The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.60/No.26           July 1, 1996 
 
 
25 And 50 Years Ago  

July 3, 1971
AUSTIN - A U.S. district court in Dallas ruled June 17 that the Texas abortion laws are unconstitutional because "the fundamental right of single women and married persons to choose whether to have children is protected by the Ninth Amendment through the Fourteenth Amendment."

The Texas ruling is the first to assert that women have a basic right to control their own childbearing functions.

Members of women's liberation groups were generally pleased at the ruling, but disappointed that an injunction against the enforcement of the unconstitutional law was denied.

Austin Women's Liberation members will be drawing up the "ideal abortion law," and circulating it around the state to gain support for the complete repeal of the Texas abortion laws. Projected plans for the group in the fall include a statewide conference sponsored by the Abortion Law Committee of Austin Women's Liberation, demonstrations, picketing and more petitioning.

As one Texas woman said, "The court case was a start; it certainly isn't enough."

July 6, 1946
As Congress put the stamp of approval on unrestricted inflation, labor began to fight back with demands for wage increases.

Even under OPA, prices soared so rapidly in the past four months that the wage gains won by the great strike wave have been largely canceled.

Akron rubber workers, Detroit auto workers, and packinghouse workers have already raised the demand for a sliding scale of wages to meet price rises or for a regular "cost of living" bonus in addition to basic wage rates.

With the ending of the last pretense of "price control," the government's whole policy of "economic stabilization" has collapsed. All the 40,000 wage contracts approved by the Wage Stabilization Board are, in effect, tossed out the window. Wages were fixed on the basis of "price control."

WSB officials admit that now the government has no pretext for enforcing a wage freeze. They express the fear that there will be a huge wave of new wage demands and renewed labor struggles.

Union leaders confirm this. Almost all warn that the workers will resist rising prices with powerful wage demands.  
 
 
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