AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE Why workers should demand US out of Guantánamo! — PAGE 7 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 80/NO. 15 APRIL 18, 2016 Join spring US gov’t blocks ‘Workers need to fight activities to with Moscow to take political power’ build Socialist to defend stake Socialist Workers Party campaigns across Workers Party in Middle East Wisconsin against capitalism and its crisis BY SETH GALINSKY BY MAGGIE TROWE Join us from now through June — In recent months Washington and and beyond — as the Socialist Work- Moscow have forged a strategic bloc ers Party steps up its activities to get to tamp down instability and combat the party known more broadly in the in Syria and open the door to new at- working class and to win new mem- tacks on Islamic State in both Syria bers and friends to the revolution- and Iraq. The U.S. government judges ary movement. Communist Leagues that this new axis, which includes around the world are doing the same. working with Tehran, can better ad- Among key aspects of this concen- vance its imperialist interests in the trated effort: region. Getting Socialist Workers Party The deal includes shoring up the candidates for U.S. president and brutal regime of Syrian dictator vice president — Alyson Kennedy Bashar al-Assad, the most stable force and Osborne Hart — on the ballot in the area, as well as recognizing de in six states: Louisiana, New Jersey, facto autonomy of the Syrian Kurds. Tennessee, Colorado, Minnesota and Moscow carried out a partial with- Washington (see details on page 3). drawal of forces last month. Joining and promoting the fight for A truce put in place in March per- unionization. Organize the unorga- mits military action against Islamic nized! We will be right in the middle State as well as Jabhat al-Nusra, the Militant/Eric Simpson of the April 14 nationwide protests for Syrian branch of al-Qaeda. Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate in California Eleanor García, right, on farm- $15 and a union, and winning solidar- Both Washington and Moscow worker picket line in Watsonville, California, March 31. Fights like these “help workers gain confidence, experience on road to taking power out of hands of capitalist class,” García said. ity for other union actions by workers have stepped up attacks against Is- standing up to attempts by the bosses lamic State. Moscow’s bombers have BY JOHN STUDER “I worked as a coal miner in Utah in to make working people pay for the backed Assad’s forces, joined by com- “It’s an outrage that people in this a mine where the majority of workers capitalist crisis. bat troops from Iran and Hezbollah, country have to work for just $8 or were from Mexico,” Kennedy said. Going door to door in small towns in ousting IS from Palmyra, pressing $10 an hour. You can’t survive on “We organized and fought to make it Continued on page 3 Continued on page 4 those wages,” a Teamsters union a union mine, to raise wages and get truck driver told Socialist Workers protection from the bosses’ disregard Party presidential candidate Alyson for our safety. The answer to the prob- Kennedy as she campaigned among lems you pose is not deportations, but April 14 actions will demand $15 those attending a rally for Donald coming together to fight for the needs Trump at Nathan Hale High School in of all. an hour and union organizing West Allis, Wisconsin, April 3. “But “We face a basic conflict between we have to worry about the people the owning class, who use the govern- in this country first. We have people ment to defend their profits, and the without jobs, people without health working class,” Kennedy said. “We care or insurance.” need a social revolution. Working people must unite and take political power.” The Socialist Workers Party orga- Attack on Ukraine nized teams across Wisconsin to pres- ent the party’s revolutionary perspec- Communist tive in the political discussions lead- ing up to the Republican and Demo- Party is threat to cratic Party primaries there April 5. The bourgeois elections in 2016 are working class Continued on page 6 BY JOHN STUDER Members of the Communist Party and the Leninist Communist Youth Inside Union in Ukraine were attacked and Militant/Betsy Farley Celebrate life of political Airport workers rally in Chicago March 31, part of nationwide fight for $15 minimum wage. beaten by rightist thugs from the Azov prisoner Mondo we Langa 2 Civil Corp in Kiev Feb. 17. Mikhail BY MAGGIE TROWE sexual harassment of female workers Kononovych, the leader of the youth SWP candidate backs fight to On April 14 actions in dozens of cit- by bosses, rallied in Oakland, Califor- group, and Igor Plitsyn, first secretary prosecute California cop 3 ies across the U.S. will demand a $15 nia, March 31. Petra Reynaga, a fast- of the LCYU Kiev City Committee, minimum wage and a union. Across food worker and member of the East were seriously injured. Cop account of killing of Bay Organizing Committee, urged This latest attack is part of an on- Jamar Clark ‘not true’ 9 FIGHT FOR $15 the protesters to turn out April 14 for going series of physical assaults, de- AND A UNION the $15 and a union actions. “Rents struction of political offices, “disap- –On the picket line, p. 5– are rising but wages are not keeping pearances” of CP members and gov- — SWP campaign statement, p. 9 East Coast unionists protest up,” she said. ernment efforts to ban the party from Canada they will take place the fol- In recent years, as working people exercising its right to participate in Verizon concession demands lowing day. looked for ways to defend themselves politics. Washington, Mexico Union janitors fighting for a con- against grinding depression condi- These attacks are a deadly threat farmworkers tour together tract, for $15 an hour and the end of Continued on page 9 Continued on page 4 Celebrate life of political London ‘tube’ drivers strike against unsafe trains prisoner Mondo we Langa BY JOE SWANSON linking them to the case was dubious OMAHA, Neb. — Some 200 people at best. celebrated the life and work of political The celebration of we Langa’s life, prisoner Mondo we Langa here March held at the Malcolm X Memorial 26. He along with Ed Poindexter had Foundation, included cultural perfor- been jailed on frame-up charges for mances and more than a dozen speak- more than 45 years. ers. Messages were received from Af- We Langa, 68, formerly known as rica, Australia, United Kingdom and David Rice, died in the Nebraska State from across the United States. Penitentiary in Lincoln on March 11 Freelance journalist Kietryn Zychal, after a long illness. who has been investigating the frame- “Ed and Mondo helped organize up of the Omaha Two, introduced a protests against police violence that recorded message from Poindexter. Omaha’s Black population suffered in After being in separate prisons for 26 the 1960s, which continues nationwide years, Poindexter said, he returned to today,” said Tariq Al-Amin, president the Nebraska State Penitentiary and of Nebraskans for Justice. The group found “Mondo was still serving the Militant/Jonathan Silberman has fought for many years to free the people.” LONDON — Hundreds of London Underground “tube” drivers — mem- men known as the Omaha Two. Ne- “Mondo was an inspiration and a bers of the Rail, Maritime and Transport and the Associated Society of Loco- braskans for Justice will “continue the mentor to fellow prisoners at the state motive Steam Enginemen and Firemen unions — took 24-hour strike action work to free Ed Poindexter,” Al-Amin penitentiary,” said Linda Kennedy of March 23. Pickets at the Arnos Grove depot, above, spoke of company harass- said. the Harambee African Cultural Or- ment and intimidation and unsafe trains. There has been a rise in disciplinary We Langa and Poindexter were ganization, which meets weekly at the action, pickets told the Militant. leaders of the Black Panther Party, prison. “He explained, ‘I have no time “There are serious questions over the safety of the aging fleet on the Picca- which organized protests against po- to be bitter to the government frame- dilly line in terms of braking systems, wheel flats and brake operation” a union lice brutality, including the 1969 kill- up, I have a life to live.’” spokesperson said in January. The union has insisted for years that the 40-year- ing of 14-year-old Vivian Strong. They Other speakers included Angela old trains — known as “1973 stock” — are dangerous. For example, the door on a moving train with passengers flew open Jan. 16. were railroaded to prison in 1970 on Davis, who in 1970-71 was a Com- The RMT said there had been four similar incidents in preceding weeks. trumped-up charges of killing a police munist Party member framed up and The company claimed the door opening was an “isolated incident.” But the officer, who died after being lured into imprisoned for her activity defending BBC reported two doors opened on a moving train in October 2013. The Rail, a home where a suitcase bomb explod- inmates at California’s Soledad prison. Maritime and Transport union plans further stoppages on April 19 and 21. ed. Both were sentenced to life impris- Davis called for continuing to fight to — JONATHAN SILBERMAN onment. free other political prisoners, including The jury was never informed that Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal. the two were targets of the FBI’s Coin- For more information and to get in- telpro spying and disruption campaign volved in the fight to free Ed Poindex- Rail worker, others donate bosses’ bribes to build SWP directed against Black rights organiza- ter, contact Nebraskans for Justice at tions, anti-war groups, socialists and P.O. Box 11725, Omaha, NE 68111. The Socialist Workers Party Capital Fund received a $3,500 check from Jim Al- others. Witnesses placed them else- Letters can be sent to Ed Poindexter, tenberg, a railroad conductor and member of the United Transportation Union in where at the time of the bombing, and #27767, P.O. Box 2500, Lincoln, NE Oakland, California. Amtrak makes an annual payment to conductors hired before the prosecution’s “physical evidence” 68542-2500. 2000 in exchange for eliminating the second assistant conductor on long haul pas- senger trains. “Two now do the work of three, and we all pay in injuries, speedup and increasingly dangerous conditions on the trains,” Altenberg wrote. The bedrock of the SWP Capital Fund, which helps finance the party’s long-term work, is contributions like this of “blood money” — the various “bonuses” that em- ployers use to try to bribe workers to accept worsening conditions. Twenty-eight Walmart workers recently contributed profit-sharing bonuses totaling $4,876.95. “This is the blood money my employer hopes will keep us quiet. They will learn the hard way,” wrote one worker from Philadelphia. Defend women’s right to choose abortion Rick Young from Chicago sent a check for $2,000 from a United Airlines profit bo- nus, part of the company’s “campaign to convince workers of the need for speedup The fight for the right to and cost-cutting at the expense of safe working conditions and jobs,” he said. safe, legal abortion is fun- To contribute, contact a party branch near you, listed on page 8. damental to the struggle — ARLENE RUBINSTEIN for women’s equality. The

‘Militant’ covers the battles Latin America, Caribbean: For one year to defend this right and why send $85 drawn on a U.S. bank to above The Militant address. Vol. 80/No. 15 it’s an important issue to Africa, Asia, and the Middle East: For unify and strengthen the Closing news date: April 6, 2016 one year send $85 drawn on a U.S. bank to struggles of working people Militant/Helen Meyers Editor: John Studer above address. March 25 rally for abortion rights outside Managing Editor: Naomi Craine Canada: For one year send Canadian $45 worldwide. Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Paul, Minn. to the Militant, 7107 St. Denis #204, Mon- Editorial volunteers: Róger Calero, Seth treal, Quebec H2S 2S5. Galinsky, Emma Johnson, Jacob Perasso, United Kingdom: Send £26 for one year Gerardo Sánchez, Maggie Trowe, Brian by check or international money order SUBSCRIBE TODAY! Williams, Rebecca Williamson. made out to CL London, 2nd Floor, 83 Published weekly except for one week in Kingsland High St., Dalston, London, E8 January, one week in June, one week in 2PB, England. July, one week in August and one week in Republic of Ireland and Continental NEW READERS NAME September. Europe: Send £85 for one year by check or international money order made out to CL Business manager: Lea Sherman London at above address. q.$5 for 12 issues ADDRESS The Militant (ISSN 0026-3885), 306 W. France: Send 120 euros for one year to 37th Street, 13th floor, New York, NY Diffusion du Militant, BP 10130, 75723 Paris Cedex 15. RENEWAL CITY STATE ZIP 10018. Telephone: (212) 244-4899 Fax: (212) 244-4947 New Zealand: Send NZ$55 for one year E-mail: [email protected] to P.O. Box 3025, Auckland 1140, New q.$10 for 12 weeks PHONE E-MAIL Website: www.themilitant.com Zealand. Australia: Send A$70 for one year to P.O. Box Correspondence concerning subscriptions 164 Campsie, NSW 2194, Australia. q.$20 for 6 months UNION/SCHOOL/ORGANIZATION or changes of address should be addressed Pacific Islands: Send NZ$55 for one year to to the Militant, 306 W. 37th Street, 13th P.O. Box 3025, Auckland 1140, New Zealand. floor, New York, NY 10018. CLIP AND MAIL TO THE MILITANT, Submissions to the Militant may be pub- q.$35 for 1 year 306 W. 37TH ST., 13TH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10018. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY. lished in the newspaper in print and digital format. By submitting, authors represent POSTMASTER: Send address changes to that their submissions are original and 12 weeks of the Militant outside the U.S.: Australia and the Pacific, A$10 • United the Militant, 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor, consent to publication in this manner. New York, NY 10018. Kingdom, £3 • Canada, Can$7 • Caribbean and Latin America, US$10 • Continental Signed articles by contributors do not Europe, £10 • France, 8 euros • New Zealand, NZ$7 • All other areas, US$16 (Send SUBSCRIPTIONS: United States: For necessarily represent the Militant’s views. payment to addresses listed in business information box) one year send $35 to above address. These are expressed in editorials.

2 The Militant April 18, 2016 SWP candidate backs fight to prosecute California cop BY JOEL BRITTON ing some in the classroom — and others PARADISE, Calif. — “While many who were protesting to get Feaster fired feel the two major parties are essen- and indicted. tially the same, the Socialist Workers Hart said the Socialist Workers Party Party takes that viewpoint to its inevi- joins in the fight to win a minimum wage table end — that both parties are ac- of $15 an hour, to support women’s right tually working in concert against the to choose abortion, to win union recog- American worker,” began an April 1 nition for unorganized workers and to article in the Paradise Post here on push back against cop brutality and kill- Osborne Hart, SWP candidate for U.S. ings. The fact that Feaster was fired and vice president. charged with manslaughter, Hart said, Militant photos by Eric Simpson Accompanied by campaign sup- was an example of what is happening Osborne Hart, Socialist Workers Party porter Anita Wills and this reporter, more often now as families and friends candidate for vice president, speaks March Hart traveled here March 30 to meet of many of those killed protest and put 30 with students at Butte College, some of whom have organized protests against po- and express solidarity with those who the spotlight on cop brutality. lice killing of Andrew Thomas in nearby have organized protests that forced the “Keep the pressure on for a prosecu- Paradise. Inset, Hart visits memorial at site firing of Patrick Feaster, the cop who Continued on page 6 of shooting with Anita Wills and Joel Britton. shot Andrew Thomas last November. Thomas died several weeks later and Feaster has been charged with man- Join spring efforts to build Socialist Workers Party slaughter. We visited the memorial to Thomas at Continued from front page to opposing the firings and deportation fundamental. Or that whoever they ap- the site on Pearson Road where Feaster and big cities talking to workers, of immigrant workers to defense of point to the Supreme Court can do so. shot Thomas as he was getting out of his small farmers and young people to put women’s right to choose abortion, such The Socialist Workers Party has a di- car after it crashed. Both Thomas and forward a communist perspective and as the April 9 demonstration in India- ametrically opposed view. The problem Feaster are Caucasian. win new readers to the party’s press napolis. working people face is worldwide. It is Cop brutality is “a class question,” — the Militant and books that are part As part of all these activities, party the dictatorship of capital. The world- Hart told more than 50 students in of advancing a Marxist program that branches are setting goals for selling wide economic crisis can’t be voted or two political science classes at Butte points the way forward to putting an subscriptions to the Militant from April legislated away. College near here. The rulers use cop end to the dictatorship of capital. 2 to May 17. Along with the paper, we As working people stand up and fight brutality and their prisons to intimidate An important beginning piece of this will be getting Pathfinder books, with for better work conditions and wages and punish working people, Black and are teams in Wisconsin, where the big the continuity of more than 100 years and join other social struggles, we gain Caucasian alike, Hart said. Police mot- discussions and debates over the Don- of Marxist experience, into the hands self-confidence and combat experience. tos such as “We Protect and Serve” refer ald Trump and Bernie Sanders cam- of working people and youth look- But these struggles by themselves can- to the cops’ duty to serve and protect the paigns are an opportunity to talk to ing for a way forward. The $110,000 not put an end to the exploitation that is interests of the capitalist ruling class, not workers — no matter what bourgeois Militant Fighting Fund drive will run part and parcel of capitalism. working people. candidate they support or don’t — who concurrently to raise the money needed That’s why the Socialist Workers Instructor Jack Hames introduced are fed up with politics as usual and to keep the Militant in print. Weekly Party and its candidates combat illu- Hart, explaining that members of the looking for a way to fight back against charts starting in the next issue will sions in electoral politics and point a Socialist Workers Party had come from the bosses. track our progress on subscriptions and road forward to workers taking power the Bay Area to Paradise before to sup- We will build other social protests, the fund. out of the hands of the capitalist class, port young friends of Thomas — includ- from the fight against police brutality The newest of Pathfinder’s arse- as the workers and farmers of Cuba did nal of books — The Cuban Five Talk in 1959. The example of what Cuba’s About Their Lives Within the US Work- working people have accomplished ing class: “It’s the Poor Who Face the since then, standing up to every at- Savagery of the US ‘Justice’ System” tempt by the U.S. rulers to overthrow SPECIAL BOOK OFFERS — is worth noting. This is not primar- that revolution, shows what workers ily a book about prison conditions or can accomplish. how to stand up to solitary confine- After these weeks of intense work, FOR MILITANT SUBSCRIBERS ment. It’s about the dog-eat-dog moral- many of those we meet will want to ity fostered inside that “microcosm” of attend the June 16-18 Socialist Work- The Cuban Five Talk About Their Lives capitalism that is prison in the United ers Party conference in Oberlin, Ohio. Within the US Working Class States. And about the lessons and ex- This international gathering will be “It’s the poor who face the savagery of the US ‘justice’ system” ample from five Cuban revolutionaries an unequaled opportunity to bring to- GERARDO HERNÁNDEZ, RAMÓN LABAÑINO, ANTONIO GUERRERO, who conducted themselves with, and gether the experiences of the last sev- RENÉ GONZÁLEZ, FERNANDO GONZÁLEZ won others to, the morality and values eral months, continue political discus- Five Cuban revolutionaries, framed up by the U.S. government, spent of working-class solidarity and interna- sion, gain a better understanding of the up to 16 years as part of the U.S. working class behind bars. In this tionalism. Seven Pathfinder books, in- communist movement and map out the NEW 2015 interview they talk about U.S. capitalist society and its “justice” cluding this one, are on special during work ahead. system, and about the future of the Cuban Revolution. $10 (regular this drive. Our work building the communist $15) Also in Spanish All the capitalist candidates from movement won’t stop after this spring Trump and Sanders to Ted Cruz and campaign, but continues 365 days a Hillary Clinton want you to believe that year. who is elected can change something Join us! Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power JACK BARNES Help get the Socialist Workers Party $15 (regular $20) Also in French, Spanish presidential ticket on the ballot! Is Socialist Revolution Louisiana: April 5-20 Women in Cuba: New Jersey: April 16-May 1 in the U.S. Possible? The Making of a Revolution MARY-ALICE WATERS Colorado: April 23-25 $4 (regular $7) Also in French, Spanish Within the Revolution VILMA ESPÍN, ASELA DE LOS SANTOS, YOLANDA FERRER Tennessee: April 28-May 7 & May 20-June 4 Teamster Politics $15 (regular $20) Also in Spanish FARRELL DOBBS Washington state: May 7-22 $14 (regular $19) Also in Spanish 50 Years of Covert Operations Minnesota: May 17-June 5 in the US Cuba and the Coming Washington’s Political Police To volunteer for these efforts, help expand the readership American Revolution and the American Working Class of the Militant and Pathfinder books, or to join the Social- JACK BARNES LARRY SEIGLE, STEVE CLARK, FARRELL DOBBS ist Workers Party in labor protests and other activities, contact $7 (regular $10) Also in French, Spanish $8 (regular $12) Also in Spanish a party branch listed on page 8 or the Socialist Workers Party 2016 campaign, 227 W. 29th St., 6th Fl., New York NY 10001. IF YOU SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW, THESE SPECIAL OFFERS ARE FOR YOU. Tel.: (646) 922-8186. Email: [email protected]. CONTACT THE SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY OR COMMUNIST LEAGUE BRANCHES LISTED ON PAGE 8.

The Militant April 18, 2016 3 Attacks on Ukrainian CP Continued from front page amounts to supporting the rebellion in to the working class and labor move- the east. ment, precedents that will be turned The Communist Party of Ukraine against all those who fight for a class- sent out an international appeal Feb. 29 struggle road forward in Ukraine. urging support to its ongoing efforts to The CP and Communist Youth were challenge the ban in court. seeking to replace a commemora- At the same time, the Moscow-backed tive plaque celebrating former Stalin- leaders of the so-called Donetsk and Lu- ist leader Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, a hansk People’s Republics banned the CP member of the Political Bureau of the there, preventing them from taking part Communist Party of the Soviet Union in local elections in October 2014 and from 1971 to 1989, who died in 1990. 2015. Their banner was stomped and burned Various groups in the labor movement by the thugs. that say they seek to advance a rebirth of Shcherbytsky is notorious for at- Marxism and that fight against attacks on political rights in Ukraine have taken tempting to hide and minimize the scope Rightist thugs from Azov Civil Corp in Kiev attack members of Leninist of the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in widely different positions on whether to Communist Youth Union of Ukraine Feb. 17. Inset, Igor Plitsyn, first 1986. He ordered workers to turn out for fight against the attacks on the Commu- secretary of youth group’s Kiev City Committee, after the assault. a May Day rally in Kiev five days after nist Party. the power plant exploded, while radia- The banning of the party “gives us myr Sotnyk, a member of the Free Trade by Skype March 20. “The government’s tion was still raining down on the city. a real chance to rehabilitate the name Union of Railway Workers of Ukraine ‘decommunization’ moves have made On Feb. 27 the Ukrainian Security Communists for the Ukrainian work- in Kiev, told the same group. “De facto it more difficult for socialists like us to Service accused Kononovych and his ing class, though it will not be that the working class has never been pro- function.” brother Alexander, a secretary of the easy,” Artem Klymenko, a member of tected by CPU. Now the place for a real “Workers and all defenders of po- Communist Party’s Volyn regional the Flame socialist group in Poltava, left party is vacant.” litical rights must stand in solidarity committee, of supporting the separatist told the Ukraine Solidarity Campaign “The attacks on the Communist Party with the Ukrainian Communist Party, forces backed by Moscow in Donetsk in December. “Decommunization has of Ukraine have nothing to do with the its youth organization and members and Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine. Al- many negative consequences, because it political positions of the party, which against physical attacks and legisla- exander Kononovych was seized on the is part of the anti-democratic policies,” are against the interests of the working tive assaults,” the Militant said in street and kidnapped March 12. he said. “As for the ban of the Commu- class. They are part of the capitalist gov- an editorial last July. “They are the The physical attacks have been en- nist Party, it is not the worst thing.” ernment’s broader attacks on the unions naked fist that gives meaning to the couraged by the government of Presi- “To my mind, the fact of banning and parties of the left,” Ivan Ovcharen- capitalist rulers’ ‘decommunization’ dent Petro Poroshenko, which has filed CPU does not have a negative impact on ko, a leader of the all-Ukrainian Defense laws, which seek to outlaw commu- suit to ban the Communist Party and democratic rights in Ukraine,” Volody- of Labor union in Kiev, told the Militant nist political views.” passed “decommunization” laws aimed at outlawing the party, “communist symbols” and literature. And laying the US gov’t blocks with Moscow in Middle East basis for jailing its members. Two years ago mass popular mobili- Continued from front page neighbors, and we can help each other.” cut the refugee flow and to accept refu- zations known as the “Maidan” over- them back toward the capital of their As a result of years of war and gees from detention camps in Greece. threw the Moscow-backed government self-proclaimed caliphate in Raqqa. plummeting oil prices, the Iraqi econ- The first levy, mainly Pakistanis, were of Viktor Yanukovych. Over the follow- On April 4 Islamic State forces were omy is in shambles. The government deported to Turkey April 6. ing months, the capitalist rulers sought driven out of al-Qaryatain, 60 miles struggles to pay wages and pensions. “Greece does not want to host us. to get the workers and youth who had west of Palmyra. Unemployment is at an estimated 50 Turkey is not allowing us. Where should mobilized off the streets. Washington carried out 17 differ- percent, and much higher in IS-occu- we go?” one Iraqi refugee told Reuters. Since taking office in May 2014, the ent strikes against Islamic State across pied areas. “We drown in the sea with our children, Poroshenko regime has moved to crack Syria and Iraq March 31. To advance The devastating civil war in Syria that’s it.” their efforts, the Pentagon is considering began in 2011, after the government down on political rights and impose Iran’s economy recovers layoffs and cuts in social spending that increasing the number of U.S. special brutally crushed mobilizations of hun- have dealt blows to working people. He operations forces in Syria. They would dreds of thousands of Syrians demand- The Iranian economy, larger than accuses opponents of the regime of be- like to cobble together Arab opposition ing political rights and an end to Assad’s Australia’s and the second largest in ing “fifth columnists,” suggesting any forces to work with the Kurdish People’s regime. Against this backdrop, Islamic the Mideast, is picking up as the deal to disagreement with government policies Protection Units (YPG) to get to Raqqa State, a brutal split from al-Qaeda with a ease sanctions in exchange for Tehran’s first. leadership that includes former officers agreement to curtail progress toward In Iraq, artillery fire from U.S. Ma- of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, nuclear weapons goes into effect. The rines on the ground at newly estab- seized a sizable area in both Syria and deal was brokered by Washington last MILITANT lished Fire Base Bell and U.S. airstrikes Iraq. July as part of the U.S. rulers’ pivot to- pounded Islamic State some 50 miles The five years of bloody war in Syria ward Tehran and Moscow. LABOR south of Mosul. has left half a million dead and millions In January Tehran announced a $600 Washington counts on Peshmerga homeless. Refugees with the means billion increase in trade with China over FORUMS combatants from the autonomous Kurd- have attempted to get to Europe, with the next 10 years, and in February, a $40 ish region of northern Iraq in this fight, almost a million making it last year. billion deal with Moscow. CALIFORNIA as well as U.S.-trained Iraqi special forc- A scheme adopted in 2015 to relocate Iran’s oil production rose by 100,000 Oakland es and the less competent Iraqi regular some 160,000 refugees from Greece and barrels per day in March to 3.2 million U.S. Out of Guantánamo Now! End Wash- ington’s Embargo of Cuba! Speaker: Bet- army. Italy throughout the European Union bpd, the highest level in nearly four sey Stone, Socialist Workers Party. Fri., April “If I was told I was there to fight for has resulted in only 600 being moved. years. Tehran registered a positive bal- 15, 7:30 p.m. 675 Hegenberger Road, Suite the unity of Iraq, I would not stay a The EU has now reached agreement ance of trade for the first time in nearly 250. Tel.: (510) 686-1351. single minute,” Peshmerga commander with Turkey to send Ankara cash in ex- 37 years, in spite of rock-bottom world Kemal Kirkuki told Rudaw news ser- change for rulers there taking steps to oil prices. CANADA vice in an interview published April 2. Calgary He said Iraq should be replaced by three The Working-Class Alternative to Brutal- New International no. 11 ity of Capitalism, SWP Candidates Say separate countries of Kurds, Sunnis and Join Today’s Struggles. Speaker: Francois Shiites, as existed before the imperial- U.S. Imperialism Has Lost Bradette, Communist League. Sat., April 16. ist victors of World War I imposed new the Cold War Dinner, 5:30 p.m.; program, 7:30 p.m. 328 borders a century ago. “We will be good Centre St. SE, Unit 246. Tel.: (403) 457-9044. by Jack Barnes Montreal That’s what the Socialist Workers Party concluded in PEI Government Decision to Provide Join international day of Abortions for First Time Since 1982 Is solidarity to demand: the wake of the collapse of regimes and parties across Victory in the Struggle for Access to Eastern Europe and in the USSR that claimed to be Abortion Rights. Speaker: Annette Kouri, Freedom for communist. Contrary to imperialism’s hopes, the work- Communist League. Sat., April 16, 7:30 p.m. ing class in those countries has not been crushed. $16 7107 St. Denis, Unit 204. Tel.: (514) 272-5840. Oscar López! New International no. 7 Puerto Rican independence fighter NEW ZEALAND imprisoned in US nearly 35 years Opening Guns of World War III: Auckland Western Sahara: 40 Years of Resistance. Mon., June 20, 4-6 pm Washington’s Assault on Iraq Speaker: Annalucia Vermunt, Communist by Jack Barnes $14 League. Fri., April 15, 7 p.m. Donation: $5. New York City 188a Onehunga Mall. Tel.: (09) 636-3231. 1st Ave and East 47th St. www.pathfinderpress.com

4 The Militant April 18, 2016 ON THE PICKET LINE Maggie Trowe, Editor

Help the Militant cover labor struggles across the country! This column gives a voice to those engaged in battle and building solidarity today — including Steelworkers opposing concessions, construction workers demanding safe conditions and workers fighting for $15 and a union. I invite those involved in workers’ battles to contact me at 306 W. 37th St., 13th Floor, New York, NY 10018; or (212) 244-4899; or [email protected]. We’ll work together to ensure your story is told. — Maggie Trowe

East Coast unionists again protest of Baja California. The region is a major Verizon concession demands producer of Driscoll’s berries in Mex- NEW YORK — Several hundred ico and home to tens of thousands of members of the Communications Work- farmworkers, many indigenous Mixtec ers of America took part in a Stand Up and Triqui people from Oaxaca. These to Verizon rally March 31 in front of the workers initiated strikes and organizing company’s headquarters here protesting efforts beginning in 2013 in Washing- Militant/Sara Lobman ton and Baja California. Thousands of Members of Communications Workers of America rally in front of Verizon building in New concession contract demands. Similar York March 31 against company’s concession demands. Their contract expired last August. actions took place that week in other cit- Mexican workers walked off the job in ies and towns in New York state, New March 2015. Labor Board. “The effects of this illegal to medical benefits for retirees and ac- Jersey, Virginia and elsewhere. Torres and Gracida described harsh blockade are already being felt,” said a tive workers. One of the issues is Verizon’s de- conditions agricultural workers face in company statement. With the lost pro- — Betsy Farley, member of USW mand to be able to send workers up to both countries. Child labor is common. duction of 8,500 to 10,000 metric tons Local 1010 at the ArcelorMittal mill in 90 miles away from their home for 120- Workers in Mexico have been protesting per day, “we run the significant risk of East Chicago, Indiana day stretches multiple times a year, Jim sexual harassment of female workers. losing customers.” Padgett, who has worked for Verizon for During the event two Driscoll’s rep- Workers refused to be intimidated, Union rail workers picket against 27 years, told the Militant. “It’s a disrup- resentatives walked up carrying water organizing mass pickets at the com- unsafe conditions in New Zealand tion of life,” he said. jugs and cups for the protesters. pany gates. Thousands of steelworkers, DUNEDIN, New Zealand — Rail Verizon is also demanding increased “This is a humiliation,” Gracida said, teachers, transport workers, telephone workers scored a victory here when health care contributions, concessions pointing to the need for clean drink- workers and others marched through the Dunedin Railways withdrew a disciplin- on pensions and elimination of accident ing water in the fields and the homes of main streets of Lázaro Cárdenas to the ary warning following a March 8 picket and sickness disability coverage. Union farmworkers. plant March 12 supporting the strikers. of the company. A driver had been dis- members are continuing to work under — Raul Gonzalez “We marched to show we were unit- ciplined after sending a safety report to the old contract, covering 39,000 mem- ed, with support from unions and the the company and the union health and bers of the CWA and the International Steelworkers in Mexico win strike community,” Luis Gonzalo Zaragoza, safety committee after a breakdown in Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in over firings at ArcelorMittal housing secretary for the union, told the radio recordings of track occupancy led nine East Coast states. That pact expired Members of the Mexican Mining Militant in a phone interview March 29. to two crews potentially using a single Aug. 1. and Metal Workers Union walked out “The next day, the company agreed to track at the same time. Informing the Verizon posted over $5 billion in prof- March 4, shutting down production at our demands.” union committee was considered by the its during the fourth quarter of 2015. ArcelorMittal’s steel mill in the Pacific ArcelorMittal has closed or cut back boss as misconduct. — Willie Cotton port of Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexico. Some production at several facilities in Eu- “It’s a rail worker’s worst nightmare 3,500 people work at the plant. They rope and the U.S. to protect profits in to see another train coming towards Farmworkers from Washington, struck over company violations of the the face of increased competition and you,” Brian McKay, secretary of the Mexico tour West Coast together union contract, demanding reinstate- a worldwide glut of steel. Most recent- Otago branch of the Rail and Maritime WATSONVILLE, Calif. — Some ment of more than 200 workers fired at ly the company closed its Point Lisas Transport Union, told the Militant in 80 farmworkers and supporters rallied the coke plant when the company closed plant in the Caribbean island of Trini- an interview March 22. “The potential in front of the corporate headquarters it recently. dad, firing 644 workers the day after is for a serious incident and we thought of berry distributing giant Driscoll’s On March 13, the company backed the union won a wage dispute case in it was important to send the company a March 31. The action, called by the down, agreeing to relocate 125 of the industrial court. message. If we don’t stand up as a union Washington-based Familias Unidas por workers to other jobs in the mill, to pro- More than 13,000 members of the to defend protections we have won, they la Justicia (Families United for Justice), vide severance packages for 81 workers United Steelworkers at the company’s will be eroded away.” is part of a monthlong West Coast tour who took voluntary retirement and to U.S. mills continue working while the Some 30 people took part in the promoting a boycott of the company’s pay the workers for nine days on strike. union negotiates with bosses. The old March 8 picket, including the Dairy berries and building the fight for a union When the strike began ArcelorMit- contract expired Sept. 1. The company Workers Union, Public Service Associa- among berry workers in Mexico and tal said it was illegal because it had not has refused to back down from conces- tion and Nurses Organisation. Washington who work for Driscoll’s been approved by the Mexican Federal sion demands, including significant cuts — Annalucia Vermunt subcontractors. Three farmworkers are on tour — Ramon Torres, president of the Familias 25, 50, AND 75 YEARS AGO union; Lazaro Matamoros, a member of the union who works for Sakuma Broth- ers Farms in Burlington, Washington; and Gloria Gracida, spokesperson for La Alianza farmworker union in the San Quintín Valley in the Mexican state April 19, 1991 April 18, 1966 April 19, 1941 As many as a million Kurds, fleeing The striking grape pickers of Del- One thing about the neutrality pact intense air and surface bombardment ano, Calif., won an important victory that Stalin signed with Japan on April Teamster Politics by the Iraqi military, were made refu- on April 5 when Schenley Industries 13 is as clear as daylight: Stalin, by means of the pact, has dealt a severe by Farrell Dobbs gees the first week of April. Inc. issued a statement recognizing President Saddam Hussein an- the National Farm Workers Associa- blow to the struggle of the Chinese Unionism and nounced April 7 that the rebellion by tion (NFWA) as the representative of people against Japanese imperialism. politics cannot be the Kurdish people had been defeated. the workers in the Schenley vine- Stalin’s mouthpiece in the United separated. Power Facing a fierce onslaught that includ- yards. They agreed that the contract States, the Daily Worker, can shameless- generated at the ed napalm attacks by the Iraqi regime’s negotiations will be held within 30 ly assert that “out of the present Soviet- trade-union level forces, Kurds headed for Turkey and days. Japanese pact the Chinese people will can be shattered by Iran at the end of March and beginning Cesar Chavez, director of the gain.” But the unalterable fact remains government blows. of April. In sub-zero temperatures and NFWA, emphasized the importance that in the midst of a life-and-death Workers must cold rain, the refugees traveled aboard of the victory, pointing out that this struggle on the part of the Chinese peo- enter the political huge trucks, by mule-back, or squatting is the first time in the history of the ple to expel the Japanese invader, Stalin arena as an on blankets on top of a gasoline truck. U.S., outside of Hawaii, that union signs a pact with that same invader. independent class force, with their own party. Thousands without gas for vehicles organization of farm labor has been The Daily Worker does not attempt set out on foot, moving down hillsides recognized. to explain just how the Chinese peo- $19 (special $14 with subscription) in the first stages of a 100-mile trek. The agreement does not terminate ple will gain out of the pact. It makes Also in Spanish One crossing alone on the Iranian bor- the strike, however, for Schenley that mere assertion and wants every- pathfinderpress.com der was said to have a 45-mile-long col- employs only about 500 of the 4,500 body to be satisfied with it. But not umn of refugees. striking agricultural workers. even dupes of Stalin can swallow that.

The Militant April 18, 2016 5 SWP contends in Wisconsin Continued from front page perilous, with a growing bubble on the marked by a splintering of both major stock market, and he sees the country capitalist parties and the emergence headed for a “massive recession.” And of the “outsider” campaigns of Trump he accurately described as “statistically in the Republican Party and Bernie devised” the official 5 percent unem- Sanders in the Democratic. ployment rate. “We’re at a number that’s They draw interest because workers probably into the twenties,” he said. have lived through more than a decade “To those voters furious at politicians of accelerated capitalist crisis, grinding who sent their children to fight and away at jobs, wages, working conditions bleed and die in Iraq,” J.D. Vance wrote and social and political life. The proper- in the April 4 Times, Trump says “the tied rulers, their media and politicians war was a terrible mistake imposed on have no answers other than deepening the country by an incompetent presi- attacks to make working people pay for dent” and “he promises to take care of the crisis of their system. our veterans.” The Socialist Workers Party is run- Combining these views with coarse, ning Kennedy, Osborne Hart for vice anti-immigrant, sometimes thuggish Militant/Glova Scott president, and other candidates across comments, Trump offers himself as a Jacob Perasso, left, Socialist Workers Party candidate for U.S. Senate in New York, talks with warehouse worker Eric Pirrumg, center, and roofer Anthony Ramirez in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, the country, campaigning to win work- strong man for today’s difficult times. April 2. Ramirez, who is considering Trump, got Militant subscription to learn more about SWP. ers to the party, to the perspective of building a revolutionary working-class Anti-working-class slanders to return bourgeois politics to “normal.” bilization of workers in action, like the movement that aims to overthrow capi- Some blame Trump’s support on Whatever the outcome in Wisconsin, civil rights movement and the growth talism and replace it with a workers and what they call the “White Working Trump continues to draw workers’ in- of the CIO union movement in the farmers government. Class’s Dysfunction,” as Kevin Wil- terest. “I’ve never really been interested 1930s,” Sherman told the Militant. “In For months the New York Times, liamson scornfully titled a March 28 in politics, it’s like all the politicians are the course of struggle, workers become Washington Post, New York Daily article in the neo-conservative Na- crooks,” Chuck Choate, a writer, told different people, conscious of the fact News and other big-business papers tional Review. “If you spend time in SWP campaigners at Trump’s meeting capitalism cannot be reformed and con- have declared Trump finished, or hardscrabble, white upstate New York, in West Allis. fident of our capacity to overthrow it.” Sanders too far behind to matter. Ev- or eastern Kentucky, or my own na- “Trump and Sanders are getting sup- “This is what happened in Cuba, ery week their wishes fail to overcome tive West Texas, and you take an hon- port because they sound like they’re where workers and farmers took pow- reality. est look at the welfare dependency, the making radical proposals. They talk er in 1959, an example for us to learn After Trump was invited to address drug and alcohol addiction, the family about the working class, continuing from,” she said. the American Israel Public Affairs anarchy ... you will come to an awful high unemployment and some of the Epstein got a subscription and said to Committee conference March 21, realization,” he wrote. real problems we face,” Kennedy told keep in touch. both the Times and the Post said large “The white American underclass him. “But the Republican and Demo- The Socialist Workers Party will numbers of delegates were organizing is in thrall to a vicious, selfish culture cratic parties are the parties of the capi- continue to take its campaign to work- to boycott or walk out of the session. whose main products are misery and talists and the bosses.” ers in rural areas, small towns and big To the contrary, Trump was greeted used heroin needles. Donald Trump’s Choate signed up for a subscription to cities in states where primaries are with ovations and cheering over 50 speeches make them feel good. So does the Militant. scheduled and all across the country times, especially when he denounced OxyContin,” Williamson said, in a Sanders held a March 31 rally of over explaining class politics and building the Obama administration’s nuclear slander mirroring the contempt for the 15,000 people in the Bronx, New York, the party. deal with Iran. And those in the audi- “redneck” working class expressed by where the primaries are set for April 19. ence were not the working-class “white liberals and the left. There too Socialist Workers Party cam- trash” the press says make up all of the In Wisconsin, Republican Gov. Scott paigners got a good response. billionaire’s support. Walker and his radio talk-show backers When Lea Sherman approached The next day the bourgeois dailies were in the “Never Trump” coalition Martha Epstein, a drug rehabilitation said not a word about the big protest along with public service union lead- counselor, Epstein was skeptical. “Isn’t that wasn’t. They just turned to new ef- ers who have tried and failed to force Bernie socialist enough for you?” she forts to demonize and dismiss Trump’s Walker out of office. They all joined in asked. campaign. calling on people to vote for arch-con- “I answered voting doesn’t make so- While Trump in practice has no servative Texas Republican Ted Cruz, cial change, it comes from the mass mo- course different from his fellow capital- ist candidates, he gets a hearing from workers in part because he points to the crisis they face and claims he will fight SWP candidate backs fight to prosecute Calif. cop for jobs. He told the Washington Post Continued from page 3 the socialist platforms,” Elisa Bigham, 7 primary vote. April 2 that economic conditions are tion to the full extent of the law,” Hart one of the students active in the fight to García pointed to the Familias Unidas said. indict Feaster, wrote to Hart after her por la Justicia protest in Watsonville, Hart explained the SWP’s revolu- class. “Thank you all for your support saying “everyone here should join one tionary, anti-capitalist program and in fight for Justice for Andrew Thomas.” of the actions they are organizing.” She Capitalism’s pointed to the example of Cuba’s work- Eighteen students signed the note. highlighted the importance of the farm- World Disorder ing people and the revolution they made On March 31, Hart and Eleanor García, workers’ fight for “workers control of by Jack Barnes in 1959, overthrowing the U.S.-backed SWP candidate for U.S. Senate from safety and conditions on the job.” dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. “We California, joined 80 farmworkers from “You can see in these struggles peo- The social demand that Washington end its crimi- Washington state and Mexico and their ple are trying to beat back attempts by devastation, nal embargo that punishes the Cuban supporters in a protest in Watsonville at the bosses to make workers pay for their financial panics, people for their revolution and return the headquarters of Driscoll’s, a giant crisis. That’s why even the small battles political turmoil, Guantánamo,” he said. berry distribution company. Familias are important,” García said. “Fights are police brutality and A friend of one student challenged Unidas por la Justicia, the union that where workers learn and where they military assaults Hart. He said as an oil field worker, it sponsored the action, represents farm- open up to new perspectives. It is only accelerating all would be “a slap in my face” if the mini- workers in Washington state fighting through struggle that men and women around us are mum wage was raised to $15. He made for union recognition, a pay raise and see their worth, and this is a perspective not chaos. They $17 an hour until he was laid off, he said, better working conditions. It has also we offer working people and a reason to are the inevitable and workers who hadn’t made the same organized activities in other cities in join the party.” product of capitalism. But the “sacrifices” shouldn’t get paid nearly as California and in Oregon (see On the future capitalism has in store much. He also attacked Cuba’s socialist Picket Line, page 5). Join the Socialist Workers for us is not inevitable. It can revolution. Hart and García both addressed the Party campaign in 2016! A vigorous debate ensued. “Wages crowd, expressing solidarity with the be changed by the timely To get involved, for information, solidarity, courageous action are built from the bottom up,” Hart said, fight. and millions of workers winning an “It’s not who you are against, it’s what or to make a contribution, and united struggle of workers contact SWP units listed on page 8 or: and farmers conscious of their immediate raise to $15 and organizing you are for that matters” was the theme unions would advance the interests of all of Hart and García’s talks at the April SWP 2016 Campaign power to transform the world. working people. 1 Militant Labor Forum in Oakland. 227 W. 29th St., 6th Floor Also in Spanish and French $25. “Thank you all for taking the time to García is on the ballot, listed as an New York, NY 10001 come up and really help inform us on “aerospace factory worker,” in the June (646) 922-8186 pathfinderpress.com [email protected]

6 The Militant April 18, 2016 Why workers should demand US out of Guantánamo!

BY BRIAN WILLIAMS bans. Back them in their demand that “The return of the territory illegally the United States withdraw from Guan- occupied by the U.S. Naval Base in tánamo. Kennedy wants to dictate what Guantánamo” and ending Washing- weapons the Cubans can have because ton’s 55-year-long economic embargo they are ‘threatening’ the United States of Cuba are essential steps Washington from 90 miles away, and he has a mili- must take before there can be normal tary base right on Cuban soil.” relations with Havana, Cuban President Raúl Castro reiterated during President Base used for infamous prison camp Barack Obama’s visit to the Caribbean After revolutionary victories led to island in March. the establishment of workers and farm- Obama incredibly claimed that his ers governments in Grenada and Nica- administration has “removed the shad- ragua in 1979, Washington beefed up its ow of history” from relations between forces stationed at Guantánamo, a threat Washington and Havana. He said not to all these new challenges to imperialist a word about the Guantánamo Naval domination in the Americas. Base — 28,000 acres of land surround- Washington later began using the ing Guantánamo Bay, occupied by the Guantánamo base as a prison camp as U.S. military for more than a century in well. Thousands of Haitian refugees violation of Cuba’s sovereignty. Militant/Jack Arnold were imprisoned there under deplorable It’s useful to look at how the U.S. Socialist Workers Party candidates for public office in New York join “Hands Off Cuba!” conditions in the early 1990s. Fleeing protest during October 1962 “missile crisis,” when Washington threatened nuclear strike. rulers usurped this territory in the first dictatorial rule after the overthrow of place, and why workers in the U.S. unspecified period of time. ple. “The Republic of Cuba repudiates the elected government of Jean Bertrand should insist Washington get out now. The Cuban people repeatedly mobi- and considers as null and illegal those Aristide in their country, many wanted In 1898, as Cuban independence lized to protest the Platt Amendment treaties, pacts or concessions signed to enter the United States. fighters were on the verge of winning and establishment of U.S. military under conditions of inequality or which Cubans who sought to reach the U.S. their 30-year struggle for freedom from bases on Cuban soil over the coming disregard or diminish her sovereignty by boat in 1994, at the height of the eco- Spanish colonial rule, Washington de- years. The U.S. Marines reoccupied and territorial integrity,” said Cuba’s nomic crisis in Cuba provoked by the clared war on Spain, and grabbed the Cuba from 1906 to 1909 and from 1917 constitution adopted in February 1976. collapse in trade with the Soviet Union colonies of Puerto Rico, Guam and the to 1922, with direct U.S. military rule The victory of the socialist revolu- combined with Washington’s embargo, Philippines. The peace treaty signed continuing until 1926. In 1934, the Platt tion in Cuba, the first in the Western were also detained by the U.S. military in Paris in December 1898 — with no Amendment was replaced with a new Hemisphere, made Washington more at Guantánamo. Cuban representative present — said, treaty obligating Cuba to lease Guantá- determined to hold onto the Guantána- Beginning in January 2002 the in- “Spain relinquishes all claim of sover- namo to Washington indefinitely, unless mo base. The U.S. rulers used it to train famous Camp X-Ray was set up at the eignty over and title to Cuba. ... The Is- both parties agreed otherwise. To this counterrevolutionary bandits and carry base for prisoners captured in Afghani- land is, upon its evacuation by Spain, to day, the U.S. government sends a yearly out provocations, including killing some stan and elsewhere, incarcerated with- be occupied by the U.S.” “rent check” of $4,085, which the Cuban Cuban soldiers and starting fires across out charges or trial as part of Washing- A 45,000-strong U.S. military force government refuses to cash. the boundary line inside Cuba. ton’s “war on terror.” Some 780 alleged stayed until May 1902. By that time a “We have followed an extremely “enemy combatants” have been sent to regime subservient to Washington had Staging ground for U.S. imperialism careful policy with respect to the na- Guantánamo since then, facing torture been installed and an amendment to Washington used the base over the val base,” Fidel Castro told the Cuban and dehumanizing conditions. Obama the country’s new constitution — initi- years as a staging ground to defend U.S. people in a televised speech on April 23, took office seven years ago saying he ated by U.S. Sen. Orville Platt — was imperialist interests in the region. The 1961, four days after the Cuban victory would close the prison, but 91 people are imposed upon the Cuban people. The U.S. military’s 1915-1934 occupation of over the U.S.-organized mercenary in- still imprisoned there. amendment obligated the Cuban gov- Haiti and its 1926-1933 occupation of vasion at the Bay of Pigs. “We declared “Cubans are outraged that something ernment to ratify everything done by Nicaragua were launched from Guan- we would never try to take Caimanera so terrible — something so horrible I the military occupation and gave Wash- tánamo. [port at Guantánamo Bay] by force. ... can’t put a name on it — is being done ington the right to intervene in Cuba’s With the victory of Cuban workers Our aim was to not provide them even in our territory. Think about those hu- internal affairs whenever it deemed it and farmers in overthrowing the U.S.- the slightest pretext to carry out a direct man beings who’ve been imprisoned necessary and the right to buy or lease backed dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista attack against our country.” there year after year, without even a tri- Cuban land for military bases. in January 1959, the revolutionary gov- The Cuban leadership pressed again al,” said Antonio Guerrero, in the book The puppet government in Havana ernment led by Fidel Castro from day for the return of Guantánamo in Octo- The Cuban Five Talk About Their Lives agreed in February 1903 to “lease” one demanded that the U.S.-occupied ber 1962, after U.S. President John F. Within the U.S. Working Class: “It’s the Guantánamo Bay to Washington for an territory be returned to the Cuban peo- Kennedy pushed the world to the edge Poor Who Face the Savagery of the US of nuclear war over the presence of mis- ‘Justice’ System.” Guerrero was one of siles from the Soviet Union in Cuba. five Cuban revolutionaries incarcerated Gerardo Hernández speaks in Canada: Speaking in New York on Nov. 9 of in U.S. prisons for more than 16 years on that year, Farrell Dobbs, national sec- frame-up charges until being released to retary of the Socialist Workers Party, Cuba in December 2014. “Guantánamo ‘We’ll keep building our socialist society’ insisted, “It is our duty to defend from is — the most unjust link in the chain of BY ROSEMARY RAY talism before the 1959 revolution look within this country the rights of the Cu- imperial ‘justice,’” he said. TORONTO — Gerardo Hernández, like a paradise of sea and beaches,” one of the Cuban Five, began a cross- Hernández said. “This is not true. It was Canada tour here, speaking to more a system that killed and tortured its own than 200 people at the Steelworkers hall people.” Learn about the Cuban Revolution April 3. He spoke in Montreal April 6 “Do you remember when the impe- Puyallup, Washington Washington, D.C. and goes next to Ottawa and Vancouver. rialists said they would never negotiate “I Will Die the Way I’ve Lived” “Through Cuban Eyes”: “Ideas from abroad try to make capi- with Cuba while the Castros were still Exhibit of paintings of Antonio An Opportunity to Learn What’s in power?” Hernández said when asked Guerrero of the Cuban Five Really Happening in Cuba about President Barack Obama’s recent April 11-29 Speaker: Cuban Ambassador visit. “Cuba hasn’t renounced one single Pierce College José Ramón Cabañas 1601 39th Ave. SE principle in the negotiations. This is a Fri., April 22, 7 to 9 p.m. huge victory for our leaders and people. Arts and Allied Health Building Univ. of the District of Columbia, We don’t deny there are dangers but we Fine Arts Gallery Opening celebration David A. Clarke School of Law, Cubans aren’t naïve. We don’t forget his- 4340 Connecticut Ave. NW, 5th Fl. tory. We will continue to fight to build Tues., April 12, 4 to 6 p.m. Arts and Allied Health Building Sponsor: Int’l Committee for Peace, our socialist society.” Justice and Dignity to the Peoples. Theater Representatives of the Canadian-Cu- TheInternationalCommittee.org ban Friendship Association and Friends Cross-Canada tour of Gerardo Hernández of Cuban 5 of Cuba against the U.S. Blockade invit- ed everyone to demonstrate April 16 at Ottawa Vancouver Tues., April 12 2 p.m. at the U.S. Consulate in Toronto Sat., April 9 Militant/Rosemary Ray 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Art exhibit, 6 p.m.; Speakers, 7 p.m. Gerardo Hernández, one of five Cuban rev- demanding the U.S. end the embargo of Vancouver Public Library olutionaries framed up and imprisoned in Cuba and close the U.S. naval base and Cuban Embassy, 388 Main St. 350 W. Georgia St. U.S. for 16 years until Dec. 2014, in Toronto. prison in Guantánamo. [email protected] www.vancouversolidarity.com

The Militant April 18, 2016 7 How Cuban youth fought to end US-backed tyranny Aldabonazo, Inside the Cuban Revo- denunciation is being confirmed as lutionary Underground, 1952-58 by we write these lines. This very morn- Armando Hart is one of Pathfinder’s ing, June 26, we heard on the radio that Books of the Month for April. Hart was Batista has signed a decree with new and a founding member of the July 26 Move- more humiliating concessions of Cuban ment, which led the successful revolu- subsoil to U.S. companies, in perpetuity tionary struggle to overthrow the U.S.- no less. We have never seen such great backed tyranny of Fulgencio Batista in monstrosities done to the economy of a Cuba. Excerpted here is a document nation. Undoubtedly these latest conces- written in June 1958 by Raúl Castro, sions come in exchange for the military commander of the Rebel Army’s Second aid the U.S. government is giving Ba- Front in eastern Cuba, titled, “To Cu- tista at this precise and terrible moment. ban Youth, To All Latin American Youth, As irrefutable proof of these charges, To the Youth of the World.” It was cir- we point out the following facts: Colo- culated clandestinely among members nel Tabernilla Palmero, chief of the dic- of the July 26 Movement, including in tatorship’s air force and responsible for the Principe Castle prison, where Hart the merciless bombings of the cities of was incarcerated. Copyright © 2004 by Cienfuegos and Sagua la Grande, was Pathfinder Press. Reprinted by permis- decorated by Major General Truman sion. Cuban Council of State Office of Historical Affairs H. Landon, chief of staff of the U.S. Raúl Castro speaks to a meeting of peasants in eastern Cuba, September 1958, to win support for Rebel Army and program for distributing land, shortly before Jan. 1 revolutionary victory. Air Command of the Caribbean, on the express orders and on behalf of Presi- BOOKS OF criminals and murderers that any nation leader of the Cuban students. The sugar dent Eisenhower himself. This event has ever suffered. We will never aban- workers shook the country with tremen- was recorded in photographs by several THE MONTH don the fight, no matter how unequal it dous strikes for the conquest of their just newspapers of our country. At the end of might be. demands and the defense of violated May, officers of our Department of Reb- BY RAÚL CASTRO On March 10, 1952, eighty days be- liberties, facing the regime’s repressive el Intelligence informed us that through- From the rebel mountains of this east- fore general elections in which the apparatus and the gangster machinery out the month, the enemy air force had ern province — Free Territory of Cuba people were to freely choose their rul- of the officialdom imposed on the trade been supplied by bombs of all types at — on behalf of youth who, sacrificing ers, Mr. Fulgencio Batista assumed unions. New losses are being added to the Caimanera U.S. naval base [at Guan- everything, have promised to win or die military control of the country through the already long list of combatants of the tánamo Bay]. … rather than live under such ignominious a coup d’état. With a stroke of the pen Cuban proletariat If you maintain an indifferent silence, oppression at a decisive moment of our he swept away all democratic institu- At the end of 1956, after several years you will become accomplices of those history, we issue this urgent call to all tions, assumed control in an autocratic of preparation, the insurrection broke who today murder us and tomorrow will young people in the world to unite their way, and imposed the darkest despo- out in the countryside and the cities un- murder you. It does not matter if you are efforts with ours, so as to help save the tism on the people. The leaders of the der the leadership of Fidel Castro and North American, Soviet, Chinese, or youth of a brother people from destruc- traditional political parties betrayed the Frank País, an insurrection that contin- Venezuelan; we are all brothers. Across tion and extermination. We call on them people and abandoned them to their fate, ues and grows today. In mid-1957 the borders, languages, political or religious to help a defenseless people that is being taking refuge in their comfortable posi- murder of Frank País in the streets of beliefs, we all belong to the great fam- cruelly subjugated by the worst gang of tions to await better times, in order to Santiago de Cuba produced the most ily of the world’s youth. We confront reappear with the stupid ambitions that formidable explosion of popular indig- the same problems, suffer the same have always helped characterize them nation ever witnessed in our country, consequences, and live under the same April BOOKS as vultures over a battlefield. In this situ- and the general strike caused by his pre- threats. In face of that, arm in arm, with OF THE MONTH ation, Batista prepared phony one-man mature death at twenty-three years of a firm footing and our heads held high, elections, electing himself president to- age was drowned in blood. . . . let us all sing the same hymn of hope. PATHFINDER gether with a housebroken congress. Batista has handed over great wealth Let us aspire to and fight for peace and

READERS CLUB 25% Meanwhile, a people who suffer to U.S. interests, but the Yankees want future happiness. And let us conquer the DISCOUNT SPECIALS want to fight. It was then that Cuban more, and to obtain it they are employ- common good for the well-being of all. Aldabonazo youth decided to take the reins of the ing the tactic of a diplomatic shift. Now Finally, [José] Martí, whose road we Inside the Cuban Revolutionary resistance. Students, workers, peasants, they are naming as ambassador Mr. follow, told us something that is part of Underground 1952-58 and professionals prepared to fight. On [Earl] Smith, who pretends to pester Ba- the body of ideas we put forward on be- by Armando Hart July 26, 1953, a youth ready to conquer tista and support the revolutionary op- half of Cuban youth who await your de- Firsthand account by a historic its own destiny waged a frontal attack position. The goal was clear, and within termined support: “Every American of leader of the Cuban Revolution on the second most important fortress a few days bore fruit: Batista, fearful Our America is a Cuban. In Cuba we do of the fight against the brutal in the country. When the attack failed, of losing Yankee support, delivered not fight only for human freedom, nor U.S.-backed tyranny. $25. Special price: $18.75 a hundred young people paid with their scandalous concessions: the Moa co- for a well-being that is impossible under lives for their brave act of rebellion af- balt mines, located in the territory of a government of conquest and bribes, The Origins ter suffering horrendous tortures. The this Second Front; new concessions to nor for the exclusive well-being of a re- of Materialism students, on a struggle footing from the the Telephone Company, to the Elec- vered island that inspires and strength- by George Novack very first moment, saw their ranks di- tric Company, to the oil companies, to ens us with its simple name. In Cuba we $24. Special price: $18 minished with the fall of new martyrs, the King Ranch cattle farm, and so on. fight to assure, with our independence, The History of American including José Antonio Echeverría, the We are so sure of what we say that our the independence of Latin America.” Trotskyism, 1928-1938 Report of a Participant by James P. Cannon IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP $22. Special price: $16.50 Where to find distributors of the NEBRASKA: Lincoln: Tel: (402) 217- CANADA John Coltrane and the Jazz Militant, New International, and a full 4906. Email: [email protected]. 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8 The Militant April 18, 2016 SWP CAMPAIGN STATEMENT April 14 actions Continued from front page tions, the demand for $15 and a union was raised in For $15 an hour and a union! initial actions by fast-food workers in New York in No- The following statement was released March 31 by state budget deficit, the wage increase will be stopped. vember 2012. What was dismissed by bosses and their Eleanor García, Socialist Workers Party candidate That’s guaranteed. media as a pipe dream began to be seen as necessary for U.S. Senate in California. Workers create all the wealth. The capitalists always and possible by millions of workers who can’t make strive to drive down the cost of labor to increase their ends meet on the $7.25 federal minimum wage. The I will use my campaign as the Socialist Workers profit rates at our expense. That is why workers and demand spread to airport, home health care and retail Party candidate for U.S. Senate to continue to orga- bosses are in constant conflict over which will rise, workers. Tens of thousands joined the cross-country nize and fight along with others for an immediate and wages or profits. protests last April 15 and another national mobiliza- substantial raise in the minimum wage and for union- I have walked the picket line of striking Kaiser tion took place Nov. 10. ization for all. nurses in Los Angeles fighting for a contract and have The fight for $15 and a union has drawn thousands joined the picket of warehouse workers at California ‘Friends of labor’ seek to derail fight of workers into street mobilizations and has the sup- Cartage fighting for their rights and dignity on the job. As the struggle gained support, savvy politicians port of millions more. This fight has won concessions. But our labor unions have shrunk in size and power. defending bosses’ interests began to posture as sup- The legislative action on the minimum wage by Gov. Union officials have refused to mobilize us to fight, porters of the Fight for $15, promoting legislation to Edmund Brown Jr. is aimed at heading off the inde- instead telling us our only hope is to elect a Democrat raise the minimum wage, but on a slow track over pendent mobilizations of working people and drawing or Republican. But tying our fate to the bosses’ parties years and with loopholes. us into voting for one candidate or another of the rul- is the opposite of what we need. As the 2016 elections approach the pressure has in- ing rich. We need to organize the unorganized and rebuild creased to tie the fight to support to so-called friends Working people welcome any raise in the minimum the unions, organizations that can unite and defend the of labor like New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Califor- wage, but Governor Brown’s bill would not reach $15 working class. We need our own party, a labor party, nia Gov. Jerry Brown and presidential candidates Hill- until 2022. Sixty million workers in the U.S., 42 per- based on the unions that will break with the capitalist ary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, downplaying union- cent of all workers, earn less than $15 an hour. We parties and rely on our solidarity, power and mobiliza- ization and focusing on winning legislation. This is an need relief today from the effects of a slow-burning tion of workers. approach supported by the labor union officialdom. depression that means stagnant wages, the crushing This would be a step toward overturning the dic- Brown signed a bill April 4 provisionally setting cost of living and persistent unemployment. The gov- tatorship of capital that we live under today. A step $15 as the state minimum wage six years from now, ernor says that the bill “takes into account the vagaries on the road to replacing the bosses’ government with at firms employing more than 25 people. The increase of the capitalistic economy,” by stating that if unem- a government of workers and farmers, like working starts next year with a measly 50 cents. Worse, the law ployment goes up, the economy slows, or there is a people have done in Cuba. has “off-ramp provisions,” giving the governor power to halt increases in the likely scenario of a decline in jobs or retail sales or a deficit state budget. That same day, Cuomo signed a law increasing the minimum wage in New York City to $15 by the end of Cop account of killing of Jamar Clark ‘not true’ 2018 at businesses with more than 10 employees, and BY KEVIN DWIRE that Clark tried to get in, although that is not visible in a year later for smaller establishments. In nearby Long AND JACQUIE HENDERSON the videos. Island and Westchester County, the $15 wage will go MINNEAPOLIS — Hundreds of people took to the When Hennepin County Emergency Medical Ser- into effect at the end of 2021. In the rest of the state the streets here March 30 to protest the refusal of Henne- vices Deputy Chief Michael Trullinger arrives, Clark hourly minimum rises only to $12.50, and not until the pin County Attorney Mike Freeman to charge police can be seen backing away from the ambulance. In its end of 2020. The 10 poorest communities in the state officers Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze for description of the video the Minneapolis Star Tribune are in upstate New York, according to a December the Nov. 15 shooting of Jamar Clark, 24, who died the notes that “Trullinger displays no overt emotional 2015 study by the American Community Survey. next day. response during his interaction with Clark, and later Cuomo’s law has a “safety valve” like its Califor- Two marches converged on the Government Center, walks out of the frame.” nia counterpart. Beginning in 2019 state officials will one that began where Clark was killed, organized by According to Freeman, when Ringgenberg and conduct “an annual analysis of the economy in each the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, and the Schwarze arrive they each grab one of Clark’s wrists region ... to determine whether a temporary suspen- other called by Black Lives Matter. and tried to handcuff him and that in the “ensuing sion of the scheduled increases is necessary,” the gov- Clark’s sister Danielle Burns told the Militant, “We struggle ... Ringgenberg landed on his side on top of ernor’s press release states. want people to know that we are not OK with this.” Clark, who was on his back.” The cops claim that Two weeks before the New York state primary elec- “We’re Black, we’re Latinos, we’re white, we’re Clark reached for Ringgenberg’s gun and that Schwar- tion, Cuomo, after signing the law, held a rally with Asians,” Mel Reeves, an organizer for Twin Cities ze put his gun to Clark’s head. When Clark refused to Hillary Clinton. She had previously called for raising Coalition for Justice 4 Jamar, told the crowd. “We’ve let go, Schwarze shot him point blank. None of this is the minimum wage to $12 an hour. united to fight for Jamar and we can win.” caught on tape. “The officers are supposed to protect and serve. Ev- Clark said, “I’m ready to die,” the cops claim. “The Unionization is key erybody’s life matters,” James Clark, father of Jamar, only people who heard what Jamar said were the two Workers by the millions employed at McDonald’s told another rally April 1. officers and Mr. Clark,” Freeman said. “And he is and Walmart, baggage handlers and cleaners at air- In announcing his decision Freeman released for not here.” In a video immediately after the shooting ports, home health attendants, farmworkers and others the first time dozens of videos on the events that day. a woman can be heard shouting, “He didn’t have to have shown they want to fight together to raise wages None show clearly the shooting of Jamar Clark. do that.” and improve conditions on the job. Organizing unions, Freeman said the confrontation began after Clark While some eyewitnesses said that Clark was hand- not counting on politicians who represent the wealthy assaulted RayAnn Hayes. She has given varying ac- cuffed when he was shot, that does not appear to be employers, is the only way to do this. counts of what happened that night but told the press, the case. It takes organized, collective union action to fight “I never said anything about domestic violence.” Teto Wilson, who said he saw the shooting, said for increases in wages, to win full-time hours for those The transcript of the initial call to 911 requesting Clark “was thoroughly pinned down” and the cop ac- who seek them and regular schedules posted well in an ambulance makes no mention of Clark or any do- count is “just not true.” advance, to prevent retaliatory firings of militant mestic dispute. “There was an altercation downstairs “Your entire narrative today was to push the pro- workers, to insist on safe work conditions, and to fight in the building and I tried to break it up and in the paganda of the Minneapolis Police Department,” said race and sex discrimination. process of it I think my leg’s sprained,” a caller who Minneapolis NAACP spokesperson Raeisha Wil- “We’re on strike today for wages and health ben- identified herself as RayAnn said. liams. “You, Mr. Freeman, did not give a fair and ac- efits,” airport contract worker Sadaf Subijano, one of After Hayes was in the ambulance, Freeman said curate portrayal.” the organizers of a March 31 rally of 250 workers at O’Hare airport in Chicago, told the Militant. “We have no health benefits, no sick days either. We work out- LETTERS doors in all kind of weather.” Cuba’s historic achievement limited Internet access, old build- peddles on the world market. “I came out to support the airport workers because President Barack Obama’s visit to ing stock and other aspects of Cu- Greg McCartan our struggle is the same,” said Tyree Johnson, a 24- revolutionary Cuba has engendered ban society. What they willfully Oslo, Norway year McDonald’s worker. “Some people are afraid to countless news articles in the bour- ignore is that the vast majority of stand up, but we’ll never achieve anything if we don’t.” geois media about how “backwards” humanity is living through the dev- Keep sending the ‘Militant’ Cuba is, pointing to old automobiles, astating effects of a social system Since my transfer out of SHU [Se- Betsey Stone in Oakland, California, and Betsy Farley that was long ago outmoded and curity Housing Unit] I have not re- in Chicago contributed to this article. The letters column is an open broken down: world capitalism. ceived any recent issues of the Mili- forum for all viewpoints on sub- The Cuban people’s heroic tant. I request to be re-added to your ‘Militant’ Prisoners’ Fund jects of interest to working peo- revolution and socialist transfor- subscription list. Your paper keeps The Prisoners’ Fund makes it possible to send prison- ple. Please keep your letters brief. mation of human relations is, as myself and those around me abreast ers reduced rate subscriptions. To donate, send a check Where necessary they will be Cuban leaders point out, a historic on current events and issues from a or money order payable to the Militant and earmarked abridged. Please indicate if you achievement that far outstrips any progressive perspective. “Prisoners’ Fund” to 306 W. 37th St., 13th Floor, New prefer that your initials be used product that Silicon Valley, Gen- A prisoner York, NY 10018. rather than your full name. eral Motors or Lockheed-Martin California

The Militant April 18, 2016 9