Working People at Center of Fight for Ukraine Sovereignty
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AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.00 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 HAVANA BOOK FAIR: ‘History of class struggle in US vital for revolutionaries worldwide’ — PAGE 9 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE Vol. 78/no. 12 March 31, 2014 Paper brings Truck drivers Working people at center of working-class in Canada fight for Ukraine sovereignty politics to shut down Militant’s on-the-scene report from Kiev new readers major port BY EMMA JOHNSON BY DAN GRANT Supporters of the Militant are sell- AND STEVE PENNER ing subscriptions to the socialist press VANCOUVER, British Columbia along with books on revolutionary — A strike here by some 1,600 union politics as they talk with working peo- and nonunion truckers has brought ple about developments in the class “Canada’s largest port” to “its knees,” struggle worldwide and the road for- said British Columbia Transportation ward in face of a deepening crisis of Minister Todd Stone, who called on capitalism. At the center of these ef- the federal government to intervene. forts, socialist workers are encourag- Truckers at Port Metro Vancouver, ing others to join the campaign to free which ships more than $170 billion the Cuban Five and support toilers of worth of goods each year, are fight- Ukraine demanding Russian troops ing for higher wages and against long out of their country. hours and unpaid time waiting to pick Militant photos: Above, John Studer; Inset, Dag Tirsén Socialist workers Dave Ferguson up or unload containers. Above, Trade union headquarters at Maidan and Susan LaMont from Atlanta vis- On Feb. 26 about 1,200 nonunion burned out by police during February actions. ited workers on the picket line at Kel- truckers, part of the United Truckers Unions opened it for organization of self-defense logg Company’s cereal plant in Mem- Association, a nonprofit organiza- forces, hospital services and food distribution. phis, Tenn., March 14-15. The 220 tion, went on strike. They were joined Circles of red paint on building each symbol- ize someone killed in fight to oust government members of Bakery, Confectionery, March 10 by 400 unionized truckers, of President Viktor Yanukovych. At right is tent Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers organized by Unifor-Vancouver Con- for protesters from Donetsk region. Inset, In- International Union Local 252G have tainer Truckers’ Association. side Donetsk tent. From left, Demitri Antolia- been locked out since Oct. 22. Fer- Angry at waiting times that can run vych, miner Sasha Antoliavych and Oksana De- guson and LaMont also attended the up to four hours or longer to offload mynovych, part of Militant reporting team. March 15 “Unity in the Community” containers at Port Metro Vancou- BY JOHN STUDER the pro-Moscow government of Presi- support meeting for the workers. ver docks, the 400 unionized drivers KIEV, Ukraine — “We are among dent Victor Yanukovych. Continued on page 3 Continued on page 7 the workers who have come to Maid- “While we watch Russia,” Antolia- an recently,” said Sasha Antoliavych, vych said, “we also watch the politi- a former miner from the Donetsk London event brings together region bordering Russia in eastern MOSCOW SEIZES CRIMEA Ukraine March 17, the day after Mos- cow stepped up its moves to annex the AFTER SHAM REFERENDUM forces fighting to free Cuban 5 Crimea following a sham referendum. —See article on page 10 “We plan to stay here to help organize to defend our country from Russia.” cians of the new government. Most Antoliavych is one of thousands of them are not much different from from across Ukraine who remain en- those who fled.” camped in the Maidan — Indepen- A team of Militant correspondents dence Square — after overthrowing Continued on page 10 Turkey: Death of 15-year-old sparks new round of protests BY EMMA JOHNSON tion of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Anti-government demonstrations Erdogan. have erupted again in Turkey. They The most recent protests were Militant/Jonathan Silberman are the largest since a week of rallies sparked March 11 by the death of International Commission of Inquiry into the Case of the Cuban Five in London presented com- and other actions swept the country 15-year-old Berkin Elvan, who had prehensive summary of frame-up of Five and international fight for their freedom. From left, last summer demanding the resigna- Continued on page 5 Irma González, daughter of René González, one of Five; author Alice Walker; Diana Holland, assistant general secretary of UNITE union; Mirta Rodríguez, mother of Antonio Guerrero, one of Five; and Kenia Serrano, president of Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples. Capitalist neglect BY CAROLINE BEllAMY Cuba was former National Assembly Also Inside LONDON — An International President Ricardo Alarcón. Commission of Inquiry into the Case Arrested in 1998, Gerardo Hernán- in NYC kills 8, Melba Hernández: Leader of the Cuban Five drew more than 250 dez, Ramón Labañino, Antonio Guer- of Cuban Revolution 2 Cuba solidarity activists, trade union- rero, Fernando González and René injures dozens ists and others from 27 countries to González, known as the Cuban Five, BY EMMA JOHNSON Russian Revolution fought London’s Law Society March 7-8. Or- are Cuban revolutionaries who were NEW YORK — Capitalism in de- old attitudes toward women 6 ganized by the international coalition jailed in the U.S. on trumped-up cline breeds apathy toward public in- Voices for the Five and hosted by the charges that ranged from failure to frastructure and magnifies the rulers’ Quebec gov’t probe targets Cuba Solidarity Campaign, the com- register as foreign agents to conspir- disregard for the lives of working peo- construction workers union 7 mission brought together legal profes- acy to gather and transmit national ple. This was brought home March 12 sionals, family members and others defense information and, in the case in the working-class neighborhood GM bosses’ refusal to fix at the forefront of the 15-year defense of Gerardo Hernández, conspiracy of East Harlem when a leak in a gas known defects kills 100s 8 effort. Among the participants from Continued on page 4 Continued on page 8 Melba Hernández: Combatant and leader of Cuban Revolution BY seth GalinskY leader Eduardo Chibás committed sui- From the very beginning the Cuban cide to protest government corruption. Arias CubaDebate/Constantino Revolution has had more leaders who After Batista seized power in a coup are women than any other socialist revo- in 1952, Hernández went to a demon- lution. Melba Hernández, one of those stration at the grave of Carlos Rodrí- women, died March 9 at the age of 92. guez, a worker killed by Batista’s thugs, She was among the initial leaders of where she first met Abel Santamaría. He the movement led by Fidel Castro that introduced her to Fidel Castro in May brought workers and farmers to power that year. in Cuba and one of two women who Before long Hernández and Haydée Above, Melba Hernández, left, and took part in the July 26, 1953, assault on Santamaría, Abel’s sister, were taking Haydée Santamaría leaving prison, Feb. 20, 1954. Both served time after July 26, the Moncada army garrison in Santiago. on major responsibilities in the revolu- 1953, assault on Moncada barracks. Inset, That action, while failing in its imme- tionary movement headed by Castro. Hernández, left, with Nguyen Thi Dinh, diate objective, was a decisive turning “We were the people of confidence deputy commander during Vietnam War point and clarion call to revolutionary for the most sensitive, most dangerous of Southern Liberation Armed Forces, and struggle against the U.S.-backed dicta- tasks,” Hernández said in a 2003 inter- Vilma Espín, in Havana, 1974. Hernández headed Cuban Committee in Solidarity torship of Fulgencio Batista. view by Susana Lee published in Cuba’s Federation of Cuban Women with Vietnam during Vietnam War. Hernández was a founding member Granma newspaper. of the July 26 Movement led by Castro The two women pressed to be among were released, Castro assigned them to a few were clamoring to fight arms in and a combatant in the 1956-58 revo- the 160 combatants in the July 26, 1953, organize the provisional leadership of hand. In October 1957 he appointed Ce- lutionary war, which culminated in a assaults on the Moncada barracks in the movement. They edited and orga- lia Sánchez, the first woman combatant popular insurrection that overthrew the Santiago and garrison in Bayamo. Cas- nized distribution of tens of thousands in the Rebel Army, to its general com- Batista tyranny on Jan. 1, 1959. She was tro approved and backed their request. of copies of Castro’s speech to the court, mand. In September 1958, Castro con- a founding member of the Communist “I protested to Fidel that we were as “History Will Absolve Me,” which be- vinced the Rebel Army command to set Party of Cuba in 1965 and a member of revolutionary as anyone there and that it came the program of the revolutionary up the all-woman Mariana Grajales pla- its Central Committee from 1986 until was unjust to discriminate against us for movement and organizing tool in the toon, trained under his direction. her death. She took on various diplo- being women,” she recalled in an inter- campaign to free the revolutionaries. “How can we give rifles to women matic and other responsibilities in the view published in Granma in 1998. In face of growing support for their when there are so many men who are workers and farmers government that The bold assault failed to take the release, Castro and others were freed unarmed?” asked some of the men.