AUSTRALIA $1.50 · CANADA $1.50 · FRANCE 1.00 EURO · NEW ZEALAND $1.50 · UK £.50 · U.S. $1.00 INSIDE Introduction to ‘Are they rich because they’re smart?’ — PAGES 6-7 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 80/NO. 24 JUNE 20, 2016 ‘We’re fed up with two-tier SWP: Capitalism wastes pay,’ say aerospace workers BY MARY MARTIN newer workers and end a two-tier human ability, potential SPOKANE, Washington — Union wage scale imposed by the company members at Triumph Composite Sys- three years ago. They are also oppos- Tenn. worker: ‘We sure need something different!’ tems walked out at the former Boeing ing the company’s proposal to remove BY MAGGIE TROWE plant here May 11, after voting 93 per- the cap on workers’ insurance costs. MEMPHIS, Tenn. cent in favor of striking. The plant produces components for — Campaigners for the The 400 members of International Boeing aircraft interiors. Socialist Workers Party Association of Machinists Local 86 Picketing June 4, machinist Dwight talked with unionists at are fighting to restore pensions for Continued on page 8 the 7 a.m. shift change at the Kellogg’s plant here June 6, where members of the Bakery, Confec- tionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers union fought a nine-month lockout in 2013-14. Some remembered that SWP members walked the picket lines and covered the fight in . “We’re a little more unionized and a little stronger,” said Steve Bo- swell when he pulled his car over to talk. “But Militant/Maggie Trowe we’re still fighting for our John Benson, left, talks with Robin Long while campaigning back pay and benefits.” for Socialist Workers Party in Memphis, Tennessee, June 4. “Kellogg’s thought we’d be forced to accept concessions,” totaling $12. said maintenance worker Todd Par- This response is common, as the nell. “The workforce here is half Cau- Socialist Workers Party campaigns casian and half African American, across the country, from here and Militant/Mary Martin and the bosses thought we wouldn’t to Washington state, dis- International Association of Machinists members picket Triumph Composite in Spokane, be able to unify. But we came togeth- cussing and debating the way forward Washington, June 5, demanding end to two-tier wages and pensions imposed in 2013. er. Things are different than they used for working people with workers on to be.” their doorsteps, as well as at picket Parnell subscribed to the Militant, lines and at factory gates. seven workers bought single copies of Teams campaigned here and in Cuban leader at NY conference: End the paper and two made contributions Continued on page 3 US embargo, return Guantánamo! US, Tehran-led Fallujah offensive BY MARTÍN KOPPEL general for U.S. affairs. NEW YORK — The restoration of She was speaking together with diplomatic relations between the U.S. José Ramón Cabañas, Cuban ambas- adds to sectarian conflict in Iraq and Cuban governments was a vic- sador to the U.S., and Jeffrey DeLau- BY MARK THOMPSON on Fallujah, 32 miles west of Bagh- tory won thanks to the steadfastness rentis, U.S. chargé d’affaires in Ha- Military offensives by the Iraqi and dad. All towns and villages on the of ’s revolutionary leadership vana, at a featured workshop during Syrian governments and by Kurdish city outskirts were reported captured “and the resistance and dignity of the this year’s conference of the Latin forces were underway in early June by the end of May. Fallujah, with a Cuban people,” said Josefina Vidal, American Studies Association. Their to capture cities controlled by Islamic predominantly Sunni Muslim popula- the Cuban foreign ministry’s director counterposed remarks underscored State. The government of Syrian dic- tion, was taken by reactionary Islamic Washington’s continuing efforts to tator Bashar al-Assad has backing State forces in January 2014. undermine Cuba’s socialist revolu- from Moscow in the air and Tehran There are up to 1,000 Islamic State After years of tion, as well as the Cuban leadership’s on the ground. Washington is aiding Continued on page 9 determination to defend it. Iraqi and Kurdish forces with air- protests, Chicago More than 6,000 professors, gradu- strikes and some ground forces. The ate students, publishers, writers and Iranian government backs Shia mili- cop who killed others attended some portion of the tias in Iraq. Inside conference, held here May 27-30, Washington has collaborated with Editorial: The political war which featured some 1,400 panel dis- Moscow and Tehran to try to stabilize on the working class 9 Rekia Boyd quits cussions and other events. The large the Mideast in its imperialist interests. BY JOHN HAWKINS majority were from the United States, Deeper dependence on the Iranian Books about working-class CHICAGO — Following a year of Canada and Latin America, along rulers’ involvement was a central goal politics do well at Tehran fair 2 monthly protests at the Chicago Police with others from Europe and Asia. of the “nuclear” agreement President Board demanding the firing of Dante A notable feature this year was the Barack Obama reached with Tehran ‘Release report’ on cop Servin, the cop resigned May 17, two largest participation from Cuba ever. last year. One result is fraying of the killing of Idaho rancher 8 days before a hearing to consider According to leaders of the delega- U.S. rulers’ longstanding alliances dismissing him. Servin is the police tion, 260 Cubans were granted visas with the governments in Saudi Arabia –On the picket line, p. 5– detective who shot and killed 22-year- to attend, while 50 were denied by the and Turkey. At the same time, nation- Aerospace strikers stand firm U.S. State Department. al and sectarian tensions continue to old Rekia Boyd in March 2012. against union busting in Quebec “It’s a start,” Martinez Sutton, Several dozen panels took up Cuba- sharpen throughout the region. Boyd’s brother, told the Militant. related topics, including U.S.-Cuba Iraqi government soldiers and Shi- L.A. port truckers, warehouse “Servin is no longer on the force and relations since December 17, 2014, ite Muslim militias, backed by U.S. workers strike, connect fights Continued on page 4 Continued on page 4 air strikes, began an assault May 23 Books about working-class politics do well at Tehran fair BY PETE CLIFFORD decades-long imperialist economic AND CATHARINA TIRSÉN and financial sanctions squeezing the TEHRAN, Iran — “Your books are people of this country. different. They’re engaging and make Visitors came to the book fair me think,” said a visitor to the Pathfinder from all corners of Iran. A student stand at the 29th Tehran International from Mashhad, near the border with Book Fair held May 4-14. The young Afghanistan, traveled some 600 man, from Yazd in central Iran, said he miles by train. He was interviewed returns to the stand each year to get new by Al Jazeera’s Newshour program books. after purchasing a copy of Problems Books from Pathfinder Press, which of Women’s Liberation by Evelyn publishes titles by communist and other Reed at the Pathfinder stand. Asked working-class leaders around the world, by the correspondent why he picked MEHR Newsagency/Hossein Esmaeili have been displayed here since 1992. that title, he replied, “All human be- Hundreds of thousands from across Iran visited 29th Tehran International Book Fair, held May 4-14. The big majority of the more than 200 ings are born equal.” He returned the people who left the booth with books in next day and bought Malcolm X, Black seller. “We want to find out how they Farsi-language hall, top sellers in- hand were first-time Pathfinder readers, Liberation, and the Road to Workers came out of prison stronger,” one of cluded the fourth and final volume of leading to the highest sales in at least ten Power by Jack Barnes, national secre- them said, after reading the back cover. Malcolm X, Black Liberation and the years. tary of the Socialist Workers Party in the Interest in what lies behind today’s Road to Workers Power. Another was Tehran-based publisher Talaye U.S. That book was among Pathfinder’s deep-going capitalist economic and Two Worlds at Night: The Legacy of Porsoo, which translates and sells many best sellers here. political crisis worldwide was regis- Imperialism and the Road to Social Pathfinder titles in Farsi, also reported tered in sales of the Marxist magazine and Cultural Advance by Jack Barnes, increased sales. Farsi is the language Books on the Cuban revolution New International, featuring articles which presents a course to close deep of a substantial majority in Iran, and is Books on Cuba’s socialist revolution such as “US Imperialism Has Lost the economic and social disparities between read or spoken by half the population in were popular. A woman who stopped at Cold War” and “Capitalism’s Long oppressed and oppressor nations as part neighboring Afghanistan. the Pathfinder booth described what she Hot Winter Has Begun,” both by Jack of the fight for power by revolutionary The annual cultural event, held this had learned from The Cuban Five: Who Barnes. Browsing through the latter, workers parties the world over. year at a large new trade-fair grounds They Are, Why They Were Framed, Why an economics student was drawn to As has often been the case, the south of Tehran, attracts hundreds of They Should Be Free, which she had two graphs showing the mounting debt Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and thousands looking for textbooks, novels, bought at the fair last year. This time she bubbles that led up to the 2007-08 world Frederick Engels topped Talaye Porsoo’s poetry, nonfiction and religious books got Absolved by Solidarity, which opens financial crisis. Another popular title sales at the book fair, along with other in Farsi and other languages. In a spe- with the December 2014 victory of the was Is Socialist Revolution in the U.S. Marxist classics and titles on women’s cial area, there were booths representing international campaign to win freedom Possible? by Mary-Alice Waters. emancipation and Cuba’s socialist revo- Algeria, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Oman, for five Cuban revolutionaries, who A woman from Saudi Arabia study- lution. In recent years, Talaye Porsoo Turkey, and Russia, this year’s country were framed up and held in U.S. federal ing in Iran bought the Arabic-language titles have gotten favorable reviews in of honor, as well as the Frankfurt Book prisons for up to 16 years. editions of Is Biology Woman’s Destiny the Tehran daily newspapers Etemad Fair and the United Nations. Two young men from Sanandaj, a by and Voices from Prison: and Shargh, as well as by the Iranian Participation by publishers from Kurdish city in northwest Iran, bought The Cuban Five. Two men from Egypt Students News Agency and Iran’s Book other countries remains limited by the the newest Pathfinder title, The Cuban bought 11 books, including titles by News Agency. refusal of major Western banks to pro- Five Talk About Their Lives Within the Malcolm X and by communist leaders Golâzin, another Iranian publisher cess Iranian transactions, part of the US Working Class, which was the top and James P. Cannon. that translates and sells Pathfinder titles, Other visitors to the Pathfinder stand had a number of these books at its booth, included several individuals originally including Woman’s Evolution by Evelyn from Afghanistan, the largest immi- Reed and Che Guevara Speaks. grant group in Iran, as well as from Iraq, including Erbil, capital of the Kurdish Regional Government there. Pathfinder’s titles in Spanish and French also attracted attention. A End U.S. colonial rule in Puerto Rico! Spanish-language teacher snapped up eight books, saying her students would Washington’s plan to im- be more likely to learn by “reading pose a financial control something that interests them.” board on Puerto Rico strips At the Talaye Porsoo stand in the away the mask: the island

nation is still a U.S. colony. send $85 drawn on a U.S. bank to above The ‘Militant’ covers the The Militant address. fight against U.S. colonial Vol. 80/No. 24 Africa, Asia, and the Middle East: For one year send $85 drawn on a U.S. bank to domination and to free in- Closing news date: June 8, 2016 above address. dependence fighter Oscar Militant/Ron Richards Editor: John Studer Canada: For one year send Canadian $45 May 29 march in Puerto Rico demands Managing Editor: Naomi Craine to the Militant, 7107 St. Denis #204, Mon- López, imprisoned 35 years. treal, Quebec H2S 2S5. release of Oscar López from U.S. prison. Editorial volunteers: Róger Calero, Seth Galinsky, Emma Johnson, Jacob Perasso, United Kingdom: Send £26 for one year Maggie Trowe, Brian Williams. by check or international money order made out to CL London, 2nd Floor, 83 SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 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 September. Europe: Send £85 for one year by check or NEW READERS NAME Business manager: Lea Sherman international money order made out to CL London at above address. The Militant (ISSN 0026-3885), 306 W. q.$5 for 12 issues ADDRESS 37th Street, 13th floor, New York, NY France: Send 120 euros for one year to 10018. Telephone: (212) 244-4899 Diffusion du Militant, BP 10130, 75723 Fax: (212) 244-4947 Paris Cedex 15. RENEWAL CITY STATE ZIP E-mail: [email protected] New Zealand: Send NZ$55 for one year Website: www.themilitant.com to P.O. Box 3025, Auckland 1140, New q $10 for 12 weeks PHONE E-MAIL Zealand. . Correspondence concerning subscriptions Australia: Send A$70 for one year to P.O. Box or changes of address should be addressed 164 Campsie, NSW 2194, Australia. q.$20 for 6 months UNION/SCHOOL/ORGANIZATION to the Militant, 306 W. 37th Street, 13th Pacific Islands: Send NZ$55 for one year to floor, New York, NY 10018. P.O. Box 3025, Auckland 1140, New Zealand. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY. Submissions to the Militant may be pub- q $35 for 1 year CLIP AND MAIL TO THE MILITANT, . 306 W. 37TH ST., 13TH FLOOR NEW YORK, NY 10018. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to lished in the newspaper in print and digital the Militant, 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor, format. By submitting, authors represent New York, NY 10018. that their submissions are original and 12 weeks of the Militant outside the U.S.: Australia and the Pacific, A$10 • United consent to publication in this manner. Kingdom, £3 • Canada, Can$7 • Caribbean and Latin America, US$10 • Continental SUBSCRIPTIONS: United States: For Signed articles by contributors do not Europe, £10 • France, 8 euros • New Zealand, NZ$7 • All other areas, US$16 (Send one year send $35 to above address. necessarily represent the Militant’s views. payment to addresses listed in business information box) Latin America, Caribbean: For one year These are expressed in editorials.

2 The Militant June 20, 2016 Communist League in Australia: Workers Campaigning for SWP need to organize independent of bosses Continued from front page tions, I said ‘Yes!’ I drive by the picket Nashville, Chattanooga, Jackson, line every day and wave.” ORANGE, Australia — Ar- Murfreesboro, Smyrna, Lebanon, thur McLean, left, and Beryl Knoxville, Alcoa and Johnson City Oppose assault on Trump supporters McLean were pleased to talk with Ron Poulsen, right, the May 29-June 6. Socialist Workers Party campaign- Communist League candidate “We sure need something different, ers talked about a variety of political because it’s going the wrong way,” Joey for Senate from New South questions in the news as well as how Wales in the July 2 federal Yopp, a retired gas company worker the working class needs to organize in- elections. Poulsen and other from a union family, said June 4 at his dependently of the bosses and fight to campaigners were knocking door in Memphis. Yopp has been favor- defend the interests of all the oppressed. on doors here, a four hour able to Donald Trump and Bernie Sand- “The physical assaults on Trump sup- drive west of Sydney. ers. He and many others signed to put porters are an attack on the working “Working people have the the Socialist Workers Party presidential class,” Kennedy told many workers she capacity, as they showed in ticket of and Osborne met in Spokane, referring to the June 2 Cuba, to build a movement to Harris Militant/Linda Hart on the state ballot. attack on people leaving a rally in San displace the capitalist rulers,” The same day John Benson talked Jose, California. “Workers were sucker- Poulsen said. The McLeans got with Robin Long on her porch. Long punched coming out of the meeting, and a subscription to the Militant has a chronic illness and is on disability, had eggs and other objects thrown at and signed to put the working- but would like to find work she could them,” she said. “The liberal press and class candidate on the ballot. handle. “Just because you’re disabled left-wing groups that claim Trump is a Communist League campaigners learned that Electrolux, the biggest manu- doesn’t mean you can’t do anything use- fascist actually see those who back him facturing plant here, closed down a few months ago putting 200 out of work. ful,” she told Benson. as the real danger and view them as stu- Carl Yeager, who worked at Electrolux for a time, also signed to put Poulsen “Under capitalism there’s a tremen- pid, reactionary ‘trash.’ on the ballot. He said the town council was about to lay off many workers, dous waste of human potential and “These growing attacks on our class adding that neither the Liberals nor Labor in government do anything for work- creativity,” he agreed. Long signed to show we need to organize to fight for ing people. “The working class needs to organize independently of the bosses’ put the SWP ticket on the ballot. “This workers power,” Kennedy said. “And parties,” Poulsen said. means I could have someone to vote they are making some look to the So- — LINDA HARRIS for,” she said. cialist Workers Party.” In Nashville June 2 John Miller called One man who answered his door said his wife, Pascale Killian, to the door to he was backing Donald Trump because Sanders. All five signed the petition, and tion, the Socialist Workers Party. We talk about the SWP’s political perspec- he has something different to offer. they got a subscription. think that organizing working people tive. Killian, a nurse, subscribed to the Kennedy responded that workers need Kennedy and Martin were inter- ourselves is the answer to the crisis we Militant and got a copy of Is Socialist to organize and prepare to fight for po- viewed by Spokane radio station KYRS. face.” The door swings open. “Come in. litical power themselves. His wife came Revolution in the U.S. Possible? “It’s v Sit down.” getting closer than it was a few years over. “I don’t like any of the other candi- In the past two weeks, hundreds of ago,” she said, referring to the book’s dates,” she said. “I like what you say and BY CANDACE WAGNER doorstep and living room discussions title. Miller signed to be an SWP elector. the fact that you’re a worker.” MINNEAPOLIS —“Hi, my name is about the crisis of capitalism and the During nine days of door-to-door Three others in the house joined in, Candace,” I say. “If you have a moment revolutionary perspective put forward campaigning, Socialist Workers Party all saying they were attracted to Bernie I’d like to tell you about my organiza- by the SWP have taken place in over 25 supporters collected 456 signatures and towns and cities across Minnesota. As a secured 11 electors, sold 38 Militant sub- result, over 100 people have signed up for scriptions and nearly 100 single copies US socialist candidate joins with subscriptions to the party’s newspaper, and more than a dozen books. 25 purchased books and many made fi- v nancial contributions. Some 1,500 have striking workers in Quebec visit signed petitions so far toward the 2,400 BY JOHN STUDER BY BEVERLY BERNARDO complex to launch a three-day strike for goal to put the SWP ticket on the ballot. SEATTLE — SWP presidential can- MONTREAL — Alyson Kennedy, a minimum wage of $15 Canadian an “We need to do in this country what didate Alyson Kennedy visited Spo- the Socialist Workers Party candidate hour (US$11.73). The workers, including the Cuban workers and farmers did in kane, Washington, June 4-7 to join the for U.S. president, walked picket lines, gardeners, educators, security workers 1959 and take political power,” said Lisa picket line of International Associa- exchanged experiences with workers and janitors, are members of the Union Rottach, talking with retired Marine tion of Machinists Local 86 members and youth, and built participation in the of Old Port Workers – Public Service Ron Dalrymple at his door. “I was sta- at Triumph Composite Systems and to upcoming Active Workers Conference Alliance of Canada Local 10333. tioned in Guantánamo,” he responded, discuss the party’s revolutionary work- during a visit here at the end of May. The following evening, Old Port referring to the military base Washing- ing-class program with area workers on “Because of the world capitalist eco- workers union president Konrad ton imposed on Cuban territory. After their doorsteps. She was joined by Mary nomic crisis we need more international Lamour spoke along with Kennedy at a further discussion, he purchased a sub- Martin, SWP candidate for governor working class solidarity than ever,” she special Militant Labor Forum. scription to the Militant to learn more. of Washington; Eleanor García, SWP told a crowd of 100 strikers and their On May 30 Kennedy visited the pick- Pam White described her many years candidate for U.S. Senate from Califor- supporters May 27 at a press confer- et line of members of Unifor Local 1209 work as a nursing assistant. “They don’t nia, who works for a nonunion Triumph ence and rally near the Old Port tourist who are on strike at the Delastek aero- care about the patients. It’s hurry them plant in Los Angeles; and supporters. space factory in Grand-Mère, in and hurry them out,” she said. “I pre- The Triumph workers have been on Quebec (see article on page 5). fer non-union, but from the changes I’ve the picket line since May 11, fighting During an exchange, a dozen seen, now I think we need unions.” company demands to keep a divisive strikers told Kennedy about SWP campaigners are meeting work- two-tier wage scheme, deny pensions to the working conditions that ers with struggle experience. An older new workers and raise health care costs led them to bring in the union worker in Austin remembered the party (see article on front page). in 2003 and their efforts since from the 1980s strike of packinghouse The visit came as SWP supporters then to strengthen it. Kennedy workers there against the Hormel Cor- were wrapping up a three-week effort to described her experience in poration. A woman in Osseo described introduce the party across the state, win fighting for and winning a the successful organizing drive of her new readers to the Militant, familiarize union at the Co-Op coal mine workplace into the Teamsters union. A workers with books from Pathfinder in Utah in 2003-06. union healthcare aide said that she will Press on working-class history and the Many strikers expressed be walking the picket line with the Al- SWP’s program and gather signatures opposition to Donald Trump. lina nurses if they vote to strike against to put Kennedy and Hart on the bal- Kennedy replied that the concession demands. lot. In Spokane, 10 of the 111 workers Socialist Workers Party ex- who signed got subscriptions. Statewide plains “the need for work- Join the more than 1,650 — well over the 1,000 ers to break with both the requirement — signed to get the party Republican and Democratic Socialist Workers Party on the ballot. parties and to fight to replace campaign in 2016! “Where I work, a lot of workers capitalist political power Contact an SWP branch listed on have been quitting because we haven’t with a workers and farmers page 8 or: got a union and get just $12.50 to $18 government.” an hour,” Stephan Teah, an assembler Kennedy also spent time SWP 2016 Campaign at Exotic Metals, which like Triumph talking with three young peo- 227 W. 29th St., 6th Fl. New York, NY 10001 makes parts for Boeing, told Kennedy. Militant/Marie-Claire David ple planning to attend the June Tel.: (646) 922-8186 “When I found out that workers at Tri- SWP U.S. presidential candidate Alyson Kennedy speaks 16-18 Active Workers Confer- [email protected] umph were fighting for better condi- at May 27 strike rally of Old Port workers in Montreal. ence in Oberlin, Ohio.

The Militant June 20, 2016 3 End US embargo of Cuba Oregon oil train crash highlights danger of smaller crew Continued from front page to decide their own affairs. when Washington and Havana pub- DeLaurentis, the ranking diplo- licly announced steps that led to the mat at the U.S. embassy in Cuba (the reestablishment last year of diplomat- Obama administration has made no ic ties. The U.S. government unilater- nomination to fill the post of ambas- ally broke relations with Cuba’s revo- sador), spoke glowingly about Barack lutionary government more than five Obama’s visit to Cuba in March. He decades ago. reiterated Washington’s “support for the private sector” in Cuba and its un- ‘End embargo, leave Guantánamo’ happiness that, among other things, In her presentation, Vidal outlined Cuban laws do not allow U.S. compa- several areas in which Cuban authori- nies that might operate on the island ties were making or seeking progress to freely hire and fire workers. in relations with Washington, includ- Questioned by audience members ing direct mail service between the about the U.S. occupation of Cuban two countries, cooperation in com- sovereign territory at Guantánamo, bating drug trafficking and migra- DeLaurentis curtly replied, “Gitmo tion talks. Nonetheless, she stressed, is not on the table.” Vidal reiterated Washington continues its decades- that the only resolution of that issue long trade embargo against Cuba, its is “the unconditional return of Guan- occupation of Guantánamo against tánamo.” the will of the Cuban people and its Asked by John Kirk, a professor at Columbia Riverkeeper policy of granting expedited U.S. resi- Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Smoke billows from derailed train cars carrying volatile Bakken crude oil dency to Cubans who reach the Unit- Scotia, about the U.S. government’s June 3 a half mile from the center of town in Mosier, 70 miles east of Portland, ed States outside legal channels. The Cuban Medical Professional Parole Pro- Oregon. Eleven cars from the 96-car Union Pacific train jumped the track and U.S. government continues to pursue gram, DeLaurentis made it clear Wash- four caught fire, forcing the evacuation of some residents. The derailment oc- curred on relatively straight track while the train was traveling within the speed its “goal of bringing about internal ington has no intention of ending that limit. Such oil trains are operated by a two-person crew. changes within Cuba,” she said, in policy, which encourages Cuban medi- Some 18 trains a day headed for Pacific seaports run along the Columbia cal personnel serving abroad to desert violation of the Cuban people’s right River through the area where the derailment occurred. “You are talking and move to the United States. about trains that are 98 percent hazardous material, operated with crews Ambassador Cabañas urged sup- that are half the size they used to be,” said Herb Krohn, Washington state Chicago cop porters of Cuba to lobby Congressio- legislative director for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail Continued from front page nal representatives and educate them and Transportation Workers. can’t do to anyone else what he did to and others about the need to lift the — MAGGIE TROWE my sister. That’s the most important U.S. embargo against Cuba. thing to me. But he has been sitting at Many other panels at the LASA a desk collecting his salary for the last conference discussed a broad range tion remains severely restricted or even Alice Waters, Pathfinder president four years and is still going to collect of topics, especially the growing eco- banned; only in Cuba is it available to and the book’s editor. his pension.” nomic, social and political crises in women as a basic health matter and free During the conference, New York and Servin, who was off duty when he Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Puerto of charge. New Jersey groups in solidarity with shot and killed Boyd, got into a verbal Rico and other countries. One center of informal exchange was Cuba hosted a reception and dinner for altercation with a group of youths near Hundreds of participants at the con- the large book exhibit area. At the Path- the Cuban delegation, attended by more his home. One of the young men alleg- ference opening session gave an enthu- finder Press booth, titles explaining the than 150 people, including Ambassador edly walked toward the detective’s ve- siastic welcome to a large group from world capitalist economic crisis were Cabañas, Vidal, and Rodolfo Reyes, Cu- hicle holding a cellphone. Servin pulled Brazil wearing “No to the coup” T- among the most sought-after, as were ba’s ambassador to the United Nations. his gun and fired five shots, hitting Boyd shirts, in opposition to current impeach- books about the Cuban Revolution. That gathering heard much-appre- in the back of the head. ment proceedings against President A well-attended book launch at ciated remarks from Miguel Barnet, Servin was stripped of his po- Dilma Rousseff. Delegates expressed the exhibit hall featured Pathfinder’s president of the Union of Writers lice powers in November 2013 and approval for an emergency resolution most recent book, “It’s the Poor Who and Artists of Cuba and a member of charged with involuntary manslaugh- denouncing the impeachment process in Face the Savagery of the US ‘Justice’ Cuba’s Council of State; well-known ter, reckless discharge of a firearm and Brazil as “antidemocratic.” System”: The Cuban Five Talk About poet Nancy Morejón; and economist reckless conduct. However, he walked Other panels took up subjects such as Their Lives Within the US Work- Antonio Romero of the University of free in April 2015 after Associate U.S. immigration policy, gender studies, ing Class. Speaking were American Havana. Romero explained the chal- Judge Dennis Porter dismissed the contemporary literature, Black rights, University professor Phil Brenner, a lenges the Cuban government is to- charges — on grounds that Servin’s Chinese investment in the region, prison prominent figure in Cuban studies; day confronting in the context of the act was deliberate, not reckless. reform, agricultural policy and the fight Raúl Rodríguez, director of the Uni- world economic crisis and Washing- Meanwhile legal proceedings con- for women’s right to choose abortion. In versity of Havana’s Center for Hemi- ton’s intensified efforts to undermine tinue in the lead up to the trial of most Latin American countries, abor- spheric and U.S. Affairs; and Mary- Cuba’s socialist revolution. Jason Van Dyke, the cop who killed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in Oc- tober 2104. The release last November of the police dash-cam video show- ing Van Dyke shooting McDonald SPECIAL BOOK OFFERS FOR MILITANT SUBSCRIBERS sparked a wave of protests that swept the city for weeks. Malcolm X, Black Liberation, The Cuban Five Talk About Their Lives On May 5, Cook County State’s and the Road to Workers Power JACK BARNES Attorney Anita Alvarez reversed her Within the US Working Class “It’s the poor who face the savagery of the US ‘justice’ system” (regular $20) previous stance and requested the $15 GERARDO HERNÁNDEZ, RAMÓN LABAÑINO, ANTONIO GUERRERO, Also in French, Spanish court appoint a special prosecutor RENÉ GONZÁLEZ, FERNANDO GONZÁLEZ to handle Van Dyke’s case. Alvarez Five Cuban revolutionaries, framed up by the U.S. government, spent up lost her bid for the Democratic Party to 16 years as part of the U.S. working class behind bars. In this 2015 inter- nomination for state’s attorney to for- NEW view they talk about U.S. capitalist society and its “justice” system, and mer prosecutor Kim Foxx, who made about the future of the Cuban Revolution. Alvarez’s handling of the McDonald killing and other recent cop killings a $10 (regular $15) Also in Spanish central issue of her campaign. Is Socialist Revolution Women in Cuba: ‘Militant’ Prisoners’ Fund in the U.S. Possible? The Making of a Revolution The Prisoners’ Fund makes it pos- MARY-ALICE WATERS Within the Revolution VILMA ESPÍN, ASELA DE LOS SANTOS, YOLANDA FERRER 50 Years of Covert Operations sible to send prisoners reduced rate $4 (regular $7) Also in French, Spanish $15 (regular $20) Also in Spanish in the US subscriptions. To donate, send a Cuba and the Coming Washington’s Political Police check or money order payable to American Revolution Teamster Politics and the American Working Class the Militant and earmarked “Prison- JACK BARNES LARRY SEIGLE, STEVE CLARK, FARRELL DOBBS ers’ Fund” to 306 W. 37th St., 13th $7 (regular $10) Also in French, Spanish $14 (regular $19) Also in Spanish $8 (regular $12) Also in Spanish Floor, New York, NY 10018. IF YOU SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW, THESE SPECIAL OFFERS ARE FOR YOU. CONTACT THE SOCIALIST WORKERS PARTY OR COMMUNIST LEAGUE BRANCHES LISTED ON PAGE 8.

4 The Militant June 20, 2016 ON THE PICKET LINE Maggie Trowe, Editor

Help the Militant cover labor struggles around the world! This column gives a voice to those engaged in battle and building solidarity today — including unionists striking US Foods, construction workers demanding safe conditions and workers fighting for $15 an hour 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 themilitant@mac. com. We’ll work together to ensure your story is told. — Maggie Trowe

Aerospace strikers stand firm the average just CA$12 an hour against union busting in Quebec (CA$1=US$0.78). “This time we had GRAND-MÈRE, Quebec — “After no choice but to strike, because the 14 months on strike, not one member conditions are so bad, and Delastek has crossed the picket line,” said Alex- doesn’t treat us with any respect,” said Vézina. The owner, Claude Lessard, andre Maranger, president of Unifor Militant/Bernie Senter Local 1209, talking in the strike trailer has publicly called the strikers “sav- Striking truck drivers and other port workers rally in Wilmington, California, June 2. near the Delastek aerospace parts fac- ages” and “assholes.” tory May 30. The strikers, who receive a union Rivières (Quebec), G8Y 4K5. E-mail: to unionize. “They are trying to get rid of our stipend of CA$250 a week, have won [email protected]. At the same time, warehouse work- union” by replacing production work- support from other members of Uni- — John Steele ers at California Cartage Co. held their ers with people from the research and for and other unions. Last December fourth strike against the company. The development department, added local there was a solidarity march of 500 L.A. port truckers and warehouse drivers at K&R, who haul cargo for Cal vice-president Steve Vézina. through Grand-Mère, in February workers strike, connect fights Cartage and are on strike for the first The 50 production workers struck United Steelworkers Local 9700 do- WILMINGTON, California — Port time, joined with the warehouse work- when their contract expired April nated CA$30,000 to the strike fund, truck drivers carried out their 13th strike ers on the picket line. 1, 2015. Strikers say that since they and about 40 strikers joined the May in two years at the Ports of Los Ange- “They say it is my truck, but it’s not,” unionized in 2003, Delastek bosses Day union march in Montreal. les and Long Beach May 31-June 6. The Manuel Rios, who has worked 23 years have been threatening to move produc- Delastek turned down a request to strike targeted XPO, Intermodal Bridge as a truck driver for K&R, told the Mili- tion overseas. comment. Transport and K&R Transportation, and tant at a spirited rally of 200 port work- Other issues in the strike are wag- Donations and solidarity mes- expanded to XPO in San Diego June 3. ers and supporters outside the Los An- es and safety conditions. The start- sages can be sent to: Section locale The bosses claim the drivers are “inde- geles Board of Harbor Commissioners ing wage is CA$10.70 an hour, and 1209-Unifor, 2040, rue Munro, Trois- pendent contractors” to deny their right meeting in Wilmington June 2. “I’ve never had a load with my name on it. It always says K&R.” Dozens of workers went into the meeting to explain their Farmworker convention discusses fights to build union fight. BY Rose Ledezma, 21, has worked for The union also projected mobilizing The Cal Cartage workers are de- BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Several two years in the blueberry harvest workers to go to Sacramento in June to manding direct hiring, job placement by hundred farmworkers and supporters and came with her aunt, a longtime push for stronger overtime regulations. seniority and improved conditions. On attended the United Farm Workers’ UFW supporter. They both had re- California law only requires farmwork- April 30 the company forced all tempo- convention here May 19-22. Delegates cently been fired by a supervisor who ers get paid overtime after 10 hours a rary workers, who are the majority, to heard reports on recent fights and orga- said they weren’t going fast enough. day, or 60 hours a week. apply at a new agency. Between 75 and nizing victories in the fields. Ledezma found work at another farm The convention honored veterans of 100 were not rehired. A highlight was the arrival of a and said, “They want us to work the earlier struggles, including of the his- “The gal that ran the old staffing busload of workers from McFarland, whole 10 hours a day in the heat.” The toric 1966 march from Delano to Sac- agency runs the new one,” said striker where 400 blueberry pickers had just right to breaks, water and shade is one ramento demanding union rights for Steve Hatch on the picket line June 1. won a vote to be represented by the of the reasons she cited for needing farmworkers. “They’re still bringing in new people UFW after a three-day strike against the union. A number of Democratic Party poli- every day and telling others it’s slow.” Klein Management over a pay cut and The union won legislation in 2005 ticians also addressed the gathering, Many workers who did not strike the firing of workers who objected. mandating growers provide protections many seeking support for election, in- greeted their co-workers on the picket “We won more than we lost in those from heat stroke. But without a union cluding California Gov. Jerry Brown, line with handshakes and thumbs up. three days,” one of the pickers told the it’s hard to force the companies to com- former President William Clinton cam- One woman stuck her fist out of the win- convention. ply. The UFW estimates heat-related ill- paigning for Hillary Clinton, and Emilio dow of her car and said, “That’s what UFW President Arturo Rodriguez ness caused the deaths of 28 farmwork- Huerta, a candidate for Congress and I’m talking about! Strike!” summarized some of the gains made ers between 2005 and 2011. son of UFW leader Dolores Huerta. — Deborah Liatos by the union over the last four years, including four new UFW contracts cov- ering some 1,500 workers, mostly in to- 25, 50, AND 75 YEARS AGO matoes. “It’s a good time to take the opportu- nity to strike,” said UFW Vice President Armando Elenes, noting the growers’ need for more workers given the reduc- tion in immigration in recent years. He June 21, 1991 June 20, 1966 June 21, 1941 said some modest wages hikes were won The June 4 resignation of the There are a number of interesting as- CLEVELAND — The Future in 2015 in strikes by 400 fig workers at Communist Party-dominated govern- pects to the admission by Clifton Daniel, Outlook League, Cleveland’s mili- Stellar Distributing and 200 workers at ment brought an end to 47 years of managing editor of the New York Times, tant Negro organization, won another Specialty Crop, both in Madera. rule by Albania’s Stalinist party. A that his paper deliberately helped deny victory when it forced the Ohio Bell “When we have the union we have country of 3.5 million, Albania bor- the American people the facts about the Telephone Company to agree to the more respect,” said Oscar Gonzales, ders Greece and Yugoslavia. impending invasion of Cuba in 1961. hiring of 25 Negro men and women in who works at Dole, one of the region’s A four-week general strike and Ten days before the slated invasion, it semi-skilled jobs. largest strawberry producers. “We can massive demonstrations in Albania’s deliberately played down and emascu- The FOL maintained a strong picket demand fresh water, we are given gog- capital, Tirana, forced the govern- lated a report on it by its correspondent line for weeks before the company’s gles if it’s windy. We can stop if the wind ment’s resignation. On leaving of- Tad Szulc. The New Republic killed a downtown offices was bombarded with gets to be over 35 mph, or if it’s raining.” fice, Prime Minister Fatos Nano an- similar story. phone calls. One of the banners read: Gonzales, who has worked there for two nounced a “nonpartisan” interim gov- Both instances of self-imposed cen- “We want to work with democracy be- years, said the conditions are different at ernment would be formed and new sorship were justified as in the “nation- fore we have to die for it.” the nonunion farm where his wife, Ve- elections scheduled. al interest” and to avoid aiding the “en- The company at first refused to ne- ronica Villana, harvests blackberries. The leadership of the recently emy.” This is so much hogwash. Cuba gotiate with the FOL while they were Gonzales said contractors make the formed Union of Free and Independent had competent intelligence and had being picketed, bombarded with phone workers do three days “training” with- Trade Unions, which had mobilized been warning the world for months that calls and, the company alleged, suffer- out getting paid, and they work when hundreds of thousands of workers in the attack was coming and detailed the ing from wire cutting by “unknown” it’s raining. Villana showed this reporter the general strike, said it would rec- invasion build-up areas. The ones the parties. Finally after the NAACP and photos of the fields flooded almost to the ommend going back to work as soon Times and New Republic didn’t want to the Urban League had lined up solidly top of her knee-high boots. as the new government took office. tip off were the American people. with the FOL, the company capitulated. The Militant June 20, 2016 5 Are they rich because they’re smart? Class, privilege and learning under capitalism

BY STEVE CLARK “The struggle for workers power, and the transformation of property relations necessary to open the transition to so- cialism, are possible only as working people begin transforming ourselves and our attitudes toward life, work, and each other. Only then will we learn what we’re capable of becoming.” Jack Barnes

Questioned during a December 2015 radio interview about the tens of thou- sands of workers turning out at rallies for presidential contender Donald Trump, President Barack Obama chalked this up to the fact that “blue-collar men have Militant/Arlene Rubinstein had a lot of trouble in this new economy, “There is no rising working-class social movement in the U.S.,” Steve Clark notes, but where they are no longer getting the there is resistance. Above, Steelworkers rally Feb. 11, 2016, during lockout at ATI steel mill same bargain they got when they were in Washington, Pennsylvania. There is no “rise of racism” in the U.S. today, says Clark. “Racism has been pushed back by the conquests of the Black rights struggle, including among workers of all skin colors who work side by side in factories and other workplaces.” Militant photos: Above, Chris Hoeppner. Right, Cindy Jaquith INTRODUCTION Discussions Socialist Workers Party members have with workers on door steps, pick- trade before confronting a rising more than 52,000 have been wounded et lines, protests or on the job are never simply about “issues” but about the way for- challenge by the working class — disproportionately young men and TO NEW BOOK ward. Above, SWP presidential candidate Alyson Kennedy, left, with Rosa Arrendariz and labor movement to their in- women from rural areas and urban outside her home in St. Paul, Minnesota, May 21. Right, Rachele Fruit shows Militant human system of exploitation. working-class neighborhoods, who’ve Economic Policy Institute and Pathfinder books to auto parts worker Jerome Weir, Lebanon, Tennessee, June 1. This book comes off the press- faced scandalous neglect on return. Top, ad in New York Daily News April 2016. Trying to postpone a shattering collapse, U.S. es during the eighth year of what Wash- All the above are among the reasons rulers and their international rivals have resorted to renewed debt spree. They have pressed ever receive a “bargain.” Workers re- servative wing of this anti-working-class parenthetical material. The original arti- wages down, intensified speedup on the job and made new progress on weakening the unions. sisted — and will never stop resisting alliance, National Review writer Kevin cles are available in the books indicated ington logs as an “economic recovery.” — abusive treatment on the job. They Williamson more explicitly and crudely in accompanying source notes. For working people in the US, from big “We’re living through States, especially the relatively recent ies notwithstanding, capitalism is not joined together ever more broadly to denounces “white working class dys- The growing disorder of the world cities to farming areas, that “upturn” has the biggest political crisis and accelerated expansion of a high- about greed. It is a system that weeds organize unions, waged strikes against function.” These “downscale commu- capitalist system has unfolded with been marked by rising rents and home earning professional and upper middle- out dumb ideas from smart ones.” It the employers and the government, nities ... deserve to die,” he says. “Eco- jumps and starts over the past forty foreclosures, a fall in median household of the Democratic and class layer in US capitalist society. would have been impolitic for Kessler to and won what they were strong enough years — since the 1974-75 global re- income, and historic lows in the percent- Republican parties in our This “self-designated ‘enlightened come right out and say it’s a system that to take without organizing on the po- “This book is about preparing cession, Vietnam War-fueled inflation age of workers actually holding a job lifetimes . . .” meritocracy’” — of millions, if not tens “weeds out dumb people from smart litical level independently from the surges, and “energy” crises of that time. (the government’s headline unemploy- of millions, the author says — is com- people,” but people both “dumb” and bosses’ parties. the working class for its Those shocks laid the groundwork for ment figures notwithstanding). so many working people are coming out posed overwhelmingly of those pur- “smart” are able to read. What’s most remarkable about greatest battle — to recognize the 1987 Wall Street crash, which — like Interest rates are at their lowest levels to listen to and vote for Donald Trump. suing “careers in the universities, the As Barnes points out, this social layer Obama’s language, however, is not its we are capable of taking power jittery animals sensing a coming earth- in the history of the imperialist world. And they explain large elements of why media, ‘think tanks,’ [as well as] highly has a special place in overseeing one of patronizing tone toward “blue collar quake — foretold the cumulative effects Short-term rates have scraped zero year other workers, even if smaller in num- paid supervisory personnel, staffers, or the shifts that marks the evolution of men.” It’s the fear that exists at the and organizing society . . .” of the capitalists’ falling profit rates and after year in the United States, and in ber, give a hearing to , attorneys [for] foundations, ‘advocacy the US imperialist state since the clos- highest levels of government (and contraction of rate of investment in ca- parts of capitalist Europe and Japan in- as well. groups,’ NGOs, charities, and other ing decades of the twentieth century: among well-remunerated “profes- nomically they are negative assets. Mor- pacity-expanding plant, equipment, and terest rates have been pushed into nega- Contrary to the drumbeat in the cor- ‘nonprofit’ institutions.” the centralization of powers initially sional” layers) about what’s building ally, they are indefensible. ... The white employment. tive territory — a tax on the bourgeoisie porate media, this crisis in the capitalist They are determined “to con the reserved in the US Constitution to the up among working people in cities, American underclass is in thrall to a vi- In an attempt to postpone a shatter- imposed by money capital with the will- parties has nothing to do with a nonex- world into accepting the myth that the legislative branch of government (the towns, and countryside. It’s the fear cious, selfish culture whose main prod- ing collapse, the US ruling families o’-the-wisp goal of somehow facilitating istent rise of racism within a nonexistent economic and social advancement of House of Representatives and Senate, going to a fac- that is shaking both parties of the capi- ucts are misery and used heroin needles. and their rivals resorted to a renewed growth. For the working class and lower “white working class.” There’s a work- its members is just reward for their in- and their counterparts on the state level) tory and able to support talist ruling families. Donald Trump’s speeches make them debt spree — this time worldwide, and middle classes, both zero and negative ing class in the United States. Among dividual intelligence, education, and in a more and more dominant executive their families on a single paycheck. “There hasn’t been nearly enough feel good. So does OxyContin.” even more mammoth than the lending rates are a ruinous tax on those who de- other things, these workers are Black, ‘service.’ Its members truly believe that branch (the White House and its multi- “You combine those things,” Obama blaming of the people most responsible We’re living through the biggest crisis bonanza of the 1980s. They’ve fought pend on a pension or “savings” account Latino, Asian, African, and (for now and their ‘brightness,’ their ‘quickness,’ their plying “regulatory” agencies and “ad- added, “and it means there is going to for [Donald Trump’s] rise: his voters,” of the capitalist parties in the lifetime of tenaciously to press wages down, en- for help to get by. decades to come) a majority are Cauca- ‘contributions to public life’ ... give them ministrators”). be potential anger, frustration, fear — writes liberal Washington Post colum- anyone reading these pages. If anything, large the reserve army of unemployed In short, capitalism is well into a slow- sian. More and more are of mixed race the right to make decisions, to admin- There’s no way for the working class some of it justified but just misdirected.” nist Charles Lane. These workers, he the disarray is greater in the Democratic labor, intensify speedup on the job at burning global depression. as well. Racism and racist acts have been ister and ‘regulate’ society for the bour- to vote or legislate itself to power, or to Only in some make-believe past did says, want to “blow the system to hell.” Party than the Republican. The millions the cost of life and limb, and make fur- What’s more, the US rulers have en- pushed back as a result of the conquests the revolutionary expropriation of the factory workers in the United States Venting in the stronghold of the con- who’ve flocked to Bernie Sanders’s call, ther progress in weakening the unions. gaged in nonstop wars and military op- of the mass, proletarian-based struggle propertied ruling families and the tran- resuscitating “Occupy” in bourgeois They’ve done everything in their power erations since the turn of the millennium for Black rights, including among the “There is growing sition to . But the expanding electoral garb, pose an unexpected ob- to foster competition and conflict among (not to mention the bloody 1991 Gulf War growing numbers of working men and confidence among workers concentration of power in the hands of stacle to Hillary Clinton’s anointment as workers. The employers’ hope is to cre- and the first war on European soil since women of various skin colors, mother everywhere in the U.S. to the presidency — including the de facto the Democrats’ 2016 candidate, and her ate the conditions necessary to induce a World War II in the former Yugoslavia tongues, and national origins who work discuss the broadest political power to declare wars, and to bypass election if nominated. new wave of capital accumulation and during the administrations of George together side by side in factories and legislation and debate by issuing Execu- But what is surfacing in the 2016 sustained expansion of production and H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton). Just since other workplaces day in and day out. and social questions . . .” tive Orders — is dangerous (ultimately presidential election is neither unex- September 11, 2001, the “I have never voted, and I’m not a bonapartist threat) to the interests of pected nor unexplainable. Its roots go presidencies of Republi- here to represent the Republican Par- geoisie — on behalf of what they claim workers, working farmers, and the labor back several decades. If you want to New! Special Offer can George W. Bush and ty. Quite frankly, I don’t give a damn to be the interests of ‘the people,’” an movement. understand it, there’s no better place Democrat Barack Obama about the Republicans,” said former imaginary and classless “we.” Today there is even an Office of In- to start than this book. Are they rich because they’re smart? have fought wars or car- basketball coach Bobby Knight to Just during the week this book was formation and Regulatory Affairs in the Are They Rich Because They’re Class, privilege and learning under capitalism ried out airstrikes, shelling, tumultuous cheers as he introduced being readied for the presses, two ar- White House, established by Executive Smart? Class, Privilege, and Learn- by Jack Barnes drone assaults, and Special Trump to some twelve thousand par- ticles — one in the liberal Washington Order in 1993 during the Clinton ad- ing Under Capitalism contains three Forces operations in Iraq, ticipants in an April 28 rally in Evans- Post, the other in the conservative Wall ministration. The agency’s director dur- articles by Jack Barnes, National Sec- In the coming battles forced upon us by Afghanistan, Pakistan, ville, Indiana. “I don’t give a damn Street Journal — captured to a “T” the ing Obama’s first term, Cass Sunstein, retary of the Socialist Workers Party, the capitalist rulers, says Barnes, workers Libya, Yemen, Syria, and about the Democrats either.” spoken or unspoken class attitudes of coined a term for this aspiration of mid- taken from talks and reports he gave will begin to transform ourselves and our elsewhere. At least on these double “don’t give a many in this meritocratic layer. dle-class meritocrats to administer and to large public audiences between Hundreds of thousands damns,” Knight echoed the sentiments “Never have so many people with so regulate the lives of the unwashed mass- 1995 and 2009. More recent statistics attitudes toward life, work and each other. of workers and peasants in of growing millions in the working class little knowledge made so many conse- es, who can’t be trusted to know what’s and subsequent events that shed light Only then will we discover our own worth these countries have been and worse-off middle classes across the quential decisions for the rest of us,” in our own interests. He christened it on the economic and social contra- and learn what we’re capable of becoming. killed or maimed by all United States. wrote David Harsanyi in a May 20 Post with a book titled Nudge: Improving Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov dictions fueling today’s political up- column headlined, “We must weed out Decisions about Health, Wealth, and sides in military conflicts v U.S. troops near Kandahar, Afghanistan, March 2010. U.S. rulers have engaged in nonstop heaval have been taken into account since 2001, and millions ignorant Americans from the elector- Happiness (that is, getting us to do what wars and military operations under Democratic and Republican presidents alike, in which $7 (cover price $10) hundreds of thousands of workers and peasants have been killed or maimed by all sides in Iraq, by incorporating them directly into left homeless, hungry, and Are They Rich Because They’re ate.” they think is “best for us,” without us Afghanistan and elsewhere. Nearly 7,000 U.S. soldiers have died, with 52,000 wounded. These the text. This spares readers from the Contact a distributor on page 8 or visit dispossessed. Nearly 7,000 Smart? puts a spotlight on the sharp- Then, two days later in the Journal, having a say or figuring out they’re try- are among reasons many workers come out to listen to Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. distraction of frequent footnotes and www.pathfinderpress.com US soldiers have died and ening class inequalities in the United Andy Kessler wrote, “Hollywood mov- Continued on page 9

6 The Militant June 20, 2016 The Militant June 20, 2016 7 Students, workers denounce ‘Release report‘ on cop killing of Idaho rancher lashing of miners in Iran BY NAOMI CRAINE News this could be seen as “low level The Iran Labor News Agency report- politicking,” to deflect blame from the ed May 25 that 17 workers at the Agh ministry. Darreh gold mine in Iran’s West Azer- Alireza Mahjoob, a deputy in the Ma- baijan province had been found guilty jles (parliament) who is considered a la- by a local court of “preventing people bor supporter, said he will move to have from doing business by disturbing the Rabiee and the interior minister sum- peace.” They were punished with be- moned to the Majles for questioning. tween 30 and 100 lashes, and some Labor News reported June 1 that in fined the equivalent of $165. an open letter to Rabiee, Hosein Habibi, Courts have imposed such beatings the secretary of the Coordinating Coun- on workers before, but this time it was cil of Islamic Shoras [Councils], called publicized and sparked protests nation- on the Judiciary Authority to apologize ally that included student organizations to the Agh Darreh miners. and labor figures. On June 7 the same news agency The charges stemmed from a De- published the names of 52 student orga- cember 2014 protest by miners against nizations across the country that issued Protesters outside the Idaho Capitol in Boise May 20 demanded release of the company’s refusal to renew their a joint statement in solidarity with the a report on the cop killing of rancher Jack Yantis near Council, Idaho, Nov. 1. contracts, Farmarz Tofighi told the miners and demanded the government State police gave the Attorney General their investigation results in early March. Idaho Statesman semi-official Fars News Agency May recognize workers rights. “They’re stalling,” Sharon Ketchum told the at the protest. Yantis was killed when cops called him to the scene after a car hit one of 27. “According to the charter of the In- Another lashing case was reported his bulls. As Yantis aimed his rifle to put the animal out of its misery, one of the ternational Labor Organization, which in late May. More than 30 college stu- deputies grabbed him and spun him around, and the two cops fired. Donna Iran is a signatory to, workers have a dents, men and women, were arrested Yantis, Jack’s wife, and Rowdy Paradis, his nephew, who witnessed the shoot- right to protest and march,” said Tofighi, for attending a graduation party in ing, were thrown to the ground, handcuffed and not allowed to render aid. who was identified as a worker activist. Qazvin, 90 miles northwest of Tehran. An attorney for the cops, who are on paid leave, claims the family’s account On May 28 the Syndicate of Workers The Judiciary Authority asserted that is “not accurate in numerous material respects.” The Attorney General’s office of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company the women were dancing “half naked.” says it won’t set a date to release the report to avoid “a rush to judgement.” issued a statement that condemned Within 24 hours each student was sen- “If we don’t get a decision, we plan to have a rally every month at the Capi- “lashings and fines imposed on protest- tenced and subjected to 99 lashes. tol,” Rebecca Barrow, who is active in the “Justice for Jack” fight, said in a ing workers demanding their rights.” At a press conference in Tehran June phone interview. The organization is well known around 1, Judiciary Authority spokesperson “It’s on everybody’s mind,” Johanna Nielsen, a rancher and friend of the country for its militant actions in de- Hojjatol Islam Mohseni Ajei defended the Yantis family, told the Militant from Council June 2. “It’s like a bubble fense of workers rights. the sentencing, and insinuated that “for- waiting to burst.” After the lashings got national pub- eign embassies” may be involved in —SETH GALINSKY licity, Labor Minister Ali Rabiee sum- such parties around the country. marily fired the ministry’s director in West Azerbaijan. Hassan Sadeghi, a prominent labor figure, told Iran Labor Aerospace workers are ‘fed up with two-tier pay’ Continued from front page The IAM sent the company a letter The IAM 751 District Council based in New International no. 7 Devine wore a union T-shirt that read saying it should contact the union, not in Seattle, which includes workers at “One equal team,” opposing the two-tier the newspaper, if it was ready to talk. Boeing, contributed $100,000 to a hard- Washington’s Assault wages the company imposed in 2013 af- On June 6 signs on the picket line that ship fund for the Triumph workers. on Iraq: Opening Guns ter union members rejected a concession read “Lockout” replaced the signs read- “This fight is about stopping the ero- of World War III contract but voted not to strike. New ing “Strike.” Steve Warren, the business sion by management of unions across — by Jack Barnes hires start at a significantly lower rate agent for Local 86, told the Militant the the country,” said mechanic Greg Buck- and never reach the pay of more senior union has filed charges with the Nation- les. For the past year, he said, workers in The U.S. war and devastation of Iraq workers. “The company says it has to al Labor Relations Board accusing the the plant have been wearing union but- sounded the opening cut costs,” Devine said. “It’s inconceiv- company of unfair labor practices. “We tons that read, “Have you started your guns of sharpening able for them to take a pay cut or to cut believe this will result in a determina- independent strike fund?” in prepara- conflicts and class their profit margin.” tion that this is a lockout,” he said. tion for the strike. battles that will decide $14 The same contract replaced pensions Triumph Group Director of Corporate The company also prepared, and has whether the horrors with a 401(k) retirement savings scheme Communications Michele Long told the brought in replacement workers. Every of World War III are for workers hired after 2013. Militant the company had no comment. morning at shift change, unionists line inflicted on humanity or a road is opened by On June 1 the company published an Unionists say members of the Nation- up at the plant gate as five or six partially working people to a socialist future “Open letter to our employees and the al Association of Letter carriers, United filled buses of strikebreakers roll in. of international human solidarity. Spokane community” in the Spokesman Steelworkers and the engineers’ union “We are solid. We are finally tired Review, in which it defended its course SPEEA, as well as nurses, teachers and of the way they treat the workers. Get- pathfinderpress.com and declared its willingness to talk to others visit their picket lines. Local busi- ting back pensions is the number one the union. nesses donate water and food. issue,” said Ryan Van Valkinburgh, 38, an assembler in the plant. “We also don’t want the two-tier wages and the health IF YOU LIKE THIS PAPER, LOOK US UP care costs with no limit. And we defi- Where to find distributors of the NEBRASKA: Lincoln: Tel: (402) 217- CANADA nitely don’t want our jobs going to Mex- Militant, New International, and a full 4906. Email: [email protected]. QUEBEC: Montreal: 7107 St. Denis ico.” He was referring to the fact that display of Pathfinder books. #204 H2S 2S5. Tel: (514) 272-5840. Email: Triumph has moved some work from NEW YORK: New York: 227 W. 29th St., [email protected] ALBERTA: Calgary: Spokane to its plant in Mexico. UNITED STATES 6th Floor. Zip: 10001. Tel: (646) 964-4793. Dragon City Mall, 328 Centre St. SE, Suite Sue Six, 52, has worked at the plant Email: [email protected] 246. T2G 4X6 Tel: (403) 457-9044. Email: CALIFORNIA: Oakland: 675 for three years and assembles ducts. “In Hegenberger Road, Suite 250. Zip: 94621. PENNSYLVANIA: Philadelphia: 2824 [email protected] Tel: (510) 686-1351. Email: swpoak Cottman Ave., Suite 20. Zip: 19149. Tel: (215) 1999 I went to the World Trade Orga- @sbcglobal.net Los Angeles: 2826 S. 708-1270. Email: [email protected] FRANCE nization protests in Seattle,” she said. Vermont. Suite 1. Zip: 90007. Tel: (323) Paris: BP 10130, 75723 Paris Cedex 15. “I’ll never forget a woman from Mexico 643-4968. Email: [email protected] WASHINGTON, D.C.: 7603 Email: [email protected] who gave a speech about the conditions Georgia Ave. NW, Suite 300. Zip: FLORIDA: Miami: 7911 Biscayne 20012. Tel: (202) 536-5080. Email: NEW ZEALAND workers face there, including $2 a day Blvd., Suite 2. Zip: 33138. Tel: (305) 390- [email protected] Auckland: 188a Onehunga Mall, wages. How can you live on that? That’s 8310. Email: [email protected] Onehunga. Postal address: P.O. Box 3025, why we can’t be saying foreign workers WASHINGTON: Seattle: 5418 Rainier GEORGIA: Atlanta: 777 Cleveland Auckland 1140. Tel: (09) 636-3231. Email: are ‘taking our jobs.’ We should wel- Ave. South. Zip: 98118-2439. Tel: (206) [email protected] Ave. SW Suite 103. Zip: 30315. Tel: (678) 323-1755. Email: seattleswp@qwestoffice. come them and stick together.” 528-7828. Email: [email protected] net UNITED KINGDOM “In a way I have to thank the ILLINOIS: Chicago: 2018 S. Ashland ENGLAND: London: 2nd Floor, 83 company for the strike and bring- Ave. Zip: 60608. Tel: (312) 455-0111. Email: AUSTRALIA Kings­land High St., Dalston. Postal code: ing us together. Before I didn’t know [email protected] Sydney: 1st Flr, 3/281-287 Beamish E8 2PB. Tel: (020) 3583-3553. Email: these people’s names or where they St., Campsie, NSW 2194. Mailing [email protected] Manchester: MINNESOTA: Minneapolis: 416 E. address: P.O. Box 164, Campsie, NSW 2194. Room 301, 3rd floor, Hilton House, 26–28 worked,” Six said, indicating other Hennepin Ave., Suite 214. Zip: 55414. Tel: (612) Tel: (02) 9718 9698. Email: cl_australia@ Hilton St. Postal code: M1 2EH. Tel: (016) pickets. “Now we talk every day. Now 729-1205. Email: [email protected] optusnet.com.au 1478-2496. Email: [email protected] we are stronger.” 8 The Militant June 20, 2016 EDITORIAL Offensive in Iraq Continued from front page The political war on the working class fighters in Fallujah now and some 50,000 civilians — some being used as human shields. The city, which “Blame the Trump voter for the drop in the labor don’t have a college diploma, unemployment and low once had a population of 300,000, was the scene of force,” declared columnist Rex Nutting on the news pay are what we deserve. Health problems and addic- fierce fighting during the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq site MarketWatch June 3. “Older, uneducated whites,” tions are a consequence of lifestyle choices resulting and remained under U.S. military occupation until he said, have disproportionately given up looking for from our “ignorance.” And on it goes. 2009. a job, while those with a college diploma do well. “It’s Such anti-working-class slanders have long been The offensive has exacerbated sectarian friction be- the degree, stupid,” Nutting concluded. directed against workers who are African American. tween Iraq’s minority Sunni population and the major- “The white American underclass is in thrall to a vi- Today they are also aimed at “poor Hispanics” and ity Shia-led government. On June 2, Iraqi Speaker of cious, selfish culture whose main products are misery “poor whites” — that is, our whole class. Parliament Salim al-Juburi, who is Sunni, urged Prime and used heroin needles,” sneered Kevin Williamson This propaganda war is articulated above all by Minister Haider al-Abadi to enforce discipline among in the National Review in March. voices among the self-designated “meritocracy,” a the government forces attacking Fallujah, following Their contempt is typical of the mounting propa- high-earning professional and upper middle-class lay- reports of abuses against civilians. Abadi has sought ganda war against the working class, from both the left er seeking to justify its wealth and position. to downplay the role of the Iran-backed Shiite militias, and right of capitalist politics. The hysterical denunci- The new book Are They Rich Because They’re which have a record of brutal reprisals against Sunnis. ations of Donald Trump are not aimed at the bourgeois Smart? Class, Privilege, and Learning Under Capi- In a move to avert Sunni protest, Baghdad ordered the politician, but rather at the workers who’ve turned out talism by Jack Barnes, national secretary of the Social- to hear him, fed up with “politics as usual” and the ist Workers Party, explains the rise of this meritocracy militias to stay on the outskirts, slowing the offensive. effects of capitalism’s slow-burning world depression and sharpening class inequality in the United States, Sunni politicians in Iraq have condemned the in- and non-stop wars. and answers the anti-working-class propaganda war of volvement of the militias and of Iranian military of- There is a growing openness among workers to dis- the mouthpieces for capitalism. ficers under the command of General Qassem Solei- cuss and debate the broadest social and political ques- Above all, as Barnes explains, it is about “the battle mani, head of the Quds special forces of Iran’s Revo- tions. This is above all what the ruling class fears. to throw off the self-image the rulers teach us, and to lutionary Guard. “We are Iraqis and not Iranians,” said The bosses and their spokespeople denigrate work- recognize that we are capable of taking power and or- member of parliament Hamid al-Mutlaq. ers, trying to convince us not only to accept deterio- ganizing society.” Workers will find this book a valu- Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir ac- rating conditions of life, but to blame ourselves. If we able tool as we discuss and organize along that course. cused Iran May 29 of interfering in Iraq and “causing sectarianism.” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded by calling the criticism “arro- gant” and saying Tehran would stay “as long as Iraq wants us to.”

Are they rich because they’re smart? Fracturing of Iraq Continued from page 7 right to choose abortion continue to be met with Increasingly Iraq has split into three distinct ethnic ing to manipulate us). protests. regions, registering the failure to establish a stable cap- The actual scope of the expansion of the imperialist Above all, there is growing confidence and open- italist regime in Baghdad following the 2003 invasion ness among workers everywhere in the United States state is much greater and more invasive in the lives by Washington and London. There are growing calls to discuss and debate the broadest social and political of working people than just “nudges,” of course. Ac- for autonomy among Iraq’s Sunni population, concen- questions, including the stakes for the working class in cording to Washington’s own figures, there are some trated in the north and west, who say the government organizing the unorganized and rebuilding our unions 510 federal departments and agencies today, none of in Baghdad has marginalized them. The Kurds — an which are elected and whose decision making is never as instruments of solidarity and struggle. oppressed nationality living in territory of Iraq, Syria, seen on CSPAN or anywhere else. These political opportunities are not an impression Turkey and Iran whose aspirations for independence What’s more, under cover of “national security” and from outside the working class. They’re the practical have long been thwarted by imperialist and regional “fighting terrorism” (and now vastly aided by “social conclusion from half a decade of efforts by members governments — have established their own autono- media” technologies), the tentacles of police surveil- and supporters of the Socialist Workers Party going mous region and government in northern Iraq. lance at the federal, state, and local levels have increas- door to door in working-class neighborhoods of all The assault on Fallujah has put on hold plans an- ingly penetrated every aspect of our lives and eroded kinds across the country to talk with and exchange ex- nounced by Washington and Baghdad earlier this year hard-won rights that protect us against the state. This periences and views with fellow workers. for an offensive to retake Mosul, Islamic State’s big- massive snooping has become an emblem — a hated The heart of these discussions — whether on a gest stronghold in the country. Some 5,000 Kurdish emblem — of imperialist America the world over. porch, at an apartment door, at a strike picket or so- cial protest, or life on the job — is never simply about Peshmerga forces, however, began an offensive May v “issues,” even political questions of great importance 29 to push IS out of villages east of Mosul. There is as yet no rising working-class social move- to the working class. It’s about the way forward. It’s In Syria, some 30,000 Kurdish and Arab fighters of ment in the United States in response to assaults on about what Jack Barnes points to in the closing article the Syrian Democratic Forces, led by the Kurdish Pop- our wages, living conditions, and political rights. in this book as “preparing the working class for the ular Protection Units (YPG), began advancing from But over the past few years there have been strikes greatest of all battles in the years ahead — the battle the north toward the city of Raqqa May 24 backed by and resistance to lockouts by members of the United to throw off the self-image the rulers teach us, and to U.S. airstrikes. The city of 200,000 is Islamic State’s Steelworkers, Communications Workers of America, recognize that we are capable of taking power and or- de facto capital. Teamsters, farmworkers organizations, and other ganizing society.” Meanwhile, forces of Syrian dictator Bashar al- unions. Fast-food and other low-paid workers are de- That’s the conclusion that’s decisive for workers ev- Assad, backed by Russian airstrikes, began an attack manding a $15 hourly minimum wage. erywhere today. To act on the necessity, as we gain from the southwest June 1. This is the first time in two Tens of thousands have come into the streets to confidence and experience fighting alongside each years Syrian government forces have entered Raqqa, protest police killings and brutality and demand other, for the working class to recognize our human- demonstrating the gains the regime is making with the arrest and prosecution of the cops responsible. ity, our capacities, and the traditions our class has Moscow’s support. Workers and their families are raising their voices forged during well over a century and half of strug- The Syrian Democratic Forces began advancing si- against the massive penal system in the US, with its gles, including revolutionary battles and victories. “To multaneously on the city of Manbij near the Turkish draconian sentences, brutalizing solitary confine- broaden our scope,” to discover our “own worth,” as border. Capturing the city would sever a vital supply ment, and official barbarities. Immigrant workers Malcolm X was always explaining. route for Islamic State and strengthen Kurdish control and their supporters have organized to speak out “Learning as a lifetime experience,” as the author over territory in northeastern Syria. Previous efforts against deportations, E-Verify victimizations, and puts it in these pages — what better reason to make a to take Manbij have been slowed by Turkish shelling. other indignities. Mounting attacks on a woman’s socialist revolution? “What better reason to get rid of Ankara labels the YPG “terrorist” and opposes the de- the capitalist state and use the velopment of a Kurdish autonomous zone. workers state to begin trans- Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu ac- Day of Solidarity with International Day of Solidarity forming humanity, to begin cused Washington June 5 of having a “double stan- Fight for Puerto Rican building human solidarity? dard” for its collaboration with the YPG. He called on Independence Freedom for And we have the living ex- the U.S. government to “join forces” to open a new Speakers: Oscar López! ample of the Cuban Revolu- military front in Syria. The Turkish government re- Norberto González Claudio, tion to show how it’s possible inforced its garrisons along the Syrian border in May. former political prisoner; to start down that road.” Since the collapse last July of a ceasefire with the Rev. Danilo LaChapel; Puerto Rican independence These are the stakes ad- Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), Ankara has mount- María de Lourdes Santiago, fighter jailed in US for 35 years ed a military assault on cities and towns in Turkey’s Puerto Rican Independence dressed in Are They Rich Be- Party; Dr. Héctor Pesquera cause They’re Smart? Class, predominantly Kurdish southeast. Thousands of Sevillano, Hostos National Privilege, and Learning Un- dwellings have been destroyed and 355,000 people Independence Movement Mon., June 20, 4-6 p.m. der Capitalism. displaced. Ankara claims 5,000 PKK fighters have Fri., June 17, 6-10 p.m. May 30, 2016 been killed in both Turkey and Iraq. 1199SEIU, 310 W 43rd St. New York City Last December Turkey deployed some 150 troops New York City 1st Ave and East 47th St. Copyright © 2016 by Path- to Iraq, where it carries out airstrikes against PKK Sponsor: A Call to Action on Puerto Rico Contact: [email protected] finder Press. Reprinted by bases. In May the foreign ministers of Iraq and permission. Russia demanded Ankara withdraw these forces.

The Militant June 20, 2016 9