. 28 due to teacher absences, to contract negotiations. outside and inside the convention. Signs called “sickouts,” because teachers took sick days to protest at the state capitol in The union, with 430,000 active mem- told the leadership: “Retirees built FCA. Frankfort. Jefferson County Public Schools, one of the largest U.S. school districts, bers, has contracts in a range of sectors, Don’t let us crumble.” with more than 98,000 students, including Louisville, shut down six times in two from traditional automotive to academic, Lacking from the official convention was weeks. health care, other manufacturing, any real discussion on the fightback strat- The Republican-dominated legislature, meeting since February, is considering white-collar workers and the public sec- egy needed to force the capitalists to restore proposals to change who manages the teachers' underfunded pension fund and also tor. Negotiations for a new contract with many of the gains that have been taken away to indirectly support private schools with tax credits—both strongly opposed by General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler in recent years. The rank-and-file activist educators. The body has only one day left in session, March 28. Automobiles begin this summer. group Autoworker Caravan held its own Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis, who heads a board appointed by Republican While the International Executive Board meeting during the convention titled “Let’s Gov. Matt Bevin, announced March 15 that he would not rule out disciplining teach- controlled the order of business, floor com- fight to get the contracts we deserve.” ers who protest on sick days. He asked the 10 districts on March 14 for names of all ments nevertheless gave voice to a primary International Secretary-Treasurer Ray teachers requesting sick days when districts were forced to close. This is the second concern of the rank and file: eliminating Curry reported to the convention that year Kentucky teachers used sickouts to protest anti-education-worker legislation. tiered wages and ending the abuse of work- the strike fund was in excellent financial The Kentucky Education Association, which represents over 43,000 teachers, ers categorized as “temporary.” health. The IEB voted to raise weekly denounced Lewis’ request, accusing him of trying to intimidate them. The KEA A large number of UAW contracts, not strike pay. Now the union needs to take added that Lewis is "using the power of his office to compile an 'enemies list' of only with the Detroit Three auto firms, but in a cue from the education workers around educators for the Bevin Administration." aerospace, agricultural equipment and auto the country and use the strike weapon to Teachers’ attorney Mark Wohlander sent Lewis a letter March 15 demanding parts suppliers, have allowed companies to challenge the auto bosses. all related department documents be preserved because of a possible federal civil pay lower wages to workers hired after a rights lawsuit against the department's "unprecedented interference with [teach- certain date. They work side-by-side with Martha Grevatt was a delegate to the ers'] First Amendment rights.” (abcnews.go.com, March 15) higher-paid workers doing the same work. UAW Convention. Often these “second tier” work- ers have inferior health benefits and pension plans as well. Education workers The current contracts with GM, Ford and FCA have organize in Tennessee increased the exploitation of “temporary” workers, many of A new coalition of Tennessee teachers hopes to seize the energy that inspired whom have been “temporary” the wave of teacher strikes rocking the U.S. last year and continuing this year. TN for years. Not only are they paid Teachers United, formed using a Facebook questionnaire, was launched the week less in wages and benefits, but of March 3. The group initially garnered 200 members and hopes to expand to all they have no seniority and can 66,000 public teachers, as well as to retired teachers, parents, students and com- be readily disciplined or fired. WW PHOTO: MARTHA GREVATT munity members. Some delegates correctly called Retirees demonstrated inside and outside the hall. The fledgling TNTU group was connected on Feb. 28 to organizers who led strikes in West Virginia and Arizona. The three primary TNTU organizers, all women and frustrated former leaders of the Tennessee Education Association, are building TNTU on the blueprint of those struggles. Labor Notes, a labor media and organizing group Amazon workers walk out founded in 1979, facilitated the connection. (Commercial Appeal, March 11) Tennessee per-pupil funding remains the lowest in the South and is in the bot- tom half of U.S. funding. The TEA lost collective bargaining in 2011, and teacher after grievances pile up strikes have been illegal since 1978. Tennessee teachers are leaving the profession in By Harvey Markowitz declaring “Solidarity!” with the immigrant droves due to underfunding and damaging reforms, like teacher evaluations based Minneapolis and non-immigrant workers in Shakopee. on student testing. Gov. Bill Lee wants a voucher program to drain public schools and pay for private and charter schools. “We feel like public education is under Workers at the Amazon fulfillment Amazon around the world attack,” organizer Tikeila Rucker told Chalkbeat on March 12. center in Shakopee, Minn., a suburb of Amazon Inc. is infamous worldwide. TNTU aims for full funding for the state’s Basic Education program and a morato- Minneapolis, escalated their campaign for Its CEO, Jeff Bezos, is currently the rich- rium on state testing. A strike is currently off the table until a strong base of support workers’ rights on March 8 by carrying out est person in the world, with an esti- has been built. But if teachers are forced to strike, says Rucker, it will be because a three-hour work stoppage. The strike mated worth of $138 billion. The profits of they were not being heard by those who ”have the power to make the change that's occurred during the night shift, when a Amazon surged, nearly doubling, between necessary." group of about 30 workers, mostly Somali 2017 and 2018. Yet the corporation paid no immigrants, walked off the job to protest federal income taxes. the mega-corporation’s management. Bezos also owns The Washington Post. ILWU shows solidarity A Facebook post went viral as the work- Media watchdog organizations point ers held up a handwritten sign reading: “We out biases in its reporting. Fairness and with L.A. teachers’ strike are humans, not robots” and listed their Accuracy in Reporting asserts that the complaints on a legal pad. Previously, WW acquisition “instantly made him the most International Longshore and Warehouse Union members in the Southern reported that workers’ frustrations were powerful media figure in the nation’s cap- California District Council contributed their organizing experience and solidarity intensified by a panoply of grievances with ital—a handy position to be in when your to help 55,000 Los Angeles teachers win their six-day strike in January. (WW arti- management: from lacking language trans- company is seeking multi-billion-dollar cles, Jan. 22 and 28) lation services, to inhumane intensity of government contracts.” Because ILWU is dedicated to a strong public school system, once the strike was work, to racist selection of workers for pro- Concurrently, Amazon has offered its announced it began mobilizing members to attend community meetings and reach motion, to pitiful health benefits, to hiring cloud computing services to the U.S. govern- out to nearby unions. Its goal was to have experienced union members join the schemes that exploit temp workers, to the ment’s surveillance and repression regime. “adopt-a-school” program and help local schools during the strike. need for more bathroom visits and prayer To the tune of $600 billion, the National A total of 63 schools were supported by hundreds of ILWU members, past and breaks. Amazon workers are up against a Security Agency relies on Amazon’s cloud present, and their families as well as from the Marine Firemen, Steelworkers Union corporation unwilling to part with profits. network to collect metadata and even inti- and numerous community groups. This meant picketing with teachers in the rain, The Shakopee workers organized and mate conversations of U.S. residents, creat- bringing them food and ponchos, and showing “we have your back” with signs read- held a rally last December—believed to be ing a spy apparatus unparalleled in history. ing “The ILWU supports teachers.” ILWU members also collected and distributed the first in the U.S. against Amazon—to Against such a titanic force, it could food to help the 80 percent of low-income students who depend on school meals. show unity and express their discontent over appear that Amazon has an unassailable Teachers expressed gratitude to ILWU on social media: “The ILWU kept us not having a voice in how work is handled. advantage. However, these brave workers afloat,” wrote Michael Gearin. Cathy Familathe, president of SCDC, who wrote Workers at a fulfillment center in standing up for their rights and display- a Dispatcher Newspaper article detailing the solidarity, wrote: “This is what we Poland, describing themselves as “work- ing collective determination will inspire do—we help other unions and union members and … support working families ers from Amazon from Germany, Spain, the movements of tomorrow. Amazon’s in our community. … Defending our public schools is one of the most sacred and Poland, France, and supporters from burgeoning labor vanguard serves as an important things we can do as union members.” (ilwu.org, Feb. 8). ☐ Italy,” posted a video on the internet example to workers around the world. ☐ workers.org March 21, 2019 Page 5 Dynamic struggle for transit accessibility gains ground

By Tony Murphy Hagler referred several times to the 1-year-old daughter down the stairs—in media coverage of that protest included New York Bronx station ruling. Its impact was a station with no elevators and two esca- the city medical examiner’s declaration clearly felt in his courtroom, having lators that only go up—Goodson fell but that Goodson died of a “pre-existing A series of positive rulings have been reverberated throughout the legal world managed to protect her child, who mirac- medical condition,” the street mobiliza- won in court recently on the issue of pub- the week before. Hagler referred specif- ulously survived. tion began an increased level of solidarity lic transportation accessibility. They have ically to coverage in the New York Law In response to Goodson’s shocking between the forces calling for true subway come as the class forces demanding eleva- Journal. death, the MTA—located steps from Wall accessibility. tors in the subway have broadened, now Street, the home of the world’s richest For months, MTA board meetings had including parents with young children in Impact of mother’s death banks and investment firms—announced included delegations of wheelchair users strollers together with disability rights There was also another presence in it was cutting back its plan to install ele- and other leaders of the accessibility advocates. that courtroom: Malaysia Goodson. vators in subway stations because it didn’t rights movement, making the argument On March 5, U.S. District Court Judge At a courthouse rally before Hagler’s have enough money. over and over that elevators in the subway Edgardo Ramos ruled that New York’s hearing, expectant mother Christine The response of the movement for are a necessity. Metropolitan Transit Authority must Coleman spoke, supporting the case and transit accessibility was different. Less On Feb. 25—the first MTA board install elevators in any New York subway meeting after Goodson’s death—mothers station that is being renovated. affected by her untimely death took the This has been called a sweeping deci- microphone to make the same demand. sion in terms of its impact. The ruling Holding her baby, who grabbed for the came after a lawsuit was filed because mic as she spoke, Christine Yearwood the MTA had renovated the Bronx said, to applause, “Why is accessibility Middletown subway station and replaced something that [MTA] planners decide its stairs in 2013—but left the station is acceptable to cut? The fact that this inaccessible. is predicted to happen after Malaysia Then on March 13, New York State Goodson just died on the subway stairs Judge Shlomo Hagler ordered the MTA is disgraceful.” back to the table to meet with disabil- Christine Coleman also spoke at that ity rights groups and come up with a board meeting, referring to Goodson’s court-enforceable plan to install elevators death: “I see parents struggle with this in all New York subway stations. all the time, trying to get up and down The Hagler ruling was important for a the stairs. And it’s just unacceptable that few reasons. It kept alive a case that had we don’t have a working elevator in every seemed in danger of being dismissed. station.” Also, it was strongly influenced by the The federal lawyers who joined the Ramos ruling. Bronx subway case issued a statement A year ago, Hagler had responded to after it was decided, announcing trium- the MTA’s motion to dismiss the case by phantly, “The Court’s decision marks ordering the two sides to talk and come the end of the MTA treating people with to a settlement. disabilities as second-class citizens.” After almost a year, the MTA walked Whether that is true remains to be seen. away from the talks. This put the MTA’s The MTA has a high-paid legal staff, motion to dismiss the entire case back which it can use to delay justice for years. into play. Hagler could simply have ruled At the March 17 commemoration of on that motion. If he had ruled in the International Working Women’s Day, MTA’s favor, the case would have effec- a rally was held at New York’s Penn tively ended in defeat for the plaintiffs. Station. Protesters saluted women in In explaining why he was keeping the rebellion around the world—migrants, case alive, Hagler lectured the MTA that trans women, Muslims and others who it is “just plain right” that the New York are fighting oppression on all fronts. subway system be accessible. Its notorious Included was the demand for transit inaccessibility, he said, is “just not fair.” accessibility, both for people who are He rejected the notion that installing WW PHOTO: TONY MURPHY mobility-impaired and for parents with elevators is too expensive, saying not Christine Coleman speaks at courthouse rally before a hearing on the elevator case. strollers. Mary Kaessinger of The People’s spending money for accessibility “makes MTA spoke at the street rally, followed by no sense, with billions of dollars spent on joining 25 people who showed up to pack than 48 hours after Goodson’s death, a roundtable discussion, where a video of other things.” the court. Coleman was moved to join the accessibility rights leaders held a protest women speaking at the MTA hearing was “The time has come,” Hagler said, for fight for transit accessibility after reading and vigil at the subway station where shown. a serious plan. He told the authority that about Goodson’s untimely death. Goodson had died, re-emphasizing the As the demand for elevators makes he was giving them “one last opportunity Goodson was a 22-year-old African- demand for elevators and ramps while its way through the courts, the peo- to get it right”—or he will make his own American mother who in January fell to laying flowers at the spot in a makeshift ple’s movement for transit accessibil- ruling when the case convenes again on her death on New York subway stairs. memorial. ity is expanding—and pushing upward May 7. Carrying a stroller as well as her While the MTA made sure that the on it. ☐ Fight for women’s liberation! Build Workers World!

As Marxists, we strive to not just honor history but brunt of Trump’s racist, sexist, bigoted xenophobic to make it—to promote changes that put the workers agenda: im/migrant women and refugees detained and and oppressed first instead of last. Workers World often deported for the “crime” of crossing borders to commemorates the socialist holiday of International find work and provide for their families or to escape Working Women’s Day, March 8, with a roundup of life-threatening repression and violence; children sep- women’s protests for freedom, justice and equality the arated at the border from parents, making it nearly world over. impossible to reunite them; and “Dreamers” whose Struggle is the only way to bring about change—like legal status under DACA is still in limbo. the Black Lives Matter movement, started by women If you appreciate WW’s year-round coverage of and gender-nonconforming activists, which boldly struggles that advance women’s liberation, join the fights racism and demands redress for centuries of WW Supporter Program. For a donation of at least oppression. Women are powering the fight for $15 $75 a year—and much more if you can—members an hour and a union because two-thirds of low-wage receive a year’s subscription to WW, a monthly let- workers are women, often women of color and heads ter about timely issues and five free subscriptions to of households. give to friends. Write checks (either monthly or once Inspired by the #MeToo movement and Time’s a year) to Workers World and mail them, with your Up, women are speaking up at work—particularly in name and address, to 147 W. 24th St., 2nd Floor, New restaurants, offices and hotels—against sexual harass- York, NY 10011. Or sign up at workers.org/donate/ ment and for respect, and trans women are resisting to make monthly deductions. Know we appreciate your horrific sexual assaults by police and prison guards. help in building Workers World—for today and for the WW continues to focus on women who bear the future. ☐ Page 6 March 21, 2019 workers.org International Working Women's Day Cuban women describe their ‘revolution within the Revolution’

By Teresa Gutierrez program on March 16 at the Peoples’ the elite in the U.S. New York Forum in New York City. and in Venezuela. As Barnet is a noted author and intel- always, Cuba sends “[T]he Cuban woman, in the dark and lectual of the Revolution who founded doctors, the U.S. drops quiet corner of the home, awaits … the UNEAC so that artists could also be orga- bombs—or attempts hour, in which a revolution breaks its nized to serve the Revolution. coups. yoke and spreads its wings. Everything Amarelle Boué not only spoke of The U.S. attempts was enslaving: origin, color, sex. [You the gains for women in Cuba but also to sabotage the Cuban must] destroy … it by fighting to the alerted the Cuba solidarity movement Revolution have never death. You have destroyed the slavery to new developments from the Trump succeeded. One major of color by emancipating the slave. The administration. reason is Cuban WW PHOTO: BRENDA RYAN time has come to liberate the woman!” On March 15, the U.S. announced it women. Cuban speakers at forum included, from left: Yenisey Gonzalez, These words were spoken in 1869 by would be eliminating 5-year tourist visas Amarelle Boué Manuel Vazquez, Teresa Amarelle Boué and Miguel Barnet. Ana Betancourt, a revolutionary who for Cubans. This will have drastic negative reported: “Today, played a leading role in Cuba’s war of effects on the economy and will especially women represent 53.2 percent of depu- Amarelle Boué, as well as the speaker independence from Spain. affect Cubans who have family in the U.S. ties in the National Assembly of People’s from Cenesex, pointed out that although Betancourt, along with Mariana Grajales These valued visas are used to visit Power and 48.4 percent of members of there has been huge progress on gender of Dominican and Jamaican origins, and relatives as well as to buy supplies that the Council of State. They make up 60.5 equality, sexist patterns still predomi- referred to as the “Mother of Cuba,” are are not readily available in Cuba due to percent of higher education graduates nate. For example, in a major survey of just two of so many women whose roots of the continuing U.S. blockade. The new and 67.2 percent of specialists and pro- almost 20,000 Cubans, 74 percent stated rebellion nurture Cuban soil. policy means that Cubans will be forced fessionals throughout the nation.” that “each individual’s sexual orienta- Given this history, it is no surprise that to make a third-country visit every time These advances are based on the tion should be respected,” but only half every year when the Federation of Cuban they come to the U.S., costing more demands by women and also on the polit- accepted same-sex marriage. Women arrive in New York City for U.N.- money and more time. ical will of the government to meet those Cenesex, founded by Mariela Castro, related events, the solidarity movement A March 14 article in the Cuban news- demands. has made huge efforts to advance this pours out to welcome them. paper Granma emphasized that the “We have been, as Fidel said, a revo- cause. And as U.S. LGBTQ activists point Their presence is enriched by the fact Helms-Burton Act, which this new policy lution within the Revolution,” Amarelle out, Cuba has made more advances in 60 that these are people in the process of is part of, is “meant to re-colonize Cuba” Boué noted. years on this question than has the U.S. building a socialist society. How can and that Trump is “dusting off the law’s It’s important to note that while there activists miss this opportunity? Title III to tighten the blockade and dis- Ongoing revolution are, sadly, countless killings of trans peo- suade foreign investors in Cuba.” As an example that neither the ple in the U.S., there are virtually none Gathering to celebrate Revolution nor the Federation of Cuban in Cuba. revolutionary struggle Revolutionary triumphs Women is static, the 10th Congress of the The Cuban Revolution is so strong. This year, the International Working The tightening of the blockade follows FMC, recently held on March 6-8, took This writer noted at the FMC event that a Women’s Day event was also broadened hostile U.S. propaganda against Cuba up the theme “not to neglect the gaps Cuban diplomat assigned to the U.S. who to include other important and histori- regarding Venezuela. The U.S. claims that remain, nor the challenges that lie accompanied the delegation stood at the cal leaders of the Cuban Revolution who that Cuba is behind President Nicolás ahead,” as well as emphasizing the need back of the room. came for U.N. events. Maduro’s success in resisting imperialist to be “more flexible, more dynamic” and As he listened to his comrades on the Miguel Barnet, founder of the National attempts to oust him. “adapt to the times.” stage, his face expressed such a look of Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba But as Amarelle Boué pointed out: As “women of their time,” the FMC pride and love as they spoke of their work (UNEAC); Luis Morlote of the Union of “Cubans are responsible for defending Congress was organized in a more dynamic in the Revolution. A diplomat in a suit, Jurists; Manuel Vazquez of the Cuban our Revolution, and the Venezuelans are way, closer to the grassroots. The goal of agricultural workers, women who work at National Center for Sex Education responsible for defending theirs.” the federation is to “win the hearts and home, LGBTQ people who march at Pride (Cenesex); and Yenisey Gonzalez, Cuba does stand in complete solidar- wills” of young people so that they “con- in Cuba—all defend the Revolution. in charge of foreign relations for the ity with the Bolivarian Revolution of tinue to love” the work of the Revolution. As Amarelle Boué said: Cubans are Federation of Cuban Women (FMC), Venezuela, as do China, Russia, India and A major item for the Federation is gen- defending their Revolution. The Cuban joined Teresa Amarelle Boué, secretary many other countries. For instance, Cuba der equality, a major point of discussion masses will never give up on socialism. general of the FMC, who opened the has sent doctors to Venezuela, angering at the Congress. History has shown this. ☐

Int’l Working Women’s Day protest Working Women’s History Month Solidarity with women worldwide Ella May: Anti-racist strike martyr

By Monica Moorehead By Martha Grevatt and working conditions, going back to the New York early 1800s. Life was hard, but since the Ella May, a textile union leader killed 1912 “Bread and Roses” strike in Lawrence, The International during a 1929 strike in North Carolina, was Mass., unions had made gains in the North. Working Women’s Day born in 1900 in Tennessee. Her family had Southern mill hands—derisively Coalition held its annual been small farmers, but before she reached referred to as “lintheads”—were paid rally, march and forum adulthood her father was a wage worker in starvation wages while typically working here on March 17 to the logging industry that had invaded rural 11-hour days or nights. Hard work offered reinforce its decades- Appalachia. Logging was dangerous work, no escape from poverty; pellagra, a dis- long theme that every killing May’s father and leaving her hus- ease caused by malnutrition, took the issue is a woman’s band, John Wiggins, disabled. Her fam- lives of many children. issue. The rally gathered ily then moved to the Piedmont region of Ella May herself lost four of her nine in front of busy Penn North Carolina where she found work in children, one at 17 months and three in WW PHOTO: BRENDA RYAN Station, where various the burgeoning textile industry. their first months of life. women and gender-oppressed activists im/migrants rights group—Domestic By 1929 John Wiggins had left the Gaston County, N.C., was home to many spoke on the plight of nurses in New York, Workers United and Picture the Homeless family. While some labor historians have textile mills, including the world’s largest: who have voted to go out on strike; the led a discussion on strategies and tactics misidentified her as Ella May (or Mae) the Loray Mill in Gastonia. Ella May lived massacre of Muslim worshippers in New their groups are currently exploring. They Wiggins, Ella May dropped her married and worked in nearby Bessemer City at Zealand; the fight for decriminalization of stressed that having strong alliances with surname after Wiggins’ exit. American Mill No. 2. These and other mills sex workers; the war on transwomen of others is key to building a global movement Her own family’s suffering, and the employed thousands—a majority women. color; and more. to defeat capitalism and imperialism. suffering she saw all around her, moti- Children often toiled alongside their par- Following the rally, the group marched The issues of human trafficking and vated this strong-willed woman to fight ents out of economic necessity. and chanted inside Penn Station to show sexual violence were discussed in the case the bosses. The mills were often owned by solidarity with low-wage women workers of Cyntoia Brown, a 31-year-old African- Textile companies were leaving New Northerners, who paid substantially lower at Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonald’s, KFC and American woman who has been impris- England for the South, which lured busi- wages in the South. Mill owners perceived other shops. oned since the age of 16 for killing her ness with the promise of cheaper wages, Southern workers to be individualistic and The march ended with an indoor abuser. International support has won exploitable child labor and a union-free disinclined to unionism. When Northern forum, where a panel of representatives her an impending clemency release from environment. Women in the northern mills organizers arrived in North Carolina in from Migrante—a Filipino women-led prison on Aug. 7. ☐ had a history of striking for better wages Continued on page 11 workers.org March 21, 2019 Page 7 International Working Women's Day Elizabeth Jennings — a New York City pioneer

By Dolores Cox nor by force or violence.” She won $225 in were not considered citizens. damages. As the Tribune reported, “Some Resentful white immigrants assumed More than a century before Rosa jury members had peculiar actions as to that newly emancipated Blacks in the Parks refused to give up her seat on colored people’s rights.” South would migrate to New York and a Montgomery, Ala., bus in 1955, an Within a month of the Jennings deci- compete for jobs. The white mobs looted African-American woman refused to give sion, however, an African-American man and destroyed homes, and they burned up her seat on a horse-driven streetcar in was barred from a railway car. He too down the Colored Orphanage Asylum. New York City. filed a lawsuit and settled out of court. The official death toll was 119—more Elizabeth Jennings refused to relinquish But streetcar segregation in New York than 70 Blacks were lynched, many more her seat in July 1854. As a result, she was City didn’t end until more than 20 years beaten or killed. Elizabeth Jennings’ brutally attacked and thrown off the street- later, a decade after the Civil War. 1-year-old son died during the violence. car. She was 24 years old and on her way to Jennings taught in the city’s African- Jennings herself died in 1901. church. Streetcars in the 1830s and 1840s American schools and later in the public African Americans fled uptown to were privately owned, and the drivers school system in the 1850s and 1860s. She Harlem, Brooklyn and New Jersey, decided who could ride or not. They carried Elizabeth Jennings. married in 1860 and became Elizabeth resulting in a 20 percent decline in their whips to keep African Americans away. Graham. In 1895, she founded the first population in lower Manhattan. The New In a segregated system, African- she effectually resisted. Finally, after the African-American kindergarten. York City “Draft Riots” are considered the American travelers were not welcome, car had gone on further, with the aid of Her father, Thomas Jennings, owned largest civil uprising in U.S. history. and challenging the system was danger- a policeman they succeeded in removing a tailor shop and was well respected. In In 1873 the New York Civil Rights Act ous. By the late 1840s, there were special her.” (tinyurl.com/y4ysuhp8) 1821, he had been the first Black person to was passed, giving legal rights to Blacks public buses that African Americans could The African-American community was receive a patent for dry-cleaning clothes. on public transportation. A street sign in ride, which were marked with signs on the enraged, and the day after the incident He was also a civil rights activist and with lower Manhattan on Park Row today car- back or sides reading “Colored Persons they held a rally at Jennings’ church. others formed the Black Legal Rights ries Elizabeth Jennings’ name. Allowed.” However, these buses ran infre- Just as Rosa Parks did, Jennings took her Association. Jennings also worked with During Women’s History Month quently, irregularly and often not at all. case to court. She sued the streetcar com- Frederick Douglass to eliminate slavery this March, NYC’s First Lady, Chirlane A New York Tribune February 1855 pany, the driver and the conductor. She in the U.S. Frederick Douglass’s newspa- McCray, announced that a monument to article about the Jennings incident and was represented by a law firm in which per also reported on Elizabeth Jennings’ Elizabeth Jennings Graham will be con- subsequent court case reported: “The a future president of the U.S., Chester A. incident and case. structed and dedicated in Grand Central conductor undertook to get her off, first Arthur, was a lawyer; the firm was hired After the Civil War began in 1861, a Station in Manhattan to honor one of the alleging the car was full, when that was because it had demonstrated skill in the resolution was passed in July 1863 which city’s influential women. Monuments shown to be false. He pretended the area of civil rights the year before. allowed wealthy New Yorkers to buy will also be constructed and dedicated to other passengers were displeased at her News of the Jennings’ incident and their way out of the draft. Angry work- three women in other boroughs as part of presence. But [when] she insisted on lawsuit went national. In 1855, a Brooklyn ing-class, mostly Irish immigrants in the “She Built NYC” initiative. her rights, he took hold of her by force Circuit Court judge ruled in Jennings’ lower Manhattan were resentful and rioted to expel her. She resisted. The conductor favor: “Colored Persons if sober, well for four days, targeting mostly African Sources: NY Historical Society, July got her down on the platform, jammed behaved and free from disease, had the Americans and abolitionists in what 2018; baruch.cuny.edu; MSNBC, Jan. 13 her bonnet, soiled her dress and injured same rights as others and could neither became known as the “Draft Riots.” Blacks and Feb. 25; New York Times, Feb. 13, by her person. Quite a crowd gathered. But be excluded by any rules of the company, were exempt from the draft—​because they Amisha Padnani and Veronica Chambers. The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire and garment workers today By Kathy Durkin ribbon, comprised of hundreds of pieces of fabric memorializing the disaster vic- More than a century ago, the Triangle tims. They were contributed and sewn Shirtwaist Factory in New York City was together by participants in a collective a notoriously anti-union company and ribbon-making session at Manhattan’s the focus of several job actions and union Fashion Institute of Technology on March organizing. This sweatshop was a death 16-17. trap. On March 25, 1911, a horrific fire Initiated and coordinated by the broke out there. Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, Doors were blocked and fire escape the ribbon will then be cast in metal, exits were locked. The sole fire escape forming the main element in the per- broke as workers fled. Firefighters' lad- manent memorial to be mounted on the ders did not reach the top floors. The Brown Building facade, site of the fire. result of this needless tragedy: 146 work- The group organized the two-day com- ers died, 129 of them women ages 16 memorative event that included poetry, to 23. music, panel discussions and family Company greed caused this avoid- memories. able disaster. Yet Triangle owners were Bangladesh garment workers protest on anniversary of horrendous building collapse. acquitted in court for responsibility in the Immigrant, garment worker, activist deaths of these precious young people. The following is the story about my “From November 1909, to February Stoller Bubrick died in 1983 at the age The value of each human life was assessed grandmother: 1910, my grandmother participated in of 98. It would have pleased her that the at only $75, paid to the grieving families “My grandmother, Sophie Stoller the ‘uprising of the 20,000,’ garment fabric used in her commemorative ribbon who sued the company. Bubrick, and my grandfather, Paul workers who struck against three com- is red, as my grandmother was a proud This fire and terrible loss of life shocked Bubrick, arrived in the United States in panies, including Triangle, to oppose communist.” workers and other progressives. Protests 1907, having fled anti-Jewish pogroms sweatshop conditions. The strike was ini- followed. Hundreds of thousands of peo- in their country, Poland, which was then tiated by Clara Lemlich, age 19, a Russian Globalized capitalism: ple joined a funeral procession organized occupied by imperial Russia. Jewish immigrant, and backed by the profits before safety by the International Ladies Garment “My grandmother worked at the International Ladies Garment Workers The days of on-the-job injuries are far Workers Union on April 5, 1911. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory for sev- Union. My grandmother had to walk from over. Conditions are hazardous for Women's Trade Union League demanded eral years after her arrival in New York. from the Upper West Side to downtown the 700,00 women agricultural workers fire safety legislation. Due to pressure by Always an organizer and activist, she was Manhattan to join the picket lines, as she in this country, exposed to pesticides, labor activists, New York state inves- the person to whom the workers came had no money for transportation costs. heat stroke, dehydration and sexual tigated factory conditions and imple- with grievances against sweatshop bosses, “Then in 1911 the Triangle fire raged, abuse. Factories, including poultry and mented workplace safety rules. as she was not intimidated by anyone. killing mainly Eastern European Jewish meat-processing plants, are dangerous This writer’s grandmother was a gar- “My grandmother participated in the and Italian immigrant women and girls. places to work, especially with speed-ups. ment worker at the Triangle Shirtwaist March 8, 1908, march of 15,000 garment My grandmother did not go to work that Hospital, restaurant, hotel and domestic Factory. I submitted the story below workers, mostly immigrants, through day due to illness. But she lost many workers face harm, too. about her, along with a piece of fabric, New York’s Lower East Side. They young friends. The Trump administration is only too for inclusion in historical archives about marched for better working conditions “My grandmother continued to be a glad to oblige corporate heads by rolling the Triangle fire. The fabric will be incor- in the sweatshops, an end to child labor, fighter for workers’ rights and social jus- back hard-won worker safety protections porated into a 320-foot-long, 2-foot-wide higher wages and the right to vote. tice for the remainder of her life. Sophie Continued on page 9 Page 8 March 21, 2019 workers.org Russell Westbrook incident exposes ongoing racism

By Monica Moorehead team that gives me the opportunity to live and forget their manners. Some disrespect out my dreams, this incident hits close to players on other teams. When that hap- Russell Westbrook is a super-talented home. Racism and hate speech hurt us all, pens, I want to jump up and shout, ‘Stop!’” guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder and this is not the first time something (deseretnews.com, March 14) and a former most valuable player. On like this has happened in our arena. The March 11, during a National Basketball Utah that I have come to love is welcom- Inequality between fans and players Association regular season game between ing and inclusive and [Monday’s] incident What happened to Westbrook is a the Oklahoma team and the Utah Jazz in is not indicative to our fan base. We don’t constant reminder that sports reflect Salt Lake City, Westbrook, who is African want to create a negative environment for U.S. culture, a culture riddled with white American, was verbally assaulted from our athletes who potentially want to come supremacist views. Consider the fact the stands by a white fan, Shane Keisel, to Utah.” that Earl Lloyd, one of the first African- and his white spouse. Both fans were Sefolosha posted on Instagram: “I American players drafted in the NBA in recorded telling Westbrook to “get down stand 100% with Russell Westbrook on 1950, was accused by a white fan of hav- on your knees like you’re used to.” what happened in yesterday’s game. I ing a “tail.” Westbrook’s response was to tell the love our fans but there are limits that While today close to 75 percent of couple, “I’ll f-ck you up.” (The Undefeated, cannot be crossed! Support and cheer for the players on the NBA’s 30 teams are March 13) Westbrook called their remarks your team and enjoy the action, but fans African-American, the fan base is over- “racial” and “inappropriate.” like Shane Keisel, who use that platform whelmingly white. This reflects both the Westbrook has since apologized to to spur their hateful and racist views, location of corporate-sponsored arenas the spouse, but not to Keisel, who all need to be held accountable.” in suburban areas and high ticket prices. of a sudden deleted his twitter feed full Sefolosha, who is of Black South The Black population in the U.S. still Russell Westbrook of racist and xenophobic rants, with African descent, had his leg broken two remains a little over 12 percent. (news. Westbrook the main target. Westbrook years ago by members of the New York gallup.com) Since the Westbrook incident, more was fined $25,000 for having an angry Police Department outside a nightclub. Overall the NBA includes 450 to 500 and more NBA players are demand- exchange with the fan, which is in viola- Current and retired NBA players from players. While salaries range from six ing better respect and treatment by the tion of National Basketball Association other teams have stated that they faced figures for rookies to eight figures for a fans through their union, the National regulations. racist taunts from white fans, especially handful of superstar players, many fans, Basketball Players Association. One pro- Keisel and his spouse, whose name in Salt Lake City. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, especially if they are white, view Black posal, which may be implemented sooner was not made public, were subsequently Draymond Green and Kenyon Martin players as well-paid gladiators, open to than later, is to play a public service banned for life from attending Jazz home reported being called the N-word. Abdul- all kinds of abuse. announcement in each NBA arena before games. Footage from a 2018 playoff Rauf, a Muslim, was forced out of the Even teams with the worst records each game outlining a code of standards game between the Thunder and the Jazz NBA when he bowed his head during the make hundreds of millions of dollars in for all fans. If they do not adhere to this resulted in another fan being banned playing of the national anthem during the profits for their billionaire owners from code, they will face the consequences of from Jazz games after calling Westbrook 1990s. television, ticket prices and concession being ejected immediately from games or “boy.” The white owner of the Jazz, Gail Miller, stand revenues during the 82-game regu- eventually banned for life. The Utah team’s Black players immedi- made a pre-game speech on March 14 lar season. The owners rake in even more The president of the association, Michelle ately came to Westbrook’s defense, espe- claiming that Salt Lake City is not a racist if the teams play in the postseason. Roberts, who is African American, stated, cially center Rudy Gobert, forward Thabo community. She said in part: “We believe Players perceived to be fearless, pas- “We should all insist that a zero tolerance Sefolosha and guard Donovan Mitchell. in treating people with courtesy and sionate and uncompromising in their policy needs to be implemented at arenas Mitchell stated, “As a Black man living respect as human beings. From time to play on the court, like Russell Westbrook, in the face of misconduct by fans. Players in a community I love and playing on a time, individual fans exhibit poor behavior or who take strong political stands, like don’t have the luxury of being able to uni- Abdul-Rauf, can easily become open tar- laterally ban unruly fans from the arenas, a gets of racist attacks. These include physi- la [New York Knicks owner] James Dolan. cal assaults, with fans throwing beverages The arenas, therefore, have to do a better Georgia rules against or garbage at them during and after games. job of insulating our players.” ☐ DACA students Protest calls for By Arielle Robinson Judge Gerald Tjoflat, who wrote the deci- Atlanta, Ga. sion for the three-judge panel, claimed these students are not in the U.S. legally, release of trans man Undocumented students who are and therefore the Board of Regents may recipients of the Deferred Action for have created the policy because they see By Jim Raynor Demonstrators demanded ICE release Childhood Arrivals policy, or DACA, have these students not living in Georgia after Atlanta Chin, first, from solitary confinement and, been barred from attending Georgia’s top college—“because they are removable at then, from Irwin County detention, which universities. An Atlanta Federal Appeals any time.” A militant, colorful and loud pro- serves as a private jail for ICE prisoners. Court upheld this reactionary policy of "As DACA recipients, they simply were test was held outside Immigration and ICE has claimed it holds Chin in solitary the Georgia Board of Regents March 6. given a reprieve from potential removal. Customs Enforcement headquarters here due to his gender identity. A hearing was (tinyurl.com/y5hnwydm) That does not mean they are in any way March 11 in support of Chin—also known held the next day about these demands, Implemented under the administra- 'lawfully present' under the act," Tjoflat as Yuen Tsui. Chin is a young trans man but no ruling has been issued yet. Chin’s tion of President Barack Obama, DACA ruled. who has been held in solitary confinement father and sister spoke, as well as leaders allowed undocumented children brought Policy 4.1.6 was enacted by the Board of for 14 months. The demonstration was of the two sponsoring organizations. to the U.S. before the age of 16 to remain Regents in 2010, months after Kennesaw supported by the National Queer Asian To demand that Chin’s request for here and not face deportation. However, State University police arrested student Pacific Islander Alliance and Southerners parole be granted, sign the petition at the Georgia Board of Regents Policy 4.1.6 Jessica Colotl on a minor traffic violation. on New Ground (Song). tinyurl.com/yxfx7qfz/. ☐ states that a person not legally in the U.S. Colotl had been brought from Mexico to will not be admitted to any institution in the U.S. as an undocumented person at the University System of Georgia; for the age 11. After her arrest, it was learned last two years, it has not admitted all aca- that Colotl was paying in-state tuition. demically qualified applicants. After an outcry from people opposed to Atlanta civil rights attorney Nathanael undocumented immigration, the Board Horsley has said this decision discrimi- of Regents enacted a separate policy stat- nates against DACA students—and that ing that one must be "lawfully present" the court is saying that “it's okay for the in the U.S. to be able to pay in-state tui- state to discriminate against [DACA tion. Therefore, students not considered students]. DACA students did nothing lawfully present in the U.S. must now pay wrong and did what they needed to do to out-of-state tuition to attend Georgia uni- be with their parents." Horsley called the versities, even though many have been ruling unconstitutional and a violation living in Georgia for their entire lives and of the equal protection clause under the graduated from Georgia high schools. 14th Amendment. He may take the case The recent exposure of wealthy par- to the Supreme Court. "We're evaluating ents buying their children’s way into our options of what we're doing next," college shows the unjust nature of capi- Horsley said. (gacivilrights.com) talism. Education is simply a commodity The ruling specifically affects DACA that’s only a “human right” for the rich. students who apply to attend the Education is essentially inaccessible to University of Georgia, Georgia Tech or working-class and immigrant families Georgia State. In 2016, three students because of their secondary status in U.S. filed a lawsuit challenging Policy 4.1.6. society. ☐ Chin's father, Eddie Tsui, and sister, Nancy Benabe. WW PHOTO: JIM RAYNOR workers.org March 21, 2019 Page 9 How corporate media pave way for war, then and now

By John Catalinotto What had been a sovereign, indepen- dent and socialist Yugoslavia was turned For a decade, beginning in 1990, the into six weakened semicolonies of the U.S. and Western European propaganda West and the tiny U.S. military outpost machines indoctrinated their populations called Kosovo. Today the existence of to support a war of aggression against an “independent” Kosovo is an obvious Yugoslavia, which started on March 24, fraud, as the territory is little more than 1999. a massive military base for the U.S. and a Now, on the 20th anniversary of that mini-homeland for organized crime. war, it is valuable to review how the vari- Since this criminal war against ous NATO powers carried out the process Yugoslavia, NATO has expanded its of war preparation. What makes it espe- intervention against Libya in Africa and cially important today is the fact that sim- Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria in Asia. Its ilar steps are being taken to prepare the current target is Venezuela in South way for an assault on Venezuela—which America—using another “humanitarian” can still be stopped. pretext. Demonstrations will take place over To add to the crimes of the imperialist the next two weeks to highlight the powers in the Balkans, they blamed the importance of those events 20 years ago. victims of this aggressive war. The leader On Sunday, March 24, the International of the resistance to the NATO assault, Action Center is holding a rally at the U.N. Slobodan Milosevic, Yugoslavia’s presi- headquarters in New York to commem- Yugoslav mother views wreckage of homes after NATO bombing in 1999. dent from 1997 to 2000, was kidnapped orate and protest the 20th anniversary and put on trial in The Hague. of the start of the criminal U.S./NATO Macedonia. Since German imperialism Embassy in Belgrade and Yugoslav televi- In an act of individual heroism, Milosevic 78-day bombing campaign that killed had the closest contacts with the Croatian sion and radio studios. turned the tables and put imperialism on 3,000 people and tore apart Yugoslavia. and Bosnian reactionaries and the larg- trial. In the end, the international court (iacenter.org) est economic interests in the region, this Heroism in defense of Yugoslavia was unable to prove any crimes against And on Saturday, March 30, the initiative put German imperialism in the Many of the residents of Serbia and the Yugoslav leader. But he remained in United National Antiwar Coalition will lead of seizing influence in the Balkans. Montenegro—whether Serbs, Roma, prison, and the case ended with Milosevic’s march in Washington, D.C. Although To regain hegemony over Berlin and Jews or other Yugoslav peoples—showed death behind bars in 2006. the march had been originally timed to the other NATO powers, Washington their heroism during the 78 days of open Since NATO’s intervention against coincide with the beginning of NATO’s pushed the conflict toward open war, war. They walked in open spaces and defi- Yugoslavia, the U.S. has turned the alli- 70th anniversary meeting there, current where the Pentagon’s preeminent place antly defended bridges wearing T-shirts ance into a type of imperialist police force. events have driven the anti-war organiz- in destructive power would predominate. with targets on them. Those in the mili- No longer confined to Europe, NATO ers to focus on solidarity with Bolivarian The U.S. used a battle provoked by the tary were ready to fight and camouflaged has become a worldwide intervention Venezuela, under the slogan “U.S. hands “Kosovo Liberation Army” at the town of their equipment so well that the bombing force at the service of the transnational off!” (unacpeace.org) Račak in the Kosovo province of Serbia destroyed few tanks. monopolies that exploit global labor and on Jan. 15, 1999, as a pretext. Claiming it Parents sent their children to grand- resources. Taking steps to destroy Yugoslavia was a massacre, the Bill Clinton admin- parents in the villages, while carrying on As the U.S. wages a propaganda and From 1990-99, the NATO pow- istration played up the need for “human- their work in the major cities. subversive war against Venezuela, anti- ers—with German and U.S. imperialism itarian intervention.” (Sound familiar?) Under the pressure of the destructive war people throughout the world should in the lead—were taking every step to Clinton stepped up the drive toward bombing and even more blatant threats remember the lessons of the assault on weaken and destroy Yugoslavia. war. With support from Germany and of invasion, the Yugoslav government Yugoslavia and prepare for struggle. From the start, Berlin aided reaction- France and using bases in Italy, the U.S. finally conceded and accepted NATO’s ary separatist forces in each republic of began bombing and firing missiles at terms. Even the accepted terms, how- Catalinotto, a managing editor of the multinational socialist federation mainly civilian targets in Serbia on March ever—which included the Kosovo prov- Workers World newspaper, co-edited of Yugoslavia. This gave rise to wars in 24. The bombing lasted for 78 days and ince remaining part of Serbia—were the book, “Hidden Agenda: U.S./NATO Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, along killed 3,000 people. Bridges, schools and ignored by the victorious NATO military Takeover of Yugoslavia,” International with the separation of Slovenia and hospitals were hit, along with the Chinese power. Action Center, 2001. Students, pupils skip classes to protest climate policies

The following article was published supporters marched through the streets world were an auto company, you’d have For months now, young people in in the March 16-17 issue of Junge Welt, with placards. The organizers said there saved it long ago." many countries around the world have a progressive German daily newspaper. were 300,000 participants in Germany. According to the findings of the been boycotting classes once a week in Excerpts were translated by Workers Around the globe, more than 2,000 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate protest against the lack of climate pro- World Managing Editor John Catalinotto. rallies and student strikes had been Change (IPCC), the Earth has warmed by tection efforts. Older generations are A reported million students marched, announced in more than 120 coun- about 1 degree Centigrade compared to supporting them. according to the French newspaper Le tries—in Germany alone about 200. in the pre-industrial era, and in Germany Around 20,000 scientists from Monde. The wave of protests began early in the even more so. According to analyses by Germany, Austria and Switzerland have Hundreds of thousands of young peo- morning in Asia and Oceania, where tens the World Weather Organization, the signed a statement to emphasise the ple around the world demonstrated on of thousands of young people also took to years 2015 to 2018 were the four warmest importance of the climate movement. Friday [March 15] for a radical change of the streets. There were demonstrations in since records began in the 19th century. Parents are also supporting young peo- course toward more climate protection. Sydney, Bangkok, New Delhi and Hong If conditions continue as they are ple through their organization, "Parents Under the slogan "Fridays For Future," Kong. now, the world will probably be a good for Future." Among other things, they rallies took place in such European cit- Participants in these demonstrations 3 degrees Centigrade warmer by the end (PF) ask that school expulsions or other ies as Rome, Prague, Vienna, Warsaw, carried posters like: "You are destroy- of this century. The consequences include disciplinary measures be waived if pupils London and dozens of German cities. ing our future" and "If you don't act like more heat waves, longer droughts and skip school because they are protesting. In Berlin, Cologne, Dresden and adults, we will." Posters in Germany said, more storms, heavy rain and floods. To Teachers and social workers from a pri- Stuttgart, among other cities, thou- among other things: "We can survive cut stop the trend, greenhouse gas emissions mary school in Berlin came to protest sands of schoolchildren, students and classes, not climate change" and "If the must be greatly reduced. with an entire class. ☐ The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire and garment workers today

Continued from page 7 the global garment industry where safety allowed to operate by so-called national U.S. and European retailers. in many industries. Peg Seminario, AFL- and health are disregarded until a hor- inspection bodies, having repeatedly The deadliest garment industry CIO director of occupational safety and rible disaster unleashes workers' fury failed to address safety concerns, said the catastrophe in history occurred in Dhaka health, says: “When you look at core and world outrage, sometimes bringing Clean Clothes Campaign on March 6. on April 24, 2013, when Rana Plaza, an worker protections and union rights, reforms. About 80 percent of the 4 million eight-story manufacturing complex, the administration and the president Conditions in Bangladesh's garment workers in Bangladesh’s 5,000 garment collapsed, killing 1,138 people, mostly have been totally anti-worker.” (Politico, industry are not so different from those factories are women. They are among the women, and injuring 2,500, many perma- Sept. 3, 2018) at the Triangle factory. Windows, doors world's lowest paid workers, exploited nently. Although some safety measures Capitalist production is aimed at max- and exits are blocked. Fires occur with by Western brands, who pay little for were implemented afterwards, they are imizing profits; workers' well-being is regularity, including one on March 4 in the products of their labor and care little continually endangered by pressure from not the bosses' concern. This is evident Dhaka, which injured eight people. The for their health. The industry annually profit-driven global brands and a pro-cor- in the super-exploitation of workers in company, Anzir Apparel Ltd., has been exports $30 billion worth of clothes to porate government. ☐ Page 10 March 21, 2019 workers.org

editorials In Brexit, workers' Combat Islamophobia struggles have no borders worldwide!

The process of Britain leaving the immigration, exclude non-British work- Continued from page 1 auto factory owners—and taken national European Union—called Brexit—has ers and “protect British jobs.” as a political strategy in the 1890s. As dif- turned the politics of that country into a Similarly, the fate of a million of so elected U.S. officials who have used the ferent waves of immigrant workers have shambling wreck. Many Brexit scenarios British citizens now working on the exact vile phrases or sentiments of the entered the U.S., they have also been tar- predict major economic damage to the Continent would be placed in doubt. shooter—Senators Ted Cruz, Marco geted by both racist laws and propaganda. British economy, the second largest in Unions in Britain, and more generally Rubio, Lindsey Graham and Rep. Steve As for the Christchurch shooter, he was the world. in Europe, should be taking a clear, firm, King; former Gov. Mike Huckabee and born in Australia, where the first colony What is not being trumpeted is that the militant position that all workers have former U.S. President Bill Clinton. in 1788 was made of up poor and work- worst economic blows of Brexit would fall a right to their jobs, no matter where In his 74-page “manifesto,” the ing-class white prisoners transported on the workers. national borders are drawn. shooter said explicitly he admired U.S. there for small crimes against property. The major British political parties Large sectors of the working class in President Donald Trump as a “symbol This killer was the product of English have split into “leavers” and “remain- England have already had their standard of renewed white identity and common colonial racism, which went to war with ers.” There are subfactions like “hard of living cut significantly before any dec- purpose.” Trump, having described the Indigenous people whose continent it exit”—no treaty between the EU and laration of Brexit. The British bourgeoisie neo-Nazis and fascists who rampaged was, killing them and seizing their land. Britain—and “soft exit”—preserving have imposed austerity cuts in educa- violently in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017 The Christchurch killer, who identi- an open border between the Republic tion, health care and housing without as “very fine people,” has not condemned fied himself as “working class,” was so of Ireland and the six northeastern Irish any interference from the unelected EU the Christchurch massacre as racist or brainwashed by colonizing capitalism counties that remained under British bureaucrats in Brussels. terrorist. that he actually called the Muslim peo- rule after the Republic’s independence An additional major impact Brexit ple he murdered “invaders … who colo- in 1922. would have on workers’ lives is the dis- Not an isolated event nize other peoples’ lands.” (tinyurl.com/ In the general referendum on leaving ruption of trade and transportation, the The killer in New Zealand did not act y653rh7g) the EU, the “leave” option won with only consequential rising price of goods, and alone. He was part of a worldwide resur- His crime and his amnesia about 52 percent of the overall vote. “Leave” the increased costs and difficulties of gence of fascist, neo-Nazi, white suprem- Australia—and New Zealand—are also actually lost in the north of Ireland and travel outside Britain, including trips acy organizing, not just via social media the history of the U.S. The fact that this in Scotland by fairly wide margins. related to health care. but in the parliaments of Europe. Starting country and its economy were founded But Brexit was pushed by some sectors For instance, of the 16,000 trucks a with the success of a Swiss anti-immi- on the theft of Indigenous lands, and on of the English ruling class that resented day, at maximum, that pass through grant political party in 1999, right-wing the unwaged, unpaid labor of people of the power that German and French finan- Dover, England, on their way from Calais, parties have garnered 20 to 30 percent African descent, has been blotted out cial institutions had over their economic France, less than 2 percent are inspected. of votes in elections in Austria, Belgium, from the memory, the understanding or dealings. The British bourgeoisie don’t All others pass with only an internet Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the the empathy of many white workers. want to have to coordinate with Germany form. If Brexit happens without provi- Netherlands, Norway and more. (tinyurl. Capitalism is soaked blood-red in the and France when the next crisis of over- sion for a customs agreement, every truck com/y65htly2) tactics and beliefs of white supremacy. production breaks and the economy of would have to be checked. It’s estimated And in 2016 in the U.S. a white We must fight this hatred—indomita- their world totters. The British rulers that workers driving trucks would be in a supremacist who boasted of his hatred bly, untiringly—with every revolutionary want unimpeded control of their own traffic jam more than 40 miles long. for people of color and immigrants, who tool we have. We must renew our struggle destiny—that is, their wealth—and no In Ireland, workers driving the thou- demonized women and LGBTQ+ people, against racism, anti-immigrant bigotry EU interference. sands of trucks that currently pass daily was elected president. and white supremacy. This must happen Now European workers, both in from the Republic to the six counties A powerful, effective pushback against far beyond informal one-to-one conver- Britain and on the Continent, are facing would face similar obstacles. And for this surge of white supremacy requires sations with friends, family or neighbors. the devastating fallout of some possible women travelling to the Republic to seek more than answering “hate speech” with In every one of our unions, workplaces, Brexit scenarios. reproductive health care, including abor- other words. community groups, religious bodies, If a hard Brexit with no agreement tions not available in the six counties, a We must look unflinchingly at the fact schools from primary to university, we occurs, either on March 29 or later, the border newly imposed by Brexit might that white supremacy is a tactic always must be strategically, systematically employment status of 3 million or so represent an uncrossable obstacle to their used by the bosses of capitalism—and organizing to push back against white non-British workers currently employed future. the politicians they elect—to divide the supremacist ideology. in the country will be up in the air. One Brexit: yet another reminder that there global multinational working class and The ruling-class capitalists who now of the main, “nationalist” points of should be no borders in the workers’ turn us against each other. dominate the world are bent on holding the Brexiteers in the referendum cam- struggles. ☐ In the U.S., laws enforcing discrimi- together a death-dealing economic sys- paign was a racist pledge to control natory differences between white inden- tem that makes them multibillionaires. tured servant workers and enslaved They have no compunction, and plenty of African workers were passed by owners experience, turning us against each other. as early as 1691. (tinyurl.com/yyd84vz6) We will outwit them, we will defy Generals over This racist division embedded in the them, we will out-organize them. We will economic system was nurtured in the show our solidarity as the multinational, South by centuries of plantation, coal multigendered working class by sticking the White House mine, steel and lumber mill, and now together and defending each other. ☐

The following excerpts are from the dustrial com- of the world with small pieces of paper you have a combination that calls the shots. book “Generals Over the White House,” plex … are use whose decreasing value gives evidence of The admirals and the generals strongly written in 1980 by Sam Marcy, founder values in the the indebtedness it has incurred as a result backed by the Department of State seem of Workers World Party. They are vastly narrow eco- of military adventures for which there has to have the ways and means of getting just more true today. The book can be read at nomic sense, been no material return to compensate for about what they want regardless of the workers.org/marcy. their broad the vast expenditures entailed in producing monetary difficulties afflicting the nation. sociological the planes, guns, tanks, and other sophisti- "In contrast to the immensity of a $75.5 Do weapons have use value? significance is that of a cancer which tends cated equipment employed. … billion budget for the military, we need Military production in the epoch of to consume the entire body politic. … Cranking up the war machine in the only take a glance at the budget estimates imperialism is a special case of commodity The sum total of the product that ema- very early thirties was a stimulus to the for the conservation and development production. "The wealth of those societies nates from the military-industrial complex capitalist economy. Cranking it up again of our natural resources. We find here a in which the capitalist mode of produc- is devoid of usefulness to society. This is in a period of hyperinflation and world- national commitment of only $2.5 billion. tion prevails," wrote Marx in his opening not readily apparent in the U.S., which wide capitalist stagnation will operate as a It is to the conservation of its land and chapter of Capital, "presents itself as 'an was the victorious country in World War depressant instead. … water that the nation must look if we hope immense accumulation of commodi- II. At the end of the war, after having spent to remain strong and prosperous in the ties.'" The products of the military-indus- billions and billions of dollars, the U.S. Congress ‘in hands of the military’ decade ahead, but our investment in this trial complex are by Marxist definition appropriated most of the profitable world [L]isten to an old-line, conservative, field will represent only a tiny portion of commodities. markets and sources of scarce raw mate- southern Democrat, speaking in January the huge sums to be expended during fiscal However, in addition to having an rials which had belonged to its allies and 1967 about how the U.S. budget is really 1968." … exchange value, commodities must also its adversaries, thereby vastly enriching made up. Senator Ellender of Louisiana [T]his monumental war budget not only have a use value. According to Marx, a monopoly capitalism at home. said: fully confirms the predominant role of the commodity is "a thing that by its proper- However, since the Korean war, the U.S. "The truth of the matter is that in many military but underlines once again the dan- ties satisfies human wants of some sort or imperialist establishment has consistently important respects, the Congress and the gerous road on which the U.S. government another." lost ground in its military adventures. nation are in the hands of the military. Add has embarked. ☐ [While] the products of the military-in- It has flooded the U.S. as well as the rest to this group the Department of State and workers.org March 21, 2019 Page 11 Ella May: Anti-racist strike martyr

Continued from page 6 some 200 striker families were evicted from company housing, the union erected 1929, they were portrayed as outsiders by a tent encampment. the bosses, the media and the clergy. In Anti-union vigilantes, with the support Gaston County, the Communist Party lead- of local police, destroyed the camp as well ership of the National Textile Union was as the union headquarters on April 18. A attacked for being atheistic, “un-American” second camp was erected, protected by and in favor of racial equality. armed union guards. The workers, however, had been pushed On June 7, police attempted to enter to their limits. Mass anger was growing the encampment, provoking a shootout over the “stretch-out,” where workloads that left five policemen wounded. When were being increased, even doubled, with Police Chief Orville Aderholt died the no pay increase. In fact, wages were fall- following day—though it could not be ing, as competition was intensifying, profit determined who shot the chief—his margins narrowed and companies were death was used to justify violence and driven to cut labor costs to the bare min- repression against the strike. imum. The demand for woven cotton had Vigilantes—organized as the also fallen with the introduction of rayon Committee of 100, supposedly represent- fabric and the loss of overseas business to ing “loyal employees” but mainly con- Strikers at Loray Mills in 1929. Inset: Ella May. Asian manufacturers. sisting of supervisors—kidnapped and flogged union activist Ben Wells. Hundreds of mill workers attended the American Federation of Labor, were Strike! Strikers, including May and other May's funeral and burial, while others left also brutally suppressed. Six strikers were On March 31, 1929, at a mass meet- women leaders, were being routinely their work stations briefly to pay respects killed in Marion, N.C., in 1929, immortal- ing outside the Loray Mill, workers were jailed. Three women were among 15 as the casket passed by. Neither the family ized by folk singer Woody Guthrie in “The asked by NTU leaders if they wanted union leaders arrested and charged with nor the NTU had funds for a headstone. Marion Massacre.” to strike. Nearly every hand went up. first-degree murder and conspiracy to Her brother Wesley put a large rock in the Eventually seven men were charged The strike, which began the next day, commit murder in the death of Aderholt. ground to mark the plot. with conspiracy to murder Ella May. spread to other mills, including May’s in There was no evidence that any of them Even in death she garnered the ire of Dozens of eyewitnesses, including every- Bessemer City. had fired the fatal shot or that the killing the Gastonia Gazette, which claimed her one who was in the pickup truck, testified The mills there were atypical in one was premeditated. murder “shades into insignificance when before investigators. Many saw Horace respect: They hired Black workers. The defense appeared close to win- compared with the lawlessness of the com- Wheelus, a “loyal” Loray worker, fire Normally Black people could not even get ning a “not guilty” verdict when the judge munists at Loray.” the fatal shot. Nevertheless, on Oct. 23 a a job in the cotton mills. White workers declared a mistrial on Sept. 9. Supposedly Vera Buch later opined that, more Gaston County grand jury concluded that were led to view Black workers as a threat a juror “went insane” after seeing the than anything, her friend was singled out there was not enough evidence to charge to their jobs. Anti-union leaflets literally prosecution’s exhibit, a plaster manne- because she “understood immediately anyone with May’s murder. posed the question: “Would you belong to quin clothed in Aderholt’s blood-stained without argument the value of our union By contrast, the seven charged with the a union that opposes White Supremacy?” uniform. principle of racial equality.” (Kristina murder of Chief Aderholt received sen- May ignored the racist and anti-Com- Anti-union forces were furious that no Horton, “Martyr of Loray Mill: Ella May tences ranging from seven to 20 years. munist propaganda and recruited Black “guilty” verdict had been reached. Mobs and the 1929 Textile Workers’ Strike in They skipped bail and fled to the Soviet workers to the NTU. They were not only comprising mill management and local Gastonia, North Carolina”) Union. her co-workers but also her friends and businessmen destroyed union offices in Violence against strikers continued The drama of the Gastonia strike has neighbors. Gastonia and Bessemer City and assaulted after the funeral with another kidnapping been the subject of six novels. Decades May emerged as a leader on the picket unionists in Charlotte. and flogging and more attacks on union later, folk singers Malvina Reynolds and lines. She brought her strong voice, A second trial was scheduled for Sept. offices. After enduring almost six months Gary Green recorded songs written about singing familiar and original songs. Her 30. The state dropped the charges against of anti-union terror, and with many strik- Ella May. In 1977 local unionists finally best known composition, “Mill Mother’s eight of the original defendants, including ers returning to work, the NTU officially erected a headstone at her gravesite. Lament,” opens with the verse: “We leave the three women. When charges against called off the strike on Sept. 27. Currently a memorial committee is raising funds for a life-size sculpture to be placed our homes in the morning/We kiss our the other seven were reduced to sec- Remembering resistance children goodbye/While we slave for the ond-degree murder, a conviction appeared there. bosses/Our children scream and cry.” likely. Legal and extra-legal terror against Ella May—a woman warrior and a Walking the picket lines with their workers was not limited to NTU strikes class-conscious anti-racist who gave her children, women were the backbone Vigilante murder of Ella May in Gastonia County. Textile strikes led life for the betterment of her class—is of the strike. Along with May, Daisy Over 20 Bessemer City strikers, includ- by the moderate and segregationist not forgotten. ☐ McDonald and 11-year-old Odell Corley ing pregnant Ella May, piled into the back United Textile Workers, affiliated with were standout local fighters who also of a pickup truck on Sept. 14 and headed to composed union songs. Vera Buch and Gastonia to support the framed-up union Sophie Miller were among the national leaders. Their vehicle was forced to turn Se acerca una nueva NTU organizers who took on the difficult around by 10 to 15 carloads of vigilantes, challenge of organizing these Southern who followed them as they retreated. textile workers. The union truck had to brake suddenly generación de socialistas when a car sped up and stopped in front Continúa de la página 12 Vivimos en un mundo cada vez más Strikes meet repression of it. The occupants of that car, along with interconectado donde la conciencia de Manville-Jenckes, the Rhode Island others, surrounded the strikers. A mem- de un sistema basado en robo a uno clase está aumentando. La unidad entre company that owned the Loray Mill, was ber of this armed group shot Ella May in basado en satisfacer las necesidades de la las masas es siempre una señal de que la determined to break the strike—as was the chest. She died instantly in the arms of sociedad. El capitalismo trae consigo el clase dominante pronto perderá su con- the local political establishment. After her companion, Charlie Shope. imperialismo, el racismo, el patriarcado trol sobre el poder. La fuerza moral del y la destrucción del medio ambiente. Los socialismo no puede ser detenida, ni tam- jóvenes de hoy no quieren formar parte poco las masas que la han empujado a la de ese futuro. Han visto el daño hecho en vanguardia de la política estadounidense. casa y en el extranjero. Exigen una polí- Las huelgas de los trabajadores sólo se tica económica moralmente justificable. intensificarán. A medida que estos movi- Los jóvenes desean un sistema donde la mientos de trabajadores continúen siendo atención médica no esté determinada por más interseccionales y se unan a movi- la capacidad de pago y donde la vivienda mientos antirracistas, antipatriarcales y sea un derecho humano. Tienen una antiimperialistas, se volverán inconteni- solidaridad creciente que exige el fin de bles. Cualquier intento por parte de la clase la riqueza extraída de muchos por unos dominante de suprimir estos movimientos pocos, que solo puede lograrse a través sólo acelerará su propia desaparición. del socialismo. Los jóvenes de hoy han emergido de Los jóvenes tienen razón al identifi- las ruinas del mayor desastre económico car esta solución. Cuando observamos el desde la Gran Depresión. Su experiencia dolor causado por la codicia y la explo- les ha enseñado que el capitalismo no es tación económica, y la ira justa de las un motor del crecimiento económico, personas que se levantan para resistirla sino de la canibalización y la catástrofe en todo el mundo, queda claro que la vic- ambiental. En su lugar, anhelan un sis- toria del socialismo sobre el capitalismo tema basado en la equidad y la justicia es inevitable. Los sistemas de opresión no económica. La clase dominante está ate- pueden prosperar para siempre. Women confront National Guard soldier during the strike. rrorizada de que pronto lo lograrán. ☐ Correspondencia sobre artículos en Workers World/Mundo Obrero pueden ser enviadas a: [email protected]

¡Proletarios y oprimidos de todos los paises unios! workers.org Vol. 61 Núm. 12 21 de marzo 2019 $1

Venezuela después del apagón Movilización masiva WW PHOTO: SARA FLOUNDERS Manifestación anti-imperialista en Caracas, responde al ataque imperialista 16 de marzo.

Por Sam Ordóñez aliados. (tinyurl.com/yxl6th8w) guerra en todo el tiempo que han traba- funcionamiento de los hospitales, y dis- También se reportaron varios ataques jado en la política. Marco Rubio se pasa el tribuir agua potable. En las zonas donde 17 de marzo—Una nueva movilización físicos, como la detonación de subesta- día imponiendo la voluntad del imperia- no podían llegar con los camiones del masiva antiimperialista llenó las calles de ciones, y de alta tecnología que utiliza lismo en América Latina mediante ame- gobierno, las comunidades se encargaron Caracas el día 16 de marzo, celebrando ondas electromagnéticas para interfe- nazas en Twitter y el Senado. de encontrar y distribuir el agua. una nueva victoria contra los ataques del rir en varias estaciones de distribución. Pompeo fue director de la CIA antes de Organizaciones de base como los CLAP, imperialismo estadounidense. Es otra También reporta teleSUR explosiones en asumir el cargo de Secretario de Estado, que distribuyen cajas de comida, seguían prueba del aumento de la organización y la principal instalación petrolera del país. por lo que no podemos saber todos sus funcionando durante toda la semana, e movilización del pueblo venezolano. (tinyurl.com/y53dy9lt) crímenes. Pero como ejemplo de su gran incluso algunas comunidades se organi- La nueva fase de la agresión impe- Por otro lado Juan Guaidó, el auto- sentimiento humanitario, recientemente zaron de forma espontánea para juntar rialista buscaba destruir de una vez el proclamado presidente interino, culpa al anunció que bloqueará la entrada de cual- los recursos y la información que tenían. proceso bolivariano pero falló, y ahora gobierno de no mantener la red eléctrica. quier individuo que investiga los críme- El poder popular en Venezuela se ha se encuentra estallido contra un pueblo Es cierto que hace falta más inversión nes de EUA en Afganistán. (AP, March 15) puesto en las primeras líneas del conflicto, venezolano que ha renovado su organiza- en la infraestructura nacional, pero hay Mientras sus oficiales amenazan la gue- para defender la soberanía y asegurar los ción popular y antiimperialista. que recordar que el bloqueo financiero rra contra Venezuela, Donald Trump ha derechos básicos de la población. Este Según fuentes oficiales la electricidad ha impuesto por los Estados Unidos ha declarado un estado de emergencia para poder se expresa mediante las más de 500 sido restaurada en Venezuela desde el 15 de causado la pérdida de miles de millones construir un muro fronterizo, llegando a comunas formadas por miles de consejos marzo, luego de un apagón que empezó el de dólares que el gobierno podría haber usar el veto presidencial para defenderlo. comunales en los barrios populares. día jueves 7 de marzo. El apagón, que duró usado para modernizar los sistemas digi- Esto se suma a la separación de familias Además de coordinar los esfuerzos de una semana en algunas partes del país, fue tales y comprar partes de repuesto, entre migrantes, y la práctica de poner a los asegurar los derechos básicos, las comu- resultado de un fallo en la planta hidroeléc- otras necesidades. niños en campos de concentración. nas organizan las milicias populares. De trica conocida como “El Guri.” Pero quizás el ejemplo más insultante esta manera se defienden tanto en térmi- Los gobiernos de Venezuela, Cuba y La hipocresia imperialista de la hipocresía del imperialismo es, nos literales, con el pueblo organizado y Rusia han denunciado varias formas de Los medios corporativos internaciona- como en muchas instancias, Puerto Rico. armado, como en términos más abstrac- ataques contra el sistema eléctrico. La les se han enfocado en Venezuela en los Después del huracán Maria el archipié- tos como asegurando la distribución de principal ha sido cibernética, con varios últimos meses, publicando historia tras lago estaba sin electricidad y agua durante agua y comida. ataques dirigidos, según declaraciones historia del sufrimiento del pueblo vene- meses, y algunas partes siguen así. El bloqueo financiero, en forma de del presidente Nicolás Maduro, desde zolano. Es muy poco probable que esta Mientras el gobierno estadounidense, sanciones unilaterales, es la única jugada Houston y Chicago. decisión se hace por razones humanita- mediante una junta fiscal, destruye lo que del imperialismo que se puede decir que Esta parece ser la principal causa del rias, ya que con su reportaje han demo- había sobrevivido el huracán, el gobierno fue exitoso. Los ataques "guarimberos" apagón, ya que logró desactivar el sis- nizado al gobierno legítimo y crearon la de Nicolás Maduro envió combustible. en 2014 y 2017 no lograron derrocar al tema de captura y control de datos de narrativa que justifica la política injeren- Ahora, la policía y mercenarios reprimen gobierno bolivariano por la fuerza. La la red eléctrica. Incluso la publicación cista de Trump. con fuerza al pueblo boricua y la gente viaja autoproclamación de Guaidó y el intento Forbes, que se autopresenta como una Durante el apagón, CNN y el New York horas para encontrar clínicas de diálisis de ingresar camiones estadounidenses “herramienta capitalista”, publicó un Times publicaban historias de agua negra, operativas. Todas las peores mentiras del tampoco provocó el quiebre que se buscaba reporte detallando que sería muy realista culpando siempre al gobierno “corrupto.” imperialismo sobre Venezuela son realida- en la Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana. para la inteligencia estadounidense hacer Pero en Flint, Michigan no ha habido des para Puerto Rico durante casi dos años. Por ahora, sigue el riesgo de nuevos ata- un ataque cibernético contra Venezuela. agua potable durante años, y los medios ques contra el sistema eléctrico del país y el (March 9, forbes.com) corporativos parecen haberse olvidado. Solidaridad y organización para bloqueo financiero, ampliada desde enero El periodista Max Blumenthal reveló Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Mike derrotar al imperialismo a ser un bloqueo petrolero, de los Estados que la organización CANVAS, que evolu- Pompeo, John Bolton, Elliott Abrams, y A pesar de lo que dicen los medios de Unidos sigue causando problemas en la cionó de grupos que desestabilizaron la ex- Marco Rubio hablan mucho de “ayuda comunicación internacionales, Venezuela economía venezolana. Hay que prepararse Yugoslavia, había publicado un plan para humanitaria” y su gran preocupación por no ha caído en el caos. La respuesta del para un asedio prolongado, en la cual será Venezuela que incluía un apagón como el pueblo venezolano. Toda la informa- pueblo venezolano ante el apagón ha decisivo tanto que el pueblo venezolano evento catalizador de una rebelión contra ción que existe sobre ellos desmiente esa sido organizarse a nivel comunitario para desarrolle la organización y capacidad de el gobierno. Esta organización recibe fon- ridícula ficción. satisfacer las necesidades. producción doméstica como el movimiento dos de agencias estatales estadounidenses Bolton y Abrams no han hecho más que Por su parte, el gobierno puso en de solidaridad internacional luchando para y entrenó a Juan Guaidó y varios de sus destruir países y cometer crímenes de función varios planes para asegurar el terminar con el bloqueo. ☐ Se acerca una nueva generación de socialistas Por Makasi Motema adoptando el socialismo como la única apoyarse. Con la desventaja preexistente actual entiende que el único medio de alternativa viable. de los débiles pagos de la deuda, la gene- supervivencia es desmantelar el sistema La multitud rugió cuando el jefe del La vida de la juventud de hoy ha estado ración del Milenio llegó a la mayoría de antiguo y reemplazarlo con algo nuevo. estado imperialista/capitalista proclamó marcada por el dramático despojo de las edad en un mundo donde incluso conse- Para los jóvenes de hoy, el socialismo no que "Estados Unidos nunca será un país promesas del capitalismo y la revelación guir un trabajo es inasequible. es una nueva tendencia de moda, es una socialista". Donald Trump se convirtió en de su cruel realidad. A diferencia de la Aquellos que encuentran trabajo no son balsa salvavidas en un mar de indigencia el abanderado del capitalismo estadouni- generación de sus padres, a los jóvenes de recibidos con planes de empleo y jubila- capitalista. dense durante su discurso sobre el estado hoy se les dijo que no podían obtener un ción anteriormente estables de generacio- Un sistema que pone a los trabajado- de la Unión en febrero y ambos partidos buen trabajo sin un título universitario. nes anteriores. En cambio, su empleo, y res en control es la única opción racional, se alinearon. Bajo estos términos, aquellos que podrían por lo tanto su supervivencia, es débil en la alternativa es una vida de inestabili- Pero a pesar de la respuesta atrona- cargarse con deudas de préstamos estu- el mejor de los casos. Se les anima a obte- dad económica. A los capitalistas se les dora, los gritos bipartidistas de apoyo al diantiles de cinco o seis cifras, solo para ner un segundo empleo en la "economía ha dado todas las oportunidades para capitalismo llevaron un indicio de deses- ser atacados por el mercado laboral pos- trabajitos". "reformar" su sistema, y no han encon- peración. ¿Por qué Trump sintió la nece- terior a 2008. Al acumular una estafa sobre otra, los trado nada. "La esperanza y el cambio" sidad de unir al Congreso contra el avance Los trabajos de nivel de entrada requie- capitalistas exigen que la clase trabaja- no eran más que aire caliente, y la gene- del socialismo? ren no solo un título, sino también expe- dora se someta no solo a los jefes, sino ración actual entiende esto. Saben que el La razón es que los jóvenes recha- riencia relevante. Adquirir experiencia también a los algoritmos que explotan a capitalismo nunca puede ser y nunca será zan cada vez más el capitalismo, y esto significa asumir la carga de una pasan- los trabajadores con precisión computari- arreglado. asusta a la clase dominante. Los jóvenes tía no remunerada: regalar su poder de zada. Sin seguridad en el empleo, sin pla- El capitalismo es insostenible. Se han visto el daño causado por los regí- trabajo a una empresa de forma gratuita nes de jubilación, sin escapar de la deuda requiere una transformación dramática menes capitalistas neoliberales, y están mientras encuentra otros medios para y aparentemente sin futuro, la generación Continúa en la página 11