AUSTRALIA $1.50 · canada $1.50 · france 1.00 euro · new zealand $1.50 · uk £.50 · u.s. $1.00 INSIDE Socialist Workers Party conference: Leading the working class to take power — PAGEs 6-7 A SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE vol. 85/no. 30 August 16, 2021 Join Socialist Over 1,500 rally to back D.C. protest: Workers Party coal miners in Alabama End US gov’t campaigning! Strike to regain better wages, conditions, safety economic war by Roy Landersen “SWP campaigners come out of the July 22-24 Socialist Workers against Cuba! Party International Conference bet- by seth galinsky ter prepared to join in the struggles WASHINGTON — Some 300 people of working people and point the road joined a July 25 protest at Lafayette Park forward to building a party that will near the White House, demanding an lead millions to overturn capitalist end to the more than 60-year-long U.S. economic war against Cuba. rule and make a socialist revolution,” The action welcomed Seattle school John Studer, SWP national campaign teacher Carlos Lazo and other Cuban director, told the Militant. American participants in the Puentes de “They are discussing this road for- Amor (Bridges of Love) “pilgrimage” ward with working people on their that started out in Miami June 27. They doorsteps and at picket lines as work- walked much of the way to D.C. — ac- ers fight to change the conditions we companied by an RV — to draw atten- face today. The party’s campaigns are tion to the fight to overturn the embargo. spearheaded by the 20 candidates it They spoke at meetings in churches, has endorsed in elections this year, as to student groups, civil rights activists, well as by Communist League candi- and with workers, farmers and others dates in other countries.” United Mine Workers they met along the way, winning new Days after the conference, SWP Striking Warrior Met miners, union and other supporters rally in Brookwood, Alabama, support for the fight to stop the U.S. rul- Aug. 4. Fight deserves widespread publicity and active solidarity from all workers and farmers. campaigners Leroy Watson and Dan ers’ economic, financial and commer- Fein spoke with Ben Allen Aug. 1, a BY MAGGIE TROWE cars and buses on the ballpark in this cial sanctions. retired African American accountant BROOKWOOD, Ala. — Over small town where 1,100 members of At the rally Lazo held up a stack of in Bellwood, a working-class suburb 1,500 unionists and other workers the United Mine Workers have been petitions with 27,000 signatures calling west of Chicago. from Alabama, West Virginia, Ken- on strike against Warrior Met Coal on President Joseph Biden to end the Fein said there is less racism today tucky, North and South Carolina, Mis- since April 1. sanctions against Cuba, to reopen the among the working class. Allen dis- sissippi, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Warrior Met bought the Brook- U.S. Embassy to allow the normal issu- Continued on page 2 Georgia and Missouri converged in wood mines, which produces metal- Continued on page 3 lurgical coal used in steel production, after the previous owner, Jim Walter Resources, went bankrupt six years Fight to get workers back on the ago. The new capitalist owners de- New Zealand manded a $6-an-hour wage cut and job, defend our jobs and unions other steep concessions on benefits gov’t’s ‘save the Continued on page 4 environment’ law Macron imposes targets farmers BY FELICITY COGGAN another ‘French AND PATRICK BROWN OREWA, New Zealand — Hun- values’ attack on dreds of angry farmers rode their tractors through 55 towns and cit- ies across New Zealand July 16 in a working people “Howl of a Protest” against new en- BY MAGGIE TROWE vironmentally motivated restrictions French President Emmanuel Macron enacted or proposed by the Labour is using deadly assaults by Islamists to Party government that target farmers. push through legislation restricting free The action was called by Ground- speech and freedom of worship. The swell NZ, formed in 2020 by a group of laws make what he calls “separatism” a Continued on page 5 criminal offense in the name of impos- ing “French values.” The Law Reinforcing Respect of the Topeka Frito-Lay Union Members Appreciation Page Principles of the Republic passed the Inside Some 600 members of BCTGM Local 218 at Frito-Lay in Kansas returned to work July 26 after three weeks on strike over forced overtime, wages. They won broad solidarity for their fight. French National Assembly 49-19 July SWP: All out in solidarity with 23. It allows the government to shut Warrior Met miners on strike! 9 by brian williams to act now to put millions back to work. down houses of worship and dissolve While the bosses’ press celebrates a There’s 6.8 million fewer jobs today religious organizations if it finds con- Water, power cuts fuel protests profit bonanza on Wall Street, millions than before the pandemic began, as gregants are “provoking violence or against Iran gov’t, wars abroad 4 of workers still don’t have jobs, employ- bosses continue to drive for profits by inciting hatred.” ers are fighting to hold down wages as intensifying the pace of work. Official It demands religious organizations Gloria Richardson, fighter for prices keep rising, and the federal gov- unemployment in June was 5.9% and obtain government permits to operate Black rights, Freedom Now Party 7 ernment’s COVID-based bar on evic- even higher for Black workers, at 9.2%. every five years, and every year if they tions has expired. This doesn’t include 6.4 million receive funding from outside France. –On the picket line, p. 5– Changing these conditions requires workers who government statisticians The law makes “separatism” a crimi- Aluminum workers strike Rio workers joining together on the job, don’t count as part of the labor force nal offense, with prison sentences and Tinto in Canada standing up to bosses’ attacks and wag- because they haven’t looked for jobs hefty fines for those who threaten an ing a political fight for the government Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Rolls-Royce maintenance workers strike, win solidarity Join SWP campaigning! Continued from front page from Cuba and he would be interested in agreed. “Working-class whites are many of your books,” she said. easily tricked into blaming Blacks Joaquín, who works night shift at for their problems,” he told the socialist Walmart, had received a head injury campaigners. while unloading a trailer. “They treated “Capitalism needs racism to divide him worse than if he was one of their and weaken the working class while livestock. He had to fight for every bit of they exploit us,” Fein said. “The fight medical care he got,” she said. against racism today is part of the chal- “All I know for sure is that in lenge to unite the working class for com- the United States there is incred- ing battles against the capitalist system.” ible wealth for the rich, but for most “The civil rights movement of the of us it’s pure exploitation for life,” ’50s and ’60s changed things forever by Joaquín said. He bought In Defense of smashing the system of Jim Crow seg- the US Working Class by Mary-Alice regation,” Watson said. He pointed to Waters, a leader of the SWP. the widespread protests on the heels of To find out more or to join the SWP the killing of George Floyd last year that campaigns, contact the party branch Militant/Dan Fein united Blacks, Caucasians and others. or Communist League nearest you. Socialist Workers Party campaigner Leroy Watson, right, discusses historic advances in fight Many of the strikes in the Chicago area See directory on page 8. against racism, including on strike picket lines, with Ben Allen, in Bellwood, Chicago, Aug. 1. over the past two years have included Blacks, Caucasians, Mexicans and oth- ers walking the picket lines together. Myanmar junta extends crackdown, opposition continues Allen looked at the back cover of By Seth Galinsky resorting to fast moving “flash” protests. with temporary workers and pushing Tribunes of the People and the Trade Six months after ousting the elected Under these conditions, bosses at the union out. COVID-19 is rampant in Unions by Jack Barnes, SWP national government, seizing total power and foreign-owned garment factories, espe- the face of crowded conditions. secretary, and other Marxist leaders. putting down mass protests, the mili- cially China-based bosses, who domi- In outlying regions, where the mili- “A tribune of the people uses every tary junta in Myanmar announced Aug. nate an industry that employed more tary and central government have nev- manifestation of capitalist oppression 1 it was extending its state of emergen- than 600,000 workers before the coup, er exercised complete control, armed to explain why it’s workers and our al- cy for two more years. Aung San Suu are replacing permanent employees clashes with ethnic militias continue. lies who can and will,” it says, “lay the Kyi, leader of National League for De- foundations for a world based not on vi- mocracy, which won the last elections olence and competition, but on solidar- in a landslide, is in prison awaiting trial Cecelia Moriarity: 45 years building communist movement ity among working people worldwide.” on trumped up charges. “I’ll get that,” Allen said, as well as a Junta forces have killed at least 945 SEATTLE — Cecelia Moriarity, subscription to the Militant. people since Feb. 1 and jailed more a 45-year member of the Socialist In the town of Lake Worth, Florida, than 5,400 but haven’t succeeded in Workers Party, died here July 23 after Steve Warshell and Nelson Gonzalez silencing opposition. a prolonged illness. Moriarity built campaigned door to door Aug. 1. Most Many government employees as well the party in cities across the country workers there labor in the fields or in as private bank and hospital workers and served on the party’s National vegetable processing industries. continue to refuse to return to work. Committee for a number of years. She worked in aerospace, meatpack- Margarita Gomez, a domestic work- Unable to hold large demonstrations in ing, steel, garment, rail and coal min- er, invited Warshell to join her husband, major cities and the central regions con- ing, and was active in unions orga- Joaquín, and their 13-year-old son in a trolled by the junta without the risk of nizing workers in those industries. cool spot to talk more. “My husband is bloody repression, young opponents are Moriarity worked at the Wilberg Mine outside Orangeville, Utah, in 1984, where coal bosses had a long history of ignoring safety. An all-out drive to reach a production record on Dec. 19 led to a fire that left 19 Moriarity, SWP candidate for governor of Pennsylvania in 1998, campaigning at members of the United Mine Work- USX Clairton Works, where she worked. ers and eight management personnel Workers fight divisive Quebec language law dead. Moriarity was an author of the widely read Militant on-the-scene article, “Company Greed Killed Coal Miners in Utah.” The Quebec government is Forty-one party members, supporters and friends attended a meeting pushing Bill 96, which will here Aug. 1 to celebrate Cecelia Moriarity’s political life. Next week’s is- sharpen language divisions sue of the Militant will carry a full report. and discrimination against — Edwin Fruit working people. This comes after a law targeting wear- Latin America, Caribbean: For one year send ing religious symbols. The The Militant $85 drawn on a U.S. bank to above address. 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2 The Militant August 16, 2021 DC: End US embargo of Cuba! Continued from front page “We don’t want food for Cuba. We ing of visas, and to end restrictions on don’t want remittances. We want free- travel to the island. dom,” Otaola demagogically told the “It’s extraordinary the many people crowd outside the White House July 26. we met who are opposed to the sanc- “We want intervention” by Washington, tions,” Lazo said. “At the same time, he said. we ended up learning ourselves that it’s not only a blockade against Cuba. Here Cuban Americans: ‘No!’ to embargo in the U.S. there is a blockade against A large number of the participants in minorities, the lack of opportunities, the rally against the U.S. embargo were the discrimination.” He pointed to their of Cuban descent. visit with Black farmer Willie Head in “The U.S. government doesn’t let Pavo, Georgia, who told Lazo how the me help my mother, my grandmother. U.S. government denies credit to Black I don’t understand it,” Michel Pérez, a farmers, which has driven many farm- Cuban-born factory worker at his first ers off the land. protest against the embargo, told the During the 2020 election campaign Militant, referring to U.S. measures “Biden promised he would lift the sanc- that block sending money to relatives Militant/Ved Dookhun Several hundred protesters from East Coast joined July 25 action near the White House to tions, but he hasn’t,” Lazo said. “We are in Cuba. say, “Yes to Cuba! No blockade!” Counterprotesters called for U.S. military intervention. saying, ‘Yes to Cuba! No blockade!’” Pérez moved to the U.S. from Cuba Among the groups co-sponsoring five years ago, “not because I oppose the Hebel Morales said that the right- In the evening, 150 people attended the rally were the National Network on revolution. I support it,” he said. Point- wing protesters in the park “should a panel at Busboys and Poets restaurant Cuba, Puentes de Amor, CODEPINK, ing at the counterprotest, Pérez said that be ashamed of themselves, calling for featuring Lazo and other participants in DC Metro Coalition in Solidarity with they don’t represent the millions of Cu- more hardships for their own families the Puentes de Amor walk. The event the Cuban Revolution, Socialist Work- bans living in the U.S., who in their ma- in Cuba.” Morales said he thinks some was sponsored by CODEPINK. ers Party and ANSWER Coalition. jority oppose the sanctions. “changes” are needed, but he opposed “We believe in the diversity of the A busload came from New York City, Opponents of the Cuban Revolution those protesting against the government Cuban people who can decide for them- including a contingent from the Frente “say that the embargo hurts the govern- in Cuba. “Breaking into stores and steal- selves the future of their country,” walk- Independentista Boricua, a coalition ment of Cuba,” said María Rodríguez, a ing, is not the way to go.” er Soca said. “Our souls cannot be bro- that backs the fight for independence for worker at Costco, from Lorton, Virgin- “Lift the embargo and see what hap- ken. We will keep fighting!” the U.S. colony of Puerto Rico. ia. “But it’s the Cuban people who are pens,” Morales said. “Let the people of The U.S. economic war on Cuba, be- being hurt.” Cuba make their own decisions.” Rachele Fruit contributed to this article. gun in 1960 and maintained by every U.S. president since, Democrat and Re- publican alike, is taking an increasing Cubans face effects of 62-year-long US economic war toll on Cuba, alongside the worldwide by seth galinsky Americans plummeted 54% in 2020, April 2019 to March 2020 alone. This capitalist economic crisis and the CO- The U.S. capitalist ruling families from $3.7 billion in 2019. They dropped is on top of the impact of the worldwide VID-19 pandemic and the blows these will never forgive working people in further after Western Union shut down capitalist economic crisis and the CO- deal to tourist revenue for Cuba. Cuba for their 1959 revolution that its Cuba operations in November 2020, VID-19 pandemic. There are severe shortages of basic overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista, following new measures imposed by the U.S. politicians and pundits across medicines; scarcity of food, especially who ensured superprofits for U.S. Donald Trump administration. the capitalist political spectrum have of the foods that Cubans like to eat; and bosses and bankers. Moves by Washington to prevent jumped on the anti-Cuba bandwagon. a recent spate of electrical blackouts. Led by Fidel Castro and the July 26 Cuba from receiving oil from Venezu- Wall Street Journal columnist Mary “These are difficult times for the Movement, Cuban toilers brought to ela and other countries have led to fac- Anastasia O’Grady, a vitriolic oppo- Cuban people,” Sandra Soca, one of power a workers and farmers govern- tory shutdowns. Farmers are forced to nent of the Cuban Revolution, claimed the Puentes de Amor walkers, told the ment, nationalized U.S.-owned busi- use oxen instead of tractors and face dif- July 25 that it is a “Marxist myth that Militant at the rally. Along with ending nesses under workers control, guaran- ficulties getting their harvest to the cit- sanctions impede Cuban development.” financial sanctions, the group is call- teed land for small farmers, outlawed ies. Cuba faces barriers to export trade, Democratic “socialist” Alexandria Oc- ing for lifting restrictions on travel to racial segregation and made the first slashing the country’s ability to obtain asio-Cortez, who says she opposes the Cuba. “They don’t want the American socialist revolution in the Americas. hard currency. Without hard currency, embargo, lays the primary blame for the people to see with their own eyes the “The majority of Cubans support Cuba can’t buy enough raw materials difficulties facing working people on the reality of Cuba and the reality of the Castro,” U.S. State Department official and spare parts to maintain production Cuban government. impact of the sanctions.” Lester Mallory admitted in an April or get the food it needs. Cuban revolutionaries don’t claim Socialist Workers Party leader Omari 6, 1960, memorandum. The solution? Washington allows Cuba to buy some that the U.S. economic war is the only Musa told the rally that the U.S. govern- Deny “money and supplies to Cuba, agricultural goods from the U.S. But un- reason for the challenges they have. But ment has never forgiven the people of to decrease monetary and real wages, like the rest of the world, Cuba must pay it is a key obstacle. Cuba for replacing the Batista dictator- to bring about hunger, desperation and up front. No credit is allowed. “Lift the embargo and then we’ll ship with a workers and farmers govern- overthrow of government.” The Cuban government reports lost see how we do,” says Cuban President ment and making a socialist revolution. That’s been the policy of every U.S. production and higher costs have set Miguel Díaz-Canel, “how this people The U.S. economic war and threats of president, Democrat and Republican back the country $5.57 billion from will advance.” a military intervention “will only serve alike, since. to unite the Cuban people against the Washington imposes hundreds of country that is trying to suffocate them,” economic and financial restrictions. For Armando Choy, Chinese Cuban José Pertierra, a lawyer who supports instance, any ship that stops at a Cu- the Cuban Revolution, told the rally. ban port — even for maintenance — is Other protests against the embargo, banned from docking at a U.S. port for general and veteran revolutionary including car caravans, took place the six months, unless its cargo is specifi- Armando Choy Rodríguez, a brig- mand of Ernesto Che Guevara. Af- same weekend in Montreal, Paris, Chi- cally exempted from the embargo. adier general in the Revolutionary ter the revolution he led one of the cago, Dallas and other cities. Banks are prohibited from handling Armed Forces of Cuba, died July 27. units that defeated the U.S.-backed many Cuban financial transactions. The He was one of three Chinese Cuban mercenary invasion at the Bay of Right-wing counterprotest risk of fines and U.S. retaliation are so generals interviewed in the book Our Pigs in April 1961. He held numer- A counterprotest — called by right- high that many foreign banks won’t take History Is Still Being Written, pub- ous leadership positions in the army ist Miami social-media commentator the chance, even when Washington per- lished by Pathfinder Press. The book and government. From 1980 to 1982 Alexander Otaola to respond to grow- mits the transaction. describes the historic place of Chi- he was one of the thousands of vol- ing support among Cuban Americans Any product with more than 10% nese immigrants to Cuba, as well as unteers who participated in Cuba’s for Lazo’s walk — drew 700 people to U.S. components is banned from be- their contributions to Cuba’s revolu- internationalist mission in Angola the same park. The rightists stayed there ing traded to Cuba, unless specifically tionary action and internationalism. that defeated the South African white overnight, outside the White House, granted a permit. The Treasury Depart- Choy was a founding member of supremacist army. growing to a few thousand the next day. ment claims that permits for medicines the July 26 Movement in 1955, led by Choy retired from active duty in The anti-Cuba action claimed to and medical devices “are generally ap- Fidel Castro. In 1958 he became the 1992, taking over administration of speak for protests that had taken place proved.” But the Cuban government leader of the organization’s Student the port of Havana. He was a found- in Cuba July 11 protesting the economic reports it can’t obtain everything from Front in Las Villas province. As a ing member of the Communist Party crisis and shortages. Those actions were medicines to hearing aids because of the result of his revolutionary activity he of Cuba and of the Association of organized by groups funded by the U.S. restrictions and because shipping com- was arrested and jailed five times. Combatants of the Cuban Revolution. government. In several instances, so- panies refuse to transport the purchases In May 1958 he joined the Rebel The Militant will publish an article called protesters looted stores and over- they are able to make. Army in the Escambray Mountains, on Choy’s contributions to the revolu- turned vehicles. Family remittances from Cuban eventually fighting under the com- tion in a coming issue. The Militant August 16, 2021 3 Water, power cuts fuel protests against Iran gov’t, wars abroad by Roy Landersen 60% of its gas supplies are located. Protests against Iran’s bourgeois- Weeks of electrical blackouts there clerical regime spread from Khuzestan and around the country come on top of province, home to the country’s Arab an ongoing economic crisis, exacerbat- minority, to cities and towns elsewhere ed by Washington’s financial and trade in mid-July. Triggered by severe water sanctions. The value of the Iranian rial shortages and power outages that hit has crashed, causing inflation to soar to hard on working people, demonstra- 50% annually. Repeated surges in in- tors protested the Iranian rulers’ ex- fections during the COVID pandemic pansionist foreign policy. have added to this crisis. For decades working people in Iran Protests were organized in Saqqez have borne the deadly human and fi- in Iranian Kurdistan; Aligudarz and nancial costs of military assaults car- Kermanshah in neighboring provinc- ried out by the regime in Tehran and es; Isfahan in the center of the coun- its allied forces, including Hezbollah try; Bojnourd, Khorasan, a north- in Lebanon and pro-Tehran militias in eastern province; and Mahshahr, a Protests erupted across Iran, including in mainly Arab Khuzestan province, above, then to Iraq, Syria and Yemen. center for the petrochemical industry Tehran by July 25, sparked by water, power outages, regime military interventions in region. The Iranian rulers have extended on the Arab-Persian Gulf. People in their military and political influence Bojnourd chanted July 24, “Don’t be brutality by claiming unknown “riot- beginning a popular social revolution. across the region and provided mili- afraid, we all stand together.” ers” fired the shots. It shut down the in- Commentators on the left and right tary assistance to Hamas, the reaction- In Karaj, an industrial city near Teh- ternet and arrested at least 171 people. of U.S. politics present the reaction- ary ruling party in Gaza, during the ran, demonstrators chanted, “From The protests follow the June 18 elec- ary regime today as a product of those 4,000 rocket attacks Hamas unleashed Karaj to Khuzestan, unity, unity!” This tions with the lowest voter turnout massive mobilizations. The opposite on Israel in May. echoed the calls of protesters in Tabriz, since presidential elections began in is the case. But Tehran’s military adventures Azerbaijan, in northwestern Iran two 1980, reflecting growing distrust in Gaining confidence in their own have been met with protests by work- days earlier. They shouted, “Azerbai- the regime. Ebrahim Raisi was elected capacities during the 1979 revolution, ing people at home over the past four jan is awake, supports Khuzestan!” and after the country’s Guardian Council workers established councils to ad- years, including actions of hundreds of “Azerbaijan, Al Ahvaz, unity, unity!” disqualified most of his opponents. vance their broad social and political thousands in late 2019. in Turkish. Al Ahvaz refers to the Arab Both Raisi, a conservative, and his interests. Farmers waged struggles for In July protesters chanted, “Nei- nationality in Iran. Azerbaijanis in Iran predecessor, Hassan Rouhani, a re- land, and women and oppressed na- ther for Gaza nor Lebanon, I sacrifice have also faced national oppression formist, are part of a regime that car- tionalities fought for their rights. my life only for Iran!” and “Cannons, from successive capitalist regimes. ried out a counterrevolution in the early The cleric-led regime sought to tanks, fireworks, mullahs must go!” Security forces used tear gas and 1980s, aimed at consolidating capitalist suppress these struggles and car- Despite a crackdown by security live fire against demonstrators in a rule and stifling struggles of working ried through a counterrevolution, forces, the protests were the most number of cities, killing at least nine people that erupted in 1979 bringing which they continue to extend abroad widespread in 18 months. Hundreds protesters. The regime tries to hide its down the U.S.-backed shah of Iran and through military intervention. took to streets July 26 in several areas of Tehran, the capital. Protests against water shortages be- gan in Khuzestan, in southwest Iran, Over 1,500 rally to back coal miners in Alabama where the majority Arab population Continued from front page ton, South Carolina; Mobile, Ala- five ILA members after 600 police has faced discrimination from Iran’s and job conditions in return for keep- bama; and Jacksonville, Florida. assaulted a union picket line in Janu- rulers over decades. ing the mines open. Ken Riley, president of ILA Local ary 2000. Riley said he and Willie The province used to have ample When Warrior Met offered only a 1422 in Charleston, spoke while ev- Adams, president of the International water resources but the government $1.50 an hour wage increase over five ery union member who came on the Longshore and Warehouse Union on redirected river flows elsewhere. This, years after the strike began, UMW bus stood in front of the stage. “We the West Coast, are discussing more coupled with Iran’s worst drought in members walked out of the meeting are committed to you,” Riley told the measures to support the strike and 50 years, has caused severe shortages. and vowed to continue the strike. striking miners. “We are committed call worldwide attention to it. The province’s dams are only half full. The mood of striking miners and to winning this strike. We watched as This reporter traveled to the rally Over 700 villages are now dependent on workers supporting them was upbeat you took your strike to Wall Street.” on a solidarity bus organized by the trucks delivering potable water. during the three-hour rally, where Riley recalled solidarity from the Kentucky AFL-CIO. When Bryan Livestock are dying. In an area with UMW President Cecil Roberts and United Mine Workers union when Butler, 60, a Warrior Met striker told high unemployment and a shortage of other union leaders spoke about the longshoremen were under attack. Lisa Cook, a Communications Work- government services, the livelihoods stakes in this hard-fought battle. “Twenty years ago at a rally for the ers of America member at General of townspeople and farmers have A bus organized by the Interna- Charleston Five, Cecil showed up and Electric from Louisville, Kentucky, been devastated. And this is a region tional Longshoremen’s Association inspired us,” Riley said, referring to about why he and his fellow union- where 80% of the country’s oil and brought dockworkers from Charles- the frame-up assault charges against ists were fighting, she was outraged. “Why aren’t we hearing about the way these people are being treated in the media?” Cook asked. “This should be Striking miners win solidarity in New York City national news!” by seth galinsky Met was set up, United Mine Workers ignited.” Goldsby said that miners and NEW YORK — Several hundred President Cecil Roberts told the crowd. their union safety committee have shut members of the United Mine Workers “But it does not want to recognize the down production several times until the union rallied and picketed outside the sacrifices these workers made to allow company fixed unsafe conditions. offices of BlackRock here July 28 to it to exist in the first place. All those bil- “I can’t say it was better when it was support striking miners at Warrior Met lions came up to New York to fatten the Jim Walter,” he said. “But with Warrior Coal in Brookwood, Alabama. Black- bank accounts of the already rich.” Met it’s like we don’t count at all.” Rock is the largest hedge fund in the “Our strike’s about cuts to our wag- “We’re underpaid,” added Tam- world, with $8.67 trillion in assets, and es, our health insurance, getting time mie Owens, 44, one of several women Warrior Met’s largest shareholder. and a half for overtime and double workers in the mine. “We’re not asking The Warrior Met miners were joined time on Sundays,” Darrell Goldsby, for anything we don’t deserve.” by busloads of retired miners — many 46, a roof bolter in the No. 4 mine, “We have bosses telling people to coming from Pennsylvania, Ohio, South told the Militant. “We’re just trying do stuff that is unsafe. I’ve stepped in Dakota, West Virginia and Alabama — to get back what we gave up in 2016.” and told my union brothers, ‘Don’t do and union members and others from the He’s referring to major concessions that,’” she said. “And the bosses make New York area. They cheered speakers in wages, benefits and working con- you come to work, sick. The flu, pneu- and chanted “No contract, no coal!” and ditions the union made to BlackRock monia. They don’t care.” “Warrior Met ain’t got no soul!” and other hedge-fund creditors who Among the New York unions pres- Some 1,100 miners have been on took over after the previous boss, Jim ent were Utility Workers Local 1-2, strike since April 1 at Warrior Met’s Walter Resources, went bankrupt. Teamsters, United Food and Com- two underground mines, coal-prepara- It’s also about job safety, Goldsby mercial Workers, flight attendants, tion plant and other facilities. said. “This is a gassy mine. Just before teachers, stage hands, RWDSU retail Militant/Maggie Trowe “The company has enjoyed revenue we went on strike we were cutting and workers union and Communications Dockworkers at Brookwood, Alabama, in excess of $3.4 billion” since Warrior hit an area with too much gas and it Workers of America. rally in solidarity with Warrior Met strikers.

4 The Militant August 16, 2021 on the picket line Aluminum workers strike with 45,000 employees in 35 countries. Rio Tinto in Canada Solidarity messages and financial Some 900 Rio Tinto aluminum contributions can be sent to uni- workers in Kitimat, British Colum- [email protected] or Unifor bia, members of Unifor Local 2301, Local 2301, 235 Enterprise Ave., Kit- set up picket lines July 25 after their imat, B.C. V8C 2C8. contract expired. The strike followed — John Steele seven weeks of fruitless negotiations and a 100% strike vote. Rolls-Royce maintenance workers The strikers operate Rio Tinto’s back on strike, win solidarity massive aluminum smelting plant in BARNOLDSWICK, England — Kitimat and the powerhouse in Ke- Seventeen maintenance engineers mano, which furnishes the plant’s who are members of the Unite union electricity. Kitimat is on the west coast at Rolls-Royce’s jet-engine plant here about 900 miles north of Vancouver. have restarted strike action. The boss- “Rio Tinto was given every oppor- es have been dragging their heels in tunity to reach a fair deal but showed implementing a deal with the union to Unifor secure jobs through new investments. Members of Unifor Local 2301 on strike against Rio Tinto rally July 28 at company’s aluminum complete disregard for our issues,” smelter in Kitimat, British Columbia, protesting bosses’ attacks on pensions, health care, safety. Local President Martin Mcllwrath More workers threaten to join the said in a July 24 news release. “The strike if no resolution is reached. “The spirit of the workforce and the workers went on strike when hospital difficult and demanding work our Over 300 workers at the plant went picketers on strike is really strong,” said bosses failed to honor a pay increase Unite Regional Officer Ross Quinn. they agreed to in 2019. Union conve- members do has made this facility a on strike for nine weeks at the end of “Community support is really strong ners at the Rolls-Royce factories in success for generations. We deserve last year to stop job cuts at Barnold- also and we’ll keep going until we get Inchinnan, Scotland, and Ansty, in the nothing less than an agreement that swick. They forced the company to the resolution that we need.” Midlands, came to Barnoldswick to respects us, and we will stand up for agree to keep 350 jobs and pledged Five striking biomedical workers support the pickets the next day. our rights.” there would be no layoffs for two years. Key to winning that strike was from East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Messages of support can be sent to Pensions, retirement benefits, health, strong solidarity from Rolls-Royce Trust came to the join the Unite picket [email protected]. safety, jobs and respect are key issues. workers at other plants. line in solidarity July 22. Biomedical — Hugo Wils The company is demanding changes to workers’ retirement pay and ben- efit levels, including putting younger workers out of the current more secure NZ gov’t’s ‘save the environment’ law targets farmers defined pension contribution plan into Continued from front page posed new sales tax on such gas-pow- Farmers also expressed opposition to a worse defined benefit plan that would South Island farmers. They say the mea- ered vehicles led many to join the ac- other government moves, including re- be less costly for the bosses. sures, pushed as necessary to protect ru- tion, including some tradespeople for placing large areas of productive farm- Negotiations have also focused on ral waterways and land, fly in the face of whom — like farmers — there is no land with pine tree plantings, motivated a backlog of more than 300 griev- farmers’ schedules and environmental “clean” electric alternative. to offset carbon emissions. Farmers also ances based on the company’s use of measures already in place. “We know “Those who need them will just face being taxed on their agricultural contract workers and refusal to hire what it takes to get clean water and you have to get them, and pay yet another emissions beginning in 2025. full-time workers. don’t get it through unworkable regula- tax,” Smith told the Militant. The caravan to Orewa displayed Despite the picket lines, the bosses tions,” said Groundswell co-founder and The nationwide action drew both placards reading, “No farmers, no continue to operate the smelter and dairy farmer Bryce McKenzie. working and wealthier farmers, as food.” Area farmers and small-town powerhouse with 265 management Some 300 farmers and supporters well as market gardeners and orchard residents came out to cheer them. personnel under an “essential servic- convoyed to this northern Auckland owners. Smith read a Groundswell state- es” order granted by the British Co- suburb July 16. At a muster in nearby Another focus of the protest was ment at the rally here laying out lumbia Labor Relations Board. The Helensville, organizer Mick Smith government designation of big tracts farmers’ concerns. He rejected the bosses say they will run the smelter launched the caravan with the words, of land as “Significant Natural Ar- anti-farmer stance of Climate Change at 35% of normal capacity until the “The last thing [the government] wants eas,” with new restrictions imposed Minister James Shaw, who is also co- strike is settled. is a French-style protest.” He was re- on use of the land. leader of the Green Party. Shaw dis- Rio Tinto, an Anglo-Australian multi- ferring to the “yellow vest” protests These areas include 48% of Maori missed Groundswell as a “group of national headquartered in London, is the that swept small towns and rural areas land in the Far North District. After pro- ‘pakeha’ [Caucasian] farmers” who world’s second-largest metals and min- across France 2018-19. tests in June by both Maori and farmers, fight “any kind of regulation about ing corporation. It produces iron ore, Many participants drove “utes,” the government said it would “review” what they do to protect the environ- copper, diamonds, gold and uranium, rugged small utility trucks. A pro- — but not end — the restrictions. mental conditions on their land.” Labour Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was more circumspect, say- 25, 50, and 75 years ago ing the government tries to work with farmers on “climate change” and other “challenges” to ensure “exports continue to fetch a high price.” Agri- culture is the New Zealand capitalist economy’s biggest export earner. August 19, 1996 August 6, 1971 August 17, 1946 Smith also pledged solidarity with The following statement was issued Negotiations for a new three-year The second week of the Paris workers such as nurses, doctors and July 31 by Socialist Workers Party can- union contract in basic steel are now “Peace” Conference ended with an- teachers, “who have also been ig- didates for U.S. president and vice presi- going on. The present contract expires other diplomatic triumph of the U.S.- nored by this government.” dent, James Harris and Laura Garza. July 31, and the union will strike if a British imperialist bloc in fixing the The opposition National Party, which Capitalizing on the explosion of new agreement has not been reached fate of the defeated Axis satellites. had seen its rural electoral base weak- Trans World Airlines flight 800 with by that date. The Stalinists enabled the U.S.-Brit- ened in Labour’s 2020 landslide victory, the loss of all 230 passengers and The demands almost universally ish delegations to appear “more dem- mobilized its members of Parliament to crew, the administration of William talked about is a $1-an-hour raise right ocratic” and thereby to score consid- attend the protests. Clinton is spearheading a campaign now and a cost-of-living clause to keep erable propaganda gains. “If by Aug. 16 we have not seen suf- to curtail democratic rights and push wages in line with rising prices. There Not a single one of the “defenders” ficient moves by the government to ad- back the right to privacy. Each of is also a demand for the right to call lo- of the small nations took the floor to dress our concerns we will undertake these moves must be opposed by the cal strikes when the companies violate propose that the small nations have a further action,” Smith told the rally. labor movement and young people in- safety rules, introduce arbitrary work real voice in deciding the nature of the volved in social protest action. standards, and unilaterally change treaties. Nor has a single delegate taken New York march/caravan The measures are being put in place piecework rates. the floor to demand a peace without re- for one reason: to protect the interests These are basic questions that venge, reparations, annexations, new Decolonization for of the wealthy minority that rules the working men and women in the steel national boundaries, forcible transfer of Puerto Rico United States. The government and mills are thinking and talking about. populations, trusteeships and mandates. the wealthy families it serves recog- Their demand to vote on any settle- After World War I the Soviet No to Statehood nize that a sharper class struggle is ment signed in their name and regu- Union, led by Lenin and Trotsky, Sun. Aug. 15, 1 p.m. developing. lating their lives is one way of getting carried on revolutionary propaganda from 149th St. & 3rd Ave. Bronx to People’s The labor movement can take this op- to these questions, of taking control of against the Versailles Conference Church, 111th St. & Lexington Ave, El Barrio and decisions, exposing their reac- portunity to step up demands for strict their own union in order to fight for For more info: elfrentepr.org/blog safety measures in the airline industry. the most meaningful demands. tionary imperialist character.

The Militant August 16, 2021 5 SWP conference: Leading the Gloria Richardson, fighter for Black rights, Freedom Now Party

by brian williams workers welcomed CNAC’s militant working class to take power Gloria Richardson, a leader in the backing. “Black and white people both fight for Black rights in the U.S., died needed more money and needed a union by terry evans no meaning. Socialist revolutions can July 15. She was 99. rather than fighting for the other’s job,” and John Studer only be led by parties that have been As head of the Cambridge Nonvio- she said in a 1994 interview. SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — “This is a built and steeled in struggle beforehand. lent Action Committee in Cambridge, Black unemployment in Cambridge book about the dictatorship of capital Their members are imbued with the pro- Maryland, an affiliate of the Student was about 30% in 1961. In response to and the road to the dictatorship of the gram, the courage and audacity needed Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, CNAC’s demands for jobs and equal proletariat,” Socialist Workers Party Na- to lead millions to take power when it she led militant demonstrations that won pay, Black and Caucasian workers from tional Secretary Jack Barnes said, point- becomes both possible and essential in victories against segregation in housing, the Rob Roy garment factory invited ing to Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and order to prevent the triumph of reaction. schools, and public accommodations Richardson to a meeting of their local the Road to Workers Power. Based on the conclusions Karl Marx and for jobs, despite attacks by white- union, the International Ladies’ Gar- Speaking at the SWP international and Frederick Engels drew from the supremacist thugs and a National Guard ment Workers Union, to discuss how conference held at Wittenberg Univer- Paris Commune — the first workers and occupation, as well as public rebuke to fight the wage differences between sity here July 22-24, Barnes added, “It farmers government ever established — from conservative Black leaders. what they got and the higher pay union is a book about why this revolutionary Lenin built the Bolshevik Party in Rus- She publicly solidarized with Mal- officials had gotten for garment workers conquest of state power by a politically sia to lead workers to take state power colm X’s call for the right of self-defense in New York. The workers prevented Militant/Dave Wulp against racist terror. Her admiration for ILGWU officials there from ejecting class-conscious and organized van- when the time came, Barnes said. Lenin Jack Barnes, SWP national secretary, speaks at conference. SWP leader Mary-Alice Waters, guard of the working class — millions wrote State and Revolution to deepen right. Banner captured central themes of conference presentations, classes, discussions. Malcolm led them to collaborate closely Richardson from the meeting. strong — is necessary.” the party’s preparation for these deci- during the last year of his life in advanc- Getty Images “Political power doesn’t simply fall sive moments. He urged party leaders mentally alive.” On this basis, he strove the only road to eliminate Jew-hatred is ing independent working-class political Meeting in Chester, Pennsylvania, hosted by Freedom Now Committee, March 14, 1964, to Collaboration with Malcolm X form Black rights group ACT. From left, Lawrence Landry, Chicago school boycott leader; In the first week of November 1963 into the hands of the working class and in Russia to make sure it was printed if to set an example, to fight to awaken for the working class to take power and action, including promoting a national Gloria Richardson; comedian Dick Gregory; Malcolm X; and Stanley Branche, committee chair. its allies,” Barnes emphasized. “It has anything should happen to him. working people to their self-worth. carry out socialist revolutions. Freedom Now Party, to counter the Richardson attended a meeting of the to be taken.” This requires building a Joseph Hansen, a longtime leader of Barnes said, “It contributed to mak- But communists don’t complain Democrats and Republicans. vote in Cambridge. lent Coordinating Committee leader Northern Negro Leadership Conference communist party. At stake is whether the SWP who visited Cuba in 1960 and ing Malcolm X among the most truly when the class struggle doesn’t turn In July 1963, as National Guardsmen Richardson led the CNAC in orga- John Lewis, had no intention of letting in Detroit. But she found the workshops working people can act decisively to for years helped lead the party in under- educated, capable revolutionary leaders out the way they had hoped, Prince were preparing to charge a crowd of nizing Black residents not to participate Richardson express her point of view disappointing for not focusing on build- take power as the crisis of capitalism standing and defending the revolution to emerge in the U.S. in our lifetime.” said. We recognize reality, and “we Black protesters, Richardson rushed to in this referendum. “Why would we either. When she rose to speak, after ing a mass movement to address the deepens, and to prevent fascist forces there, explained that timely leadership is lead a way forward, through and not address the demonstrators. She shoved agree to submit to have our civil rights saying “Hello” her mic was cut off. needs of Black working people. Orga- unleashed by an increasingly desper- crucial. “Problems related to the strug- Refuge for Jews in imperialist epoch denying what exists.” aside a bayoneted rifle that a Guardsman granted by vote when they were ours Richardson led CNAC to pay special nizers had refused to allow any discus- ate ruling class from crushing us, with gle for power,” Hansen wrote, “cannot The endurance of Jew-hatred in the The existence — and necessity — was pointing at her and walked through, already, according to the Constitution,” attention to organizing workers and tak- sion on building the Freedom Now Par- devastating consequences for human- be placed in deep-freeze to be brought imperialist epoch, and its use at times of the state of Israel as a refuge for followed by a well-organized defense Richardson told the media. ing on segregation in the unions. They ty, so a separate Grass Roots conference ity. This is the party we are striving to out ‘when the time comes.’” of crisis by the capitalist rulers to di- Jews has been settled by the grue- unit led by young Black men. At the Aug. 28, 1963, March on got involved in successful organizing was set up simultaneously there. build today and in the social and politi- vide and crush the working class and its some history of capitalism and Jew- Later that month, Maryland and Washington for Jobs and Freedom, drives led by the United Packinghouse Upon hearing Malcolm X would cal struggles that lie ahead. Shift since the last conference communist vanguard, requires the rev- hatred in the 20th century. federal authorities, led by Attorney Richardson was chosen to be honored as Workers union. She described how be speaking at the windup rally at the The banner hanging above the con- At the last party conference in June olutionary party to champion the fight For communists, fighting Jew-ha- General Robert F. Kennedy, drafted one of six women “freedom fighters.” Caucasian workers in the union wanted Northern Grass Roots Leadership Con- ference stage summed this up: “Lead- 2019, the banner hanging above the plat- against it and unconditionally defend tred is not “a cause,” but an inseparable a plan to desegregate public facilities But organizers, who fought to water to learn more about the desegregation ference, she decided to go. She received ing the Working Class to Take Power,” form read, “Advancing Along the Line the right of Israel to exist today, SWP part of the working class’s struggle to that required passage in a referendum down the speech of Student Nonvio- fight, and both Black and Caucasian Continued on page 9 “Join the Socialist Workers Party! Build of March of the Working Class. Act on leader Dave Prince said in the second take power into its own hands. The pri- the Communist Vanguard!” Imperialism’s Deepening Political Cri- major conference presentation. It was mary target of fascist forces that will These themes marked the three main sis. Build the Labor Movement. Build entitled, “For Unconditional Recogni- inevitably be spawned by capitalism talks at the conference, a series of class- the Socialist Workers Party.” No one tion of Israel as a Refuge for Jews in in crisis is not Jews. It’s the working SWP conference: Leading the working class to take power es intended to deepen the discussion, could have foreseen how today’s capi- the Imperialist Epoch: The Stakes for class and its communist vanguard. Continued from previous page This is the context within which com- the endemic racism that we still cannot Jewish Question, and the Struggle for conference summaries that concluded talist crisis would unfold these last two the World Working Class.” Fascism becomes the capitalist rulers’ cal Materialism There Can Be No munists carry out our political work purge from this nation to this day.” a Proletarian Party: Opposing Courses the gathering, and a spirited session at years, Barnes said, but the SWP acted The establishment of Israel in 1948 last hope to preserve their dog-eat-dog Working-Class Unity, No Answer to today, Waters stressed, and that won’t In other words, Waters noted, “she as- in Our Movement’s History”; “‘The the end entitled, “Taking Our Commu- on what that banner said, never missing became inevitable after the Nazi’s exter- system of exploitation and oppression. ‘Wokery,’ No Revolutionary Workers change substantially until there are serts that our history has been driven by Class Struggle Road to Negro Equality’: nist Program to the Toilers.” a beat in going more deeply to the work- mination of 6 million Jews during World Jew-hatred, like anti-Black racism, are Movement,” was the title of the third new labor struggles of a size and social an idea.” It has nothing to do with the Our Communist Continuity”; and “The Three hundred thirteen people at- ing class and dealing with challenges War II; the refusal of the U.S. and U.K. tools to sow terror, to mobilize reac- plenary session talk, given by SWP weight that can demonstrate a different fact that “the degree of economic de- Communist Fight to End the Oppression tended the conference, including mem- posed by the pandemic along the way. imperialist democracies to open their tionary forces and divide the working leader Mary-Alice Waters. class road forward. velopment attained by a given people or of Native People in Canada.” bers and supporters of the communist While the middle-class “left” disap- borders to Jews before, during and after class, the only class capable of stop- “Historical materialism is under fero- Citing Frederick Engels’ graveside during a given epoch form the founda- A closing rally July 24 featured movement in Canada, France, Greece peared from public activity, retreating the Holocaust; and the betrayal of revo- ping them. If working-class defense cious attack today,” said Waters, “even tribute to Karl Marx in 1883, Waters tion upon which the state institutions, SWP and Communist League can- and the United Kingdom. A good many to virtual reality, the SWP campaigned lutions by Stalinist parties in the 1930s guards don’t stop them, they’ll smash though you may never hear that world noted, “Just as Darwin discovered the the legal conceptions, art, and even the didates and other party supporters, more would have come if government widely in the working class, expanded as in Spain, and in immediate postwar unions and crush the working class. outlook — one of the cornerstones of law of development of organic nature, so ideas on religion, of the people con- chaired by SWP National Campaign travel bans in Australia, New Zealand, the circulation of the Militant, built years in Greece and elsewhere. Marxism — mentioned by name.” The Marx discovered the law of development cerned have been evolved.” Director John Studer and party Trade the U.K. and the U.S. had been lifted. solidarity with union battles and fights “A victorious Spanish proletarian Historical materialism is crucial attacks are spearheaded not by the tradi- of human history: the simple fact ... that Waters noted that the entire piece by Union Director Mary Martin. Speak- against police brutality and other social revolution would have stayed the hand No socialist revolution is possible tional centers of reaction, she added, but mankind must first of all eat, drink, have Hannah-Jones is a hymn to bourgeois ers described the activity that SWP Socialist revolution, Marxist leadership struggles. The party inspired its sup- of imperialism, stopped the second im- without advances in working-class by privileged middle-class layers that shelter and clothing, before it can pursue democracy as embodying the highest of members and candidates would be In his opening political report to the porters, attracted new, young fighters perialist slaughter, inspired the world consciousness, a product of disciplined many consider to be the “progressive” politics, science, art, religion, etc.” human “ideals,” which she claims Black joining coming out of the conference, conference, Barnes pointed to the 1917 and stepped up attention to Marxist edu- working class, and rearmed German struggle side by side with fellow work- wing of liberal bourgeois democracy. When Waters’ generation joined the people believe in more than any other including a Washington, D.C., protest Russian Revolution and the 1959 Cu- cation. It campaigned for the unions to workers and their allies to defeat the fas- ers. Along the way, it is essential that There is a concerted attempt to ne- SWP, she said, veterans of the commu- segment of U.S. society. against the U.S. embargo of Cuba the ban Revolution, the two great socialist take the leadership in fighting for work- cist regime,” Prince said. revolutionary-minded workers acquire gate the scientific world outlook that nist movement “urged us to read and Many of the facts of U.S. history re- next day and an Aug. 4 rally in Ala- revolutions of the imperialist epoch, and ers to get vaccinated, the only road to Instead, the Stalinist treacheries pre- a scientific view of world history and has guided the revolutionary vanguard study, including works such as Engels’ ferred to by Hannah-Jones, especially bama to win support for UMWA min- the decisive leadership that led them to shutting down the pandemic. vented governments of working people the class struggle. “Without Histori- of the working class for 150 years and The Origin of the Family, Private Prop- the meaning of the bloody counterrevo- ers on strike at Warrior Met Coal. power — the Bolshevik Party in Russia Barnes urged participants to read from coming to power that could have Continued on next page in its place to advance creation myths, erty, and the State. They led us to be- lutionary crushing of post-Civil War Between now and the November elec- and the July 26 Movement in Cuba. what Malcolm X said about how he charted a course toward eradicating an- fables, conspiracy theo- come citizens of time and the world, to Radical Reconstruction, are things the tions, SWP candidates and campaigners Displays highlighting the conference had to transform himself to become a tisemitism once and for all. ries, contempt for sci- understand the ‘long view of history.’” Socialist Workers Party has educated will take the perspectives laid out at the themes and the SWP’s continuity were revolutionary leader. A precondition for The battle to rid the world of anti-Se- ence and rejection of Whatever our backgrounds, “we came working people on for decades. conference, including the need for work- set up along the side of the meeting hall, Malcolm acting on his own worth and mitic violence is an integral part of the the cumulative cultural to recognize and appreciate the diverse “Our job,” Waters said, “is to raise the ing people to take political power into beginning with six panels entitled, “The that of other working people was turn- working-class struggle to take power. patrimony of human- cumulative gains of humanity and to un- discussion to a higher level and explain our own hands, to rural areas, towns and Cuban Revolution — A Socialist Revo- ing his back forever on the life he led as Throughout the 20th century, the ity. This is what under- derstand that communism will be built the unique character of black chattel cities across the country. A fund appeal lution with a Marxist Leadership.” The an uneducated hustler, thief and pimp. communist movement strongly opposed lies much of what we on the best of that culture.” slavery in the Americas, which didn’t at the rally raised some $42,000. display highlights Barnes’ editing of the In prison, he began to read vora- the Zionist movement, which advocated know today as “culture The New York Times 1619 Project was arise out of pre-class society. On the The day after the conference, party introduction to a Militant article to en- ciously — starting with the dictionary. Jews should leave the countries where wars,” Waters said. one of the examples of the political war contrary, it was grafted onto U.S. capi- supporters met to map out plans for sure it clearly presented how the social- He worked his way though classics in they were born and establish settlements “Culture wars are at on historical materialism addressed by talist production for the world market their work organizing the production, ist revolution unfolded in Cuba. Work- literature, history, culture and the “old in Palestine. The Bolshevik Party under bottom class wars, and Waters, as well as “cancel culture” and and became a bigger and bigger obstacle printing and distribution of books by ers and farmers in Cuba were not only philosophies, Occidental and Orien- Lenin’s leadership fought to build a rev- they are deepening to- the counterrevolution on women’s rights to capitalist development, which de- SWP leaders and other revolutionar- led to take power and make ever-deeper tal.” He cleaned himself up, realizing olutionary working-class party through- day above all because represented by the campaign to deny the pends on free wage-labor as the basis of ies and raising funds for the work of inroads against capitalist exploitation that if he did not do so he, known as out the czarist empire and advocated the the class struggle is biological reality of two sexes. capitalist production.” the party. and property relations, Barnes added, Detroit Red, would end up dead or as building of revolutionary working-class sharpening as the cri- The 1619 Project’s principal author, Capitalism is the root of “systemic rac- The words of a young factory worker but through their own experiences to “a bitter convict in some penitentiary” parties in the Middle East that could sis of the world order journalist Nicole Hannah-Jones, turns ism” in the U.S., not “white supremacy.” from Columbia, South Carolina, who “recognize the socialist character of or “hustling, stealing enough for food unite all toilers — Jewish, Arab, Kurd- brought into being by on its head the entire 500-year history joined the SWP at the conference, ex- these accomplishments and the Marx- and narcotics, and myself being stalked ish, Persian and others — in the fight to the workings of capi- of what is today the imperialist United Classes, supporters meeting, rally pressed the feelings of all those present. ist politics of their leadership and thus as prey by cruelly ambitious younger overthrow imperialist domination and talism in the imperial- States of America. At the center of her The conference classes included, “I want to do something that can real- transform themselves in the process.” hustlers such as Detroit Red had been.” their own capitalist rulers. ist epoch advances — lead article she asserts the “belief, that “Campaigning for Solidarity and Work- istically end the horrors you see in this “Unless that truth is told,” Barnes He wrote that his study “awoke inside In his book The Jewish Question, Militant/Mike Shur now accelerated by the black people were not merely enslaved ers Power: How Communists Run in world, by ending the system of exploita- added in his conference summary, it has me some long dormant craving to be Prince said, Abram Leon correctly said Conference participants search through books, build up their Marxist libraries. COVID pandemic.” but were a slave race, became the root of the Elections”; “Black Liberation, the tion,” he told the Militant.

6 The Militant August 16, 2021 The Militant August 16, 2021 7 Mother Jones: All workers must unite to fight common foe One of Pathfinder’s Books of the If you go back to work here and your Month for August is Mother Jones brothers fall in the south, you will be Speaks: Speeches and Writings of a responsible for their defeat. Working-Class Fighter. From the end The enemy seeks to conquer by di- of the Civil War until her death in viding your ranks, by making distinc- 1930 at age 100, Mary Harris “Moth- tions between North and South, be- er” Jones tirelessly joined workers’ tween American and foreign. You are battles — coal miners in West Vir- all miners, fighting a common cause, a ginia, garment workers in New York, common master. The iron heel feels the steelworkers in Chicago, streetcar same to all flesh. Hunger and suffer- workers in Texas and countless oth- ing and the cause of your children bind ers. She was targeted and attacked by more closely than a common tongue. the bosses, cops and courts, and often I am accused of helping the Western jailed. A prosecutor in West Virginia Federation of Miners, as if that were called her “the most dangerous wom- a crime, by one of the National board an in America.” The speech excerpted members. I plead guilty. I know of no here, “We Must Stand Together,” was East or West, North nor South when it given to a miners’ meeting in Louis- comes to my class fighting the battle ville, Colorado, on Nov. 21, 1903. The for justice. If it is my fortune to live to introduction to the speech was pre- see the industrial chain broken from pared by Philip S. Foner, who edited every workingman’s child in America, the book. Copyright © 1983. Reprint- “We Shall Fight Until We Win,” painting by Lindsay Hand/Mother Jones Museum and if then there is one black child in ed by permission of Pathfinder Press. Painting of Mother Jones around 1900 leading protest by union workers. Communist leader Africa in bondage, there I shall go. Leon Trotsky called her a ”heroic American proletarian” with “unflagging devotion to work- I don’t know what you will do, but ing people,” noting she had “contempt for traitors, careerists among working-class ‘leaders.’” I know very well what I would do if Books of unorganized. … All of the coal fields ers. [United Mine Workers] President I were in one of your places. I would — almost a half million acres — were Mitchell and his supporters urged ac- stand or fall with this question of owned by two companies: the Colorado ceptance of the offer, and the north- eight hours for every worker in every the month Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) under ern miners met in Louisville to vote mine in Colorado. I would say we will John D. Rockefeller and the Victor­ on the proposed agreement. Enraged all go to glory together or we will die Of the 11,000 coal miners in Colorado American Company under Jay Gould. to learn of the impending betrayal of and go down together. We must stand only about 15 percent were organized, Colorado miners had good reason to the southern strikers, Mother Jones, together; if we don’t there will be no and the UMW launched a renewed strike. They lived in company-owned accompanied by William Howells, victory for any of us. organizing campaign in the spring of houses rarely better than crumbling president of UMW District 15, left for I know that President Mitchell has 1903. Most of the union’s members were one-room shacks with bare dirt floors Louisville to recommend rejecting sent a telegram to this meeting endors- in the northern field, mainly in Boulder and broken windows and they could the proposed settlement. … ing a settlement, but John Mitchell is County, while Huerfano and Las Ani- be evicted at any moment’s notice if Mother Jones’s speech was brief in Boston, we are here in the field. A mas Counties, in the southern and more they dared protest. They were forced and to the point. Realizing that the op- general cannot give orders unless he is productive field, were almost entirely to buy at the company stores where, erators and Colorado Governor Pea- in the field; unless he is at the battle- as in West Virginia, the highest prices body had spread propaganda against ground. Could a general in Washing- in the district were charged. Their the Italians, who constituted a major- ton give order to an army in Colorado? AUGUST wages, moreover, were paid in script, ity of the miners in the south, and had I know, too, that there are those in our BOOKS OF THE MONTH not cash, so they had no choice but to tried to get the northern miners, who union who would have us do nothing buy everything they needed from the were mainly American-born, to look to help our brothers in the Western Pathfinder Readers company stores. In addition, the coal down upon the Italians “with dis- Federation of Miners now engaged in a Club Specials they dug, on the basis of which they dain,” Mother Jones began her speech life and death struggle with monopoly 30% were paid, was weighed at the end of with a plea for solidarity regardless of capitalists at Cripple Creek. I want the DISCOUNT each day by company weighmen who language or nationality. world to know, and all the papers to invariably short­changed the miners. print, that I am going to Cripple Creek Mother The miners themselves had no right By Mother Jones to speak there tomorrow for the West- Jones Speaks to check the measurement. … Brothers, you English speaking min- ern Federation of Miners. I am not Speeches and ers of the northern fields promised your afraid to be classed as a friend of this Writings of a The strike covered the entire state. Working-Class Not a single ton of coal was dug, and southern brothers, seventy percent of organization and all criticism of me on Fighter the people, feeling the lack of coal in whom do not speak English, that you that account falls flat upon my ears. Mother Jones was a cold November, put pressure on the would support them to the end. Now Goodbye, boys. I shall leave a hap- a tireless fighter for operators to settle. By November 15, you are asked to betray them, to make py woman if I know that you have de- the working class, the operators yielded but only in a way a separate settlement. You have a com- cided to stand by our suffering broth- especially in battles to organize the United Mine Workers of America. that divided the northern and southern mon enemy and it is your duty to fight ers in the South. I will see you again, $30. Special price $21 strikers. The offer was for a 15 per- to a finish. Are you brave men? Can boys, after I have licked the CF&I. cent wage increase and an eight-hour you fight as well as you can work? I [The northern miners voted 228 to The Stalin School of Falsification Leon Trotsky day — but only for the northern min- had rather fall fighting than working. 165 to stay on strike.] $20. Special price $14 Pragmatism Versus Marxism An Appraisal of John Dewey’s if you like this paper, look us up Philosophy Where to find distributors of the NEBRASKA: Lincoln: P.O. Box 6811. 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Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] 8 The Militant August 16, 2021 Socialist workers party statement All out in solidarity with Warrior Met miners on strike! Statement by Róger Calero, Socialist Workers Party After 78 miners were killed in an explosion at a Bosses will always push to reverse vital gains work- candidate for New York City mayor, Aug. 4. West Virginia mine in 1968, miners and their fami- ers make during hard-fought struggles. This war be- lies built a mass social movement. They took back tween bosses and toilers will not cease until capitalist Solidarity is needed to reinforce the strike by 1,100 control of their union, compelled governments to es- exploitation is ended. Only a working class that is con- miners at Warrior Met Coal and build on support they tablish clinics across the coalfields — a gain for all scious of its own power as a class can lead that fight. received at their rally in Brookwood, Alabama, today. working people — and won union control over mine The two great socialist revolutions of the imperialist Their fight sets an example to millions of working operations. This resulted in lowering dust levels in the epoch, the Russian and Cuban revolutions, show that people facing demands from bosses trying to revive mines, sharply reducing crippling black lung disease with a leadership forged beforehand workers can take their capitalist economy on our backs. and threats to their lives from fires and explosions. political power into our own hands. A workers and To be victorious, the strike needs not only the They won — and used — the right to shut down pro- farmers government will expropriate the land, indus- courage and determination members of the United duction when it was unsafe. try and banks held by the exploiting class, and reorga- Mine Workers of America have shown on the picket The bosses fought back, and for years they’ve held nize production to meet human need. line. Spread the word. Get messages of support and the upper hand in their drive against the UMWA. By To make that revolutionary change possible we contributions to their strike fund from fellow work- 2019 less than 20% of miners were in the union. Black need to build a vanguard working-class party, a party ers and unionists. Visit the picket lines and weekly lung is up to its highest level in decades, and govern- deeply rooted in the practice of principled politics and Wednesday night rallies, and bring your family, ment agencies — under both Democratic and Repub- continuity with previous struggles against exploitation friends and co-workers. lican administrations — turn a blind eye. and oppression. Bosses know the UMWA’s fight at Warrior Met, Like other coal bosses the new owners at Warrior Acting on the fact that socialist revolution is along with the long record of miners’ union battles Met used the bankruptcy courts to drive through cuts necessary and possible, SWP candidates join labor against unsafe conditions, can inspire support from to wages and raise costs for health care in 2016. They and other struggles taking place today to advance fellow workers. That’s why the bosses and their press increased use of subcontractors and moved to shortcut this perspective. imposed a news blackout on the strike. safety to speed up production. All out in support of the Alabama miners!

Fight to get workers back on the job, defend jobs ‘French values’ imposed Continued from front page tion enact a partial moratorium for 60 days for areas Continued from front page over the past month. with “high” levels of COVID transmission, while say- official because they don’t want to obey rules govern- The Department of Labor reports that 13,156,252 ing it’s unconstitutional and will likely be overruled. ing use of public services. One example they give is people are trying to get by on unemployment benefits Weekly data from the U.S. Census Bureau show a woman who refuses too loudly to be examined for as of July 10, an increase of over half a million from 15% of renters are behind on payments. Its Household religious reasons by a male doctor at a public hospital. the previous week. The vast majority of payments are Pulse Survey said that 3.6 million people thought it The thrust of these moves is to defend the “pu- from federal pandemic-relief programs that are set to was somewhat or very likely they would be evicted rity” of the French race and culture. They foreshad- end in September. within the next two months. ow future claims of racial superiority and the rise “We need to unify employed and unemployed work- Another sign of the scope of the crisis is that life ex- of rightist currents. ers,” Maggie Trowe, Socialist Workers Party candidate pectancy fell by 1.5 years in 2020, the biggest decline The National Assembly version of the law dropped for mayor of Louisville, Kentucky, told the Militant, since 1943, in the midst of World War II. For Blacks, some provisions passed earlier by the Senate, such as “to fight for a government-funded public works pro- life expectancy dropped even more, by 2.9 years. barring women at public pools from wearing “burki- gram to put millions back into jobs at union-scale pay This drop reflects COVID-19 deaths, but also the nis” — swimsuits that cover most of the body. and under workers control, to build the houses, hospi- impact of isolation and other social problems arising The law’s passage follows the negotiation and adop- tals, schools and child care centers workers need.” from government lockdowns and the rulers’ refusal to tion of a Charter of Principles by government authori- Over seven months since vaccinations began, only provide adequate medical care for people with diabe- ties and the French Council of the Muslim Faith in 49.4% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated tes, cancer, heart disease and other serious conditions. January. Signatories of the charter promise to refuse as of July 31, a figure that hasn’t budged much for a Drug-overdose deaths rose last year by nearly 30%. “the promotion of what is known as ‘political Islam.’” number of weeks. Meanwhile, the spread of the Delta Births fell to the lowest level in over four decades, It states that “denunciations of so-called State racism” variant of the virus has caused new cases to soar, espe- as increasing number of working people do not have are “slander.” The month before the charter was agreed cially among those who aren’t vaccinated. the means to start and raise a family. to the government inspected 76 mosques suspected of The virus has been ravaging large parts of the semi- “separatism,” threatening to close them down. Inte- colonial world while capitalist pharmaceutical compa- rior Minister Gerald Darmanin accused imams of be- nies use patents to maintain their monopoly, prevent- ing “anti-Republican,” alleging their “discourse runs ing vaccines from being more widely produced and Gloria Richardson counter to our values.” At the same time the govern- distributed. Only 14% of the world’s population is Continued from page 7 ment deported 66 undocumented immigrants suspect- fully vaccinated and across Africa only 1%. a standing ovation. While she was familiar with Mal- ed of “radicalization.” Bosses at Pfizer and Moderna are gloating over colm, this was the first time they met. In the past year Islamists have carried out a rash soaring profits, announcing higher prices for 2022. In his “Message to the Grass Roots” speech, Mal- of attacks — fatally stabbing a police officer, killing Pfizer, the highest selling jab, raised sales forecasts for colm said, “Local Negro leaders began to stir up the three people at a church in Nice and decapitating a next year by $7.5 billion to $33.5 billion. Moderna’s masses. In Cambridge, Maryland, Gloria Richardson; schoolteacher who had shown cartoons of the Prophet profits were boosted by major U.S. government grants in Danville, Virginia, and other parts of the country, Muhammad in a class discussion on free speech. for its shot. local leaders began to stir up our people at the grass- Protests against the “anti-separatism” bill took roots level.” place across France in March, organized by the Front Unions need to lead vaccination drive Richardson spoke next. The Grass Roots confer- Against Islamophobia and for Equal Rights for All. President Joseph Biden blames low vaccination ence unanimously adopted a resolution to support “If nothing is done, laxity will spread inexorably rates on deplorable workers, proclaiming, “If you’re the Freedom Now Party and to support the principle across society, provoking in the end an explosion,” ” not vaccinated, you’re not nearly as smart as I thought of self-defense. 20 retired generals wrote in a July letter to the right- you were.” Like broad layers of the capitalist rulers Afro-American journalist William Worthy inter- wing magazine Valeurs Actuelles, threatening “the and their meritocratic boosters, Biden thinks work- viewed Richardson March 8, 1964, saying that she intervention of our active-service comrades in the per- ing people are incapable of doing what’s in our own was “the first civil rights leader to accept an offer of ilous protection of our civilization’s values.” interests. cooperation from” Malcolm X. That was also the day Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally Party, In sharp contrast, Trowe said, “the new surge of the that Malcolm broke from the Nation of Islam. supported the generals’ letter and demanded the gov- Delta variant needs to be met by unions explaining The following week Richardson invited Malcolm to ernment “expel the illegals, eradicate Islamism.” why all workers need to get vaccinated and taking the give the keynote speech at a conference she was help- The new laws, taking advantage of revulsion among lead in organizing them to do so.” ing organize in Chester, Pennsylvania, hosted by the working people against the attacks carried out by Is- One example of unions helping to lead is the deci- Freedom Now Committee there. The conference was lamists, set a precedent for restricting free speech sion of SMART sheet metal union locals in New York, covered by the Militant, which reported it formed a rights. They can and will be used not only against St. Louis, Chicago and Minneapolis to use union halls new civil rights organization called “ACT,” which ad- Muslims, the overwhelming majority of whom oppose as vaccination sites for members, veterans and the vocated building an independent Freedom Now Party. terrorist attacks, but against labor unions and political general public. “These efforts were part of a coordi- When Malcolm X formed the Organization for groups that oppose government policies. nated effort by building trades unions to make their Afro-American Unity in June 1964, Richardson ac- facilities available,” said a July 13 union news release. cepted his invitation to join. The possibility of their The ‘Militant’ Prisoners Fund further collaboration was cut short after Malcolm was makes possible reduced rate subscriptions for prisoners. Evictions rise assassinated Feb. 21, 1965. Send a check or money order payable to the Militant, ear- The federal moratorium on eviction of tenants who Richardson later pulled back from active involve- marked “Prisoners Fund,” to 306 W. 37th St., 13th Floor, owe back rent expired at the end of July. On Aug. 3, ment in leading the fight for Black rights. But she New York, NY 10018. Or donate online at themilitant.com Biden had the Centers for Disease Control and Preven- never backed off her views.

The Militant August 16, 2021 9